Community Question | Wet or Dry?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Question time! In this new post, I'd like to know how much love our RaceDepartment community have for racing in less than ideal conditions...

We've all seen the comments over the years of "no rain, no buy" or variations on the theme - heck, a few short years ago that was pretty much all one would see whenever a new update came out for the likes of the original Assetto Corsa, Automobilista or RaceRoom simulation.

In recent years Kunos and Reiza brought out new titles, both of which contain a wide range of different weather conditions, but frankly as a fan of the wet stuff I never seem to be able to find a server running rainy conditions, and whenever I do stumble across rain unexpectedly at race start, the sheer number of disconnects people perform before lap one is even completed has almost become laughable.

So, with that said, I'd like to know how many of us here at RD actually enjoy racing in wet conditions, and if you would actively search out these settings when looking to engage in a bit of online racing.


Go!

 

[PeperoniDoMal]

It depends, in multyplayer I don't run because I like to keep my sanity, but in singleplayer it's quite fun to run in adverse conditions

 

[manu68]

I am not looking for wet races, but if it rains during the race i dont quit.

 

[Peter Kerényi]

I welcome wet weather. In dry (public) races the top qualifier(s) usually have some dry qualification setups for "meta" combinations (and usually cannot race). I love it when something levels the field.

I remember when a race started in light rain in ACC. I put on wets expecting it to get worse, but it didn't. In the second half of the 20min race I ate up the tires and started falling back, it was such a dynamic and exciting experience. Unfortunately it doesn't rain much online in public races...

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Wet. dry, that fun stage in the middle when you don't know what tyres to put on, all good.

 

[Paul McCluskey]

Liking it more on Ps4 ACC as it just looks naff not raining, was running in the rain at pcars 2 in ginetta but it was real tricky with the aquaplaning with little to no throttle and still losing control so frustrating. but yeah give me weather that's not sunshine all the time and I'm happy.

 

[daveclifton]

I remember the wet races from GP3, with the drying line. That was really great to race.

 

[vilivili]

Often the race starts before it's wet and then I get complaints

 

[IceColdBeard_24]

I'm faster on the wet somehow but I like how you can play with the boundaries of the car whereas dry is pretty straightforward. Again depends on the lobby as usual

 

[mopro]

I just don't have the skill to race in the wet and also at night. Wet at night is just pure nightmare.

 

[BonoVox_]

Everything is better when it's wet.

 

[Nick Hill]

Rain is fine. All other things being equal, I'd prefer a sim to support rain, but don't think it'll ever be a must have feature for me. Most races occur in the dry.

Don't get me wrong - wet looks cool, it's a good test of driver skill, etc - but I wonder sometimes if, thanks to the current state of F1, maybe wet weather racing is a little extra fetishized at the moment since it's one of the few things that gives us any unpredictability. It's only a hypothesis, but I have been watching some old race replays from the 80's and 00's and it is striking to hear the "oh no, hopefully the rain can hold off" attitudes from the announcers. That's a far cry from "Martin, do your rain dance!"

 

[toxinpowe]

This is a teaser for rain finally coming to AC right? right?

 

[Jason Mullin]

I like the wet when it surprises me. You join a server with random weather when halfway through a 30 minute race, rain drops start hitting the windshield. This causes you to think quickly as you're on slicks.

How far am I from the pits?
Will the guy behind me pit?
Is it a passing light rain or are we about to get **** on?

The decision making process and results from those decisions adds to the immersion, so yes I love the wet.

 

[McGherkin]

I love racing in the rain. In sim and real life. It's often the time where you find out the drivers who can drive at 90% in a fast car and the ones who can drive at 110% in a slow one, because for the most part it's about the driver rather than the car. Because there's so much unpredictability and the circuit constantly changes, it weeds out the hotlappers.

That said, in my class IRL and often in sim racing, you have a mix of RWD, FWD and AWD cars and the latter two do get an advantage in the wet (FWD because the worst you can do is power understeer so you can push harder, and AWD for obvious reasons), but otherwise I'll be all over the chance to race in the wet stuff.

This is a teaser for rain finally coming to AC right? right?

Rain has been in AC for a while, but the real cool stuff is not far off....

 

[Terje Helle]

Real weather, tier wear and track state makes the racing less guitar hero. It makes racing what it should be, a dynamic thing.

 

[Easty]

My first ever online race win was a RF2 1 hr race at Mid Ohio, it was raining for the first half of the race then started to dry out, had quite a lead but the last few laps the faster guys started to catch up and a very stressfull last few laps defending.
Had a race in Grand Prix 4 , Malaysia GP , big lead with 10 laps to go then it started raining, pull into pits for wet tires then had an AI Michael Schumacher chasing me down to finish the race with him side by side over the finish line with me half a front wing in front.
Dont mind the odd wet race but it dose start up a bit of crying from a few.
Mostly from the faster guys that like the races to be set more like a hot lap server.

 

[Kevin Troschinski]

pro: rain looks good in games (most of them). Or even fantastic sometimes

contra: In most cases driving in the rain just feels like your wheel is damaged or ffb just false

As a single player i would say in most cases driving in the rain against AI is sensless, because its so much unbalanced. Either you are way too strong and AI cant keep up or you have completly no chance.
So i avoid rain racing where i can

 

[mantasisg]

If handling is believable and game performance is good then I'd never quit even the most horrible weather race in simulation. I would still be sitting warm, dry and cosy behind computer anyway.... I have no idea what all the soyboys are afraid about racing in wet in simulation video game.

I loved how wet track was working with physics in ACC in its initial early access release. Since then stuff quickly changed because physics didn't satisfy majority, I don't know if anything comes close by now.

 

[Raikku]

I'm not racing on wet