I tried KartKraft for the first time recently, I had a good time and wanted to share my thoughts with you.
If like me, you will have seen the awesome video of Kartkraft when it burst on the scene, the graphics looked incredible and it was exciting to see a new simulation title hit the market. From there you will have seen the odd news article on here and around the web. But if you are really like me, you may not have bitten the bullet to try it. Well I did bite the bullet, and I have tried it, and I have to say, I'm impressed. Full disclosure I bought it with my own money and these are my own thoughts.
Also, this isn't a review, just my first impressions of trying the sim.
Now, I know kart simming isn’t everyone’s first choice when they get in the rig, but I actually really enjoy it, I have tried pretty much every karting experience out there except Kartkraft. Largely because I was (and still am) really happy with the rFactor2 DLC Kartsim. I will do a comparison of a few different kart sims in the future so stay tuned for that.
But today I wanted to talk to you about KartKraft from BlackDelta, a studio based in Melbourne Australia. The first thing to mention is that it’s not the finished article, the AI needs work, there looks like there is a great foundation for a fully fledged career mode in there but that too isn’t fleshed out either yet. But I can put that to one side and afford the team at Black Delta the time to add the polish because I was incredibly impressed with two things, firstly, the graphics, we all know that it looks great so I shouldn’t have been that surprised that it does actually look great in-game too. Secondly, the driving experience is on point, and that is what is most important for me.
This sim looks good - Even the little details like the finger prints on the display look great.
Now, i’m no pro karting driver but I have a couple hundred hours clocked in the real world up to rotax max level so I have a rough idea of what a kart should feel like. I also went to PFI fairly recently so I am quite familiar with that circuit, so I thought what better way to test this out than to try and beat Jimmy Broadbent’s time around PFI in an X30 Kart Jimmy couldn’t quite get under a minute so that was my target.
I selected my Praga kart and selected a couple of session options and bang, just like that I was into my first session. It’s worth noting that KartKraft uses the Unreal4 engine, the same as ACC, i’m no developer, maybe someone can tell me if that is the reason the load times are so quick? But that was my first pleasant surprise.
I then got out on track, and yeah, this game is a treat on the eyes. The details of the track and the kart are brilliant and I really get that sense of atmosphere that you get when you visit PFI. For those that don’t know, PFI is one of, if not the leading karting venue in the UK, it’s the equivalent of a Formula 1 track compared to my hometown track of Daytona in Milton Keynes which would probably be something like a 750 Motor club track (nothing against 750 by the way, I grew up following that club around the country, but they are hardly premier league).
Ready to hit the track - Paul Fletcher International looks and feels brilliant in this sim.
After a lap or two I really felt the kart bedding in and the tyres are up to temp and things start feeling good, really good. Before I knew it I was about 10 laps in and was edging tenths off my time. This was proper, I don’t know why I was so surprised but I was. I parked up and immediately messaged Bram and said, “you know what, it’s actually awesome”. I’m not claiming to be a physics expert or anything but to me the feel I got from the game in the wheel what I would expect from that type of kart.
I didn't have to do too much tinkering with my controls either, it pretty much worked out of the box with just the calibration settings that needed to be applied, but as has been proven there, I am no expert in setting up this stuff so you may have a different view on it, but for me it seemed to work pretty well.
I ended up beating Jimmy's time by a couple of tenths, but without the pressure of risking injury or worse still bending someone's prized possession I dare say he could have gone a lot quicker than what I managed if he had the chance.
I beat Jiimmy - But only just.
Buzzing with excitement I jumped into a race expecting the hype train to carry on rolling but that’s where the experience just plateaued a bit. Like I mentioned at the top of the article, the AI needs work. I would go as far to say it’s pretty much unplayable if i’m honest. But that is just my experience, I may have things dialed in wrong so I will tinker with it and update you if I find some better settings but as it stands, I think it needs work.
Maybe it's me - I say the AI isn't the best, maybe I need to improve my driving first.
I’m excited about the future of this title, my only regret is that I didn’t try it sooner. I’ve jumped into their discord and will certainly do everything I can to help move the title forward by feeding back ideas and thoughts where I can. If you go into this knowing it's not the super deep and fleshed out title that one would expect from say a Kunos or S397, you're going to have fun with it, permitting that you like driving karts in simulation world that is. Keep up the good work BD team.
You can pick KartKraft up on Steam here
If like me, you will have seen the awesome video of Kartkraft when it burst on the scene, the graphics looked incredible and it was exciting to see a new simulation title hit the market. From there you will have seen the odd news article on here and around the web. But if you are really like me, you may not have bitten the bullet to try it. Well I did bite the bullet, and I have tried it, and I have to say, I'm impressed. Full disclosure I bought it with my own money and these are my own thoughts.
Also, this isn't a review, just my first impressions of trying the sim.
Now, I know kart simming isn’t everyone’s first choice when they get in the rig, but I actually really enjoy it, I have tried pretty much every karting experience out there except Kartkraft. Largely because I was (and still am) really happy with the rFactor2 DLC Kartsim. I will do a comparison of a few different kart sims in the future so stay tuned for that.
But today I wanted to talk to you about KartKraft from BlackDelta, a studio based in Melbourne Australia. The first thing to mention is that it’s not the finished article, the AI needs work, there looks like there is a great foundation for a fully fledged career mode in there but that too isn’t fleshed out either yet. But I can put that to one side and afford the team at Black Delta the time to add the polish because I was incredibly impressed with two things, firstly, the graphics, we all know that it looks great so I shouldn’t have been that surprised that it does actually look great in-game too. Secondly, the driving experience is on point, and that is what is most important for me.
This sim looks good - Even the little details like the finger prints on the display look great.
Now, i’m no pro karting driver but I have a couple hundred hours clocked in the real world up to rotax max level so I have a rough idea of what a kart should feel like. I also went to PFI fairly recently so I am quite familiar with that circuit, so I thought what better way to test this out than to try and beat Jimmy Broadbent’s time around PFI in an X30 Kart Jimmy couldn’t quite get under a minute so that was my target.
I selected my Praga kart and selected a couple of session options and bang, just like that I was into my first session. It’s worth noting that KartKraft uses the Unreal4 engine, the same as ACC, i’m no developer, maybe someone can tell me if that is the reason the load times are so quick? But that was my first pleasant surprise.
I then got out on track, and yeah, this game is a treat on the eyes. The details of the track and the kart are brilliant and I really get that sense of atmosphere that you get when you visit PFI. For those that don’t know, PFI is one of, if not the leading karting venue in the UK, it’s the equivalent of a Formula 1 track compared to my hometown track of Daytona in Milton Keynes which would probably be something like a 750 Motor club track (nothing against 750 by the way, I grew up following that club around the country, but they are hardly premier league).
Ready to hit the track - Paul Fletcher International looks and feels brilliant in this sim.
After a lap or two I really felt the kart bedding in and the tyres are up to temp and things start feeling good, really good. Before I knew it I was about 10 laps in and was edging tenths off my time. This was proper, I don’t know why I was so surprised but I was. I parked up and immediately messaged Bram and said, “you know what, it’s actually awesome”. I’m not claiming to be a physics expert or anything but to me the feel I got from the game in the wheel what I would expect from that type of kart.
I didn't have to do too much tinkering with my controls either, it pretty much worked out of the box with just the calibration settings that needed to be applied, but as has been proven there, I am no expert in setting up this stuff so you may have a different view on it, but for me it seemed to work pretty well.
I ended up beating Jimmy's time by a couple of tenths, but without the pressure of risking injury or worse still bending someone's prized possession I dare say he could have gone a lot quicker than what I managed if he had the chance.
I beat Jiimmy - But only just.
Buzzing with excitement I jumped into a race expecting the hype train to carry on rolling but that’s where the experience just plateaued a bit. Like I mentioned at the top of the article, the AI needs work. I would go as far to say it’s pretty much unplayable if i’m honest. But that is just my experience, I may have things dialed in wrong so I will tinker with it and update you if I find some better settings but as it stands, I think it needs work.
Maybe it's me - I say the AI isn't the best, maybe I need to improve my driving first.
I’m excited about the future of this title, my only regret is that I didn’t try it sooner. I’ve jumped into their discord and will certainly do everything I can to help move the title forward by feeding back ideas and thoughts where I can. If you go into this knowing it's not the super deep and fleshed out title that one would expect from say a Kunos or S397, you're going to have fun with it, permitting that you like driving karts in simulation world that is. Keep up the good work BD team.
You can pick KartKraft up on Steam here
