What the Next Generation of Unreal Driving Games Could Look Like


A free demonstration of the Unreal Engine 5 based on the Matrix movie series has been released, and shows the immense potential of the next generation of UE based games.

In 1999, The Matrix was released to theatres and blew the minds of theatregoers worldwide. In 2021, The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience is blowing the minds of gamers.

The Matrix Awakens title is more of a showcase of what Unreal Engine 5 games will look like rather than being a true game, but it does allow PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S gamers to assume the controls and walk, fly or drive to explore the massive open world environment.

There are two reasons why this should appeal to sim racers and racing game fans. First, the Unreal Engine has been successfully implemented in many racing titles, ranging from the simulation-focused Assetto Corsa Competizione to the fun-focused Hot Wheels: Unleashed. Second, TMA allows you to drive any of the over 38,000 (that’s not a typo) vehicles parked around the map.

The result is nothing short of staggering. The visuals presented by The Matrix Awakens looks better than any title I’ve played in my life. If this UE5 demonstration had been limited to one city block or one building it would be impressive, but Epic Games has somehow packed in 250 kilometers of roads to explore across the 16 square kilometer map.

The Unreal Engine 5 shows massive improvements in the use of light, and the physics associated with the movement and interaction of soft objects is extremely impressive. In the context of driving, the physics of the soft objects has been implemented with the body of your vehicle, so the deformations from impacts to body work approaches the level of the best car damage models in gaming.

This is truly a mind-blowing experience. Of course, the implementation of this technology to games will yield varying results, but the graphics and physics possibilities of the Unreal Engine 5 are astonishing. Let’s hope our favourite racing game developers are taking a careful look at this engine for future titles.

What are your thoughts on the Unreal Engine 5 for racing games? Let us know on Twitter at @RaceDepartment or in the comments section 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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Comments

PurgerUK
Premium
TurboT said:
Source?

If this is true then Unreal Engine 5 would be the WORST choice for race sims. ACC is already close to unplayable in VR (I got it running at 90 fps with an 3080ti+adler lake, but those pixels... it does work/run but compared to AMS2 "it doesn't"; it's simply that bad compared to each other(or AMS2 is that good)). And ACC got UE4.

I think that UE5 would be the worst engine ever for an VR race sim title. So developers please look further; please check on forehand how good VR works because otherwise we have a missed chance again.
Click to expand...
This is one source, pretty sure I've read it elsewhere as well though I imagine the support would appear at some time as UE4 is often the choice of engine for VR games and while growth is slow it isn't stopping.
uploadvr.com

Unreal Engine 5 Supports OpenXR With New VR Template

Unreal Engine 5's Early Access release includes a new OpenXR-compatible VR template with support for Quest 1 & 2, Rift S, Valve Index, HTC Vive, & Windows MR.
uploadvr.com uploadvr.com
 
G
BP said:
https://www.racedepartment.com/news/discussion-vr-triple-monitors-or-ultrawides.59/

The poll above would suggest otherwise: it's still in the minority even in sims (2/5 compared to all flat screens)...and that's on RaceDepartment (majority from 1st world countries I'd bet)...I'd imagine in 3rd world countries it's even less VR users. Anyways...might be off-topic so I'll back up a bit lol
Click to expand...

You're either a troll or dumb. The polls tells us that 42.0% uses VR, 3-4 years ago this was maybe 5-10% max. ? (a guess) If you start thinking then you might understand that VR is growing insanely fast and that the future of sim racing is VR.

Besides that, 42% is already a HUGE amount of the users, it doesn't have to be a majority to be important. 42% is not a niche, so that poll doesn't suggest otherwise at all? I don't understand that you don't see this, there is zero logic in your way of thinking. You cannot ignore 42% of your user base as an developer, you will simply miss to many sales.

VR became since the Reverb G2 (for me personally) and the 3080TI card just "acceptable", before this glasses VR was to pixelated for me. I stepped over to VR, less then a year ago. Not everyone that plays sim racing can afford a good VR headset and GPU YET and not everyone tried VR yet. Anyway, I think that I'm teaching a 12 year old kid how the world works, why am I even doing this.. I'm off to a nice VR race :)

@PurgerUK Yes you're right that it supports VR, I just hope for good VR support. OpenXR looks like an improvement for UE5! That part looks promising... ACC(which uses UE4.26 atm) also supports VR, but it's the worst VR experience of all race sims and it requires a huge amount of tweaking to get it working on an acceptable level(and then it's still not really good).

Nevertheless: UE5 looks impressive and VR is growing and indeed supported, OpenXR is great so maybe I was to negative solely because of my ACC VR experience, let's hope that it's great in VR too!
 
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Gevatter
Premium
TurboT said:
You're either a troll or dumb. The polls tells us that 42.0% uses VR, 3-4 years ago this was maybe 5-10% max. ? (a guess) If you start thinking then you might understand that VR is growing insanely fast and that the future of sim racing is VR.
Click to expand...
I'm only commenting because you're calling people dumb without provocation. 2/5 is 40%, so he is close, and technically that's still a minority if you add up all the flatscreen configurations. The poll only tells you how many of the people who took the poll use VR and since it has only 1538 votes since May I'd argue it's hardy representative. Assetto Corsa alone has a monthy average player count of three times that. VR is growing tho, slowly but steadily, no question about that.
 
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BP
TurboT said:
You're either a troll or dumb. The polls tells us that 42.0% uses VR, 3-4 years ago this was maybe 5-10% max. ? (a guess) If you start thinking then you might understand that VR is growing insanely fast and that the future of sim racing is VR.

Besides that, 42% is already a HUGE amount of the users, it doesn't have to be a majority to be important. I don't understand that you don't see this, there is zero logic in your way of thinking. You cannot ignore 42% of your user base as an developer, you will simply miss to many sales.

VR became since the Reverb G2 (for me personally) and the 3080TI card just "acceptable", before this glasses VR was to pixelated for me. I stepped over to VR, less then a year ago. Not everyone that plays sim racing can afford a good VR headset and GPU YET and not everyone tried VR yet. Anyway, I think that I'm teaching a 12 year old kid how the world works, why am I even doing this.. I'm off to a nice VR race :)
Click to expand...
Hi TurboT! :)

I’m BP, Late 30’s married man here, nice to meet you. I thought it’d be nice to introduce myself since you decided to start by outright calling me…let’s see:
  • dumb
  • a troll
  • not thinking
  • a 12 year old

All without knowing anything about me or reading carefully what I said and what I replied to. Please note that many of the 12 year olds I’ve taught in high school for over a decade (and counting) have quite a bit more manners than you’ve displayed here…but I digress.

At no point did I say VR wasn’t a growing market. At no point did I say VR was unimportant or not deserving of attention by developers. What I did say is that it is still in the minority (42% is still lower than 58%, right?) in response to the person that said it’s not niche (i.e. specialised, smaller segment, in the minority) in the sim world.

Of course it’s growing and the tech is advancing and I hope every sim moving forward supports the technology…but I’m calling it as I see it today. I’ve watched streams of many of the elite sim racers over the last year: guys that have no financial problem upgrading to VR if they wanted to, guys that are world record holders and/or simracing esports champions. VR is fun and is the most immersive, no arguments here…and it may be the “future”…but why are the vast majority of them not using VR when competing today? There’s often money, opportunities and respect/notoriety on the line when doing these events…so why not use the tech that gives them the best advantage?

I’m not going to speak for them, but there must be a reason or reasons…but the fact is most of them use a monitor(s) or “pancakes” as the VR master race likes to say (in a derogatory manner), and that’s an observable fact all over YouTube and Twitch.

Not counting them and looking at the regular folk, and as I mentioned before, the majority of participating viewers of RD tend to be from 1st world countries where VR headsets are readily available AND people are more likely to have the funds to purchase one…so of course that would skew the numbers towards that. You speak of me not understanding the world, when you seem to think wealthier 1st world trends speak for the entire world. Being from the 3rd world myself, although I could afford a VR headset if I wanted one, I can guarantee that is far from the case for most sim racers in these regions. Thus why I said it’s lower than the numbers might indicate.

This doesn’t even include people who have tried VR and went back to flat screens for practicality reasons, health reasons, comfort reasons…not everyone is built for VR. However the overwhelming majority of people can watch cars race on a flat screen just fine…also observable facts.

That you feel you have to defend your VR purchase so fervently that you ignore any possibilities of an opposing viewpoint having merit, plus the need to insult strangers to do it…it’s quite sad really…I can’t put it any nicer than that. I really am sorry my posting a link got you so riled up..,I do hope you enjoy/enjoyed your VR race, and enjoy the rest of your day good sir.
 
boomn
A poll on this site is definitely pretty self-selecting for the most committed simracing nerds out of the much larger population of simracing fans; i.e those who are more likely to spend a relatively larger portion of there budget on high-end or even mid-range hardware from computers to wheels to vr headsets
 
G
Hey I agree that I was quite blunt with my post. But BP you're just an irritating guy, on every comment regarding people that want VR on RaceDepartment, you have to post an "comment against VR". I don't see the point of this at all. Why do you always want to start an discussion about it? This isn't the first time. You can agree with this right? That you do this every time.

"RichardHessels: Since when did VR become mainstream? It's a niche and will stay there for a while.

Nrde: It's not in simulator genre.

BP: The poll above would suggest otherwise"

What's the point here that you're trying to make here? A niche is not 42%. Sim racing is a niche, but within sim racing it's impossible to call a group of 42% a niche. 5% is a niche, maybe 10%, but 42%? Come on. Nrde was simply 100% right here and again you have to go against it. That's trolling.

And suggesting that people with VR are just "have to defend your VR purchase", as you just suggested here now again? What nonsense is that? We, VR users, are not defending our purchase at all; we are happy VR users and are not defending purchases, whatever that might mean.. ? I don't get it.

In my opinion you are an anti-VR troll, no matter what your age or your marital status is, that's what you do every time. Why? I don't know.

VR is growing and especially under sim users, that's a fact of life. This for the following reasons:

- VR only gets better and better but it's still VERY FAR from where it must and will be in the future. The best VR developer just arrived at the VR-table (Varjo with the aero) but it's not affordable yet, when this kind of headset gets available for prices such as the Oculus(and also the GPU prices drop), THEN VR will even take of much more. It's now an experience that's just available for the "happy few", cheap headsets+gpu's don't come close to the experience that you get with an high end headset+gpu. This while you can get a pretty decent experience with an cheap pancake screen+gpu in sim racing. New tech always starts as a niche but in the end it will become mainstream, and with 42% it's always far away from a niche, this even while the tech is FAR from end-stage-development. It's just the beginning where we are now.

- Besides that, VR takes some computer knowledge, that you don't need when you use pancake/2d screens. 2d/pancake just always works(especially with console users), VR needs many things to configure before you get it working well. So when this part is solved (which will happen in the future), you can expect even many more VR users. The software development is still in early stage.

- Other thing is that VR headsets are quite heavy/bulky and hot and not always comfortable. The new headsets, Varjo and Arpara 5K also solve this issue, so that will also bring more VR users to sim racing. Such innovations will be brought to other headsets.

- Besides the prices VR will get sharper/higher resolution(with new headsets and GPU's), more clear and get higher refresh rates and FoV in the future (see the new Primax Reality for example). When this new better tech becomes available and affordable (~2-3 years ahead?) then this will also bring more new VR users to sim racing.

Those things are all FACTS which you should stop to deny. What does it bring to the sim racing community, to constantly fight against those facts? Nothing at all, except irritation.

VR users always hope that their next sim racing title includes VR and GOOD VR support (as AMS2 has for example), that's also a fact that you have to deal with. People are not "defending their purchase", they are happy that they chose for VR (some do, some don't(like you? and people that aren't lucky to get an 3080 etc.)) and are simply focussed on VR development. Why do you want to bash them and tell them at every single post that they are not in the majority yet? What's the point of doing this besides pissing people off? I don't get it at all.

Just accept that VR users will be part of the sim racing community and that there will be more and more of them. This is a fact, simply because VR is getting better and better every year, because of new glasses and more powerfull hardware/software to support them. VR is far from where it will be in the future, so it will only take more and more market share. Whether you like it or not, it's a fact, so going against VR development is in my opinion either dumb or trolling.
 
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BP
TurboT said:
Hey I agree that I was quite blunt with my post. But BP you're just an irritating guy, on every comment regarding people that want VR on RaceDepartment, you have to post an "comment against VR". I don't see the point of this at all. Why do you always want to start an discussion about it? This isn't the first time. You can agree with this right? That you do this every time.

"RichardHessels: Since when did VR become mainstream? It's a niche and will stay there for a while.

Nrde: It's not in simulator genre.

BP: The poll above would suggest otherwise"

What's the point here that you're trying to make here? A niche is not 42%. Sim racing is a niche, but within sim racing it's impossible to call a group of 42% a niche. 5% is a niche, maybe 10%, but 42%? Come on. Nrde was simply 100% right here and again you have to go against it. That's trolling.

And suggesting that people with VR are just "have to defend your VR purchase", as you just suggested here now again? What nonsense is that? We, VR users, are not defending our purchase at all; we are happy VR users and are not defending purchases, whatever that might mean.. ? I don't get it.

In my opinion you are an anti-VR troll, no matter what your age or your marital status is, that's what you do every time. Why? I don't know.

VR is growing and especially under sim users, that's a fact of life. This for the following reasons:

- VR only gets better and better but it's still VERY FAR from where it must and will be in the future. The best VR developer just arrived at the VR-table (Varjo with the aero) but it's not affordable yet, when this kind of headset gets available for prices such as the Oculus(and also the GPU prices drop), THEN VR will even take of much more. It's now an experience that's just available for the "happy few", cheap headsets+gpu's don't come close to the experience that you get with an high end headset+gpu. This while you can get a pretty decent experience with an cheap pancake screen+gpu in sim racing. New tech always starts as a niche but in the end it will become mainstream, and with 42% it's always far away from a niche, this even while the tech is FAR from end-stage-development. It's just the beginning where we are now.

- Besides that, VR takes some computer knowledge, that you don't need when you use pancake/2d screens. 2d/pancake just always works(especially with console users), VR needs many things to configure before you get it working well. So when this part is solved (which will happen in the future), you can expect even many more VR users. The software development is still in early stage.

- Other thing is that VR headsets are quite heavy/bulky and hot and not always comfortable. The new headsets, Varjo and Arpara 5K also solve this issue, so that will also bring more VR users to sim racing. Such innovations will be brought to other headsets.

- Besides the prices VR will get sharper/higher resolution(with new headsets and GPU's), more clear and get higher refresh rates and FoV in the future (see the new Primax Reality for example). When this new better tech becomes available and affordable (~2-3 years ahead?) then this will also bring more new VR users to sim racing.

Those things are all FACTS which you should stop to deny. What does it bring to the sim racing community, to constantly fight against those facts? Nothing at all, except irritation.

VR users always hope that their next sim racing title includes VR and GOOD VR support (as AMS2 has for example), that's also a fact that you have to deal with. People are not "defending their purchase", they are happy that they chose for VR (some do, some don't(like you? and people that aren't lucky to get an 3080 etc.)) and are simply focussed on VR development. Why do you want to bash them and tell them at every single post that they are not in the majority yet? What's the point of doing this besides pissing people off? I don't get it at all.

Just accept that VR users will be part of the sim racing community and that there will be more and more of them. This is a fact, simply because VR is getting better and better every year, because of new glasses and more powerfull hardware/software to support them. VR is far from where it will be in the future, so it will only take more and more market share. Whether you like it or not, it's a fact, so going against VR development is in my opinion either dumb or trolling.
Click to expand...

...OK.
 
N
BP said:
What I did say is that it is still in the minority (42% is still lower than 58%, right?) in response to the person that said it’s not niche (i.e. specialised, smaller segment, in the minority) in the sim world.
Click to expand...

Niche has a meaning of being a segment appealing only to a very specific, often small part of a whole.

Having according to your statistics 40% of all simracers using VR, being a niche doesn't sound right.

VR is anything but a niche at this point. Especially when it comes to simracing. Even your own statistics proves that. My own impression within the communities give maybe 25-40% usage for VR. It's not a niche.
 
N
BP said:
Hi TurboT! :)

I’ve watched streams of many of the elite sim racers over the last year: guys that have no financial problem upgrading to VR if they wanted to, guys that are world record holders and/or simracing esports champions. VR is fun and is the most immersive, no arguments here…and it may be the “future”…but why are the vast majority of them not using VR when competing today?
Click to expand...

Maybe streamers stream in "screen mode" because that makes a much better stream than VR would. Better streams -> more viewers.

Triple screens gives an advantage (currently) over VR because of FOV.

Current and future VR gives an advantage over anything else because of immersion.

But I think we were not comparing which is better for X, but what should future titles get right.

The point being, a simulator planned to be released in 3-4 years can't ignore VR one bit, heck, a simulator released this or next year can't ignore VR.
 
PurgerUK
Premium
Nrde said:
Maybe streamers stream in "screen mode" because that makes a much better stream than VR would. Better streams -> more viewers.

Triple screens gives an advantage (currently) over VR because of FOV.

Current and future VR gives an advantage over anything else because of immersion.

But I think we were not comparing which is better for X, but what should future titles get right.

The point being, a simulator planned to be released in 3-4 years can't ignore VR one bit, heck, a simulator released this or next year can't ignore VR.
Click to expand...
Excepting the F1 games from CodeMasters, shame really as I would give them a go if they had VR support. Having said that I have given up racing ACC in VR and now use a G9 and has to be said with all the bells and whistles enabled ACC does look fantastic.
 
BP
Nrde said:
Niche has a meaning of being a segment appealing only to a very specific, often small part of a whole.

Having according to your statistics 40% of all simracers using VR, being a niche doesn't sound right.

VR is anything but a niche at this point. Especially when it comes to simracing. Even your own statistics proves that. My own impression within the communities give maybe 25-40% usage for VR. It's not a niche.
Click to expand...

Nrde said:
Maybe streamers stream in "screen mode" because that makes a much better stream than VR would. Better streams -> more viewers.

Triple screens gives an advantage (currently) over VR because of FOV.

Current and future VR gives an advantage over anything else because of immersion.

But I think we were not comparing which is better for X, but what should future titles get right.

The point being, a simulator planned to be released in 3-4 years can't ignore VR one bit, heck, a simulator released this or next year can't ignore VR.
Click to expand...

I wasn’t gonna say anything after your comrade’s latest tirade against me, but I can’t anymore. First off, I’m really getting sick and tired of my statements taken out of context and being lumped into some anti-VR camp. I said MANY TIMES that I support the advancement of VR and support for it in as many titles as possible. I am not an enemy of VR so both of you need to chill out, seriously. Please take that previous sentence into consideration when you read the following.

My entire statement (statements at this point) also said that the same poll has other variables which would make that number less than 40%, as a RaceDepartment poll isn’t necessarily an even cross-section of all sim racers globally and probably closer to 25% as you’ve estimated yourself. It is to that adjusted estimation which I am basing my statement that VR usage is still niche compared to monitor usage. I am not saying VR Is inferior because it’s IMO niche; please understand that as well.

This is the last I’ll speak on this because clearly you can’t say anything about VR (other than it’s the best thing since sliced bread) or you’re called a troll or irritating. Oh, but let’s ignore the now meme-like status of “No VR no BUY!” that’s plastered on every thread on RD for years about any game that hasn’t added VR yet…but yet I’m the irritating one. Let’s ignore referring to anyone playing on some non-VR screen as pancakes (something he who I won’t bother mention is guilty of), insinuating the superiority of VR over everything else…yet I’m the annoying one.

I’ve made a couple statements historically about the pros and cons of both methods among the hundreds of comments I’ve made about several other topics for years…and I’m suddenly labelled as an anti-VR troll. Meanwhile the same person talks only about VR in his entire history of comments (yes I can check your comments too), often belittling anyone that he perceives as contrary to his view…yet I am the troll? Wonderful. Miss me with your BS please.

As I said in one of my first comments on this thread: “this is why we can’t have nice things!”…because of stupid arguments that start over NOTHING.
 
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felippekiss
Graphics depend more on the adopted visual style than the Engine, this realistic look is already possible to do on UE 4 and other engines, but no game developer wanted to adopt it. Don't believe that just because Epic showed this tech demo that game developers will now make a similar look. Epic showed what Engine can do, now whether the producer decides to have this visual style or not, depends only on the art direction adopted. Just as an example "Fortnite" uses UE4 as well as "Hell let Loose" and they are two completely different art styles.
 
N
BP said:
I wasn’t gonna say anything after your comrade’s latest tirade against me, but I can’t anymore. First off, I’m really getting sick and tired of my statements taken out of context and being lumped into some anti-VR camp.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you replied to my message, it was not my intention to make any of my replies personal let alone attack someones views. Originally I wanted to correct in my opinion the wrong assumption that VR is a niche among simracers and that comment wasn't even a reply to your comment. Later on your own quote was proof of that VR isn't a niche.

I even said myself that we are or should not compare VR to something else.
But I think we were not comparing which is better for X, but what should future titles get right.
Click to expand...

You yourself brought up streamers and how they don't use VR even if they could do it without worrying about how to finance it. So I told a possible reason for that.

VR may be niche in "some" "simulators" eh F1, because they don't support VR at all, or their support requires 3rd party tweaks or some other reason. All at least a bit non arcade simulators for PC support VR though. From RBR and PC2 to ACC and iRacing. So VR support in a title that is released in 3-4 years needs to have VR as a 1st class option, not just an item in the feature list. (like currently in ACC it is)
 

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