Raceroom possibly the most best/intense racing offline!!

Msportdan · Nov 30, 2017

Wow just wow

Havent played Raceroom for ages but came back and bought all the content (bar 3 new cars) and with new update ive had some amazing races against the AI..Literally gone 10 minutes fighting the same 2-3 cars. This isn't about starting at the back and being able to get to the front in 4 laps.. no way!!! (cough pc2 cough)

This is Ai at its best in sim racing atm, even giving the great rf2 a run for its money.!!! This Ai will not give up the place, and now there quite clean in the process. You can almost think your facing a good grid of humans!

I'm not on the official forums just want to say thanks to S3 making this great fun and challenging against AI, for those who don't want to get smashed online every other lap!

Not to mention the physics and ffb is pretty dam good as well.. no more bloody tinkering!! thank you!

UMC 22 · Dec 1, 2017

You should try it in our racing club. If you love offline then you're sure to love online!

Rob Fitness · Dec 1, 2017

Sounds great. I’m looking forward to trying it out for 1st tonight and AI racing is my main use so this is exciting to read

DavidDraexe · Dec 1, 2017

It's the most intense sim racing ever, the immersion, AI, feeling, ffb, physics are top notch, especially in VR.
And when they'll have decent online features like Iracing (with safety ratings etc) no other sim will come close.

DayGlow · Dec 1, 2017

Agreed with the ai, love it. Just need to tame the ramming and it would be perfect.

Makes it a little frustrating in practice as I take it easy in my out lap and the ai smashes right into me. Especially in VR with the bone crunching sound of being hit.

Lars Hansen · Dec 1, 2017

Couldn't agree more with the OP.
I just had the two most exciting races I've ever had in R3E, and that's against some pretty stiff competition.
I'll get some vids uploaded tomorrow, but I honestly can't be buggered to start rendering them now.

Anyway, I looked at the patch-notes and saw "better AI awareness, less chance of turning into you" etc.
So I thought, what would be a good test for some close-action racing?
Cup cars on a small track? Yep, sounds about right.
So I did the BMW 235i's at Monza, Jr. Started 17th, went to 8th, back to 10th, and ended in 9th.
And I fought for every single one of those positions.

Plenty of rubbing (unavoidable, given the nature of the race) but not once did I get spun off.
Not even when I missed my braking-point and pretty much plowed into the guy in front of me.

"Well, that went rather splendidly" I thought to myself after that race.
I wonder what else it can do post-patch?
Pre-patch, Turn 1 at Nürburgring would pretty much guarantee a complete shambles, especially if you're using standing starts.
And if you were daft enough to try for the inside line in T2, T3 and the final hairpin, the AI would simply run you over.
So let's try that.

Now, what to run there......Hmmmm.......Well, the AI has had trouble with the bigger and heavier machines, so why not throw the Gr. 5s into the mix?
How big a grid? Well, this is 64-bit now, right? Let's have some fun.
How about the entire Gr. 5 field in R3E?
Sure, 44 Group 5 cars at Nürburgring.......What could possibly go wrong?

And a few things did go wrong, but not by much.
I had two earlier attempts that I discarded the recordings for. Not because of the AI, but because I spun on my own, and lost the grid, which would make for a pretty boring show.
And in both of those, the entire grid made it through T1 unscathed.

In the third one that I kept, two cars did touch and spun mid-field. Here's the interesting bit, though.
Pre-patch they would've tried rejoining immediately, and would've taken half the grid with them.
This time they did exactly what we try to teach rookies here at RD:
If you spin on the racing-line, lock your brakes and let the field find its own way around you. Only proceed when it's safe.
Which they did. They just sat there while the grid (in 2-3 cases with some difficulty) trundled past them, and then they rejoined at the back.

I did get tapped twice, once on Lap 1 and once on Lap 2 (second one was probably my own fault TBH). But once the field got itself sorted out, no more contacts.
At all.
In Group 5s......

And in both cases, though I got tapped out of the track, there was no danger of spinning.
I just took the scenic route through the grass for a bit, lost a few positions, then rejoined and continued racing.

So......
@J-F Chardon Kudos to you and Sector 3, very well done.
This is some seriously impressive stuff.

Kenny Paton · Dec 2, 2017

@Lars Hansen does this update alter your AI training instructions?
Now a video of you and GR5's at Macau I'd pay good money to see that.

BBKing212 · Dec 2, 2017

Kenny Paton said:
@Lars Hansen does this update alter your AI training instructions?
Now a video of you and GR5's at Macau I'd pay good money to see that.

That would be fun

and insane.
@Ross Garland would you dare to organize Group5 and GTO on Macau

apex11 · Dec 2, 2017

sim racings best kept secret. For me RRE is a WTCC simulator (FWD is almost perfect in this game), the rest of the content is a bonus.

Lars Hansen · Dec 2, 2017

Kenny Paton said:
@Lars Hansen does this update alter your AI training instructions?
Now a video of you and GR5's at Macau I'd pay good money to see that.

Doesn't look like it.
I didn't have a trained AI for the Gr5s@Nürburgring so I went through my usual routine to set them up, and that worked fine.
My biggest worry was that the new physics would change the GT3s so much that they'd need retraining, but that looks OK too.
I did a handful of tracks just to check the lap-times, and the new GT3s ARE generally a smidge faster.
But we're talking 3-4 tenths of a second, which is well within the margin of error on most tracks.
Granted, for something like the Nords, you may want to drop the AI one or two levels, but I honestly don't think it'll be necessary.
So while it's early days yet, and there's a lot of testing still to be done, it is looking very good overall.

As for the Gr5s@Macau against the AI.........
There isn't enough money in the universe.

EDIT: Tell you what, though. I'll do it.
If you do a video of the FRX@Portimao.

Case_ · Dec 2, 2017

Kenny Paton said:
Now a video of you and GR5's at Macau I'd pay good money to see that.

That actually sounds like a fun Saturday evening

(or not...?)

Lars Hansen · Dec 2, 2017

Here we go:

Lars Hansen · Dec 2, 2017

Oh, what the hell, one more before bedtime.
(This new AI even has me doing FWD.....The world is ending, I'm telling ya

)

Case_ · Dec 3, 2017

Yeah, I've done that Macau race. A solid improvement for the AI, but probably not very entertaining to watch...

Terry Rock · Dec 3, 2017

Good post by the OP.
The software seems somewhat transformed.
I took a few cars out yesterday, after months of not touching the thing. It felt like a new sim and a whole lot better.
I did not touch one single setting.
Not required, was all the 'fiddling' with endless settings just to get the car to feel like a car.
It was actually a lot of fun to drive.
That sound, Jesus!... it's nice.

Paul Bennett · Dec 3, 2017

The AI was the killer for me, can't believe it took S3 so long to fix it but now it's just like any other sim finally

Msportdan · Dec 3, 2017

its better than most other sims actually bar rf2 (maybe)

Certainly better than pcars1/2, AC and even AMS.

Hygge · Dec 3, 2017

I've been doing offline races pretty much the whole weekend.
The ai is so much better - very rarely ramming you anymore - just giving you a gentle nudge every now and then. Then there's the fantastic redone physics of the GT3 cars. They feel so much alive now compared to the old somewhat sterile feel.
Those two elements were my main concerns before and now that they have improved this RRE is definitely my main sim from now on. I like the way they slowly improved the sim by making each part better and introducing new features. It is so fantastic racing the GT3 cars that it almost feels like the new GTR2. How can the new Simbin studio make this better (though I wish they can with the help from Sector3).
One thing in particular that I like about the offline racing is that when you pass an opponent they don't just give up but keep on pushing you so you race both those in front and those behind you. In most other sims I always tend to end up doing my own race not being able to catch up the cars in front and leaving the cars behind way back but not in this sim. I'm so much looking forward to the next generation of RRE with a new grapichs engine (even though I think they have the most photorealistic palette of any sim even if the engine isn't as good at dynamic light as for example AC), nigtht and day, rain and new content - and hopefully a few Ferraris tossed in as well.
Well done Sector3!

Emery · Dec 3, 2017

Hygge said:
One thing in particular that I like about the offline racing is that when you pass an opponent they don't just give up but keep on pushing you so you race both those in front and those behind you.

AMS, rF2 give you that same fight. All three will shut the door if you're not up to the AI's midpoint. rF2 AI tends to be gentle about shutting the door whereas AMS & R3E slam the door shut. The AI in pCARS 2 give up the position before you reach their mid-point and do the conga line. I can't remember what AC does... other than their tendency to drive off the track and appear to race each other.

Edit: AC doesn't appear to have any context about their racing position. They won't yield a poorly timed divebomb and push you out of the way even if they haven't reached halfway along your car. They also give up positions for no reason. Anything that looks like a defensive move is purely random chance.