Opinion: What Do You Think Is Missing From Sim Racing?

[Butzemann]

Personally I have no need for grid girls, sophisticated visible damage simulation or other fuzzy game play elements outside the car. That leads only to a featurism with questionable benefit. My point of view.

I would like to have an effective and realistic race control system according to common rules of racing. It seems to me, that certain habits have become common practice. For example the guy behind dives into the inside of a corner, even if there is no space because you are already on the race line and in front of him. If the guy from above only gets a warning for squashing you from the track, the lesson learned is selfexplaining: It is bad - I can do - I do - no consequences - cool. There was a time in real life you would have seen the black flag for this behavior. Penalties must be much more harder and more realistic, even when people think, that this would not be gamish. In contrast to this, in ACC you recieve a prompt disqualification, when you violate the pit limit?

Cheers

 

[CTFordza]

Famous Road Cars. Attainable sports cars that have unique handling characteristics are all I've lusted over during my years learning about cars, working on cars, and going to car shows. However, there seems to be none of these in sim racing apart from Pcars 2 and Assetto Corsa as well as in modding. Rf2 has wonderful physics and FFB, but no quality road cars, even in the modding scene. The #1 thing stopping me from enjoying sim racing to it's fullest is the lack of road/track cars that one would normally see on a track during an amatuer track day. I want to experience the twitchyness of a road going air cooled porsche 930, the tossability of a stock miata, the lift off oversteer of a roadgoing E30, or the turbo lag of a single turbo supra. The frustrating part is that these are the cars for which modders have the most access to, but apart from Assetto Corsa, don't seem interested in creating. Maybe I'll start learning from Arch in the AC modding scene and create detailed renditions of these attainable dream cars myself.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

I guess that's because (for most people) this hobby is sim racing, and not sim driving. Hence, most available cars are racing cars, not driving cars.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

I guess that's because (for most people) this hobby is sim racing, and not sim driving. Hence, most available cars are racing cars, not driving cars.

Example: When i think of your tracks, i tend to combine the pure driving- with the racing sim, to be honest. It would be a shame, to miss some of these details!
Sorry, i stop the apple polishing!

We call it sim-racing, but in fact, many people just enjoy the whole driving experience itself^^

 

[Stogie]

I would like to see ACC kind of quality and attention to historic cars. Most official content is modern sequential, flappy paddle gearbox cars, but not enough old-school stuff. Imagine if ACC was about 1990s DTM, or DRM.

Hell yeah. We've hit GT3/GTE burnout. We need a title focused on GroupC/GTP, Gr4, Gr5, Gr6, IMSA GTO, GTU, Camel Challenge, 60-80s Trans AM, 70s-80s open wheel, early 70s prototypes and GT cars. With the tracks and layouts to go with...Basically a good playable version of pCars 2 that gets supported more then 10 months. We need to start demanding it.

 

[DriverJay]

For years I've been saying it and still think a simulated damage model is the thing that is missing, and I don't just mean for the outside of the car, I mean a realistic damage model where bolts and nuts can get loose and metal can bend and snap, a simulated engine damage system not just where high revs damage a engine like a on off button, but as in horse power is effected like in real life and you suffer the consequences in the next race or actually have to repair the engine or hire a engeeneer to fix it for you for over driving, that's my wish anyway

 

[NtsParadize]

I always found it amusing that older sims and older mods made modern American race cars, like the Corvette C5 and C6, with ridiculously heavy steering and poor cornering ability. It's like they think all American cars are 60s muscles cars only good for going in a straight line. The heavy steering was always funny to me. No American car, ever, felt like the steering weight they put on them. It's wacky.

Luckily, that's only older content, modern sims do American cars justice, I feel.

The CTS-V in iRacing also has a heavy steering.

 

[Wachu]

Touring cars. There is nothing more intense than BTCC and the era doesn't matter. I would love to play with full supertouring grid but modern NGTC spec vehicles are even more interesting IMO. Imagine online racing with big variety of competetive vehicles, both RWD and FWD, twisty tracks, races in heavy rain, success ballast and reverse grid in cars producing around 350bhp. 2019 grid alone is making enough to make my pants wet: BMW 330i M Sport, Subaru Levorg GT, Vauxhall Astra, Honda Civic Type R, Mercedes Benz A Class, MG6, Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen CC, Infinity Q50, Audi S3, Ford Focus RS, BMW 125i M Sport...

 

[Lurkusmaximus]

Another thing I'd like to see is improved Pit mechanics. I struggle with altering a pit strategy prior to pit in every sim I own. I want to be able to map a button to adding or subtracting say 5 liters of fuel prior to pulling in. Or it suddenly starts to rain and my current strategy does not include a tire change. It should not take a complex set of keystrokes when a simple toggle (keystroke, button press, or other 1 action entity) to say I need tires too would suffice. And a toggle from wet to dry to slick. If i am still trying to be competitive prior to pit, any pit procedures must be dead simple to perform.

 

[paracletus]

Sir Geoffrey Crammond.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Sir Geoffrey Grammond.

A new Grand Prix title with AMS like physics, Grand Prix immersion features (like active track marshalls), FOM support and so on, would be an instant buy for me. I would open my wallet faster, than this hatch, that opened, when Luke Skywalker falls on this antenna on Bespin, after revealing, Vader is his father in Star Wars!

Oh...whait...SPOILER ALERT

 

[whaletail]

True, but they could at least impose a simple rule: if you get hit in the back half of your car, it's not your fault, but if the contact is in the front half of your car, it is (technically) your fault. That's not what I would call "artificial intelligence" but on average it would go a long way toward separating the intentional idiots from the unintentional ones.

iRacing actually tried that years ago, and everyone started brake checking each other. So much so that they quickly reverted back to the initial, and current, no-fault system.

Maybe when machine learning further evolves, that can provide the basis for AI stewarding, but trying to create a standard algorithmic fault attribution system is almost certainly impossible. The number of edge case exceptions inherent within every possible racing incident are probably just too numerous to properly account for, not to mention, whenever a disgruntled member posts an incident video, the community is almost always divided regarding culpability.

Even simple, straightforward incidents seem to elicit contrary responses, and if a relatively knowledgeable community can't even agree, an AI steward - assuming its creation were possible - will likely cause as many problems as it solves.

 

[whaletail]

Obviously you didn't read or took serious all the posts cause they are there.

And F*** IRacing. I mean seriously.

Why F*** iRacing? What did it ever do to you to inspire such a response?

 

[Koen Verlinde]

Why F*** iRacing? What did it ever do to you to inspire such a response?

You are familiar with its insanely expensive "oh you want to race this or that, pay X times the value of other games that are actually reasonable".

It's like pharmaceutical companies selling a medicine far higher than it should be, people have the right to call them out on that no?

 

[Nick Hill]

Total fantasy, but my ideal sim let's you manage the mechanical/economical side of racing.

In addition to driving the cars, you would be responsible for doing repairs, maintenance, paying for parts/fuel/tires, etc. Damage would be permanent - no more screaming out of the pits on a green track on cold tires and sending it consequence-free into the armco (not that I've ever done that! ). You'd need to watch out for the equipment from chassis to engine. You could also do upgrades as you earn money from racing. Maybe also hire mechanics to allow you to do more tweaking and repairs between sessions and races.

Sort of like your favorite race sim meets Automation meets Car Mechanic Simulator meets GP Manager meets Dirt to Daytona.

I would happily participate in kick-starting such a game!

This is sort of what I'm thinking:

If you watch that video, you can see how they modeled needing to watch after the condition of the plane. If A2A figured out how to do this almost a decade ago in FSX, I would have to believe it would be do-able in a sim.

Imagine this for league racing. Everyone starts the season with a pristine car, a budget, and a parts catalog. If something breaks, doesn't matter if it's practice, qualifying, or the race, the time/cost to fix is realistic (you might not be racing that race...or for the entire remainder of the season!)

All sorts of strategy could play in - do you spend your $ on upgrades, or stock up on spares? Maybe find a balance. Also, some components can be run to near-failure without issue, but other components might cause big performance hits after just a little wear.

I think it could be a lot of fun and a novel twist that would give insight into what it takes to run a car.

 

[benetonas]

My opinion
- modern rally sim with no physics flaws, proper
- Someone to challenge iRacing without the ridiculous fees
- Also think A proper F1 sim
- Also want to see mod integration possibility

 

[leillo1975]

IMHO hardware support is a bigger issue than Software support (unless you're using Logitech, I've heard they work just fine on Linux)

You are Right, Logitech Wheels have a decent support in Linux, with FFB included, but this support come from the community, not from Logitech. I think that this brand could leave a hand on it. Of course, other wheels support would be welcomed.

Native support is important, Wine/Proton works quite well, but they have problems, one update can brake the compatibility. It's admirable what companies like SCS Software do with ETS2 and ATS, that keep support on both Windows and Linux.

 

[FormulaET]

Uhm.....AI to be added to a multiplayer lobby on AC for race purposes....not just 4hr practice sessions....
If 4 of us are digging the lobby/server and want to get on with a full grid, adding AI obviously will help.