for anyone with access to both games, how do they compare in terms of handling, graphically etc?
thanks
thanks
PC1 How does Project Cars compares to Assetto Corsa?
- Thread starter yellowpinkie
- Start date
I have access to both. They are both very good. Right now I prefer PCars because of the weather and day/night transition, oh and the AI is pretty good. AC's vehicle content is a little better right now but once PCars releases it will probably go the other way. AC supports community mods so it gets the nod there if you want more content. So with AC the player won't be beholden to what content they, the devs, want to put out. PCars physics are very good. I can't compare though because I have spent most of my time with PCars.
Put it this way... I have both because I have a serious sim racing problem and I've had just about every title at one point or another.
Put it this way... I have both because I have a serious sim racing problem and I've had just about every title at one point or another.
So the physics in pcars are good? No Bambi-on-ice handling?
I also have both (actually I have all simulators except rF2) and can with confidence state that pCars physics are really good. They are somewhat on the conservative side though when it comes to progression of grip (read: some of the cars are quite easy to recover from nasty situations.. others are not!) but the actual amount of stuff and complexity of the simulation is in a league of it's own. Heat transfers from breaks properly to various parts of the tires. The tire model is insanely complex (by far the most complex on the market at this point until iRacing gets their **** together).. for instance flat spots and aquaplaning naturally fall out of the simulation. No "canned" stuff or look-up-table stuff here. It's all dynamic and all tied to the completely dynamic weather/track temperature/moistness. Unfortunately the flat spots got tuned down quite heavily as people were complaining about their wheels shaking like crazy in the single seaters.. I hope they give us some kind of "tire damage" slider and allow for completely realistic settings after the game is released (will not happen at release though.. maybe in a patch if the community is vocal enough of this). At least we have witnessed the full awesomeness of the tire dynamics, it's just been tuned down by too much, in my opinion. It should be possible to completely destroy a slick tire in one single corner if you screw up.. that used to be the case a few hundred builds ago. It's not any more though. 
I'd say though that there are still some oddities with perhaps the differential or dampers.. something is still not perfect when it comes to the "motion" of some of the cars. This is where especially AC excells as they bob and weave in a way that I feel is more natural (not as wobbly or odd as iRacing and not as stiff and "rigid" as pCars). However, it's been said several times that this may be a visual thing as well.. not purely physics. I still think AC car cockpits and the way the head movement is done is the most natural looking movement in any game to-date.
FFB is one thing that pCars absolutely kills the competition in my opinion. First of all, it is extremely flexible and you can spend YEARS learning to set it up exactly as you want it (this is a positive for me but can be a negative for some people!). The detail, once setup to your liking, in the FFB is second to none. It's the only time I've played a sim where I can CLEARLY feel the exact optimum slip angle that I should be at which makes me LEARN to be a better driver and not putting too much lock or too little lock into each corner. It also immediately tells you if you've over cooked a corner or if there is more speed to be found in a corner. It's just so ridiculously detailed, but not over the top.
The only thing some people are missing from the FFB is a constant road rumble and "jolting around" as can be found in AC and iRacing but in my opinion these are completely secondary FFB effects and not at all pleasant! They are not at all realistic either.. when was the last time your real car's steering wheel was violently jolting around on a road? Right.. never. Because it doesn't do that. If you jump into a single seater or a stiffly sprung race car then it starts to be somewhat more violent.. even in pCars. Luckily you can tweak even this.. you simply exaggerate Fx (read: Fx TIRE forces, as in Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz tire forces.. not "effects") forces and dial in some aggressive "scoop" in the settings and you can have a shaky, weird and violent wheel too.. if that's your thing. It's also highly track specific. Some tracks are a lot more bumpy than others, which brings me to..
.. tracks. Only a hand full are laser scanned (4 of the British tracks) and it shows, unfortunately. I couldn't give a flying f**k about "accurate bumps" and crap that people always seem to associate with laser scanned tracks, no.. but the ACCURATE cambers of laser scanned tracks just makes for a much better drive. There is no competition. People saying laser scanning is over rated are crazy. Laser scanned tracks are INFINITELY better than the "normal" tracks due to how they "flow" from corner to corner.
Heck I like the laser scanned Nordschleife of AC so much that I would recommend the sim to everybody simply because of this one track alone. The Nords in pCars is not bad at all, probably the best non-laser scanned version ever created, but it's still way off the laser scanned Nords in AC. It's not even remotely in the same league.
Hopefully we get more laser scanned content for pCars in the future.
AI is an area where pCars will be shining (and already is, depending on car+track combo though). It's way better than AC (which is not saying much as the AI in Assetto Corsa is very weak) and I'd even go as far as saying that it's better, or at least "more natural" than in Stock Car Extreme, which held the previous record for great AI. They are fast enough to give even aliens a challenge (without them cheating!) and smart enough to not let you pass too easily into slow corners. They are also not afraid of going past you if you leave the door open but will race pretty clean too without causing a lot of mayhem. In short: Racing the AI in pCars is awesome! Just make sure you treat them like real people and they'll give you an exceptionally good race!
Now lets just hope the online experience will be good as well (I have very little experience with online racing in pCars) and it should be a great title with a long life.
Cheers!
I'd say though that there are still some oddities with perhaps the differential or dampers.. something is still not perfect when it comes to the "motion" of some of the cars. This is where especially AC excells as they bob and weave in a way that I feel is more natural (not as wobbly or odd as iRacing and not as stiff and "rigid" as pCars). However, it's been said several times that this may be a visual thing as well.. not purely physics. I still think AC car cockpits and the way the head movement is done is the most natural looking movement in any game to-date.
FFB is one thing that pCars absolutely kills the competition in my opinion. First of all, it is extremely flexible and you can spend YEARS learning to set it up exactly as you want it (this is a positive for me but can be a negative for some people!). The detail, once setup to your liking, in the FFB is second to none. It's the only time I've played a sim where I can CLEARLY feel the exact optimum slip angle that I should be at which makes me LEARN to be a better driver and not putting too much lock or too little lock into each corner. It also immediately tells you if you've over cooked a corner or if there is more speed to be found in a corner. It's just so ridiculously detailed, but not over the top.
The only thing some people are missing from the FFB is a constant road rumble and "jolting around" as can be found in AC and iRacing but in my opinion these are completely secondary FFB effects and not at all pleasant! They are not at all realistic either.. when was the last time your real car's steering wheel was violently jolting around on a road? Right.. never. Because it doesn't do that. If you jump into a single seater or a stiffly sprung race car then it starts to be somewhat more violent.. even in pCars. Luckily you can tweak even this.. you simply exaggerate Fx (read: Fx TIRE forces, as in Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz tire forces.. not "effects") forces and dial in some aggressive "scoop" in the settings and you can have a shaky, weird and violent wheel too.. if that's your thing. It's also highly track specific. Some tracks are a lot more bumpy than others, which brings me to..
.. tracks. Only a hand full are laser scanned (4 of the British tracks) and it shows, unfortunately. I couldn't give a flying f**k about "accurate bumps" and crap that people always seem to associate with laser scanned tracks, no.. but the ACCURATE cambers of laser scanned tracks just makes for a much better drive. There is no competition. People saying laser scanning is over rated are crazy. Laser scanned tracks are INFINITELY better than the "normal" tracks due to how they "flow" from corner to corner.
Heck I like the laser scanned Nordschleife of AC so much that I would recommend the sim to everybody simply because of this one track alone. The Nords in pCars is not bad at all, probably the best non-laser scanned version ever created, but it's still way off the laser scanned Nords in AC. It's not even remotely in the same league.
Hopefully we get more laser scanned content for pCars in the future.
AI is an area where pCars will be shining (and already is, depending on car+track combo though). It's way better than AC (which is not saying much as the AI in Assetto Corsa is very weak) and I'd even go as far as saying that it's better, or at least "more natural" than in Stock Car Extreme, which held the previous record for great AI. They are fast enough to give even aliens a challenge (without them cheating!) and smart enough to not let you pass too easily into slow corners. They are also not afraid of going past you if you leave the door open but will race pretty clean too without causing a lot of mayhem. In short: Racing the AI in pCars is awesome! Just make sure you treat them like real people and they'll give you an exceptionally good race!
Now lets just hope the online experience will be good as well (I have very little experience with online racing in pCars) and it should be a great title with a long life.
Cheers!
Last edited:
Thanks for your replies guys, helpful as always. And reassuring for someone that's pre-ordered!
Nice little write-up there bmanic. Thanks for all the info you share on the FFB settings on WMD, you certainly know your way around Pcars FFB. Hopefully you or someone else as knowledgeable can eventually create a "How To" for FFB settings in Pcars. Getting them right (subjective of course) makes a huge difference in the driving experience.
Have to agree , the AI stunning once you treat them fair , I've always wanted a sim were the AI could give you a great challenge , on most I have them on 93% difficulty and wow you have to be consistent to keep up in some cars .
Multiplayer has being a pleasure to race , but that will always depend on not having idiots there to spoil , but my experience has being good .
I just love the FFB , take a bit to getting used to set it up , but once you nailed it you can save it for that car / track, it's maybe not as good as rF2 yet but it dam close IMO .
I'm sure there will be a lot of people when the game is released will post FFB settings for different wheel combo .
Also anyone who uses oculus rift be very pleased it's way ahead of AC in that department .
Not much I can say about AC that has not being said allready -great game , I happy to have both
Multiplayer has being a pleasure to race , but that will always depend on not having idiots there to spoil , but my experience has being good .
I just love the FFB , take a bit to getting used to set it up , but once you nailed it you can save it for that car / track, it's maybe not as good as rF2 yet but it dam close IMO .
I'm sure there will be a lot of people when the game is released will post FFB settings for different wheel combo .
Also anyone who uses oculus rift be very pleased it's way ahead of AC in that department .
Not much I can say about AC that has not being said allready -great game , I happy to have both
Both are worth having, goes without saying. I'd say pCars provides a more complete experience, even in beta. AC drives a little more consistently across cars/tracks, but either the content doesn't compel me to race it or its not tied into a cohesive experience.
Once the pCars FFB "secret" is unlocked, the game came alive for me. I had been friggin' with the Wheel Strength and Tire Force for months, then I read a post about "FX Scale" (I think), and I up it from 26 to 44 and the cars are perfect. Some cars and tracks are better than others, but I can not wait to dive into the career in earnest. In beta, you have to keep deleting your profile when the updates download.
AI are great, you can't push them around, there ARE consequences to driving like an ass.
I did one afternoon of MP and it was good. It was during a bad period in the game's FFB development (in January) and I was more annoyed by that than being able to rate the MP. Also my first try on the Sakitto circuit, that was a surprise.
Once the pCars FFB "secret" is unlocked, the game came alive for me. I had been friggin' with the Wheel Strength and Tire Force for months, then I read a post about "FX Scale" (I think), and I up it from 26 to 44 and the cars are perfect. Some cars and tracks are better than others, but I can not wait to dive into the career in earnest. In beta, you have to keep deleting your profile when the updates download.
AI are great, you can't push them around, there ARE consequences to driving like an ass.
I did one afternoon of MP and it was good. It was during a bad period in the game's FFB development (in January) and I was more annoyed by that than being able to rate the MP. Also my first try on the Sakitto circuit, that was a surprise.
I've just recently come back to PCars after 2 1/2 years or more away. I've been playing AC for quite awhile. In my opinion , PCars wins hands down; better graphics, better physics, better FFB and better AI. As a matter of fact, I didn't buy the most recent "dream pack" for AC because I was so frustrated by the terrible AI. Of the big 5 , RF2 , GSC Extreme , R3E , PCars and AC, the AI in AC is the worst.
rFactor 2 is the most complete, complex and real simracing title out there, but it lacks on graphics department, which for a simracer is not the most important at all...
GSCE is another great simulator, AC is very good but lacks important features, like MP, R3E is expensive but very good, aswell as iRacing, PCars is the best at graphics and maybe AI, but not even in same league as others in physics...
GSCE is another great simulator, AC is very good but lacks important features, like MP, R3E is expensive but very good, aswell as iRacing, PCars is the best at graphics and maybe AI, but not even in same league as others in physics...
Rfactor 2 complex yes......Most complete ? absolutely not.
ISI has created an excellent engine with tons of potential and features But as a "game developer" I feel there terrible, lots of unfinished features, bugs, lack of official content and series with too much do it your self left for the user to figure out not to mention aside from the past month or 2 development has been pretty slow.
Personally I would rather see isi spend less time trying to be a game developer and focus on mastering there engine and marketing it to bigger dev teams with the finances and resources to push the engine to its limits and aquire the big official licenses.
Everyone would benefit and win
ISI has created an excellent engine with tons of potential and features But as a "game developer" I feel there terrible, lots of unfinished features, bugs, lack of official content and series with too much do it your self left for the user to figure out not to mention aside from the past month or 2 development has been pretty slow.
Personally I would rather see isi spend less time trying to be a game developer and focus on mastering there engine and marketing it to bigger dev teams with the finances and resources to push the engine to its limits and aquire the big official licenses.
Everyone would benefit and win
Well it's the big 6 and the AI in iRacing is the worst hands down.
Guys, you can put as much "disagree's" as you want, believe me, and AGAIN, rFactor2 is the most complete SIM out there, of course it has its fails, but it's far from what it was in the past! It's becoming into high levels of perfection and complexity, i bet most of you "disagreer's" never even tried it recently (that's obvious) and it's not coincidence that F1 and other motorsport teams use ISI engine in their simulators. Of course a huge complex simulator like rFactor2 is not easy to develop and get everything right in short time, but we'll talk in a few months or maybe in one year to see which is the reference in racing simulators
Most of you arcaders don't even know this guy, but it's a simracing fan who plays a lot of "sims" and do reviews about them, usually with a very unbiased opinions, just listen to what he says carefully
Most of you arcaders don't even know this guy, but it's a simracing fan who plays a lot of "sims" and do reviews about them, usually with a very unbiased opinions, just listen to what he says carefully
This is the first time I've ever seen the word "unbiased" used in reference to "Empty Box".....
From what i've heard from him, he's usually honest in his opinions, just a simracer with vast experience in simulators, in this particular one he's absolutely right, now if you fanboys can't be unbiased it's not his or my problem... i just limit myself to try various games/sims and get my own conclusions with an open mind...
He also pointed some problems related to rF2, so i don't think it's a biased opinion honestly, just like mine...
I was very disappointed with the latest rF2 patch. Feels like they removed a lot of grip. Maybe it only affected 3rd party mods like the Celica (my favorite and the only car I enjoy driving in rF2). They have a long way to go still.
I've gone back to GTR2 while waiting for pCARs release. AC doesn't pull me in, even though the driving itself is great. I prefer racing for championships offline, personally.
I've gone back to GTR2 while waiting for pCARs release. AC doesn't pull me in, even though the driving itself is great. I prefer racing for championships offline, personally.
