Racing Sim Thread, Part II

[Rodster]

Impressions of Assetto Corsa Release Candidate? I'm really enjoying the title. While the AI still needs a lot of work (pretty much sticks to the racing line, once you pass it's easy to gap), the physics are fantastic. Looking forward to tracks mods getting updated to run in 1.0 - haven't tried loading up the mods I installed pre-RC.

I like it a lot. It reminds me of Gran Turismo in a way. The graphics aren't the best and chugs if you up the eye candy which still looks weak but the car handling/physics are pretty convincing i.e. "RBR".

[F308GTB]

Impressions of Assetto Corsa Release Candidate? I'm really enjoying the title. While the AI still needs a lot of work (pretty much sticks to the racing line, once you pass it's easy to gap), the physics are fantastic. Looking forward to tracks mods getting updated to run in 1.0 - haven't tried loading up the mods I installed pre-RC.

I like it a lot. It reminds me of Gran Turismo in a way. The graphics aren't the best and chugs if you up the eye candy which still looks weak but the car handling/physics are pretty convincing i.e. "RBR".

I'm not having any slowdown issues. It's consistently running a smooth 120-180 fps (single display, nearly maxxed on all features, GTX-770). I did have stuttering in one of the early release pushes. Significant stuttering. I quick change of the assettocorsa/system/cfg/graphics.ini file fixed things. For the MAXIMUM_FRAME_LATENCY, if 0 try 1. If 1, try 0. See if it fixes things. Also, did you do a clean install?

[GB_Simo]

Yet to try it, for reasons which will shortly become apparent, but looking forward to doing so. I do need to get the G25 out and sit down for a few hours with it, having just ran a quick mental sum which confirms that at present course and speed, it'll take me until 2023 to drive every Lotus in the game.

One thing I liked about the early access physics was that it didn't make driving difficult for the sake of it. So many sims give the impression that a car is difficult to drive even at 50% of its potential, because someone, somewhere has decreed that hard as nails = realistic. AC's stance is more along the lines that we can all drive a car, that it's not really that hard to drive a car around at a steady pace, but that the limit is a lairy old place to be. I've seen Kunos being criticised for this elsewhere on the Internet but to me, it feels right.

Anyone still after a Moto GP 14 deal? I'm currently in Spain, where it's showing as 50% off in a week-long Steam deal that I assume would be available worldwide - the price is €19.99, so I guess the GBP and USD prices will be in that kind of neighbourhood with a £ or $ swapped in.

[TCrouch]

Did they ever put in a career mode or anything into Assetto Corsa?

[F308GTB]

Did they ever put in a career mode or anything into Assetto Corsa?

Yes, but it's not very deep. About a dozen series that have limited fields. Setting up a single race with more laps and deeper field is a better experience. Had high hopes for the career mode, and honestly it fell flat.

[Rodster]

Impressions of Assetto Corsa Release Candidate? I'm really enjoying the title. While the AI still needs a lot of work (pretty much sticks to the racing line, once you pass it's easy to gap), the physics are fantastic. Looking forward to tracks mods getting updated to run in 1.0 - haven't tried loading up the mods I installed pre-RC.

I like it a lot. It reminds me of Gran Turismo in a way. The graphics aren't the best and chugs if you up the eye candy which still looks weak but the car handling/physics are pretty convincing i.e. "RBR".

I'm not having any slowdown issues. It's consistently running a smooth 120-180 fps (single display, nearly maxxed on all features, GTX-770). I did have stuttering in one of the early release pushes. Significant stuttering. I quick change of the assettocorsa/system/cfg/graphics.ini file fixed things. For the MAXIMUM_FRAME_LATENCY, if 0 try 1. If 1, try 0. See if it fixes things. Also, did you do a clean install?

I'm not having your success that's for sure and it was from a clean install. I also have a GTX 770 and i7 3770K. I had to turn down some of the settings and turn off the rear view mirror and 'post effects'. I tried the .ini file edit and no improvements. Once I turned down some of the settings it smoothed out. How can you tell the in game FPS? Is there a way to reset the graphics settings as the game uploads to either their server or Steam's server?

[F308GTB]

I'm not having your success that's for sure and it was from a clean install. I also have a GTX 770 and i7 3770K. I had to turn down some of the settings and turn off the rear view mirror and 'post effects'. I tried the .ini file edit and no improvements. Once I turned down some of the settings it smoothed out. How can you tell the in game FPS? Is there a way to reset the graphics settings as the game uploads to either their server or Steam's server?

I upped all the graphics settings to the max and it dumped to ~30 fps. I backed off to

Display - 1920x1080 60 Hz, single screen, fulllscreen rendering checked, 8x filtering, 2x ani-aliasing, world detail max, shadow high
Effects - smoke normal, smoke in mirrors unchecked, post-processing checked, all 3 quality settings high
Reflections - mirror normal, high quality mirror reflection checked, reflection quality medium

With that I get 100-120 fps

You can get the display stats by starting a race and moving the cursor over to the right side of the screen. A column of boxes should appear, and about halfway down is "render stats". Just click on it and a small window should pop up.

[Jimmydeicide]

Figured this was the best place to ask this.
So i got my Thrustmaster TX wheel yesterday and my worst fear came true. Off center!
Cant find much on if its fixable and cant figure out how to change it with the pc software ( i move slider and nothing happens)
I did update the firmware to 47 but that was weird too readme says to do this bootloader thing but i was never prompted for that.

Xbox doesn't see a controller for it . Is this correct? It says no devices connected even though its working in game.

So I'm not a happy camper at the moment as this was a huge luxury purchase for me so this problem just piles on the guilt factor ten fold.
Hopefully one of you can help maybe a forum thread you frequent has discussion on it?
Much appreciated fellas.

[TCrouch]

I know if you connect the wheel to the PC out of sequence (where it says DO NOT CONNECT on the sticker), it does that. I've had a few friends who had the same issue.

You should be able to uninstall the driver from the PC completely and then make sure the wheel is disconnected completely, then reboot.

After reboot, install their driver but do not connect it to the PC until it asks you to. Once it does, let it install.

Once the driver install is finished, you can go into the properties and update firmware directly from there.

The only time I've seen it off center is when Windows attempts to install a driver on its own, rather than installing the Thrustmaster FFB drivers and then connecting the wheel.

[DChaps]

Jimmy, basically the same thing happened to me and it was due to the order that I installed the firmware. Terry's steps should work. I feel your pain, as I had about a week where I was in the same boat, but thankfully Mix helped me out, along with Thrustmaster tech support. If you have no luck with the uninstall/re-install process try to talk to a live person at Thrustmaster tech support. It took me several tries, but once I got through to a live person, they were very helpful. Also, as far as the Xbox One is concerned, I plug into the back USB port, and I always start up without any other controllers connected. There seems to be mixed info about this, but I have found it works for me now most of the time. I can later connect a regualr controller, after I am in the game Forza 5 or Forza Horizon 2, but I do not have them turned on initially. The other thing that has helped me immensenely is going into the advanced/force feedback controller settings and turning the degrees of rotation from 900 to around 330-360 (depends on the car). Sounds strange I know, but i found this recommendation from Turn 10 employee who is pretty fast. The steering just seems tighter and more repsonsive to me. Only problem is that neither Forza 5 or Forza Horizon 2 retains that setting after you make the change. Therefore, I need to remember to go configure that every time I boot up the game. Not a big deal though. When I get home I will see if I have any links to some of the threads/sites that helped me get my wheel figured out. Good Luck, it is worth it in the end!

[Jimmydeicide]

Thanks guys, think i got it sorted, found a t500 thread and tried a couple of suggestions.
One was a slow calibration which holds it to the left longer it was better, the other said after it goes through calibration on pc to manually move it all the way left then all the way right (kinda old school) and make sure the calibration reads 50 dead center, well it did and it held up in Forza so far.

Feeling much better about the purchase , now i can actually enjoy the thing without the guilt.

I read to switch to 540 and tried it, was a little better, but how do you get 330 in Forza do you have to set it on pc first or something?

Thanks again guys.

[TCrouch]

You go into Profile, then to controller I think it was. Then hit X to get to advanced, and it's one of the options in there, along with dead zone, FFB, etc.

FWIW, I always run on 900 in games. Especially in FM5/FH2, I tried lower settings and the car is too twitchy for my tastes. I like to have very precise turn-in and balance through a corner, and the game is tuned so perfectly for the default 900 that I have always used it and done alright with it.

The only issue you'll run into using 900 is that when the car starts to get loose, you really have to let the wheel spin back the other way to catch it, rather than a quick jerk on the wheel to counter. But other than that, I can't think of one complaint I have about 900. It feels closer to a real car, but in some cases (like F1 cars), it's a bit odd when the race car itself has a smaller radius--but even then the games do a pretty good job of adjusting it on the fly. I don't turn an F1 car the same amount I do with a Mini Cooper, for example.

But everybody's different, so if you try 300 or 330/360 and find the car jumping around too much when trying to adjust in a corner, you may want to try running on the default to see where you're at, too. Right now you don't even know WHAT you like, so trying everything will help

[Jimmydeicide]

Oh, i was changing it on the wheel then going back to the advanced menu to see the change , never thought it was just a slider lol thanks Darren Gangi. It was his video i watched.

Yeh Terry the reason i even looked at changing from 900 was exactly the point you make its much harder to correct because of how much wheel movement is involved.
Very small sample size though one race before work in the Suburu wrx.

[TCrouch]

That's just a slider for PC games so you can leave a game at 100% saturation and you only turn the wheel a third turn to hit lock, for example.

Has no impact on the XB1, though.

[Jimmydeicide]

Advanced menu in Forza sorry , not Thrustmaster control panel.

[Jimmydeicide]

Spoke too soon. Cant go straight to Forza without it being off centre. POS.

Question, does xbox one recognize your wheel in devices? I'm right in front of the kinect 8 inches away nothing, probably wont make a lick of difference too my problem I'm sure.

When your wheel auto calibrates does it go back to center? Mine is 180 of center at finish meaning the Ferrari logo is upside down.

[DChaps]

I don't know that this will help at all, but I made a quick video of my normal startup process for using the Thustmaster TX wheel with the Xbox One. You will have to excuse the poor camera work and dialog.

[Jimmydeicide]

Thanks so much DC. Seeing the calibration is a big help, mine does the exact same thing, it seemed weird to me that it didnt go back to center but it does center eventually as you ready to play yes.
Im not going to say its fixed this time but it does seem to center now on xbox, i had to do a full reset of the usb ports, all that means is disconnect power cord on xbox only tried once since then so im hoping i dont have to do it every time because if it does its going back im not dealing with the BS.
An xbox product should just plug in and be ready to go like all other controls especially at this price point.
Fingers crossed.

Thanks again.

[GB_Simo]

Fellas, plenty of discounted racing titles on Steam just now. Where I am, MotoGP 14 is £9.99, MXGP is £6.79 or thereabouts, the Simbin Mega Bundle is £5.99, DTM 2013 about the same and Wreckfest (the new Flatout game - still in Early Access but what's there us big fun) £11.99. There are a bunch of other deals too, so it's worth having a look and seeing if any of them take your fancy.

rFactor 2 is 20% off using code RF2TGWEEKEND20 and iRacing subscribers can renew for another year at 50% off by entering PR-49RENEW2014. As is usual with iRacing, you can renew for future years in advance too - that code can be used up to 5 times if you want to stack up a few years of membership now.

[F308GTB]

Fellas, plenty of discounted racing titles on Steam just now. Where I am, MotoGP 14 is £9.99, MXGP is £6.79 or thereabouts, the Simbin Mega Bundle is £5.99, DTM 2013 about the same and Wreckfest (the new Flatout game - still in Early Access but what's there us big fun) £11.99. There are a bunch of other deals too, so it's worth having a look and seeing if any of them take your fancy.

What's your impression of RaceRoom? Tried the free part of it and wasn't too impressed. The October update busted my wheel detection and haven't really tried to figure it out.

Did pick up the Simbin mega bundle - had some but not all. MotoGP is something I've had for a month now and really enjoy it. It's been fun trying to compete in the lower classes in career mode. Was going to get MXGP but the reviews said it's simply too easy. The other day I picked up TD Ferrari Racing Legends as part of the Steam sale. Sure it's got some major issues, but it's got a ton of Ferrari models, some of which you won't find anywhere else, and it's only $5.

[Rodster]

Fellas, plenty of discounted racing titles on Steam just now. Where I am, MotoGP 14 is £9.99, MXGP is £6.79 or thereabouts, the Simbin Mega Bundle is £5.99, DTM 2013 about the same and Wreckfest (the new Flatout game - still in Early Access but what's there us big fun) £11.99. There are a bunch of other deals too, so it's worth having a look and seeing if any of them take your fancy.

What's your impression of RaceRoom? Tried the free part of it and wasn't too impressed. The October update busted my wheel detection and haven't really tried to figure it out.

Did pick up the Simbin mega bundle - had some but not all. MotoGP is something I've had for a month now and really enjoy it. It's been fun trying to compete in the lower classes in career mode. Was going to get MXGP but the reviews said it's simply too easy. The other day I picked up TD Ferrari Racing Legends as part of the Steam sale. Sure it's got some major issues, but it's got a ton of Ferrari models, some of which you won't find anywhere else, and it's only $5.

I tried it as well and wasn't too impressed. The AI is borderline shite to put it mildly. The physics seems a little exaggerated but the graphics are really good. Their IAP leaves a little to be desired. Instead of pricing their DLC in real currencies you pay with real currencies to buy their virtual currency.

[GB_Simo]

What's your impression of RaceRoom? Tried the free part of it and wasn't too impressed. The October update busted my wheel detection and haven't really tried to figure it out.

Did pick up the Simbin mega bundle - had some but not all. MotoGP is something I've had for a month now and really enjoy it. It's been fun trying to compete in the lower classes in career mode. Was going to get MXGP but the reviews said it's simply too easy. The other day I picked up TD Ferrari Racing Legends as part of the Steam sale. Sure it's got some major issues, but it's got a ton of Ferrari models, some of which you won't find anywhere else, and it's only $5.

I've only tried the free part and only briefly at that. Looked nice enough, sounded nice enough, drove like there were handling aids switched on even when I'd turned them off. The AI appeared to have a different, much more creative interpretation of what a gap looks like, I didn't think it was as good as AC or particularly GSC Extreme and so I explored no further. I've read that it's an altogether better sim after recent updates but I've got no motivation to find out.

TD Ferrari Racing Legends has a certain charm. I bought it this time last year and have found it full of flaws that might have mattered at full price, but it only cost me 3 quid and I get to drive turbo F1 cars around old Silverstone so I'm happy enough.

MXGP might well be too easy once you're practiced at it but I've played the demo on 360 and PC and I'm equally terrible at both, so if there's anyone here with only a very basic knowledge of how riding a bike works, those folk might find some challenge. My two main issues are that I'm very slow and that I fall off constantly - I have no real idea of the lines I'm meant to be taking, when to scrub or anything like that, which isn't that far removed from buying Battlefield and having to ask what those guns do.

[GB_Simo]

When I was 20, I read that Virtua LM's Prototype C mod from F1 Challenge 99-02 was being converted to rFactor. Having never been able to play Prototype C (dial-up Internet, automatic cut-off every 2 hours. Misty watercolour memories...), I'd managed to glean enough from here and elsewhere to know that I should be quite excited.

When I was 21, broadband Internet became accessible and affordable. I was set. Oh boy, was I set.

The mod is very nearly finished. I am 29 years old. If you still have an rF1 install on your hard drive, or if you can stomach the idea of reinstalling the vanilla sim, Leo's or RealFeel, the tracks, your preferred UI tweaks and Lord knows what else, read on...:

http://www.virtualr.net/gtpc-rfactor-coming-soon

[Rodster]

F1 2014 is officially my favorite Codie's F1 game in the series. I bought it during the Steam sale. I love the AI and how competitive they are this year. When they're chasing you they'll drop behind your slipstream down the straights if you get defensive and try the pass if you mess up.

The Pitstops are unreal in all their glory when coming in for a tire change and watching fully active pitcrews coming out for their drivers while you're coming in for a tire change. This year the cockpit cam works. I don't know what they did if they changed the angle or what but it looks awesome.

I'm still impressed with all the graphical details and makes me wonder what we have in store when they release F1 2015 in a few months. Supposedly all the platforms including the PC will go next gen graphics. I hope I don't need to upgrade my graphics card just yet.

[GB_Simo]

What's your impression of RaceRoom? Tried the free part of it and wasn't too impressed. The October update busted my wheel detection and haven't really tried to figure it out.

I've only tried the free part and only briefly at that. Looked nice enough, sounded nice enough, drove like there were handling aids switched on even when I'd turned them off. The AI appeared to have a different, much more creative interpretation of what a gap looks like, I didn't think it was as good as AC or particularly GSC Extreme and so I explored no further. I've read that it's an altogether better sim after recent updates but I've got no motivation to find out.

Until today, when I had no motivation to do something entirely different and figured RaceRoom would do this procrastinator quite nicely as a means of killing an hour.

I tried some fictional prototype or other at Portimao, carrying the twin disadvantages of knowing neither the car nor the track, and found the whole business to be very entertaining. I skipped qualifying, so started last of 20 cars with AI set to 100% (there are settings above and below that, just as there used to be in ToCA once upon a time), and didn't get a whole lot further up the field before hurling myself at a conveniently-placed fence. I therefore spent a good amount of time in the company of some reasonably sensible AI, enough to report that they gave me space when I needed it, took advantage of my numerous mistakes and weren't at all shy about fighting back with a little cross-over on corner exit when my outbraking attempts came from the file marked "A Bit Optimistic, Simo..."

My one note of caution AI-wise is that everyone on the grid was far, far quicker than me through the long, fast final corner, but it's far too early to say whether I can fix that myself - the corner feels like a mystery tour every time I arrive there, so the time might well be in me.

I felt the FFB was fairly light and would have liked to feel a bit more force but I always had a fair idea of when and why I was about to spin, whether I'd locked a brake and so on. The sounds, particularly the terrifically throaty engine note, are excellent and I didn't feel as though there was any faux stability assistance keeping me in play, as I had done when I first tried RaceRoom. I did, however, only run about 6 laps, so nothing like enough to commit myself to spending money. That much, of course, is obvious.

DTM Experience 2014, then...

I've always liked DTM cars, you see. I first became aware of German touring car racing when Steve Soper was flitting between there and Britain for BMW, then followed them as closely as a 10 year old kid in a different country could do when the series switched to those brilliantly nutty Class 1 machines during the mid-90s. (For the uninitiated, they're the cars from Sega Touring Car Championship.) To have the modern cars properly simulated was, as it turns out, enough for me to hand over £19.99 on the back of 6 laps spent driving a completely unrelated car and, while I've only had one race with them, I'm feeling fairly confident about my purchase.

The main difference between DTM Experience and vanilla RaceRoom - apart, that is, from the real-life DTM rules, TV graphics and so forth - is that the cars speak to you that much more. I ran qualifying and race at Red Bull Ring in a Mercedes, again with the 100% AI, and started out trying to throw the car around like a quick single-seater. In my mind, I'd decided that a DTM car had downforce and that the logical thing would be to drive it like an F1 car, which made me feel very heroic but delivered a lap time nearer last than first. The rear of the car danced around under braking, then when I got that sorted out I found time to lock the inside front, apply entirely too much steering lock chasing an apex I'd already condemned myself to missing and set the rear twitching away again trying to gain that time back on corner exit. The FFB in DTM Experience felt that bit more communicative and that bit more willing to point out that I was driving like an ape, enough so that by the end of Q1, I'd already gone a long way to fixing what I'd got wrong.

The trick with the DTM cars is to be earlier and softer on the brakes than you expect, finesse the car into a corner and then deploy the heavy boot on exit. The car always seems to feel on edge when you're near the limit so there are plenty of little slides to catch, and you will catch them because they're gentle, progressive and really good fun through all phases of a corner. The brakes behave broadly as you'd imagine they should do, accepting a lot of pedal travel (or pressure for you new-fangled load cell types) when the car is loaded with downforce and requiring you to modulate that pressure as the speed and downforce falls away - I'm having a lot of little lock-ups and a reasonable number of bigger, more upsetting ones trying to explore the limits of the braking model.

I won from pole so didn't have that much to do with the AI - my three laps in traffic during the mandatory pit stops passed without incident and I was able to overtake Daniel Juncadella on the outside under braking without involving anyone in a huge shunt, which was nice, but beyond that I can report only that I didn't notice anything screwy going on. I came to DTM Experience having raced Assetto Corsa at Spa and the difference between AC's numb, inert drivers and DTM's virtual competitors is night and day.

All in all, colour me surprised. After previous experience, I really, really didn't expect to enjoy this, much less to end up spending money on it. If it weren't for RaceRoom's pricing structure, I might quietly suggest that my first impressions have the DTM cars up there with Game Stock Car Extreme for offline racing...