Have Your Say: Wet Weather Sim Racing - Is It Even Necessary?

mister dog · Sep 9, 2017

I was in WMD2 for a while and I think SMS made the wet weather racing quite enjoyable this time round for PC2. I didn't really like it in PC1 but for 2 they improved both racing in the rain and also dirt racing is fun.

If the majority of us 'sim racers' agree with me after it's released (hopefully we'll get a polished game come sep. 22), then it will set a new benchmark for Kunos/Reiza/S3 and other devs in the genre.

Besides, we've been nagging about having this so much in the 'non dynamic' era this past decade, that they must feel obliged now to feature it with their next games

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Rany · Sep 10, 2017

Just look at the previous R2Play rf2 online servers. 99% of them use sunny, clear sky configuration!

Just look here http://burningwhee1s.blogspot.my/ 99% of them races are sunny, clear sky configuration!

Rain,Thunderstorm,Fog - Marketing BS...but dynamic weather is nice.

mister dog · Sep 10, 2017

It's always nice to have the luxury to organize a wet one with your mates in a private lobby, so screw those stats

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michelforest · Sep 10, 2017

I think it adds realism to a racing game, particularly if that game is about simulating an existing championship. I can't imagine a "real" F1 sim without rain, considering that at least a few races every season will be held in wet weather (during the race or qualifications.) That's the only negative point of the DTM Experience in RRE: no wet weather. If gamers don't want to race in the rain, they can always turn off that option, but I like the fact that it is available in the Codemasters F1 games and Project 2.

Ghoults · Sep 10, 2017

Personally I like driving in the rain. It is definite bonus for me. Night racing is something I don't really care about but racing in the rain is most of the time fun. Unless the car is understeery turd (so it becomes even worse in the rain) the rain always is good fun. Cars generally tend to move around more in the rain which is something I like too. Although not all combos are suitable for rain. Big power big turbos generally don't provide much enjoyment because you are most of the time either wheelspinning or spooling the turbo back up.

Whether rain is necessary is kinda more difficult question though. Necessary is a very strong word and there have been many good sims that did not have rain. Just like there have been many sims that were not saved by having rain. In the end I think all sim features can be divided into different groups. Mandatory features like good setup options for ffb and graphics, smooth fps and good physics. Necessary features like good car and track selection, sensible pricing model and functional ui. Then after necessary things you get the useful bits. Rain, car skins, good netcode, ai, false starts... Below that you get things like apps and plugins and career modes and such.

In the end if things were simply interchangeable I'd rather take rain than visual damage on cars for example.

I think rain also suffers a bit from how people use it. When there is an option of having rain people tend to think too binary. Either full rain or full dry. Monsoon driving can be fun in its own crazy way but the best rain is somewhere between moderate drizzle and moderate downpour. Enough to be unpredictable and have the driving lines and grip changing but not enough to cause aquaplaning.

apex11 · Sep 10, 2017

There is value in saying that you want to replicate real life and rain is a part of racing. For sure if a game has it I welcome it as long as i can turn the effect off when i chose and i'm not forced inot using it like PCars. Its all about choices.
But from my personal view if a game doesn't have rain then i won't put me off.
The worry is that when they introduce rain it looks great but either the AI is super awesome in it or its done half arsed and bugs happen like AI not pitting for wets etc...al la PCars 1....it looked ace, but rain in career was bugged to hell.
And i only wish i'd started a blog back when PCars was released and slagged it off there so Ian Bell could of paid me off and paid for me to race....

mrbungle83 · Sep 10, 2017

I won't use a rain option if i dont get raindrops. Thats why RF2's weather is pointless to me. Pcars weather looked ok but seems like a rush job, hope pcars 2 does it better. I have a feeling if kunos did it, it would be done properly.

Daggerman · Sep 10, 2017

Rain fundamentally changes the driving handling model, for that reason, it holds more sway than the inclusion of "night racing".

Ive always enjoyed racing in the wet, no idea why people dont use it.

apex11 · Sep 10, 2017

Daggerman said:
Rain fundamentally changes the driving handling model, for that reason, it holds more sway than the inclusion of "night racing".

Ive always enjoyed racing in the wet, no idea why people dont use it.

I supose its because from my side as someone who has driven cars in the rain for decades on the roads, driven racing cars and track cars in the rain and also driven karts in the wet many many times everything feels lighter everything feels more like you are using your body rather than anything else to feel your way around, the cues i need as someone who drives in real life, I need that extra weight to FFB so in games the wet always brings lack of FFB but then that's like driving blind....it doesn't work that well in games IMO.

mantasisg · Sep 10, 2017

I wish people would use more variety in their lives. THis especially fits weather/grip options in sim racing.

AC allows dusty or old grip setting, and temperatures down to 10C, and those are almost never used online.

It is sad.

Of course you won't beat your PB in low grip. Don't care about PB, care about challenge.

But still big hopes for fully simulated wet track racing. rF2 comes close

CC · Sep 10, 2017

Rany said:
Just look at the previous R2Play rf2 online servers. 99% of them use sunny, clear sky configuration!
Just look here http://burningwhee1s.blogspot.my/ 99% of them races are sunny, clear sky configuration!
Rain,Thunderstorm,Fog - Marketing BS...but dynamic weather is nice.

My opinion is , and this is just my opinion ,
Future of all sims is 100% scanned tracks ,
but regarding weather ,

why not have live server statistics , actually connected to live weather reports ,
so when you actually racing ,
does not matter if you racing in USA , or China ,
local weather reports actually effecting the racing on track live as its happening ,
100% realistic live dynamic weather .
but like I say just my opinion

tpw · Sep 10, 2017

If the AI are affected by rain the same as the player, then I welcome it, otherwise it looks pretty but is just an exercise in frustration when racing offline. In wet conditions pCars1 and rF2 AI can maintain implausible levels of grip and control in conditions that have the player floundering (pun intended).

AleDaRimini · Sep 10, 2017

Is it a "racing" simulator or simply a "car physics" simulator?
In real life racing rain happens, so if you want to fully simulate racing conditions you MUST simulate wet condition as well. But most importantly you have to simulate DYNAMIC weather conditions. SimBin's simulators did this more that 10 years ago. So, come on lazy developers, make some real, full racing conditions simulators.

whip · Sep 10, 2017

yes, racing games have gotten away for far too long spitting out barebones content, they need to start producing full games

mantasisg · Sep 10, 2017

chargingcar said:
My opinion is , and this is just my opinion ,
Future of all sims is 100% scanned tracks ,
but regarding weather ,

why not have live server statistics , actually connected to live weather reports ,
so when you actually racing ,
does not matter if you racing in USA , or China ,
local weather reports actually effecting the racing on track live as its happening ,
100% realistic live dynamic weather .
but like I say just my opinion

I agree, though it is obviously utopia. Imagine all the people complaining and looking for locations where it is dry and warm at a time haha

Leonardo Chaves · Sep 10, 2017

I remember one of the F1 games were i got annoyed because every weekend it would rain at some point either on qualifying or the race, and it was pissing me off lol.
This is my biggest problem with changeable weather on racing sims, devs falling in love with their rain, which leads to disproportionate amount of wet races during a season.

Changeable weather is good for a change of pace, but if i set a championship season to random weather i still expect to have more completely undisturbed by weather events than races where weather plays a part.

On races that i set myself... i'd say i go for wet 10% of the time, it's more a "let's do something different" kind of thing.

Robertinotje · Sep 10, 2017

I would like some rain to anhance the sim feeling and for its driving skills

Haiden773 · Sep 10, 2017

In the past, I'd say I didn't care much, but I was doing more public online racing, and wet weather in public sessions is usually a disaster. It's hard enough trying to survive turn one in dry conditions. Even in the dry, if you start a race with cold tires or low track temps, half the grid seems to have no idea how to adjust and completely botch the first corner. So, in the past wet weather was something I'd only take advantage of in SP. Problem there, was I think rF2 was the only sim I had with AI good enough to race with. So basically, variable weather was a non-issue for me.

Fast forward, I've been doing more structured private racing, and AI has been improving across the genre, so I'm a lot more interested in seeing it implemented, provided it's done well. Doesn't have to be perfect, but needs to be more than a pretty feature to satisfy a checkbox. Adding those types of races to private leagues and clubs would allow for a more realistic Pro Series, for anyone up to the challenge.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I find it hard to understand why anyone would be against having variable weather. If you don't care for it, you don't have to use it. As long as it doesn't interfere with regular dry racing, does it matter if it's present?

Simon Gardner · Sep 10, 2017

I enjoy/enjoyed the challenge of wet and changing weather racing in games like GTR2, RACE07 and F1 2016 although I stick mostly the dry in the first 2 as I think offline its not as good. Online I think its more enjoyable especially if your racing with guys you trust. First league win came in a wet race and it was probably only the weather that gave me that chance.
I don't miss it too much in Automobilista but it would be a nice addition and in this day and age it should be standard to anything that wants to be a realistic sim.