Race On vs GTR2

[Boby Kim]

Hi,

Ive always tried to race with GTR2. Allthough GTR is not my class once in a while i took the gilleta for a spin. A month ago ive bougght Race On with the 07 and STCC pack. Its much more "easy" to race this game than GTR2. Going back to GTR2 the cars are much more sensitive than Race On. I thought: well, if i can race with Race On WTCC, i can give GTR2 a try again but hey....wrong thought. Im slipping and sliding across the track hardley able to keep the car off the grass...
Is it my driving style or are the games completely different, besides the fact the cars ARE different.

 

[UMC 22]

One thing that really surprises me is that I have not seen any mods for GTR2 or Race 07 to improve graphics. I know that this is not the most important thing in sims but with such a big community that both games have it still amazes me.

Proper simulators like the PC-based SimBin games tend to attract a more mature (ie, older) audience than other racing games. In my experience, mature gamers are far more concerned with gameplay and car physics than they are with eye candy, which probably explains the lack of graphical mods and the lack of demand for them. If you check the communities for more less sim-like racers like Shift or console based you will find far more discussion (usually complaints) about the visuals as well as mods to 'fix' the perceived problems.

Personally, I think Race 07 looks perfectly fine and doesn't need graphical improvement.

 

[Jim Cole]

I am pretty sure it comes down to a trade off for graphics. If you want pretty, then you lose some of the playability of the game for lower end systems. Those systems would end up having to turn the graphics down to play the game, so it would defeat the usefulness of a graphics mod.

 

[Günthar Rowe]

to me, I'd rather have my CPU cycles used to maximise the physics than adding more graphic pleasures. Look at these rough numbers

when driving at 150km/h and working on 64 re-calculations per second (not that high really)

64 x
41.7 m/s is traveled = 2668.8
+ 4 wheels = 10675
+ 3 dimensions = 32025
+ lateral & longitudinal slip = 96075
+ lateral & longitudinal grip = 160125
+ heat buildup = 192150
+ cooling = 224175
+ wear = 256200
x 25 cars (you and say 24 AI) = 6,405,000 calculations per second (this is just the very beginning of the tyre physics) I'd be actually guessing that one car alone would be doing around 5,000,000 calc per second per wheel minimum, therefore ~500,000,000 calc for the tyres per second with a full grid. then you need to add in engine physics, chassis physics, damage, LOD's, 3D rendering.

This is rough rough idea, but you get the idea only including a few things the the game engine is looking after, I'm sure someone can give a better mathematical breakdown of the CPU workload...

 

[UMC 22]

to me, I'd rather have my CPU cycles used to maximise the physics than adding more graphic pleasures.

Spot on, mate. If only more people (including developers) thought like that I'd be a happy man.

 

[Kangarookid]

Yes, GTR2 is handling is harder.

 

[Skazz]

There have been many threads on improving the graphics in GTR2 and Race/GTR Evo, but generally you are then talking about applying large amounts of AA, transparency AA and AF. With a modern computer you can have 32xAA, 16xAF and 8xtransparency AA all applied. This gives either game a very crisp, very high quality look. The only thing really missing is a more advanced lighting model.

Re: GTR2 vs. Race07. Personally when I moved to a new PC in 2009 I ended up not bothering to reinstall GTR2 on it. By now Race07/GTR Evo/Race On/STCC/WTCC2010/Retro/GT Power expansions offer such a wealth of content that I end up just running everything I want in the one sim. There are some differences between GTR2 and GTR Evo car simulation, but for me at least the ease of having everything in a single sim is more important.

P.S. I like having newer car models to professional standard, and GTR Evo with GT Power addon offers this.

 

[Marian Zelenka]

Yes, GTR2 is handling is harder.

But harder automaticaly doesn't mean more realistic. :car:

 

[Szymon Olizarowicz]

I agree that GTR2 is more demanding in terms of driving skills. It definitely is harder. But like myname said - it does not always equal to realistic. I have not enough experience with both of the games to judge how advanced the physics are and what is more real. For me a huge advantage of Race 07 is that you feel that your car is on the track. In GTR2 I had a feeling that it's the track and external objects moving around the car rather than car moving on a track. Race 07 feels to me better in that department. Though I find one huge advantage in GTR2 - you need to warm up the tires and it has significant impact on car. In Race I find myself not bothering much about getting the right temperature on the first 2-3 laps.

 

[Günthar Rowe]

Though I find one huge advantage in GTR2 - you need to warm up the tires and it has significant impact on car. In Race I find myself not bothering much about getting the right temperature on the first 2-3 laps.

This is set in the tyre model for each car and can be set at 20C starting temps, but I tend to set up the tyre model with a starting grid temp of 70-80C as almost all racing on Race07 seems to be sprint racing 0 minutes. But on the soon to be released DTM Classics there will be no tyre warms and the cars will roll on to the track with 30C tyres (I will use 30C and not 20C as you can sit on the grid for up to 2 minutes waiting for others)

 

[Marian Zelenka]

There is no warm-up (formation) lap. I don't think you'd see 30°C on real cars when they use warmers or formation lap for tire and brake temps warming. But sometimes, warmers are forbidden though.