Such amazing physics. Have to be so careful about flat spotting tyres, really tests your skills in being smooth. Love it!
Wow, so, er, first impressions... I can see why Game Stock Car Extreme is so popular. Took 30 minutes of faffing to get it to work. Initially it wouldn't start a race. It popped up the loading screen, sat there for 10 seconds, then returned to the menu. After some poking around I noticed the resolution was set to something clearly wrong and unsupported by my display. I thought I'd set it correctly, but maybe not. So, on we go. Set up another race. Add some opponents. Still no dice. I think this is because I set up the race with some opponents in DLC cars. No error message, just wouldn't start the session. OK, no opponents in DLC cars now, lets *rock*. Ah, computer says "no". Despite assigning it all manually and properly, I have no throttle. Back to the menus, re-do it, still no throttle. Delete the controller config and start again and now I have throttle and can actually drive. But the FFB is way too strong. Back to the menus, reduce it, try again. Now it's inverted. I definitely did *not* invert it. Ah well, try again. OK, finally, racing at Zandy. Wow, we're really quite spoiled with Race Room's graphics aren't we? It looks (despite running it with most of the options turned up) bloody awful. Properly awful. Off we go. Waaayyy the race sim of the future. The cars sound like my 6 year old son making brumming noises. For some odd reason the cars I've tried all seem to have like 50 degrees of steering lock so I never have to use more than about 10 degrees of wheel rotation. And they're all really rather dull. Where's all the visceral thrill of driving a fire-breathing race prepped monster? Why does this Ferrari F40 feel no different from the Elise SC? Why does the BMW Group A touring feel so wooden and dull? Where's all the amazing physics? Did I download the wrong version or something? Now, I know it takes time to 'click' with a sim, but there are 2 problems here. First I have (almost) no time and little patience. And second, I have previous experience of 'clicking' with RaceRoom in about 10 minutes. The cars felt exciting, driving them was fun. As yet I've yet to experience excitement or fun in AC. The disappointment is only offset by the fact that I won't have to arse about getting Crew Chief working. Given the complete lack of update or interest from the developers in improving the shared memory data, I was going to write a Python object that copied the data accessible to the Python API into a memory mapped file, so that grown-up applications () could access it. This would have been a ball ache. Also (while I'm ranting) blocking access to the support forums for non-owners is a bit dodgy. If I'd seen the extent to which support requests were ignored I'd have been less tempted than I was. I'll give it another go when I'm less cranky, but I'm really not impressed
AC is a marmite experience for many. I really like AC (plus SCE, rF2 and pCARS) but then I like to torture myself by doing things such as reading the PRC blog
ac has good road cars and race cars that feel like road cars. i enjoy ac but the graphical performance is terrible on older cards (cant disable shadows or lighting effects for incompatible cards).
AC is a decent all-round game but it fails to excel in any particular area. The end result is a quite forgettable experience. So much early promise but what we have now is so...meh. In my opinion of course.
Of course I disagree, AC excels in two areas: driving physics, and car modelling, both exterior and interior. To have almost all their default tracks being laserscanned, is a nice bonus. When you say the Elise does not feel different than the F40, this was best evidence that there are some things going terribly wrong at your end of the wire. Especially these two cars shouzld and must be lightyeras apart! Also, you should have more than just 10° or 50° wheel rotation. you can even set softlock in the ini files, but that is for later. Try this guide: http://simhqmotorsports.com/assetto-corsa-hints-and-tips-2/ What wheel are you using? AC should automatically synchronise virtual and hardware wheel rotation, you just tell the sim once that it is 900° (for my G27), and that's it. Never revisit it again. If you use a Logitech wheel, AC is the only sim that I MUST run with this terrible Logitech profiler software "on", else not all elements of the hardware get properly recognised. FFB is last but not least a question of taste, so what feels right for me, may feel terrible for you. You need to tune FFB well both ingame and in case of logitech: in the logitech software as well. Also, you can generally influence the FFB strength while driving, use KP+ and KP- (quite some functions are not documented by Kunos, it seems doing a proper documentation is something that more and more publishers terribly fail over: is it that much asked for to provide a simple text document, if no manual, that gets located inside the installation folder, with all command, options and stuff people need to know...? I hate it when developers expect me to search stuff online). Instead, they do it this way...!? ---> http://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?faq/keyboard-shortcuts.18/ You are one of those "extremely rough start" candidates, no doubt. For many, for most people, setup runs quite intuitively. The only problem I ever had was finding out about that nasty logitech software. But care needs some time. Your lack of patience is not what the sim can be held responsible for, that complex it is not to be set up. Other sims gave me much greater headaches. Give feedback, I talk you through it. I stick to what I always have said: AC does some things better than any other, like Raceroom does some things better than others. AC excels in physics, car modelling, RR excels ins ounds, AI, racing, environmental visual presentation. The biggest letdown of AC is still the AI. In Raceroom, the biggest - well, it is solid in all aspects where it does not claim leadership. Once we got you properly set up, compare side by side the shared tracks in both sims, Monza, Nürburgring GP and Spa (Zandvoort in AC is not laserscanned, but manually crafted). You will find that usually the tracks are easier to drive in Raceroom, and are physically more subtle in AC which has them laserscanned, and need you to drive with more awareness and care. The greater driving challenge lies in AC. I do not mistake difficulty for realism, don't worry, I am aware of that trap. AC is more subtle in physics, that'S the point. Smoother. These are no dramatic differences. But they are "fine". P.S. I always have non-linear settings for pedals, and quite huge dead spaces especially for the brake. Many cars should show you completely synchronized virtual and hardware wheel rotation. Especially the racing cars, which all have limits much closer than the limits of the 900° and 1050° hardware wheels we use. P.P.S. Do not use USB 3 ports, only USB 2. USB 3 still is not grown up, and multiple hardware still has issues with it.
On the blocked forum access for non-owners of the game, it is a two-sided decision of theirs. They scare away interested people, yes, but they also made it clear from first EA release on they intend to protect their copyrights and do not wish to assist pirates and giving them access to official support. AC can only be had via Steam. Steam can only be had via Steam account. If you legally bought AC, you necessarily have a Steam account. Link it to their forum's account for your copy of AC, and you are in. - Do not pester the forum with rants and offensive posts, and you stay in. Reasonable, and acceptable.
Certainly AC needs time, but it pays. I was frustrated for many reasons first (FF, UI, AI, etc), even hated it for a while when my FPS dropped with my fave combo, but now I'm enjoying it a lot. R3E is still (and guess will be) my #,1 but trying GSCE and rF2 (which I like) made me realize that AC is over the rest in many aspects and to me it's a consolidated 2nd place after R3E. Oh, and I agree; something must be wrong there if you feel no difference between cars. It's the same thing I was asking myself the other day about pCars cause I see how many people seem to enjoy it, and after about 150 hrs (it was my first PC game) I can't get to like it at all, it feels awful to me so I'm starting to think maybe it's me.
Especially with the Elise and the F40 - one of the most easiest and well-behaved against one of the most difficult and tricky cars to drive in Assetto! One could as well say one does not feel a difference between an Abarth 500 and a RUF Yellowbird. If the driving is not most obviously different an experience - relaxation versus praying, so to speak - then something is totally wrong. Driving the Elise should be routine, and relatively relaxing. Driving the F40 should make you sweating blood, and feeling relief over every turning and braking you did without spinning out.
To me, if AC had the racing car content, tracks, and sounds of R3E it would be almost perfect. Actually, same for most other sims (having R3E content and sounds) As it is, the AC content is a big letdown for me, too many road cars or race cars without series competition. Many of the cars feel great but not enough to keep me for a long period of time. This brings be to R3E which some time back it was my favorite but I barely play it anymore. My biggest complaint is road feel, I feel like the R3E cars are gliding, and lack of brakes (AI's much better). IF you spend a lot of time in R3E, as I did some time back, it feels good. But I race most every sim now and the road feel/control is just better (to me) in rF2, SCE, AC, and some cars in pCARS (getting much better lately). With that said, today for some reason I bought a little more R3E content during the current sale (own most everything). I guess I'm waiting for an update that trips the trigger for me and sucks me back in. I think the key to enjoying R3E is to stick with it, race it until it feels good, some will adapt. But for someone like me that likes to dabble in all of the sims I can't get over the R3E feel, actually the lack of tire meeting the road feel. I'm still pulling for Sector 3, same for all racing game developers, but it's just not for me at this point in time (too much competition I guess). Note, this is just one virtual racers' opinion. But, if I was way off the mark I think there would be many more R3E racers. BTW, thanks @mr_belowski for your Crew Chief app, been using is quite a bit in pCARS. Your work is very much appreciated!
Completely agree with you there. However since the GT3 update I do find the cars in R3E to be a lot less floaty. But sadly my favourite cars are the GT2 class and it's here that AC murders R3E in terms of how it feels to me. No silly spins that you cannot catch. Curbs don't suck you off the road. The cars feel like they are made of metal not paper maché. I'm not hugely into MP as I just don't have the time, so AC's single player is perfect for my needs. Man if these two ever came together you'd have the perfect sim I reckon.
Mr_Belowski, you may find some additional assistance you need for the actual wheel you use here: http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/assetto-corsa-wheel-controller-settings-list.77446/ And again, dont forget you can set FFB while driving via KP+ and KP- William, as Sean already indicated, there have been changes to the cars physics in Raceroom that slowly will spread from GT3 and DTM15 now to other classes as well. If you dive lame, you will not feel much difference, but if you start to push to the limits, it should become obvious. Try it again with these cars, they improved things there, really. On the content, both sims have different foci on what they want to achieve, and what cars they use. There is no use in complaining I think , in these regards they are what they are, like the colour Red is Red and not Blue. You like Red, or you prefer Blue. Or Green or Yellow. Personally I think it is agood that different sims sitll have different content, while also share some content - the latter makes it fun to compare tracks and cars as being done in different titles. Its the best way to compare AC and RR - shared cars (which will mainly be GT3 cars therefore, plus the Zonda and P4/5), and shared tracks. Sean, regarding curbs, it depends. Different curbs on the Nordschleife have different effects - some push you back on track at lower speeds, at higher speeds make you lose control, others can be used relatively safely. It also depend on the car and its individual suspension, the SLS GT3 in general eats bumps and curbs without complaint like other people eat fish and chips. I find it to be this different on other tracks as well, it also depends on whether the car at the given part of the track currently gains or loses weight. Actually I think AC handles curbs excellently. The discussion there was (still is?) on curbs being too aggressive or too tame in general, I never really understood. --- The Audi R8 trailer they have released - eagle-eyed viewers spotted that the track used in that film is Brands Hatch. So, laserscanned Brands Hatch probably coming this Decembre with Dreampack 3 (6 or 7 additional cars included). Fasten your seat belts, get ready to roller coast.
Tons of respect to you Skybird. But drive Spa with the BMW Gt2 in both sims and you'll quickly discover what I'm talking about. One feels like you're in control and any mistakes are your own and the other like the lotto. Cross your fingers and pray. Yes I'm exaggerating but I can honestly say I've never had an unexpected spin in AC. Whereas R3E I too often find myself facing the other way for some reason.
I did not disagree, only wanted to point out that the curbs are of a more diverse nature in AC. There is not just one kind of it. And what it does to the car, depends on the car, and the situation. However, the driviing experience in both sims is not trhe same, and I never claimed that. I do not judge the realism, since I do not know any of those cars, or any of thos etzracks, I cannot jusge it therefore. I only see whether the physics model, in all their differences, make sense and are in themselves consistent, or not. And I do enjoy both of them. Both provide me with a very convincing illusion. It makes no sense to me if some people sometimes say or complain "It does not feel like AC", and "It does not look like Raceroom." AC is not RR, and RR is not AC. Of course things should be different in both titles - else they would be the same game. --- Meanwhile a hotfix for some recent netcode issues has been released for AC , 12MB, version now is 1.3.7 .
Agree completely and my views are totally subjective. I just know what I like and this is why I love driving AC. But R3E still my fav for the tracks, cars and gorgeous sound. If it was 1 sim for a desert island it would be R3E followed by Project CARS (believe it or not) with AC in 3rd place. Content is King.