Project CARS + Oculus Rift = HOLY SHIT

"TheOnelectronic" (theoneelectronic)
05/08/2015 at 01:49 • Filed to: None

You guys.

Find someone with a rift. Play PCARS with it.

Race the fastest, most batshit car in the game (??) on the Nurburgring or other suitably fast, narrow track.

My heart still hasn’t slowed down. You think this game feels fast? Try playing it in VR.

DISCUSSION (15)

Frank Grimes > TheOnelectronic
05/08/2015 at 01:54

dude I am still on 360 and crap.

Flavien Vidal > TheOnelectronic
05/08/2015 at 02:00

If only the physics didn’t suck ass...

tromoly > Flavien Vidal
05/08/2015 at 11:18

Care to explain? What’s your playing setup?

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > Flavien Vidal
05/08/2015 at 11:48

Compared to what? I just started playing it yesterday, but I’d rank it near the top already in terms of physics.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > TheOnelectronic
05/08/2015 at 11:49

Looks like you can officially buy an Oculus Rift in early 2016. I will be locking myself in the house with Project Cars and Elite: Dangerous for several days after that.

Flavien Vidal > tromoly
05/08/2015 at 20:36

My setup? I have a triple screen setup (cheap 24” Acer), along with a basic G27. I’m mostly on Assetto Corsa, iRacing and some rFactor for good measure due to my love for the C6 Corvette 3.2, E46 M3 and 288GTO mods (which are, I think, the absolute best mods for rFactor in term of realism). I’ve been simracing for about 10 years now, though I haven’t been around much since I arrived in Japan last September.

If you’re interested, I’ve also written a couple of articles on the subject. Here is one of them

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/sim-racing-and…

As for the explanation as to why Project Cars suck? From the beginning they baited us that they were making the first sim with graphics that matched the physics. In the end, we got some sort of good looking Toca Race Driver lol. If you want me to go in details as to why it sucks, I would have to write an entire article about it, which I would gladly do, but that would take me a little longer than just answering you.

Flavien Vidal > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
05/08/2015 at 20:47

Compared to every proper sim...

Assetto Corsa is probably the best in terms of physics right now, they have Netkar Pro under their belt which is definitly a reference and most likely the second best on the market. Then comes iRacing, which depite having lots of faults, is trying its best to provide the very best slick tires physics up there. The very specific reactions of a slick tire under load makes it, I think, as lot harder to simulate than a street tire. since they are tackling the subject, it will certainly take a while to actually understand what is going on properly. The racing and the way its organized makes up for the yet to be changed physics problems the cars can have. rFactor is still something I play around with. But very specific mods that are clearly over the top compared to the rest: E46 M3, 288GTO and Corvette 3.2 (last one is almost impossible to find though and the 3.0 version is just not as good)

tromoly > Flavien Vidal
05/08/2015 at 21:24

Ah, so a proper wheel, good to hear you’re not another Forza bro complaining that it doesn’t have 500+ cars.

Admittedly I wasn’t terribly involved in physics testing for pCars, I made maybe two contributions for the three years of builds I played. But I can say that from what I saw the tire model is one of the most detailed out there, it actually impressed me with how much it followed what’s in Race Car Vehicle Dynamics.

To each their own, the last time I booted my sim rig (~5 months ago) I actually got fed up with AC because of the FFB being screwed terribly even with adjusting it according to the AC forum, while I had a blast running the Sauber C9 around Brands Hatch GP for a number of hours. I respect your opinion, hope to see you on the (virtual) track some day.

Flavien Vidal > tromoly
05/08/2015 at 21:33

The thing is that it takes a LOT more than just following a 15 year old book on car physics to actually make a proper sim. When they noticed they would never be up to par with what they orignally wanted, they gave up mid-developpment and made an arcade game. I don’t really see what I could hope from the deloppers of NFS shift or Test Drive Ferrari lol, but they got me and I had good hopes when they first announced it.

For Assetto, what wheel do you have? I don’t have much problems as far as I’m concerned. It’s even pretty spot on really

tromoly > Flavien Vidal
05/08/2015 at 21:40

Weren’t several people at SMS involved in the development of GTR2 and GTL? And from what I could tell from following the portal, they never went “arcade” with the game, did I miss that somewhere?

I have a G25, setting the FFB back to default didn’t do anything and I gave up after a couple hours of dicking with it. But none of that matters, due to personal stuff I won’t be sim racing for a long time.

Flavien Vidal > tromoly
05/08/2015 at 22:04

Papyrus that made GPL was created by Dave Kaemmer which is now CEO and pretty much solely in charge of developping the tire physics at iRacing. Most of the Papyrus team followed Dave Kaemmer and moved now on iRacing. I don’t think any physics guys from Papyrus moved to SMS. Maybe some graphic guys?? I don’t know...

As for the GTR2 team, Simbin ended up developping Raceroom (became a beta tester on it and quickly gave up... anything but a sim...) and most of the physics team went there. The followed the exact same moto as PCars, lowering the realism bar to reach out to more people. In the end, both games are quite similar indeed, but GTR2 has never been a reference in term of realism.

tromoly > Flavien Vidal
05/08/2015 at 22:30

I said GTL, meaning GT Legends, my bad about getting the acronym wrong, my fault.

Most of the team at Simbim left sometime after GTR2 or GTR Evo, can’t remember where I read that (VirtualR, maybe?) but I imagine that’s one of the contributing factors in GTR3 being delayed for ages on end.

TheOnelectronic > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
05/08/2015 at 23:12

E:D is amazing with the rift as well. I actually jumped back the first time I jumped into a system while wearing it because HOLY SHIT THERE’S A STAR RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME

Flavien Vidal > tromoly
05/08/2015 at 23:28

Oh my bad never tried GT Legends... But after quick look, it pretty much looks like another pont and turn “sim” by Simbin unfortunatly... It’s even more flagrant considering the fight you’re suppoed to have with racecars of this era and how they are just...well... point and turn.

A quick comparaison of the driving required in the real car (here, AC Cobra)

Vs how easy and how much of an understeery pig it is in the “sim”

It’s very typical from Simbin and it is indeed very similar with what we get in pCars. Some of the Simbin people could definitly be involved in pCars...

tromoly > Flavien Vidal
05/08/2015 at 23:38

So you’re forming your opinion on the physics of a game you haven’t played based on a video?

I’m done.