PC Racing Simulation

Ooo... Assetto Corsa slipped into Early Access state without me noticing.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/24...

Assetto Corsa is half-off on Steam today, $19.99. I've recently started watching iRacing (yes, watching) and I'm considering getting a driving wheel and pedals even though I really don't have room for it, or the right desk and chair for it.

I mean, I was considering doing it for Euro Truck Simulator 2 anyway. And then I stumbled across Empty Box iRacing videos on YouTube, and I remembered wishing for racing like this a long time ago when I was playing one of the original Papyrus Nascar title - I may have still been on dial-up.

Wheels and pedals and iRacing subscription are not immediately in my budget, but for anyone else who's been waiting on an AC deal, today's your day.

I've got a G27 I could sell to ya. We could work something out. I'd rather do that than plunk it down on ebay.

garion333 wrote:

I've got a G27 I could sell to ya. We could work something out. I'd rather do that than plunk it down on ebay.

PM sent.

As I'm waiting for Garion's hardware to finish arriving (enabler!), I've been driving Assetto Corsa with a keyboard and mouse. Yeah, I know. It's a mess, but at least I'm learning track layouts.

Despite the obvious "don't use a mouse and keyboard!" tip, I've learned a few more things. First, in cars that don't have ABS or traction and stability control, I'm turning off those driving assists. I couldn't figure out why the racing lines were suggesting I start to brake so early until I turned off assists. Yeah...my assisted braking zones don't work when you turn everything off

Second, once I know the track and the racing line, I seem to do better with the racing line off. It makes me look for the apex rather than follow the little arrows on the track, and I feel like I'm getting around the track cleaner.

Third, on tracks that have similar-looking sections, like Silverstone, it helps to turn on the track descriptions so I can learn the names of the straights and corners and start to anticipate the next section of track.

And fourth, I can't wait to get the G27 set up so I can start to feather the accelerator and brake, and feel FFB to correct/control spins. Keyboard mouse and brake is either off or on (or pressed in short bursts like the Titanic telegraph operator sending SOS messages) and I'd like some input option between 100% and 0%.

Once I feel comfortable with the G27, I'll probably give iRacing a shot. It looks like there's plenty to do in the Rookie series with just the basic subscription cars and tracks - well, plenty for me, being completely new to sim racing.

I hate racing lines for the exact reason you mentioned. I don't find following arrows to be fun.

I like racing lines only for helping me learn roughly where braking points are. However, I tend not to follow the racing line too closely or stick precisely to the braking recommendations; I develop my own sense of how I can best handle turns and braking for a given car on a given track over time.

My favorite racing line is the setting in Forza where you can have it show braking lines only. I dig that.

My favorite racing line is the setting in Forza where you can have it show braking lines only. I dig that.

Yeah. I find the full lines incredibly intrusive, but the braking only line is a crutch I indulge in.

Uh, anyone want to buy a Clubsport wheel, or a CSR Elite?

Dear Tempted Sucker
As an owner of the ClubSport or CSR Elite wheel, you have the privilege to be in the exclusive group eligible to purchase our new Fanatec ClubSport Wheel V2.

The community is super excited about this wheel, and not only will you be among the first to get your hands on this revolutionary racing wheel base, you will also benefit from a big, pre-order discount!

Nobody else can purchase this product at the moment, as you need an invite code to put this product in your shopping cart. These invite codes will be sent by a separate e-mail. We will also automatically put the code into your customer profile.

You will receive the code within the next few weeks or months, as we are sending them out in several waves in the order of the purchase date of your ClubSport or CSR Elite wheel.

To learn more about the invite system, please have a look at our forum. Please do not ask our team when or if you will get a code. If you were able to receive and read this message, you will also receive the e-mail with the invite code when it is time.

The new ClubSport Wheel Base V2 has many exciting new features!
Brushless servo motor for about 75% more power
No cogging (notchiness) at all. Nothing!
Optimized belt drive with ultra-low drag for a much wider spectrum of fine force-feedback effects
Super durable construction with a new cooling system, more and bigger ball bearings, as well as completely new sensors and electronics
DUAL HALL and DirectSensor technology with more than double the resolution
Multi-platform! Upgradeable to next generation gaming consoles when paired with optional steering wheels (in development)
Choose from a large selection of wheel rims of all popular racing styles. 11 models and growing!
For a full list of features please go to the product page of
the ClubSport Wheel Base V2

Too late! I was a tempted sucker for Garion's G27, that's all I can do this year without suddenly adding alimony to my list of bills

The Fanatec stuff costs just a tad more, so it's not the best for first timers.

Here's the V2 product page.

Multi-platform! Upgradeable to next generation gaming consoles when paired with optional steering wheels (in development)

I'd be quite a bit more a tempted sucker if there was a bit more clarity on this point. I loved my CSR gear, but nothing about the process of buying and owning it ever instilled much confidence in the company beyond the fact that I had a good product in my house. As such, until they have a product ready to ship with Xbox One compatibility, I'm afraid my Thrustmaster setup is more than sufficient to keep me happy -- if they would hurry up and ship that damn TH8A, that is.

zeroKFE wrote:
My favorite racing line is the setting in Forza where you can have it show braking lines only. I dig that.

Yeah. I find the full lines incredibly intrusive, but the braking only line is a crutch I indulge in.

Racing lines are helpful at first but end up being a crutch later on.

Via the deals thread, Bundle Stars has a bunch of SimBin's RACE series for $1 (for 9 more hours, then it goes up). The only DLC it's missing is the GTR Evolution expansion, which is 80% off on Steam.

And speaking of SimBin and the Steam sale, should I be picking up any or all of GTR, GTR 2, and/or GT Legends, for <$2 each?

Edit: I read the OP—GTR 2 then.

Gravey wrote:

Via the deals thread, Bundle Stars has a bunch of SimBin's RACE series for $1 (for 9 more hours, then it goes up). The only DLC it's missing is the GTR Evolution expansion, which is 80% off on Steam.

And speaking of SimBin and the Steam sale, should I be picking up any or all of GTR, GTR 2, and/or GT Legends, for <$2 each?

Edit: I read the OP—GTR 2 then.

iRacing has ruined me. I almost picked up the RACE Injection bundle on Steam just for the huge variety of tracks and cars, but every time I sit down at the computer to drive, I log into iRacing. I wouldn't argue it's a better sim, or that it's inexpensive (it's not, especially if you want to drive the wide variety of cars and tracks available in other sims), but because of the community and the persistence, that's where I want to spend my time.

That said, there's a bigger SimBin bundle on Steam with everything you've mentioned, I think. I've heard great things about the GT series, but I'm a little concerned it'll feel dated at this point.

You shouldn't let me current bias affect your decision - there's a huge variety of cars and tracks available, and I don't think you can go wrong with any of the bundles you're talking about. I'm still on the fence about the RACE Injection bundle - it's so inexpensive it'd be great to have just sitting around for a rainy day.

sithload wrote:

You shouldn't let me current bias affect your decision - there's a huge variety of cars and tracks available, and I don't think you can go wrong with any of the bundles you're talking about. I'm still on the fence about the RACE Injection bundle - it's so inexpensive it'd be great to have just sitting around for a rainy day.

Well for CA$2.95, I'll have the entire RACE series, and it'll take me a while just to figure out everything I own (and how it all works—some entries are expansions, some are standalone, and some are both? I think? Weird). Then for $1.75 I can try GTR2 too. Not bad for less than a fiver.

I'll add that I'm coming from Forza and will be using a controller. I won't be getting an Xbone soon, if at all, so PC gaming is where I'm living now. Project CARS and Assetto Corsa both look beautiful, but while I've been pleasantly surprised with how well my GT 750M is doing, I don't quite want to pay as much as PCARS or AC are asking to find out how far my video card will go, especially in games that demand good, steady frame rates.

I was wondering if we had a general racing thread, so I didn't have to spam the iRacing thread with talk of other sims.

The one I want to talk about is "Race Room Racing Experience", (R3E), which is a hearty challenger to Reiza Studio's "Game Stock Car Extreme" for the coveted "Best Racer With A Painful Title" award.

TL;DR - Race Room Racing Experience is a free to play racing game that has had a difficult time to date, but is worth investigating now, provided you have a tolerance for bad UI and are prepared to spend money on a F2P game to get some of the new content.

R3E is still in open beta and has had something of a troubled childhood. It's a free to play racing game from the renowned makers of all the Race, GTR and GT Legends games you're all talking about - Simbin - and R3E stumbled so badly that it actually bankrupted that famous dev.

From the ashes came a new dev called "Sector 3", (mostly just a reshuffle of Simbin), and while R3E still has some problems at its root, the new devs have made a series of good decisions that have moved the game from "avoid" to "cautiously suggest."

The major problems for the game were a UI so disastrous it was on par with the one found in Dwarf Fortress and then an horrifically expensive a la carte purchase model, of the type found in WWI flight sim "Rise of Flight."

Unfortunately, the a la carte model caused extra issues for R3E, because while Rise of Flight was not selling multiple versions of sky, users on R3E had to own the same tracks as their friends, or multiplayer racing was out.

This is a lot of negatives thus far for a game I'm recommending, because I want those who venture in to be hardy souls, not frightened off by an improved, (but still wonky) UI and the idea of a F2P game that's only good if you spend some money on it.

That money should go on the discounted packs, which circumvent the individual pricing issues by bundling up cars and tracks. Right now you can get the DTM Experience 13 pack for $7.49 in Steam's winter sale, and it'll give you three cars, nine tracks and 20+ liveries, plus the ability to run the DTM13 championship.

Other packs featuring cars and tracks include DTM14, WTCC13 (front wheel drive, wheeeeee!) and ADAC GT3 14.

Once you do get into game you'll find a good looking game with possibly the best sound of any sim out there and a competitive AI, (second only to that of Game Stock Car), that makes offline racing a lot of fun. The AI can be set manually, or you can use the "adaptive" setting, where the AI will learn your pace and, (after three or four short races), will tune itself to a sweet spot for your talent.

Other serious positives in the game are a mode called Apex Hunt, which challenges you to hit a certain number of corner apexes while completing a lap in a certain time, with the apex count rising and the target time lowering every time you're successful - it's a great tool for teaching how to think about a race track and how sometimes going slowly on the right line leads to a faster lap time.

The game also lets you pick any car and track combination and see the fastest times set by all users, then click the word "Challenge" next to any time and have that driver's ghost appear in your game, along with a dynamic race line that shows exactly where they placed their car, where they changed gear, braked and accelerated.

This dynamic line also shows up in solo practice sessions, allowing you to continually edge your braking points into a corner until you find the exact sweet spot, then hit that spot every time - another great tool for learning a new course.

Better yet, the game now has a test drive feature, that allows you to take any car out for a blast around one of the free tracks to see if you like it before you plunk down your money.

Here's some shiny stuff as a reward for people who got the whole way through that wall of text.

DTM14 - 500 horsepower "silhouette" cars with no traction control.

WTCC13 - 290 horsepower front wheel drive weight-stripped street cars

I have always loved the gMotor games for feel, including the sound.

Does this mean we aren't allowed to recruit for iracing in this thread?

fogrob wrote:

Does this mean we aren't allowed to recruit for iracing in this thread? :)

No! It means we can't start holy wars about which is better, though

Pitstop II is the best, obviously.

MisterStatic wrote:

I have always loved the gMotor games for feel, including the sound.

Game Stock Car Extreme is easily my favourite of all the current sims and that's a gMotor game, but after running the R3E ADAC Mercedes SLS GT3 the difference is glaring. That thing sounds like sex on a stick and even though the GSCE Blanc Pain mod is phenomenal, the cars just sound so reedy after running the same ones in R3E.

Jarpy wrote:

Pitstop II is the best, obviously.

Do you even Destruction Derby, bro?

Is there much or any overlap on cars/tracks across these games? I think what I'm most interested in is trailing iRacing cars without buying them first and practicing races on my own schedule. I got Assetto Corsa when it went on sale but I haven't noticed any common cars or tracks.

I haven't noticed a lot of overlap. Assetto Corsa has a very developer-centric choice of car models in the base game (lots of Lotus, for example), but I haven't checked AC mods to see if any of the cars match what's available in iRacing.

If you pick up GSCE you'll find a good amount of cross over, because it accepts rFactor content and rFactor has had just about every course and car modded into it by now. GSCE has a good Lime Rock Park, for example, a track which makes a frequent appearance in the free and hybrid, (like SRF), iRacing series.

You can also get Laguna Seca, Okayama, Watkins Glen, Spa and others.

Race Department's GSCE track list is here.

NoGrip's GSCE track list is here.

The tracks don't necessarily look great, as they're user made, and obviously they're not laser-scanned as you'll find in iRacing, but they'll work as a familiarisation tool.

Many, many cars are also available, but I'm not sure how useful they might be as the physics can be different enough that the rFactor Skip Barber might drive significantly differently to the iRacing version.

I love the sound of a straight six.

I just got a g27 and bought Grid Autosport on the steam sale to start getting into SimRacing. First thing I noticed is how different it feels. I do not think I have my settings correct but they are probably ok. I was awful at first, over correcting, too much throttle, not enough breaking. I was so bad that I couldn't pass anyone on very easy difficulty without crashing into them. Then I noticed how bad my frames per second were, lowered my settings, and then everything changed. I turned into what felt like a driving god against these very slow AI drivers. So lesson learned, visual performance > visual qualtity.

Hey Bismark,

Do you race much of that RaceRoom game? I've installed and uninstalled it at least twice because, well, iracing... If there's some way we could multiplayer it though, I might install it again.

What are your overall thoughts on the game and it's physics (again - iracing ruins me there).