I'd say from the recent release of NASCAR 21: Ignition it's a definite YES. What an utter shambles. How can something like this be possible in 2021? After seeing this, I'm really worried about the future of rF2 if it is in any way related to this complete embarrassment.
rfactor 2 is already screwed, now with these it will be worse, but nascar 21 will be like the project car
I allready commented on that point before on RD, but I would be very carefull to judge the game based on the opinion of that guy. There are a few issues with that person that make me question his credibilty and it's pretty intersting to see his approach to different games and how he applies different benchmarks for different developers. So there are a few important points to keep in mind with this game and the issues that he mentioned: first of all from the footage that I've watched the AI isn't any worse compared to what you see in most modern sim racing titles. The AI in AC is garbage, the AI in PC2 is garbage, the AI in AMS2 is garbage and the AI in rF2 is garbage at this point. We are at a point where the AI hasn't progressed all that much in racing games since over 5 years now. There are very few racing games and especialy racing sims, where oval AI actually works, with rF2 and iRacing being the best of the bunch wich says enough. Infact there is no alternaitve to NR2003 yet. The rest of the AI in other products is for the trash bin when it comes to oval racing, and let's be honest, some products are as bad on the roadcourses. The other points like the trackmap, the mirrors, tire and fuel readouts are pretty minor issues for a game with that target audience. We don't even have a trackmap in rF2 and that game exists since 10 years. Tbh, I don't need a trackmap and it's just a nice to have thing. If you can't run a race without a trackmap you have lost in first place. And has anyone of you tried bumpdrafting in any of the products that we race on a regular base? Don't even try it. And here is another fun fact: Austin was hired by SMS after he ripped PC1 and PC2 into pieces on his famous PRC blog. PC is a franchise that shipped with Oval content, just as a little reminder. After he was hired, his blog was taken down and he started adverticing products like PC2 and PC3. That's what he calls quality assurance in the video above. I don't know who he is trying to fool, but from a QA-standpoint, PC2 and PC3 aren't any better than what we are seeing with the Ignition game and the development of the Madness engine stretches back to Need For Speed Shift. How is it possible that a game franchise with so much development time and technical progress can have so many issues? And when I see the footage of Nascar Ignition I can safely say, it's not much worse than what we have seen in the sim world in the last couple of years, when it comes to stability, AI, features and controller support. The glitches that you see in the Nascar game aren't any worse than what we see in big products like F1 or Dirt Rallye. Again, products that had far more development time with teams that are used to the technology. And now comes a guy who is/was employe of a competing organization and judges a product that is developed since two years, by a new team with new tech. Here is my advice: give that product a few patches - or the 11 years that Projects Cars had - and it'll be a normal racing game. In short: relax guys.
Maybe so maybe no. In my opinion, we will be able to clearly tell after 4-6months from now. And NASCAR:ignition is different game, fortunately.
I think it will be fine in a few weeks. The general consensus is that the underlying gameplay is really quite good. Seemingly, the physics are very realistic. The sound is good. Looks pretty good, though it really lacks soft particles, and the damage needs a fair bit of work. The AI behaviour is decent, certainly a good base to work from. Some of the loudest critics are definitely from a questionable origin, but it's hard to argue some of their points when you see that the game was clearly not ready on launch day. The real test is how long it takes for MSG to iron out the bugs. Big improvements were seen in the first two patches on launch day. Let's just hope they keep coming.
Don't get me wrong, I see and understand quite well that the game was released too early due to contractual obligations and deadlines. I wouldn't buy the game either, but I am propably also not within the target audience. I just don't see the big drama that some of the mentioned critics see with studying the market value of MSG, the CV of the employed people of that company and judging their competence and claiming that everything linked to that company will burn in hell. The reaction is so much over the top that I don't know why people take it serious. And as I allready mentioned, I got my toes into racing games with the first Racedriver Grid wich had far less features than the Ignition game and still is regarded as one of the best racing games due to the nice meta game. And that's the target audience that they are aiming for - people who want to relax with their gamepad infront of their tv to have some casual fun.
I was shocked they released it, but even MORE shocked at the huge list of fixes ready on the very first day. To me, that means they knew of the issues but couldn't get them in during the final run-up to release.
To be realistic, there are plenty of issues with rFactor2 which probably are known and won't be fixed in next patch, maybe in a followup, maybe next major update. But they are busy with it, and I doubt they will ruin the simulator code.
No mistake at all. S397 needed an infusion of resources to move forward. They've gone through the adjustment and are moving fast forward. Its no secret the rF2 physics engine has been reality focused for 15 years now, and it shows in the level of fidelity with the physical systems. Perfect? Nope, and never will be. But still light years ahead of the consumer level pack of race sims on reality. MG saw that. Since the acquisition the infusion began. Resources were pooled to get some wins with releases. They've stepped up the Online Gaming presences, significantly at that. The quality of their mods continues to improve. Over the long haul my projection is MG will form organizational alliances that enable a full seasonal sim series for most of the major series they can get licensing for, and those they can't get will be 3rd party. That is the most direct path to the top.
We can say 2 things : 1) We do not have enough elements to really know if it is a good or a bad thing that MG bought rF2. One cannot know for sure at this point. 2) The vast majority of rFactor 2 users + fans have been for 5 years, continuously and with repetition *globally* disappointed with what has been done over the last 5 years + the advances of recent months including the incredible nothingness of the roadmaps + on what we know with certainty that is to say the very little that S397 agrees to tell us about rFactor 2 future. As far as I'm concerned, because physics engine + FFB + S397 serious in terms of realism of S397 official cars remain really good, and because the experience on the Nurburgring is the best of all simulations (graphics + track physics, rain, day/night, and especially up to 103 AI with an infinity of different cars/classes......)....... Personally I just can't change sim for these reasons. But most users begin to have fewer reasons to stay........................
