Season 8 - General Discussion

[Nicolai Nicholson]

theres only 3? people in this league with triple monitors, rest of us get on fine with one.

I assume you are not counting me, seeing that I have 4 monitors... Muhahha

I have something to say about this issue as well, will do so soon, right now I just needed to brag for the tenth time about my screens

 

[Reik Major]

I would not use the words "fair" and "cheating" in this discussion. I understand Kennett to ask for the sence of the forced cockpit view as it hinders him to get his most comfortable view (which doesn't look like a "cheating view").

I also understand Davids point that the rules are the same for everyone so everyone has to deal with it considering his own PC specs.

Since playing any racing game on a computer I like to race from the cokpit view, no matter how difficult it is. I just want to feal real. But how real is it that I have a second (virtual) racing wheel in front of me? Yes, I like to see the virtual wheel as well (with or without arms on it), because that's the view I'm used to. So I understand others who ask for being more flexible in altering the view so they can enjoy it best in their way.

I know there are many sim racers who don't like the virtual cockpit but want to have a fluid crossover from their real wheel to the monitor continuing with the cars nose like they would see it in real life.

If there was a democratic vote I'd vote "yes" to drop the forced cockpit rule. But I'm open for arguments which say why we should stay with that rule. Maybe I've overseen someting?!

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

I'm perfectly happy using the current one, it's close enough and usable.. I would be complaining a lot more if my monitor would be farther away, now i can tap my fingers on it without releasing grip of the wheel.. I've always complained about the view of the racing games, most just have to stuff that screen with insides of cockpit, showing air vents and what not instead of the actual road.. RBR is good/bad example, if you play with cockpit i think the road makes a whoppin 35% of the screenspace... Rest is rollcages and airvents, useless instrumentation and other garbage.. MMG F1 is not the worst offender but it certainly is not the best either...

I have a habit of complaining and when i get the attention, retract them, interesting..... Well, my point here stays, i don't like it but i accept it. It's too bad that online it's not possible to not select real seat position = off with Forced Cockpit.. And the free view has possibility of abuse, personally i don't care if someone likes to do that... The gain in laptimes that's possible by simply changing viewpoint is minimal. Unless it's CM2.0 where you could drive 5 seconds faster per km with bumber view but that really isn't a fair comparison (the car was noticeably narrower with bumber view in Colin mcRae 1 & 2 you could almost fit it thru half the width of gaps than with any other camera, really usefull bug to find in a rally game)

Edit: There is 3rd party software that take's screenshots randomly for anti-cheat but i wouldn't like to install anything anymore (and it needs server install and configuration plus it uploads those pictures to a dedicated server, too much of a hassle..).. Too bad there is no such thing built ingame.. Or having a possibility to see what is the exact camera angle of any given player...

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

I do not care exactly where people are placed in their cockpit, as long as they have a realistic position (that they have blind spots and need to use mirrors). However, I would not want anybody using a non-cockpit view, because that is a different way of racing. But there is no point explaining this in more detail, as there is noone (atm) who is asking for that. And Kennett has answerd his own question, we only allow cockpit view because that is the only way to disallow the arcade-views.

As for the advantage of using 3 screens, it depends what you mean by advantage. It does not make you quicker, that is for sure. The biggest difference is that you are safer on track, because you see the cars comming up your side at an earlier point. In addition it is more fun with 3 screens.

I think the "advantage" one can get from investing in different equipment is perfect. This is our hobby, and there are many things we can spend money on to make the experience better (more powerful pc, better racing wheel, better pedals, more/larger screen(s), racing seat,trackIR, telemetry screen and other cool stuff). All these are small improvements one can make to have a more exciting and enjoyable racing experience without making you faster or more competitive (which could be unfair).

EDIT: Just in case it isn't clear, I would have no problem with the view Kennett proposed, but unfortunatley it is cockpit view on or off, that's all I can chose from.

 

[David Turnbull]

id agree fully with nico's explanation of the 3 screens (or in his case 4) ive had a go on seans rig with the 3 screens and its great, you really do feel more immersed in the game, but nico is right that its not going to make you faster or give you an advantage other than the safety aspect.

i seem to recall arno used to use a 17inch non widescreen monitor with a non ffb steering wheel and he was faster than most if not all at one point in time.

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

I know even with triple monitors i tend to see the same amount on screen as i would with 1 only its larger like your viewing what is inside visor over the 3. I use 43 field of view with my triple and i think 50 or so with 1 monitor( default is 55 ) i used to get the front wheels to touch the outside edges of my monitor, and now with 3 i setup so outside edges of tires are way into side monitors, heres what i see.

 

[Valter Ostman]

I know this "disappearing cars on the grid" problem from some public races in the past and I can confirm that the trick was to press "+" (to move the view to another car) and afterwards press "-" to move the view back to the own car. This way all cars had been visible again.

The special thing with our servers is, that you can't move the view to another car, because of the forced cockpit view. So the trick I know doesn't work.

I never heard about your version of the trick to press "+" and "-" at the same time. Could be worth a try if one has an invisible car in front again but I'm a littel bit pesimistic about getting the car visible then...

I think he meant it as you write, first + then -

 

[Valter Ostman]

Sorry, wrong place for this comment.

 

[Valter Ostman]

I know even with triple monitors i tend to see the same amount on screen as i would with 1 only its larger like your viewing what is inside visor over the 3. I use 43 field of view with my triple and i think 50 or so with 1 monitor( default is 55 ) i used to get the front wheels to touch the outside edges of my monitor, and now with 3 i setup so outside edges of tires are way into side monitors, heres what i see.

It's a little harder to drive the first laps now with the broad field of view. I may have more control now so I don't lose attention of cars on the side and collide. But I think it's more information to cope with and more distracting with two more monitors filled with moving cars. Before I got the extra monitors I relied on my hearing to avoid cars on my sides, that was easier for me. You definitely don't get any faster with a wider view. The place to point your eyes is still mostly far in the distance straight in front of you during a fast lap. The cool thing with CinemaScope I think is the sense of speed you get from the side screens.

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

Here is my view (photo from the media thread, that's why it isn't print screen):

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Funny, couldn't find one RBR cockpit view screenshots without the cam mod.... That ultrawide two posts above is just awesome... want one.... Try squeezing the car mirrors to the middle screen. that's the 1 screen view.. The FOV does one other very nasty thing, it adds or decreases the sense of distance.. It's a straightforward zoom lens, that distorts the perspective. I've even tried for some success of changing FOV slightly between qualy and race to give myself some "extra" brakingroom... I'm trying to get the best possible setup from what i got, of course... I could try to some digging in the server ini file, if there is a solution there... Sometimes SimBin "forgots" to lock something and don't give info what's possible to mod, these relapses may be just errors in the pipeline but folks have discovered quite a lot without developement tools of any kind.. Just need to install stuff on to the laptop to get dedi running inhouse.

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

I tried with mirrors inside but feels like car is to narrow, i prefer now with 43 fov which makes the car feel alot wider more like sitting in real car, i also use 0 look to apex and just move my head and look to side mons now. I have side monitors to the rear of the middle so on 1 thickness of bezel in view.

I need another small monitor for telemetry like nico me likes

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

I need to do couple of L-bars to get rid of my monitor stand.. I can move the screen even closer and lower, so that my knucles block the screen if joyriding, gaming chair fortunately is a tilt-back.. Real lowrider... Pedals are only 23cm below my ass, hands nicely in 90 degree angle, with lumbar support.. A good chair is luxury to have... And why can' they make a GTAIV with real sim physics.. oh why...

 

[Jim Hawley]

1 screen here, pedals on the floor, old wooden chair (with comfy cushion mod), worn out wheel meh!

Jim

PS. Tim has 5 screens!!

 

[Peter Marshall]

Gotta love the " comfy cushion mod" I have a dual pillow mod for my fabric chair.

Many drivers have multiscreens and some luxury controllers, pedals, load cells, play-seats, etc...
Anthony
Tim
both the Bob's
Nicolai
Sean
Valter
probably more .

I have three identical 24" screens but choose to use only one. Too much light and heat... I'll set them up again one day if or when I run a Tin Top around the mountain. My worn out G25 has a scratchy throttle problem atm. A generous dose of contact cleaner on race day gets me to the line. I run a budget team.

 

[Valter Ostman]

The extras that make a difference for me are the Andy Pastore brake mod and the Leo Bodnar controller for the pedals. I can use a different setting for the brakes depending on the track. On a track with many hard braking areas I usually set a lighter pressure for maximum brake effect. If the track have an important steer and brake turn like at Sepang I set maximum brake very high to make it easier to regulate the brake effect by applying just the right amount of force in the critical last stage of braking. I think those two mods make me more consistent and therefore faster over a whole stint.

When I got a more potent gpu that could support three screens I had rf2 in mind. My old graphic card was below the spec. for rf2.
The installation of the new gpu made me aware of the importance of cleaning the coolers of cpu and gpu. I had a lot of insulation in there. I guess the bus clocks made a major step up after cleaning the coolers

 

[Reik Major]

As far as I know you need a very good high end PC to run rF2 fine at this development stage. I think it well take more than one year to make it ready for the market and the majority. And in the closer future I'm not able to update my system.

Atm I have a dual core and a Radeon 4870. I'm getting good fps at mid to high graphics settings (low shadows). At least I'm very happy with my 24" Samsung screen and the still great working Black Momo!

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

I have not spent much $$$ on my rig either.

The first thing I did was to buy a second hand momo for £30 (the first owner was a prison!)
A few seasons later I got my hand on 2x17" 4:3 screens free of charge (through my work place) and bought a second graphic card for about £20 to be able to run 3 monitors (my middle monitor was a 19" 16:9). This setup lasted until season 7!

4 months ago my office computer broke down, so I took my home computer to my work and bought a new one to have at home. When I did this I also bought 3x22" monitors, they were about £80 + VAT each.

I am lucky to be in a situation where I can deduct VAT and income tax for most of my computer stuff as I also use it for work (not the wheel though).

 

[Bob Luneski]

I am lucky to be in a situation where I can deduct VAT and income tax for most of my computer stuff as I also use it for work (not the wheel though).

You're not trying hard enough. Mention it to a client over lunch, or better yet invite one over for a test drive and the wheel becomes a "business development expense".

 

[Paul Gardiner]

I was thinking of joining this league as i just bought race 07. i normally race F1 cars but also GT's and road cars. The other leagues want you to have STCC2 but i only just got this game so will need some time to adjust from rfactor and f1 2011.

I tried the raceroom2 brand new mod, which is quite fun

any suggestions lads? too late to join or some info to join in on practice would be nice!