RACEROOM for starters

[Skybird]

Sector 3 Studio is now KW Studios. Which to me just makes sense. KE Suspensions is behind the Raceroom franchise since - well, since very many years. Without KW, the Raceroom show probably would not even exist anymore - who knows.

https://www.kw-studios.com/

The text seems to imply they are working on a new engine capable to serve the next generation consoles.

Its still one of my three to-go-to race sims, and still has the best AI I have ever seen in any racing sim. I was able to adress some of the issues I had with their new FFB by replacing some of my hardware, so the title is back in business for me.

[Skybird]

Raceroom gets Interlagos "soon".

[Skybird]

https://www.racedepartment.com/news/...nd-of-may.617/

All raceroom content free to access until end of May. Your opportunity to test all stuff out, namely tracks.

[Threadfin]

I installed it this weekend and had a quick bash around Mid-Ohio in the Ferrari 488. Felt good. I had just driven the 458 at Mid-Ohio in rFactor the day before so it was a good comparison.

The main issue is few in our group run RaceRoom, but I've added to the quiver, making it racing sim number six in my rotation

Automobilista Motorsport Simulator 2 -- Probably my favorite right now. It's quick and easy to set up a server but what really sets it apart is the ability to add AI to the multiplayer races. With filling out a field with humans an impossibility, having AI to fill it out is great. A friend and I ran a couple races yesterday, first in Formula Trainers at Virginia International, then GT cars at the Daytona Road Course in a multi-class race. We set it up to have a full day-night cycle over a fairly short race and it was great. AMS2 is probably the most visceral of these sims, combining excellent force feedback and soundscape.

Assetto Corsa Competizione -- Second favorite. Great driving feel, focused on a single series, with excellent racing against the AI.

Assetto Corsa -- Don't drive it all that much, but my son loves drifting old 'Ruf's in it. It has the most dissimilar feeling FFB of all these sims, but stll a great one in it's own right.

rFactor 2 -- Another top sim, but a little older and feels like it. Good AI racing, lots of content -- much of it free -- and a great chassis setup side. I only run my own setups and rFactor is one of the best in terms of options and interface.

RaceRoom -- Too new to me to judge really, but in the brief time I drove it it felt really nice. I was big in to GTR and GTR 2 back in the day and this is the evolution of those sims (even if ACC feels like the actual spiritual successor)

F1 2021 -- Some slag it as simcade, but I love it. Slick presentation and excellent AI racing. The modes are fantastic, especially standard driver career and My Team. With the added two-player career mode the options here are really strong. The ability to talk to my pitwall is a game changer.


One of my friends is nudging me toward iRacing too, so I'll probably be adding that soon.





Here's some of yesterday's action. Formula Trainers at VIR









Me in my C8 at Daytona. Excuse the focus issues. It's an oddity with AMS2's photo mode

[Skybird]

I must say that the aI in racertoom is one of the thigns were it shines. It varies with car classes a bit, but generlaly its my bechnmark in this remark. I have experienced incredible things happening with it, attacking, counter-attacking, -re-counterattacking endlessly, or going on the Nordschleife and fightign it out with the AI door to door and bumper to bumper over half of the lap - a nd no crahsing into me. I come from behind, I blitz beyong it on the one side, it disappears, I have no sight of it ij the mirrors, think its gone away already, and a seocnd later it hisses by on the other side.
It may nbe dependent on driver skill a bit, and I am no alien driver, not even a really fast driver, I focus on being a fighting but safe driver. For my style, the AI in Racveroom is a perfetc match that I prefer to open server any time, and even to what I have tried ( a bit) in closed server racing. It suits my demands and abilities perfectly.



ACC with RR's AI - that would be my dream. AC's and ACC's AI are reliably avoiding crashes, but are too pacifistic. Raceroom's AI is notoriously in a bad mood and evades no fight, also gives up not easily, but is not unfair. But it presses the palyer, if it can. Also, devs said the simulate osme psyhcological factors. If you hunt an aI car and press it very closely, and danc ein its mirrors, you may provoke the "stress" level going up and the AI then may make a mistake.

All my best AI experiences in racing have been done with RR's AI. Its even a little bit erratic, imperfect - just so to avoid getting the idea of dealing with a perfect computer AI, but racing against a human with the usual set of human flaws.

Track Bilsterberg is a secret tip for you to try. Some touring or GT class of car, old mobiles. Not so much for open wheelers and space interceptors. The flow on that track is remarkable. In Germany it is known as the Nordschleife's little brother.


And Salzburg also has somethign in it. It just keeps you logging laps, you cannot stop.

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Its even a little bit erratic, imperfect

Yes, this is key for me, and my number one gripe with both F1 2020/21 and to an extent in ACC is how AI-like the AI is. I want retirements, mistakes, chaos, crashes and cars running wide. Just a touch of all that, it makes for a more believable racing sim.


AMS2, rFactor, and I reckon RaceRoom on your testimony are all much more convincing in this regard. Cars wiggle, run wide, get out of shape and make contact, imparting the impression that they are piloted by humans.

I'll run a race in RR and see what I think. Can you put AI in MP races in RR?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

I'll run a race in RR and see what I think. Can you put AI in MP races in RR?

Dont know from own experience, but I think yes.

Know what the adaptive AI function is about.

https://forum.sector3studios.com/ind...tive-ai.14262/

It does not adapt within a race, but from race to race, tuning the setting up and down but in smaller and smaller intervals, per track, and I think per car class. That means you can get a weak AI in first race, a too strong one in the next on that track, a moderate in the third, and then maybe a matching one in the fourth. You get the idea. But relevant is always just the second lap of a race (the first full lap). So make sure that one is a clean one, no off-track, no contacts, everything fine and legal. You could quickly tune things by doing two laps in a race, and then break it off and start new.

I tried it years ago, it worked okay, but I ended up with returning to setting it manually, usually in the range of 97, 98, something like that. I do not/cannot slaughter the field, but must drive to my best abilities (which may be limited...), but can go with the flow in the centre of the action, having many duels in the middle of the field. Since it is AI, I do not care that much for winning, but for the fighting that leads me to the end of the ace, and hopefully in one piece and after having driven fightfully, but clean. Thats where I get my satisfaction from. My sense for competion was stronger when I was younger... They say the travel itself is the goal. Well, thats true here.

https://forum.sector3studios.com/ind...tive-ai.14262/

For trying things out it is better to use a fixed setting and see how it works. Say 95 or 98 or whatever matches your abilities.

The AI in RR years ago was more Klingon,i extremely liked it, it had the perfect frequency of unexpected events happening, too too many, not too few: AI breaking to late and needing to correct it, spinning out, or you whop ovber a hill and see two AI cars in the sandpit, and so forth. The AI was in a constantly angry mood... I think it was perfect, and I often rubbed my doors against theirs, so9me people'S endless compalints that tiem and agai n they get shgot off the track I sijply cnanot confirm, it happens EXTREMELY rarely, and it must eb years since it happened to me. I think driver'S owndroiving has muchz to do, if you leave the AI on the inside turn no space to breathe and no room to evade into, then it MUST contact you if the inside of the turn is a wall, right? But there are players who think even an overtakign attemnpt in a stupid situation must reward them and even player's excessive own driving must see the AI avoiding them by magic and miracle. Well, sector 3 has nevertheless tuned down the aggressiveness of AI events a bit, since many players complained, I think that are those players who race like maniacs and then complain about the AI slamming into them after they provoked an incident with their own too aggressive driving. These things happen still, you need to be on your guard, but they happen not as often anymore as I would like to see . Personally I have no issues with the AI slamming into me, on no track and in no cars. Since years it is like this.

And then there are those two or three AI drivers that stick like glue to you, and always have a comeback after you think you have left them behind. Then you look into the mirror and curse "Oh no, not him again..."

[Skybird]

Had a lot of racing this night. If you still test out Raceroom, do not miss the Swedish rumble pits, the little unknown tracks, and there use slower and older cars, stockcars style racing where cars mutually rub their paoint off on each other. Its wonderful old fashioned dog-fighting action in two dimejnsions, so to speak. The Scirocco works great there, for example. Or the DTM classics and touring classics.

Another tip: front wheelers at Macau. Note that the killer hairpin near the end has a overtaking prohibtioon in reality and the game has it for the AI as well, you are well-advised to stick to that yourself, too, as you get chaos in there if you try to ov ertake in that turn. Let it be, keep the race going. The steering wheel must be tightened in rotaiton angle, else you cannot cut that damn thing, he margin of error when deviating frorm the ideal line is hilariously small, almost non-existent. Its the tightest turn I know on any race track. Its a fantastic visual showcase rack.

The two hillclimb tracks also look great. Try in the BMW M1 and the KTM XBox.

[Skybird]

Raceroom Summer Sale! The once-per-lifetime Premium Pack for 50€. Get ALL tracks, ALL cars, ALL skins for a steal, or fill the gaps in your collection if these are still huge.

https://forum.sector3studios.com/ind...8/#post-237407

Considering the quantity and quality of content, this is not just a steal - this is hilarious. Cheaper it never gets.

[Threadfin]

Even though I had only picked this up in the recent free access promotion, and hadn't even driven it an hour total, I bought the premium pack, all the content. Somehow the premium pack was marked down farther for me, despite the fact I've not spent a dime on it previously, but it calculates the price based on the content you already have. So I guess I had some stuff that wasn't free before? No idea, but now I have it all.

It's a good sim, I like it fine, but I have a bit of an overflow in racing sims.

Assetto Corsa Competizione
Assetto Corsa
Automobilista
F1 2020/21
rFactor 2
RaceRoom
WRC 10
Dirt Rally 2.0

And all DLC


All but two of those titles were picked up in the past two months. Too many sims!

[Skybird]

See, thats why I decided against AMS 1 and 2, F1 series, rF2, WRC series. I have tried rF2 many years ago, the first build they released for free as a demo, and back then I even did not like it, but I understand that it has changed a lot since then. Still, I do not try these titles, since I feel my wishes and needs all are being met by the sims I already use: AC, ACC, RR; DR2, Wreckfest, ETS2. I in no way imply or mean to say the others ar enot good, but I can only usefully play so and so many titles in a day, week, and not more. Thats why I reject the others, and currently am not even interested in other, new developments (Rennsport, for exmaple).

Do no underestimate Wreckfest, nobody! They had a terrible many years-long Early Access development drama and desaster show running, but what they finally gave birth to is a silver-shining, wonderful beauty of a swan. Very solid immersion, good driving physics (really, believe it, they are good in the meaning of beign believable and meetign the expectations), and the whole thing makes an incredible lot of fun. I sometimes drive in it and laughing loud half of the time, serious!

If there is one title that is missing in the list of yours and that you nevertheless want to try out despite your overdose in titles you already own, than this one: Wreckfest. You can have an amok frenzy with it, if that is what you want. You can also have a really solid and super-proper racing sim, if that is your poison. Or you get your fun from both worlds. Its up to you. I play it on the ultra-huge movie screen in a virtual cinema via my VR headset, and that way even this originally non-VR game becomes a completely new ballgame. Jawdropping! Its the only racing game I care to play despite offering no true VR - usually I am the type of "no VR - no drive".


When you try RR, do not underestimate the apparently unspectacular, slow cars, I find them to make more fun thatn the super fast ones, or the open wheelers. Try for excmaple the Scirocco (think that is Group 4), or DTM 92, and then a less-known scandinavian rumble pit, AI, to start your personal preference tuning, set to lets say 96 or 97. Get ready to rumble! The AI varies a bit in competence with different car classes, thre superfast, super agile ones it finds more difficult to handle, with things like the GT3 and 4, the front wheelers and that speed range, it probably rumbles best.

[Threadfin]

Yeah, maybe, I'll give it a look, but I really shouldn't keep adding to the pile.
You've mentioned ACC a few times and seem to like it?

I failed to entice you to join us in online racing, but what about a hotlap challenge?

Every few days I start a new one. The idea is to take any car on the track nominated for the event and post up your best lap time? Any car, any mode, any conditions. We started by also selecting the car for everyone to run, but since then I've made it open to allow more freedom.

I change the track every four or five days. interested? It's just for fun and personal improvement. Check it out here

SimHQ Hotlap Challenge

[mapuc]

I have decided to get my hand on a decent Steering Wheel with pedals. A decent cost around 3-500 Dollars.

Raceroom-Well had it installed less than a week then I uninstalled it again.
(This has to do with black screen in 5-7 sec before and after gameplay-I know very well from other games it will end in a no-signal problem)

I don't know how the other racing game act on my computer.
But Raceroom will not be installed anymore.

So now I'm saving money for a decent Steering Wheel with pedals.

I have two driving game where my desktop come forth directly after I have ended the game-Those are ETS 2 and ATS. It's for those I'm going to buy this set

Markus

[Threadfin]

At which wheel(s) are you looking?


Sim racing's in a great place at the moment. Come on aboard!

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

At which wheel(s) are you looking?


Sim racing's in a great place at the moment. Come on aboard!

Here is what I've been looking at

Thrustmaster T150 Ferrari Force Feedback Wheel

Thrustmaster T150 Force Feedback Wheel - Black/Blue

Logitech G29 Driving Force

Thrustmaster T248 Racing Wheel and Magnetic Pedals - Black

Logitech G923 Driving Force Racing PC/PS4 - Black

Markus