PC1 Latest Build testing.

[Andy_J]

As you all know, Ian gave me a free pass to test the latest builds and that's what I have been doing for the last week. I will report here as and when I see fit to tell all about my findings.

But I will say that the latest build (296) is quite good. Now lets make some sense of my statement. I used a Lotus 98T in helmet cam using my antique MOMO red wheel and I can honestly report it is coming along much better than I anticipated. The actual feel and immersion is damn fine at this point. The handling is strange at first compared to say...RF2 and FVA, but it grows on you within minutes. At this point in time, this actual car feels good. I like it and I love the Milan circuit. The damage model has come on leaps and bounds.

I am doing some more testing all of next week using a G27 and I will also test some of the other cars that don't interest me as much (I am a F1 nut) and see how the feel in comparison to Shift 2, because that is what I was initially comparing PCars to.

I would like the replay function to have a directors mode though. Something that jumps from action to action and from car to car.

Aside from that, the replay's do crash my PC quite often but I understand that is being looked at.

Watch this space.

 

[Andy_J]

Wow Andy, you're turning into a regular pcars fanboy! Get out while you can m8 else you'll be lost forever!

How very dare you Kjell.

I like the game. It's fun. Not serious like a real sim but it's damn fine fun. I like trying the different builds ( not much really changes, it's still basically Shift 3) but by eck it's fun to drive and watch the limited replays. The Nord is superb though and I can't see any other driving game bettering it. I love it.

 

[Rhys Gardiner]

Got to say Andy, those are some very nice screenshots you have there. Maybe I should get back into testing this game... I can't even remember the last time I touched it. End of 2012 maybe?

 

[Rupe Wilson]

Yep i'm also drooling over the screen shots

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Tried last build last night and had lots of fun! The thing I noticed most is that under heavy breaking and when in high speed corners I could not feel the car much, but I guess that this is being worked on.

FFB felt very good to me, not perfect but getting there, and I think once the issue I mentioned above is resolved (developed or whatever) it will be awesome.

Was also wondering...if there is an updated list with the cars that have the most advanced physics/FFB as I'd rather test with these than some pre pre alpha car???

Cheers

 

[David Ignjatovic]

If people are wrong, why do they need to be banned?....can't they be shown their error in front of everyone?

 

[wicken]

Was also wondering...if there is an updated list with the cars that have the most advanced physics/FFB

Yes there is, I don't remember where I have seen it in the forums. Anyway try some of these cars: all Ariel Atom's, Audi R8 LMS Ultra, BMW M3 GT2, BMW M3 GT4, BMW Z4 GT3, Caterham R500 Superlight, Caterham Seven Classic, Ford Mustang Boss 302R1, Formula Gulf FG1000, McLaren MP4-12C GT3, Oreca 03 LMP2 and Pagani Zonda R.

 

[Birddogg66]

Tried last build last night and had lots of fun! The thing I noticed most is that under heavy breaking and when in high speed corners I could not feel the car much, but I guess that this is being worked on.

FFB felt very good to me, not perfect but getting there, and I think once the issue I mentioned above is resolved (developed or whatever) it will be awesome.

Was also wondering...if there is an updated list with the cars that have the most advanced physics/FFB as I'd rather test with these than some pre pre alpha car???

Cheers

Physics discussion or individual threads related to a specific make and model of car may list what stage of development the car is in also there are specific official tests being held with a list of criteria attached ie: Car, tread compound, track, time of day as well as other bits and pieces decided by the physics team. It is there where your voice will be heard the most.

@David it's a fine line that some have crossed over relating to the tone of ones post and how it relates to the project or how it directs toward the development team that get's them banned.

There can be a point of no return over 1 post and the nature of it's content or some have gotten 2 or 3 warnings and still there.

 

[Birddogg66]

Wow Andy, you're turning into a regular pcars fanboy! Get out while you can m8 else you'll be lost forever!
On a more serious note, great screenshots, I've had some fun in the later builds too and have to agree, it's come a long way and are closer to a sim that I had expected it to ever come, but there's still lots of work to be done.
I wonder how much of the content will be cut for release, there's a few cars and tracks that have yet to be officially licensed and while there's still lots of time there's no guarantee that they'll be able to score all the licenses they want by release, I really hope they get Nordschleife though, would be a major bummer if not ><

Lastly I am afraid that I will have to upgrade my rig for pcars to run properly, it seems a fair bit more resource heavy than for instance AC, but then again there's a lot more eyecandy too so it's not unexpected.

I have no idea what that F word is you use in your post I would rather be called the poster child for birth defects but anyway there are a lot of postings of what performance users are getting with what hardware if you want to dig through some of the threads @wmd to find it.

 

[Damage Inc]

If people are wrong, why do they need to be banned?....can't they be shown their error in front of everyone?

I would presume anyone getting an immediate ban went so far over the line of behaviour they deserved it, and others got repeated warnings before bannings, and others may have been treated harshly (everyone can get pissed off and get out the wrong side of bed! Even WMD mods and devs). Whether people like it or not WMD is not your everyday normal website. I'm not going to say it's an "office" environment as it clearly isn't as testers arn't employed. But there should be a hight level of respect and netiquette there than elsewhere IMO.

 

[ONT]

Was also wondering...if there is an updated list with the cars that have the most advanced physics/FFB as I'd rather test with these than some pre pre alpha car???

Cheers

On the physics side I think this is most advanced, BUT no FFB testing is done, work on tire is focus conducted on the Formula C, at the moment cold tire grip (tested in practice mode, race mode gives You optimal temp at start).

So it may not be the best driving cars,(FFB need work) but the most complete for transmission/engine/TC/ABS etc etc

Ford Mustang Boss 302R: Finished engine wear model, shift tolerances, low-speed traction control settings

BMW M3 GT4: Finished engine wear model, shift tolerances, low-speed traction control settings.

BMW Z4 GT3: Finished engine wear model, shift tolerances, low-speed traction control settings.

.BMW M3 GT: Finished engine wear model, shift tolerances, low-speed traction control settings.

Caterham Classic: Finished engine wear model, shift tolerances, low-speed traction control settings.

Caterham R500: Finished engine wear model, shift tolerances, low-speed traction control settings, calibrated fuel consumption.


Here's a few more cars mentioned lately (with relatively far advanced physics).
"Atom 300 , RuF RGT8 , BAC Mono and Formula C with the r11 tyre selected"

 

[ONT]

On the track side it looks like James Kett puts finalizing touch on, but there may still be revisions of these tracks.

Lakeville (Sonoma) ,Wisconsin (Road America) looks fantastic.

He has also worked on Silverstone, Hockenheim, Besos, Oscherslaben,
and now working on Emirates Raceway.

Silverstone there's a bug in a kerb in Maggotts (a "landmine").

 

[Andy_J]

If people are wrong, why do they need to be banned?....can't they be shown their error in front of everyone?

Have I missed something here? Who's been banned and who is wrong?

 

[Andy_J]

Got to say Andy, those are some very nice screenshots you have there.

Thanks Rhys. The game is very pretty and ideal for screenshots.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

I have no idea what that F word is you use in your post I would rather be called the poster child for birth defects but anyway there are a lot of postings of what performance users are getting with what hardware if you want to dig through some of the threads @wmd to find it.

CBA digging through those forums, too many threads and posts going on. I know my gfx card is old and starting to show its age, so I'm not harping on pcars performance, it's just more demanding than AC.

 

[Birddogg66]

CBA digging through those forums, too many threads and posts going on. I know my gfx card is old and starting to show its age, so I'm not harping on pcars performance, it's just more demanding than AC.

So what do you consider old? and what are you trying to achieve in the way of performance? Also consider what Impacts optimizations will have later on in the project. AFM I am happy with single display and not worried about having everything set to Ultra I just use the default. I have no been running MP or against AI but with just me on the track I have a fps range of about 52-90 with FX8120 1866ram and SLI 660ti's 2gb cards all stock clocks with no hiccups. I guess the best advice would to wait to see actually what you will need for what kind of experience you want to get out of it at how much you want to spend?

 

[Birddogg66]

Have I missed something here? Who's been banned and who is wrong?

I don't know if anybody has(in a while) and really not my favorite thing to hear when it does. However the developers have made it clear that they are in what they consider to be crunch time for getting the title completed and have asked us to refrain from unnecessary chatter in development related specific threads and have a lower tolerance for any non-sense that may arise ATM and going forward. This is not to alienate the members but to ensure an expected work environment standard in order to remain at a productive rate they need to be.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

So what do you consider old? and what are you trying to achieve in the way of performance? Also consider what Impacts optimizations will have later on in the project. AFM I am happy with single display and not worried about having everything set to Ultra I just use the default. I have no been running MP or against AI but with just me on the track I have a fps range of about 52-90 with FX8120 1866ram and SLI 660ti's 2gb cards all stock clocks with no hiccups. I guess the best advice would to wait to see actually what you will need for what kind of experience you want to get out of it at how much you want to spend?

Well, chances that pcars will be the reason I upgrade are pretty slim, if anything sim related it'd probably be to enable triple monitor support down the pipe. Anything not current generation is old, and I'm older than last gen with my GTX570.
What do I expect in performance? Everything at ultra settings max antialiasing and 60+ fps with a full grid, that's my minimum expectations. But with my card I will struggle doing that even in AC.

 

[ONT]

What do I expect in performance? Everything at ultra settings max antialiasing and 60+ fps with a full grid, that's my minimum expectations.
But with my GTX570. card I will struggle doing that even in AC.

Most games/sim will target the ULTRA + Max AA=60 fps on the coming gen absolute top cards.

If I remember right Crysis was around 20 fps maxed out on the very top single card at the time, but it held up for a looong time.

If you limit things to run ULTRA + Max AA=60 on a last gen card then that's as good as it will ever look, and gets a dated look pretty quick

And if there was no incentive to upgrade for the very top setting on a new game/sim how would they guys working at ATI/Nvidia pay there bills

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

You make it sound like I'm complaining and that I'm clueless about hardware, both of which are wrong.

 

[Andy_J]

I don't know if anybody has(in a while) and really not my favorite thing to hear when it does. However the developers have made it clear that they are in what they consider to be crunch time for getting the title completed and have asked us to refrain from unnecessary chatter in development related specific threads and have a lower tolerance for any non-sense that may arise ATM and going forward. This is not to alienate the members but to ensure an expected work environment standard in order to remain at a productive rate they need to be.

I see. It don't affect me. I'm not a paid consultant and I haven't paid to be a beta tester either. What do they regard as unnecessary chatter? I hope the devs are pulling their fingers out now because there is shed loads of work to get the game working properly so they should stop with the stretched out lunches in the city and get cracking. When is it going to Alpha or Beta?