An agree for the last part. About the EA. Half the people will complain that they don't have early access, the other half will complain that there is early access. I understand people get angry about all this pre-order stuff and i can understand, i also hate this mentality. However many people just want to get a early taste of the game and are willing to pay for it, sometimes even a premium like with PC1. You charge people what they are willing to pay and not what its worth (unfortunately, look at iracing). If they can get away with EA they will do it. I think thats the main reason, build hype, get some early moneyz and find some early bugs. Personally, I will wait too.
Think nate is referring to this But "coming with some opponents cars" could well mean sth like the nonsense we have with liveries, those other cars being available for the AI but not the user. Seems they're just being vague to stir some controversies, i.e. publicity.
Apparently they do not plan to have a demo. They had none for AC as well. Due to the high demand , second season running: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_access If well handled, it makes so perfect sense. If ill-handled (=lasts too long), it kills many people's nerves. Dirt Rally handled it excellently, Assertto Corsa handled it excellently, both had a timetable, and both dstuck to it, point for point, months for month, untol final release. Subnautica had an EA phase and ended in a formdiable game, especially in VR - they would have been financially unable to finish without EA, I once read. Perfect. Wreckfest on the other hand abused it terribly, lasting for 4+ years.
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Ah yes, the tech demo of I think 2012, I forgot. A tech demonstrator is a proof of concept. It shows that a technology works. It was released for AC many months before their EA even started. It demonstrates not the characteristics of the final product from long time later, but it demonstrates the functionality of a geenral new design, concept, idea, technology. A game demo is representative for at least the key qualities of a title, usually offers most or all quality of the final gameplay, but limiting the range of gaming content, the quantity. A demo wants to demonstrate something: what the fulll game will be like, what the gameplay will feel like. In a driving sim, that obviously is first and foremost: the driving itself. A tech demonstrator, as in AC's case, can be far too early to deliver that. If your final product is not advanced enough, you cannot have a demo of it that makes sense, because it cannot be representative of the final product. The Lotus Elise in the tech demo of AC indeed was very different to what the finished game later felt like, in driving. 10 different physics engines and several different tyre models separate the tech demo of the Lotus Elise in 2012 from the one in v1.16. Four years not even mentioned (I think physics v10 came in 2016). The physics differences in the various versions of AC sometimes felt very differently. VERY differently. The key difference is: the tech demo proves that a certain idea or concept could work. A game demo represents the finished game - or a close status ot that - by showcasing a selected range of quantity and most of the key aspects of the quality. And the latter was missing in that tech demo. That Lotus Elise back then and the Lotus Elise of today, are not feelign like the same cars. They are 6-7 ,onmths away from release with ACC. How could they have a demo if physics probably constantly get tuned and worked on right now? Giving somebody the tech demo of 2012 to show him AC, would be misleading. Like letting somebody play the early released version of Raceroom from 2012 or 2013 or when it was. Compare that to Raceroom in autumn 2015! Or 2018! Its all a bit hairsplitting. The real important point is: the producer of Kunos (they sold themselves to a higher being, mind you) have decided that they do not release a demo, but go by the Early Access model - probably because it worked to overwhelmingly well for them in 2013. And that is why all this is purely academic. Somebody decided it this way, and not the other way, period. Due to the success back then, i would have made the same decision, if I were them. They scored triumphantly with their way - why should they change it without need? Without AC, they would not be the ones doing the Blancpain license now.
I'm not asking Kunos to change anything, and I never did. That's all I said. And the keen observer should be able to realise that that wasn't even in reference to AC or Kunos, for the sheer lack of both terms in that statement. There was a time when releasing a stripped down preview (a.k.a. demo version) for free was a common practice and I preferred that over being asked to pay for what is basically the same (1 track, 1 car, limited features). And there are others who still do that, FIFA and PES and even Gran Turismo f.e. And like I have stated multiple times, if anybody else is fine with paying for that, great, your choice, enjoy it. I just took the liberty to express that I'm not in favour of such early access schemes, that I would have expected that heavily promoted release to be more than what it apparently will be to justify putting a price tag on it. But judging by the responses that got, it's obviously not o.k. (for me) to voice that in the presence of 'enthusiastic customers', which is a bit of a shame...
When an idiot does not like me, I realize that I'm on the right path... I send you a little kiss, doll
To sum up all this: Kunos never said they will release an almost finished sim, they said you get early access. And now you have a clear timetable, don't know whats wrong with that. You have every month something new to test, meanwhile they finish/ improve the game. If you don't want to pay for EA you don't have to, play other sims. Even if it cost something, it wont be 100Euro. It's a new generation of a simracing game and I'm glad they don't rush anything and I will play/test it no matter what. VR already after one month after the start of early access exceeds my expectations.
I wonder if the industry/video artists will ever run out of dramatic/heroic orchestral arrangements which all sound the same more or less, slightly ridiculous by now, isn't it ?...Avengers meet Blancpain Series