Most realistic race sim?
Discussion
I have been out of the computer game scne for years, but seeings as the kit car is now deffinately staying in the garage for the forseeable future I need some amusment..
So which is the best racing simulator game with realstic physics and noises? (Oh, its for a PC...) Need for speed porsche has to be one of my old favorites....but whats available now thats worth spending £40 on?
So which is the best racing simulator game with realstic physics and noises? (Oh, its for a PC...) Need for speed porsche has to be one of my old favorites....but whats available now thats worth spending £40 on?
GPL and GTR2 are my two favourites. Race 07 looks good, and a friend of mine is raving about it, but I haven't played it yet as my web connection isn't stable enough to download a 500Mb demo!
If you've been out of it for a while now, make sure your PC is up to the job of running a newish sim. GPL should run easily on any machine nowadays though.
If you've been out of it for a while now, make sure your PC is up to the job of running a newish sim. GPL should run easily on any machine nowadays though.
My personal favourite is GT Legends. Whether it's the most realistic in pure numerical terms is up for debate, but the subjective feel is amazing; Minis nip round corners that big-block V8 cars have to be very gently coaxed into unless you fancy understeering gracelessly into a wall.
I know rFactor and its various modifications are supposed to be top of the tree, but whenever I play that I always find myself thinking, "that suspension movement seems odd" or "this car doesn't feel quite right somehow", when in GTL all my attention would be concentrated on trying to find a way past the car in front.
I know rFactor and its various modifications are supposed to be top of the tree, but whenever I play that I always find myself thinking, "that suspension movement seems odd" or "this car doesn't feel quite right somehow", when in GTL all my attention would be concentrated on trying to find a way past the car in front.
kambites said:
Probably "grand prix legends". It's getting a bit long in the tooth now and the graphics are, by modern standards, shocking. However, it's got a fantastic physics engine.
There are many updates for GPL that amongst other things improve the graphics considerably.Have a look at the race sim central forums - all the info is available there.
garybezz said:
kambites said:
Probably "grand prix legends". It's getting a bit long in the tooth now and the graphics are, by modern standards, shocking. However, it's got a fantastic physics engine.
There are many updates for GPL that amongst other things improve the graphics considerably.Have a look at the race sim central forums - all the info is available there.
The graphics and sounds have all been updated very successfully. As for the cars, I've got the '65 and '69 updates. The physics has allegedly improved slightly in the '65 cars, although I haven't driven it enough to know to be honest (can't play anymore as I work away from home). The slip angles were all wrong on the original sim, and whilst I still rate it as one of the most realistic sims out there, there was a weird effect where you could correct oversteer with positive lock.. sadly I think it's still present in the '65 version despite the updates.daveco said:
Try and get your hands on a second hand x-box 360 and purchase forza 2-by far the best looking and best handling driving simulator. All the cars sound like their real life counterparts too and you can have fun swapping parts and adding de-cals to the body.
I've never driven Forza 2, but how's it compare with the Playstation's Gran Turismo series? The cars in GT handle nothing like real cars - dreadful!Forza is much better than what's been released in the GT series so far - the most obvious difference is what happens when you (virtually) "boot it" in a powerful car on a slow corner.
GT4 - a front wheel drive car will snap round the corner like an overgrown Scalextric, a rear wheel drive one will plough straight off in terminal understeer.
F2 - the FWD car will spin all the power away through the inside wheel and understeer a bit, the RWD will be facing backwards.
I'm not sure it's quite up with the best, but then again I haven't played it with a proper wheel.
GT4 - a front wheel drive car will snap round the corner like an overgrown Scalextric, a rear wheel drive one will plough straight off in terminal understeer.
F2 - the FWD car will spin all the power away through the inside wheel and understeer a bit, the RWD will be facing backwards.
I'm not sure it's quite up with the best, but then again I haven't played it with a proper wheel.
Thanks for the summary. The strange issue that I found with Gran Turismo is that when you neutralise the car on corner entry if it goes into slight oversteer that's it - you're going to crash. Most (sorry, all) cars in real life will move back and forth between oversteer and understeer effortlessly as you change the balance/steering, GT just gets into terminal oversteer. Plus, as you mention, the strangeness that means you can floor an M5 in first gear in a hairpin and not get any oversteer!
RobM77 said:
Thanks for the summary. The strange issue that I found with Gran Turismo is that when you neutralise the car on corner entry if it goes into slight oversteer that's it - you're going to crash. Most (sorry, all) cars in real life will move back and forth between oversteer and understeer effortlessly as you change the balance/steering, GT just gets into terminal oversteer. Plus, as you mention, the strangeness that means you can floor an M5 in first gear in a hairpin and not get any oversteer!
Oh, thank god some people actually think GT is a bit crap! All I ever hear is how it's amazingly realistic, and yet when I play it I know it's nothing of the sort.For starters, is it any wonder, what with it being a Japanese game, that the fastest cars on the game in terms of winning anything overall are four-wheel-drive turbo techno-bombs? Attempt to drive anything with RWD on that game with the same gusto as you do with FWD and 4WD and you'll spin off. As a result, driving RWD on GT requires so much faffing about and fine-tuning that you'll never win a race in one.
I think that in attempting ultra-realism, they've merely made it too hard to race unless you've got all the driver aids on. However, because there's no real G-force acting on the driver, you'll never know when the car's going to snap anyway.
That's why I nominate GPL and Rally Trophy. Both focus on the '60s, and all the cars are difficult to handle, so everyone's in the same boat. A lightness of touch, rather than overconfident bravado, will see you winning a race and it's a whole lot more satisfying than GT.
I got sick to death of the sight of that Pikes Peak Escudo by the time my mates had moved on from GT3.
The OP was talking about PC games, and GT4 was never available for PC. I have been playing it a lot recently though - Flatmate and I stick it in time trial mode and one-up each other until we hit a perfect lap on whatever track we're doing 
However for PC, I'd recommend the Need For Speed Underground / Most Wanted / Carbon series. Quite forgiving handling, but huge amounts of fun, tanking around a huge street map.
However for PC, I'd recommend the Need For Speed Underground / Most Wanted / Carbon series. Quite forgiving handling, but huge amounts of fun, tanking around a huge street map.
Twincam16 said:
RobM77 said:
Thanks for the summary. The strange issue that I found with Gran Turismo is that when you neutralise the car on corner entry if it goes into slight oversteer that's it - you're going to crash. Most (sorry, all) cars in real life will move back and forth between oversteer and understeer effortlessly as you change the balance/steering, GT just gets into terminal oversteer. Plus, as you mention, the strangeness that means you can floor an M5 in first gear in a hairpin and not get any oversteer!
Oh, thank god some people actually think GT is a bit crap! All I ever hear is how it's amazingly realistic, and yet when I play it I know it's nothing of the sort.For starters, is it any wonder, what with it being a Japanese game, that the fastest cars on the game in terms of winning anything overall are four-wheel-drive turbo techno-bombs? Attempt to drive anything with RWD on that game with the same gusto as you do with FWD and 4WD and you'll spin off. As a result, driving RWD on GT requires so much faffing about and fine-tuning that you'll never win a race in one.
I think that in attempting ultra-realism, they've merely made it too hard to race unless you've got all the driver aids on. However, because there's no real G-force acting on the driver, you'll never know when the car's going to snap anyway.
That's why I nominate GPL and Rally Trophy. Both focus on the '60s, and all the cars are difficult to handle, so everyone's in the same boat. A lightness of touch, rather than overconfident bravado, will see you winning a race and it's a whole lot more satisfying than GT.
I got sick to death of the sight of that Pikes Peak Escudo by the time my mates had moved on from GT3.
I forgot about Rally Trophy actually. I had a quick go on that a few years ago and loved it. I must order a copy Glad we agree on GT. I can't think of a single real car I've ever driven that handles like the cars in that game do. Even the 4WD cars do it - you get into a slight oversteer slide on turn in and it's uncorrectable. A deeply flawed driving model!
Gassing Station | Video Games | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff