Assetto Corsa (ex-NetKar)

[Michael24]

Hello all,

Anyone doing anything with Assetto Corsa?

I used to be an avid NetKar fan, due to it's physics model stuff and export to AIM Analysis. Now the same team (Kunos) have published a kind of early adopters/Beta version of their newest creation: Assetto Corsa. Now I'm spending every spare minute lapping a virtual Silverstone National in my usual all-over-the-place manner and going through the resultant squigly lines in AIM's Analysis tool afterwards.

Sheer joy (analysing the data, not my virtual driving).

Anyone?

M.

[Peat]

I will probably get around to having a dabble of AC, but at the moment i'm sticking with iRacing and utilising the telemetry exporter tool and viewing in Motec. It's all a bit baffling at first, but once you know what you are looking at/for, it's a whole new level of fun!

[BillWiskins]

AC convert here (I say convert, been waiting impatiently since I read about it a year ago). Every spare minute spent at Imola in the Xbow, or with the 458 at Vallelunga.

Sheer joy about covers it, built in telemetry is awesome to have and I love the 'app' system for the HUD. Can't wait for online multi...

[Aysedasi]

Looks interesting - but having had my fingers burned with buying an unfinished and very slow to develop product in RF2, am I getting something worth having here if I dive into the pool now?

[leonidas]

I was looking forward to this as NetKar Pro was fantastic and very underrated. Unfortunately the initial AC release is disappointing. With no online racing support and very little track content it is not as good as I had hoped. We are promised more tracks but it is unclear whether we will have to pay again for these.

Why can't developers just finish a game before releasing it? Is their cashflow really so tight?

[chunder]

Wouldn't touch this with a barge pole I am afraid, if you thought RF2 was poorly funded then this will be even worse.

THe actual engine is brilliant, but in reality these guys are trying to push something that is so far away from being finished you would have to be an uber sim fan to buy it.

Netkar had bad online support too I recall initially.

But, as I say the actual game plays nicely and looks pretty, but it seems like it is a few blokes in a bedroom coding! So don't expect too much too soon

[leonidas]

Yes and the hype on VirtualR and other places is bizarre. Its a sim with just four tracks, unfinished car models, no AI and no multiplayer. And people are cheerfully forking out £35 for it! Is it me or has the sim world gone mad?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by leonidas

Yes and the hype on VirtualR and other places is bizarre. Its a sim with just four tracks, unfinished car models, no AI and no multiplayer. And people are cheerfully forking out £35 for it! Is it me or has the sim world gone mad?

I guess that's my answer. The wallet stays firmly in the pocket then......

[Michael24]

Fully understand all of the above!

Still, I am quite content playing around on the available tracks with the few available cars and analysing afterwards. That's where I'm having most fun. Also like the apps bit, where you can add little stuff like Delta-T/Predictive laptiming or tyre pressure and temp graphs.

I'll report back later on my after-the-buzz views ;-)

[Aysedasi]

I could have sworn I looked on the page and saw quite a number of tracks......?

[Michael24]

Right now, it's Vallelunga, Silverstone South loop, Monza '67, Imola and Magione. Cars are BMW e30 M3 road, e90 M3 road, Z4 road, BMW M3 GT2, Tatuus single seater, Fiat 500 Abarth, Lotus 49, Elise, Exige Scura, KTM and Ferrari 458 road.

[BillWiskins]

Originally Posted by leonidas

With no online racing support and very little track content it is not as good as I had hoped. We are promised more tracks but it is unclear whether we will have to pay again for these.

Originally Posted by leonidas

Its a sim with just four tracks... ...people are cheerfully forking out £35 for it!

I cheerfully forked out £29.99. A lot of... inaccuracies floating around! Here is some actual information for anyone yet to make up their mind (from the Assetto Corsa FAQ page).

How much Assetto Corsa does cost?

The price of Assetto Corsa for Steam Early Access is 34,99 Eur and includes the early access version, all its updates, plus the final version of the game, without any extra charge. The price of Assetto Corsa at launch will be 44.99 Eur.

What is the “Early Access” option ?

The Early Access program allows you to purchase Assetto Corsa some weeks before the final version is released, saving 22% on the release price, getting a beta version of the software and all its updates, that will be released every two weeks since the first launch. Then, when the final version of the game will be available, you will be able to download it without paying any extra charge.

It has been made very clear that the release of AC available now is a beta version. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwar...ife_cycle#Beta)

Anyone choosing to wait for the final release based on the current (admittedly currently low level of) content is... well, they can do what they like, of course. I'm happy to have saved some money on the full version, and I am thoroughly enjoying the sim thus far.

Originally Posted by chunder

The actual engine is brilliant...

But, as I say the actual game plays nicely and looks pretty...

Blimey! What more do you need?

[Aysedasi]

Content! As has been said before, the habit of releasing (and expecting punters to pay for) an unfinished product pays very few dividends, IMO.

[BillWiskins]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Content! As has been said before, the habit of releasing (and expecting punters to pay for) an unfinished product pays very few dividends, IMO.

A fair point. There is plenty coming up, but even if the developers fail to deliver somehow, I'm told the game is built to be very mod-friendly. I know there are addons available already, and I am confident that the modding community will be able to do some excellent things in the future (though I am most looking forward to Kunos' laser-scanned Spa).

I haven't had a lot of experience with this kind of early access release (apart from Kerbal Space Program, which seems to be doing okay), so I can't say I know it to be a good idea in the long run. I do know that some of the less patient among the sim-racing community were beginning to whinge about the lack of news recently - I even saw the word 'vapourware' - so perhaps it was a response to some of that.

Either way, it's been out less than a week so I suppose none of us can really say anything more than 'I like playing it' or 'I don't'. Time will tell

[Aysedasi]

Fair enough. Something that is available for open modding would be good. Most of the better sims have become that way because of the input of those who use them. I still feel that RF2 and this are examples of early beta work released as a product to buy much too early....

[leonidas]

Originally Posted by BillWiskins

A fair point. There is plenty coming up, but even if the developers fail to deliver somehow, I'm told the game is built to be very mod-friendly. I know there are addons available already, and I am confident that the modding community will be able to do some excellent things in the future (though I am most looking forward to Kunos' laser-scanned Spa).

Even if you take them at their word they are only promising 8 real-life track locations (with variations) and the odd drag strip and hillclimb as additional content.

This compares poorly with other landmark sims (think GPL, GTR2, Nascar 2003). Given that they have been hyping AC for two years they have had the time - but perhaps not the money or backing to get in finished.

In the absence of official content the chances are that you will have the same issue as Rfactor 2 - lots of unofficial content of which 95% is terrible.

[chunder]

The way gamers have been manipulated by companies in the last few years in car sim gaming has left an awful lot of us very distrustful of all of them sadly.

You had the whole PCARS thing, where you are basically beta testing a game for 2 years that will eventually be released on a console, and they got very aggressive and nasty with a hell of a lot of people who didn't like it. Hence that has basically disappeared from whence it came, despite being all over a few sim sites who rolled over and let them use their sites to the neglect of most other titles. VR being the main one.

AC and RF2 have basically been very underfunded almost Alpha releases, with little content, over complicated and stupid update methods that have left a lot of us feeling disinterested and rather weary.

RF still plays better than all of them, and Iracing makes everything else look amateur, unprofessional and really rather pathetic, but you have to pay through the nose.

But, most do as it is by far the best place to race relatively easily, without wrecking cretins and without having to join jumped up, rule happy leagues that only run mods they like instead of what you might want to race.

[tristancliffe]

But rF is terrible, and iRacing is let down by the physics, tyres and price.

[BillWiskins]

I played iRacing for a bit. I might still be playing if I hadn't had some major internet connection issues here - now resolved, but I haven't felt like re-activating my membership. I know some don't mind, and it was fun a lot of fun sometimes, but I am not thrilled by the prospect of more MX-5 and Street Stock races on the same 4 or 5 tracks. I'd have liked to try out the big touring car championship (the one that used the Kias, if I recall correctly?) - but it would have been an extra £100 of additional content just to have all the right stuff. This isn't the place for a debate about the iRacing pricing structure etc etc, but with Assetto Corsa I have already regularly used more of the available cars and tracks than I did with iRacing. Additionally, three new cars arrived yesterday (with a couple of extra tracks, too) at no extra cost.

I'll agree that iRacing is miles ahead of the competition when it comes to the organisation side - all the integrated leagues and points systems, hourly races, and so on are very slick and nicely done. I even liked the safety rating system, though it doesn't please everyone (and could do with some kind of magic 'whose-fault-was-it-really' code). It looked good and it felt good, but so do a lot of things.

Again, time will tell how AC does in terms of support and longevity, but for now I'm pretty happy with what it is and what it does, and for the price of a few months of iRacing (or £20 less than rFactor 2) I think it's a pretty good buy.

Edit - in terms of the update system, can't speak for rFactor but yesterday's AC content update happened automatically via Steam in the background, and I didn't notice until I went to start the game

[chunder]

If you think rf is terrible then you eally are in a rather small minority I am afraid.

It might look a bit poor these days, but for ease of play and mods it is by far the best cheap game.

IR beats everything but frankly who wants to pay 2 or 300 quid a year for a game, pathetic

[tristancliffe]

Maybe I am in a minority. But I've not driven a decent mod in rFactor yet, and I've tried lots that have been recommended to me. The trouble is, the underlying engine is useless, combined with the modders using nonsense numbers -> rubbish in + terrible physics engine = gibberish out.

iRacing's fundamental flaw is the tyres and physics, which is a left over of Dave Kaemmer's 1980s approach to tyre modelling. iR might have some good aspects, but the handling is not one of them. I'm not fooled by them paying 'professional' American drivers to pretend it's good either.

I've heard good things about rF2, but I haven't tried them.
The only sims worth bothering with are Live for Speed, netKar and Assetto Corsa. None of them are perfect either, but a whole lot closer to reality than the others.

[leonidas]

Its odd that you praise the tyre model in LFS and criticise that in Iracing as the approach of Kaemmer and Scawen is essentially the same. It would be interesting to hear what you think is wrong in Kaemmer's approach. N2003 and Iracing have nothing in common with the work he was doing in the 80s.

I don't buy a lot of the Iracing / Rfactor hype but these seem to be the only sims that professional race teams actually use for meaningful training. I agree that netKar is very impressive but noone plays it for some reason!

[bozla]

I think Iracing is great, but it is expensive and let down a little by it's physics. Tristan, you should give Iracing another go as the physics have improved a lot. I think the original netkar still has the edge over Iracing in the handling (and AC is another level up), but Iracing makes it back by having laser scanned tracks and the standard of racing second to none. I'd like to drive in the wet though.

LFS is terribly dated. For me it has only 2 redeeming features - drifting and the fact that a lot of people still play it. However, I would take that all back if they gave us a laser scanned Rockingham.

[Aysedasi]

I don't know why (must have been bored), but after reading what andrewc said in the Project C.A.R.S thread I started, I thought I'd give this a try and handed over the cash. I appreciate that it's 'early access' and all that, but I'm a little underwhelmed. The physics feels pretty good (although it took me an age to set my wheel and pedals), but because I have an older graphics card, I've had to use the DX10 tweak without which I couldn't drive it at all. Now the scenery is total garbage and the cardboard cut-out trees obliterate half the track at the old Monza.

Maybe it looks fantastic on a newer machine, but if some fix isn't found for my graphics card to work properly with it, it's going to be money down the drain for me......

[Aysedasi]

Oh and one other thing, why can't I see the Lotus 98T?