Sim Discussion Monday - RaceRoom Racing Experience

[Paul Jeffrey]

Another working week on the horizon and to lighten the mood (probably), let's have ourselves a discussion about RaceRoom Racing Experience..

The sim with the silly name, RaceRoom Racing Experience has plenty of licenced racing content to offer players who can navigate their way through the occasionally confusing pricing and store structure.

If you do manage to find you way into the game itself then you are rewarded by a product that has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. With plenty of officially licenced racing series to be found (no road car nonsense here), a very robust and varied selection of greater and lesser known circuits and easily the best audio experience in the sim racing marketplace, RaceRoom and Sector3 Studios have pulled together a very compelling product for sim racers to enjoy.

With all that said, the core game experience does still lack in several fundamental areas before it can genuinely be considered a true racing simulation, to be frank that same accusation can be levelled at pretty much all the current crop of sims to varying degrees, and what it does it does very well indeed.

So in the spirit of sharing our collective experiences and knowledge can our community let us all know what we like / don't like about the sim, share any useful tips to get the most from the title, let us know what you'd like to see in the future and just generally shoot the breeze for a day or two about Sector3 Studios current racing simulation..


Mondays be like...

Image credits: M-Bimmer and TheReaper GT

 

[Deleted member 6919]

Oh yeh I missed one Positive:
No modding..

 

[Chobonator]

If you try to buy the Premium Pack now, the Portal should take into account the content you already have and provide you a discount.

I don't see the full price, that's the problem. I would like to.

 

[TheReaper GT]

I don't see the full price, that's the problem. I would like to.

Put the pack in the cart, it will update the price. To me it shows 15% less when in the cart,

 

[HoiHman]

It's has become my main sim since the VR update. I really like the physics and the FFB with the special AccuForce settings.

- Custom single player championships (max 64 rounds)
- Flag system
- Adaptive AI
- Lots and lots of official content : DTM, WTCC, ect ect

 

[apex11]

Its quite simple for me RaceRoom is worth it for the FWD WTCC cars. Absolutely perfect representation of FWD and its quirks. The WTCC car from 2015 on wards also look the best modeled cars in the game IMO.
Every-tine i take a WTCC out for aa spin i'm just in heaven.
I own RF2, AC, iRacing (well they still own that but I 'rent' it... !!!!) PC1, DiRT, GSCE and Automobilsta.

For me RRE conveys the feeling I've had in real race cars the best, even if some of those feelings are canned i need them otherwise it can all feel sterile.

But like i say i own them all but just so happen to use RRE the most and personally IMO i prefer it but RF2 is close as well but can feel as a package disjointed where as RRE you can have a championship etc...

In RRE i can hit a kerb in the WTCC and as the front wheel lands i can feel the tyre thats been in the air gain traction as it hits tarmac then bounces back and its an incredible feeling and one which never fails to give me warm feeling inside.

Cons:
Took me a while to realise some cars were old physics and badly modeled from years ago, so wish i'd not purchased them. Ermm, also FFB can be a pain to set up but no 'sim' seems to work without needing to personalise it and once you find YOUR sweet spot RRE rules them for FFB IMO...
Ermm, thats about it with cons.... for me at least.

If you love touring cars you need RRE..

 

[M-Bimmer]

It is currently my favourite title...Probably because of that freaking sound , the amount of tracks and cars and the constant patches releases which refine the game Even more.
There are also clean racers out there which is a huge plus.

What is missing are some online ranking (are they working on that?), a day progression (from sunrise to sunset?), and what about those marshals standing on the side of the tracks waving the different flags for you .

 

[Doug46]

Good game, agree with those about the grip, much prefer this game to AC , i think the graphics are good, engine sounds are great, DTM and WTCC are my favorite, the single seaters don't seem so good in physics and lack something when you compare to AMS, .To get the best out of this game you do have to fiddle around with the car set up a fair bit. Overall i would give this game 7/10. Once they sort out the little issues like strange ai behaviour in certain corners of certain tracks and some of the other thing mentioned here it would easily be a 9/10 for me. I agree with Filip Carlen it is a game you keep coming back to, as well as AMS.

 

[Nick Hill]

It's my favorite sim. If you are so inclined, you can look in RD's R3E forum for a love letter I wrote to this sim (titled something like "case for R3E as 'best' sim"), but to me it all comes down to the driving experience.

I hate to take the approach I'm about to take because I should be able to love R3E irrespective of other sims, but there is a sim currently on the market which I think makes a perfect counter-example to what I feel R3E gets so very right: rFactor2. As a piece of software, rF2 is incredibly impressive and I have a great deal of respect for it...but I rarely drive it. I have very little doubt that rF2 simulates a race car with a higher degree of mathematical accuracy than anything else you can run on a home PC rig. At the same time, I have a great deal of doubt that rF2 creates a compelling simulation of what it feels like to really race.

That to me is where R3E shines. Race cars are exquisitely engineered, highly tuned mechanical devices that exist solely for the purposes of being propelled around a race track at the highest speed possible. If you talk to a real race driver, they will tell you the cars feel like they *want* to be pushed - and the good drivers *do* push...and hard...because they trust the grip to be there. That's how I feel when I drive R3E more so than any other sim I've ever driven.

Honestly, I think the only 2 sims that have really had the guts to say that driving a car at speed should be more about "fun" than "difficult" while at the same time managing to not wade into arcade/simcade territory are R3E and AC. Those are the only 2 sims I've ever come across where if you asked me to "overdrive" a complete lap, I could do it...it would be an awful laptime of course, but I could get the car around the track. For my personal tastes, I just enjoy the feel of R3E a bit more than AC, so that is why I spend more time in the former (though I do love the wonderful variety of road cars and great visuals in AC).

As I said in my self-described "love letter" thread, no sim other than R3E has really created the "me and the car VS the track" feel for me (as opposed to the "me VS the car and the track" feel many/most other sims create).

I watched race 2 of this weekends DTM race at Zandvoort (a car/track combo I have lapped a lot in R3E). They do a great job of showing in car cam views (F1, please take note) where I could see the drivers wheel inputs as well as both feet working the pedals. I found myself thinking "yup, looks about right to me". These guys are going around the track in white knuckle fear of the next uncatchable slide...they are pushing those cars to the very edge of their performance potential (and doing it bumper to bumper, door to door an incredible % of the time).

GTR2 isn't legendary because of rain, day/night cycles, race school, full series, etc, etc. Those are all great features, but the bottom line is GTR2 is/was FUN. The cars are grippy as hell and a blast to throw around the track (but, again, not to the point you have to suspend your disbelief). R3E is GTR2s spiritual successor for me.

Oh, and R3E's sounds are awesome, too.

 

[zzigg]

i like the game but i never found a good Setup for CSW V1.
grahics like a cartoon but good for dx09
sound is great
content is good but need more tracks

 

[Facundo Estevez]

I would love RRRE (I love WTCC), but for some reason I can't get the driving wheel 1:1 with the virtual one, and that drives me crazy. Also, VR in RRRE sucks ATM.

 

[TheReaper GT]

I would love RRRE (I love WTCC), but for some reason I can't get the driving wheel 1:1 with the virtual one, and that drives me crazy. Also, VR in RRRE sucks ATM.

What's your wheel? Do you have the driver's arms enabled?

 

[Facundo Estevez]

What's your wheel? Do you have the driver's arms enabled?

G27, and yes.

 

[TheReaper GT]

G27, and yes.

You have to set it to 900 degrees on the profiler, in game, in the steering wheel rotation angle, let it "match setup" .
Some cars don't have full rotation animation, the older ones. Disable drivers arms and you will have full rotation animation.

 

[apex11]

It's my favorite sim. If you are so inclined, you can look in RD's R3E forum for a love letter I wrote to this sim (titled something like "case for R3E as 'best' sim"), but to me it all comes down to the driving experience.

I hate to take the approach I'm about to take because I should be able to love R3E irrespective of other sims, but there is a sim currently on the market which I think makes a perfect counter-example to what I feel R3E gets so very right: rFactor2. As a piece of software, rF2 is incredibly impressive and I have a great deal of respect for it...but I rarely drive it. I have very little doubt that rF2 simulates a race car with a higher degree of mathematical accuracy than anything else you can run on a home PC rig. At the same time, I have a great deal of doubt that rF2 creates a compelling simulation of what it feels like to really race.

That to me is where R3E shines. Race cars are exquisitely engineered, highly tuned mechanical devices that exist solely for the purposes of being propelled around a race track at the highest speed possible. If you talk to a real race driver, they will tell you the cars feel like they *want* to be pushed - and the good drivers *do* push...and hard...because they trust the grip to be there. That's how I feel when I drive R3E more so than any other sim I've ever driven.

Honestly, I think the only 2 sims that have really had the guts to say that driving a car at speed should be more about "fun" than "difficult" while at the same time managing to not wade into arcade/simcade territory are R3E and AC. Those are the only 2 sims I've ever come across where if you asked me to "overdrive" a complete lap, I could do it...it would be an awful laptime of course, but I could get the car around the track. For my personal tastes, I just enjoy the feel of R3E a bit more than AC, so that is why I spend more time in the former (though I do love the wonderful variety of road cars and great visuals in AC).

As I said in my self-described "love letter" thread, no sim other than R3E has really created the "me and the car VS the track" feel for me (as opposed to the "me VS the car and the track" feel many/most other sims create).

I watched race 2 of this weekends DTM race at Zandvoort (a car/track combo I have lapped a lot in R3E). They do a great job of showing in car cam views (F1, please take note) where I could see the drivers wheel inputs as well as both feet working the pedals. I found myself thinking "yup, looks about right to me". These guys are going around the track in white knuckle fear of the next uncatchable slide...they are pushing those cars to the very edge of their performance potential (and doing it bumper to bumper, door to door an incredible % of the time).

GTR2 isn't legendary because of rain, day/night cycles, race school, full series, etc, etc. Those are all great features, but the bottom line is GTR2 is/was FUN. The cars are grippy as hell and a blast to throw around the track (but, again, not to the point you have to suspend your disbelief). R3E is GTR2s spiritual successor for me.

Oh, and R3E's sounds are awesome, too.

Yes one of the oddest things in sim racing is this insistence that million pound racing cars with massive fat slicks and aero, made by the finest minds in engineering whose job it is to make stuff get round bends faster than another car, somehow must actually be like driving on black ice??!! Madness!!
Grip = arcade... apparently.... so so far off the mark.
I too have RF2 an i do enjoy its driving model but they do seem to like to propel the myth that racing drive on black ice....

 

[waylander84]

to late :-D

 

[protonv5]

Unfortunately don't play it much as i would like as i find the Ai shunts me off track in every race. I have much better races in rf2. Cars are a bit basic looking internally in vr. I really like everything else about it. I went with gamer muscles ffb tips for my tm300 & it feel great.

This for sure. I'm not sure how others don't talk about this much. I find the AI to be the worst of any game out there. They are oblivious to you and ram you off at any chance they get. Completely broken as far as I'm concerned. When I've mentioned it on the forums I'm told to speed up, brake later, blah blah. But fact is I can drive any other sim and the speed, brake points are all the same. No problems. But Raceroom? Disaster. Wish this weren't the case, but it is.

 

[Facundo Estevez]

You have to set it to 900 degrees on the profiler, in game, in the steering wheel rotation angle, let it "match setup" .
Some cars don't have full rotation animation, the older ones. Disable drivers arms and you will have full rotation animation.

Will try, thanks!

 

[apex11]

This for sure. I'm not sure how others don't talk about this much. I find the AI to be the worst of any game out there. They are oblivious to you and ram you off at any chance they get. Completely broken as far as I'm concerned. When I've mentioned it on the forums I'm told to speed up, brake later, blah blah. But fact is I can drive any other sim and the speed, brake points are all the same. No problems. But Raceroom? Disaster. Wish this weren't the case, but it is.

I agree, sometimes at the start of races certainly with WTCC this can happen and it can grate, BUT this can happen in real life racing as well. Once you get through the first few corners it can settle into some awesome races with AI and even just sitting behind the front 2 or 3 and watching them battle it out, incredible stuff.
But yes getting punted off by AI is a pain but i'm not adverse to just restart its a game after all and i'll play it how i want... Now iRacing when you get punted off you lose SR and ruin the whole race...so i know to my peril which one is more annoying...

 

[bloozmahn]

would love more club racing in US timezone, otherwise fantastic sim!

 

[Kevin Bradley]

I love the number and variety of the tracks in raceroom and although they are not laserscanned they have been crafted so well it personally doesn't bother me.

Graphics wise, it must be the best looking 'dx9' sim out there too. OK, so it's not on the same level as assetto corsa, but somehow the track environments feel more immersive to me, and personally I quite like the vivid art style and colour palette.

Driving wise, I think the wttc cars are the best fwd cars I've driven in any sim. The GT3 cars are great too. I also love the KTMs and the M1 procars. My only criticism is probably of the open wheel formula cars which don't feel quite ' alive' enough to me somehow, almost like they have some hidden traction control going on or something.

AI are pretty good generally. I find them a bit too aggressive in the latest build, but at least they will race you!

All in all its a good package with more to come in the future, especially on the multiplayer side if the ranking system ever gets implemented. You never know, it could even start challenging iRacing at that point