On sale - worth it for solo player (I did search before posting)?

William Wester · May 30, 2020

I've been away from sim racing for quite some time but the ACC demo caught my eye and thought why not give it a try. Well, initially I'm impressed, seems to run pretty good on my hardware (looks fantastic) and after a couple of hours "with a controller only" (great controller control but I will be using my wheel setup most of the time) I'm liking what I'm seeing. But, I'm not interested in multiplayer competition so I'm looking for opinions on the game for solo racing. How is the Championship and Career modes? How is the AI?

Note, I'm not expecting a lot for $20 but if I can get some hours of decent AI competition I'd be fine. GT3 has always been my favorite series. Also, I do own every other sim available, and a number of non-sim racing games. rF2 and Raceroom use to be my favorites for tinkering around - I am a graphics/sounds whore so ACC is ticking that box!

Thanks

i7-9700k, GTX1080ti, 16GB, SSD install, 3440x1440 w/Gsync, Thrustmaster TX, T3PA Pro pedals.

PickABetterUsername01 · May 30, 2020

I find the AI atrocious(boring, train AI) and career probably one of the worst I've seen.

Imo, ACC is only worth it for multiplayer.

maelstrom · May 30, 2020

PickABetterUsername01 said:
Imo, ACC is only worth it for multiplayer.

I disagree. For various reasons at the moment I'm mainly racing single player and the AI seems to give me a good enough race. There's a very long thread on the official forum about the AI with plenty of arguments for and against. I haven't tried the career modes so can't comment on that.

Jens Roos · May 30, 2020

base game currently have free weekend on steam if you have not noticed that already

David Wright · May 30, 2020

Its free for the rest of the weekend. If you have a reasonably modern PC its worth a try.

DrRob · May 30, 2020

I do mainly SP races. The AI is not a human being of course. It depends on what you expect of the sim.
If you seek for fierce battles with opponents, seamless reaction to your attacks, etc, then AI singleplayer of ACC will fall short. Not sure any game in SP mode can achieve that.
I see SP races more in an endurance way. The AI is really competitive in terms of consitency. And here I want to build my strength. If you set Aggro to 90+ they will surely exploit every mistake you make to pass you. But sometimes it feels they just give up after you passed them. But overall good enough for me racing the AI to build my driving skills.

The occasional MP will give you more "erratic" behaviour of opponents and help you build better overtaking skills. ;-) So I think both modes complement each other quite well.

I've done carrer mode and now championship mode. It's not a cinematic experience, this is not the F1 game. By far not. I enjoy it nonetheless.

William Wester · May 31, 2020

Jens Roos said:
base game currently have free weekend on steam if you have not noticed that already

Yes, but I have limited time this weekend hence my question. Thanks

William Wester · May 31, 2020

DrRob said:
I do mainly SP races. The AI is not a human being of course. It depends on what you expect of the sim.
If you seek for fierce battles with opponents, seamless reaction to your attacks, etc, then AI singleplayer of ACC will fall short. Not sure any game in SP mode can achieve that.
I see SP races more in an endurance way. The AI is really competitive in terms of consitency. And here I want to build my strength. If you set Aggro to 90+ they will surely exploit every mistake you make to pass you. But sometimes it feels they just give up after you passed them. But overall good enough for me racing the AI to build my driving skills.

The occasional MP will give you more "erratic" behaviour of opponents and help you build better overtaking skills. ;-) So I think both modes complement each other quite well.

I've done carrer mode and now championship mode. It's not a cinematic experience, this is not the F1 game. By far not. I enjoy it nonetheless.

Thanks for your response. I liked rF2 AI as it felt like a human competitor "at times". They would protect, attack, and race side by side, for the most part. I also thought Raceroom had decent AI, but a little too aggressive at times. I never liked Assetto Corsa's AI but thought they may have improved the AI in ACC.

William Wester · May 31, 2020

PickABetterUsername01 said:
I find the AI atrocious(boring, train AI) and career probably one of the worst I've seen.

Imo, ACC is only worth it for multiplayer.

I understand... some will only get they fix from multiplayer. I personally don't race multiplayer as I don't have the time to practice and learn car setups and the few times I did I found some racers took the racing too seriously - mistakes happen! I got a bad taste in my mouth from a few racers that ruined my enjoyment. My $.02

jcuff · Jun 1, 2020

I only play SP. As an old gear head I love the immersion, the graphics and just racing cars: tuning setups for both car and my sim rig to max it out. I was a die hard PC2 guys until my TX broke last year. I just upgraded to a CSW 2.5 and got back into it. Then I realized how bad FFB was in PC2. It was frustrating and couldn't be consistent. So I switched to AC and ACC and wow. I think CSP/SOL/AC actually looks better then ACC and much better in VR then PC2. In AC AI I have fun and feel like they block and keep me competitive. ACC is similar but probably 10% dumber then AC. I race at 90/80. It is worth it for ACC? Yes.
Easier to setup look goods out of the box. Just wish it has few more street cars.

I did notice that to get the right graphics make sure you have contrast to 60+ and exposure to 55+ and that made the image pop and look great with KTAA and most things at High-Epic. I think because AC has better lighting and AA it looks cleaner but ACC has better textures/track/car models.

Sorry for a TMI

MPortnoy · Jun 1, 2020

Agree 100% with @DrRob

Once upon a time the AI in ACC was more aggressive but as a result they'd take you out in chicanes and went for crazy moves, which I honestly didn't like cause they were too unpredictable and blind.....it reminded me of Raceroom.
Nowadays they are more tame but more consistent, however pick the right skill level (and by right I mean challenging) and they will still fight you at times and you'll have a hard time passing them as you make places and the race progresses.
I hope Kunos finds the right balance and bumps up the aggression a bit tho.
rF2 used to be my favorite sim for AI racing, now it's ACC.

PickABetterUsername01 · Jun 1, 2020

Damn, people must be fine with mediocre stuff to believe ACC AI is good lol.

MPortnoy · Jun 1, 2020

PickABetterUsername01 said:
Damn, people must be fine with mediocre stuff to believe ACC AI is good lol.

Out of curiosity, can you name one game with exceptional human like AI behaviour?
And by human like I don't mean the erratic divebombers you find in every game in multiplayer, but as in a professional racers like

PickABetterUsername01 · Jun 2, 2020

MPortnoy said:
Out of curiosity, can you name one game with exceptional human like AI behaviour?
And by human like I don't mean the erratic divebombers you find in every game in multiplayer, but as in a professional racers like

Codemaster's F1 game is a million times better than ACC, races actually feel like races. ACC AI is like playing enduro, just one big train with a few gaps where nothing happens.

MPortnoy · Jun 2, 2020

PickABetterUsername01 said:
Codemaster's F1 game is a million times better than ACC, races actually feel like races. ACC AI is like playing enduro, just one big train with a few gaps where nothing happens.

Ok, I'll take your word for it. I'm not a huge fan of F1 cars and even less so of Codemaster's games.

manu68 · Jun 2, 2020

The answer is YES.

AI is very decent. Career mode is not a Career mode, but racine against AI is nice.
Event board is nice too.
André of course various weather, night and day, ...