Opinions on R3E: What's yours?

[Nigel Mansell]

This is fine for ppl happy to dry-lap. RRE has improved over time - but I'm in the, "this is an outdated platform now" club. Best way to vent my frustration = stop buying DLC. When S3 care enough to drag RRE into modern times, I'll restart support. I buy the DLC, yet hardly lap with it - makes zero sense. I'm fed up of dry lapping. it's a personal thing.

We had rain in sims many years ago, then it all went tits-up IMHO. YMMV of course, that's fine. Why were Microprose ahead of their time. How long have I supported this stale engine for now, jeez. I've been doing this for a great many number of years - too long (dry-lapping) tbh. Hence the frustration. Approaching my mid 50's, I'm going to be more selective about who I give my savings to. Free to play software isn't the future. Otherwise S3 would have taken RRE to a modern place already. RRE, feels like a pay-to-improve model to me. By that I mean, RRE just releases tweaks here and there, but the fundamental tech is missing. We own this sim software, but at a UK track, we can't create a cold/overcast/low grip/wet or even damp scenario.

Fair play to Kunos for gambling, and having the passion/balls enough to deliver what some of us long for. By that I mean, driving at differing times of the day, in low grip situations. I get that we all don't see this as the "be all" of simracing. We all have opinions about SMS. At least they could be bothered to create time of day/weather, and moved the genre along. S3 is holding back the only genre I purchase games from. I'm unhappy about this lol. RRE started to feel stale, years ago. Much like how people feel that Codemasters have stunted the growth of the F1 platform, in the many years they've had the licence. Like a huge number of you, I've sunk huge amounts into regularly supporting S3. I hope one day, that a scenario arrives where I look forward to booting the platform and using the content I've purchased.

I know SimBin UK supposedly works on a modern game engine, supporting time of day/weather. Both platforms will likely share the tech. For me, it long overdue. Sorry S3, this is the only genre I enjoy. You starved your own engine of the features I've wanted most for years. It can't get any more broken than it is. You'll get nothing more now, until you care enough to update your engine tech.

 

[FeltHat]

They need things like particle effects, bloom

thats in the game

 

[UMC 22]

The biggest issue for me is that you can use any GT3 without TC at the moment and the cars are very easy to drive. That doesn't seem realistic.

But have you ever actually driven a GT3 at racing speeds? This "easy to drive" criticism is one used so often for sims, yet most of those using it have no actual experience of the real thing so how do they know? Seeing your favourite real-life driver slithering around every corner means very little, because they are professionals and are pushing the cars far closer to their absolute limits than most of us armchair racers will ever be able to. Personally, I don't sign up to this "it should be harder" argument at all.

 

[FeltHat]

mustang gt3 without tc, respect

 

[Majuh]

I disagree. Nothing has really changed in any RD clubs, yet R3E is suffering the most. What has changed is that the R3E club has declined over the last two or three years while the rF2 club has increased.

I'm not suggesting that rF2 has "stolen" R3E drivers, but I am suggesting that rF2 has been focusing on the right type of development. Not so long ago it was lagging well behind, practically dying out. Then it got it's big revitalisation and it worked wonders on both the sim and public perception of it.

While R3E may have come a long way in a similar period, it doesn't change the fact that the general public perception by those that don't really play it is that it is a dated sim being used as a content-heavy cash cow. If S3 (or rather, those in charge) would go back to basics and work hard on the core sim rather than content and competitions, R3E could quite easily see the same kind of bounce-back that rF2 has.

I don't think so, the average number of players in R3E has been steadily rising in the last 3 years:

 

[tlsmikey]

But have you ever actually driven a GT3 at racing speeds? This "easy to drive" criticism is one used so often for sims, yet most of those using it have no actual experience of the real thing so how do they know? Seeing your favourite real-life driver slithering around every corner means very little, because they are professionals and are pushing the cars far closer to their absolute limits than most of us armchair racers will ever be able to. Personally, I don't sign up to this "it should be harder" argument at all.

Are you seriously suggesting that any GT3 car driven on the grid today uses a traction control setting of 0 or "off"?

Come one man...look at the onboards and you can see the traction control settings. These cars all use it effectively. If you can drive these cars all day long without spinning them with the TC off, then something isn't right. The devs have acknowledged this which is why they're updating it.

 

[David Wright]

Are you seriously suggesting that any GT3 car driven on the grid today uses a traction control setting of 0 or "off"?

Come one man...look at the onboards and you can see the traction control settings. These cars all use it effectively. If you can drive these cars all day long without spinning them with the TC off, then something isn't right. The devs have acknowledged this which is why they're updating it.

My understanding is traction control is used to reduce tyre wear rather than make the cars driveable. The previous generation of GT cars had more power than the current GT3s and no traction control and yet gentlemen drivers still drove them in 24 hour races without spinning repeatedly.

 

[UMC 22]

I don't think so, the average number of players in R3E has been steadily rising in the last 3 years:

I'm sorry, but that graph shows nothing useful, particularly for a game which can technically be played for free. How many of those are constant players? How many are new? How many have quit? How many have moved to other sims? How many are only using free content? And on and on. Plus the difference is what, 120ish users in two years? Even if that were 120 brand new, constant users, that's a pretty pathetic "increase".

Are you seriously suggesting that any GT3 car driven on the grid today uses a traction control setting of 0 or "off"?

I'm not suggesting anything of the kind. I'm saying that I disagree with the argument that some insist on using, that racing cars should somehow be "hard" to drive. Difficulty does not indicate realism is all I am saying. If you want to read more into that than I actually mean, then that's up to you but I'm not going to be drawn into a debate about a single class of car when I'm talking about the sim as a whole.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

I see people keep saying the lack of eye candy is drawing people to other games....maybe so?

I feel the graphics are ok....
What drew me away and the majority in my racing club was the lack of track technology and tire tech, cars on different tire models and Sector3 slow development time #soon!

It may have good ffb if you get it dialed in which is a personal preference to start with but where's the advanced tech that EVERY other game has now a days?

Multiple tire compounds, tire surface heating, tire flex, flat spotting, track rubbering, loose surface physics, dynamic track surface ect......day to night would have been nice and the awesome windscreen dirt and thudding of rubber and oil splats that R07 had it.

That's why I currently consider it Dated.
Hopefully the move to a new engine will feature all this stuff that's missing and not just be a flashy graphic update.

P.S.. pc2 may not be liked here but it's been the 2nd highest played sim on steam for nearly 2yrs, because it attempted or did...how every you wanna look at it
The list of features I listed that are missing in Raceroom.

 

[Majuh]

How many of those are constant players? How many are new? How many have quit? How many have moved to other sims? How many are only using free content? And on and on.

I think you don't understand what that number means. Average players are average players. This is literally the average of the number of players playing the game at any given time during that month.

Plus the difference is what, 120ish users in two years? Even if that were 120 brand new, constant users, that's a pretty pathetic "increase".

October 2016 saw 217.4 average players, while October 2019 saw 336.8 average players. That's a growth rate of 55% which is definitely not pathetic.

 

[Miguel Batista]

Having recently came back to r3e I must say I love this SIM. The AI for offline races is the best (albeit a bit too aggressive imho) and the fact they can be pressured into mistakes is a boon! Some of the content is amazingly unique (DTM cars are amazing and a new favourite of mine) and once ffb is properly dialed in it feels amazing with my wheel.

I think day to night transitions are necessary as well as some official online racing system. Like using SRS to run a couple of official series would be great. Maybe add a way to earn in game vrp and make it a world of cars kind of game where you can unlock different cars in game using vrp earned from official races. I am glad the population is increasing as this SIM is truly worth it for some of the experiences it offers.

Maybe allow everyone to race cup cars and F4 to start with and allow progression based on location. For instance, you could start with 2013 and 2014 WTCC cars in local tracks and then get promoted through different championships in different areas moving towards DTM/Not f1 cars as end game content. If you could get multiple races a day it would be amazing (idealy once an hour) with races getting longer as you progress.

Besides that, changing the game's API to DX11 would go a long way to make the game look better and keep adding content.

Lots of potential in this game. Would be great to see it come to fruition.

 

[FeltHat]

thats a lot of words for "make it like iracing but free"

 

[Miguel Batista]

thats a lot of words for "make it like iracing but free"

Well, kind of free. More adjusted to a freemium economy like WOT or WOWs where you can progress through hard work but paying accelerates your progression. If it brings more people into the sim it woud be good. Secretly I just want hourly DTM races with full grids ^^

 

[FeltHat]

Well it would make sense if the game had player numbers of wot or wow

 

[Case_]

Besides that, changing the game's API to DX11 would go a long way to make the game look better

If they had a switch to flick to just switch the game from DX9 to DX11 like that, I can pretty much guarantee you would not notice the difference. It would probably perform a bit better on modern hardware, but unless they'd spend a lot of time implementing brand new stuff and modifying current assets, there would be virtually no visual change.

That's most certainly a big part of why DX11 Raceroom didn't happen yet - it would be a lot of work for potentially little gain, and with the planned switch to a different engine at a later date, it would mean a lot of the work would have to be done twice.

I don't know why people seem to think DX11 somehow equals instant visual improvement, but it just isn't true. It just means some new technologies and optimizations become available to take advantage of and/or implement.

 

[FeltHat]

 

[Miguel Batista]

If they had a switch to flick to just switch the game from DX9 to DX11 like that, I can pretty much guarantee you would not notice the difference. It would probably perform a bit better on modern hardware, but unless they'd spend a lot of time implementing brand new stuff and modifying current assets, there would be virtually no visual change.

That's most certainly a big part of why DX11 Raceroom didn't happen yet - it would be a lot of work for potentially little gain, and with the planned switch to a different engine at a later date, it would mean a lot of the work would have to be done twice.

I don't know why people seem to think DX11 somehow equals instant visual improvement, but it just isn't true. It just means some new technologies and optimizations become available to take advantage of and/or implement.

I know it is not easy. Neither is revamping their business model and implementing a race schedule. I don't think most of these things are short term projects. And more modern APIs allow for better lighting, better AS, more complex geometries at a lower processing cost, And a myriad of other improvements that need to be coded in. And of couse that takes time. I was just giving my opinion on things that I think could use improvements. Like I said at the end, secretly I really just want to have DTM races every freaking hour. That would be my short term suggestion. And day to night transitions.

 

[Ciccina2016]

it is not related the this topic but I bought the Oculus Rift S a couple of days ago and I am impressed how performs tremendously well in Raceroom compared to other titles.

Thumbs up

 

[Marlonracer]

Something missing with this game graphics.

 

[26sol]

I've been playing since 2013 and I am happy to watch this game blossom from one with a disconnected driving model and very good sound,to one that emulates motorsports better than any other.
If there was measurement for sims that starts from 'forgiving' and goes up to 'if its very hard its realistic',most sims would be closer to the later and Raceroom would be right in the middle sweetspot.
There are a few cons like missing eye candy or selling the same car in different categories and one must do some homework before start buying,but it is the richest racing experience.
New stuff are being implemented slowly but steadily and Raceroom gives the impression that will be around for a long time and deserves much more hype.

 

[Case_]

selling the same car in different categories

That's not really true. There are some instances where there's a base car that is available in more than one categories/classes, but in those cases, to get the other class, you only technically buy an additional livery for a few vRPs, not the whole car again.