What are the best driving games on the PC [Text View]

HeadRusch

01-26-07, 02:18 PM

The reason I ask is because I now have my Logitech Driving Force wheel (which is supported on the PC via drivers I am told) near my 37" 1080p monitor, and with the new AGP 1950Pro going in I should be able to push 1080p on alot more games than my 6800GT could.

Since the wheel is there, and GT4 looks pretty lousy at 1080p with the severe underscan and such, I was wondering if it was time to give some of the PC driving sims a try.

Note, I dont have the DF Pro but the standard DF, the old GT3 one......what games do i want to try, and in what order...preferrably a demo version supporting the FF would be nice.

All forms of racing may apply, tho I am not real big on Formula 1.....

Tinker

01-26-07, 06:56 PM

GTR series. More sim side then arcade style.

Jim S

01-27-07, 12:23 AM

GTR series. More sim side then arcade style.

Agreed...GTR2 demo (http://gtr-game.10tacle.com/index.php?id=246&L=1)

UPressure

01-27-07, 07:39 AM

GTR2 and Richard Burns Rally

mking2673

01-27-07, 12:40 PM

GTR 2
Richard Burns
R factor

If you want a fun and more arcade style game try xpand rally.

HeadRusch

01-27-07, 03:10 PM

will be installing card, and checking out demos later

firefighter81

01-28-07, 11:17 AM

Also try the TOCA Race Driver series. They are slightly less "serious" than GTR and GTR2, but still alot of fun. If you decide to buy GTR2 and want to get serious into it, let me know, we can do some racing online, I can give you some tips and advice.

HeadRusch

01-29-07, 09:32 AM

I remember owning the TOCA game waaay back in the day...it was impossible without a wheel...lots of spinouts, crashing, but man it was fun watching my BMW fly into pieces when I slammed into a wall. :)

That is the kind of racing I want to do....more sim than arcade, but perhaps not so simmy that I have to adjust camber angles, and will have to race for 3 hours :)

I also remember trying Richard Burns rally, it too was impossible without a wheel......

Kimmelator

01-29-07, 01:22 PM

My vote goes for rFactor, although I hear that GTR2 is great, too. Keep in mind though that rFactor is more of a sim than a "game" and can be kind of frustrating to the person who is used to driving games on playstation or xbox. Good luck and have fun.

HeadRusch

02-02-07, 06:29 PM

What do you guys thing of Evolution GT.....I snagged the demo.....its like...Gran Turismo ish......I haven't hooked up the wheel yet tho (Still adding games and demos).

Hmmm...now that I think about this, I have Rally Championship here somewhere...does anyone remember that one? With the vintage rally cars from the 60's, 70's and I think 80's?
I wonder if thats worth firing up or not.

Oh yeah and rFactor? Yeesh, that game looks like I'd need $10,000 of equipment just to fire it up! PS: Anyone else amused by that fancy 1/2 F1 (style) half cocpit that they built...all that cash..and they slap a 20" 4:3 monitor on the thing!? :D

Now thats livin large

cohagen

02-05-07, 12:46 AM

Not played many of the mentioned above apart from GTR and GT but....

Live for Speed - http://www.liveforspeed.com

Excellent and speedy software, all types of cars to choose from FF, FR, AWD, turbo, etc. And a ton of tail out action in this game. Very fun and realistic. Excellent in camera view with nice dashes in all the cars. Online play is a breeze. Can buy the game online and download. Fully paintable / skinnable cars.

As you can see I am impressed by this game!

Also it supports mouse steering so fun to play even without a wheel.

temeone

02-05-07, 01:52 PM

GTR2 is my favorite.. very realistic.. can you adjust brake bias on a per wheel basis in other racing games? I think not :)

The newest TOCA is pretty good too.

georgeorwell

02-05-07, 02:51 PM

Does GTR2 offer 360 degree cockpit viewing? The reason I ask is that I see lots of racing games supported by TrackIR (head tracking), then when you go to play if you look right or left or behind you, you see no car! That's quite a treat.

HeadRusch

02-05-07, 03:41 PM

Uh, unless you have a monitor strapped to your face, or monitors behind you as well as to the sides, just what good is the head tracking software going to do for you? :)

I can see its usefulness when it comes to looking into a turn or glancing at rearview mirrors however. Still..thats alot of dough for glancing at mirrors :)

SpeedyHTPC

02-06-07, 08:42 PM

How much is that Logitech wheel? Did you get the leather one? I saw it retails for $200..wow.

mking2673

02-06-07, 10:15 PM

GTR 2 supports track ir.

georgeorwell

02-07-07, 09:01 AM

HeadRusch

02-07-07, 09:27 AM

georgeorwell

02-07-07, 10:58 AM

Nice Edit Orwell...

I dont believe I made an idiotic statement by wondering "how good is this thing". It tracks your head, right? I've seen the videos on some websites....its good for glancing at your mirrors, looking into a turn, that sort of thing.

I know the flight sim guys love it but I can't figure out its value since turning your head means looking away from your screen.

A valid question, I think.

No, it does not mean looking away from your screen, that is not how trackir works, and thus why your comments make no sense. I'm talking about a modern day headtracker, not one from the 80's.

HeadRusch

02-07-07, 12:28 PM

I just read SimHQ's review of the TrackrIR or whatever it is.

He basically summed up my feelings on this device....for driving games, its benefits seem slim.....look into a corner, a quick glance to the right to see if someone is passing you or check a mirror. Of course I'd buy a LEFT/RIGHT monitor for that purpose if I had to.

In a game like a flight sim where you can use your head to move a reticule around, there its more benefit...or so I've read.

temeone

02-07-07, 12:32 PM

How much is that Logitech wheel? Did you get the leather one? I saw it retails for $200..wow.

Its the leather wrapped G25.. I got it for ~$260 shipped online back in december. Its so expensive because it has a huge range of motion, great force feedback, a 6-speed shifter (with gate or sequential modes), stainless pedals including an actual clutch, plus its leather!

cohagen

02-08-07, 01:33 PM

Couple of points about GTR.

AFAIK it does not suppoer mouse steering. So without a wheel your out of luck.

And second point is just a question... how many different types of cars can you race? In Live for Speed you can choose from dozens of different types of cars. Race cars to road cars. Rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, etc.

I've played GTR (no wheel) and was not impressed. But I think with these racing games it ultimately comes down to personal preference of what type and feel of racing you enjoy.

HeadRusch

02-08-07, 02:05 PM

This weekend I'll be firing up the Driving Force wheel and (hopefully) finding the PC drivers for it, I can't seem to turn them up online right now, unless I can use the ones for the Driving Force Pro.

My idea of a perfect driving game gives me great selection of vehicles, but I dont need my roadracing game to be a track game to be a rally game. I do, however, DISlike any game that forces me to adjust camber angles, to minutely modify my suspension in order to have any hope of doing at least reasonably well. If the game expects me to monitor my settings and adjust my air/fuel mixtures on the fly, its lost me. I want a game, not a 2nd career.

I swear, some of those flight sims and racing sims are so complex, at the end of playing the game for a certain period of time, you should get a certificate in the mail qualifying you as an amateur pilot, or giving you your racing license or something ;D

Tenkaipalm

02-08-07, 02:50 PM

Tenkaipalm

02-08-07, 03:01 PM

And second point is just a question... how many different types of cars can you race? In Live for Speed you can choose from dozens of different types of cars. Race cars to road cars. Rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, etc.

You get all of the car types from across all three classes, all though in the saeson championship mode, you can only drive the cars from either the 2003 or 2004 season.

BMW M3 GTR
BMW Z3M
Chevrolet C5-R
Chrysler Viper GTS-R
Ferrari 360 GTC
Ferrari Modena 3.6L
Ferrari 550 Maranello
Ferrari 575 GTC
Gillet Vertigo Streiff
Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT
Lister Storm
Lotus Elise
Maserati MC12
Morgan Aero 8
Mosler MT900R
Nissan 350Z
Porsche 911 Bi-Turbo
Porsche 911 GT2
Porsche GT3 Cup
Porsche GT3 RS
Porsche GT3 RSR
Saleen S7-R
Seat Toledo
TVR T400R
Viper Competition Coupe

There is also a V8 supercars mod out.

jwatte

02-08-07, 03:09 PM

Flatout series. You can get it on Steam, btw.

HeadRusch

02-10-07, 05:13 PM

I have flatout on the xbox.....and I'm currently working my way through it.

I've tried LIVE FOR SPEED, GRT2, and all the other ones people mentioned...I only tried them QUICK with the keyboard and mouse but out of them all I think GTR2 plays the best and feels the most professional, but its graphics..while high rez...are otherwise about DX8 quality.

(PS: This game seems to run off whatever your desktop resolution is set to, yes?).

I'll be plugging in the wheel soon....(I keep saying that)

mking2673

02-10-07, 05:41 PM

Gtr uses an outside config to set resolution. Live for Speed and gtr really require a wheel.

Tenkaipalm

02-11-07, 09:18 PM

I have flatout on the xbox.....and I'm currently working my way through it.

I've tried LIVE FOR SPEED, GRT2, and all the other ones people mentioned...I only tried them QUICK with the keyboard and mouse but out of them all I think GTR2 plays the best and feels the most professional, but its graphics..while high rez...are otherwise about DX8 quality.

Yea... but with all settings maxed, during a race with 29 other cars, the game becomes a bit of a hog, at least at 1080i.

HeadRusch

02-12-07, 08:34 AM

I'm sure it does....I was just stating it had that "last gen" high rez look about it...like a High Resolution GT4 running on the PC...

Jim S

02-13-07, 01:48 PM

I do, however, DISlike any game that forces me to adjust camber angles, to minutely modify my suspension in order to have any hope of doing at least reasonably well. If the game expects me to monitor my settings and adjust my air/fuel mixtures on the fly, its lost me. I want a game, not a 2nd career.

I swear, some of those flight sims and racing sims are so complex, at the end of playing the game for a certain period of time, you should get a certificate in the mail qualifying you as an amateur pilot, or giving you your racing license or something ;D

Actually, this is the aspect of sims that I enjoy. However, as much as I would enjoy tweaking my car in GTR2, I find that I just don't have the time. So a nice feature of that game is that you can go online and load setups that others have developed. You can also download time trials to use as a ghost car to improve your lap times. And I really enjoy spending a few minutes to use the MOTEC software and do a cursory analysis of my laptimes.

HeadRusch

02-13-07, 02:36 PM

I loved the racing model, but I just dont have the patience for making those adjustments. At that point in the game I'm saying "You know, if I could afford to race this car, I could afford the Pit Crew to tune it for me!" :D

dice65

02-14-07, 04:09 AM

I reckamend both GTR2 and RFACTOR...both are outstanding.....also keep an eye out for the arca series http://arcasimracing.com/asr/ also when they release it....iracing
http://www.iracing.com/ iracing will blow everything right out of the water.......there the people that made nascar 2003 another game that you can split the screen is world of outlaws sprint cars ...WoO 2 PEP can play just like a xbox or playstation...lol

dice

Sivic2k

03-05-07, 04:08 PM

My idea of a perfect driving game gives me great selection of vehicles, but I dont need my roadracing game to be a track game to be a rally game. I do, however, DISlike any game that forces me to adjust camber angles, to minutely modify my suspension in order to have any hope of doing at least reasonably well. If the game expects me to monitor my settings and adjust my air/fuel mixtures on the fly, its lost me. I want a game, not a 2nd career.

I hear you loud and clear. I fired up GTR2 on my projector a few nights ago and did a few laps of Monza. It was beautiful and engrossing. Then I realized that I have to 1) practice for several days to be remotely competent online, 2) make setup adjustments in a process that could take who knows how long, 3) practice again to get used to the final setup, 4) repeat for each car/track. Then I realized that my time was way too limited to simulate something on which people spend their real lives. Maybe I would have loved this game when I was a bored undergrad, but not as a working/family person with maybe 1 hr max of true alone time.

These days, I've been reduced to playing flash games online. Lol.

HeadRusch

03-05-07, 05:30 PM

Thats the thing....being able to get in and race is nice...but even with a game like GT4, I would adjust my cars settings because I had to if I wanted to win a race. I didn't actually ENJOY doing it....I dont mind a realistic driving model, but give me a simulated Pit Chief too to let me enjoy the racing and not so much the re-engineering of my car.

Its like back in the days when the PC was awash in Flight-Sim games, I used to love a game like...say...F19 Stealth Fighter...or Aces over the Pacific. They were games that had some simmy elements (well, not F19)...and gave me the feeling of being a kick-ass fighter pilot :)
They weren't simulations, but they weren't arcade shoot-em-ups either.

But then, games got more and more and more real. You couldn't play without a HOTAS system, they became less and less FUN for me until I finally gave up on them. I remember buying some of those JANES games and I'd be dead within a few minutes of getting airborne... (As did roughtly everyone else too, since they disappeared from the face of the earth with only a few of the hard-core sims surviving). Chuck Yeagers Air Combat, what a great game.

Steal a Mig and evade the enemy trying to get to South Korea...? That kind of stuff was fun......Games should give you the illusion of being something you're not. I lose interest when they try to train you into a second career.

mking2673

03-06-07, 11:43 AM

Different stokes...
I love the sim aspect. I am just getting a bit into the whole setup aspect. I spent about a year just using stock setups or downloading fast setups. Now if I play an arcade style racer, (or even slightly arcadish racer) I don't enjoy it.

I play a little online, but mostly offline where a slower setup can be balanced by slower AI. My reason is that a game like GTR puts joe shmos like us in a highly tuned and powerful race cars on the worlds most difficult tracks. What do you think is going to happen when 8 ametures go into to turn 1? That's right, 3 come out.
There are some great online racers, but I am not one of them and I have rarely met one. If I go into a turn with someone on my tail I usually eat it because I am so sure I about to get rear ended that I am looking back more than I am looking forward.

amtctt

03-06-07, 02:44 PM

If I go into a turn with someone on my tail I usually eat it because I am so sure I about to get rear ended that I am looking back more than I am looking forward.

And sometimes i try and hit you on purpose. :D

As far as single player action goes, i like the sim aspect. I like building on something, such as earning money in Gran Turismo series, and tuning to a degree (don't know enough about it yet to do it well) but for multiplay stuff, i prefer more arcade style where i know everything will be equal and i'm only going to get beat by better drivers and not because i didn't tune my car properly for the course.

Jim S

03-06-07, 02:54 PM

I hear you loud and clear. I fired up GTR2 on my projector a few nights ago and did a few laps of Monza. It was beautiful and engrossing. Then I realized that I have to 1) practice for several days to be remotely competent online, 2) make setup adjustments in a process that could take who knows how long, 3) practice again to get used to the final setup, 4) repeat for each car/track. Then I realized that my time was way too limited to simulate something on which people spend their real lives. Maybe I would have loved this game when I was a bored undergrad, but not as a working/family person with maybe 1 hr max of true alone time.

These days, I've been reduced to playing flash games online. Lol.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's as quick and simple as downloading optimized setups that other people have developed, which can be done from within the game menu.

mking2673

03-06-07, 05:36 PM

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's as quick and simple as downloading optimized setups that other people have developed, which can be done from within the game menu.

The only problem is knowing which ones are fast and which ones are poor. Some are rated, but even then you have no idea who is rating it.

There is a nice website for LFS that displays the top lap time and some info with each setup, know of anything like that with GTR2?

mking2673

03-06-07, 05:40 PM

And sometimes i try and hit you on purpose. :D

So that's who that was. :)

I know that you were kidding, but that is another problem online, people who intentionally wreck people who are trying to have a good race.

Teisco

03-23-07, 10:17 AM

Funny stuff posted here about Track Ir head tracking. Some guys are just not ready for high tech and make up stuff about it so they feel better about not having it.

I think the game Test Drive Unlimited and Track IR would be the ideal driving situation for pc.

For the guys looking for something really different pick up a copy of Mafia. The cars are way cool and even have suspension modeled. You can drive all over an old Chicago style city and even into the country. There are races you can get into also. Nothing like cruising around in your Cad V 16 Roadster with the top down.

xradman

06-06-08, 02:52 PM

Best Buy was having a sale on GTR 2: Game of the Year Edition (which includes GT Legends) for $9.99, so I picked it up. I installed it on my HTPC (2.7GHz C2D, 2GB RAM, and 7600GS) connected to my projector and using G25 wheel and pedal setup.

First the good: the game ran fine in 1920 x 1080 mode with all the effects set to high. There was no noticeable stutter or glitch. I was pleasantly surprised by engine stalling in the sand trap and having to slip the clutch to get it out of the sand. Perhaps too realistic. There seems to be a ton of fan created add on tracks and cars on the net.

Not so good: the force feedback and controls were not very realistic compared to GT5 Prologue. I have been using G25 wheel with GT5P for couple months and the feedback to the wheel and car reaction to control feel very realistic and natural. In GTR 2, the wheels felt awkward and disconnected to the car. I could never tell when the front or back end was getting loose. The feedback seemed very one dimensional, increase effort when turning. I don't know if I have all the options set correctly (since there seems to be a ton of different options and settings), but this seems to be the biggest oversight for a racing sim.

Bad: Swingman view (view from behind the car) is comical and cartoonish. The car bounces and moves very un-naturally.

HeadRusch

06-06-08, 03:18 PM

Hmmm, thats the first time I've heard someone say a Gran Turismo game was MORE realistic than those PC Simulation games.........??

PS: Nice theatre pics, but have you considered moving those DVD racks away from the screen? Those must be reflecting ALL kinds of light around, no?

xradman

06-06-08, 05:02 PM

Hmmm, thats the first time I've heard someone say a Gran Turismo game was MORE realistic than those PC Simulation games.........??

I don't know about more realistic in terms of race itself, but way the car feels in GT5P is very intuitive and realistic to how a real car feels when you're either understeering or oversteering. I did not get any of that with GTR 2.

number1laing

06-06-08, 11:17 PM

I have heard the engine behind GTR2 does not do good force feedback... I have also heard there is a way to fix it somewhat through .ini files but have not done it.

Most of the hardcore PC sim forums I have read have said that GT5P comes "close"... but I think thats hedging.I think if GT5P came out on the PC many of those same people would be saying the driving model is as good as any on the PC, personally.

stangflyer

06-11-08, 02:52 AM

I have had all the track ir's since number one. Mainly use it on 1L2 1946 but also will hook up gtr2 on the 73 mits 73833! Once set up right they work great.

TXBDan

06-15-08, 10:16 PM

^^GTR2 imo, has fantastic force feedback. you do have to play w/ the .ini files, though. There are plenty of proven setups floating around the net for various wheels. you can even tweek it yourself. you can change the waveform freq and magnitude for all sorts of occurances. lotttttts to tweak w/ FFB.

Don't forget about the RACE series. very fun as well.