It's times like this....

[Dennis Phelan]

I do believe that the Simbin[studio3] lobby for Race 07 will be back back up soon.

But at these time I wonder what will I do if Race 07 does go away? My PC is old, certainly I can update and I believe I have spousal approval for that. But which of the newer racing environments would I go to? Game Stock Car I can run on my machine right now. The club races don't need a lot of fussing around to go racing but the tracks, I want real oldtime, recognizable race tracks on my machine and maybe some real, licensed cars.

Another sim I can run on my current machine, rf2 scared me away. Build after build, download after download just for a club race, no foundation! I'm also a simple guy, I don't need a tack that has to be "rubbered" up to get grip and I get tired of leaving the pit to spin around for the first couple of laps, sure hope they have cured that.

AC, Assetto Corsa, the hot thing in town, new machine to run on lasered tracks, the sun shining off of every fender and rear view mirror but I don't just want an expensive GT car to drive, I want rrrrace cars and a sim that's set for rrrraces with them. full races, pit stops and all.

Not everyones fav but iracing had me for a while and they keep improving with out much need for PC upgrading. Costs can be steep but pick your races, drive to watch your ratings and your multiplayer experience CAN be very pleasurable but costly if you let your desires take over.

I'm not sure where I would go, how about you?

 

[Connor Caple]

I agree with your appraisal of most of the above, @Dennis Phelan

Race 07 has always been my favourite because I like 'real' cars, not fancy expensive GT cars. Minis, WTCC/BTCC/STCC cars and so forth are the ones I can cope with. get into the realms of supercars and I stop playing. I've spent the weekend looking at Race 07 replacements and haven't really felt satisfied as yet.

R3E is pretty disappointing. It looks to be charging a lot of money for stuff that Race 07 already does, with less cars and less tracks and tighter control of mod content.

I have AC. It's pretty and very demanding graphically, but at least it handles okay. It needs Minis and Caterhams and Touring Cars though. It has an Abarth 500 that is a bit like the Mini. I've raced them before in other sims and they're fun but not as 'planted' as a Mini. I haven't raced online with it yet because the server booking procedure scares me.

I've been trying rF2 all weekend. The FFB took a LOT of tuning to get to grips with and the Civic in the demo is, frankly, a bit pants. They also have no Mini. The graphics are no better than Race 07. Someone posted a side-by-side comparison video of rF2 and GSCE (same engine as Race 07) on the new track and GSCE looked better.

GSCE has a Mini, but I cannot work out how to change the brake bias on it from the default 75f25r, which is useless. Nobody on the GSCE forum has replied to me yet. Maybe I missed something obvious and they all just think I'm thick and don't want to say so.

iRacing left me cold. Had a month of it and didn't like it. The cars were terrible. The FFB was terrible. The tyre squeal was annoying. The lag was equally irritating. Never going back.

So far, assuming it has a working server lobby list, GSCE looks favourite, but not if I can't figure out how to change everything on the car setups as simply as I can on Race 07!

EDIT: Apparently the GSCE Mini is part of a Challenge Series and you cannot tune it/mess about with gears/change brake bias. Not what I was looking for to be honest, but I understand why it's done that way since it's a real Race Series. *shrugs*

 

[Yves Larose]

guy's i have a suggestion for you, rF1 HistorX race club is for me the best thing at RD at now. the game works perfectly and the mod is awesome you might want to give it a try

 

[JeffL]

GSCERF2ACRRERF1 is how I do it

 

[Connor Caple]

Hehe - forgot about rF1 *digs the disc out*

@Yves Larose I heard that you need to also own something called GTL to use HistorX, which I do not.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I think GTL costs around 6 euro's nowadays

 

[Yves Larose]

Hehe - forgot about rF1 *digs the disc out*

@Yves Larose I heard that you need to also own something called GTL to use HistorX, which I do not.

thats right you do need to own GTL to use the mod but GTL is very cheap on steam only 9$ CDN

http://store.steampowered.com/app/44690/

 

[Decenten]

I agree with your appraisal of most of the above, @Dennis Phelan
I've been trying rF2 all weekend. The FFB took a LOT of tuning to get to grips with and the Civic in the demo is, frankly, a bit pants. They also have no Mini. The graphics are no better than Race 07. Someone posted a side-by-side comparison video of rF2 and GSCE (same engine as Race 07) on the new track and GSCE looked better.

The demo is crap. I originally tried it to see if it would run on my pc but it was lagging badly. I then won a race event where I won a years subscription to RF2 and works rather well. The FFB is better and the content doesnt make my computer huff and puff like the demo did.

 

[Stig Bidstrup]

Should Race07 go away---you go to Historx Racing Club @Dennis Phelan
it has:oldtime, recognizable race tracks it has:rrrrace cars the ones you dribbled
over when you where...a little younger you don't need a new PC for this game
and the best thing...you will come to race with the BEST racers in Town
that's a no brainer

Stig

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

RACE 07 doesn't go away unless players themselves decide to stop playing it.

Even if the lobby never comes up again there are always smart people that will be able to host their own master lobby, just like with GT Legends a couple of years ago.

Very unprofessional that it takes this long to get a simple server online.

 

[Connor Caple]

The way I read it, @Bram Hengeveld , is that they perhaps left the physical server behind and don't have one at their new office to put it on. They obviously must have the software/server code and if that was all they needed then their IT guy could have had it up and running in an hour or so. Another issue may be redirecting the URL to point to the new server for all the game users - maybe needs a patch to change an internal net address?

I agree, none of us want to give up on Race 07, especially since all the available replacements fall short of what we particularly want from our racing game.

 

[jimortality]

Dennis its obviously time for you to join us at Game stock car. You can have all the old tracks you want and If can download them anyone can. Join me Dennis

 

[Connor Caple]

@Jim Brailsford Unless it starts being used for running Mini Fridays and WTCC races, GSCE won't completely scratch our itch

 

[Gundars]

@Dennis Phelan Definitely GSCE ,it's "Must be"game in every simracer garage,
here's a preview

 

[Gundars]

 

[Björn]

/EDIT: whoooops, wall of text. sorry?

Bah, go to bed early and you'll miss a new discussion

Much like Dennis, I too think the lobby will be back up sooner or later - while few people seem to complain (unlike last time the lobby went down, and I'm rather happy about that ), S3 likely knows there are still quite some people out there playing R07.
Apart from that, it shouldn't be too costly for them too get the server working againg - especially so if we're talking about a physical (not rented) server formerly owned by SimBin. Transferring it over to S3 might take a few more days, though, not familiar with swedish corporate law
Concerning the idea that this could be a test to see how many people would "miss" the server and then shut it down.. nah, I don't think so. While this may be a viable (though morally questionable ) instrument to evaluate the remaining fanbase, the reason provided for the downtime is, quite frankly, too embarassing to be invented for this purpose


But still.. how many time does R07 have left? A year? Two? One day, they are gonna shut the whole thing down. Maybe they'll patch the game to allow direct IP connections then, maybe they'll release the lobby server software/code, maybe someone will come up with a clone. Maybe they won't, maybe R07's MP will be gone for good.

Where to go?
I'd like a game featuring the stock car/track selection from the R07 series, the online system of iRacing, the modding community of the rFactor series, graphics from Project CARS, sounds from R3E, damage modelling from Next Car Game, GSC's AI and the laser scans and FFB of Assetto Corsa. Anyone in?

Now, for the more realistic part.. as for rF2 & iRacing, I've only tested them rather briefly, rF2's graphic seemed less than acceptable for what's supposed to be "next-gen" when I downloaded the demo. This was on my old PC though, and while AC did look fairly well on that one, maybe rF2's engine was just not as optimized?
iRacing's pricing model is, of course, a big turn-off and that, in addition with physics that seemed too hard for the sake of being too hard, resulted in me not going much further than a few sessions using that Cadillac promo last year. As far as I know, they've revamped the physics in the mean time, though.

GSC:E seems to look like a likely next step for many R07 drivers. I only own GSC2012 and had quite some fun in SP, so I might give it a try someday (or that day ). Although it's still based on the old gMotor engine or what's it called, they seem to get every last bit out of it and it's very well represented in the price tag, as well. If I recall correctly, there's even an automatic mod conversion tool available for rF1 mods, so there's plenty of content available in theory, though many club races will/would/are likely requiring additional downloads.

I was bought in into the pCARS beta/WIP but have refunded quite some time ago as it felt like they weren't making any substantial progress and instead focussed on pushing out unfinished tracks every week. It has likely improved a lot since then, but then again, it seems to go more of a "simcade" way, anyway?

R3E seems like a title as far away from being adequate for club racing as possible. The pricing model, the locked liveries.. right now there isn't even a dedicated server, is there? However, they're still in alpha, officially, so who knows what the future will bring.. not having hopes that high, though, to be honest.

That brings us to AC, which I've owned ever since they went on Steam, I think. Haven't played that much, though - mainly glanced in every now and then to see what has changed. I've run quite a few hours during the last few days, however, and I think this might very well be my personal best bet for the future. The graphics are nice, the tracks, although few in numbers, are laserscanned and nicely done, the FFB is great (after some tweaking, admittedly - DFGT user over here, so no preset), mods are turning up by what feels like the minute.. it looks promising.
And still, it's far from finished.. both the AI and the damage model are pretty much placeholders, pit stops are still missing (or are they? haven't played MP so far), the car selection is very "supercar"/GT-centric and we don't know how hard they will go the "DLC route" - with a relatively low price tag (especially at steam sales), it seems like they might need quite some future income to keep going.

So.. conclusion time.. but.. hum.. well, apart from GSC:E, nothing seems to be quite "there" for club racing, yet - at least in my opinion. So right now, I'll be hoping for the lobby's return and when its day comes, I'll switch. Right now, it looks like AC & GSC:E (or its successor, if existent by then) might be viable replacements, but we'll see

 

[ajokay]

I love Race 07, and will no doubt play it for as long as is permitted. But I've been enjoying both RaceRoom and Assetto Corsa lately. Since the Sector 3 restructuring RaceRoom has become a lot more fun and less hassle, but still very restrictive, and unless stuff like dedicated servers and user-made liveries are allowed within the restrictive model, it's just not going to be suitable for club competition, which is a real shame.

Assetto Corsa similarly since the full 1.0 release has just clicked with me. I'm yet to try them but the mod cars and circuits are numerous, it feels really great to drive. Yes the base car list is a little limited, but there are mods to cater for that. The track day cars like the X-Bow and the 2-11 are a right hoot to drive, the GT3 racers feel grunty and solid, and the Abarth 500 would be a great Mini substitute.

I've never tried Game Stock Car, but I think between Race 07, R3E and AC, I probably don't really need to. There's only so much time available!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

unless stuff like dedicated servers and user-made liveries are allowed within the restrictive model, it's just not going to be suitable for club competition, which is a real shame.

Fully agree. Shame that after all this time such basic features still aren't available.

 

[Bez]

I've never tried Game Stock Car, but I think between Race 07, R3E and AC, I probably don't really need to. There's only so much time available!

Please dont write off GSCE, especially without giving it a try...it really is THAT good, pretty much the only sim I drive.

 

[ajokay]

Please dont write off GSCE, especially without giving it a try...it really is THAT good, pretty much the only sim I drive.

Calling it GCSE doesn't help, that's what the secondary school exams are called in the UK. Spending free time on GCSE's?! No thanks!