First impressions

[Igano]

B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T!!!

I just played this game on my recently refurbished cockpit and my jaw is wide open!

Seriously this game's handling is the real deal. I just hopped on and drove anything, quite decently no wacky physics to adopt to. I even drifted the E30 M3 a bit and the car was like a dream. I never managed to drift cars in GT5 as good as in AC because I felt the behavior too strange and in this game I did in my first try! I also have project cars and its handling (feedback etc.) are in my opinion way behind.

Graphics and sounds are very good like Pcars.

I played against the AI on Easy and it was OK, I didn't even win on 1st try! Coming from GT5 felt like a breeze of fresh air coming through the window!

The things I really like in comparison to Pcars (the last build I played some month ago) except of course the driving feeling, is that this game shows early on that they focus on career, AI. Also I like the fact that they give out tuned versions of cars.

If there were also the RPG elements for GT/Forza it would be heaven! But at least it seems that it will be something in between Pcars and GT/Forza, with the tuned cars, drag racing, AI, career mode. After I stopped playing because I got terribly bored of GT5's chasing the rabbit, I finally found a driving/racing game that got me excited.

Kudos Kunos!!

P.S. the fact that they will support modders is a huge plus, is a huge plus mainly for new tracks, I am not sure how realistic mod-added cars will be.

 

[Igano]

Any one know a solution to run the game on the secondary monitor? I want to have it on my secondary so that it's full screen on the 32" cockpit TV and keep the 22" next to me with the taskbar, chrome etc. Unfortunately I can do only the opposite or to disable the 22"...

 

[JvM]

You have to switch the 32" into a primary display.

 

[Igano]

Yes, I know that, but I was wondering if I could do it the other way around?

 

[sesselpupser]

Your graphics card, is it AMD or Nvidia? With Nvidia's drivers doing what you're trying to achieve is beyond simple, but if it's AMD I have no idea how you'd do it.

If you do have an Nvidia card, just go to Nvidia Control Panel (I think you can get to it by right-clicking on the desktop and it'll be in the menu, I'm not sure if that's something I set it to do or not though?), click on set up multiple displays and you'll have your displays laid out in a little box with a list of them above with checkboxes to enable or disable them. Right click on your 32", choose 'make primary' or whatever it is, the screen with blank out for a second and when it comes back there will be a window asking you to confirm your changes, click 'yes' then launch AC, it should run on the 32" while your other monitor is still active.

 

[Gunstar]

Pretty amazing game, I pulled it down last week and have spent some time fiddling with it, it's only the second "sim" I've ever tried (besides RaceRoom Experience, and it was free) but I can't wait to see where they take it contentwise.

 

[Igano]

Pretty amazing game, I pulled it down last week and have spent some time fiddling with it, it's only the second "sim" I've ever tried (besides RaceRoom Experience, and it was free) but I can't wait to see where they take it contentwise.

How does it compare to raceroom?

 

[Gunstar]

To be fair RRE has kind of a different business model, since it's free to play but you buy all of your extra content and since I had just the basic "totally free" setup there was only one track (a made up one, RaceRoom Speedway I think?) and one hill climb stage, with maybe 4 cars. I liked the options RRE gives you for setting your view (you can move up and down as well as fore and aft) and completely getting rid of the in game wheel. The actual driving on AC feels better, although I haven't played RRE in awhile, they might have tweaked it, however the FFB and handling feel really nice in AC. Graphically AC is also much nicer, but I have upgraded my PC since I last played RRE, so that might be a factor. I guess I'd rather just buy a "package" with a fair amount of content then add on later rather than get a minimum amount of starting content then have to build it up I guess, and that's why I decided to pick up AC, although I know games like GT have spoiled me with their hundreds if not thousands of included cars and dozens of tracks!

 

[Igano]

Aha, the camera customization is also part of Project Cars, I haven't searched how much I can move my camera position with AC.

 

[Gunstar]

All I have found is the FOV setting, which you can adjust in car with +/-, remove hands, and lock in-car wheel. I'd imagine there will be more to come as AC progresses.

 

[fatkrakr]

Mouse over to the far right of the screen while in car, there are a bunch of options there.

 

[KingPing]

There are a lot of icons at the right when you are in the car, one is for adjusting seat position, FOV, etc.

 

[Igano]

Just had a nice 2 hour session. Some thoughts

- The 500 is a nice little devil, sweet drive with a slight oversteer, the way I like it! Won the medium event but made mistakes on the hard and had a nice battle for the 4th position. The AI is in my opinion on a good start. They just need a little more player-awareness but most of the times they kept their distances while not being too much of a gentleman.
- I got totally addicted with the way time attack and drift modes work. The idea of doing well and gaining extra time is great and makes u go for more and more. For the record as a total rookie in drifting I did almost 9000 score in Valeluga with M3 E30. I am starting to get the hang of it.
- I reduced curb feedback strength to 80%, felt really strong to me which could be the reality, but I want my wheel to live a little longer. The rest so far are the defaults except some changes in the wheel buttons.
- Drag racing is good but without adding parts is half the fun
- I was pleasantly surprised with the decent amount of events of varied difficulty in such an early state of the game.

More to come when I do my next session

 

[Igano]

There are a lot of icons at the right when you are in the car, one is for adjusting seat position, FOV, etc.

I haven't ventured much in this field, but the hood cam is ok for now.

 

[snoopybg]

I just drove the hill climb in RRE. Looks much better than AC, but the feel of driving was very dull. Almost no FFB effects and very sterile handling. I am not fan of the business model too.
In the meantime I experimented with headtracking softwares in AC and it works pretty well and it's fun.

 

[Igano]

I saw that hill climb track and it looks very very neat! Have they announced when it's going to be included? Narrow hill tracks are the best thing ever

 

[snoopybg]

I saw that hill climb track and it looks very very neat! Have they announced when it's going to be included? Narrow hill tracks are the best thing ever

Do you mean in AC? It is not an official track as it is ported from richard burns rally. You can get it now, just search for
Joux Plane
Apparently you are a bad person if you don't have Richrad Burns Rally and play it, though.

 

[Igano]

Do you mean in AC? It is not an official track as it is ported from richard burns rally. You can get it now, just search for
Joux Plane
Apparently you are a bad person if you don't have Richrad Burns Rally and play it, though.

Trento Bondone hill climb in the circuit section of the official site? That looks like a very sweet track.

I saw that Joux Plane looks nice. How can it be ported from one game to another or was it just modded? I need to get it on my hands tough until Trento is added!

 

[Gunstar]

There are a lot of icons at the right when you are in the car, one is for adjusting seat position, FOV, etc.

I just found them last night! Thanks for trying to tell me.

 

[Mars Attacks]

I'm sorry for the of topic,
does anybody knows if there is a "look back" function (button) or an extra - bigger mirror?
The mirrors in the cockpit view are not giving enough information and in the bumper view there is no back mirror at all (like in GT5).

 

[jjaisli]

I'm sorry for the of topic,
does anybody knows if there is a "look back" function (button) or an extra - bigger mirror?
The mirrors in the cockpit view are not giving enough information and in the bumper view there is no back mirror at all (like in GT5).

There is a 'look back' function now. You just have to select the controls and map it to a button.

 

[skazz]

look back defaults to pressing look left and look right at the same time. I have those two functions mapped to the two buttons on the G25, and pressing both gives look back. Very handy

 

[mister dog]

I'm wondering; for someone that never played on PC before, is there a standard PC you can buy somewhere that has enough power to run AC smoothly and is the same price as a next gen console?

AC will never be released on console right?

If there are plenty possibilities for that, i might see what i do in the future and choose between a gaming pc or a console. Depending on what content comes to AC of course, but if you look at what is on offer; all the best console games come to PC anyway so you won't miss out by making such a decision

 

[Igano]

The only real drawback if you have to choose between PC and Console (if you can't have both) is that PC titles are far more on the simulation side with the sterile career and car options. The start with a slow normal car and grow up little by little by upgrading you car etc. is the one of the best things and I am afraid there won't be any game like this for now.

AC tries very very lightly to add some simcade features, which is not a bad sign, since you can keep all the simulation aspects.

I am pretty sure you can make a modest PC (without monitor) and balance your graphic options in-game to make it 60 fps steady with a decent quality.

Myself having a good PC Project Cars and Assetto Corsa is the way to the future, but I will definitely get a XB1 since it looks like it will give me in it's lifetime at least 3-4 titles with a steady progression. I believe FM6 will be something like FM4 in the variety department but with all these better features (drivatar, upgraded physics, graphics, sounds).

 

[mister dog]

The only real drawback if you have to choose between PC and Console (if you can't have both) is that PC titles are far more on the simulation side with the sterile career and car options. The start with a slow normal car and grow up little by little by upgrading you car etc. is the one of the best things and I am afraid there won't be any game like this for now.

AC tries very very lightly to add some simcade features, which is not a bad sign, since you can keep all the simulation aspects.

I am pretty sure you can make a modest PC (without monitor) and balance your graphic options in-game to make it 60 fps steady with a decent quality.

Myself having a good PC Project Cars and Assetto Corsa is the way to the future, but I will definitely get a XB1 since it looks like it will give me in it's lifetime at least 3-4 titles with a steady progression. I believe FM6 will be something like FM4 in the variety department but with all these better features (drivatar, upgraded physics, graphics, sounds).

Actually deep inside i think i'm more of a sim man, the best physics and a good yet smaller selection of cars compared to console racers would be satisfying enough for me. I aim to experience pure realism and good racing, but haven't really had the opportunity to taste it so far on a pc sim kinda level.

I read your post regarding PCARS, and if AC is really that much better for 'feel' of driving i wouldn't mind switching to the pc master race this year.

Only problem is i don't know crap about computers, so i would have to find a descent priced one that is ready out of the box

But if i manage that; i have a CSR ready to hook up on it, whilst i'm not sure that the next gen consoles will support the current fanatec wheels, so that's another reason to switch to PC.

 

[Gunstar]

Minimum PC requirements:
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor: AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHZ, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 10.1 (AMD Radeon HD 6450, Nvidia GeForce GT 460)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 15 GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated

Recommended PC requirements:
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor: AMD Six-Core CPU, Intel Quad-Core CPU
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 11 (AMD Radeon HD 7870, Nvidia GeForce GTX 660)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated

Building a "Recommended" level machine from scratch will probably cost you around $800, if you don't shop around a whole lot and need to buy Windows. My machine cost me about $900 all told, but I went with a bigger processor, upgraded video card and didn't need to buy software. I also didn't really shop around, I just went to a store and bought the parts I wanted.

Buying a "Recommended" level system the cheapest one I found on Amazon was $1000, but it does have twice the suggested RAM and dual video cards, there were other machines that had the processor and memory requirements but they never met the video card recommendations.

 

[Igano]

FM5 physics are a step below AC and the rest of the top. They are still very good and to me that is the fair enough because I get the extra options. I am only speaking for myself though. I really love having to earn money in the start to get a better car. When I start a simulator and I can drive the fastest car in first minute, it just kills a part of the thrill.

 

[mister dog]

Minimum PC requirements:
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor: AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHZ, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 10.1 (AMD Radeon HD 6450, Nvidia GeForce GT 460)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 15 GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated

Recommended PC requirements:
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor: AMD Six-Core CPU, Intel Quad-Core CPU
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 11 (AMD Radeon HD 7870, Nvidia GeForce GTX 660)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated

Building a "Recommended" level machine from scratch will probably cost you around $800, if you don't shop around a whole lot and need to buy Windows. My machine cost me about $900 all told, but I went with a bigger processor, upgraded video card and didn't need to buy software. I also didn't really shop around, I just went to a store and bought the parts I wanted.

Buying a "Recommended" level system the cheapest one I found on Amazon was $1000, but it does have twice the suggested RAM and dual video cards, there were other machines that had the processor and memory requirements but they never met the video card recommendations.

Damn quite the investment there! I thought i might play AC for the same price as a next gen console, guess i was a bit wrong there

I'm gonna google it and try to learn what are the possibilities and pro's and cons of PC gaming, and see what i'll do. Hopefully PCARS can get on the same level as AC in time, but if not there's still enough time to make a decision 👍

 

[Igano]

Minimum PC requirements:
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor: AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHZ, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 10.1 (AMD Radeon HD 6450, Nvidia GeForce GT 460)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 15 GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated

Recommended PC requirements:
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor: AMD Six-Core CPU, Intel Quad-Core CPU
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 11 (AMD Radeon HD 7870, Nvidia GeForce GTX 660)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated

Building a "Recommended" level machine from scratch will probably cost you around $800, if you don't shop around a whole lot and need to buy Windows. My machine cost me about $900 all told, but I went with a bigger processor, upgraded video card and didn't need to buy software. I also didn't really shop around, I just went to a store and bought the parts I wanted.

Buying a "Recommended" level system the cheapest one I found on Amazon was $1000, but it does have twice the suggested RAM and dual video cards, there were other machines that had the processor and memory requirements but they never met the video card recommendations.

He does not need to get the recommended PC to play good enough. My CPU is an Athlon II x3 with a good gpu and I play MAX settings @1080p. The only time I lose fps is when over 14 cars are on track.

 

[Gunstar]

I don't really see what the console sims bring to the table except selection, it'd be great if a PC game like AC came to the table with GT levels of content. Career modes were awesome back in the PS one days but I get tired of starting over in every new game.