But AC has more quality. 100% laserscanned tracks and official cars is not simple to say.
And is the only game that has that. And it is the flaw off rF2. Limited content that is supported mainly from modders = less fidelity.
Jim, I have simple questions for you!
Q: What resolution is the laser scanning performed at... And what resolution is that applied in game?
A: Laser scanning is data acquisition. Imagine we have 1cm resolution. A track has a budget of say 50,000 to 100,000 polygons. 1 Meter squared is 10,000 cm squared. I think you may need a super computer to run these laser scanned tracks.
Unless they reduce the quality. If they reduce the quality from 1cm to 1m. How is that different from using regular surveying at 1 meter resolution?
Regular surveying is not wrong compared to laser scanning. It's slower and less detailed yes. But if you capture at one meter and use at one meter, what is the difference?
When you have lot's of something and want to reduce it, in computing terms that can be known as normalising. They could try to do it by hand, but there is no way they'd be able to release tracks as quick as they have. So when you normalise, you lose almost all the features but are left with a detailed skeleton. That's what the 3D guys will then massage by hand, referencing photos and other data to include key elements of the track.
This is no different to how ISI do it or iR or RRE. The only difference is how much you pay for the data. One tracks laser scanned data can be the same cost as licensing another whole track. Traditional surveying methods are a fraction of that.
Now given all that above. Is it not clear to everyone involved in sim racing by now, that we play a game of averages?
Yes the fidelity of these home simulators is incredible and likely better than what F1 teams had even a few short years ago. But we are still at 1m, not 1cm, not 1mm.
As accurate as it can be made, is still ballpark, not reality.
Q: So when a modder makes a car. Does he just guess?
A: No. To be able to get to the level of creating a car in a game. You are way past the point of guessing. As a modder, you may not have access to 1cm resolution, but as we've seen, you do not need it.
These engineers, or modding teams are not just hacks, they are often the people you will see in a few years working for themselves (ASR/URD) or other developers (COM8/Feels3)
We'll see badly converted works from untalented converters, but it's been a very long time since I've seen a 'bad mod' released.
Don't take mods all so seriously. They are 'fun' and designed to provoke memories that we all had growing up watching this great sport we love.