Unfortunately I think we aren't going to see a really complete and finished Racing-Sim in future. On releasedate (if there is any) I believe we will only get a base-game with content and features being added via DLC after the following month. The reason is pretty simple. The Development is getting more and more complex, as the level of Detail increases with the possibility, modern hardware gave us. That complexity leads in longer Dev and Testing-phases. So if you don't want to get bancrupt before release, you'll need a lot of money. Money which only big studios or publishers have. So smaller studios are going the DLC or Micro-Transaction-Way to release the Base-Game earlier and save the future of the development that way. In case of R3E I believe we will never see a real end of the Beta-Phase. Maybe the Name will change from Beta to Continual Development. Maybe we'll see a V1 with the Switch of the Graphics-Engine, to indicate a bigger Step in Development and introduce a new era of the Game. But that wouldn't change much in the way the Development moves on.
And this is never going to change. It is simply unattainable to have "everything" in one sim. The amount of development and resources it would take to include everything different people want is infeasible. 1000 cars and 50+ tracks? Full weather system with dynamic time of day, water that actually affects racing, drying lines, AI that behaves in weather? Super duper hardcore physics that anyone could drive with any peripheral? Full rules and flag system? Fully licensed series? Fully refined and significant damage model? Oh, and being able to run the sim on a toaster? Nobody has the resources to make this happen. And even if they did, it would take a decade to develop. Hence why games are long term projects. Any of these games could be called "finished" at any time. AC was feature complete back in December 2014. RR could have been deemed finished years ago. rF2 was finished years ago (aside from poor 1st party content). Pcars was 'finished' upon release... when they moved onto their next game. It is not a bad thing all the developers actually stick with their products and support them years after release. Adding new features, implementing requested improvements, and constantly fixing bugs. Do you really want a yearly franchise model where bugs arent fixed, and hardly anything changes between each years game? Oh, and paying $60 each year for the 'new' game? Well, I dont want another Fifa I know many people appreciate the long term project approach
No, you are right. But I thought that you had a full weather system on AC when I bought it (like for Project Cars). So, that was a disappointment (maybe, I could read all the details of it before buying it, but they had Porsche <3 )
I somewhat disagree. Dirt Rally (while not having hardcore physics) was pretty much a complete game on release with everything any rally fan could have wished for. And then there older games - NASCAR 2003, GTR2. I am not talking about content like cars and tracks or having everything the whole community could come up with, but this idea that when you launch the game and play it, no crucial part of the depicted motorsport is missing or broken. Assetto Corsa was hardly feature complete on release. First of all the game was rushed, because Project CARS was scheduled to release several weeks later (but it got delayed for another 6 months). I mean, something like creating a race season was introduced like last year.
I see what you are saying but with dirt rally... "What about muh circuit racing?" Nascar... is just... Nascar. GTR2 lacks variety of content. All of those would be regarded as very bad graphics and that wouldnt fly anymore. And so on and so forth. People want fully licensed series, beautiful graphics, full rules, massive content lists, people want games to do everything... and that will never happen. Everyone's personal thoughts on AC aside... it was feature complete in December 2014 according to what the devs said would be in the game from the start of their early access period. Nothing was missing from what they said. So, they very well could have moved on because the game was 'complete' according to their own goals and commitments. Especially given they made the entire game with <15 people. Im not sure any other major sim on the market now can claim the same.
Well, if we ignore that Dirt Rally had a quite long early access-Phase, in which players could buy the game cheaper, you are right and Codemasters is doing a solid job in many terms. But we shouldn't forget that Dirt is a long lasting series in a niche of Sim-Racing (like F1 for example). So with every iteration of the game, they can reuse something. Same will happen with Project Cars 2. They tried to deliver a complete game with it's first Verion but failed and didn't get it done till release and canceled some features that were planed. So many things from the first version will be ported to the second + the features that didn't made it in the first will come with the next. In Case of Assetto Corsa I never understand why they named it release-version. It was far away from a release-state, maybe a bit similar to Raceroom after Multiplayer and Singleplayer-Racing was introduced.
I ditched Assetto Corsa from my hard drive today. As much as I enjoy the driving and some of the cars only available there, the game has serious issues even that long after the release. One thing that put me off today was some of the unique cars. The Ferrari F40 namely. I remember when I first tried that beast out it was really hard to drive. The real car has an opinion of one of the best and most challenging vehicles to drive. Imagine my surprise when I ran a couple of laps around Red Bull Ring without breaking a sweat. What the hell happened? The car has tons of understeer now. No idea if it's the new tires or something else, but it's difficult to get the back end to step out and it used to step out all the time, especially when the turbo kicked in. Then I tried a race and oh boy, is Assetto useless for racing. The fact that the AI is reluctant to pass even when you are slow is one thing, but when I spun out and sat there on the grass waiting for a safe rejoin... Well it was damn long wait! The AI would reach the point of the corner where I was parked, stop and ponder for a bit. Then they slowly passed me and then the next car... did the same thing! 10 cars altogether could not figure out what to do when my car was parked mid corner on the grass. Well the good part is I gained like 60 gigs of disk space. I'll reinstall it again at some point, when I get the sideways JDM itch, but they need to do something about the AI, it's like all the joy from driving went out the window.
Yeah, the AI are terrified of the user. On the Nordschleife I wanted to get the AI in front of me as a guide, so I slowed down to let him pass. Nope. Went to the shoulder. Nope. Got completely off track- only then did they inch by. To overtake them is the same- just get close to one and before you know it he's in your mirror 50 feet away. They are the reverse Raceroom, in which the AI is an insane hombre who only feels alive if he's rubbing doors with you while overtaking.
Haha true! Imagine if the Kunos-guys and the S3 guys could sit down together... they just might come up with the perfect ai, that is chickening out in the right places, while fighting with a knife between their teeth where it fits (yes, I know of course, that that actually is not at all so easy )
I have gotten used to the AI in Raceroom already. True, they tend to be overly aggressive with certain can and track combo, but overal, if you drive a solid line and only attempt overtaking in situations where it's safe in realistic terms, then they leave you be. It's still better than Assetto, hell even Project Cars is better - at least it's a race and not a hotlap with overtaking challenge. Kunos need to fix this ASAP.
I adapted to them too (for the most part ) I think the most important thing about the Raceroom-AI is to treat them like you would treat people online, that reduces AI-Problems by a lot, though they still lack awareness.. As far as Assetto-AI is concerned I am with you too. A german youtuber (Dookie) said they were working on a grand AI-update, that would finally make Multiclass Racing actually possible (right now it really isn´t, as the GT3s will get stuck behind the Abarths if you try ) I haven´t seen anything official about those plans yet, but I really hope Dookie is right, cause that might mean, that they could also actually race you in same class I assume.
Visually the probably most stunning mod-track available for AC, Lucca Ring has gotten its version 1.0 stamp, available in standard and - for donators - in high resolution. The SD version already is over 400MB in size, if you know the usual download sizes for mod track in AC, this already tells you something. Decompressed, the SD version already has 1.15 GB !! I always have been a great admirer of this project, and the guy behind it and his team really must be crazies who have gone totally nuts. They digitized all visible city buildings, and photographed it all not just individually, but many objects close to the track even got the full treatment via photogrammetry photographing technique. In this latest version they removed some of the before existing grand stands to allow better view on the historic citywall. Visually, this track is second to none in AC, and I think it absolutely would also be a highlight in any other sim out there, including Raceroom. This video shows one lap at ordinary street traffic speed to allow the viewer to enjoy the scenery and take note of all the looks sind sights and places. Needless to say, the track is a recreation of the real place. The city of Lucca features the biggest existing and intact historic city wall from i think the Rennaissance in Europe. Where other cities decided to tear their walls down to allow easier traffic infrastructure building, in Lucca they deliberately have chosen to keep their wall and to adapt infrastructure to it instead. The result seems to be a very unique place, from all what I have read. Enjoy!
Aaaaand... I'm back to AC. Damn this is hard to admit. I stopped having expectations from the game. Instead I focus on what this title does well - nice street cars, nice looks and mods. Yup, I'm 100% focused on some sideways action. Surprisingly enough, I am not doing too bad (thanks to a certain Supra mod for rFactor 2). Here is the thing though, I seem to got the basics down, I am trying (and failing) to make it look nice) and I did try some advanced techniques with a few lucky reverse entries so far, but this is harder than just racing. You can take something like AMS or even R3E, pick the hardest car to control (something old, with a lot of power, oversteer-happy and crap brake, no aero etc) and even with the AI waaaay beyond your skill level, you will feel like you are actually doing laps, competing, at least finish the race without crashing and it feel satisfying. At the end of the day everything you did in the game counts as some sort of achievement. Yay, I survived a 20 lap race around Spa, yay, I won the race, yay, I was only 10 seconds slower than the leader. You get the picture. Not really that hard, not really seeming impossible, not really pointless. With drifting though, progress is hard to make. Sure, you can rip that e-brake and go around a hairpin like a boss with a few hours of practice, but how do you make that look pretty? How do you link those slides with confidence? How do you not feel half-dead with numb arms after 30 minutes of sideways action? And then there are setups. It's all about the setup. No science here, no telemetry to help you, tire temps are useless, since you will be wrecking that rubber anyway and you find values with trial and error. I'm kind of struggling, kind of exhausted with the idea, but somehow I want to keep trying. I think this is where AC really shines. Too bad they did not try to capitalise on this. With some console games like GT or Forza, you sort of are focused both on driving and improving your car. Assetto lacks in that last bit. As far as I am aware from different weird mods, you can do all sorts of stuff with the game, like engine swaps and whatnot. Why the hell Kunos did not build something like a career with that in mind? Anyhow, I just thought I'd share. If anyone has useful tips for me driving like a teenage jerk, feel free to speak.
I fully agree with you! I was doing a lot of hotlaps on the Nordschleife with the Porsche GT3 Cup, RSR, and 919. And some drifting. Now, I'm only on R3E, making hotlaps on the Nordschleife with the RUF RT12R... And I still cannot do a perfect lap around the Green Hell...
On this channel, Kunos' physics magican Aristotelis has started to explain the basics of understanding why the car does what it does when the driver does what he does, in an effort to understand the basics and to get faster. -> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhcxwsAYQYBBjJD2IfMCVr3vayF_I3unZ The better you already are, the less new info you may find in this, but espoecially new drivers and only occasionally driving drivers may find these things useful. IT SHOULD BE SAID THAT THESE VIDEOS BY ARIS DO NOT HOLD TRUTH FOR ASSETTO CORSA ONLY, BUT ARE OF SAME INFORMATIONAL VALUE FOR OTHER SIMS LIKE RF2, RACEROOM AND OTHERS AS WELL. The laws of pyhsics that a car obeys, are the same in any good sim, and so Racxeroom drivers should be able to benefit from these demonstrations as well. For introductory and medium skill level drivers, probably not that interesting for seasoned drivers and aliens. So far, these films have been released, to be found under the above link: - Basic driving technique - Engine and gearbox - Weight transfer prologue -> funny! - Weight transfer part 1 (soft vs stiff springs) part 2 tbr. Recommended, not just for Assetto Corsa, but for drivers of other sims as well. As I said, the laws of physics are universal. ----- mmaruda, the range of diverse behavior and difficulty in cars in AC is wider than in Raceroom, so expect to find cars that are more like oprimadonnas and thus miore difficult to tame, while there are also cars that are easy to control, or have a good tempoer even when they already are going quite fast. Personally., I focus on streetcars, sports cars, small sport cars, GT3. Things like the Yellowbird or Cobra or Huyra aor F40 can be extremely difficult (as every MP session with these cars present will show you ). So, there are cars I just avoid, yes. However, different to some of the unpatched cars in Raceroom, the difficult cars in AC nbevcertheless are as developed in physics ands behavior like the othe rcars, there are no "underdone" cars like for exmaple the Gumpert in Raceroom, the whole GTX class in Raceroom. Its not the sim, it is not the cars if you suck with them - it is you. It often helps to reduce braking intensity, I reuce it sometimes by up to 1/5. Drive smooth, fluent, and if the car is a primadonna, do not start with being aggressive, but "round", gentle. Let it flow, let it roll, do not push. Pushing comes last in certain cars you find difficult. Being fluent and smooth is more important. "Let the river run". That way, btw, AC provides best enjoyment, this is the ground were it reigns.
+1 on the videos by Aris. Mostly basic stuff, but nothing wrong with a refresher-course every now and again. Besides, he manages to make it entertaining.
I am watching Aris' vids from some time now, so I am up to date - grat stuff. Not sure everyone got what I meant thoughm as most of my questions were rhetoric . As I said, my main focus in AC now is drifting (or learnig to drift) and one day, I am going to post that perfect vis of shredding through Akina. What sort of poses a problem for me is making a setup for drift. Aris' vids are useless here, since their focus is on making you faster, not sliding around Zandtvort or Silverstone like an idiot, which is what I am trying to achieve (if anyone can provide advice on what cap is best worn sideways, that would help also lol). One thing that struck me is how rubbish the default setups are again in AC and that concerns both grip and dorito setups. Seriously, just look at the Supra D or E30 D on defaults... At least I am glad that sometime ago they made changes to how the Ford GT is set, cause with what the game initially provided that car was completely undrive'able unless you'd stiffen the Big F out of the suspension. And now I remembered, there's some 917 vs GT action at Classic Silverstone that I need to attend to.