Have Your Say - What is Your SECOND Favourite GT3 Racing Sim

Second Best GT3 Sim 01.jpg
GT3 continues to be a favourite class among sim racers even outside of ACC, and we want to hear what your other go-to GT3 racing sim is.

Assetto Corsa Competizione has a huge roster of GT3 and GT4 cars, officially licensed by SRO. Its unwavering dedication to recreating the experience of driving a modern GT car has created arguably the most accurate recreation of a race series in gaming. Assuming this is the benchmark for you for GT3 racing (and please feel free to express an opinion otherwise in the comments below), what do you think is the second best way to experience GT3 racing in sims?

Continuing our weekly series where your responses in the comments below are the real story, we want to know where else you race GT3 cars, and why. Below are just some possibilities, but please let us know your own preference in the comments.
  • RaceRoom Racing Experience - RaceRoom's huge GT3 roster, known in game as GTR3, spans several years and includes some rarities from the world of GT3. Sector 3 has continued to add to the class in R3E, and newer versions of cars from Audi and Porsche are now present. The hugely customizable race setup allows multi-class racing, but sadly no night or wet weather.
  • rFactor 2 - On the eve of the release of the BMW M4 GT3, rFactor 2 offers players a growing roster of cars and licensed tracks to drive on. The recently updated UI allows us to get racing faster and easier than ever. The force feedback and car physics in rF2 are among the best in any sim, but adding the GT3 cars to your collection is very costly.
  • iRacing - The king of online racing could perhaps be the most pure way to enjoy GT3 racing from the comfort of your home. The car roster is not huge, but what is on offer in iRacing is nicely recreated. Obviously a monthly subscription is required to use the GT3 cars, but then you can compete against other and grow your virtual career as a GT3 driver.
These are just some of the ways to enjoy GT3. So whether its any of these or a different sim altogether, let us know your favourite ACC alternative in the comments below.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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B
My second best GT3 Simulator is ACC.
so... which one is my first one? AMS2, given that I have not cash down the money for the GT3 DLC in rFactor2 (not my favorite racing series).
 
S
AMS2 then that golden oldie PCARS1

Just bought RF2 base only for now I quite like it the BMW M4 sounds amazing, the game itself is still a little buggy, Not sure if its me but any other racer ends the race after crossing the finish line on the last lap in single player race, but no not in RF2 you go round again and all the other A.I cars bugger off into the pit you follow them and the session still wont end and txt comes on screen say on more lap to go so I go out and come back to pits only to be told one more lap to go yet no other bloody cars are out with you.
 
Wolf_XII
Frankly, as good as ACC is, it is a distant third currently, both due to performance issues me not knowing what FOV it's actually running and lack of time.

When it comes to sheer grid variety.... Pcars2, bugs warts and all. (Also Popsracer is a Magician!)
It has some of the rarest cars like the Caddilac ATS-V, RS.01, Ginetta GT3, and when it came out it was the first game to feature the NSX-GT3. Also has my favourite Battleship HMS Boatley! (Also point in favour for ACC which has both the old Version and the Evo.)

When it comes to driving feel: AMS2.
Field is smaller, but it drives much better and the puddles are not as insane anymore.

AI needs a Truckload of Valium in both though, especially in wet conditions! They drive to much with the knife between the teeth as we say here....
If only AMS 2 could get the Pcars 2 licenses, so that we would have the full field from Pcars 2 with the Reiza Physics.....

I like R3E and it's great sounds, but most of the time it looses out to the others because there is no weather. I like that unpredictability. I do like the attention to detail in the rules though.

But then both of them really shine outside GT3. Honestly, if you just drive GT3s in Pcars 2 or AMS2, you are doing yourself a massive disservice. As can be seen everytime someone opens a non-GT3 lobby in Pcars 2.....everybody comes out of the woodwork and has fun.

I could point out a few, like GT1 or Group A/'92DTM, LMP2, Group 5 or 1960's LM Sportscars in Pcars 2, or the same and the various Copa Classicos+Brazilian Stock Cars in AMS2*, but then we'd be going off topic.
Also:
Caterhams, Minis and Racing Beetles rule!

*Openwheelers need no mention, well known enough.
 
J
The only sims I bother driving GT3 cars in are ACC and R3E, the latter because you can setup VLN-type races with huge grids and a mix of GT3/GT4/TCR/Cup cars. I don't drive them in AC anymore, but I use them as AI cars so I have something to race the SCG003 against.
 
BoKoSimRacer
Premium
Oddly enough...after ACC 1.8xxx it dropped from 1st to 3rd. Have we ever seen a (real) racing series where BoP was changed to slow cars down in the middle of the season? I was about 1 second slower everywhere and crawling back to my best (still slow though, LOL) lap times is quite painful. No joy at all. Point is, I am surprised that I am in the minority to be pi$$ed off by this 'update'.
R3E and rF2 share my top spot at the moment. Best FFB imho. ACC still feels like driving on ice. Not all tracks and not all cars. Still. Nah - for me the 'fun' factor has dropped quite a bit.
1. R3E & rF2
3. ACC
4. AMS2 - if I could get my head around some setup tricks, it could leave ACC behind as well.

Cheers.
 
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D
ACC has been my top for some time because of the immersion you get due to official licenses. However one thing has been bugging me since day 1 is its horrible graphics artifacts. In general it looks fine but I really do not like the "grainy" look, e.g. at grass, fences, and trees at a distance. It almost looks like "oversharpening" a photo in Lightroom I have tried so many graphics settings but just cant get rid of it (I m on 1440p UW).

Now that rF2 has gained a lot of traction in 2021 and 2022 so far, I would say it is a great contender to even dethrone ACC in my heart #1 if not for the non-existent multiplayer. Yes DLC in rF2 is not cheap but we can also argue that ACC full game vs rF2's GT3 DLC price and rF2 has free mods for tracks!

I think someone here said it already, would be perfect to have a GT3 sim that has:
ACC licensed content and rules etc
AC's modding possibility (I hope AC2 will be moddable!!)
AMS2 graphics and VR experience
rF2 driving physics and FFB
BeamNG car damage model
R3E audio

One can only dream...... :p
 
Havner
davistiano said:
However one thing has been bugging me since day 1 is its horrible graphics artifacts. In general it looks fine but I really do not like the "grainy" look, e.g. at grass, fences, and trees at a distance.
Click to expand...
This is due to the Unreal Engine and the way its deferred renderer works (several renderer passes for one frame, optimizations in between and composing the final frame afterwards). It's causing ugly aliasing artifacts. Not much Kunos can do about that. I don't like it as well. One of the reasons (next to VR performance for instance) lots of people hope they won't use UE for AC2.
 
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The Iron Wolf
Havner said:
This is due to the Unreal Engine and the way its deferred renderer works (several renderer passes for one frame, optimizations in between and composing the final frame afterwards). It's causing ugly aliasing artifacts. Not much Kunos can do about that. I don't like it as well. One of the reasons (next to VR performance for instance) lots of people hope they won't use UE for AC2.
Click to expand...
Any theory on why KartKraft running the same engine looks and works great in VR?

Maybe not entirely correct comparison (no rain, and karts are much less detailed than GT3 cars) but I am not sure it's UE. It might be how it is used/configured in ACC.
 
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Havner
The Iron Wolf said:
Any theory on why KartKraft running the same engine looks and works great in VR?
Click to expand...
No and I can't really comment on that as I've never seen KartKraft. All games based on UE4 I've seen have the same artifacts.

Maybe the renderer is configurable in a way that causes this and they wanted some effects that requires more deferred passes? Or more optimizations?
Some of those passes look like they render only part of the frame for optimizations and maybe this causes them not to align perfectly causing this aliasing? The last though is only my speculation.

In any case if that was easy to solve they would've done this long time ago knowing how many people hate this. Also post processing options in EU4 like sharpness (present in other UE4 games as well) seem to be mostly made to mitigate this effect.

Also other games not based on EU4 (like DX:MD) suffer from exactly the same issue and the same mitigation methods have been introduces (sharpness post processing). So this has to be something related to current gen graphics pipelines in deferred rendering.
 
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G
Havner said:
This is due to the Unreal Engine and the way its deferred renderer works (several renderer passes for one frame, optimizations in between and composing the final frame afterwards). It's causing ugly aliasing artifacts. Not much Kunos can do about that. I don't like it as well. One of the reasons (next to VR performance for instance) lots of people hope they won't use UE for AC2.
Click to expand...
"lots of people hope they won't use UE for AC2.".

True and it's even an understatement if you're talking about VR users.

I think that EVERY VR user hopes this. (at least if they understand the difference between Deferred Renderer and Forward Rendering).

It's the biggest mistake that Kunos ever made, so I don't expect them to make it again.
 
A
Premium
Can someone recommend a realistic R3E GT3 car?

I have tried the BMW which is offered in the starter pack. It's highly enjoyable but also feels very arcade. In rFactor2, I need to regulate throttle, too much application while the wheel is still turned can result in spins. In R3E BMW I can do whatever I want with brake and throttle while turning, it's almost impossible to spin. I have tried an oversteered setup but it makes no difference.

R3E runs great on my low end computer and offers relaxed, solid AI racing but I just can't see how people can like rF2/AMS/ACC and R3E at the same time.
 
wolftree
adamb said:
Can someone recommend a realistic R3E GT3 car?

I have tried the BMW which is offered in the starter pack. It's highly enjoyable but also feels very arcade. In rFactor2, I need to regulate throttle, too much application while the wheel is still turned can result in spins. In R3E BMW I can do whatever I want with brake and throttle while turning, it's almost impossible to spin. I have tried an oversteered setup but it makes no difference.

R3E runs great on my low end computer and offers relaxed, solid AI racing but I just can't see how people can like rF2/AMS/ACC and R3E at the same time.
Click to expand...
TC is set to max by default, turn it down to 20-40% to start with. You could also try the mid-engined cars like the Audi R8 EVO that are much more demanding to drive. The BMW M6 is known as a kind of a beginner-friendly boat.
 
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dussard
For the gt3 acc still ahead of the other sims...because they are more complete and better finished...
a year and a half ago I would have put raceroom in second position
but today I almost gave up raceroom in favor of rfactor 2...and if rfactor 2 offers us in the future all the new gt3s (with several "official" liveries better sound like raceroom) and the
mythical and unmissable circuits in laser scan

Rfactor2 will become the undisputed number 1 for me and for many simracers I think because the feeling on rfactor 2 is incomparable with other simulations ... the brakes are better on the front axle ... in short, the physics everything is better in the behavior of the car even if there is progress to be made but the problem with rfactor2 is still and always half finished ... the advantage of rfactor2 is that it is not limited by the sro license ...I expect a lot from rfactor2
 
BackMarkerZ
If anything at all, this thread just shows how diverse peoples idea of good racing, physics and everything else is, looking back at the comments, almost all the sims come out almost even lol, what a wonderful time to be a sim racer :)
 
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