Personal Reviews / What you like / What you don't

[Leonardo Ratafiá]

HI, i would like to open this thread (if you guys let me) so we can post our opinions, what we like and don't like so far, other than issues.

i personally love all the sounds, when hitting the armco, grass, sand,
i think the Supercharger noise is a bit low compared to the engine. the gear box grinding noise is nice aswell.

The onboard camera is a bit dark compared to the other cameras due to the windshield of course.. (with F1) i could be better

Dislike a bit : I would want to see that, at least with the engine revving up and with manual clutch, you could't just upshift to any gear above.
i would've done it this way: you are in second and try to just shift up without pressing the clutch, first hear the grinding noise and don't let the gear go into 3rd gear. leave it in the Neutral, so you need to press the clutch and shift into 3rd again. maybe it's not possible.. but i bet you could do anything! at least in some rpm bandwidth

the arms coordination it's very realistic when shifting, the fingers should be more in a closed position so it seems you are holding the wheel more firm.

other than that... i think you guys nailed it. with just 500mb for this tech preview it shows amazing graphics and physics

 

[Luke Russell]

I would like the option to toggle individual post processing effects: DoF, Bloom, HDR.

 

[Majnu]

I was messing around with the brake axis in the menu and messed things up, so if it hasn't been mentioned already, I'd like a default reset button.

 

[XN-Sigma]

OK, I think I've played enough now to give a decent opinion.

PROS:
The graphics are very nice, comparing with pCARS, AC may not look as eye candish but it certainly looks more polished/finished, I love how atmospheric it looks, great stuff.

The driving seems nice, but I can't really judge this too much as I've only had a wheel(DFGT) for the past 3 days, so I have no idea what exactly I should be expecting from the FFB at all. Also it doesn't help that the Elise seems to be quite dull to drive, however after 2 days messing around with the DFGT settings and also the car settings I managed to make the Elise more interesting, by that I mean, more slide happy.

The menus are great and very nicely done, and I like that they can be easily edited if I want to.

You know, people complain about the sounds, but I found them to be really detailed, I love listening to all the little sounds that happen while you are driving. About the washing machine sounds deal, I'll keep my judgement for when I get to try more powerful cars in 1.0.

And finally, modding! It's just the tech preview but you already can do lots of things on it, can't wait to see what the full version with the modding tools will be able to do.



CONS:
The guide line seems tacked on at the last second, it's static so it doesn't really adapt and show where you should brake at your current speed.

One thing I feared and became true is that the menus are a completely separate thing from the actual game, like in nK-Pro, and this annoys me.

It's cool we can change what stuff will be shown in the HUD and their position, but not being able to scale them really sucks, this wouldn't be a problem if the apps re-sized themselves to the resolution you are playing in, but when I tried playing in 1280x720 they became enormous. Yuck.

There was no option to adjust camera position. I saw the dashboard view can be adjusted with some console commands, but that doesn't work in the chase camera, unless there is another command specific for that.



FINAL THOUGHTS:
I really liked this tech preview, but at the same time I'm bored of it, I actually blame the Elise, I really didn't like driving this car. However, I'm getting a deja-vu of the nK-Pro demo with the AC TP, which makes me think this preview isn't showing anywhere near the full potential of this game, so I'll be waiting for the full version to see how good it actually will be.

 

[Jorge Alves]

Driving Feeling
I love everything conserning the driving feeling
Suspension dynamics looks and feels fantastic on turns and curbs

The car also behaves spectacular on grass and sand (unlike nKP and other sims)... i love to spin on it when going back on track after missing the turn

It is very different from all other sims so it was a bit strange in the first 2,3 laps ... but after some laps i just couldnt stop driving

I was a bit concerned about having to much grip on the rear wheels cause its kind of difficult to slide and drift for a road car but after reading more about the Elise i guess thats how the real car behaves ... cant wait to try a drifting car

The only things i missed are the hand-brake and i would prefer to have togo back to neutral when you miss the gear (in the way it is now i just step on clutch and the gear is on)

FFB is just amazing on every aspects ... i special like the way it tells me when car is loosing grip, or when the wheels block on breaking without ABS. I also can feel the ABS working on hard braking ... not to much but just enough to realise the ABS is on ... actually im not sure if i coud feel it on FFB or if its just the way the car behaves that makes me feel it . In all FFB just give me a very realistic feeling of driving a car.

Graphics
They look nice but i never payed very attention to details cause im so focus in the driving.

I missed the left mirror on my full hd screen and i guess if i change FOV i will be to far from the dashboard ... i hate to drive with virtual mirror but unless i got a triple screen setup i will have to

Sounds
I love the tires sounds ...this is very important to me for a extra feedback on grip and they are just perfect ... wind and other sounds are also very nice after equalizing it in the sound menu.

Engine sound is not so important to me but would be nice to have a better quality ... its not bad but it can be improved

Interface
Its kind of futuristic and different from all other sims and i like that ... they are different but very functional

The only thing i missed is that you cant change FFB Gain when you are on track (at least i couldnt find it a way to do it) .... was annoying to go back to menu just to change it when i was setting up the steering wheel

Overall
Five Stars

 

[radome]

How about pop-up tool-tip balloons with a few words to explain the setting as you hover your mouse pointer over it?

 

[Søren Mogensen]

Like
Assetto Corsa

Dislike
Waiting

 

[Leonardo Ratafiá]

don't realy understand what you mean?? it is possible in reallife too to shift without clutch.. if you go off throttle.. it depends on the gearbox how good it works.. mostly it comes with a bit grinding noise... can be a bit tricky on some gearboxes (and then the gearbox also don't realy like what you are doing if you need to fiddel around and force it in )..


downshifting is another thing... that is realy tricky without clutch... I needed to shift up and down without clutch in reallife as my clutch has gone in my old car... shifting up was quite easy.. just get off the gas and let it "roll" in (with a bit ccchrr lol)... downshifting on the otherhand was a pain .. for the hand, for the ears, for the feel and for the patience lol... and I bet for the traffic behind me



and shifting up with jumping a few gears.. for example from 2nd to 4th.. should be possible with an h-shifter in AC.. didn't tried it yet...


ohh now I think I got what you mean... that when you misshift that it should stuck in the gear where it is but should go in neutral? .. I think that already happend to me in AC but don't realy know... but that too if I have trouble to shift in a gear in my realcar I think I also jump back to the gear before as reaction.. or?? hmm don't know.. doesn't happen often to me lol... I just try to imagine lol... hmm don't know.. I think I just would get of the clutch a bit and then stamp on it again fast.. and push the gear in.. hmm don't know.. don't have much problems in reallife with shifting (except that broken clutch (the car was 14 years old as it happend and still had it's 1st clutch and was bought 2nd hand and was driven before by an old couple... had the right to fail then lol )



but what I was doing to try in AC.. was just brutally shift up and down without clutch.. and let the grind sound appear as long till it shifted lol...but I think that only worked because mechanical damage is not activated in the TP... .. maybe that is the thing what you mean that it should go in neutral then... however with mechanical damge I think the gearbox wouldn't survive that



however... I would love to use my clutch and h-shifter propably with heal toeing and all the pedal ballet... but my desk is so low that I can't lift my legs to change the pedals lol.. so I am reallife physically stucked to paddle shifting lol

If you tried LFS (live for speed) you will understand more what i mean, you cannot just shift into 3rd (which is in reality press a button) without pressing the clutch, but i know that IRL you can change gears without pressing it in some rpm bandwithd so this is well recreated in AC, but the the fact, maybe what i'd like is: Press Clutch, then shift gear up (and accept the new gear) if you are in the rpm range that you can shift without pressing the clutch, great, gear goes in. but if not, do the grinding noise, i will do a video so it's more clear.. sometimes words are not enough.

 

[Aristotelis]

If you do a separate thread of this, we could discuss about the design choices behind the gearbox

 

[Leonardo Ratafiá]

ok, there's one already, i will bump it
good point

 

[Kakha Jomardidze]

I hope AC will be add something new things, like as tire deformation, rubber build-up, etc... (as in KRP, RF2)

anyway in this moment, can I say only positive words. We love! We believe! KUNOS :|

 

[Ralf Ääro]

Here is what I think of it:

PRO
+ Great UI, very clean and without irritating animations in the background or other things. Its just very functional and also very good looking.

+ Easy Wheel Setup. And everythings working from start...even the 900deg works without setting something special up.

+ ALT+TAB without problems. Great when you want to look something up in wikipedia (something about setups, cars or tracks) for example.

+ Force Feedback is just about right. I love that KUNOS seems to make the FFB realistic and you can feel what the driver would feel in the wheel and nothing else. Some Sims try to send general forces through the FFB so that you feel everything you would feel while sitting in the car (trhough your body etc.). But I dont like that approach.

+ Physics are awesome. Especially in slow corners and at the limit. You can feel / see what the car is doing and everything is exactly how I would expect it to be. I really like the feeling of the weight-transfer. I have never seent this added so fantastic in a sim before. Absolutely top notch!

+ Sound is also great. The sound of the Lotus is not something which makes my heart beat faster, but seems to be very accurate. I love the wind and the tiresounds. AC has by far the best tire sounds on the sim market now. And that is a very important feedback for the ears, to know when tires are at the limit and when a tire stands still while breaking to hard.

+ Graphics are fine. But really? I dont care about fancy graphics when it comes to simracing. Its not that important.

CONS
- TP has only 1 track and car and no weather


Well, seriously, the TP is what I was expecting from my short trip to Gamescom back in August, where I got the chance to drive an early Alpha Version of AC. Now I know how this nice piece of software acts on my system at home. And I am very pleased with it.

PS: I want to drive Imola, the most fun italian track out there, as soon as possible!

 

[Mandoliino]

Bad things first: The only actual problem I´m having with this is that my pedals aren´t working when plugged straight to the wheel (Fanatec CSR & CSR elite pedals), so I have to plug the pedals straight to my computer to be able to play.

Another small disappointment is the force feedback which feels kind of average to me. I was expecting something sharp (like for example netkar pro, rfactor 2 & GSC), but this feels kind of soft, and its a bit difficult to feel the grip. The FF is definitely not bad, but I´d like to feel the road better.

Then the good things: Physics seem great and the car behaves as I´d expect it to behave. Especially in the replay the cars behaviour looks more real than in any game so far. Me likes. Graphics are also great as expected.

The UI is nice and clear. I also like the apps very much, and I think its something that will become a must for all the driving games from now on. The only thing I´m missing is to be able to change the size of them.

Overall very positive experience, and I can´t wait for the final release.

 

[Frank Rogge]

I agree full with Thavron (2 posts above). I am very excited about the condition of the TechPreview. But one track and one car more would be nicer.

The installation was very easy. The only bug for me was that the TP don't recognize my throttle axis of the vpp pedals. The break axis work fine at the first attempt. For the throttIe I need two or three attempts. After these attempts i can use the throttle, but in the menu stand that i haven't chosen an axis. But it works.

Like i wrote above, for the rest of my impressions i agree with Thavrons posting.

Thanks Kunos for this great masterpiece of simulation.

I am ready for the full version.

 

[Radek Zukowski]

PROS:
- FFB - very informative and communicative, you can feel loosing, regaining grip, you can predict slides and react to them etc.
- car handling - the car feels natural and right, you can feel that it is a car, that it has rubber tires, suspension and so on.
- graphics and performance - it looks good and FPS are pretty good
- UI - simple, tidy, good looking and practical, also the apps are great idea

CONS:
- input lag - it's connected to FPS and that's because graphic calculations are tied with physics/controller calculation (please fix it)

Can't wait for v1.0 and Paganis masterpiece!

 

[MarcG]

Right had some time so heres goes:

PROS
Apps are an amazing idea, they need to be scalable though
Graphics are decent, nothing out of the extraordinary but I never expected that, certainly good enough for me
Physics seem very good, obviously just one car so its hard to compare that much IMO but so far so good
Sounds are good, 5.1 works very well
Modding, sure its not fully in yet but altering various bits here and there is good, just wish the ini files were somehow accessable in-game, would save a lot of loading, closing, re-loading of the Sim which is something I detest!!
Interface is very nice and sleak, like it!

The eerr...its OK middle area
FFB feels weak for me, personal feeling of course as this is a very subjective matter, dont get me wrong it is good when I get it to the level I require, just feel the base is somewhat lacking. But different cars/physics with those cars could change my perception.
The Suns too big!
The clouds look a bit strange at times

CONS
The more Apps the more FPS loss, dont fully understand why they would cause this so hoping its purely just a Tech Demo thing
FPS Spikes after running 10 or more laps causing major stutters
Finally...waiting for v1.0!

 

[XN-Sigma]

One last thing I didn't mention, the replays. I spent the last half hour watching the replays I recorded, in 1080p @ 60fps, and now I'm in love with how natural they looked, I always use GT5's replays as a benchmark for how racing game replays should be, and I'm quite happy that AC seems to be on the same level, I also like that there are 9 different camera modes to watch, I can't wait to see full grid replays, fun stuff.