I finally bought Assetto Corsa.. WOW

[Fosterions]

I'll jump in here too as someone new to AC on the PS4 and add a WOW as well. I bought it last summer used, but still spent much of my time in GT Sport until recently. I will probably buy the Ultimate on digital at some point. The following is not a comparison between the two, it is my experience between the two and that may not be accurate or maybe reflects the desire to move from a simcade to a sim, my desire for something different rather than one is better than the other.

AC feels so much more real and immersive than GT Sport to me and I think that's down to two and a half things. 1. Physics 2. Environment and 1/2 Force Feedback. I can feel the weight of the car so much better in this game and when I do it right it feels "right". AC takes so much more advantage of my Fanatec CSL, even if it's not listed as a supported device, the feedback is so much better in road imperfections, kerbs, chatter/hop and UNDERSTEER! I can feel the understeer!! It's fantastic. I am getting physical feedback I can learn from, GT Sport is almost completely visual, not completely, there is FF but it has much much less and it's not as informative. Let me repeat that, I am learning from what the wheel and the visuals tell me, playing this is making me a better driver. And, even though, it's not listed as a supported device there is no clipping with higher force feedback that there is on GT Sport! The other thing that has been eye opening has been the AI. The AI is far far FAR better in AC than GT Sport and that challenge is pushing me to be faster. I'm not an online racer, I don't care to be right now.

I say the following as someone who could not care less about replays and photo modes: Graphically it's a tough hair to split, GT Sport has some tremendous detail and can be very pretty, but something it does terribly is a sense of depth, space and scale. Scale is so much better in AC. Places feel big, I have a better sense of what is in the distance is in the far distance. and the size of the car and track in relationship to the rest of the environment is so much better. This contributes hugely to the visuals and thus the immersion is still quite high even though the graphic fidelity is slightly lower. Watching youtube vids of people playing this on PC in greater detail is both awe inspiring and frustrating in that I'm not playing this on PC. I am a console gamer, always have been. This and ACC may change that in the next year.

And the final wow, this has SPA!!!!

 

[Venster]

I'll jump in here too as someone new to AC on the PS4 and add a WOW as well. I bought it last summer used, but still spent much of my time in GT Sport until recently. I will probably buy the Ultimate on digital at some point. The following is not a comparison between the two, it is my experience between the two and that may not be accurate or maybe reflects the desire to move from a simcade to a sim, my desire for something different rather than one is better than the other.

AC feels so much more real and immersive than GT Sport to me and I think that's down to two and a half things. 1. Physics 2. Environment and 1/2 Force Feedback. I can feel the weight of the car so much better in this game and when I do it right it feels "right". AC takes so much more advantage of my Fanatec CSL, even if it's not listed as a supported device, the feedback is so much better in road imperfections, kerbs, chatter/hop and UNDERSTEER! I can feel the understeer!! It's fantastic. I am getting physical feedback I can learn from, GT Sport is almost completely visual, not completely, there is FF but it has much much less and it's not as informative. Let me repeat that, I am learning from what the wheel and the visuals tell me, playing this is making me a better driver. And, even though, it's not listed as a supported device there is no clipping with higher force feedback that there is on GT Sport! The other thing that has been eye opening has been the AI. The AI is far far FAR better in AC than GT Sport and that challenge is pushing me to be faster. I'm not an online racer, I don't care to be right now.

I say the following as someone who could not care less about replays and photo modes: Graphically it's a tough hair to split, GT Sport has some tremendous detail and can be very pretty, but something it does terribly is a sense of depth, space and scale. Scale is so much better in AC. Places feel big, I have a better sense of what is in the distance is in the far distance. and the size of the car and track in relationship to the rest of the environment is so much better. This contributes hugely to the visuals and thus the immersion is still quite high even though the graphic fidelity is slightly lower. Watching youtube vids of people playing this on PC in greater detail is both awe inspiring and frustrating in that I'm not playing this on PC. I am a console gamer, always have been. This and ACC may change that in the next year.

And the final wow, this has SPA!!!!

I’ve only just got the ultimate edition myself and you summed it up perfectly. The feeling of the brakes, the understeer, feeling weight of each car, knowing how hard you can push. It really does feel like you are driving the real life counterparts, well as close as you can. I’ve played GTS for a long time and it does a pretty good job but doesn’t come close to this.

First time playing it really was an eye opener, took a few laps to adjust to an actual sim.

 

[doblocruiser]

Reading this all wants me to fire up directly AC! Did couple of laps yesterday but I don't want to ruin my GT Sport -feel atm because of FIA Manu. Next week it is behind and I'll certainly be spending more time with AC again. Bought UE in september and had some lovely challenges in the special events (which can be a true challenge).

Just take that 917 K out on special event #75. Not to difficult but man....Just keeps me awed everytime I hear and see that machine

Enjoy guys

 

[Fosterions]

For those of us who are late to this party I pose questions to those that have been on AC for a while:

1. Is AC still being supported and developed? It appears the focus has moved to ACC.
2. What is the best way to get all the content? Buy ultimate? Or pick and choose separately? Any point in an annual pass? I have the basic game from buying a disc used. My inclination is to get ultimate when I see it go on sale.
3. I get a lot of value from track guides from YouTubers like @kie25 and @Tidgney and the like in GT Sport. Who is the go to for AC? After I post this I’ll check what those guys have if anything.
4. Is it worthwhile watching the PC based track guides and videos? Can I assume if a lap time is achievable on PC it can be achieved on PS4? I know PC has additional content.
5. What specific resources do you guys like for AC?
6. What do you wish you knew about AC from the start?

 

[doblocruiser]

1. Development has moved on to their current game and afaik no further dev on current version.
2. Buy Ultimate Édition. Frequently on sale for €14,99
3. Don't know them but AC posted some very useful vidéos themselves on their Channel. @lancia delta hf pointed me to these 👍(Don't have direct link since I am on phone ).
4. Times are do-able on PS4 as well. Moby Dick comes to mind...still haven't be able to crack it. @Outspacer posted his setup in the general thread 👍
5. GTPlanet and the official forum
6. That it is barebones and limited in terms of replays and time registration.

Simply a fantastic experience throughout. Good and challenging AI, nice cars and tracks. Good sound and the best feel of actually driving a car

 

[Marcobzzcs]

I tried Assetto Corsa on my cousin's XB1 with a controller and it was enough to convince me that I'm getting the ultimate edition when it goes on sale, AC is really an eye-opener, even playing with a controller showed me that it is a true sim and that I need to try it with my G29, loved every second I played

 

[BrandonW77]

Don't know them but AC posted some very useful vidéos themselves on their Channel.

They're on the Game & Track channel on YouTube. Aris, one of the main devs for AC (physics, I believe?) put together a series of videos showing various driving techniques. They're very well done, very informative, and most of what you learn from them can be applied to every racing game out there, they're not specific to AC. They're not really track guides but every racer (sim or otherwise) can benefit from them.

@Fosterions browse around their channel, look for any videos labeled "Go Faster!". Here's the first one.

 

[Jtheripper]

I bought the Ultimate Edition (PS4) last week and am addicted. I've only just scratched the surface, as I am only driving cars with H-pattern shifters and getting my muscle memory for heel/toeing and using no driving aids at all. There is nothing like driving a Ferrari 330 P4 at Spa and running through the gears and hearing the sounds of blipping the throttle into turns and accelerating out of them. It's just so visceral, and all the cars feel completely different from one-another.

I had been playing GTS, and I honestly rarely ever drive just to drive. In that game I'm just trying to improve my time so I can get a trophy, points, qualifying position or whatever. I don't drive just for the thrill of driving in GTS. The cars all feel so similar and not very distinct from each other. I like GTS, but it's just not the same experience. GTS is a much better game overall, but AC is far better for just pure driving.

I can't believe I waited so long to buy it. If anyone is on the fence, just buy it for the driving pleasure. The cars all feel so alive and it's a thrill to learn each one.

Yh i have ac since long and i got GTS a couple months ago.and at first was impressed and got into it for 2weeks maybe.then i went back to ac and even pc1 and pc2 demo and it spoiled any satisfaction with Gts.
Its generic in comparison sadly.i liked the car list and was anxious to have credit to buy my favorite cars but when i bought the f40 it was just not as exciting as i hoped in Gts.

I'll jump in here too as someone new to AC on the PS4 and add a WOW as well. I bought it last summer used, but still spent much of my time in GT Sport until recently. I will probably buy the Ultimate on digital at some point. The following is not a comparison between the two, it is my experience between the two and that may not be accurate or maybe reflects the desire to move from a simcade to a sim, my desire for something different rather than one is better than the other.

AC feels so much more real and immersive than GT Sport to me and I think that's down to two and a half things. 1. Physics 2. Environment and 1/2 Force Feedback. I can feel the weight of the car so much better in this game and when I do it right it feels "right". AC takes so much more advantage of my Fanatec CSL, even if it's not listed as a supported device, the feedback is so much better in road imperfections, kerbs, chatter/hop and UNDERSTEER! I can feel the understeer!! It's fantastic. I am getting physical feedback I can learn from, GT Sport is almost completely visual, not completely, there is FF but it has much much less and it's not as informative. Let me repeat that, I am learning from what the wheel and the visuals tell me, playing this is making me a better driver. And, even though, it's not listed as a supported device there is no clipping with higher force feedback that there is on GT Sport! The other thing that has been eye opening has been the AI. The AI is far far FAR better in AC than GT Sport and that challenge is pushing me to be faster. I'm not an online racer, I don't care to be right now.

I say the following as someone who could not care less about replays and photo modes: Graphically it's a tough hair to split, GT Sport has some tremendous detail and can be very pretty, but something it does terribly is a sense of depth, space and scale. Scale is so much better in AC. Places feel big, I have a better sense of what is in the distance is in the far distance. and the size of the car and track in relationship to the rest of the environment is so much better. This contributes hugely to the visuals and thus the immersion is still quite high even though the graphic fidelity is slightly lower. Watching youtube vids of people playing this on PC in greater detail is both awe inspiring and frustrating in that I'm not playing this on PC. I am a console gamer, always have been. This and ACC may change that in the next year.

And the final wow, this has SPA!!!!

Theres less fine detail on the track surface in gts.u feel like on a pool table or glass.with just some dips.Cars just feel like sliding or gripping and not much else.
And the grip is too high.U can rev and let go the clutch and get barely any spin on a start.

 

[Fosterions]

They're on the Game & Track channel on YouTube. Aris, one of the main devs for AC (physics, I believe?) put together a series of videos showing various driving techniques. They're very well done, very informative, and most of what you learn from them can be applied to every racing game out there, they're not specific to AC. They're not really track guides but every racer (sim or otherwise) can benefit from them.

@Fosterions browse around their channel, look for any videos labeled "Go Faster!". Here's the first one.

Thank you! This is great! And comical.

Still thoroughly enjoying this game! There's so much to do!

 

[Jtheripper]

I tried Assetto Corsa on my cousin's XB1 with a controller and it was enough to convince me that I'm getting the ultimate edition when it goes on sale, AC is really an eye-opener, even playing with a controller showed me that it is a true sim and that I need to try it with my G29, loved every second I played

Im on ps4 base with a g29 and its perfect.really immersive and if i lose it i almost always should have held the car in control because the feel is there and just need to adjust to the limits of each car.

Edit: the difference for me is i do set the aids to factory in ac,and then on track i try off or lower the factory aids. Some cars with default abs and traction control do seem a bit of a handfull when set to off so i leave it on for those that seem not meant or not adjusted well maybe by the sim.its great if left to factory too. while in pc2 demo at least i off all aids manually to have it feel good.

Edit: actually if you set the aids to factory then you can only change what the real car allows you to in the set-up and on the track with direct key controls. And that's what i do.

Edit lol.hope it's allowed.i dont know if its better to make a new post.oh well.

I just tried the 812 again and I'm surprised how its still manageable even with factory aids off. I thought i remembered it to be too extreme for that.
Well u do have to have a feathery foot on the gaz pedal. And if you lose concentration for a moment it will send u fast on the railings hehe. You do feel even more the car and track that way but its still good with the factory aids and you can push it more regularly. It sure has a crazy nice downshift sound.

P.s.: I'm rambling a little today it seems...maybe to myself haha.
Hay ok..cheers

 

[Jtheripper]

The old open wheel cars are a joy.
As are the newer supercars like the ferrari 812 and 599. With cool sounds in cockpit and outside. Same for the old lemans type cars like the porsche 917k.
Many from the car list are thrilling really.
I have great races with the ai even if on ps4. And its great to be able to set custom races and championships and selecting each ai car u want to race against, even the livery of each.
Edit: and the sounds from the ai cars near u while in race are distinctive and great for many cars. Some cars do have poor or average sounds though.

 

[GordonS]

Long time AC holder here and as praised before, the drive is fantastic. But the game graphics and online are just too washed out in today's standards. Coming from GT Sport I just cannot see myself playing AC anymore - only very very rarely.

 

[Jtheripper]

Long time AC holder here and as praised before, the drive is fantastic. But the game graphics and online are just too washed out in today's standards. Coming from GT Sport I just cannot see myself playing AC anymore - only very very rarely.

Yes but the car graphics mostly are really good still in race and in replay, well offline at least. Even on base ps4 with clean realistic look, but i set up races always on sunny and the track surface looks good in race but they do look poor when on cloudy setting, as do the surroundings and environment yeah.

 

[Biggles]

Long time AC holder here and as praised before, the drive is fantastic. But the game graphics and online are just too washed out in today's standards. Coming from GT Sport I just cannot see myself playing AC anymore - only very very rarely.

I've never understood this. Gameplay > Graphics ... ALWAYS. Great graphics are a nice bonus, but if the gameplay doesn't stand up, it really doesn't matter how nice the graphics look. The graphics in AC are very good ... not PD good, but easily good enough. When you're racing around the track you don't have time to admire graphic details. I would MUCH rather have a sim that concentrates on the essentials of the driving/racing experience & sacrifices some graphic sophistication. Add to that the fact that AC actually has very good AI (although a little uneven in implementation). The only place AC falls down rather badly is in the replays.

 

[Jtheripper]

I've never understood this. Gameplay > Graphics ... ALWAYS. Great graphics are a nice bonus, but if the gameplay doesn't stand up, it really doesn't matter how nice the graphics look. The graphics in AC are very good ... not PD good, but easily good enough. When you're racing around the track you don't have time to admire graphic details. I would MUCH rather have a sim that concentrates on the essentials of the driving/racing experience & sacrifices some graphic sophistication. Add to that the fact that AC actually has very good AI (although a little uneven in implementation). The only place AC falls down rather badly is in the replays.

For me i find the graphics more realistic actually in ac than gts.
Gts has alot of detail but looks less real to me and not all surroundings look so good,like the buildings for example.

Also the cockpits and car exterior are pretty good in ac. And even the replays for me are good.

And as you said what does it matter when the gameplay is much better in one.
Well for my taste at least, with more complex interesting and satisfying challenge in ac.

 

[BrandonW77]

I've never understood this. Gameplay > Graphics ... ALWAYS. Great graphics are a nice bonus, but if the gameplay doesn't stand up, it really doesn't matter how nice the graphics look. The graphics in AC are very good ... not PD good, but easily good enough. When you're racing around the track you don't have time to admire graphic details. I would MUCH rather have a sim that concentrates on the essentials of the driving/racing experience & sacrifices some graphic sophistication. Add to that the fact that AC actually has very good AI (although a little uneven in implementation). The only place AC falls down rather badly is in the replays.

Exactly. It's like a super hot lady with the intelligence of a third grader, might be fun too hoon for an afternoon but I wouldn't want to spend much time there.

@Jtheripper If you ever make your way to PC-Land there's a whole world of AC goodness waiting for you, including night racing.

 

[Jtheripper]

Exactly. It's like a super hot lady with the intelligence of a third grader, might be fun too hoon for an afternoon but I wouldn't want to spend much time there.

@Jtheripper If you ever make your way to PC-Land there's a whole world of AC goodness waiting for you, including night racing.

Yeah i know, all the mods..what i miss mostly is more tracks,any well made track equal in quality at least to the original ones. There's so many missing.
Time of day transition would be immersive for sure too.
I was on pc long ago and enjoyed gtr1 gtlegends alot.

 

[Fosterions]

Long time AC holder here and as praised before, the drive is fantastic. But the game graphics and online are just too washed out in today's standards. Coming from GT Sport I just cannot see myself playing AC anymore - only very very rarely.

Yes but the car graphics mostly are really good still in race and in replay, well offline at least. Even on base ps4 with clean realistic look, but i set up races always on sunny and the track surface looks good in race but they do look poor when on cloudy setting, as do the surroundings and environment yeah.

I disagree. I've spent a couple hundred hours in GT Sport and am now diving into AC and the more time I spend in AC the better I find the graphics. Well, let me clarify, the better I find the important graphics and overall environment. In offline mode on a PS4 in gameplay the asphalt, kerbs, trees, ground (grass, gravel, etc) are all better in AC. Car models are about the same in game with AC at a slight disadvantage. Maybe sorta, more on this below. Roads are especially better in AC, not only are GT Sport's tracks as smooth as pool tables they LOOK as smooth pool tables and have a weird overlap texture trick to simulate motion. IF you haven't noticed this do yourself a favour and DON'T! You can't unsee it and it is disruptive. In AC there are textures that go on for many metres, I've been unable to catch the texture pattern they're using, it's extremely well done. There's also MORE stuff in AC, signs, fences, trees, buildings/structures et cetera. There's just more environment overall. Do a comparison of Monza, there's so much more stuff in the AC version, trees, fences, signs, more structures (grand stands and bridges). The straight between the Lesmos and Ascari with the trees overhanging is so much better in AC. There's NO question that the people/crowds look ridiculous in AC for sure and reflections/shadows and light are a bit debatable in which is better. There are more shadows and reflections in AC, but for the most part they're at a low fidelity. Not the windshield though, that's so well done.

It's not just the visual fidelity that make the graphics better in AC, like I said above, AC does scale much much better than GT Sport. This is a challenge for GT Sport that Kaz admitted when talking about a legacy fantasy track, Deep Forest.

“The problem that we had with some of the older tracks from previous Gran Turismo games was the scale being off in certain places. The size of the trees are very large, or the width of the curbstones, etc. There were curbstones that were wider than cars!

And really, if he were honest, it's just not just fictional tracks, it's GT Sport overall. The scale is off. I think to get the PS4 to actually run the game at the frame rate it does, which is great and very smooth, they had to scale down the world, fewer and smaller polygons are easier to process than more and bigger right? Right. Look at the tracks we have in GT Sport, for the most part big open areas with not a lot of stuff, relatively, to move. Barcelona, Willow Springs, Fuji....And again, they've removed a lot of the stuff to move, again, compare Monza. I think this also explains the initial dearth of tracks for GT Sport, they can't get them to work! I don't think we're going to get a proper city track on GT Sport (Tokyo's highways are really simple repeating textures) because they built something for the PS4 that the PS4 can't do if we want the things I've just listed. Luckily many great race tracks are big open spaces so there's still tracks to come that GT Sport will do decently.

GT Sport is a slightly smaller world scaled down by 10-15%. A good comparison to AC to illustrate this are the distant horizon environments. By most aesthetic measures GT Sport's look better (more detailed), even though there's not as much of them. But, because the scale is off there's an uncanny valley to them. Driving toward the mountain in Dragon Tail has this for me huge. Yeah, I'm driving toward a big mountain, but it doesn't feel that way. Yeah, it looks real, but not. Whereas in AC because the scale is right, at least much better, the distant environments look more "real" just not as clear. I feel like those distant places are somewhere I could drive to if I could find the way out of the track! Not so in GT Sport. A racing game, fundamentally, is moving through an environment, if the scale of environment feels off, the experience will feel off. Imagine waking up and everything in your world is now 5% smaller. You'll trip on the stairs and everything will feel off. Plus your pants probably won't fit!

This brings me to car models, when doing all the menu posturing and livery, photos et cetera GT Sport car models are stunning. Amazing attention to detail. If this were a model building simulation PD would win all the medals. I'm not big on that stuff, others are, good for them, good for me. But, on a track among other cars this scale problems comes into play. The space around your vehicle and where other vehicles sit in relation to you is so much more realistic in AC. And that's because of scale. When I'm looking out my windshield, which, again, is so well done in AC, I get the feeling where everything is in relationship to me so much better and because of that I'm more immersed. So much better. Have I said how much better? So. Much. Better.

What makes this worse for PD, to me, and I'll say this in this subforum instead of the GT one because I'd get lynched there, is that PD is tied at the hip with Sony. PD knew the specs of the console and they overwrote the engine so that they couldn't do a pile of things on it. Changing light? Nope. Weather. Not really. They literally had to make the world smaller to get the bloody thing to run smoothly! Not exactly a good build then is it? This is bad on PD for making an engine that doesn't work on the platform, not Sony for making a machine with low grunt. I realize AC doesn't have these things on the console either, but it's a PC game they scaled down to an architecture they weren't as close to instead of something that was purpose built for an architecture in the environment of a tight partnership. Makes AC look that much more impressive when we consider the scale of resources behind each studio doesn't it?

I've never understood this. Gameplay > Graphics ... ALWAYS. Great graphics are a nice bonus, but if the gameplay doesn't stand up, it really doesn't matter how nice the graphics look. The graphics in AC are very good ... not PD good, but easily good enough. When you're racing around the track you don't have time to admire graphic details. (Fosterions bolded) I would MUCH rather have a sim that concentrates on the essentials of the driving/racing experience & sacrifices some graphic sophistication. Add to that the fact that AC actually has very good AI (although a little uneven in implementation). The only place AC falls down rather badly is in the replays.

I don't disagree per se, but there're a couple caveats for me. One, I'm a graphics whore. I love great graphics, sure, who doesn't? They make me happy and it's staggering to see how far we've come from Atari's Pole Position to the masterpiece of modern race sims. As a technical achievement the amazing visuals produced today are worth admiring. It's the same as admiring the technical achievement of today's hyper cars, that look amazing, but are also incredibly difficult to drive fast. That's not to say I'll excuse a pretty game for bad play, I won't stick around for that either. What we want is a 911 GT2 RS. It's both gorgeous and amazing to drive. The second caveat I have is in response to what I bolded in your comment, it's the things you don't notice that sometimes have a bigger impact on experience. We don't often notice a system until the system is broken. The thing is for this kind of game immersion has a massive impact on my experience. I'm not trying to play a game, I'm trying to participate in a simulation and so having a realistic environment is critical. Draw rates, pop-in (I hate chasing the shadows that appear in front of me, I should be looking ahead, but this dark snake slithering in front of me that is supposedly a fence shadow on the road is distracting me), tearing, stuttering frame rates, bad aesthetics are all things that disrupt my immersion. I notice them and by noticing them I'm not immersed in my little fantasy and that's why I sit down and play, fantasy. This is a big reason I have been pricing out PC components...... that said, because AC is so good in other ways I'm doing fine on my PS4, for now.

 

[Sloppy Shades]

GT Sport is a slightly smaller world scaled down by 10-15%. A good comparison to AC to illustrate this are the distant horizon environments. By most aesthetic measures GT Sport's look better (more detailed), even though there's not as much of them. But, because the scale is off there's an uncanny valley to them. Driving toward the mountain in Dragon Tail has this for me huge. Yeah, I'm driving toward a big mountain, but it doesn't feel that way. Yeah, it looks real, but not. Whereas in AC because the scale is right, at least much better, the distant environments look more "real" just not as clear. I feel like those distant places are somewhere I could drive to if I could find the way out of the track! Not so in GT Sport.

You nailed that part mate, great description. GTS scenic tracks feel like you are racing on a circuit inside a huge warehouse with a panoramic photo display around the walls(not as good as your description but similar I think). I don't have AC (yet) but there just driving around Bannochbrae in PCars2 for example shows up GTS weaknesses. You just want to drive through a fence and explore it feels so real, not so with GTS.
Quick question, does AC on the PC raise any conflicts with other installed games /sims? I can't run Pcars at the moment as am running through a F1 2018 career and using the former just once messes up my Logitech G29 settings ruining FFB, reversing pedal order and other such horridness. Would love to have something else other than F1 cars to drive at the moment.. Miss the amazing Pcars tracks so much!

 

[Jtheripper]

I disagree. I've spent a couple hundred hours in GT Sport and am now diving into AC and the more time I spend in AC the better I find the graphics. Well, let me clarify, the better I find the important graphics and overall environment. In offline mode on a PS4 in gameplay the asphalt, kerbs, trees, ground (grass, gravel, etc) are all better in AC. Car models are about the same in game with AC at a slight disadvantage. Maybe sorta, more on this below. Roads are especially better in AC, not only are GT Sport's tracks as smooth as pool tables they LOOK as smooth pool tables and have a weird overlap texture trick to simulate motion. IF you haven't noticed this do yourself a favour and DON'T! You can't unsee it and it is disruptive. In AC there are textures that go on for many metres, I've been unable to catch the texture pattern they're using, it's extremely well done. There's also MORE stuff in AC, signs, fences, trees, buildings/structures et cetera. There's just more environment overall. Do a comparison of Monza, there's so much more stuff in the AC version, trees, fences, signs, more structures (grand stands and bridges). The straight between the Lesmos and Ascari with the trees overhanging is so much better in AC. There's NO question that the people/crowds look ridiculous in AC for sure and reflections/shadows and light are a bit debatable in which is better. There are more shadows and reflections in AC, but for the most part they're at a low fidelity. Not the windshield though, that's so well done.

It's not just the visual fidelity that make the graphics better in AC, like I said above, AC does scale much much better than GT Sport. This is a challenge for GT Sport that Kaz admitted when talking about a legacy fantasy track, Deep Forest.



And really, if he were honest, it's just not just fictional tracks, it's GT Sport overall. The scale is off. I think to get the PS4 to actually run the game at the frame rate it does, which is great and very smooth, they had to scale down the world, fewer and smaller polygons are easier to process than more and bigger right? Right. Look at the tracks we have in GT Sport, for the most part big open areas with not a lot of stuff, relatively, to move. Barcelona, Willow Springs, Fuji....And again, they've removed a lot of the stuff to move, again, compare Monza. I think this also explains the initial dearth of tracks for GT Sport, they can't get them to work! I don't think we're going to get a proper city track on GT Sport (Tokyo's highways are really simple repeating textures) because they built something for the PS4 that the PS4 can't do if we want the things I've just listed. Luckily many great race tracks are big open spaces so there's still tracks to come that GT Sport will do decently.

GT Sport is a slightly smaller world scaled down by 10-15%. A good comparison to AC to illustrate this are the distant horizon environments. By most aesthetic measures GT Sport's look better (more detailed), even though there's not as much of them. But, because the scale is off there's an uncanny valley to them. Driving toward the mountain in Dragon Tail has this for me huge. Yeah, I'm driving toward a big mountain, but it doesn't feel that way. Yeah, it looks real, but not. Whereas in AC because the scale is right, at least much better, the distant environments look more "real" just not as clear. I feel like those distant places are somewhere I could drive to if I could find the way out of the track! Not so in GT Sport. A racing game, fundamentally, is moving through an environment, if the scale of environment feels off, the experience will feel off. Imagine waking up and everything in your world is now 5% smaller. You'll trip on the stairs and everything will feel off. Plus your pants probably won't fit!

This brings me to car models, when doing all the menu posturing and livery, photos et cetera GT Sport car models are stunning. Amazing attention to detail. If this were a model building simulation PD would win all the medals. I'm not big on that stuff, others are, good for them, good for me. But, on a track among other cars this scale problems comes into play. The space around your vehicle and where other vehicles sit in relation to you is so much more realistic in AC. And that's because of scale. When I'm looking out my windshield, which, again, is so well done in AC, I get the feeling where everything is in relationship to me so much better and because of that I'm more immersed. So much better. Have I said how much better? So. Much. Better.

What makes this worse for PD, to me, and I'll say this in this subforum instead of the GT one because I'd get lynched there, is that PD is tied at the hip with Sony. PD knew the specs of the console and they overwrote the engine so that they couldn't do a pile of things on it. Changing light? Nope. Weather. Not really. They literally had to make the world smaller to get the bloody thing to run smoothly! Not exactly a good build then is it? This is bad on PD for making an engine that doesn't work on the platform, not Sony for making a machine with low grunt. I realize AC doesn't have these things on the console either, but it's a PC game they scaled down to an architecture they weren't as close to instead of something that was purpose built for an architecture in the environment of a tight partnership. Makes AC look that much more impressive when we consider the scale of resources behind each studio doesn't it?



I don't disagree per se, but there're a couple caveats for me. One, I'm a graphics whore. I love great graphics, sure, who doesn't? They make me happy and it's staggering to see how far we've come from Atari's Pole Position to the masterpiece of modern race sims. As a technical achievement the amazing visuals produced today are worth admiring. It's the same as admiring the technical achievement of today's hyper cars, that look amazing, but are also incredibly difficult to drive fast. That's not to say I'll excuse a pretty game for bad play, I won't stick around for that either. What we want is a 911 GT2 RS. It's both gorgeous and amazing to drive. The second caveat I have is in response to what I bolded in your comment, it's the things you don't notice that sometimes have a bigger impact on experience. We don't often notice a system until the system is broken. The thing is for this kind of game immersion has a massive impact on my experience. I'm not trying to play a game, I'm trying to participate in a simulation and so having a realistic environment is critical. Draw rates, pop-in (I hate chasing the shadows that appear in front of me, I should be looking ahead, but this dark snake slithering in front of me that is supposedly a fence shadow on the road is distracting me), tearing, stuttering frame rates, bad aesthetics are all things that disrupt my immersion. I notice them and by noticing them I'm not immersed in my little fantasy and that's why I sit down and play, fantasy. This is a big reason I have been pricing out PC components...... that said, because AC is so good in other ways I'm doing fine on my PS4, for now.

I agree AC is fine on what counts and what's there.

 

[Jtheripper]

You nailed that part mate, great description. GTS scenic tracks feel like you are racing on a circuit inside a huge warehouse with a panoramic photo display around the walls(not as good as your description but similar I think). I don't have AC (yet) but there just driving around Bannochbrae in PCars2 for example shows up GTS weaknesses. You just want to drive through a fence and explore it feels so real, not so with GTS.
Quick question, does AC on the PC raise any conflicts with other installed games /sims? I can't run Pcars at the moment as am running through a F1 2018 career and using the former just once messes up my Logitech G29 settings ruining FFB, reversing pedal order and other such horridness. Would love to have something else other than F1 cars to drive at the moment.. Miss the amazing Pcars tracks so much!

Well on ps4 i noticed AC does sometimes mess up the ffb on the next sim i play. But i just need to unplug the wheel and reconnect it.

 

[Sloppy Shades]

Well on ps4 i noticed AC does sometimes mess up the ffb on the next sim i play. But i just need to unplug the wheel and reconnect it.

Thanks That fix is interesting ,wonder if it would work for pcars too?

 

[Jtheripper]

Thanks That fix is interesting ,wonder if it would work for pcars too?

Well most times it is PC1 that gets messed up after i tried AC. And it fixes it yes for me. Im on a g29 ps4 standard.

It happened in Gtsport too.

 

[Biggles]

I disagree. I've spent a couple hundred hours in GT Sport and am now diving into AC and the more time I spend in AC the better I find the graphics. Well, let me clarify, the better I find the important graphics and overall environment. In offline mode on a PS4 in gameplay the asphalt, kerbs, trees, ground (grass, gravel, etc) are all better in AC. Car models are about the same in game with AC at a slight disadvantage. Maybe sorta, more on this below. Roads are especially better in AC, not only are GT Sport's tracks as smooth as pool tables they LOOK as smooth pool tables and have a weird overlap texture trick to simulate motion. IF you haven't noticed this do yourself a favour and DON'T! You can't unsee it and it is disruptive. In AC there are textures that go on for many metres, I've been unable to catch the texture pattern they're using, it's extremely well done. There's also MORE stuff in AC, signs, fences, trees, buildings/structures et cetera. There's just more environment overall. Do a comparison of Monza, there's so much more stuff in the AC version, trees, fences, signs, more structures (grand stands and bridges). The straight between the Lesmos and Ascari with the trees overhanging is so much better in AC. There's NO question that the people/crowds look ridiculous in AC for sure and reflections/shadows and light are a bit debatable in which is better. There are more shadows and reflections in AC, but for the most part they're at a low fidelity. Not the windshield though, that's so well done.

It's not just the visual fidelity that make the graphics better in AC, like I said above, AC does scale much much better than GT Sport. This is a challenge for GT Sport that Kaz admitted when talking about a legacy fantasy track, Deep Forest.



And really, if he were honest, it's just not just fictional tracks, it's GT Sport overall. The scale is off. I think to get the PS4 to actually run the game at the frame rate it does, which is great and very smooth, they had to scale down the world, fewer and smaller polygons are easier to process than more and bigger right? Right. Look at the tracks we have in GT Sport, for the most part big open areas with not a lot of stuff, relatively, to move. Barcelona, Willow Springs, Fuji....And again, they've removed a lot of the stuff to move, again, compare Monza. I think this also explains the initial dearth of tracks for GT Sport, they can't get them to work! I don't think we're going to get a proper city track on GT Sport (Tokyo's highways are really simple repeating textures) because they built something for the PS4 that the PS4 can't do if we want the things I've just listed. Luckily many great race tracks are big open spaces so there's still tracks to come that GT Sport will do decently.

GT Sport is a slightly smaller world scaled down by 10-15%. A good comparison to AC to illustrate this are the distant horizon environments. By most aesthetic measures GT Sport's look better (more detailed), even though there's not as much of them. But, because the scale is off there's an uncanny valley to them. Driving toward the mountain in Dragon Tail has this for me huge. Yeah, I'm driving toward a big mountain, but it doesn't feel that way. Yeah, it looks real, but not. Whereas in AC because the scale is right, at least much better, the distant environments look more "real" just not as clear. I feel like those distant places are somewhere I could drive to if I could find the way out of the track! Not so in GT Sport. A racing game, fundamentally, is moving through an environment, if the scale of environment feels off, the experience will feel off. Imagine waking up and everything in your world is now 5% smaller. You'll trip on the stairs and everything will feel off. Plus your pants probably won't fit!

This brings me to car models, when doing all the menu posturing and livery, photos et cetera GT Sport car models are stunning. Amazing attention to detail. If this were a model building simulation PD would win all the medals. I'm not big on that stuff, others are, good for them, good for me. But, on a track among other cars this scale problems comes into play. The space around your vehicle and where other vehicles sit in relation to you is so much more realistic in AC. And that's because of scale. When I'm looking out my windshield, which, again, is so well done in AC, I get the feeling where everything is in relationship to me so much better and because of that I'm more immersed. So much better. Have I said how much better? So. Much. Better.

What makes this worse for PD, to me, and I'll say this in this subforum instead of the GT one because I'd get lynched there, is that PD is tied at the hip with Sony. PD knew the specs of the console and they overwrote the engine so that they couldn't do a pile of things on it. Changing light? Nope. Weather. Not really. They literally had to make the world smaller to get the bloody thing to run smoothly! Not exactly a good build then is it? This is bad on PD for making an engine that doesn't work on the platform, not Sony for making a machine with low grunt. I realize AC doesn't have these things on the console either, but it's a PC game they scaled down to an architecture they weren't as close to instead of something that was purpose built for an architecture in the environment of a tight partnership. Makes AC look that much more impressive when we consider the scale of resources behind each studio doesn't it?



I don't disagree per se, but there're a couple caveats for me. One, I'm a graphics whore. I love great graphics, sure, who doesn't? They make me happy and it's staggering to see how far we've come from Atari's Pole Position to the masterpiece of modern race sims. As a technical achievement the amazing visuals produced today are worth admiring. It's the same as admiring the technical achievement of today's hyper cars, that look amazing, but are also incredibly difficult to drive fast. That's not to say I'll excuse a pretty game for bad play, I won't stick around for that either. What we want is a 911 GT2 RS. It's both gorgeous and amazing to drive. The second caveat I have is in response to what I bolded in your comment, it's the things you don't notice that sometimes have a bigger impact on experience. We don't often notice a system until the system is broken. The thing is for this kind of game immersion has a massive impact on my experience. I'm not trying to play a game, I'm trying to participate in a simulation and so having a realistic environment is critical. Draw rates, pop-in (I hate chasing the shadows that appear in front of me, I should be looking ahead, but this dark snake slithering in front of me that is supposedly a fence shadow on the road is distracting me), tearing, stuttering frame rates, bad aesthetics are all things that disrupt my immersion. I notice them and by noticing them I'm not immersed in my little fantasy and that's why I sit down and play, fantasy. This is a big reason I have been pricing out PC components...... that said, because AC is so good in other ways I'm doing fine on my PS4, for now.

Every game has its "style" of representing reality. PD's was established a long time ago & they've never really moved away from it ... just continued to refine it. PD's style is "smooth & shiny" - the cars & the environments. Sloppy described it quite well, I think:

racing on a circuit inside a huge warehouse with a panoramic photo display around the walls

GT has always looked like that - "photo-realistic", rather than "realistic-realistic". Forza, in contrast, has always looked to me like model cars driving around in a miniaturized environment. As the graphics have got more sophisticated, the miniaturized environment & the model cars driving around in it have looked better & better ... but always that basic aesthetic. AC has a much more straight-ahead aesthetic - not as smooth & sexy as GT's photo-realistic world & not as detailed & complex as Forza's miniaturized world.

Having gone through all the disappointment of GT5 & GT6, where the PD vision never really developed any further, I was very happy to discover AC - basically everything I was looking for in a sim. I'm disappointed that Kunos has chosen the GT racing format for its next iteration, as GT cars just don't have the visceral appeal for me that the vintage cars in AC have.

The immersion, for me, is primarily from feeling the car reacting to the road through the FFB. That's always been sadly lacking in GT, where everything feels too "digital" & smooth. In AC you can feel the car reacting to bumps in the road, changes in camber, the understeer, or the rear slipping out. And because you can feel it ... you can actually correct it. In GT driving fast has always seemed too much a "learned" response - kind of like a platformer where you have to learn the precise sequence of inputs in order to advance. And of course, the whole "License tests" mode & special events reinforced that platformer mentality.

 

[Jtheripper]

Yep, it's something special.

This game alone prompted me to build a proper gaming PC as I got tired of seeing all the mods on YouTube.

I'm more of a sim driver than racer and while I'll admit ACC feels even better, deep down I really just want Assetto Corsa 2 using Kunos engine.

But, I guess in a big way the modding community have already given us AC2.

It will always bring a smile, to me it's the real driving simulator.

Well im on ps4. So i wish really for a assetto corsa 2 with the new engine and more cool cars and tracks hopefully.
Maybe on ps5...

 

[BrandonW77]

Yeah i know, all the mods..what i miss mostly is more tracks,any well made track equal in quality at least to the original ones. There's so many missing.
Time of day transition would be immersive for sure too.
I was on pc long ago and enjoyed gtr1 gtlegends alot.

Bruh! You don't even know... This is where I've been spending the majority of my time lately, it's freaking huge and there's so many different roads and areas that you can drive around for hours and hours and hours and not get bored. Toss in some traffic or some friends on a server, it's mega, especially watching the sun set and the stars/moon rise.

 

[Jtheripper]

Bruh! You don't even know... This is where I've been spending the majority of my time lately, it's freaking huge and there's so many different roads and areas that you can drive around for hours and hours and hours and not get bored. Toss in some traffic or some friends on a server, it's mega, especially watching the sun set and the stars/moon rise.

Heheheh. Yeah im sure you can find many cool tracks. I remember getting many old vintage and not often seen tracks in games, for pc sims in the past, like the old nordschlife in gpl. But they were a little less perfect and optimized and buggy sometimes compared to original tracks.
Cheers.

 

[Jtheripper]

They're on the Game & Track channel on YouTube. Aris, one of the main devs for AC (physics, I believe?) put together a series of videos showing various driving techniques. They're very well done, very informative, and most of what you learn from them can be applied to every racing game out there, they're not specific to AC. They're not really track guides but every racer (sim or otherwise) can benefit from them.

@Fosterions browse around their channel, look for any videos labeled "Go Faster!". Here's the first one.

How many are there?
I watched 2 and its well made clear info but a little basic and long maybe.
Tks.

 

[Jtheripper]

I wish they did put all the options from pc to ps4. In the vids i see info in game that i never saw on ps4, like power curve etc.

Especially that you have alot of info in project cars 2 on ps4.

Hopefully they will make it equal on console for ACC if ever.

 

[Mr_Mrau]

I have been playing a lot of Project Cars 2, GT Sport and AC on PS4. Of the three games, PC2 has the championship, racing event 'feel' down, GT Sport has wonderful visuals, but AC has a far superior physics model and driving experience.

Initially I thought AC was incredibly raw - no engagement, no fancy design elements like GT sport or PC2. But the more I played the other games and found them slightly frustrating, the more I grew to love AC. Now I love it's slightly anodyne, clean feel. Only the driving matters. It's a blank canvas onto which you can project. And its tracks are superior - the Norsdschliefe in particular is so much more atmospheric and real-feeling.

Recently I attended a pro-level simulator and the base software they used was AC on PC. I had a wonderful session last night where it was Lotus 720s racing at Brands Hatch GP, and during qualifying I was tweaking my setup to eke out more performance. That feeling of modulating the grip of the front tyres and feeling the wheel go light once you lose grip - it's magic.

AC set out to make a pure racing product for adults and they succeeded.

I'm always looking for racing buddies on Playstation Live and AC / GT Sport / PC2 - hit me up at Mr_Mrau!

Thanks