Worth moving from PS4 to PC?

[handbraketurn]

Afternoon,

I have a steering wheel (g29) + PlaySeat, I mainly use to learn tracks I do track days on, in particularly the ring but I might consider racing online at some point.

I am currently using GT-Sport and Assetto Corsa on PS4, I've tried most of the others and don't rate. I find all but a handful of cars on AC have odd physics, too fussy and not very realistic handling. GTS is fun, but quite arcade-ish, particularly on the ring, where it lets you get away with mounting curbs at 200mph etc.

I don't know anything about PC gaming, from what I can see, Forza and AC are good.

Been practicing the ring on GTS/PS4 and went to see what other people were getting in terms of lap times, my fastest is 5.11.

I found this video, the graphics look smoother and higher res, the perspective looks wider angle and lower down than on PS4, generally more realistic. I assume this is PC?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jkelrqfk6k

Compared to my lap on PS4 in same car, looks much better and I'm 20 seconds slower than him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8UEo71_8x0

So my question, is the gaming experience of PC over a console worth the investment? And what games are best (including F1 games)?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

HBT

[The_Jackal]

First your video is of a much lower res and actually looks really bad. This will not be how it looked on the TV.
Second, GTS is a PS4 only game, so it is not available as a PC game.
He possibly was using a PS4 Pro which may run at a better frame rate or 4k (I dont know the details but the One X has a similar leap in performance when playing Forza 7).
In my mind the biggest difference is that he has abetter setup for extracting gameplay videos. Odds are he has a decent capture card installed in a powerful PC and makes his clips that way.

[DIW35]

You may want to check this guy's Youtube channel Jimmy Broadbent

He does a lot of sim racing on a PC, including AC, and has quite a few videos up of him doing the 'ring in different cars.

[anonymous-user]

The most realistic car experience by far, for me, has been iracing. A step down in graphics but ultra unforgiving. I run it o a pc with decent wheels and pedals, and an oculus rift.

[Speckle]

The perspective and FOV are configurable on PC. The correct perspective will depend on the screen size and how far away from it you are.

A good PC is better than PS4 for driving in almost every way, plus you have more sims available and a number of different VR options if that interests you (it should, it's amazing!)

Project Cars 1 & 2 with a third in the pipeline
Assetto Corsa
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Kartkraft (limited but, great fun!)
iracing
Autobilista (a much hyped sequel due out in March which looks like it will be very, very good)
Dirt Rally 1 & 2
WRC8
RFactor 2
All the F1 games (I don't play these myself but, a friend does and loves them)
Wreckfest (for the Lolz)

I'm sure there are others I've missed but, these are the ones that sprang immediately to mind.

[ceesvdelst]

Mainly, you will not have to pay one of the richest companies in the world 60 odd quid a year for the "privilege" to play online! And receive nothing but dross in return as free games, that you can only play for a month.

Oh and pathetic 10% off offers from overpriced in sort games.

Driving wise, just miles better, but be aware a lot of titles, especially Codies stuff are just basically ports, so are still heavily reliant on console based UI.

[bigandclever]

ceesvdelst said:

Mainly, you will not have to pay one of the richest companies in the world 60 odd quid a year for the "privilege" to play online! And receive nothing but dross in return as free games, that you can only play for a month.

38quid a year from cdkeys. PS Plus games are available indefinitely if you put them in your library. Apart from that, spot on

[Mothersruin]

Speckle said:

The perspective and FOV are configurable on PC. The correct perspective will depend on the screen size and how far away from it you are.

A good PC is better than PS4 for driving in almost every way, plus you have more sims available and a number of different VR options if that interests you (it should, it's amazing!)

Project Cars 1 & 2 with a third in the pipeline
Assetto Corsa
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Kartkraft (limited but, great fun!)
iracing
Autobilista (a much hyped sequel due out in March which looks like it will be very, very good)
Dirt Rally 1 & 2
WRC8
RFactor 2
All the F1 games (I don't play these myself but, a friend does and loves them)
Wreckfest (for the Lolz)

I'm sure there are others I've missed but, these are the ones that sprang immediately to mind.

Agreed - get the Chung kid in to sort your PC out, his mum might even be fit and you're golden.

[Too Late]

Problem is with PC gaming, you will be chasing the curve of the technology. As games keep pushing the boundaries of graphics, you tend to start wanting to upgrade and it gets expensive.

Mind you thi is my experience of maybe 15 years ago when i would venture to computer fairs and get excited over 128mb ram dimms....

Oh how the times have changed

[RizzoTheRat]

Too Late said:

Problem is with PC gaming, you will be chasing the curve of the technology. As games keep pushing the boundaries of graphics, you tend to start wanting to upgrade and it gets expensive.

This!

I built a fairly modest gaming PC last year (i5-8600k, GTX1080, 1440p monitor) and it cost the best part of £2k. So far it's handled everything I've thrown at it, but a high end machine will cost a fair bit more, with top end graphics cards over £1k.
Generally speaking I think consoles are better VFM but PCs have the better games (for me).

[Oakey]

RizzoTheRat said:

Too Late said:

Problem is with PC gaming, you will be chasing the curve of the technology. As games keep pushing the boundaries of graphics, you tend to start wanting to upgrade and it gets expensive.

This!

I built a fairly modest gaming PC last year (i5-8600k, GTX1080, 1440p monitor) and it cost the best part of £2k. So far it's handled everything I've thrown at it, but a high end machine will cost a fair bit more, with top end graphics cards over £1k.
Generally speaking I think consoles are better VFM but PCs have the better games (for me).

I used to be an avid PC Gamer when I was younger but now I'm in my late 30's I prefer the ease of just using a PS4. My biggest issue with PC gaming is that I think I spent as much time tweaking gfx and display settings to get the performance 'just right' as I did actually playing games.

[Jinx]

Oakey said:

I used to be an avid PC Gamer when I was younger but now I'm in my late 30's I prefer the ease of just using a PS4. My biggest issue with PC gaming is that I think I spent as much time tweaking gfx and display settings to get the performance 'just right' as I did actually playing games.

True - but if you enjoy tweaking it does give an extra level of satisfaction. PC gaming doesn't have to be ultra expensive though - you can get some fairly good mileage out of some pretty modest equipment (Overclockers had a RX590 for £150 on black Friday - great for 1080p and pretty good at 1440p with some tweaks).

[anonymous-user]

Speckle said:

The perspective and FOV are configurable on PC. The correct perspective will depend on the screen size and how far away from it you are.

A good PC is better than PS4 for driving in almost every way, plus you have more sims available and a number of different VR options if that interests you (it should, it's amazing!)

Project Cars 1 & 2 with a third in the pipeline - available on console
Assetto Corsa - available on console
Assetto Corsa Competizione - unsure
Kartkraft (limited but, great fun!)
iracing
Autobilista (a much hyped sequel due out in March which looks like it will be very, very good)
Dirt Rally 1 & 2 - available on console
WRC8 - available on console
RFactor 2
All the F1 games (I don't play these myself but, a friend does and loves them) - available on console
Wreckfest (for the Lolz) - available on console

I'm sure there are others I've missed but, these are the ones that sprang immediately to mind.

So he should buy and build a PC for 4 games rather than buying them on console?

[anonymous-user]

Take the "expensive" bit with a pinch of salt. If you buy just behind the curve you get great value. If you want bleeding edge, you'll pay.

My PC has beein going for an age, and I've got an i7-3770K with 16Gb ram

Only upgrades I've done since the build are going to SSD, and upgrading to a GTX 970 (from £40 on ebay).

All my Rift games run at full detail. Maxed out. As do other games up to very recently.

If you buy 1080 cards and i9's then yes, you'll spend £2k.

Do it wisely and you'll spend well under £1000.

I even run 2 x 1440p monitors and they were less than £160 each.

There is great value to be had as long as you avoid buying recently released hardware.

My system never struggles. Mind you I don't play COD at 4k etc, but if I did, it would not be far off max. Games like Subnautica don't even touch the sides.

The great thing about PC gaming, apart from what's already been mentioned, is that upgrading is selective, and simple. Chances are your processor will last you an age, and it's just the graphics card that needs replacing. Mine last me around 5-ish years.

[anonymous-user]

Oakey said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Too Late said:

Problem is with PC gaming, you will be chasing the curve of the technology. As games keep pushing the boundaries of graphics, you tend to start wanting to upgrade and it gets expensive.

This!

I built a fairly modest gaming PC last year (i5-8600k, GTX1080, 1440p monitor) and it cost the best part of £2k. So far it's handled everything I've thrown at it, but a high end machine will cost a fair bit more, with top end graphics cards over £1k.
Generally speaking I think consoles are better VFM but PCs have the better games (for me).

I used to be an avid PC Gamer when I was younger but now I'm in my late 30's I prefer the ease of just using a PS4. My biggest issue with PC gaming is that I think I spent as much time tweaking gfx and display settings to get the performance 'just right' as I did actually playing games.

OP this, have a look at the Red Dead Redemption thread, seemingly some of the issues were of Rockstars making but you just dont have these issues on consoles

I love gaming and used to PC game, now I have 4k Consoles and due to time contraints I am able to quickly fire it up and play for an hour then shut down rather than any faff

[Speckle]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Odd comment, given that I mentioned about a dozen but, whatever.

I got the distinct impression from the OP that driving games are the priority in which case a PC is probably the better option as there are more relevant titles available. If it is general gaming, it will depend on the type of games played and whether or not co-op play is important and the platform the OPs friends play on - assuming he plans to play with them.

Lots of factors to consider but, for purely driving/racing games - PC all the way.

[anonymous-user]

Speckle said:

Odd comment, given that I mentioned about a dozen but, whatever.

I got the distinct impression from the OP that driving games are the priority in which case a PC is probably the better option as there are more relevant titles available. If it is general gaming, it will depend on the type of games played and whether or not co-op play is important and the platform the OPs friends play on - assuming he plans to play with them.

Lots of factors to consider but, for purely driving/racing games - PC all the way.

If you look I have edited your list to show which of the 12 are also available on console leaving only 4

[Speckle]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Ah - that makes it much less of an odd comment then.

Mine was not an exhaustive list but, even if it were, I would still argue that PC is far better for driving racing games if there is any sort of plan to get semi serious. Force feedback can be tweaked and config files manipulated to the user's preference. There is a huge modding community, for assetto corsa especially that utterly transforms the game and the breadth of available content.

The hardware possibilities for this kind of gaming are also far more extensive (and potentially expensive) on PC.

For the casual gamer, a console is fine. I was exclusively a console gamer for years, which included racing games. Now I use a PC for racing games and a console for casual/social gaming. Driving games on PC are, in my experience, far more rewarding overall than on console

[anonymous-user]

Speckle said:

Ah - that makes it much less of an odd comment then.

Mine was not an exhaustive list but, even if it were, I would still argue that PC is far better for driving racing games if there is any sort of plan to get semi serious. Force feedback can be tweaked and config files manipulated to the user's preference. There is a huge modding community, for assetto corsa especially that utterly transforms the game and the breadth of available content.

The hardware possibilities for this kind of gaming are also far more extensive (and potentially expensive) on PC.

For the casual gamer, a console is fine. I was exclusively a console gamer for years, which included racing games. Now I use a PC for racing games and a console for casual/social gaming. Driving games on PC is, in my experience, a far more rewarding experience.

Yeah apologies I didn't make it hugely clear

I think the casual bit is key, as I say I have minimal time these days so need to be able to fire up and play, the consoles download any updates for me in sleep mode so I am always ready to go, horses for courses I guess but PC gaming still feels like as much of a engineering hobby as a gaming hobby

[Speckle]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I wouldn't disagree with that. For driving sims, I quite enjoy upgrading the hardware and fiddling around with mods. For social gaming, I just want to fire up the console and play.