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[TJP]

There are issues with the simplified physics model that the AI uses in pCARS that sometimes gives them better braking, cornering, wet weather and off-track ability (all acknowledged, all being patched) but overall I'm pretty happy with the human-like attributes and attitude that the AI displays during races. I'd like them to stuff up a little more often than they do (spinning out, going deep etc) but I think they do a pretty good job.

So the latest patch fixes these issues? I'm seeing a lot of mixed reports regarding the success of the patch to remove issues that have been 'acknowledged'. Although I have the sim loaded and updated, I'm yet to try the latest update.

From RD - "But the ai on the mclaren zolder career race is a joke. About 50% go off into the sand on the first and second corner."

PS - Have you played Assetto Corsa?

 

[Mascot]

So the latest patch fixes these issues? I'm seeing a lot of mixed reports regarding the success of the patch to remove issues that have been 'acknowledged'. Although I have the sim loaded and updated, I'm yet to try the latest update.

From RD - "But the ai on the mclaren zolder career race is a joke. About 50% go off into the sand on the first and second corner."

I've not read any user comments yet about patch 2.0 on PC but that Zoler note is worrying. I'll take a look at the official forums a bit later. It is frustrating that these issues are present and the time it's taking to address them, but Ian Bell reckons SMS are committed to fixing them.

PS - Have you played Assetto Corsa?

Not for a couple of months since pCARS came out. My laptop runs it OK but with PS2 graphics. Has the AI been improved? I think I mainly did TTs to keep performance acceptable.

Edit: here are the PC-specific 2.0 patch notes regarding AI and physics:

Physics & AI
* Slowed down the AI opponents in the rain when using racing tyres, to make racing against them better balanced.
* Adjusted the AI tyre wear rate to better match the player’s tyre wear rate.
* Adjusted wear of Slicks and Rain tires to more realistic levels where needed. Typically GT/LMP/Formula cars will get slightly more than a full fuel load on soft or default slicks (depending on fuel load amounts).
* Adjusted the heating of slicks and rain tyres to more realistic levels.
* Adjusted tyre temperature sensitivity on several cars.
* Adjusted rain tyres to generally be more sensitive to overheating, and less efficient in the dry.
* Improvements to AI navigation to lessen collisions during cramped race starts, improve detection of other cars during cornering, and improve clean overtaking
* Improved the AI pitting logic during practice and qualifying so that the AI cars run more realistic stints before pitting.
* Reworked the AI’s fuelling logic during qualifying sessions where no refuelling is allowed, so that they don’t always fill up the fuel tanks and negatively impact their qualifying ability. The AI will now deliver far more competitive lap times during qualifying.
* Fixed an issue where the AI would set impossible lap times during races with pit stops.
* The AI will now pit as soon as possible when low on fuel to prevent them running out of fuel and retiring from the race.
* Reduced the effect of damage to the car’s cooling system when suffering aero damage. This prevents engines from overheating and blowing at an unrealistic rate.
* Fixed an issue that prevented bump starts from working properly on some cars. An example case – with gears and clutch set to manual, take an Ariel Atom out on Brands Hatch. At the first right hander, stall the car, ignition on, 2nd gear, roll down the hill up to about 15kph and drop the clutch. The car will now bump start. Exact conditions for a successful bump start will vary slightly by car.
* Fixed an issue where at times some AI drivers in a race would use much higher skill levels than the rest of the field.
* Fixed an issue that prevented the AI from pitting within the final 3 laps of a race
* Further tweaked the AI ability in wet races to more closely match the player car’s ability in the wet
* Improved the AI’s efficiency in pit timing when needing to change tyres due to weather conditions.

Full list here:

http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/showthread.php?33529-Project-CARS-PC-Patch-2-0-Release-notes

 

[TJP]

I've not read any user comments yet about patch 2.0 on PC but that Zoler note is worrying. I'll take a look at the official forums a bit later. It is frustrating that these issues are present and the time it's taking to address them, but Ian Bell reckons SMS are committed to fixing them.

Ian Bell says a lot of things I do hope SMS remain committed to fixing pCARS for the long haul.

Edit: That's one rather sad list of fixes for a sim to have. Did SMS look at fixing the 4 tyre blowouts after a pitstop?

Not for a couple of months since pCARS came out. My laptop runs it OK but with PS2 graphics. Has the AI been improved? I think I mainly did TTs to keep performance acceptable.

No AI improvments at all..which is a real shame as the underlying core appears to be really solid.

 

[_machine]

Ian Bell says a lot of things I do hope SMS remain committed to fixing pCARS for the long haul.

Edit: That's one rather sad list of fixes for a sim to have. Did SMS look at fixing the 4 tyre blowouts after a pitstop?

At least the flat tire pitting seems to have been fixed:

* Fixed an issue where flat tyres were fitted to the car during a pit stop, by ensuring that the tyres are correctly inflated.

Still on the edge of backing GSCE, I'm mostly interested in the dev forum access for now since I have more than enough of racing games for the time I have to play, but it and Dirt Rally will be the next ones to get though.

 

[Mascot]

Total change of subject here, but I had my first 'proper' experience of VR with OR DK2 (not including a walk around a virtual chemical plant) at Goodwood FoS last week. It was the Red Bell Air Race simulator, same rig as in the photo below from last year:

IQ was pretty awful with the screen door effect and low resolution, but the immersion was incredible. The thing that stood out though was that I actually felt strong G-forces, so much so that I was convinced I was in a full-motion rig (the seats were fixed, and passive).

Do those of you who play/have played car racing sims in VR experience similar G-forces, or was it purely down to the acrobatic nature of this flight sim? And if you do experience G-forces, do they diminish over time as your brain/body acclimatise?

 

[Atrophis]

I've felt phantom gforces in roller coaster and other theme park ride VR demos. It doesn't ever fully go away.

Talking of VR, I have still not been able to get my DK2 to work with Assetto Corsa. Really sucks because I bought the DK2 just for AC

 

[Betta Lines]

Do those of you who play/have played car racing sims in VR experience similar G-forces, or was it purely down to the acrobatic nature of this flight sim? And if you do experience G-forces, do they diminish over time as your brain/body acclimatise?

Very limited G-force sensation in driving sims. Pitch seems to be the best way to mess with your inner-ear, and even a rollercoaster like the 'Ring delivers insignificant changes in pitch compared to looping and diving in a plane.

I've felt phantom gforces in roller coaster and other theme park ride VR demos. It doesn't ever fully go away.

Talking of VR, I have still not been able to get my DK2 to work with Assetto Corsa. Really sucks because I bought the DK2 just for AC

Have you messed with the post processing effects and AA?

 

[Atrophis]

Have you messed with the post processing effects and AA?

Hmm don't think so. I'll have another go at the weekend.

Are you making any more oval office videos?

 

[Betta Lines]

Hmm don't think so. I'll have another go at the weekend.

Are you making any more oval office videos?

Yes! I'm behind with them, having to re-do a lot of the audio. I've been busy with the magazine recently - but now I've got some time to upload a few more of those Soon!

 

[Big Takeover]

I've felt phantom gforces in roller coaster and other theme park ride VR demos. It doesn't ever fully go away.

Talking of VR, I have still not been able to get my DK2 to work with Assetto Corsa. Really sucks because I bought the DK2 just for AC

These instructions look up to date.

Even though it's entirely unfinished, Rift+AC is an incredible experience.

 

[Seanspeed]

Total change of subject here, but I had my first 'proper' experience of VR with OR DK2 (not including a walk around a virtual chemical plant) at Goodwood FoS last week. It was the Red Bell Air Race simulator, same rig as in the photo below from last year:

IQ was pretty awful with the screen door effect and low resolution, but the immersion was incredible. The thing that stood out though was that I actually felt strong G-forces, so much so that I was convinced I was in a full-motion rig (the seats were fixed, and passive).

Do those of you who play/have played car racing sims in VR experience similar G-forces, or was it purely down to the acrobatic nature of this flight sim? And if you do experience G-forces, do they diminish over time as your brain/body acclimatise?

I've done that demo(last year at the GFoS no less!) and honestly, its not even one of the better VR experiences out there. Its not awful or anything, though.

 

[marvelharvey]

So, RaceRoom is running a 50% discount on everything on their store.

Thanks for posting this DD, I'd have missed it otherwise (already ended)

 

[DD]

It'll be improved in time; everyone at Sector 3 knows what's good and not so good with the sim right now. Like Reiza and Kunos, there aren't a whole lot of people working on R3E; there are 3 guys all with seperate jobs on the AI and it's a lot of work to get each class and car right.

Then there is hope. I won't abandon it again (specially because now I own a bunch of tracks and that badass yellow Bimmer, hoho).

Reiza are looking for track submissions from fans, looks like you've found one

Just did that via Twitter. :3

Thanks for posting this DD, I'd have missed it otherwise (already ended)

Glad to be of help. :')

I just bough a livery though. It was sad to have my favorite car in the game with such a boring look.

Old look:

New look:

Yes, race cars needs to be flashy. :3

There are issues with the simplified physics model that the AI uses in pCARS that sometimes gives them better braking, cornering, wet weather and off-track ability (all acknowledged, all being patched) but overall I'm pretty happy with the human-like attributes and attitude that the AI displays during races. I'd like them to stuff up a little more often than they do (spinning out, going deep etc) but I think they do a pretty good job.

This makes my day happier. The game will probably arrive today or tomorrow.

 

[gutterboy44]

Are you selectively forgetting the existence of rFactor 2?

iRacing is definitely chasing the benchmark set by rFactor 2 with their "real road." It seems the should equal their level of detail based on that demo (sans dynamic dry line), but then again I don't know how much rFactor 2 changed since I last played it. I don't remember the temperature gradient being detailed like it showed in the iRacing vid. I know the temp of the track changed and you could lay down rubber and marbles, but I don't know if it has the temp gradient that will primarily be a big deal in oval racing, which seems to be the most popular racing in iRacing.

Either way, it is long over due in iRacing and like I mentioned, it is going to dramatically change oval racing. Might have to start getting back into those. I'm not a fan of oval racing in real life, but I did have a blast running the rookie league oval races to upgrade to a D oval license.

Edit: Asseto Corsa seems to only have a single dynamic track temp, as in the entire surface of the track. They don't seem to be any where near rFactor 2.

 

[Betta Lines]

iRacing is definitely chasing the benchmark set by rFactor 2 with their "real road." It seems the should equal their level of detail based on that demo (sans dynamic dry line), but then again I don't know how much rFactor 2 changed since I last played it. I don't remember the temperature gradient being detailed like it showed in the iRacing vid. I know the temp of the track changed and you could lay down rubber and marbles, but I don't know if it has the temp gradient that will primarily be a big deal in oval racing, which seems to be the most popular racing in iRacing.

rF2's track temperatures are certainly affected by the angle of the sun and the lines of the cars, and I believe it is also sensitive to the position of fairly small shadows casting over a particular section of track. So they seem to be very similar in capability, but I'm not sure which has the higher 'resolution' of this mapping across the entire circuit.

 

[gutterboy44]

rF2's track temperatures are certainly affected by the angle of the sun and the lines of the cars, and I believe it is also sensitive to the position of fairly small shadows casting over a particular section of track. So they seem to be very similar in capability, but I'm not sure which has the higher 'resolution' of this mapping across the entire circuit.

Damn, so they did make good on those goals they set out when they first launched real road. Going to reinstall it rFactor 2 tonight. Hmmm, looking at the site they now have an online fee and some lifetime membership fee. I bought in at the beta level, so I wonder where that puts me?

 

[marvelharvey]

That's the Potrero de Los Funes circuit, in San Luis, Argentina. It's a somewhat long (6.27Km / 3.89Mi) circuit located on a fuckin' volcano crater. How cool is that?

Why isn't this in more games? In fact, is in in any game? Race07 perhaps?

It's going to be big I think. The oval rules etc that is.

I've not done proper oval racing since Nascar 2003... and I can't wait to get back into the groove.

I wish there was more here to give people who may not already be Reiza super-fans.

Still on the edge of backing GSCE, I'm mostly interested in the dev forum access for now since I have more than enough of racing games for the time I have to play

As much as I love Reiza, I'm honestly thinking of reducing my pledge. I simply have too many sims to sink my teeth into right now.

rFactor 2: the only sim I've put enough time into.
SCE: Put a fair amount of time into 1/3rd of the tracks and 1/3rd of the cars. Still not driven the Stock Cars the game is named after lol
RRE: I've purchased every circuit and still haven't even loaded half of them, let alone done a lap. Driven all my purchased vehicles though.
AC: Put about 50 hours into this in 2014, but have since shelved it, waiting for better AI and more endurance racing features.
pCars: Only driven Oulton Park and Oschersleben in 4 cars.

I think once I've spread 1000 hours of drive time across SCE, RRE, AC and pCars, I can finally be satisfied and move onto whatever Reiza do next.

Damn, so they did make good on those goals they set out when they first launched real road. Going to reinstall it rFactor 2 tonight. Hmmm, looking at the site they now have an online fee and some lifetime membership fee. I bought in at the beta level, so I wonder where that puts me?

You probably have access to the full access to the single player version.

 

[DD]

Why isn't this in more games? In fact, is in in any game? Race07 perhaps?

No, it's not present in Race 07. The only racing game I know that has it is Ride.

 

[Big Takeover]

That's the Potrero de Los Funes circuit, in San Luis, Argentina. It's a somewhat long (6.27Km / 3.89Mi) circuit located on a fuckin' volcano crater. How cool is that?

By pure coincidence, I just stumbled across this.

I've not done proper oval racing since Nascar 2003... and I can't wait to get back into the groove.

It sounds like it'll be out any second now.

SCE: Put a fair amount of time into 1/3rd of the tracks and 1/3rd of the cars. Still not driven the Stock Cars the game is named after lol.

Go! Off with you to Cordoba with Rueben's stock car. Immense fun.

 

[DD]

By pure coincidence, I just stumbled across this.

Hahah, looks fun as hell. It's a good foundation to build upon it (rework the textures, to be more specific, for a more natural and less "mod" look).

 

[Zeth]

Metalmoro has such a cool cockpit for sim racing. It's wide-screen! lol

I still have to put time in several GSCE disciplines. I really like the F Classic F Reiza - the Retro is hard for me to get a handle on. I understand it has very little grip, but something about it just hasn't clicked with me. The Brazilian stock cars are indeed a blast. Can't believe I ignored them for so long.

 

[gutterboy44]

well, my races today at Oultan Park have been a shit show, but gonna have another go before dinner. Skippy @ Oultan. http://www.twitch.tv/gutterboy4444

Warning, I am not great at this track. haha. Qualy about to start than straight into the race.

 

[TJP]

R3E News:

Hello all,

This week we have received feedback from the community about the "50% off everything" flash sale that was running from Monday through to Tuesday evening. As it turned out the image and text used to promote this big thank you sale created the assumption that the popular content packs would receive a "double discount" . Which sadly enough turned into disappointment for some when it was not the case.

As we stand proud on listening to your feedback about anything and everything we do, we want to offer our apology on the confusion it created. The intention of this sale was to be a big thank you for your participation of the free weekend. It was absolutely not intended to create a confusion or to dupe people during this sale.

Therefore we want to offer anyone that has purchased packs during the flash sale to apply for a 100% refund of the purchased packs during the flash sale.

What are the requirements for this refund:

• Having bought a pack during the flash sale. In the period of Monday 29th of June 2015, 20.00 CEST and Tuesday 30th of June 2015, 20.00 CEST
• You will have to apply for a refund through our helpdesk
• For a smooth process please use "Flash sale pack refund" in the title of your ticket, provide your email address used for registering you game account and your account name as used in the game.

What will we do:

• After the approval of the refund requests you will receive a redeem code worth the full amount of vRP's spend on purchasing the packs during the sale
• As a gesture of goodwill the purchased pack will remain in your library so you can still use them in RaceRoom
• And of course for our next sale we will do our up-most to be clear on what is on sale and what is not!

Last but not least we want to extend our apologies to anyone that feels duped by the unclear communication about this flash sale. We appreciate your support and honest feedback on this and we hope that this gesture will go a long way in your trust in us to keep on delivering.

Please accept our apology for this honest mistake.

Best regards,
The Sector3 Studio Team

 

[TJP]

I thought that the Aussie V8s were lighter than the Brazilian Stocks, but looking at an article, it seems that they're actually heavier. Weird, they seem more agile on track. That's because they're more powerful, maybe?

A great read on the engineering of Brazil's Stock Cars: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/...rom-brazil-touring-cars-south-american-style/
(I nicked this from the PRC blog)

 

[TJP]

rFactor 2: Build 982 Now Available

Image Space Incorporated are proud to present Build 982 of the rFactor 2 racing simulation. This build introduces a new rules plugin system (Internals Plugin v7 has been released below) and a massive amount of other improvements, tweaks and fixes.

This build represents the first major step in migrating our game rules out of the base game and into plugins. This system is intended to allow easy adjustment of rules for your races without waiting for ISI to add or develop them. We’re still working on this, so while functional, feedback is still very welcome.

Apart from that, selected highlights include some very nice tweaks to the AI, such as detection of being on two wheels and the ability to recover, reduction in the needless braking/slowing in panic situations along with better support for pack racing and drafting. We’ve also raised the default car limit to 45 (previously 30), as the move to 64bit means most people have enough RAM available to run that many cars (32bit users will still run out of RAM at/around 25-30 cars).

'Lite' build DL link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/1kdnovs7ykvbosu/rFactor2_LiteBuild_982.exe

And...

rFactor 2 stock cars update: http://simhqmotorsports.com/rfactor-2-stock-cars/

 

[Betta Lines]

well, my races today at Oultan Park have been a shit show, but gonna have another go before dinner. Skippy @ Oultan. http://www.twitch.tv/gutterboy4444

Warning, I am not great at this track. haha. Qualy about to start than straight into the race.

Nice one GB! Some a couple of heart-in-mouth moments there, but you kept it together

 

[TJP]

I'm surprised that only 256 people have donated to Reiza's 'next game' fund. Considering how much content they give away for free, I thought they'd have more fans wanting to help. There's still 26 days left though, so time will tell.

The comments on SimHQ Motorsports sums up what I'd think is a lot of the community at large..

I may be reading way too much into things, but Doug's post regarding SimHQ's general attitude towards GSCE coupled with the fact that I have serious concerns that Reiza will not hit their funding target on Indiegogo (they seemed to have gotten a small initial wave of enthusiasm, but flattened WAY off) makes me wonder if this could be a microcosm of the overall sim community's attitude towards GSCE.

I feel like there's an illusion of a large, enthusiastic GSCE base, but it kinda seems like it might be more of a case of a small core of "fanboys" (and I really don't mean that in a derogatory way) and a very large body of "admirers from afar".

GSCE = liked by almost everyone, loved by a select few.

For those with limited disposable income (which I think describes the vast majority of sim racers), "like" is generally not a strong enough emotion to motivate a big crowdfunding push. It's amazing what they've done with the game engine. If you fire up an old rFactor mod and GSCE side-by-side, you'd never believe they were based on the same code. GSCE's feel is so much crisper & more forgiving (i.e. easier to push without living in crippling fear of a single, non-correctable mistake throwing you into the armco), it's incredible.

Reiza/GSCE do an awesome job with that rF1 engine, it's amazing how far they have taken it, but for me I just have a hard time getting interested in the content/series that they focus on. Brasilian series and tracks, semi trucks, karts etc just doesn't pull on my heart strings like other good sims that have cars and tracks from the series I follow in motorsports.

I would be much more interested in supporting this KS if it listed as a feature fully implementing a championship/cars/tracks/season of any series I would want to drive (stuff like WEC, GT3, FIA GT, IMSA, GTO, DTM, BTCC, WTCC, VLN etc..). All those new promised features for me are not very compelling if they are just going to be used for more of the same niche content as in GSCE.

I wish them lots of luck though, they are really talented.

$78K USD isn't a hell of a lot of money for what Reiza want to do but it's a hard sell to the sim community, especially for a niche sim based on a niche series. Who knows, if Reiza had more F1 tracks or world tracks, a V8 Supercar or BTCC, SCE appeal would be far greater. The name doesn't help and many people mention SCE is running rFactor tech which does deter people too based on what I've read on Bsimracing and VirtualR.

I will donate $100 because I want Reiza's next sim with all the DLC and $100 is a solid price for 3 sims; the average pledge has been $78 USD.

 

[DD]

A great read on the engineering of Brazil's Stock Cars: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/...rom-brazil-touring-cars-south-american-style/
(I nicked this from the PRC blog)

Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing, TJP!

 

[Shaneus]

The comments on SimHQ Motorsports sums up what I'd think is a lot of the community at large..




$78K USD isn't a hell of a lot of money for what Reiza want to do but it's a hard sell to the sim community, especially for a niche sim based on a niche series. Who knows, if Reiza had more F1 tracks or world tracks, a V8 Supercar or BTCC, SCE appeal would be far greater. The name doesn't help and many people mention SCE is running rFactor tech which does deter people too based on what I've read on Bsimracing and VirtualR.

I will donate $100 because I want Reiza's next sim with all the DLC and $100 is a solid price for 3 sims; the average pledge has been $78 USD.

I don't see them as niche though, I see them more as broadening horizons. So I can race in some touring car championship that's been covered in other games before. Big deal. They're the only guys who are doing a wide variety of tracks that are real but no-one has heard of before.

Maybe they could get Rubens to make some kind of video promoting it? They've had him do it before, surely it wouldn't be a stretch to get him to phone something in.

 

[DD]

I just saw this loading screen while playing Race Room. So... is this some kind of teaser? Can we expect the Audi R18 in it? :>

EDIT: also Paul Ricard?

 

[marvelharvey]

rFactor 2 stock cars update: http://simhqmotorsports.com/rfactor-2-stock-cars/

Stock Cars is out? OK, time to revise my list above.

rFactor 2: the only sim I've put enough time into.

 

[DD]

Still on the Race Room subject, I was looking at some old pics I have stored at a Photobucked album and found this pic I took probably from when this game was in beta stage. What happened with this car? I know that there's a Nissan GT-R on the ADAC 2013 stuff, but this version is absent from the game, which is sad, 'cuz it looks rad as f*ck.

 

[gutterboy44]

Nice one GB! Some a couple of heart-in-mouth moments there, but you kept it together

Thanks! You caught the better stream. My first one, I had to lift in turn 3 for a over slowed car in front, lost it, then got T-boned and rolled over like 12 times. Pretty great. I am still making mistakes almost every race, but having a shit load of fun in the mean time. Need to get at least one zero incident race at Oultan.

About to run another stream, Skippy @ Oultan Park as before. My lap times are getting better. If I don't fuck up, I should be battling for top 5 hopefully. Qualy @ 12:15, Race at 12:30 EST. Will just be hot lapping or sitting idle until then.

http://www.twitch.tv/gutterboy4444

 

[gutterboy44]

Wooo! Started 1st, finished 1st. Not the strongest field, but fuck it, I am finally in the 1:06:xx range and didn't fuck up for 22 laps. I have no idea how real drivers can do this shit with g-forces and heat for 2 hours +, I am drained from FFB and 30 minute races. (I am not out of shape either, the sustained concentration is tough)

 

[Makikou]

Wooo! Started 1st, finished 1st. Not the strongest field, but fuck it, I am finally in the 1:06:xx range and didn't fuck up for 22 laps. I have no idea how real drivers can do this shit with g-forces and heat for 2 hours +, I am drained from FFB and 30 minute races. (I am not out of shape either, the sustained concentration is tough)

You should experience a GT endurance race! Still reminiscing of the 12 hours of Sebring back a few months ago. Doing 2 stints in a row is mentally tough!

 

[TJP]

I just saw this loading screen while playing Race Room. So... is this some kind of teaser? Can we expect the Audi R18 in it? :>

One of many cars that are coming to R3E at some point. I believe the old SimBin Blog had a render.

EDIT: also Paul Ricard?

Being fettled right now There are many alternative layouts so don't expect all of them.

As for the GTR, I'm not sure what happened.

 

[TJP]

Empty Box talks Stock Car Extreme & Crowdfunding the Next Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQcThGjsT4o

There is talk Matt will get early access to the V8 Supercars to help push the crowd funding.

 

[Makikou]

Empty Box talks Stock Car Extreme & Crowdfunding the Next Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQcThGjsT4o

There is talk Matt will get early access to the V8 Supercars to help push the crowd funding.

It's good that he reminded me of this.. time to shell out the 75$

 

[Betta Lines]

Empty Box talks Stock Car Extreme & Crowdfunding the Next Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQcThGjsT4o

There is talk Matt will get early access to the V8 Supercars to help push the crowd funding.

Excellent. EB could have a significant effect on the success of this, although considering the amount of praise he gives to Reiza on a regular basis, you'd think that most of his audience would already be aware...

 

[Ark]

Excellent. EB could have a significant effect on the success of this, although considering the amount of praise he gives to Reiza on a regular basis, you'd think that most of his audience would already be aware...

For someone like me who doesn't have much free time to spend on sims in general, I chose to focus on iRacing and a bit of Dirt Rally here and there. I get my fix of other sims from folks like EB. I'd like to buy GSCE and I know its great value for money, but the price coupled with not having a great deal of time to invest in it are holding me back.

 

[TJP]

Excellent. EB could have a significant effect on the success of this, although considering the amount of praise he gives to Reiza on a regular basis, you'd think that most of his audience would already be aware...

They should get you involved to BL as you have the voice of a British Airways pilot...and you can drive rather well too.

 

[DD]

One of many cars that are coming to R3E at some point. I believe the old SimBin Blog had a render.

Just googled it and OH MY GOD, SPA!

Empty Box talks Stock Car Extreme & Crowdfunding the Next Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQcThGjsT4o

There is talk Matt will get early access to the V8 Supercars to help push the crowd funding.

DAMN, that's sexy!

 

[TJP]

Just googled it and OH MY GOD, SPA!

Just the tip of the iceberg

 

[TJP]

Does anyone install the third party mods listed on the rF2 remote content list? I have the full versions of the URD mods so I don't require the demo C7 etc but other mods I've never heard of or seen threads on the rF2 forum.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with these third party mods and can vouch for their quality; SCES are from SimHQ, no idea who BOP is/are.

I guess I could download them all and try each but I can't be arsed as I've seen enough shite mods for rF2 and Assetto Corsa to last me tenlife times.

 

[Dave_6]

Just the tip of the iceberg

Wow, you're getting me hyped! I really enjoy R3E so I'm anxious to see what's coming.

 

[DD]

Just the tip of the iceberg

Are you an insider, or do you know someone who works there? Or are you that creepy window guy with binoculars neighbor of Sector 3 Studio? Just out of curiosity.

Spill the beans, man!

 

[Watevaman]

Are you an insider, or do you know someone who works there? Or are you that creepy window guy with binoculars neighbor of Sector 3 Studio? Just out of curiosity.

Spill the beans, man!

I'm pretty sure he works for them in some capacity, be it a tester or other.

 

[_machine]

$78K USD isn't a hell of a lot of money for what Reiza want to do but it's a hard sell to the sim community, especially for a niche sim based on a niche series. Who knows, if Reiza had more F1 tracks or world tracks, a V8 Supercar or BTCC, SCE appeal would be far greater. The name doesn't help and many people mention SCE is running rFactor tech which does deter people too based on what I've read on Bsimracing and VirtualR.

I will donate $100 because I want Reiza's next sim with all the DLC and $100 is a solid price for 3 sims; the average pledge has been $78 USD.

It's not a large amount of money, but I think are quite a few reasons why it isn't doing as well as it maybe should/could:

-IndieGoGo simply isn't a strong platform for games and 80K isn't a small sum for a project there, most that have broken that amount there have had much more coverage and a wider audience.

-There's no inspiring vision or something "must have" behind what they are trying to accomplish with that money in particular. New content is always going to lag behind campaigns that are trying to do something impressive even if it's much more risky.

-There isn't much sense of urgency in it; nothing to make it really exciting and also make people desperate to support them:

If we meet (or exceed) the campaign funding goal, all GSCE owners will enjoy a further batch of free updates (beyond those already planned) to include the itens described above within 4-5 months of wrapping the campaign. FTruck owners will also enjoy most of the code developments & tracks (but not the extra cars).

-The content being funded simply not be exciting to enough people; especially if you want to draw in new people it should be something that people "would dream about", whether it's GT cars or super cars, but aside from Rallycross the content itself might be a bit too niche to draw people in.

-The feature expansions aren't well defined; why not have some UI mockups of the custom championship tools or explanations and screens of the graphics improvements. Show, don't tell is very important since I reckon the features are more important than the content for the success of the campaign.

-Coverage. You need thousands of eyes to reach 80K and just being visible even in tightly-knit communities isn't enough.

-The next game sounds much more exciting yet there's not much behind it even though it's as a reward. A vision statement, target render, new exciting feature or something would go a long way in getting those that already have the existing game in. The lower tiers simply aren't great value for those people.

I think I could go on for longer and elaborate some of the points further, but whilst it's disappointing I think there are a few quite clear reasons as to why it's a slight uphill battle. Though luckily it isn't a fixed funding project so it'll still help Reiza.

 

[Betta Lines]

you have the voice of a British Airways pilot

LOL. I'll take that as a compliment

smart stuff

Indeed, and the lack of target render is the biggest problem, imo. Project CARS and Assetto Corsa are the success stories in the sim world, and I think it's mostly because of the graphics. The mainstream gamer doesn't give SCE a second glance because it's not pretty enough. rFactor 2's struggles can also be explained in part by the bland visuals. The importance of visuals is seems to be ignored/dismissed by a large portion of the enthusiast crowd, presumably because they've had to endure years of making excuses for the ISI and Papyrus graphics engines, saying things like 'well it's the physics that matter'. PCARS and AC have shown that it's the visuals that makes the difference if you want people to be excited. And that's not just the graphics engine, it's the whole presentation, the UI, the style of the trailers, the websites, etc.

A great way to top that off is to have a new name and a logo, also sorely missing from this campaign. People love a new name. And if any sim needs a new name it's Stock Car Extreme. It doesn't make any sense and it doesn't mean anything to a newcomer. Look at Rockstar's Agent. It was literally a name and a logo, and people are still talking about it. Sure, eventually some WIP screens popped up, but that wasn't the cause of the hype. It was all about the name. A brand new IP from a hugely successful studio obviously has more impact than a small sim team announcing 'new sim', but it would still have the same effect at a smaller scale. Reiza have the respect already - they have a proven track record - so a classy, minimal page with just a new name and logo would be so much more exciting - it might have even been picked up by the mainstream sites, particularly if there were a couple of target renders to salivate over.

 

[gutterboy44]

Racing Sim UI is a fucking abomination. The shit we put up with is ridiculous. I know it is not what makes or breaks a sim, but some of the menus are so bad it does obfuscate meaningful options or information. iRacing UI looks like it was designed in MS paint on a dare.

Edit: I also agree that pretty graphics get butts in the seats. I wonder what it would take for iRacing to move to a new engine. Have they ever talked about that? Stock Car Extreme is a horrible game name. I thought it was an oval racing sim with crappy US cars. That is what, "stock car" conjures for me. Extreme is also way overused at this point.