I've made adjustments through the sound menu for soun(engine) levels but nothing seems to help. I can hear my tires, other cars, and most loudly the wind noise. But, I barely hear the engine. Is there some file that needs work? I've recently( last week ) done a verify files and there were 8 that were updated. Thanks if you have any ideas.
Sorry for the TLDR post but, I've had these same issues and have much time invested in tunneling through some rabbit holes for it.
Firstly, running
Steam File Verification can certainly solve some issues. I also had the 8 missing or corrupted files (with associated odd volume levels). In my case, fixing those files made the settings much more responsive for reducing effect-volume discrepancies.
Another possible issue is related to
audio virtualization issues. Generally speaking, the game sound-engine can handle the spatial audio as intended better than other software-based enhancements although, there may be cases where certain configurations of hardware & software can provide excellent spatial audio, too. For example, the Valve Index audio (VR) is exceptional imo but, that uses its own processing solution, bypassing the normal PC audio processor.
When limiting the conversation to
typical PC hardware audio solutions, it's best to avoid 3rd-party virtualization apps and disable any audio enhancements in Windows (as game developers generally advise). Such apps can have negative dramatic effect on spatial / directional aspects, as well as effect volume levels, in my experience.
Using the SoundBlaster AE7 soundcard, I was able to improve things a bit further by enabling "
Direct Mode". This allows the game audio signal to bypass potential audio interference from the Windows audio environment. There are some clear benefits from using such mode as the clarity of sound and spatial effects is quite obvious. Point being, if your hardware offers such a feature, it's worth some time to test it for yourself.
There are certainly some significant volume issues between new / old content. Some of them can be adjusted fairly easily however, there are cases where tuning a couple different audio-sliders is required. One such case I found just yesterday, involves the Tatuus formula cars. Some of them at least, have extremely low in-car volume while the opponent volume can easily overwhelm. Increasing the slider for either the "In-car" volume or the "Legacy Engine Volume" (alone) had zero effect. It was only when I increased both sliders (significantly) that the Tatuus in-car volume responded accordingly. I also needed to adjust the "Outside Volume" slider in order to achieve the desired result.
I hope something shared here is helpful.
