I have started this thread because I have made a video that I think pretty well sums up my view on the beta related to a few other topics on this forum. I thought Id make my own thread to avoid spamming all those relevant threads any more lol. Here is the video, Its a 5 lap race at Mid Ohio no chicane. Running the FR3.5 ISI mod with version 101 of the beta. This is at 7:30PM game time as I like the lighting at this time even though its almost too dark to drive these cars at this pace. The AI are set at 120% and 100% aggression, I have disabled damage as can be seen in the messy first half of a lap starting in p15 with 29 lunatics around would make the first lap pretty tough to complete. If I slow down they will swamp me and I will hit someone and driving at qualifying pace on cold tires with this many nutters around is a little tricky. I wish I had 3 screens which would make it much easier to see the cars beside me but I dont and that's my main hardware limitation. Track is pretty well rubbered in from practice but its just as much fun on a green track too, just much more slip slidey on the first lap and a half which is great fun too. The first lap is one of my worst including turning into someone in turn 1 like a complete noob lol, slowing early into t3 shows what happens if you give the AI anything and they get me from both sides lol, then hitting the nutter that put me 3 wide in the middle of t3. Turn 2 on lap2 was so funny Im like wtf as they were all building up infront of me but I somehow found a gap without taking everyone out whilst already into the brake zone. The last 4.5 laps were some great fun with 1:09 to low 1:08 laps and the last I think is a high 1:07. My fastest lap here is a low 1:06 but lap speed all depends on temp and rubber so its all relative really when talking your fastest lap. On a completely green track until some heat is in the tires its hard to get under 1:10. Now I think this video shows that even at dx9 in an early beta the graphics are more then good enough for me, and this looks way better on my 55inch Panasonic plasma running at a smooth 60p throughout. I do have a pretty beefy computer but its not actually as expensive as it may seem, I upgraded the majority of it for only $900 and all I kept was my HDD's, power supply, case and 1 of my GFX cards. Graphics look great and I have no need for motion blur whilst racing as I see no blurring in real life, maybe if I'm drunk but then I probably shouldn't be in a race car lol. That sort of stuff is nice in replays and all but Id rather have the main aspect of the game sorted before any time is wasted on it. Even with the lowly DX9 this can look pretty nice and improvements here will surely come mostly with the HDR and a few other things here and there. I can run any track with all settings maxed out with a full grid getting a smooth rock solid vsync lock throughout. That's more important then more eye candy reducing the frame rates below 60p when it comes to actually driving. Graphics are fine it will come to the 3D guys to make some cool tracks and cars but the engine isn't as terrible being dx9 as some may believe. Put the same engine into Dx 11 and it will surprisingly look pretty much the same. Dx 11 may have some advantages but I think its pretty good where it is and with a few more tweaks should look nice and be very functional. First point is the Physics and tire model, all I can say is wow for an early beta ISI are so far on the right track that I cant wait to see where they take it from here. There are some bugs as in the tires are a bit too easy to get the car on 2 wheels but in these cars its mostly due to the AI hitting these big kerbs they should be avoiding. But I saw tim make a post regarding the tire-walls that haven't been properly implemented yet. I have a fair bit of real world driving experience with plenty of karting as a junior, and then I did get a chance to test a few other race cars on some local tracks down under. Like Calder park, Sandown, Philip Island and Winton. These were in Formula fords, a local category called Aussie Racing cars would love these in the sim they are insane amounts of fun. They weigh hardly anything with only a little motor, drive a bit like a big Kart and lap faster then a V8 supercar. I have also done a small test in a v8 supercar a few years ago and was hoping for a reserve spot at Bathurst but that didn't work out. My real life racing has come to an end due to lack of money other commitments so since then I have got into sim racing. Maybe down the track I will get back into it when I can afford it lol until then sim racing will do it for me. Until this beta most sims just didn't have that feeling of the real cars I have driven with soft race slicks. All other have the street tire feeling as they slide so progressively almost like driving my street car on gravel. Even that is nastier in a slide then most other sims and games but that's just my opinion so each can have their own view on that topic. RF2 is the closest I have had to that feeling in a sim so far and I cant believe this is just an early beta. Also aero I hadn't noticed until getting into racing the FR3.5 with the nice touch of loosing front grip on entry. This only happens when very close to the car in front at places like turn 1 at ohio or the fast left kink before the last turn. Having never actually raced a car with aero in real life I haven't got real world experience of this but going by what is said on tv during races this seems pretty well implemented. The only proper racing I have done is in karting which is quite different to test days with only a few cars on track trying not to get in each-others way. Last thing you want to do is wreck someones expensive race car when they give you the opportunity to test it lol. FFB wow, I dont know if Im just a lucky one but with my g25 this feels so great. Driving my road car for comparison recently its got much of the same sort of feedback. I know quite a few are having issues with g25 and g27 wheels but mine is running fine so not sure whats causing it for them. Related to tire grip I can feel the front so well and even can correct slides as I feel the wheel turning as the rear is coming around. This happens in real cars to as the real of the car drifts the wheel will change its central position, the g25 is a bit limiting here as a real car you can pretty much let go of the wheel and it will center itself in the direction the car is traveling relative to the slide angle. So in reality if you are mid corner and get the car at a 10% slide on exit the wheel will want to auto correct itself going 10% the other direction. This is why most people have a tape mark on the top of the steering wheel so you know where straight is because mid corner it will always try and point either straight ahead or as I said above. The FFB isn't quite strong enough or fast enough to perfectly recreated this with the g25 but it does have a subtle hint of it which is nice I think. I can easily feel the front grip difference between cold and warm tires as with green or rubbered tracks or being online or in the dirty part of circuit. Also the aero effect from the car in-front makes the steering feel lighter so I think its pretty well implemented. The AI, wow how much fun are they at 120% driving pretty much to the limit of the cars and with aggression up they are pretty tough around the track too. Most fun I have had with AI. I have noticed some pretty cool features in the AI how they change their lines into corners as the track gets better, this is most noticeable at OHIO's last corner. On a green track they take the tight line hugging the right side mostly but as the track gets better they take a wide approach turning in later. There is a bug though as too much rubber gets on the track they take it so wide with so much speed they end up all wrecking at the exit lol. I have noticed the same issue with the GTR and with the FR3.5. Not sure if its track related but most likely it is just down to the AIW, at first I was wondering why they started to get slow when the track got very good. But they had issues with getting on 2 wheels hitting kerbs and then completely ^&%$ing up the last turn lol. Online I dont know much yet as there just haven't been many people to race in cars or tracks I like, would be great fun if the netcode is up to RF1 standards replicating the race in the video with real people for sure. I tried online yesterday but all I could find is a practice session at Brianza in the f3's lol. After the frantic pace of this sort of racing that felt like driving an interstate truck, no offense to the guys but I just dont like waiting 2 and a half minutes for the first braking point and then going flat out for the next 3 minutes again. That could be fun in a full field online race but 3 cars testing just wasn't my thing. I tried running some laps in the fr3.5 and GTR at portugal but nobody joined me so I went back to racing the AI nutters. My PC specs are Win7 x64 on a core i7 2700k oc @ 5ghz cooled by a h80 cooler, 32GB DDR3 12800 Gskill at 1600mhz cl10, 2x GTX480 SLI overclocked to 825/2100. G25 wheel using a Panasonic 55in HD Plasma at 1080p60 v-synced. To sum up my little essay lol is that for an early modders beta I can see great potential and IMHO is already easily better then anything else out atm. The graphics arent that bad, I think the video shows this as it does the cars physics and AI. The track is an excellent recreation by a talented mod team and I look forward to much more from ISI and the community. I will try the other sims when they are out but I must say if they improve on the ISI physics I will be shocked and surprised, if they do its great for us simmers getting more choices but if they dont I will be happy with RF2. Thanks ISI for opening the beta and keep up the great work.
Jesus, the lizard. Now i need full english course. But the video i understand but the other is better lol
lol just went a little over the top with the text, or maybe lots but I'm not going to go back to that other thread again thought Id say all I want in one stupidly long post here. No idea if anyone really want to read that or though lol. video was recorded with fraps last time I used afterburner, I think afterburner does a better job. I haven't seen the 1080p version on youtube as my stupid internet uploads faster then it downloads and with youtube you never know what it will do to the final quality..
nice read Fairly optimistic, I like it I have basically the same positive feeling about rF2 but I think ISI have some work to do before it can go gold, though. I'm over enthousiastic when it comes to the potential rF2 has. Everytime I imagine endurance races with correct graphics, weather, vehicle modeling throughout 24h I get crazy excited
I get excited just being able to turn on the wipers in the Clio and imagining the rain drops being wiped away as I fly around the track, its very very sad, if only you could see the wiper movement from inside the cockpit and not just on external cams/replay
Thanks guys glad at least someone read all that lol, having just viewed the video on youtube the quality has turned to junk lol. I will redo that one but here is one I prepared earlier. Recorded with MSI afterburner which does a much better job then fraps did. I will need to re drive it because somehow the replay file got overwritten or at least I cant find it so will post a newer one with the FR3.5 later and change the link.
pCars looks great running in dx9. Actually, dx11 and dx9 look pretty much the same in my version of pCars. It has very little to do with running under dx9, but more what you do with it and there is a loads of room for improvement for rf2 under dx9. (which has nothing to do with not being dx11).
What are you on about? You think rf2 looks the way it does because of dx9 restrictions? At least elaborate instead of beating yourself up about it.
Nice post martymoose , well documented and a great read, makes a change to some of the other posts around here, i'm also enjoying the rf2 beta, thanks for sharing.
