Should we have a sim racing omnibus thread?

[Rare White Ape]

Dirt Rally 2 is half off on Steam this weekend. Disclaimer - I have not played Dirt Rally 2 or know much about it, but the first one was pretty badass.

Half price again, for the next few hours.

I bought the deluxe edition, and for the last few days I've been sampling its delights, like a muddy fine wine.

It is SOOOO good. The New Zealand stages are a must. They're fantastic. And if you get the deluxe version the locations from the original game are included (about half of them at the moment, with the rest to come later). I don't remember the Monte Carlo ones being that slippery. Yeah the tarmac bits are fun and narrow, but when you hit the icy parts is all on. The steering goes super sloppy and the car becomes the symbol on the old DVD player screensaver.

[CudaMan]

Is anyone playing F1 2019? I saw some YouTube videos of it and it looked pretty fun. Turns out it is. I'm running it on PS4 Standard, and the graphics seem almost last-generation compared to what Polyphony Digital is able to do. And the F1 2019 physics have a couple oddities centered around curbing and traction/wheelspin. Aside from that, the physics seem pretty good to me and it's a real challenge being fast. To be fair I've mostly driven F2 so far.

I did a few time trials in F2 to get my eye in. Got to the top spot at Hungary after working at it for a couple days. I tried F1 at Silverstone and am more than a second off the pace after giving it a good try. I'm missing something there. I thought I just hadn't figured out how to deploy KERS, but I'm starting to think there isn't a way in time trials. There's no option to map KERS to any buttons. So, hm, I'm just slow in these.

The F2 Career scenarios are good fun so far.

It's definitely holding my interest!

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah I’m keen on getting that game eventually. Just waiting on it to be on sale. Right now I’m charging through ACC’s career mode and getting faster all the time. Incidentally, the next round is Hungary, a track I haven’t driven on in years! That’ll be an annoying race; Hungary is tight and twisty, and the physics in ACC seem fairly weird in low speed situations.

You’re right about GT Sport looking a bit special. I’ve got my 2070 pegged running ACC, and it’s a fancy modern PC game running on Unreal Engine 4. GT just blows it out of the water.

[CudaMan]

I should mention the AI are quite good in F1 2019. Not perfect, as they have their little oddities occasionally (like they're slow at the first apex of the fast chicane at Albert Park), but man can they race. I've never seen AI with such good race craft, not only between them and the player but amongst themselves. I've never had more fun racing AI. Right now I have them set to 100% strength. It's a good spot for me - the racing is really competitive and I have to work hard to nail the race and strategy for a podium (in the RedBull at least). I think the top players/streamers have them at 105-107%. I'm not there yet.

I also like how much management and strategy go into it. In career mode you pick your tire allocation for the weekend and decide which tires to use when. There are specific practice programs including qualifying simulation and tyre management - the latter I found very challenging yet rewarding. My attacking driving style has to be adapted to be fast while taking care of the Pirellis. It sounds like you just under-drive but if you do that you'll be slow. There's a sweet spot to find, and I find there's still intensity and effort to stay there, so the challenge remains in place for me. There should probably be more of a punishment for locking your front tyres under braking, though. It doesn't appear you can flat-spot them, and certainly for me I tend to wear out rear tyres faster than fronts even if I have some lockups (I've always been harder on rear tires IRL, too).

Between maintaining pace, racing the other cars, managing tyres, optimizing ERS usage, and thinking through strategy on the fly, it keeps you busy. At the moment, it's engaging me more than GT Sport.

Also, Devon Butler is a class A jackass.

[Rare White Ape]

There's nothing like good AI to make you drive better. Crank up that difficulty and see how quickly you learn!

GT's rolling roadblocks are not AI. They're like pre-programmed bots.

[Rare White Ape]

V8 Supercars driver Scott McLaughlin got himself a new sim rig.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/07/25...in-keep-sharp/

[Rare White Ape]

F1 2019 is currently on sale on Steam and PS4 for 30% off. I don't know about the Xbox store, looks like it's full price there.

[Yw-slayer]

I played a bit of Forza in the McLaren Senna which is at the Microsoft store in London.

[Rare White Ape]

Look at my ACC video capture! Look at how it runs on my new 'pooter! Look at how good I am at sim racing!

Look at how the YouTube video compression kills the low detail areas in the night race

I'm actually quite happy with my setup right now. Competizione feels really nice through my cheap G29 wheel, although the physics seem kinda weird at low speed in hairpins. It's not as good as regular Assetto Corsa, but the racing action against the AI is brilliant, and the visuals are spectacular, particularly in a night race. Even the wet racing is great fun. Picking out the drying line on a damp circuit is thrilling and requires all of your attention. If you do end up trying this game, I highly recommend doing a 30 minute race with time acceleration set to full pelt just to see the day transition to night and back again.

[Rare White Ape]

I drive up to Brisbane today with my dad, to check out a new place that had opened up. It’s a bar with sim racing motion rigs called VR Motorsports.

http://www.vrmotorsports.com.au/

Oh my fuck.

They are serious bits of kit. Developed in-house by the venue’s owner and running Assetto Corsa. He says each one cost tens of thousands of dollars to build. Direct-drive wheels, high-end pedals, wrap-around screens.

To start with, they suggested I try GT3 at Spa - yep the easiest fast cars at the most played-out track. But it turns out it was the right idea. I was getting thrown around! And those wheels pack a punch.

Now I’m ruined for at-home sim racing. My 3.5nm Logitech just doesn’t cut it against 30nm DD wheels!

On my next session I drove the E30 M3 at the Nurburgring. The Foxhole is a while other beast when you’re being flung out of the chair so hard that they make you wear a seatbelt.