Rate The Sims: Community Edition | Automobilista

[Paul Jeffrey]

We are looking to crown the 'RaceDepartment Community Favourite' racing game - get your votes in now for our next game on the list... Automobilista!

Our dear RaceDepartment community. You folks are the most mighty fans of sim racing, often displaying an immense amount of understanding and depth of knowledge when it comes to our favourite hobby.

With sim racing and eSports in such a wonderful boom period of late. Gamers looking to have some fun with their virtual racing machines have never before had such a wide and robust variety of software to enjoy.

Now occasionally I've been in a position to rate new racing titles that have come my way, and almost every time I've received a wide variety of folks agreeing, or strongly disagreeing with my own opinions.

Opinions are great, but sometimes the opinion of one person, with their own likes and dislikes taken into account, can often give a bit of a skewed picture (intentional or not) to the greater cause in which said person is trying to explain.

As such, rather than doing one myself, and in the spirit of engaging some interesting community discussion, I thought it could be fun to let our own community rate each of the key sim racing / racing games available today.

As always with these things, please do try and respect each other and their opinions, and let's try to see if we can give a fun, but fair shake of the stick to each of the games included in this poll.

For transparency, I'm going to be featuring the following racing games over the next weeks:

• Assetto Corsa
• Assetto Corsa Competizione
• Automobilista (AMS)
• DiRT 2.0
• F1 2019
• GT Sport
• GRID
• iRacing
• NASCAR Heat 4
• PCARS 2
• RaceRoom Racing Experience
• rFactor 2
• WRC 8

I'm going to launch the article each Monday evening, and keep the poll running for a full week until the next new article is pushed live. So get your votes in quick!

Once I've completed the full list of games, I'll publish a final results feature, and we can award the winning developer the lofty title of 'RaceDepartment Community Favourite'!

Have fun, stay sensible and let the voting commence!

Like what we do at RaceDepartment? Follow us on Social Media!

 

 

[Ami_M3]

I'm of the same mind, but took a slightly different conclusion and went in for the 10. I think it's very possible that a "10" sim has never and will never exist, so my mind is open to the possibility that a "9" may in fact be a "10" (if that makes sense).

9 is a 10 in my case
To be fair, Automobilista is missing some features (such as no rain, no VR) so I'll reserve the perfect score for AMS2
Nevertheless, at this time Reiza is getting the highest grade from me anyway. Even rF2 and R3E that I both love will most likely get 8.

 

[Ami_M3]

I don't get it.
You are saying that sims are wip and that's why you wouldn't give ten points.
You should see and point them as they are NOW.
It is like I'd say GP4 deserves 1 point because it is 10+ years old.

No, I'm saying at this time I don't see a sim that deserves a perfect score.
OK, AMS is close, but there are features missing, hence it doesn't get 10/10. The development is done, stock content AMS is never going to get rain for instance, it'll never get VR, so NOW I cannot give it 10. It's still the best package imo.
I like driving rF2 the most, yet it will score lower than AMS as there are things that need improvement as well.
I reserve 10 for the sim that has everything I want, now. There is non on the market, but luckily most sims are wip so who knows...

 

[Kevin Troschinski]

Without question also for me best physics/ffb available. Some Interesting content. Unfortunately many cars without licence. On the plus side many very good mods. I don`t care about VR because of motion sickness.
There are 2 things i dislike :
1. poor graphics. yes there made something out of an old engine. But here we have to compare this one to other games on the list. Graphics is not the most important thing in a sim. But it`s nice to have also good visuals.
2. I just hate (like rF) the setup building in those games. There are far to much options you have, and i just don´t have the time to spend 2 hours just in training sessions to be able to compete at least against good AI. Therefor i play R3E or AC lot more because of the "easier setup bulding".
Many may love the realistic aspect of AMS in those catregory, but i jsut want to be a driver not an engineer.

7/10

 

[Ruy Horta]

(Reading the complains about what score is or isn't acceptable is kinda funny, though. Voting below 5 is plain offensive, or even below 7 apparently in some cases, but then again you also shouldn't vote 10, because clearly there's no perfect game It kinda reminds me of game reviews, where a game is considered a complete failure if it gets a lower score than 7/10 It's just silly - there's a scale, but you're not supposed to use more than half of it.

Just let people rate the games according to their own perceptions and preferences instead of trying to fit everyone to your own, which is exactly what you're doing by judging what rating should be acceptable. Somebody voted a number you find ridiculous? Have a laugh about it and move on. It apparently made sense to him, even though it doesn't make the slightest sense to you. In the end, it's still just a meaningless poll done purely for fun, it won't affect your enjoyment of the game in any way.)

Terribly correct post.
You are right.
I should just have called them what I think THEY are, not criticize their rating.
...but that’s personal, not constructive and probably offensive (which forces the mods into action).

So I won’t do any of that.
Nugh said, right?

 

[gamer19]

3. 9 vote(s) 1.2%
2. 3 vote(s) 0.4%
1.10 vote(s) 1.3%


Can we get a separate thread to publicly ridicule those 22 Angry Men, pretty please ?
Or ...can we simply just ban them without publicly announcing their names.
Each is fine with me yes.



Btw, you actually CAN see heir names, just click on those dope votes.

 

[deCarera]

So I scored it an 8 with the following being my criteria. A 10 would include state of the art graphics both via screen and VR, excellent physics with the ability to modify force feedback per vehicle, dynamic weather and time of day lighting effects, wide range of vehicle types, a strong online racing community, the unquantifiable "fun factor" and last but not least, openess and support for 3rd party mods.
So with these criteria no current game rates a 10 but one can dream of it being available one day...

 

[Jempy]

As my comments should nearly be a ( very near ) copy of @Kevin Troschinski ... here above, I will not repeat what he said with other words, except replacing his number 2 with:

Even if it's been a while I didn't drive it .... done with a G27 and not yet restarted with a T300RS....., I never was a real fan of the "Real Feel" plugin ... maybe if the reason was ... the previous wheel
... but really good FFB even without it.

I'd add that some cars might have been better finished graphically.
So I'll try to remain logical with my previous ratings ( AC:8 , ACC:7 in its actual state ) ... it'll be also a 7.
for its FFB, AI ( a very well done one ) and mods ( especially by Patrick Giranthon ).

NB as I never or rather less drove the 6 next Sims, I will not rate them ...

 

[Icebear1991]

Gave it a 10 though it should be 9.999 (9.999999 for AMS2 hopefully, there is ALWAYS room for improvement ). Content might be a bit exotic but this game has some unknown beauties (Velopark, Virginia, Ibarra) most games don't have.
I think they should add three series in AMS2: 1950s F1, some historic sportscars and late 90s CART.

 

[2112]

This sim is what iRacing should be.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints I do not play it much anymore. The biggest con is the on-line presence for me. Otherwise, this is a great sim.

 

[skylineforever]

8 for this game. I like Automobilista despite the shortcomings ( no rain, no VR and littles bugs...) However this game despite the fact that it is moddable sorely misses of mods, tracks... maybe that it is hard to convert from otrer games for AMS i don't know but when i see the number of mods, tracks ans skins for Assetto Corsa, i think it’s a shame that AMS is not highlighted for this. Hopefully AMS 2 is as good in the hope that AMS 1 is not neglected on the modding

 

[TrumpetReich]

my personal tiny issue: you can’t adjust the pitch angle of the cockpit camera without editing a file.

Yeah, that is a bummer. At least they added the "stabilize to horizon" option that sort of helps on some cars.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Power of placebo in action.

Another reason, to just leave 360 pure on...because it usually runs with over 180 FPS

 

[Vicitus]

But the content is weird.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

But the content is weird.

Because of the tracks? There is a trackpack for the same old Monza T1 rearending

The Content is mostly F1 eras, grassroots style and THIS weird stuff...it is called motorsports :

The thing is, many cars in AMS would be more likely for a driver, to start with, in real life instead of right hopping into a GT3 or F1 car... (Caterham, F-Vee, F-Trainer(F-Ford), Cup Porsch...Boxer and so on).

But it is really a decision of taste, if you want to do exactly, what they're doing in TV, or more motorsports, that takes place all over the world way more often, yes. It's not for everybody. (Except the F1 like cars, they're F1ish, as you would expect, some even a bit faster.^^)

 

[captaindick]

The most important question for me is how good is the offline AI?

If the AI behave like bees chasing a honey pot then it doesn’t matter how shiny the graphics are or how accurate the physics are or how wonderful the sounds are.

And this is the reason I like AMS; because the AI is excellent. With aggression set to high they want to overtake, they want to block, they want to win. Hence Automobilista is a stand-out motor sports simulator for this reason alone.

The choice of vehicles and South American tracks is interesting and different. I’d like more touring cars, especially BTCC, but this is my preference. Patrick G’s 1974 Porsche 911 mod also deserves commendation for being quite superb.

- 8/10

 

[melanieuk]

Can we get a separate thread to publicly ridicule those 22 Angry Men, pretty please ?
Or ...can we simply just ban them without publicly announcing their names.
Each is fine with me yes.

So let me understand what you're calling for, you want those that don't like this game or voted it 5 and lower to be banned from this site?. why are you so weak and jelly like for a man, it is a computer game, nothing more nothing less, it doesn't breath, it can't cook your meal or wash your soiled clothes, it's just pixels.

Let's have a quick look at the Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corsa Competizione Polls, and see how many people voted AC and ACC a low rating, lets see how many people called for those that gave AC and ACC low ratings to be banned from this site, NONE no AC or ACC fans called for anyone to be banned from this site.

Notice how it's only a section of the community that can't handle views and or opinions that differs from theirs those that support a certain sim and or technology, Joke or not get a grip, how are you going to react when rFactor 2 and PCars 2 gets their turn....flip tables?

If readers did not have to vote to see the polls I wouldn't have voted it 1, I don't play it, it doesn't deserve more than that from me for that reason.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

it doesn't breath

It does, i feel the air, when my subwoofer does the glorious chevy V8 sounds!

 

[Vicitus]

Because of the tracks? There is a trackpack for the same old Monza T1 rearending

The Content is mostly F1 eras, grassroots style and THIS weird stuff...it is called motorsports :


The thing is, many cars in AMS would be more likely for a driver, to start with, in real life instead of right hopping into a GT3 or F1 car... (Caterham, F-Vee, F-Trainer(F-Ford), Cup Porsch...Boxer and so on).

But it is really a decision of taste, if you want to do exactly, what they're doing in TV, or more motorsports, that takes place all over the world way more often, yes. It's not for everybody. (Except the F1 like cars, they're F1ish, as you would expect, some even a bit faster.^^)

Yeah, these fantasy F1 cars bothers me. I don´t need a Fiat Panda in a sim. Stadium Trucks are a bad joke and these other Tuned road cars.. And the trainers? When i want to drive skip barber / trainers i choose rFactor 2.
I find the Brazillian V8 Stock cars great, that why i bought it. But the other stuff? Not my cup of tea.

 

[Andy-R]

It's an Uno and it is better than everything else you mentioned put together

 

[Cote Dazur]

2019, no VR, useless to me.