Racing Sim Thread, Part II

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:32 pm

Rodster wrote:Have you guys checked out the new DRM-Mod? It includes classic BMW's and Porches, yummy.

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=DRM-MOD

Don't believe it's Real Feel compatible, so a no-go for me.

Take care,
PK

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:19 pm

www.VirtualR.com is reporting that the long awaited NLC VLN 2005 mod has been released for rFactor. This mod requires a legal version of GTR Evolution to install. Also, I see no mention of RealFeel support, which would seem odd for a mod so long in the works. The mirrors are all getting hammered right now, so it may take a while to get this one downloaded.

http://www.virtualr.net/nlc-vln-2005-10-released/

VirtualR has a detailed review of the mod here as well:

http://www.virtualr.net/nlc-vln-2005-review/

The mod also includes the Nürburgring Nordschleife in ten variations for all ten rounds of the 2005 season. These variations come with brand new textures to reflect the conditions during each run. While the first round comes with lots of snow, the final rounds of the season are held in autumn atmosphere.

NLC VLN 2005 1.0 - Released

Team NLC has released their VLN 2005 mod for rFactor, bringing over 180 GT & touring cars from Germany’s most popular endurance racing series to rFactor.

For a detailed look at the mod’s content & features, please check out the extensive review here.

Features:

- 185 cars from the VLN 2005 season
- 29 base models
- Model changes, add-on parts and rims for several cars
- Several add-on skins which will be used by the AI
- 10 Nordschleife events for offline racing based on the real 10 races from 2005
- 10 Nordschleife events for online racing based on the real 10 races from 2005
- 10 different texture sets and light settings for the Nordschleife events
- Up to 104 cars on track
- Performance optimization for a high amount of cars on the track
- 76 car physics from 18 VLN classes based on realistic car data
- Real pit stops for the AI at offline races
- Real lap times for the AI at offline races depending on the performance from 2005
- Adjusted AI for the integrated Events for the ultimate VLN feeling
- Opponent filters for real VLN 2005 races
- Adjusted Damage model
- New sounds for every car
- Reworked rFactor Menu
- Configuration tool for an easy configuration of the .plr

Important: This mod requires a legal version of GTR Evolution to work. Both the DVD and Steam version are supported.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:27 pm

Thanks for the tip, Don. I still might give it a go even if it lacks RealFeel compatibility. It's such a monstrous mod.

I'm also VERY excited about the impending release of the Targa Florio track for Grand Prix Legends. It's a 45-mile circuit!

This might force me to reinstall GPL.

http://www.virtualr.net/targa-florio-tr ... sentation/

EDIT: I just watched the seven-minute promotional video showing footage from this track. It's ASTONISHING, boys. Probably the most impressive track I've ever seen built for a PC sim.

Take care,
PK

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 4:05 pm

pk500 wrote:I'm also VERY excited about the impending release of the Targa Florio track for Grand Prix Legends. It's a 45-mile circuit! This might force me to reinstall GPL.

http://www.virtualr.net/targa-florio-tr ... sentation/

EDIT: I just watched the seven-minute promotional video showing footage from this track. It's ASTONISHING, boys. Probably the most impressive track I've ever seen built for a PC sim.

Take care,
PK

I will echo that Paul! Thanks for the link. Watch this video if you have ever had interest in GPL or the racing and tracks from that era. Great job of creating a feel for the time period. Has me all psyched up for a DSP race there if I could complete 1 lap.

Just got GPL back up to speed, so I am ready to go!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:13 pm

Don:

Did you get GPL up to speed on Vista or XP? If XP, I'd appreciate any tips or tricks you have to make the process as painless as possible.

Can you imagine how long a one-lapper would take on this track? Probably 30 minutes without any mistakes!

Man, I can't wait for this. I hope Piggy knows about this track -- he will cream his jeans.

Take care,
PK

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:50 pm

Yep...I do...and yes, GPL is the only sim I have up to speed on my CPU without video card......I LOVE GPL...my favorite sim of all time.

Targo Florio looks AMAZING!

Let me know when you get a GPL poker night...and I can join...once the boys are asleep.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:42 pm

There is an unofficial F1 2009 Developers thread/blog over in the Codemasters forum. I don't know what unofficial really means, and if it can be considered reliable, but it is offering some interesting information. Most of it sounds way too good to be true, especially given Codemasters recent releases, but one can always dream:

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/ ... p?t=340638

Some of the more intersting quotes:

GRID was not a sim. It was tuned for out and out fun and lap times are an irrelevance for this time of game. F1 is different and will feature accurate lap times.

Okay, I've said it before and I will say it again... DiRT and GRID were aimed at a different audience to F1. Both of these games have been critical and financial successes for Codemasters, selling far more than each of their predecessors.

F1 will get a different treatment from us, which means heavy on the sim elements for those who want it, along with all the structure and appeal that a more casual 'arcade' fan would expect. Both camps are important to the success of our F1 game and both will get equal respect from us.

In addition to the many wheel setups we have around the room at people’s desks, we also have six permanent demo pods in our studio playing all the latest games and sims in rotation. rFactor, including the most popular mods (inc. F1), is one of these.

We own just about every racing game released over the last ten years and they've all been analysed and had their turn on our demo pods. You can learn as much from other people's mistakes as you can their successes.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:58 am

Anyone try "BMW 1 Challenge 2006 2.00"? The mod looks pretty cool.

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... nge%202006

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:20 am

I haven't tried the 2.0 version. Tried the 1.0 version, and it was solid. Had a very similar feel to the Skoda Octavia mod produced by this group.

But neither the BMW Challenge 1.0 nor the Skoda Octavia are RealFeel compatible, so they didn't stay long on my hard drive.

I play rFactor so infrequently these days that if a mod lacks RealFeel compatibility, I don't bother. So I think I have only seven or eight mods on my rFactor install, and that number is dwindling.

Live For Speed monopolizes nearly all of my road-racing PC sim time these days. I far prefer it to all but the most elite rFactor mods, such as Historic GT & Touring, Caterhams, CSGT Holiday Preview and CTDP 2006 F1. I find the driving, physics and tire grip models so much better in LFS, not to mention I can find a decent public online race at any time, unlike rFactor.

Take care,
PK

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:03 pm

PK, do you feel Live For Speed is worth purchasing? I haven't messed with rFactor much lately either. Most of my PC road racing time has been spent with GTR Evolution because they had a really good deal on it at my local game store.

I downloaded the demo for LFS and liked what I saw but was curious if the full version has enough content for the price and if the AI is decent since I do a lot of off-line racing.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:08 pm

Does it even have Offline AI? I thought it was an online-only gig?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:26 pm

TCrouch wrote:Does it even have Offline AI? I thought it was an online-only gig?

It has offline AI. Not the greatest, but certainly as good or better than rFactor.

The offline AI is aggressive. If you're not up to snuff, it will run you over. But if you're quick, the AI is fine.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:35 pm

mixdj1 wrote:PK, do you feel Live For Speed is worth purchasing? I haven't messed with rFactor much lately either. Most of my PC road racing time has been spent with GTR Evolution because they had a really good deal on it at my local game store.

I downloaded the demo for LFS and liked what I saw but was curious if the full version has enough content for the price and if the AI is decent since I do a lot of off-line racing.

Mixer:

I LOVE LFS, online or offline. But I must admit that most of my running is in the Formula BMW at Blackwood GP, which is what's available in the demo. Most of the public online races are in that car at that course, so that's where I put my focus.

That said, I made a point recently to dive into more cars and tracks. I feel like I'm only scratching the surface of what's available.

One criticism directed at LFS is the limited content. There are 21 different cars, with only a few -- Formula BMW, BMW Sauber F1 and Formula SAE as officially licensed. And there are only seven tracks, with none licensed, real tracks, but they are configured in 54 different layouts.

The complaints are legitimate if you have a hard-on for licensed cars and tracks. But I can counter the criticism easily.

All of the cars in LFS are designed to look and drive just like real-life counterparts. There's a car that's just like an F3, another just like a GP2 or Formula Nippon, one like a touring car, one like a Porsche 911 GT3 etc.

The track designs are brilliant. Street circuits, fast, flowing road circuits, rallycross circuits, a very cool non-symmetrical oval, etc. All of the tracks are really fun to drive.

Another big attraction of LFS for me is that it's really light on system requirements. You can run it in pretty high res even on a laptop with a moderate graphics card or an older PC. It's lighter on resources than GTR 2 and rFactor. I get framerates in the low 90s running online and offline, and it's pretty. I only get in the 40s to 50s racing online in rFactor and in the 60s to 70s racing online with NR 2003.

I was fortunate to receive a purchase code for LFS from DChaps, again proving The Godfather is the benevolent king of sim racing at DSP. But once I dove into LFS, I would have paid for it with ease.

That's the ultimate compliment for a game from me, knowing how tight I am!

If you like the demo, I don't think you'll be disappointed by the full game. But you certainly can have a ton of fun with the demo.

Take care,
PK

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:02 pm

pk500 wrote:But once I dove into LFS, I would have paid for it with ease.

That's the ultimate compliment for a game from me, knowing how tight I am!

That's enough of an endorsement for me. I guess LFS will be my next sim purchase.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:01 pm

A more in-depth look at the cars in Live For Speed and the real-life models they intend to replicate:

http://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/Cars

A couple of pics from various tracks:

The chicane leading to the backstraight at Blackwood. Screw up this complex, and your lap is pooched:

The hilly chicane at Aston:

I've also been going batshit crazy lately downloading LFS skins. A couple of my favorites:

OK. Enough.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:45 pm

Just for PK and it supports realfeel.

Formula Nippon 2008 (FN2008) 1.00

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... 20(FN2008)

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:45 pm

I was thinking about a succinct way to describe the difference between rFactor and Live For Speed last night, and I think it comes down to this:

In all but the very best rFactor mods, your speed is limited by your ability to cope with the flaws in the physics model, namely the "black ice" handling and braking models.

In Live For Speed, your speed is limited almost exclusively by your ability. The physics model is so much more consistent and feels so much more natural than all but the very best rFactor mods.

When I f*ck up in rFactor, I sometimes wonder if it was the physics model or me. When I f*ck up in LFS, I know it was me.

Take care,
PK

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:11 pm

Even without all the analysis, I know that when you f*ck up, it was always you.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:19 pm

TCrouch wrote:Even without all the analysis, I know that when you f*ck up, it was always you.

Eat me.

Sincerely,
Heywood Jablome

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:44 am

Some very good information and development detail about rFactor 2 in the ISI Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/rFactor2

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:11 pm

I like that there will be track models with bumps and dips is welcomed. I hope they use a different graphics and physics engine.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:32 pm

And for the couple of you still playing rFactor The First, iDT have released a revised (no, really, iDT have revised something) version of their Long Beach track:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... ach%202007

It seems that the main fix is for the camber on Shoreline Drive, and I don't know the track anything like well enough to appreciate what wasn't correct the first time. Your mileage may vary.

Silverstone 1987-1990. Haven't tried it yet but it should be good fun in the F1 1988s, especially as it promises to not have the issues carrera.4's Silverstone '88 had with the AI crashing at the start:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... %2D%201990

Finally, for those who weren't at the ostrich race, Phoenix 1991:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... nix%201991

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:36 am

Thanks, Simo.

While LFS occupies 80 percent of my road-racing time, I still play the handful of rFactor mods that really work with Real Feel.

I'm always up for an rFactor Revival if someone wants to call one. But I'm really jones for a Live For Speed Festival. You can race the demo online -- subtle hint, hint.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:03 am

Ah, a mod was released this morning that could reignite my interest in rFactor:

Touring Car Legends
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... %20Legends

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:35 am

Let us know what you think PK cause some are saying that certain cars are too easy to drive like the Benz.