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

[RCHeliguy]

I'll be the lone wolf who is actually pretty happy with what he has to play with right now.

Sure it can all improve, but I'm pretty happy to have what I have right now to play with.

If I had one complaint, it would be the generic lack of multi-core support and optimization.

 

[anton_Chez]

General optimisation for most of the sims would in itself pave the way for more features to be added. I'd hate to think what an online experience would be like with 10 pit crews pushing cars around in pit lane in an area where the render load is already horribly bloated. Most of the immersion stuff mentioned is pretty cool but should it come at the cost of basically no PC currently being able to run it all at a bearable frame rate?

I think things that actually matter to the actual race, like rules and regulations, safety car, damage, etc. should be the next focus, along with optimisations for nearly all current and future code, especially for VR and multi screen support. The hardware side of things in sim racing is becoming huge and it's no longer acceptable to call people with motion platforms, VR or triple screen setups completely niche.

 

[Terry Rock]

I want a sim...any sim, to replicate what my regular, 'road-going', daily driver feels like.
Do you realize that the vintage cars in Grand Prix Legend feel more responsive than most of that era's cars represented in later sims?
You could 'throw' them around and they feel natural.and deliberate.
Most of the modern sims do late model race cars very well but they're sadly lacking where old cars are concerned.
They somehow seem to suggest that old cars float like boats and don't turn in.
It seems to be the same with modern road cars.
They wallow all over the place...have excessive levels of understeer built in and for the most part, feel like junk. Simply disconnected.
I hardly ever drive them.
Everyday, I walk out of my house...get into my own car and have a fun 25 minute commute to work....legally of course.
It is fun and the handling is great.
If it felt anything like the road versions of sim cars, I'd be taking the bus.
While we are at it....somebody needs to tell some of the developers that with low throttle settings, a car will respond to steering inputs...even on grass.
Most just seem to have them spinning wildly out of control...even at slightly above idle.

 

[AngeloBonito]

AIR!!...airflow...turbulence...

 

[Nick Hill]

Total fantasy, but my ideal sim let's you manage the mechanical/economical side of racing.

In addition to driving the cars, you would be responsible for doing repairs, maintenance, paying for parts/fuel/tires, etc. Damage would be permanent - no more screaming out of the pits on a green track on cold tires and sending it consequence-free into the armco (not that I've ever done that! ). You'd need to watch out for the equipment from chassis to engine. You could also do upgrades as you earn money from racing. Maybe also hire mechanics to allow you to do more tweaking and repairs between sessions and races.

Sort of like your favorite race sim meets Automation meets Car Mechanic Simulator meets GP Manager meets Dirt to Daytona.

I would happily participate in kick-starting such a game!

 

[dave kirk]

I miss the kind of interaction we have on some flight simulators, for instance.
I wish some sim developer would focus on just a handful of cars (or maybe even just one) but make them exhaustively complete, down to the last knob and system. I wanna be able to roll down the window, check oil, inspect outside and under the hood, refuel the car, have persistent wear and damage... You know, not just appear inside the car and drive, but actually feel like you own and maintain the car.

Now in regard of gameplay, I dunno. With a sim like that, I'd be fine with just a nice open world to explore and sort of live in, but I guess you could have some kinds of race events as well.

that sounds like sim driving and not sim racing

 

[stickdeath1980]

Raceroom to move out of DX9.

 

[DND]

I would like to see AI expanded to include engineers and mechanics to assist in setups and pit strategy.

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

ACC with AI-Teammate swaps (i.e. fast forward as player trough his stint) and historical 1960's cars/tracks would be pretty much perfect.

 

[Antoni1985]

A group C game, like GTPC mod for rfactor in a new jacket.. Thats what missing....Graphics like project cars 2 or better. Physics and rules like rf2. Online option like Iracing.. Make it work and you can take my money like iracing does

 

[stickdeath1980]

But In all fairness what i think is missing from Sim Racing is a Massive Triple AAA dev ie GT or Forza to jump into the sim market (if they chuck some of there billions at a small company (whom i'd like to see Sector3 studio's) there massive team's car list track's big names behind them able to have Massive amount of resourse's and man power and women power. A small company like that would make leap's and bound's with there product take (RRE) ATM they have turned that around but given they had a massive company behind them just picture how badass that game would be (good freaken game just need's more $$$$ at it)

 

[Mr Deap]

I think it need in house private club monthly fee just to access the very basic guide & all subscriber have their photo & real name in it. Like in house store, insert pay to win use of driving assist as DLC. Have in house professional sim racer & tutor you as DLC... Add the car not being able to go sideway as DLC.

Have build in voice assistance to make have you FOV correctly adjusted in all screen size or VR. Make trail braking faster all the way down to the straight line of the exit...

 

[Jonathan Young]

A professionally done, independent multiplayer scheduling and ranking system with persistent stats. Like iracing but for all sims. Like SRS but more expansive and with much more functionality and polish. A system where you really had to work to get from one license level to the next.

 

[Crivitz Chris]

I miss the kind of interaction we have on some flight simulators, for instance.
I wish some sim developer would focus on just a handful of cars (or maybe even just one) but make them exhaustively complete, down to the last knob and system. I wanna be able to roll down the window, check oil, inspect outside and under the hood, refuel the car, have persistent wear and damage... You know, not just appear inside the car and drive, but actually feel like you own and maintain the car.

Maybe not quite to this extent (like what @dave kirk mentioned that's more sim car (sim city of car edition)) but something like each knob and button does it's intended purpose. Watching flight sim vids, there is no comparison to the racing sims. Driving my manual street car, it's super easy to stall it. Race cars, is even

Like what has been mentioned a lot, it's the immersion factor both in car and out of car experience. A majority of my racing, I just feel no atmosphere. Being at a race weekend as a spectator, and then replicating that same weekend in a game environment just seems to miss that immersion... or soul.

 

[mr Sw1tchblade]

Microsoft Assetto Corsa.
Forza horizon X with 8yo rf2 physical model.

 

[A man with a Harmonica]

Weather and atmospheric representation use to be ridiculous in almost all sims (maybe ACC fix that - not sure yet).

Anyone who raced at least go-karts in open world circuits knows how the air and track temps are determinative on vehicle reactions. From 15 minutes to the next you can experience night to day differences in driveability.

Let alone a bit of moisture or water on track. If you on slicks, the things turn dramatic. On wets, tense. Still waiting for a sim representing those real life effects really well. In addition considering me as an offline racer, the AI opponents reaction should be representative of the human drivers both driving on wet and on race strategy (pit for different tyres i.e.). Microprose GP3 did that 25 years ago. Current race sims pathetically fail at it.

Even the best simulators (for example rFactor 2 which is very convincing on dry and stable temps) become silly when it rains.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Many of the things people are asking for already exist - it's just that many don't want to pay the price. For me, it's the addition of some simple little things like a) limiting the number of sets of tires in a race or b) controlling whether individual drivers have fast repairs or not that would allow our league to take it's event simulation to the next level.

 

[Metla]

Common sense.

And the definition of common sense is?

 

[Dr. Death]

Every sim ONLY cares about realism fidelity and physics. It seems such a golden egg swan when you get something like Dirt Rally 4 or F1 2019 that bring something that tries to break the theme with trying better with the single player careers or proc generated rally tracks.

There's only so much enjoyment you can get from generic PvP X laps Y players races. Remember this? https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...layed-came-free-with-a-pack-of-cereal.143248/

Or how about add the fact that any small setting you want to try or change in a car takes about 30 minutes to prepare which will be lost from your total session time, or that if you keep doing constant shitty changes your mechanic might think you are taking the piss at him, or if you want to go weird but experimental with potential, add a "sims" style of addition where how succesful you are changes what your enviroment is like. More games should bring something to the table, because as good as ACC, Project Cars 2, and Automobilista 2 are or will be, i know that they will all be generic super realistic physics super realistic graphics great sounding racing sims and NOTHING more.

As far as other kinds of games, i really wish we had more of a mix of customization and realistic physics. Those 2 aren't mutually exclusive, you know? assetto corsa shuto revival mod is great, and free roaming in simulator games is also great, but it doesn't has to become need for speed or Forza Horizon just because you also want to modify the cars per parts.

 

[Metla]

Im going to say....nothing. We have plenty.

Multiple competing rally platforms, Big budget F1 games, Simcade demolition, A dedicated online platform with a very interesting business model, Mod platforms (AC), Multi class games(PC2), Race series simulation (ACC) crawling, Nascar. The list goes on and that is without even looking at whats on the consoles.

Holy Shitballs, I've been been running racing games since Pole Position on the Atari back in 1982, Played every generation on just about every platform, I have never seen it so damn good.

Sure, Ongoing development and refinement is still expected.