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PC Racing Sims Thread

hunchback

hunchback

Member
I was hoping for a little help. I'm wanting to ease back into PC racing. My background is mostly the old Papyrus Nascar games.
Which game do you think might be the best fit? I don't mind putting in a lot of seat time in to learn setups and the track's. On a side note, have they ever made a very realistic go-kart sim? I would really like to try that if they got realistic enough. Thanks for any help.
 
M

Makikou

Member
hunchback said:
I was hoping for a little help. I'm wanting to ease back into PC racing. My background is mostly the old Papyrus Nascar games.
Which game do you think might be the best fit? I don't mind putting in a lot of seat time in to learn setups and the track's. On a side note, have they ever made a very realistic go-kart sim? I would really like to try that if they got realistic enough. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Single player or Multiplayer?

Multiplayer: iRacing

Single player, you have a lot of variety to choose from in what kinds of tracks and cars you want to experience. Race or hot lapping.
 
M

_machine

Member
Oh man, it'll be at least 3 weeks until I'm back home to try out that AC update, but really looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see if I can get my wheel fixed now.
 
B

Big Takeover

Member
Very excited to give this AC update a whirl. It's a tremendously import update for the title.

hunchback said:
I was hoping for a little help. I'm wanting to ease back into PC racing. My background is mostly the old Papyrus Nascar games.
Which game do you think might be the best fit? I don't mind putting in a lot of seat time in to learn setups and the track's. On a side note, have they ever made a very realistic go-kart sim? I would really like to try that if they got realistic enough. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you were doing with NC2003 :) If were sticking with oval content then you have 1.5 choices. iRacing, or in the (hopefully) near future rFactor 2.

iRacing is made by Dave Kaemmer and several other people from Papyrus. It's backbone is NR2003 and will feel immediately familiar as a descendant of those great Papy games. However, it's multiplayer only, and it's a subscription based service.

rFactor 2 is due to be receiving stock cars and a full oval rules package, but it's not here yet. There are already ovals in the game along with the current Indy Car, so there's something there to keep you busy.

If you are looking for road racing then your options open up tremendously, which include the two sims already mentioned. Check the OP for a rundown. There are demos for many of them, and I suggest you give them a try.

If you've got questions about them individually, let them rip. We'll try to help you out.
 
B

Big Takeover

Member
I tried the AC update for a bit, and hmmm, this one is going to be controversial. I'm very surprised with how different it drives. Namely the ffb, and rear grip level. It feels a whole lot closer to other sims on the market (rF2 came immediately to mind, which perviously I'd put at near opposites) as opposed to something fundamentally different. Very surprising, and will sure to upset more than a few people, and make others happy.

The AI? Sightly better, which unfortunately doesn't say a whole lot. Unscanned Zandy is cool though. It's got a massive bump in the bottom of turn 4 which launched the back of the Tatuus sideways, and dumped me into the inside wall. That was the first lap I did on the new update, and I was stunned. I've never known AC to turn you around so quickly. The new GTR glided right over it however. Speaking of which, it pretty damn fun, but drives nothing like I imagine it should. Very lively backend.
 
T

TheAdmiester

Member
Hearing that the motion blur actually works now and that AC feels more like other sims is all the reason I needed to have another go of it.

EDIT: Wow, game feels much better now. It actually feels like a complete product now that the motion blur is fixed and the physics feel way better. I can't tell if the physics feeling is mainly down to the game update or the more stable FPS offered by the GPU I bought since the last time I played. Whatever it was, AC is actually worth playing for me now.
 
M

marvelharvey

Member
It's been a few months since I fired up AC and I'm very impressed with the optimisation. Without touching my previous graphical settings, I went from 1080p to 4k and yet continue to get 60fps. A phenomenal improvement.

The AI on the other hand... :( Roll on the next update.
 
Patrick S.

Patrick S.

Banned
How exactly does the improved AI work? Is this a universal improvement that affects all tracks in general, official and mods, or is this just that they have tweaked the AI file for each one of the official tracks, meaning there will still be tracks were they haven't gotten it right and the CPU cars will still play bumper cars with you all the time? Can modders benefit from these changes and implement them in their tracks or is this improved AI something modders had already accomplished?
 
B

Big Takeover

Member
I had a blast tonight going back and revisiting some of the older cars with these new physics and ffb. I'm really, really enjoying the driving experience with this update.

The F40 was godly before, but it sounds and drives even better now. I couldn't get out of it at Monza. So Good. The brakes feel better than ever in AC, and you can slurp it all in with the massive brake zones of that combo.

After doing a whole bunch of races with the Ferrari 312T at Nurburgring GP, I'm going to have to moonwalk a bit on the AI. Their speed and ability seems fairly car/track dependent, and once they get spread out a bit they make for pretty good racing. They're perhaps a little too cautious with their spacing which can lead to clogs early in the race. I put them to the test with two of the gnarliest turn 1s with the aforementioned tracks, and they actually did an fairly admirable job. They've definitely elevated themselves from joke status.

Unfortunately, there's no Win10 runtime for the DK2 yet. I'm really excited to get that back in the mix.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
If you guys are back on AC, search for a server with the word "REJOIN", it's cycling over multiple short races with the new content. Just quit after race and refresh to see the new car/track combo.
 
M

marvelharvey

Member
iceagecoming said:
Zandvoort and the Mclaren f1 make a fun combo. The sound of this car is astounding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-br0S_4pi0
Click to expand...
That car looks and sounds superb, I'll have to download it and give it a go.
Big Takeover said:
After doing a whole bunch of races with the Ferrari 312T at Nurburgring GP, I'm going to have to moonwalk a bit on the AI.
Click to expand...
I'll have to give this combo a go too, as the AI I've seen so far has been pretty embarrassing.

Speaking of which, it's not as if the other sims are immune from idiotic AI. Here's what happened when a caution came out at Indy in rF2. If you're wondering what happened.
There's a bug with the yellow-flag-freeze-order and everyone suddenly felt the need to let everyone else through. They all slam on their brakes the moment they passed the start/finish line and slow down to walking speed. "No, after you" "No, I insist, after you"
 
B

Big Takeover

Member
marvelharvey said:
That car looks and sounds superb, I'll have to download it and give it a go. I'll have to give this combo a go too, as the AI I've seen so far has been pretty embarrassing.
Click to expand...

It's definitely one of my favorites within AC. Just be patient for the first half a lap where the AI will occasionally park it on the apex. Once it gets going though, it's pretty good. They're very good at putting the power down, which is a challenge for human players, so their pace is nice and high.

Try that F40 too just so you can listen to it when you blip on downshifts. You'll look forward to every corner just so you can hear it again.


marvelharvey said:
Speaking of which, it's not as if the other sims are immune from idiotic AI. Here's what happened when a caution came out at Indy in rF2. If you're wondering what happened.
There's a bug with the yellow-flag-freeze-order and everyone suddenly felt the need to let everyone else through. They all slam on their brakes the moment they passed the start/finish line and slow down to walking speed. "No, after you" "No, I insist, after you"
Click to expand...

That like some freaky mind control shit.

TM9z1.gif
 
T

TheAdmiester

Member
Speaking of rF2, I'm tempted to buy it but I have a few concerns after playing the trial:

1. The main menu and ingame UI look very messy and weird. I know the UI is skinnable, but is there a decent one, or at least something a bit more rF1-like?

2. Even the full game doesn't have much content, looking at IGCD and the track list. There doesn't seem to be a lot of mod content either, unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

Is it worth getting into it at this point in time?
 
Z

Zeth

Member
Shaneus said:
Is that an official car?

Edit: Also, I don't know how they did it but somehow they've made an F1 car at distance sound like an F1 car at distance. I'm sure I've never noticed that in a sim before. The echo and reverb and tone of the engine just sounds so real.
Click to expand...

It's one of the best car mods to date in AC. They have some more awesome F1 and open wheeler stuff in the pipeline. I think their sound guy is really good.

http://www.virtuasimulazioni.com/
 
M

marvelharvey

Member
mrsmr2 said:
As funny as that bug is, I was focussing more on the number of cars on track. Very impressive.
Click to expand...
And that's only 45, you can have up to 104.
TheAdmiester said:
Speaking of rF2, I'm tempted to buy it but I have a few concerns after playing the trial:
Click to expand...
If the demo has brownish UI, then I've good news, the proper version is much improved. If the demo has a grey UI, then I've bad news, those are the menus (although they're a huge improvement over the aforementioned brown system).

As for mods, there is no single place on the internet that has all of rF2's content. Even ISI own '3rd party mod database' has less then 10% of what's available. It's as if modders don't want people to download their mods. Anyway, checkout:

ISI's vehicle forum
ISI's track forum
RaceDepartment
And Sim Racing For Life on Facebook (note that some of the content he posts is of questionable origin.

To quote myself from elsewhere and add to:

Recommended 3rd party cars:

Celica GTO
ASR Formulas Full season of F1 92, two from 91 and one from 93, 94 and 95.
Endurance Racing X EGT (paid mod, but worth it)
Endurance Racing X Protoypes. (paid mod and still in beta)
GP79 (rough around the edges, but good fun)
Apex GT3
Lola 280
Lola T70
Miata/MX5, three versions: Standard Spec, Super Charged Lv1, Super Charged Lvl2
BMW E90 WTCC
Lada, yes I'm recommending a Lada
GT3
All of Mak-Corps cars

Recommended 3rd party tracks:

Mid Ohio
Ponzan
Croft
Bahrain
Lester
Longford
Nordschieife
Le Mans
Thruxton (still work in progress)
Essington
Brands Hatch (not really up to the quality of the other mods, but it's too much fun to leave out)
Oulton Park
Norisring
Blackwood
Sebring
Neva Ring (Saint Petersburg)... not the best looking track, but huge fun in a small car.
Heartland Park Topeka
Putnam Park
Spielberg Historic (if you can find it)
 
T

TheAdmiester

Member
The UI in the demo is the grey one, since it's build 982 like the full game. Sucks that it can't be changed but if the in game one can be switched, then surely there'll be mods eventually.

Thanks for that huge list of links though, I think I will buy rF2 out of the investment money we get from pCARS.

EDIT: Also, is rain buildup on windows a thing yet? The wipers are functional in the game but it looks like there's nothing for them to wipe.
 
B

Big Takeover

Member
Heck of a job with that list, Marvel H.

The UI may not be the prettiest thing you've ever laid eyes on, but it's tops in my book for functionality. The struggle is real for just about every other sim out there in that regard.
 
T

TheAdmiester

Member
Betta Lines said:
Sadly not.
Click to expand...

It's going to be eventually though, right?

Wouldn't make much sense not to.

Big Takeover said:
Heck of a job with that list, Marvel H.

The UI may not be the prettiest thing you've ever laid eyes on, but it's tops in my book for functionality. The struggle is real for just about every other sim out there in that regard.
Click to expand...

Actually, I thought the functionality was the worst part. Everything feels kinda jumbled in there. Very jarring coming from rF1, although the ~7 year gap more than explains it.
 
M

marvelharvey

Member
TJP said:
Anyone seen the AI as bad as these videos highlight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq-BOLlCgGE
and..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mChV6wU28Ic
Click to expand...
Actually, when I first drove the new update, I chose the same track&car combination as the first video and yes, they AI was pretty awful, weaving all over the road, slowing down to a crawl etc I shook my head, quit AC, wrote a post on GAF and moved on.

But then I gave the Nurburgring GP a go after BT's recommendation and while nothing outstanding, the AI was certainly competent enough to keep between the white lines and even try to overtake me once. I think that Spa and especially Eau Rouge have always been a challenge for AC's AI, which is why it was the very first track I loaded to test the updated code... hopefully Kunos' next update won't take so long.
 
TJP

TJP

Member
marvelharvey said:
Actually, when I first drove the new update, I chose the same track&car combination as the first video and yes, they AI was pretty awful, weaving all over the road, slowing down to a crawl etc I shook my head, quit AC, wrote a post on GAF and moved on.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info; I didn't bother to try the same car and track combo as I was too busy mucking about with the GT 86 which is a tonne of underpowered fun.

I haven't raced against the AI in AC for quite a while; SCE, rF2 & R3E are my go to sims to race against the AI.
 
TJP

TJP

Member
The following has been posted on the Sector3 FB page and Race Department..
formula-raceroom-2_1-jpg.101284
Click to expand...
I hope it's a more faithful to reality F1 car than the Race '07/RaceRoom car; I don't know if Sector2 are calling this an F1 car, just RaceRoom 2 - it's pure speculation at this point.
 
M

marvelharvey

Member
TJP said:
The following has been posted on the Sector3 FB page and Race Department..

I hope it's a more faithful to reality F1 car than the Race '07/RaceRoom car; I don't know if Sector2 are calling this an F1 car, just RaceRoom 2 - it's pure speculation at this point.
Click to expand...
Isn't that La Source? Did I miss a Spa announcement?

Edit: why can I recognise and recall the name of a corner, but not someone I met at a party two weeks ago?
 
S

Shaneus

Member
TJP said:
That's what they always say ;)

Reiza @ Gamescom checking out the competition:)

A few ex-SimBin guys are at Reiza so I'm sure a lot of friendly banter is going on.
Click to expand...
Are they the guys in the Alternate Crew shirts?

That's interesting, considering Reiza are a Brazilian dev. Unless they're people from their European wing, which I guess they have given that footage Niels shot of all the bird shit on their office.
 
TJP

TJP

Member
Shaneus said:
That's interesting, considering Reiza are a Brazilian dev. Unless they're people from their European wing, which I guess they have given that footage Niels shot of all the bird shit on their office.
Click to expand...
In the area 51 forum on RD, it was mentioned this is the first time the entire Reiza studio team will meet one another at Gamescom.

Renato worked for SimBin from what I recall..although I could be incorrect.
 
TJP

TJP

Member
New website: http://kartkraftgame.com/

Info from FB: "Hi All,

After nearly twelve months of radio silence, today’s post is of a different kind and is the first since I secured funding in January of this year to form a new studio, Black Delta, under which KartSim will be released. As of today, there are now nine developers in the Black Delta team working on the game to bring it to Early Access, and I along with the team, can’t be any more excited to finally release what we’ve all been waiting for.

By far the biggest news for the game, is its new name, KartKraft; a name which we feel better represents the gameplay and level of race craft required to win in such a cut throat sport. As a result, we’ve now launched our official website www.kartkraftgame.com and in the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing brand new in game footage, as well as developer diaries to take you behind the scenes of KartKraft all the way to launch.

You can also expect to see a lot more activity on here with exclusive previews of the game; we’re adding even more laser-scanned circuits from around the world, and have partnered with leading racing brands from around the world to let players customize their avatar, kart and team with products from FREEM, Alpinestars, CRG, IAME, MIR, Sparco, Arai, Arrow, Monaco and many more.

In even more news, those of you who are attending Gamescom this year, will be able to race on a 6-DOF hexapod motion simulator with the Oculus Rift at Stand A30 in Hall 10.1. Airfreighted from Melbourne, Australia specifically for the Gamescom event, the simulator lets you feel every bump and vibration as the tyres grip, slide and bounce over the laser-scanned tarmac.

Finally, the lack of updates and communication has not gone unnoticed. Once again I thank you all for your patience and whilst things have only got busier for myself, you’ll begin to see posts from other members of the Black Delta team to keep you in the loop.

With all your help and support through the journey to get here, let’s get this out!

Zach Griffin and BD Team"
 
M

markao

Member
TJP said:
In the area 51 forum on RD, it was mentioned this is the first time the entire Reiza studio team will meet one another at Gamescom.

Renato worked for SimBin from what I recall..although I could be incorrect.
Click to expand...
No you are correct, did the physics for Simbin during the GTR EVO/STCC development. He then left and a little later started Reiza.
 
A

Azzawon

Member
Shaneus said:
KartKraft?
yvlcr5D.gif
Click to expand...

Same reaction. It'll be interesting to see how the project turns out though, as it already looked extremely promising with just Zach behind it. I just wish I was at Gamescom to try it out, it looks like they have a kart set up on the simulator which is absolutely fantastic.
image-2-large.jpg
Click to expand...
Coming from Australia it looks like the content will focus there first, but I hope to see some UK circuits in the future and a few more kart classes and chassis.

Edit: all the excitement for this game has made me change my avatar, damn it :p I wonder if karting experience will get me
early
early access (I wish)
 
A

Arucardo

Member
180€ for the rim, ouchie. Hoping to see someone sell his TM rims for cheap, could use a more "conventional" rim for my TX.
 
TJP

TJP

Member
Shaneus said:
KartKraft?
yvlcr5D.gif
Click to expand...
I thought the name change was okay; I'm surprised no one here is super excited..

All circuits are laser scanned
Customisation of karts and suits
Full demo rig at Gamescom
9 person development team to expedite development

Buzz elsewhere seems to be very positive; might be another early access purchase 8)
 
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