armco at Spa doesn't keep you on the track side

What? Developers have always been striving to create games that look as close to 'real life' as possible.

1982's Microsoft Flight Simulator 1


2006's Microsoft Flight Simulator X


Flight Simulator is a great example of a title in the sim genre that has constantly pushed the envelope in terms of graphics (bad coding aside). There's been significant leaps forward in each step of development, and who would argue that they shouldn't have been taken? I don't know about you, but I'd like to see games progress towards more and more realism, just as they have been since the 1980's. I certainly wouldn't have wanted graphics to have 'stalled' (no pun intended) at some point in between the two comparisons I've shown.

 

You totally misunderstood what he was saying, he doesn't want PHOTOrealism, he wants realism. Seeing as a photo portrays things different than our eyes do.

 

Yeppers.

I do see the huge flaw in my ideology though: Since there currently is no way properly model the human visual system (because we don't even understand it properly yet), the results would be totally subjective. The good thing about photorealism is that you can compare it to, well, photos.

 

Thirded, though at least on that note games have stopped doing stupid things like lens flare for the most part it seems they're still trying to recreate what a camera picks up, not what an eye sees.

 

Lens flares disappeared at the time they did get 'enlightenment' of bloom, I believe? Probelm of implementation of said bloom is however such that world look like if it being photographed trough cheapest pocket camera you can find, or maybe phone cam?

I would think that driver's view should behave differently from trackside camera or 3rd person camera in this aspect for realism's sake.

Anyway those are minor things, I mean if you would have latests flightsim graphics and rest would still be 1982 flightsim level, that might be bit of putting away, looks pretty and driving would be almost like test drive I, AI cars of rF1 were not much better of course on some aspects, but most of driving is rather far from that this date, it would be quite difficult to imagine such, drive to grass and your windshield is bust and car will not operate any longer, getting stuck to grass is much, much better

 

My use of the words "photo-realistic" was not deeply thought out and not meant to be taken literally. Just a way of saying "really great grahics". Though I am enjoying all the discussions on the different ways to perceive images. I never really though that deeply about it.

For me, after 10 years of racing only GPL, what rF2 shows right now is mind boggling. I just upgraded my PC on order to enjoy the beauty (in my eyes!) of this scenery. (Can't wait for SLI to start working.)

I'll take your word on that Foxtrot. I've never been there. But man that is sure frustrating! And really, "fixing" that annoyance is pretty far down on my list of wishes.

But man!... I 'd love for that hand that flips me over to just pick me up and place me back on the pavement during offline practice!

 

I just go back to garage and start my run again, when it happens that I run off the track, car is broken anyway Well, with my level of driving it means that there are days when I don't get single full lap

 

I support the idea of having a GPL-Type Shift-R function - as an option that can be enabled/disabled by the server.

We I still drove GPL, the top leagues I drove in had pro mode (i.e. no shift R, crash and you are out) which was the right thing for league racing. The feeling at the start of such a race, where you know one mistake can end your hopes in the championship is great.

However our practise servers always allowed shift-r, and this made it possible to have great practise races, where a couple of drivers came together and had a close race, with many 2 and 3 wides; if one was in front by some seconds he would wait for the rest, and if someone had a crash, he could shift-r, the pack would wait, and we could continue to fight. Ther crashes were seldom, but if we had one, it would not ruin the practise race for the involved drivers.
I never learned more about virtual racing than in those races, about how to behave in a direct fight, and how to respect the other drivers.
And yes, having this option (a server could always switch it off for those who want maximum possible realism in every session) does help - especially for new drivers who might get fast soon, but still have to learn how to deal with other drivers in close company.

 

Excellent point Marco. I've done some of those types of online league practice sessions myself. Your right... they are an excellent way to learn to drive in traffic.