Isn't the 'much wider audience' also based in the fact that its easy to crack? like with rf1, much wider audience. rf2 not so much.
I cant believe how many people bite on such an obvious post to create pointless discussions regarding crazy comparisons. I mean the original poster has not even responded to any of the post anyone has made. You are all arguing amongst yourselves for what ?
Cracked game --> more people playing the game --> bigger audience. And some (probably most) modders will go to the most popular game.
Because of the fact that this is a forum, for one. A troll thread you say..? Very observant of you... Claiming that everyone who participates in this discussion have been lured in here because of some elaborate troll hoax..? Maybe people just like to discuss things related to sim racing..? Yeah, that must be it. I don't care one bit about the reason the OP had for creating this thread. All that "troll" stuff is getting pretty old now. God, the Internet is annoying sometimes... Who cares about the reasons for starting a thread? The only thing interesting is where the thread goes from there. Let the discussion go on.
Anyway, since I've been mentioned earlier I'm going to give my 2 cents: Personally I enjoy more modding (speaking about physics) much more in AC than in rF2. And I say this while at the same time I think that rFactor 2 physics engine is technically better. However, there are a few points that most guys don't really get: having a more advanced physics engine doesn't equal to better physics/handling. And even less when modders don't usually have many trustworthy data; let alone the complex tire stuff needed in rF2 ... When you are increasing the degree of complexity of a physics engine, you are also increasing the difficulty to work with that engine. Think about iRacing for a moment: they have top guys working on the tire model (Dave Kaemmer) and they were/are struggling a lot to achieve optimal results. And even when they get good handling in certain car, maybe in the next season/update it feels terrible. And that is with top programmers who have access to infinity of every kind of data and with contacts with several racing teams, so what do you exactly expect from modding groups, besides tons of passion? Think also about rF2's IndyCar. People inmediatly noticed that it's way planted, and it's far from other open wheelers; casuality or not, ISI admitted that they lacked some data (fortunately they said they got new data for future updates). See what lack of data leads to? You can have a very advanced physics engine, but if the numbers you plug in are guessed, you can maybe have a good car, or maybe a bad car. It will be up to the ability of the person who is working on that car. That's a bit the problem I see with rFactor 2; it's way complex for modders, and sadly the support given by ISI is far from good. AC (at the moment!) is more simple, more close to rFactor 1 than 2 (in some areas even more simple than rF1), but that makes it more accessible for modders. Less parameters to deal with, less values to get wrong. And you have some nice in-game apps where you can check a lot of physics stuff in real time, which makes it quite interesting, at least for me. I wish ISI had something like this, or some suspensions editor, or specially a tire editor, where for example you can select few characteristics and the editor makes a believable tire construction, etc... sometimes it's feels like you are dealing with black magic. So if the question is, what car will handle better if you have access to every kind data (suspensions, geometries, aeromaps, engine, tire data, and real tires to cut them and analyze their layers/properties/etc), the answer is: most likely, rFactor 2. If you don't have such luck (like probably most modding groups/people, except very very rare exceptions), then probably the game option will be quite irrelevant, with the difference that in AC you won't have the headaches you get in rFactor 2 due to its complexity. And then, closing the physics chapter, you have a much better graphics engine in AC, more users, more exposure... it's normal if some groups prefer to move to AC. Others may have different goals and will try to stay in rF2 probably too, so I don't think this is going to affect rF2 at all. I really wanted to point out the "better engine doesn't equal to better handling", because everytime I see some post/thread on different websites/blogs about GSC (for example), you will always find the "omg, please Reiza move to rF2 engine". Like if that meant that inmediatly, GSC would be better... sometimes it's better to stick with something that you know how to extract 100% of the engine, than something where you don't have such degree of control... Just what I think about this topic.
90% of mods that I downloaded for AC are close to unplayable. Just an example, I downloaded a track when your car spawn over a spectator bridge. Pure crap. Not mention what track is tough. So, it's true there's a lot of modders going to AC but from quantity comes the quality. Talented people who never consider make a mod can start to do right now because the AC mod tools are much easier (and better to be honest).
Guys. Let's forget AC for just a second and go enjoy the 4 new ISI cars that were just released, shall we..?
it is as simple as this guys, though the nods towards playability with gamepad help as well. i had never looked at any car sims, & i'd heard of assetto corsa before id heard of rfactor2 & i'd heard of pCARS before both. why? people posting fancy screenshots in forums. marquee cars & shiny graphics get attention & attention means sales. where does rf2 turn heads? even in the simracing world, if youre new youre struck with an unappetizing (imo) car & track list & have to try the demo to see the radical tire model in action (a high point imo (along with real road), though i can only assume its more realistic). it takes awhile more to see real roads effect. rf2 simply doesn't extend beyond the hardcore audience in the way that pCARS & to a lesser degree AC do. hopefully, that's fine with ISI, because i can't really fault the sim, i have no ideas on how they could better market it, & its aggressively priced. i think a radical UI overhaul would help a bit, but other than "more & better content" i don't know what can be changed. i don't think that means its dire either; if it wasn't for AC, i would not have rf2. and when compared head to head, its actually pretty striking how dissimilar they are, as great as they both are. pCARS i think will be interesting, but given hardcore simmers generally dismissive attitude towards it, i dont see it cannibalizing rf2 sales despite a competitive feature level. very possibly, itll be yet another gateway drug -- once youve spend hundreds on a wheel, forty bucks for a full sim with mods seems like pocket change. as for plug & play, id say its easier to hotlap in AC for the sole reason that i can set the road condition immediately whereas in rf2 i haven't figured out how to do this/haven't bothered to ask. i dont really MP race in either.
Thats a new one. Try be informed on your hobby more often then, RF2 was announced before pCars and AC were rumours, along with GTR3 that never came.
He's trying to explain that for someone who isn't from this simracing universe, it's hard to hear about rF2, and much easier to hear about AC and specially pCars.