I kinda agree.
But look how long it too Niels to make the Vette handling any good for rFactor, he had to write all his own tools just to do the kind of work you would do in Racer via debug readouts and built-in logging, and that was rFactor 1 designed for modding.
rFactor 2 has no tools yet for really modding and getting the power from it.
Even a dedicated paid team using rFactor 1 engine for the BMW V8 game had horrible data in it for the suspension... not great.
So I have my eyes open on rFactor 2, but I'm not holding my breath. Why would they make modding really nice later when people have already bought it... and might buy DLC type content later that they can make/sell.
pCARS does look AMAZING, but it's only shaders/content guys working to a set target. Racer has that potential right now, it's totally open CG environment to write shaders in.
If Racer had more guys like Mitch, Stereo and GTPBDIZ or whatever his name was, doing more work, Racer would no doubt look better than it does! (again something the community has to do and work towards more than Ruud giving it us on a plate)
Not played it myself, driving around circuits in cars that sound like different sized/angered wasps isn't my bag so much these days. Give me rallying, off-roading, road-racing, all the stuff no other genres really do very well in a sim way these days, or ever?!
AS does look great too. I just wonder how modder friendly it'll be. They say a lot about modding, but haven't shown any specifics at all.
Maybe it's something for after release, but at that point will they just think "hey, why give them tools to make stuff when we can make it for them and sell them it?"
Making games that people can mod themselves isn't really very sensible business and I struggle to understand why they will do that.
Maybe their official content add-ons will be really nice and a reasonable price, and STILL leave room for mod content?
Maybe mod content will be compiled for use at their discretion?
SimBin stuff is usually good, not heard about that so far. I do have to say though that good physics is just a word they use and we have to trust them.
I remember GTR2 being paraded as super-accurate, and they have all detailed car suspension kinematics etc... really nice... but then to fake bumpy zones on tracks they had bumps 20cm high!
In Racer you take off when you hit them hehe... so if GTR2 was so realistic how come they did that?
Again, not saying it's bad, but we have to trust them when they say stuff is good and accurate a lot of the time.
Racer can often be seen as not great, but it's because it's honest and shows all it's bugs and ugly sides openly that we feel that way.
A well made car, track, physics and sounds in Racer can match a LOT of good modern games in all the key areas in my view...
What is missing is a years worth of bug-fixing and polishing!
Yes, horrors probably do lurk in the programming all over the place...
But I bet they do in plenty of commercial stuff!
Remember the fantastic FWD power-oversteering from a stand-still cars in GT4? That doesn't look right... ah well, who stops and dumps the clutch with full lock from a standstill?
I shudder to think of the fudge factors that are in games like Gran Turismo, Forza and the like... we just can't find out about them like we can in Racer!
Racer could be great, I think Ruud has neglected some core elements and it'd be nice if he fixed some up a little.
Mainly multi-player support/streamlining (ie, getting a game going easily without arsing around for hours), and also making content work elegantly over multi-player (ie, one car folder that can share multiple configs for colours and wheels and sounds between users, rather than 10 folders that each user has to have to see each other user driving the right coloured MINI or something!)
If we could just log on and go for a drive with our friends easily without hassle and copy/pasting/renaming folders and car.ini/shd tweaks it'd make more people stick around and then want to make content.
Hmmmmm, thinking TDU, but without all the TDU junk, just the important bits
Dave