Racing Sim Thread, Part II

[Rodster]

A milestone for me in TT Man of Isle, no crashes and posted a 22.29.961 with all assists on. I took to heart the sage advice of trying to average a 100mph in the tricky and slow areas but I decided for even more conservative and was averaging 80mph instead. I earned a Steam achievement for "discretion is part of the valor" or something like that.

[pk500]

Well done!

Try to start dialing back on assists, as they do limit speed and bike "feel." I'm faster with everything on Low, except for Medium wheelie control, than I was with all of the assists on the default Medium.

The racing line also is a Catch-22 in this game. The circuit is so long that you need it to remember the course, yet there are SO many places where the line turns blood red to indicate braking where you can either just breathe the throttle a bit or leave it pinned.

[J_Cauthen]

I definitely will buy NH 2 after a price drop.

I'm still enjoying the AI in NASCAR Heat Evolution. That game captures the ebb and flow of stock car racing, as tire wear accelerates and affects chassis handling, better than any NASCAR game I've played since NASCAR Racing 2003 on the PC.

So I'm in for a treat if NH 2 builds on that, as most reviews and user feedback indicate.

I broke down and bought this yesterday for $29.99 off the XBox Live store. I'm stunned at how well it models the NASCAR race experience. The AI is as good as any I've raced against! I love the way the handling of the car is affected by tire wear in believable increments. There are not a lot of steering wheel and force feedback control settings, but I was able to attain a good feeling fit with what's there, and the force feedback winds up being more believable than Forza 7, IMO.

I usually don't like the truck racing series in NASCAR games, but I decided to go Career mode last night and became infatuated with it in NASCAR Heat 2 I've qualified last in every race I've attempted, but only by 100ths of a second in each case. My highest finish was 23rd, and I had to work to get that in a 25% race, with 4X fuel and tire use. I couldn't believe how captivating I found the racing at the 98 difficulty setting. I think it starts at 95 if you choose Experienced driver in your setup?

Yes, it's a bit dated graphically, but the graphics are pretty clean and the lighting is almost ideal. I think the XBox Once X is giving me some help with its supersampling and forced 16X Anisotropic Filtering though. I'm probably also getting some frame rate help from the X, as the frame rate seems like it's holding solid. I'm very pleased with what $30 got me with this jewel of a game

[Rodster]

We should see Nascar Heat 3 later this year if the developer follows their every other year release schedule.

[pk500]

Glad you're digging it, John. NH 2 is a fine game, warts and all.

[pk500]

19:10.513, Bruce Anstey, 4/18/18

Four crashes. I know I have sub-19 in me VERY soon.

[pk500]

EPIC onboard video from Isle of Man TT. I'm starting to recognize most of these corners in real life!

[FifaInspected]

Fellas

I finally caved and bought a wheel. About a month ago I picked up a Thrustmaster T150 Pro and wish I would have done this years ago. It's made driving games so much more enjoyable and immersive. That being said, i'm having a hard time figuring something out in regards to FFB. In Pcars when I start to lose the car there is simply no way to save it. None. Once the back end slips there is no recovery. In GT Sport, F1 and Asseto I actually have a chance to save it but it still seems harder than it should be. I'm wondering what mode most people set their wheel's rotation to. (1080/900 etc.) and if that is potentially leading to my problems. I like how everything else feels and how the steering input responds when not losing traction.

Any feedback would be appreciated.


~ Dave

[TCrouch]

It depends on the game, really. If they have a realistic tire model, setting it to 900 is always going to be smoother and easier to catch the car.

If the game has the sort of "pivot point" that I hate, where once you hit this specific spot you're going to lose it no matter what, then a smaller radius helps. But then you're going to be the victim of over-correcting, instead.

What you'll really focus on when using a wheel is your pedals, not your wheel rim. You learn to catch the car with the pedals more than the wheel, as weird as that sounds. You learn to keep the car on the edge of traction, and a bit more throttle spins you out. Instead, you may drag the brake a hair to keep the balance set.

But many, MANY games get the 'loss of traction point' wrong, so it's not as simple to catch a car as you'd think it should be. Instead, you learn to keep it on the edge of traction. I know it's not directly answering your question, but that's the realization I came to years ago that helped me immensely, and what led to me learning to drive somewhat like a robot--focus on braking and turn-in points, being smooth, not pushing the car so far that I HAVE to catch it, etc.

[FifaInspected]

Terry-Thanks for the reply. It makes perfectly good sense what you say.

[Rodster]

It seems a lot of the controller issues in PCR2 have been "massively" cleaned up. I had no problems driving several cars at Spa and the controller inputs felt tight and the cars handled predictably. The race cars also gave me a sense of weight and I was able to handle Eau Rouge with no issues, even so far as to allow me to let the car slide uphill and catch it on the crest.

Also the AI showed themselves to be competent at level 60, no stupid stuff until the cool-down lap where everyone was trying to get back into the pits. But besides that it was a fun race. I can't say what it's like on the XBOX or PS4 but on the PC using an X360 wired controller the cars I used handled like you would expect, no weird end-o-round snapping. You only lose a corner if you don't setup your corner entry just right, which makes sense. The other thing I like is how the feedback from the cars makes you naturally drive the line as the weight transfer will try and push the car to the outside if you're going too fast into a corner like Gran Turismo.

[pk500]

Was there a recent patch to the console version of PCR 2, Rod? Wonder if these improvements have carried over. PCR 2 was even more undriveable with a controller on the XB1 than the first game, and that's saying something.

[Rodster]

On the PC side, yes on the XBOX side, i'm pretty sure. But the controller handling from PCR to PCR2 is night and day different, speaking of which a 24 car Porsche GT 10pm race at Spa looks incredible.

Edit: I'll add that I haven't had to make a single controller settings change.

[DChaps]

Isle of Man TT The Game: Sidecars Coming May 24th!

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/ ... th.151450/

Teased a while ago now, Kylotonn Racing Games have confirmed Sidecars will be coming to Isle of Man TT: The Game this May 24th!

A popular form of bike racing on the famous TT mountain course, Sidecars have often provided some hugely entertaining races over the years and now they look set to arrive in the latest Isle of Man TT game! What's even better news than that? It isn't going to cost owners of the existing game anything at all! Yup, in something of a really cool move Kylotonn and Bigben Interactive, the developers have decided to make the upcoming Sidecar expansion a free upgrade! Awesome.

Apart from an official release date of May 24th very little is known about the new content, so stay tuned to the forum here at RaceDepartment for the latest news, as and when it becomes available....

[pk500]

SIDECARS! I know what I'm doing Monday night, May 28 when I get home from Indy.

[FifaInspected]

This could be interesting. Any of you guys know anything about this?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fe ... ng-wheel-a

[F308GTB]

This could be interesting. Any of you guys know anything about this?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fe ... ng-wheel-a

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO5Ndbb-woM

[Rodster]

I'll you what, trying to make a clean lap without crashing your bike is like a pitcher trying to throw a no no or perfect game. Everything seems fine up until the 7th inning then your palms start sweating a little bit, you grab the controller a little tighter.

Damn, I had a good lap going until I was riding along the beach and got a little too careless then I hit a patch of grass at 135mph and as they say in NY, fogeddaboutit.

My only complete clean lap without a crash has me ranked at 2794 on the leaderboards with a time of 22.29.961 on the CBR600RR.

[FifaInspected]

Any of you guys pick up the Le Man's DLC for Pcars? Despite being a handful to drive I simply can't ignore the pull of those 1970's cars, particularly the Porsche 917's. As a kid I had an AFX slot car track, my favorite cars were 917 in the Gulf Racing colors. Good times!
I grabbed the DLC last night and had a blast driving the 917LH and the Ferrari 512's at Le Mans. I'm not a good driver but man, those old cars a joy to take around a track. I believe my best time in the 917 was a 4:11. I ran a few laps with the 2017 911 RSR after work tonight.. what a boring drive after the 917 and 512. So proper and polite.. Currently running laps in the 4:25 range with the RSR in time trial mode.

Something tells me there will be no shortage of laps run at Le Mans this week!

[Rodster]

Any of you guys pick up the Le Man's DLC for Pcars? Despite being a handful to drive I simply can't ignore the pull of those 1970's cars, particularly the Porsche 917's. As a kid I had an AFX slot car track, my favorite cars were 917 in the Gulf Racing colors. Good times!
I grabbed the DLC last night and had a blast driving the 917LH and the Ferrari 512's at Le Mans. I'm not a good driver but man, those old cars a joy to take around a track. I believe my best time in the 917 was a 4:11. I ran a few laps with the 2017 911 RSR after work tonight.. what a boring drive after the 917 and 512. So proper and polite.. Currently running laps in the 4:25 range with the RSR in time trial mode.

Something tells me there will be no shortage of laps run at Le Mans this week!

Is the Le Mans DLC part of the Season's Pass?

[WPatrick]

Glad you're digging it, John. NH 2 is a fine game, warts and all.

Agree I’ve been pleasantly surprised by it.

[FifaInspected]

Any of you guys pick up the Le Man's DLC for Pcars? Despite being a handful to drive I simply can't ignore the pull of those 1970's cars, particularly the Porsche 917's. As a kid I had an AFX slot car track, my favorite cars were 917 in the Gulf Racing colors. Good times!
I grabbed the DLC last night and had a blast driving the 917LH and the Ferrari 512's at Le Mans. I'm not a good driver but man, those old cars a joy to take around a track. I believe my best time in the 917 was a 4:11. I ran a few laps with the 2017 911 RSR after work tonight.. what a boring drive after the 917 and 512. So proper and polite.. Currently running laps in the 4:25 range with the RSR in time trial mode.

Something tells me there will be no shortage of laps run at Le Mans this week!

Is the Le Mans DLC part of the Season's Pass?

I believe it is. I don't have the season pass but I did hear someone mention that it was on a video I had watched.

I tried the vintage Le Mans track tonight.. man, is that a long straight!

[pk500]

19:10.666, Supersport, Bruce Anstey, 6/7/18. One-tenth of a f*cking second off my personal best, with six crashes, including two in the final half-mile.

I'm tweaking the steering deadzones and sensitivity settings, and it's really helping. I know sub-19 is close.

Saw where some of you are getting geeked for Le Mans through Project Cars. It's the Isle of Man TT fortnight, so I'm doing nothing except watching the nightly telecasts on Velocity and then firing up the Isle of Man TT: Ride on the Edge game to try and emulate my heroes!

[DChaps]

19:10.666, Supersport, Bruce Anstey, 6/7/18. One-tenth of a f*cking second off my personal best, with six crashes, including two in the final half-mile.

I'm tweaking the steering deadzones and sensitivity settings, and it's really helping. I know sub-19 is close.

Saw where some of you are getting geeked for Le Mans through Project Cars. It's the Isle of Man TT fortnight, so I'm doing nothing except watching the nightly telecasts on Velocity and then firing up the Isle of Man TT: Ride on the Edge game to try and emulate my heroes!

That is exactly what I have planned tonight. Dude, you are posting some blistering times. I have yet to break 21 min. Have you tried the sidecar? My son and I tried the co-op and it was more than challenging. Do you mind posting your current controller settings?

[DChaps]

MotoGP 18 Released

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/ ... ed.153480/

Released to PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 earlier today, MotoGP 18 is the official racing game of the 2018 MotoGP bike racing series, and represents a significant upgrading of the MotoGP game franchise by Milestone Srl, the long running Italian development studio.

Using Unreal 4 graphics for the first time in the history of the franchise, MotoGP 18 presents a very distinct visual improvement over previous versions of the title, an improvement that promises to be just the tip of the iceberg with regards to improvements for this exciting new game.

According to Milestone, MotoGP 18 has been practically built from the ground up for this latest release, significantly enhancing the visuals and physics to better represent the world of top level motorcycle racing.

Featuring the premier class MotoGP series, including star riders such as Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa right the way through to the Red Bull Rookies Cup, including supporting classes Moto3 and Moto2, MotoGP 18 looks set to produce a comprehensive representation of the professional bike racing ladder.

Available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, MotoGP 18 is available now, with Nintendo Switch release to follow later in the year.

MotoGP 18 - $49.99
Xbox One X Enhanced - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/motog ... j3kxbtv02k

Race Department MotoGP 18 sub forum
https://www.racedepartment.com/forums/m ... e-game.71/