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What are the best driving games on the PC - Page 2

post #31 of 48
2/13/07 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadRusch View Post

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.
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post #32 of 48
2/13/07 at 11:36am
Thread Starter 
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!"
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post #33 of 48
2/14/07 at 1:09am
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
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post #34 of 48
3/5/07 at 1:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadRusch View Post

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.
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post #35 of 48
3/5/07 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 
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.
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post #36 of 48
3/6/07 at 8:43am
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.
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post #37 of 48
3/6/07 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mking2673 View Post

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.

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.
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post #38 of 48
3/6/07 at 11:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sivic2k View Post

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.
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post #39 of 48
3/6/07 at 2:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim S View Post

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?
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post #40 of 48
3/6/07 at 2:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by amtctt View Post

And sometimes i try and hit you on purpose.

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.
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post #41 of 48
3/23/07 at 7:17am
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.
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post #42 of 48
6/6/08 at 11:52am
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.
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post #43 of 48
6/6/08 at 12:18pm
Thread Starter 
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?
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post #44 of 48
6/6/08 at 2:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadRusch View Post

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.
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post #45 of 48
6/6/08 at 8:17pm
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.
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post #46 of 48
6/10/08 at 11:52pm
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.
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post #47 of 48
6/15/08 at 7:16pm
^^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.
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post #48 of 48
6/21/08 at 6:01am
Grid
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