Making the switch to AC

[Eddie Ellis]

I'm thinking about making the switch to AC now that Race 07 has faded away.
How does AC deal with DLC cars that one doesn't have, if another driver shows up with a car from a rare DLC or Mod? More specifically, can I race on RD servers with just the 3 Dream packs, the Ferrari 70th or the Red Pack? Do I need every DLC add-on ever made ?

 

[Shadowoff]

You need the DLC´s the server requests. Like when a server uses Dream Hack 2 and you dont have it, you cant join.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

I'm talking as someone who bought AC a long time ago and I kept buying the DLCs as they came out, so my effort was a bunch of moneys spread here and there, but I admit that spending them all in once (around 90€ of DLCs) is too much.
It has to be said: every Kunos content worths the money it asks: this game/sim is a pure gem, plus the awesome Racedepartment weekly races make the online experience on a iRacing level!

 

[William Wester]

I'm thinking about making the switch to AC now that Race 07 has faded away.
How does AC deal with DLC cars that one doesn't have, if another driver shows up with a car from a rare DLC or Mod? More specifically, can I race on RD servers with just the 3 Dream packs, the Ferrari 70th or the Red Pack? Do I need every DLC add-on ever made ?

Coming from Race07, I think you would be better off with R3E, PC2, or AMS. Not saying AC is a bad game, it isn't.

 

[ouvert]

yep perhaps take look at AMS or R3E

 

[Gevatter]

As much as I love AC and I regard it as my main sim, as you're coming from Race07 I'd also rather recommend you take a look at Automobilista first, it's simply a more complete package with lots of exotic content

 

[Tberg]

To even out:
As one coming from Race07/GTR2/Legendes in the time 2006-2013, racing weekly in leagues etc, I fell in love with AC out of the bunch. I've tried all of them except AMS, though I did race GSC, and AC came out on top.
It wasn't the onlineracer to beat back then, but I was tired of racing leagues with funny physics, so I stuck with the one that felt intuitive. The last couple of years, AC has grown to be very much the best online sim just behind iRacing. It's not perfect and it lacks many features that Race07 had for leagues/mp, but combined with the driving experience, it's far better than most titles in my opinion. Except iRacing, you won't find this level of onlineracing and amount of players in any other sim.
To topic, which has been answered: I think it's a huge mistake to go around AC because of how it handles DLC, but some people just can't cope with that and that's fair enough.
I don't know, but if possible to try out all the sims for a limited time (or steam refund?), just take your time and try them all

 

[apex11]

I'm talking as someone who bought AC a long time ago and I kept buying the DLCs as they came out, so my effort was a bunch of moneys spread here and there, but I admit that spending them all in once (around 90€ of DLCs) is too much.
It has to be said: every Kunos content worths the money it asks: this game/sim is a pure gem, plus the awesome Racedepartment weekly races make the online experience on a iRacing level!

Or just look out for steam sales, I got AC and all content for about 30 UK Sterling or there abouts...
not as good a bargain as AMS though as that was 6 UK base game and 11.99 UK for beta access plus ALL DLC now and in future!

Oh and rf2 cost me 11.99 UK too so again bargain...

 

[norbs]

Like a few guys have said, AMS is pretty good, plus it has the added bonus of interesting tracks and cars, not the ones that seem to pop up in all games these days. And that is coming from someone who has all the AC DLC. DLC is cheap, if you buy every few months. All at once it is ridiculously expensive.

Add that to the fact that without the DLC, you can't race with people that have it, which is a pretty sly way of making people buy the DLC if you ask me.

RF2 is such a kludgey experience, I couldnt recommend it.

 

[Eddie Ellis]

Is RF2 still a thing? I raced RF1 for a while, but gave it up when the mods were getting crazy. I had close to 40 tracks and mods and every time I entered an RD event it seemed I had to download new mods or different versions of tracks that I already had 3 versions of. Steam was randomly changing the way it grouped mods in folders at the time. That made it even worse.
I think I'm going to give AC a try with half the DLC to get a feel for it and wait for the Black Friday sales to fill in the DLC.

 

[apex11]

RF2 is very much a thing and its great in DX11, i picked it up for £11.99 so its worth it just to have as a refernce point as many say its the best physics blah blah blah... its well worth having for the USF2000 car alone... IMO..

 

[guidofoc]

I say get AC anyways, it's like the Microsoft Windows of racing sims these days. You can ..run.. anything on it, plenty of apps, lots of free stuff, doesn't crash, ok some features are missing BUT you can use it for whatever you like, hotlapping, drifting, just driving fast on a twisty road, racing the AI, racing MP, rallying, collecting cars, modding..

I also recommend using the app Content Manager instead of the default interface. It adds quite a few features.

 

[JackCY]

RF2 is mostly used for leagues, AC has none of that because AC has terrible/nonexistent league support, no driver swapping and no spectating, AMS is even smaller community than RF2. AC is probably the largest non-subscription based wanna be sim.
The AC online gameplay is IMHO dwindling down in numbers. It's mostly boring GT2/3 and cruise servers. The interesting and fun to drive cars, hard to find online as people in almost if not all sims just want to drive the boring GT3 aero cars with infinite grip. In that regard I guess it's no different than any other sim and if you want to drive a lot of unusual, historic, slidey RWDs, proper cars with no ABS/TC/... then it's tough in AC to find servers and weekend races.

All of the sims need DLC...
Probably get AC and then the DLC you want, sometimes there are large discounts so wait and buy it on discount.

 

[norbs]

RF2 is mostly used for leagues, AC has none of that because AC has terrible/nonexistent league support, no driver swapping and no spectating, AMS is even smaller community than RF2. AC is probably the largest non-subscription based wanna be sim..

Wow, wait til the Kunos see that!

 

[Stereo]

because AC has terrible/nonexistent league support, no driver swapping and no spectating,

Ac does support driver swaps now but not in a user friendly way yet.

Plenty of people run leagues in the dozens of classes that don't need driver swaps though.

 

[guidofoc]

...The AC online gameplay is IMHO dwindling down in numbers..

Honestly I haven't noticed any dwindling down. Even playing from a remote location like China with the "wrong" time zone, I always find 20 to 50 populated servers whenever I play AC. Furthermore, a service like SRS (www.simracingsystem.com) is well organized and FREE, and it's not hard to find very crowded races there. They also do live streaming on YouTube.
I do like driving cars with manual gearbox which tend to be a little more vintage, and I understand they may not be the most popular, but that does not mean it is impossible to race them. You have to find the "right" people do to that.

As for leagues, I find there are some very well organized leagues for AC, and they do live streaming. I like watching the races from NAGP league for example: https://www.youtube.com/user/nagptv

As you said, AC has a larger user base than rF2 and AMS. But this is important if you want to do online racing.. The number of people playing AC is on average pretty good and holding strong, and is much higher than rF2, AMS, RRE: http://steamcharts.com/cmp/244210,365960,431600,211500#3m

Even compared to Project Cars 2 and F1 2017, two fresh new titles that are all the rage, AC is doing quite well: http://steamcharts.com/cmp/244210,378860,515220#3m

 

[HypoToad]

AC's strongest point for me is that you can customize/edit the game files to your hearts content, it's like GTR2 which I love to death.

 

[Aceking]

Pcars 2 has the largest populated online pickup races and you can race on servers even if you don't have the server's DLC content if this is important to you.

If you like single player racing then rF2 has by far the very best AI to race against but is lacking online pickup races at this moment but expect this to improve since Studio 397 took over and is offering DX11 and stating they intend to begin offering laser scanned tracks and more car mod content for the future!

 

[Rob Every]

My four penneth.

If you want to just race, don't bother with the DLC in AC, hardly anyone uses it and you can race against people using Porsches or newer Audis etc anyway, just you cant use them.

A lot of the DLC is road cars, and I am not that keen on road cars in AC, the tyres feel awful invariably, but some folk think it feels great. Just not me.

Race 07 is full of race cars, I played it for years too, a very under-rated game actually. Problem with AC is content, there isn't much and most of it is GT based. One decent single seater, a fairly average F1 rip off.

All you are going to get on servers are a few massively popular Gt events at Spa and Mugello every day, and lots of cruise events at the Ring and Spa, a few drift events and a few good servers that race at other tracks like Zandvoort, Brands, even push the boat out now and then to race at Monza, Dear God.

 

[RasmusP]

My four penneth.

If you want to just race, don't bother with the DLC in AC, hardly anyone uses it and you can race against people using Porsches or newer Audis etc anyway, just you cant use them.

Did you mean another game title here? Because in AC you can't even join a server you don't have the content for. Most servers usually have at least one dlc car which restricts you from joining at all.