Graphics: it's like a modding team took rF1 to the edges of what it was capable of.
Good, if you were expecting a much improved rF1, but DX9 is capable of much better.
The programmers here... well, they've tried their best, but unfortunately sometimes
your best isn't really good enough. I had the same problem with GTR Evo... it just
looked out of date from the start.
Physics: FFB is not right in the way that iRacing is almost immediately "right".
Which is a shame, because although I'm struggling with the Historic cars, the
Megane shows an awful lot of potential under the hood.
Or rather, under the wheel arches. I really do think this tyre model is better than
iRacing's at the moment. The car handles more believably under stress and duress --
to me -- and would be a joy to drive if the FFB felt more convincing.
Some people on the forums love the FFB though, however it's hard to know what
they're comparing it to, or whether specific hardware is a big deal.
Atmosphere: perhaps the biggest hit so far. Dynamically changing weather and
lighting really move the genre forward, and I've even enjoyed thrashing around in
the (graphically poor) rain in the Megane. Again the tyre physics handle very
impressively and when I aquaplaned at one stage it just felt and looked right.
Sounds from the surroundings are well done too, they really do add something I
didn't think I'd been missing.
Anyway, that's it so far. I'm disappointed and I'm very pleased at the same time.
As ever, it's hard to be simply happy in this hobby. In fact I suspect we have this
hobby purely because we don't want to be happy. ;-)
Still, it was easily worth my 30ukp, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing
what the more talented modders can do with this engine. It has bags of potential...
though at this stage you'd hope for a bit more than that. There's probably nothing
beta about this release apart from a few tweaks and a lot of content.
Andrew McP
In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...
> Graphics: it's like a modding team took rF1 to the edges of what it was capable of.
> Good, if you were expecting a much improved rF1, but DX9 is capable of much better.
> The programmers here... well, they've tried their best, but unfortunately sometimes
> your best isn't really good enough. I had the same problem with GTR Evo... it just
> looked out of date from the start.
<snip>
What hardware are you running it on? I'm keen-ish to give it a go, but
have a relatively ancient Q6600 / 8800GT that sits uncomfortably close
to the minimum specs.
Ian
--
Ian Riches
Bedford - UK
[email hidden] (Ian Riches) wrote:
> What hardware are you running it on?
Sadly I'm running it on a [email hidden] with a 5870. In single screen mode at max
detail (and you want max detail, believe me!) I'm maxxing out at about 55fps, which
is pretty poor. The menus get more like 2000fps though. :-)
With triple screens I can drive offline ok, but it's not ideal and requires some
disappointing compromises. I have a horrible feeling that the graphics guy(s) are
really stretched beyond their natural skillset. At least in CARS you can see why
your frame rate is struggling. With rF2 it's much more subtle and hard to
appreciate.
It may well be a purely CPU thing though. In fact that makes a lot of sense when I
think about it. So with 4 cores you might do better than you'd expect. I can
certainly race at 30+ FPS in either single or triple screen mode.
This machine is an [email hidden] with a GTX260. I might try installing it on here as
well, but I'm not sure how the activations work and I don't want to risk it at a
time when they're up to their ears in... well, possibly refunds. :-)
At least there is a prominent refund feature in the interface though.
Andrew McP
In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...
Hmm. Doesn't fill me with hope. Nice to know the menus aren't laggy
though ;-)
> It may well be a purely CPU thing though. In fact that makes a lot of sense when I
> think about it. So with 4 cores you might do better than you'd expect. I can
> certainly race at 30+ FPS in either single or triple screen mode.
Have read elsewhere that it only uses 2 cores. Difference between min
and recommended specs seems to be about clockspeed, not cores on the CPU
side.
> At least there is a prominent refund feature in the interface though.
That's helpful to know. Thanks.
I now need to find some time. I'm suffering from a completely
unexpected relationship with Skyrim. Have never got into anything that
didn't involve either flying or driving before (apart from a brief and
beautiful fling with Bastion). My normal driving fixes of GTR2/GTl/P&G
have not been started up yet this year. The shame!
Ian
--
Ian Riches
Bedford - UK
Quoted text (8 lines)
> > [email hidden] (Ian Riches) wrote: > > > What hardware are you running it on? > > Sadly I'm running it on a [email hidden] with a 5870. In single screen mode at max > detail (and you want max detail, believe me!) I'm maxxing out at about 55fps, which > is pretty poor. The menus get more like 2000fps though. :-)On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:15 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), Andrew MacPherson wrote:
> though at this stage you'd hope for a bit more than that. There's
> probably nothing beta about this release apart from a few tweaks and
> a lot of content.
I beg to differ on this one. There's tons of stuff coming for the tyre model alone, realroad will receive a big overhaul and many other things that are still on the to-do list.
I'm one of the folks loving rF2's FFB, it's the best I've ever "felt"
in any sim, hands down even in this early beta (I was on iracing's
beta team for a year and then "subscribed for six months after
release, so I don't know what they're up to at the moment).
I hope the poor fps will be dealt with, for me the sim mostly runs
fine and performance is good until I start adding AI (which are a joy
to race offline, btw) beyond 12 cars or so.
Just remember what rF1 was like when it hit the shelves: A couple of
cars, some tracks, nothing much beyond that but a very flexible and
modding friendly engine, and look where that got us five years down
the road ;-)
All the best, Uwe
On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:53:39 +0000 (UTC), Uwe <[email hidden]>
wrote:
FYI, the last build of pCARS (http://www.wmdportal.com/) contains a lot of
new FFB work, and it seems they're on the right track. With at least
another year of development work to go, I anticipate it will be excellent
by the time it's shipped.
Quoted text (24 lines)
>On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:15 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), Andrew MacPherson wrote: > >> though at this stage you'd hope for a bit more than that. There's >> probably nothing beta about this release apart from a few tweaks and >> a lot of content. > >I beg to differ on this one. There's tons of stuff coming for the tyre model alone, realroad will receive a big overhaul and many other things that are still on the to-do list. > >I'm one of the folks loving rF2's FFB, it's the best I've ever "felt" >in any sim, hands down even in this early beta (I was on iracing's >beta team for a year and then "subscribed for six months after >release, so I don't know what they're up to at the moment). > >I hope the poor fps will be dealt with, for me the sim mostly runs >fine and performance is good until I start adding AI (which are a joy >to race offline, btw) beyond 12 cars or so. > >Just remember what rF1 was like when it hit the shelves: A couple of >cars, some tracks, nothing much beyond that but a very flexible and >modding friendly engine, and look where that got us five years down >the road ;-) > > >All the best, Uwe[email hidden] (Uwe) wrote:
> Just remember what rF1 was like when it hit the shelves:
Yes, but that's why I never really got into rF1 much... it was a bit disappointing
at the start and it continued to disappoint me. :-)
When I say I don't expect much in the way of improvement I mean that without doubt
all the "low hanging fruit" in terms of optimisation (and features) will have been
done. Big improvements in frame rate may come, but I suspect they'll only come by
scaling back the decent AI and cutting the processor load we've both experienced.
Overall there is no doubt that you only get one chance to make a first impression,
and rF2 comes dangerously close to alienating anyone on the fence for a variety of
reasons.
I'm pleased I stuck with it though, I was so ready for a change from iRacing and
CARS can't provide that... yet. rF2 fills the gap nicely and I can't wait to see
what some of the better modders manage.
Andrew McP
PS Good luck with rF2-Rank :->
On Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:10 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), Andrew MacPherson wrote:
> PS Good luck with rF2-Rank :->
Cheers Andy,
it's a complete re-write (in Django this time), things are coming
along nicely. We already have most of the stuff from rF1 Rank in
place, now all we need is ISI to enforce proper car class and track
names... not an easy task seeing them naming the Historic F1 cars
simply "F1" and a Portugal variant "GT minus tyre stacks"... but one
can hope and lament the fact loudly ;-)
All the best, Uwe
