Ian Bell | Straight4Games and Hyper-Realistic Screenshots

MadDriver11 said:

AC is 8 years old these days and has been abandoned long ago and is trying to emulate things that are in ME and other sims just because a few modders took care of it...

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Well, I'm about to load up AC and choose from two thousand cars and hundreds of tracks - and, in the round, have it all looking and performing better and more realistically than anything else I have seen out there. All for one time payment of $15.

the_last_name_left said:

Well, I'm about to load up AC and choose from two thousand cars and hundreds of tracks - and, in the round, have it all looking and performing better and more realistically than anything else I have seen out there. All for one time payment of $15.

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How is that real road working for you in AC? Oh right...

the_last_name_left said:

Well, I'm about to load up AC and choose from two thousand cars and hundreds of tracks - and, in the round, have it all looking and performing better and more realistically than anything else I have seen out there. All for one time payment of $15.

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If you are happy, then cool. I am happier driving AMS2 rather than AC (still have more hours on the latter though!) and I cannot agree with your statements, but that's the cool thing of having choices.

Richard Wilks said:

How is that real road working for you in AC? Oh right...

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It's not in AC? Meh. AC ain't perfect but it gets much more right than anything else about, for me. It fits very well into a timeline: Crammond->GPL->rF->AMS->AC.

iRacing would be in there too, if it had a better deal. There can be little (no!) dispute that AC is the absolute top of the pile on a question of budget and delivery (for the consumer).

the_last_name_left said:

Well, I'm about to load up AC and choose from two thousand cars and hundreds of tracks - and, in the round, have it all looking and performing better and more realistically than anything else I have seen out there. All for one time payment of $15.

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LOL I hope "have it all" does not include the obscene transformation of a Ferrari 641 into a McLaren as shown in the picture

Richard Wilks said:

How is that real road working for you in AC? Oh right...

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Your jabs towards AC are getting rather pathetic. How about AC, how about AC, seems like that's your only argument.

AC is so damn legendary that its impervious to any slanderous remarks made by plebs and outliers.

real life track and career stuff as well as the variety of tracks and cars for sure are the strong points of PCars2 and AMS2, but i simply can't get to grips with the handling.
but i would say that after playing PCars 1 and 2 i simply was also tired of that PCars 'feel' (both visually and handling wise) that when i was playing ams2 i always had to think of PCars and that certainly did AMS2 no favors, i could not approach AMS2 from a clean slate which is a shame because i truly think Reiza are working their a**es off.

th3orist said:

real life track and career stuff as well as the variety of tracks and cars for sure are the strong points of PCars2 and AMS2, but i simply can't get to grips with the handling.
but i would say that after playing PCars 1 and 2 i simply was also tired of that PCars 'feel' (both visually and handling wise) that when i was playing ams2 i always had to think of PCars and that certainly did AMS2 no favors, i could not approach AMS2 from a clean slate which is a shame because i truly think Reiza are working their a**es off.

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I don't get this observation.
Personally I hated how some cars felt in PCars 1 & 2 and how the FFB was a nightmare to dial in but I really appreciate those aspects in AMS2 and it is a totally different sim for me albeit using the same engine.

TurboHenk said:

Will you use deferred rendering or forwarded rendering Ian?
How will you deal with the TAA blur issues that Unreal 5 brings in VR?

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Ian? I hope that you're not evading difficult questions here?

It's mandatory that you keep focus on VR as you did in the past. With UE this isn't proved yet in sim racing because of deferred rendering+TAA. It's now still early enough to switch to a render/aa system that suits sim racing in VR. Good luck.

F_B said:

I don't get this observation.
Personally I hated how some cars felt in PCars 1 & 2 and how the FFB was a nightmare to dial in but I really appreciate those aspects in AMS2 and it is a totally different sim for me albeit using the same engine.

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Fully agree. I always hated the car physics and ffb of PC1 and 2. But my to go sim/fav. sim regarding FFB/physics is AMS2 now. Those two cannot be compared AT ALL regarding this subject. Everyone that says that they are equal didn't try both seriously. The difference is HUGE.

tumbleweed_092 said:

Someone calling Madness Engine the best physics engine ever existed for sure is a funny joke. Reiza can't get past its bugs and glitches after so many years in work. AMS2 may be a good game from regular updates standpoint, but one can't deny you can feel the legacy of Project CARS while driving any car from AMS2 roster.

Project CARS has been everything a community wasn't advertising and nothing a community has been promising. By far the worst lie told since Fable's Molyneux...

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Bugs and glitches in ALL sims, including some others call "best physics EVAH", what is your point?

Using your degree knowledge impart some wisdom on where exactly the Madness engine fails rather than do a snidey comment?

F_B said:

I don't get this observation.
Personally I hated how some cars felt in PCars 1 & 2 and how the FFB was a nightmare to dial in but I really appreciate those aspects in AMS2 and it is a totally different sim for me albeit using the same engine.

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as i said: it's on me.
when i see ams2 i see pcars 1 and 2 and i can't shake that psychological feeling even though the handling is vastly different.
i can't approach the sim with an open mind because i am biased against pcars.

th3orist said:

as i said: it's on me.
when i see ams2 i see pcars 1 and 2 and i can't shake that psychological feeling even though the handling is vastly different.
i can't approach the sim with an open mind because i am biased against pcars.

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Fair enough.

Richard Wilks said:

How is that real road working for you in AC? Oh right...

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Now I think we're out of the scope of the article, but well as we're at it;
As a simmer racing both older and newer sims, to my experience every sim has surely it's flaws, but I choose to concentrate on the good things on every sim. For instance it doesn't disturb me that R3E is missing day/night, I live with it 'as is', and when I during cov re-entered iRacing my personal experience was it was not so much 'ICEracing' as I feared through bragging in various forums (maybe b/c I re-entered just when a tyre model was improved, mid 2020?), and so on.

Regarding AC, more quality track mods (and car mods) actually deliver quite authentic sim feeling, where you are able to identify every intended modelled pothole, dip, concrete surface, etc., using just near entry level sim hardware (in my case typical setup among other base hw is T300RS+2xT8HA (H/seq shifter + analogue handbrake option) + G27 or T-LCM pedals together with my flexible NLR F-GT lite seat). Though fully understand the frustrations investing in more expensive DD/DD2 hardware and having to finetune sine curve ffb response but still not delivering at satisfactory levels. But with my sim hw it's really just plug&drive, more or less (though I like nerding with FFB curves).

AC considered just as 'a sandbox' though for immersive classic offline simracing with or w/o VR it is actually delivering, to my experience. I agree standard Kunos content is not up there, but thanks to modders it has been quite improved IMO.

Only thing that really grieves me about AC is non-trustworthy feedback in wet conditions using all kind of sol settings - which compared to GTR2 of which from the gun delivered far more trustworthy, besides miles ahead of first ME attempts, though latest Reiza work on AMS2 here is personally felt as a real improvement (even PC1 was better than PC2 speaking wet conditions IMO, even F1C99-02 using ISI was better on that subject).

And tyre wear modelling especially speaking endurance racing, it hits me that GTR2 is still among the prime sims here, even though single point modelling (only rF2 is on par or on specific combos better here, as should be expected with thought through tree point tyre modelling).

But think discussions on these matters are valuable, especially when the outcome strictly sim-wise on the concerned coming GTR title is rather diffuse and we have a key listener here on this forum

Just have to add: if the Straight4Games team is willing to throw the gloves looking at heritage and further refinement of the GTR2 tyre modelling and track response and the quite thustworthy wet conditions feedback here, there's a chance for a bright future

Jebus said:

Your jabs towards AC are getting rather pathetic. How about AC, how about AC, seems like that's your only argument.

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You want a tissue?...
You should be happy i use AC as an example, because it's the most played of the "free sims" (not iracing).

Richard Wilks said:

You want a tissue?...
You should be happy i use AC as an example, because it's the most played of the "free sims" (not iracing).

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Heh, seems to me it's you needing that tissue. Or serious help.

/Ignored

MadDriver11 said:

LOL I hope "have it all" does not include the obscene transformation of a Ferrari 641 into a McLaren as shown in the picture

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Yes, but I could put any number of other skins or it or any number of mods with individual and appropriate car models. I could give it the appropriate Ferrari skin or anything else.

Or I could make it like iRacing and have the entire field all in one skin - would that be better?




Point is, AC gives all the choice. It's indisputably objectively the sim for user choice. Whilst not everything, it counts for a lot.

Pete Conway said:

What you have wasting space on your desktop is of no concern to me, I only have things I use on mine, among them is the Excellent GTR2, with over 100 tracks, GTL again Excellent and P&G3, the 'newer racing titles don't really appeal to me as I'm simply not a fan of generic 'jellymold' GT3 cars.
So, I'm happy

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It's nice you're happy with GTR2. Most people are happy with it, which is why it's got a good reputation. It's what's happened after that (all those sims you DON'T play) that is the problem.

Developers can give us substandard products with no comeback. All we can do is hope they patch out the problems while it sits there taking up hard drive space. We get two hours to decide whether we want to keep a game or not. It takes longer than that to find out if it's a problem with your system, uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, changing settings, etc.

Imagine buying a fridge and only having a two hour warranty. Any problems after that and it's tough luck. It would be ridiculous. Imagine if you couldn't leave bad reviews or complaints about the quality of that fridge online. How could people educate themselves of potential issues or find out if that manufacturer has a good reputation before they spend their money? It's not like we can even go into a shop and PX games anymore, to at least get SOME of our money back.

The gaming industry is the only industry where they can get away with this sort of thing. I bought F12022 day one (no concern of yours, I know) to use in VR. It's very unstable and freezes a lot. Go onto their forums and you can see it's a common issue. They were quite happy to use influencers to tell us how wonderful it was prior to release. Idiots like me are left £50 lighter. What can I do, I can't get my money back? Just shut up and accept it, I suppose?

Same with ACC (Again, apologies for mentioning it, it's not your concern) and VR. An advertised feature that didn't work very well at all. It was even removed from the feature list later on IIRC, but I'd already paid my money by then. I know, I'll keep my mouth shut about it, that'll show 'em.

It's not like they don't know half these problems exist prior to release, they know full well what they're putting out there, but they'll keep quiet and take our money. Maybe it will get fixed, maybe it won't.

The only real course of action for those who have complaint is to whinge on forums and hope the devs do something about it. Maybe we'll get a better quality product.

For example S397 have finally started looking at AI, which is a good thing. Maybe they saw the complaints and listened. Had people not complained incessantly for about 6 years, they probably wouldn't have bothered thinking people were happy with it as it was.

False promises, broken features and unstable products that get abandoned are not what should be acceptable. In the end, these companies get the reputation they deserve.

Richard Wilks said:

Some already learned how to make that not happen. Launch a buggy "beta" access program, make the users wait 3 years for the game to be in any acceptable state, then spend 2 or 3 more years selling DLC, while you tease features that will never come, and in the meantime sell this as "continuous support" while you play an incomplete old game for years to come. Sounds much better right!

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Yep, we've facilitated this by buying into these early access programs. (I'm very guilty of it). It's a total lottery whether we'll end up with a good game or not. I buy most sims that come out, but I still spend most of my time in AC, thanks to CSP and content manager.

I miss the days of GPL, N2003, GTR2, Crammond's F1 series, etc. You bought the game, it worked, it had all the features, no major bugs and they we're brilliant from day one. No extra purchase necessary, no subscription needed, no weekly updates 'cos they've actually got another 2 years coding to do before it's finished (and even then, it won't be).

pitkin said:

I miss the days of GPL, N2003, GTR2, Crammond's F1 series, etc. You bought the game, it worked, it had all the features, no major bugs and they we're brilliant from day one. No extra purchase necessary, no subscription needed, no weekly updates 'cos they've actually got another 2 years coding to do before it's finished (and even then, it won't be).

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Those games all had patches that fixed major game-breaking bugs. GPL v.1.0 had totally undriveable default setups that bottomed out and spun on corner entry, while sim boomers just told everyone "that's how the car drives irl, git gud".

NR2k3 was the third iteration of Papyrus's NASCAR+GPL tyre model -game after NR4 and NR2k2, both of which were so buggy that you couldn't even do an AI race at Bristol or Martinsville because within 10 laps all the AI clustered in a huge pile-up and blocked the track so badly that the pace car couldn't plow through the wreckage.

And that's without mentioning all the other sim racing titles of that era that had even worse problems...