Opinion: What Do You Think Is Missing From Sim Racing?

View attachment 325937
Reviving an old topic from a couple of years ago, we would like to know what the RD community think is missing from the current sim racing landscape.

The subject was brought back to my attention by RD staff member @Daniel Monteiro during The RD Podcast recording earlier this evening, and I thought it might be worth throwing this question back out to the community to see if opinions have changed since 2017.

Sim racing does indeed continue to improve and get bigger at a seemingly endless rate, but even with all the progress made since back in the early 2000's, I'm sure it is fair to assume plenty still remains to be done in order to tick all those boxes our sim racing faithful would like to see in the hobby we all so love.

With that in mind, it's feeling like the time is right to ask you all this (rather large and broad) question once again:

What have you always thought should be part of a sim-racing game but somehow has (almost) never made it to any game?

Over to you, folks.

Screenshot Credit: Tino66

Like what we do at RaceDepartment? Follow us on Social Media!

 

G-forces my man g-forces...
 
As already said no sim is complete, each of them is missing something but even putting them all together those will feel empty...what we are really missing is "being on the race".
Proper rules, mechanical damage are only part of this but there are also all those small details some old games/sims nailed in the past that need to be on modern titles too...
 
Imagine being a 3d-Model on the race track compound, where you can freely move around. Arriving in a car on the track, getting your clothes changed, going to the briefing, talking to your engineer, walking around the track, getting in the car and walking back to the garage, if you crash your car on the circuit.
 
I'm tired of incomplete championships (only some cars/tracks) and betish games. GTR2 was the last "alpha release" game I owned. I would like to see a complete season not F1 or GT3. And not necessarily from the current year. An example would be a BPR 1995 game.

As of now it looks like that the main aspect is the graphics. There are many things to improve: pitstops, rain, safety car, different qualifying format, human-like AI, etc...
 
ACC is far from a complete sim experience because it's only relies on the Blancpain GT3 series, and modding is not even possible.
Reading other posts people also mentioned the racing rules and the size of the grids in the game.
I was thinking about complete inside the scope of what it tries to achieve. So for example having IMO a better rain physics simulation than other games I called it the most complete for me.
But if you take those other arguments of the racing series and racing rules covered and modding it is indeed not the most complete one.
 
Exist in the game, at the track and enter, exit the car. To walk back to the pits if I want. To wait for a lift. To stand at the pit wall and watch practice and then cross pit lane, get in my car and do my stint - but if all this is delivered, I must, MUST be able to sit down (and stay in first person).
 
The 2 mandatory arguments against this is:
1. If the car in front want to get rid of you he could just tap the brake(brake test you).
2. A lot of times when people in front of you brake hard (and you crash into them) its because the guy in front of them also brake (unexpectedly) hard.
So...:)
Absolutely true. So my suggestion would only make an improvement of maybe 10 or 20 percent, but it might be a good start.
 
Real driver licensing that carries weight and carries across sims. Now the FIA has come out and said simracing is a great first step, let there be FIA sim racing licensing and lets see real sims make provisions for that. Until then we're just gaming.Of course, that's all in a multiplayer context, no AI.
 
A engineer mod that could be used for all sims which could translate your feedback and requirements and provide a setup that could work for the target sim(s) - for those of us who are challenged in that area or simply don't have the time, in a similar vein to CrewChief, which is independent of each sim but adds so much to each sim...
This is where, I believe, AI or even just an expert system could make a real contribution. The sim has the telemetry of all the laps, it can tell where you are fast or slow, where you oversteer or understeer. Feed this data into an algorithm that deduces where the biggest gain can be realized, and modify the car in a way that helps you achieve a better exit or entry, whatever is needed, but taking your driving style into account. Intelligently tuning the car to help YOU get the best time based on your style would be great for the tuning challenged.
 
Murray Walker & James Hunt accurate and non repetitive, real time, in race commentary.

Failing that... I'd be happy to have a mix of Assetto Corsa and a multiplayer version of BeamNg.

BeamNg (to me) is the most impressive 'sim' out there.
 
I'd like to see a reasonable race control built in that gives out appropriate penalties when someone ruins your race, instead of 4x. I'd like a rally sim that has all the real life stages, full length, laser scanned(c'mon, they got the drones doing it now, how long can it take really?!?!). I'd kill someone for a proper motorcycle sim but that would require the company making the sim to also make a dedicated motorcycle handlebar type "wheel" with FFB and pressure sensors in the foot controls and handlebars to tell the sim where you're putting your weight.
 
I cant believe the amount of people that really want something that you actually hope never to see..... a safety car.
To honest I think most modern sims are pretty close now, but I would like to see a few rebooted genres, like GPL (just perfect old cars and old tracks) or even a fun game like Midtown Madness (loved that game).
Would also like to see a few lesser/forgotten UK tracks laser scanned, like Croft etc.
 

Latest News

What's needed for simracing in 2024?

  • More games, period

  • Better graphics/visuals

  • Advanced physics and handling

  • More cars and tracks

  • AI improvements

  • AI engineering

  • Cross-platform play

  • New game Modes

  • Other, post your idea


Results are only viewable after voting.
Back
Top