I'm in a similar state - I did not touch R3E for the past 6 months because of the odd behaviours and game design. I picked up the WTCC 2014 pack about a week ago. I think the WTCC cars are simply awesome! I also run the ADAC and DTM2014 packs (I only picked up dtm the other day so I have no experience with the dtm cars) Hopefully, this new update today will add some much needed changes to game. 1. The AI cars do not appear to use the same physics in my experience. In most cases if you make contact with an AI car they appear to be rubberbanded to the track and your car will spin out and the AI will continue. I have also noted that the AI can brake perfectly; as if they are 100% efficient when using brakes. If I brake at same location as AI I go flying off the corner! haha So, short term you cannot use AI as an example for braking points. I would love to see an option like in rf2 to edit AI parameters. I would also like to be able to calibrate my pedals so I can set the upper limit. 2. Some cars feel "floaty" to me and some feel very good and realistic so I think this is an issue of separate car physics and not the game as a whole. I find the WTCC 2014 cars to be very nice to drive with no floatiness - probably sounds like a buffering feed, but man, the cars in that pack are a blast to drive.
It really has felt like the never ending journey! I'd made some progress in the last month or two, but last week my T300 conked out on me and is currently on its way to Dr. Thrustmaster for surgery so I won't be able to try it for at least a couple weeks. These positive reports have me tempted to dig out the GT3 RS to have a go with it though...
After playing the update, the GT3 (ADAC 2014) cars feel much closer to what I was expecting. They're almost completely different from before the update. Last night I was playing with the MP4-12C and the Audi on Bathurst. They're like new cars after trying them today. They're still not quite as snappy as some other games, but I'm perfectly happy with where they are now, especially because they don't feel so unstable at high speed anymore. Very satisfying. I like them a lot. The Radical unfortunately still has the exact same weird physics it had before. The new Aquila handles pretty close to what I think the Radical should though, so that's nice I guess. I was eager to try the new M1 as well. It's very boat-like. I don't remember it being quite this floaty around the course. It's so floaty that the AI has a lot of trouble keeping it on the line. In Bathurst, on the second to last corner, the AI would pretty regularly spin out and completely lose control. It's really fun to drive, don't get me wrong, but I do wonder if that's what it should drive like.
I'm using a Logitech DFGT. Every car I've driven in the new update I have reset the car setup and the steering settings. I also reset my control profile to the default profile for the DFGT to make sure no old weirdness was carried over from the previous patch. I'm using the default DFGT FFB settings now except for dropping the Steering Intensity to... I forget, but something under 100% because it felt like on the default value the wheel was clipping like crazy.
I have noticed the ai cant deal with the new physic. try 24 adac 14 @ zandvoort national difficulty=108. there is pileups in up to 3 spots on the track, (mostly caused by ai spinning and then waiting in the middle of the track sideways so no one can avoid them(thry tend to move again after the player has forced his way past))