AC or rF2?

[Justin Swan]

Rfactor2 or AC? Not necessarily on looks but which is going to be the better multiplayer? with the best RD club races etc etc? Keep thinking of buying rF2 but don't want to get it then AC becomes the "main" event.

 

[Frank Rogge]

Sorry, but you must wait. We can't look in the future
Isi (rfactor2) have an matured system for the multiplayer, but like i say before, we don't how the multiplayer of AC will work.

 

[Matej Lakota]

Withouth second thought buy them both. I did, I will !

 

[MarcG]

There is no Or, only And.

 

[Craig Booth]

You will be missing out if you don't buy both, assuming AC lives up to expectations.

 

[Andrew Ford]

Rfactor2 or AC? Not necessarily on looks but which is going to be the better multiplayer? with the best RD club races etc etc? Keep thinking of buying rF2 but don't want to get it then AC becomes the "main" event.

Buy them both! I think rf2 has improved a lot. I drove malaysia last night in a Megane and in build 146, the sun shines in your face at certain parts on the course.The physics have improved. Its a top notch game and will only get better. Then again, i think iracing edges it for physics and graphics...so I think AC will be a bit ,more like that but without the subscription.

in terms of clubs, i'm going to guess AC will win it - rfactor 2 hype was there for so long and the beta has been out so long that the hype has died a bit. AC on the other hand...never seen so much hype. Kunos definitely seem to have the upper hand in my opinion. AC are also selling the "easy to mod" aspect where rfactor 2 seems to have had a few issues in the early stages.

 

[Philip Antonia]

I have rF2 and I rarely play it now as it has very poor performance on my system and other than the 60's single seaters I don't like the feel of it. I'm not questioning the physics as it may be 100% accurate, but for me it doesn't translate to feeling through my wheel and other senses :-(.

I'm hoping AC will succeed in that department for me.

On another note R3E runs nicely on my system unlike rF2 and it gives a good feel back through my wheel, visual and audio senses even if we may debate on how much of a "Sim" it is!!

I just can't wait to try AC and also get my copy of Reiza's Formula Truck. Their GSC 2012 hit all the right buttons for me

 

[Hannes-Joshua Thor Barthel]

rf2 has a very strange feel to me here... feels more like driving on baloons then tires... it got better but still feels weird to me...
I purchased rf2 because rf1 was very good in its time.. and I thought rf2 will be good evolution of it.. but at the moment it feels more like an early pre pre alpha built to me.. nothing you could call a beta... indeed pcars feels better in some cases then rf2 to me... it also has some strange behavior but atleast it doesn't have that ballon feeling... also it is not called a beta like rf2...it has also some realy strange physic stuff going on... if you drive the formula2 car at limerock for example.. and going over the hill... you can make a controlled wheelie like on a bike.. the whole straigt till the next turn... feels broken


RRRE is total crap in my opinion... don't know what went to simbins mind while they developed that...it won't score at the gran tourismo / forza fraction and it won't score at the sim fraction.. from a title like gtr2 to that is a huge step down in my opinion don't know if they can survive that...

Iracing is Iracing.. you like and "hate" it at the same time and is mp wise a whole differend thing...

so AC seems to be the only "next gen" sim which isn't "broken"...is a true sim.. has a great feel..
(I didn't palyed AC yet like most people I need to wait till the tp is for the nkp public available... but I have a strong feeling that AC will be very very good in terms of feel and physics... it feels like it will be the first sim I will like more then lfs, nkp and fva (put lfs in there because for me it feels realy good in a lot of ways) in terms of feeling/physics
... I don't know I just have that feeling.. and because I played nkp and fva I know kunos is the right team to build a very very good sim ... )
in terms of the question of the OP ofcourse we need to wait to see how much popular AC will become but it is already more popular then nkp... and if the word spreads how good AC is when it's released the popularity can grow...
but in the usual mp aspect (where I count leauge and club things into) I don't see much obstacles.. fire up a server with a pw... let people join.. race.. collect the results..

so for me AC seems to have alot potential in that area too.. because like I said before it seems to me that it will be one of the few sims to get it right feeling/physics and graphics wise... even the sound seems to be quite good by judging the videos out there (where the sound still wasn't finished)...
and I see more potential for good leagues etc if the sim itself is right then with a "broken" sim...

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Like those before me said...BOTH is a must dude!

 

[Sunil Odedra]

^ Great post Josefhead!

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

^ Great post Josefhead!

You must either be both joking or I'm just having a bad dream...

 

[Sunil Odedra]

You must either be both joking or I'm just having a bad dream...

You ain't dreaming, bud! The way I feel about rf2 is that the learning curve is mainly learning the sim instead if each car. It's hard to go to another sim after driving rf2 as I have to unlearn again. Just my opinion

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

I own rf2 but hardly ever fire it up...I like the feel of the cars and real road could be a game changer but for me it just doesn't run worth a damn. I have a pretty decent system (i5 2500k, 2 6950's crossfired on single screen) but to get the game to run any kind of smooth I have to turn off so many graphics that it looks worse than rf1. Hopefully by the time it goes gold all that will be sorted and it will be a very good sim.. I have utmost faith that AC will be great but its all speculation until we actually get to drive the TP.

 

[XN-Sigma]

I've been in the pCARS "pre-alpha" since last february, and I have to say, I'm done getting myself into "alphas". There is nothing more off putting than playing a game that always feels incomplete, under featured and full of bugs, and for that reason I'm avoiding RFactor 2 until it's released for good.

What gives me some hope with AC is that the first actual public release will supposedly be bug "free" and "complete"(I mean, sure there will be features missing, but the ones in the game on release will be done right.).

Also, AC attracts me more than any other sim for several reasons, the main one being it's potential to become much bigger than the rest, through modding, but this is one huge IF, only time will tell how it all goes.

And any F2P/always online racing games like Simraceway, RRRE or iRacing are, in my personal view, pure trash to me, don't think too much about this, it's just how I view them.

 

[Tobbe Bergman]

AC = Most things are really good with a few exceptions like MP.

rF2 = A couple of things are really good like Physics & FFB but the rest is mediocre or worse.

IMO AC has the most complete package by far and are closing in on rF2 when it comes to FFB and AI.

rF2 can only dream of having the graphics, audio and content that AC have.

IMO AC have a more well balanced package and feels more like a modern Next Gen Sim due to Graphics, Audio, Content and a really nice physics engine.

rF2 desperately needs better UI, Graphics, Audio and Content to stay competitive against AC that keeps getting better for every update.

I like both but tend to use AC more due to the sheer amount of high quality content and the graphics and audio sure increases the immersion factor greatly.

 

[William Wester]

We all have our opinions and preferences, my preference:

Advantage goes to:

Graphics - AC
FFB, AI, audio, complete package, content - rF2
Physics - both feel good, I don't know enough to provide an expert opinion - Tie

I think the metrics should be weighted based on the what's important to the person giving the opinion. Examples:
1) Many like road cars but I prefer race cars (advantage rF2). As for tracks, I have a ton in both.
2) I like eye candy (advantage AC)
3) Complete package for "racing" - multi player options, car setup options, practice/time trial/race options, flags/rules, etc.(advantage rF2)

My "opinion" is no more accurate that anyone else. But for what I look for I may rate differently.

With that said, AC has been getting very good in area's once dominated by rF2, and if I didn't rate AC the best in a category doesn't mean it's not good. I like both.

 

[Ghoults]

I like the good car selection of ac. It is the first sim ever to have the iconic supercars and other drivers' cars in its car selection. If you want to drive ferrari F40, ruf yellowbird or the newest top of the line supersuper cars or 90s dtm cars or whatever cars it is likely that there is something like that in ac to drive. Only big groups of cars that are missing are nascar style oval race cars and really old cars. And what's even better is that they all drive well. It is not a lottery like in some other sims where there are big differences in quality between cars.

Sure if I get to choose which game has the best car selection then the forzas and gran turismos are impossible to beat. But if you want good physics those games just don't cut it. People may disagree but this is my opinion.

Then what about track selection? I think when it comes to tracks iracing just wins hands down. The amount of detail is just on its own level. It is on its own level on pricing as well. And that pricing is tied to their business model. But still when it comes to tracks nothing gets close. It is not just the road surface but all the braking markers as well. And laser scanned road detail is still unbeatable.

So sounds? I think sound is still very under developed feature in racing games. Real race cars are noisy as hell but most sims tend to only focus on getting the engine sound and the tire squeel there. After that it is almost job done for many of them. There is generally very little wind noise, suspensions are so well oiled and lubricated that it makes you think do they even do any maintenance at all in real life when the real cars sound like elephant in hardware store at times when going over kerbs.

Maybe it is just priority thing? Maybe people think that sound should use as little processing power as possible so other aspects of the game can use more? Maybe it is just me but I'm still hoping for more richer experience in this regard. Still I think some sims deserve a mention. In iracing when the sound is good it is usually really good. But at times it is a bit too clean. Ac can sound good as well. Raceroom sounds nice at times as well. Ac is not bad. Even forzas and probably pcars are not horrible.

The graphics. Well I don't care really. As long as it runs smooth it looks good enough for me. Although I think iracing's dirty windshield effect deserves a mention here. Just like nkpro's visual tire wear. Or lfs's and rf2 visual tire deformation. Rf2 damage does look a bit comical at times but it is also closes to the real thing at this point.

Physics.Well I like ac and rf2. I don't like iracing. Rf1 can be good but generally in all isi engined sims (rf1, rf2, game stock car etc...) I can't feel the car even close to the detail I can in ac, lfs or iracing. But I just said I did not like iracing yet I can feel the car? For me the feel of the car (specifically what I mean here is the ability to feel what the car is doing) is separate from what I see as quality of the driving physics. And even then I specifically mean the ability to feel the car. Not how it feels. But can I feel it. I hope you understand what I mean.

I can literally jump into any car in ac and have good feeling of the car after few laps. While I think the sim has become little less sim in the last 2 patches (too easy) it is still the best sim for me in terms of being able to feel what the car is doing. Recovering slides, anticipating slides, understeers and rotating the car. Doing small corrections. Not necessarily the most realistic but most controllable maybe for the lack of better word? Braking without abs is a bit iffy though in some cars. Overall the game communicates really well what the car does. Nkpro did this as well although in the beginning that sim did suffer from cardboard feeling tires. But after its first physics update it was golden.

With iracing I can feel the car as well. But what I feel I don't like. But looking at the roots I played tons of gpl and that game had good feel as well. There is something how these sims communicate through the screen that I find missing in isi based sims. Even with all cockpit camera shakes and rubber neck simulations turned off from the game and from the ini and config files it is still there. Or isn't.

So on the other end is rf1. Slides are just impossible to feel once the slip angle goes above 25 degrees or so. The car just glides and glides until it doesn't. At limit it can tell me kinda well what is going on but going over it is just nothingness. I don't mean I'm spinning out. Just that the game fails to tell me what is going on. Rf2 is little better. But it still has lots of blackout moments. Like coming out of corner I don't notice the car is still yawing until I get back on throttle and get into big slide. Even in iracing which suffers from icy spins I can at least feel when the car is savable or not. You need really fast hands but you can feel what to do. When the car yaws you feel it yaws.

Then ffb. I think rf2 and rf1 are really good still. Ac has improved a lot but doesn't have the overall levels of detail and depth that you get in rf1 and rf2. But when driving at racing speeds I don't think there are huge differences. Iracing I don't think is very good in comparison. In ac some cars suffer from shaky ffb. The ktm or the lotus 49 have lots of chatter (constant small spikes to left and right while driving) for some reason. I think rf2 is the best. Going from iracing to rf2 feels like I'm using completely different wheel. In iracing I feel that the ffb slows me down all the time. In rf2 I feel like the ffb does it job. It gets in the way when it should but it is also informative and nuanced and doesn't seem to have any specific weakness. I've spend lots of time calibrating my wheel and I'm familiar with the ll the different features (minforce, damping, filtering, wheelcheck, effects levels, damping types etc...) in all games.

For example in ac these weaknesses are slow speed driving, big camber angles (wheel goes limb when you try to drive on two wheels) or situations where the tire goes over a bump in a way that the bump is not in the center of the tire. If you imagine driving over a potato I rf2 you can feel at which part of the tire (left, center or right) the potato hit. In ac you just barely feel you drove over something. In iracing you feel going over something but not sure which tire went over what.

Then multiplayer. I think rf2 just plain sucks for its online fee. Has the best feature list but also has one of the worst features by having paywall. Online users amounts also look suspiciously low. Ac seems to run kinda well but is missing tons of basic features. Most of those features are impossible to even add to the game because of the separated launcher and game .exes. But ac still has loads of people online and can offer good racing in many kinds of cars. Not just gt cars.

I'm not really fan of iracing. I want to race when I feel like it. I don't want to wait hours to drive something I like. I want to jump online and have back to back races so I can get my fix and do as many races as possible within the 2 hours or so I'm playing. Similarly it is hard to like gamestock car at times. Generally there is nobody to race with. Although the people I've seen online are incredibly friendly and seem to have very good driving standards. People even get out of the way in qualifying when you are on a hotlap yourself. I just wish there was more people... But when there are it seems you race complete strangers really hard and they don't use you as a brake. Amazing races when you can find a race.

Then of course rf2 has all those features. Rain, realroad, complex physics features and plethora of racing features like rolling starts for example. Good ai. Graphics are good enough for me. Sounds are horrible for the most part. The road corvette sounds absolutely attrocious for example.

So if I get to choose the overall package: Iracing tracks, rf2 physics with ac feel. Sounds from raceroom, ac and iracing. Forza car selection. Multiplayer player numbers from ac, players from game stock car, actual online racing system from lfs. Rf2 ffb.

Or if I get to choose just one I'll take ac. For all its faults it has the best car selection and the physics are good enough to offset the lack of features. If rf2 had good car selection, better online system and I could feel what the car is doing better while driving it would be more clear winner than supernova exploding in the middle of the night in your bedroom.

tldr. I like turtles.

 

[TobiasR]

Nice necro. Lots of people complain about MP in AC and rF2, but to be honest, they provide a very similar experience if you're running in private servers/leagues.

 

[Jim Liak]

Buy both.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

And then go get Stock Car Extreme. Best single player racing experience out there.