Sim Discussion Monday - RaceRoom Racing Experience

[Paul Jeffrey]

Another working week on the horizon and to lighten the mood (probably), let's have ourselves a discussion about RaceRoom Racing Experience..

The sim with the silly name, RaceRoom Racing Experience has plenty of licenced racing content to offer players who can navigate their way through the occasionally confusing pricing and store structure.

If you do manage to find you way into the game itself then you are rewarded by a product that has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. With plenty of officially licenced racing series to be found (no road car nonsense here), a very robust and varied selection of greater and lesser known circuits and easily the best audio experience in the sim racing marketplace, RaceRoom and Sector3 Studios have pulled together a very compelling product for sim racers to enjoy.

With all that said, the core game experience does still lack in several fundamental areas before it can genuinely be considered a true racing simulation, to be frank that same accusation can be levelled at pretty much all the current crop of sims to varying degrees, and what it does it does very well indeed.

So in the spirit of sharing our collective experiences and knowledge can our community let us all know what we like / don't like about the sim, share any useful tips to get the most from the title, let us know what you'd like to see in the future and just generally shoot the breeze for a day or two about Sector3 Studios current racing simulation..


Mondays be like...

Image credits: M-Bimmer and TheReaper GT

 

[Deleted member 99238]

R3E this is the best sound and the best package of tracks. The general impression is spoiled by an out-of-date graphics engine, but at the moment the picture seems quite acceptable.

 

[F_B]

R3E handles it best with offering complete car packages/series. Loving their content, especially the GTO cars and the Group 5 cars, which you don’t find often and this complete in other sims. So big thumps up for that.
However I have some problems with the handling of the cars, they don’t feel as good as for example AC or rfactor 2 imo. That’s completely subjective, I know, but I didn’t manage to get the ffb and handling working as in the mentioned sims yet, though it improved already when they released the overhauled physics for many cars some time ago.

 

[Cohen]

I like 'comment loading'.............................................................................Main Menu click start button 'Loading'...............................................................alt F4 'Loading'............................................................

 

[ionONE1]

My main problem is the grip difference between practice and qualy/race. Once you enter qualy the grip levels change drastically, cars are 1-2 second faster by default nullifying the carefully crafted setup changes from earlier. Rubber textures are static at all times, just like the grip levels even with 30 cars on track.

 

[RustyDriver00]

It's definitely an awesome game, and I'm not usually a graphics person but something does seem lacking in the graphic department to me, mainly with the cars, they just look a bit cartoony at times when comparing to AC and rf2 dx11.

The game itself is a lot of fun, and I would probably say the very best game for new comers to sim racing. Not having too many features is actually not a bad thing when it comes to starting out and the UI is top notch.

I had my first ever online club race in r3e so I am incredibly greatful for this game!

My only real feedback would be that they should bring back the experiences, maybe not as a full separate menu like they were but more along the lines if you select chsmpionship mode, you can select an actual series to run and it defaults to all the available tracks for the selected championship and accompanying regulations.

(Haven't looked at offline for a while so if this is already a feature please disregard)

 

[Javi288]

Lack of multi view support.

 

[PresidentSmug]

My main problem is the grip difference between practice and qualy/race. Once you enter qualy the grip levels change drastically, cars are 1-2 second faster by default nullifying the carefully crafted setup changes from earlier. Rubber textures are static at all times, just like the grip levels even with 30 cars on track.

Answer is to never make a setup from practice sessions, like you said it's grip is horrendous. I also never make a setup from LB either, way too much grip. Dynamic grip levels in sessions would be very welcome.

 

[Bozz.gee]

I love the handling in R3E, the ffb is great for me, although i do miss some of the information AC gives me (i.e. weight translation of the car) its the most enjoyable drive for me. I'm a sucker for customisation so this is the only area this sim falls down for me... Something that may be rectified in GTR-3 which we have to look forward to in 2018!

 

[Enagee]

Same ole story for me, pricing structure and content too disjointed for me, not feeling Vrp system. i like clarity in pricing.

 

[ears]

This thread be....

10 PRINT "love the sound"
20 PRINT "hate the pricing structure"
30 GOTO 10

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

The original intention of these features was to act as a kind of knowledge hub for the games, share experiences and tips etc. So with that in mind, does anyone have any tips and tweaks to share to get the best experience from the software as possible?

 

[Jockey]

The original intention of these features was to act as a kind of knowledge hub for the games, share experiences and tips etc. So with that in mind, does anyone have any tips and tweaks to share to get the best experience from the software as possible?

This game is like an iphone. You buy it and it just works. Don't know what tips and tweaks are you expecting in this extremely closed game.

 

[Jebus]

Very nice lineup of cars, having "full" series is a big plus. Looks good enough, sounds great. But sadly I've never been able to find a good ffb for it. It's just lifeless rumbling lump to me.
And then there's that business model I've never been very keen of.

So a good game, but not my choice for driving atm.

 

[Andrew Harper]

Raceroom is possibly my favourite sim at the moment. No it's not as "sim-like" as RF2 or AMS for example but as mentioned above it has the bonus of complete series and tracks included with it. DTM, WTCC are great fun cars to drive.

The selection is great, lots of nice tracks, great vehicles to race in. All beautifully done. I know some are fictional but if they have to do that to get round the red tape then so be it and that's fine by me.

Looks for me are an 8/10 not quite as visually pretty as Assetto Corsa/Project Cars I suppose but for a DX9 engine it looks almost real. I was watching the DTM club race last night on the TV and apart from the odd angle you could be watching the real thing. So what they've done with the DX9 engine is an asset to Sector3 and the rest of the team. It also allows older PC's to run the game on reasonable settings. I like the little touches like the animated marshals and the TV overlay is just brilliant.

As mentioned many times before, the sounds are top class. The level of detail and little effects are just lovely. I remember the first time I took one of the Aquila Race Car through the tunnel on Raceroom Raceway and just smiled

I know it has a hard time from some sim-racing purists and that's fine, but to me it has a good balance of being difficult whilst still being good fun.

Minuses? I too miss the experience options @Shawn Jacobs , I felt it added the ability to run a championship in offline mode with little effort so a shame Sector3 got rid of it although I know the custom championship setup facility is there.

The whole pricing issue is kind of subjective I suppose. If you are racing by yourself then you just purchase what you want but if you are racing online often you may end up purchasing content just to take part in various events and I totally understand how that could hurt the wallet.

I'm not too worried about modded content, there's enough to choose from in the official content and I'm happy with what's there, however yes it would be nice to paint your own cars. Whether that will ever happen I don't know (as I think the agreements with manufactures kind of stop it at the moment).

I don't run triples or VR but I can understand peoples frustration with that though.

All sims have their good point and bad points, not one of them is perfect but Raceroom is great fun for me.

I just wish I had more spare time to race on it!

 

[ronald kasteel]

• its the number one race game to go to love the ffb nice and strong i play whit a t300 and a oculus best game for me and i have a lot of hours in assestto and pcars but this one i come back to every few days as for some people asking for better ffb these are mine settings damn mine pics are to big oh well to bad it works great though

 

[Filip Carlén]

Love R3E! Great offline against, great club here on RD, good car list that is expanding, good track list that is expanding, best sound in the businesses. I do not have a problem with the pricing model at all. If I don't want something (like WTCC 2016, which just is a few new skins), I don't have to pay for it. And with no other from of payment (like iRacings monthly fee) the pricing works great for me.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Not sure where to start really ..

I find myself currently using this sim more and more, although apart from some practice, multiplayer only.

Vrp system ...yes at first I was totally confused, but after a while I got to understand it and now have no problems with it.

My opinions only

Positive

FFB is superb, along with the sounds ..top marks for sure.
Graphics very good.
Car handling very good.
Huge selection of cars and tracks which have all been done to a high standard.
Price of tracks and cars very reasonable indeed.
Able to test run any car for several laps ..love this option, able to test before you buy.
Always plenty of competitions to have a crack at.
Easy to navigate menu screens.
Very informative forum.

Negatives

For me, I truly love mods ..they always improve any sim, so its a huge negative that the modding community for this sim is virtually zero.

Lack of information whilst driving..maybe I am spoilt by the modders, from other racing sims.

Cars and tracks are added often, but there appears to be a lack of updates for the sim and for sure it needs them to compete with the other current crop of racing sims. I do get the feeling that this sim is very slowly going backwards rather than forwards. There is a danger of it being left behind, although the recent FFB update was great.

No offline mod

I also find the AI to be poor for a leaner driver ..they totally ignore you and when they hit you, its like getting hit by a steam train (best way to describe it) If you break early for a corner, for sure you will be killed, if you touch the AI you will be killed, if not killed, you will watch them speed off into the distance whilst your race is ruined, very very rarely will you come of better than the AI.

Yes you can adjust the AI (slow them down) to suit you, but then you will leave them on the straights, so this is not really a good work-around.

If you are a good sim racer I am sure that you will have a totally different opinion and may even find them too slow on the highest settings.

Adaptive AI ..This sim is the only one that offers this option and should not be ignored, I have not tested it to any great length yet but have heard some good reports on it and my personal short tests have been positive.

This may be the way to go for beginners and experienced racers alike.

Basically when this setting is chosen rather than the normal AI percentage option, the AI will learn your path and speed, although this takes several laps (around 10) and this needs to be done for every track you use. Although once its done its done and don't worry, as you get better and speed up so will the AI.

My apologizes for such a long post, I just felt that I need to say nothing or all.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

This game is like an iphone. You buy it and it just works. Don't know what tips and tweaks are you expecting in this extremely closed game.

Just stuff like various wheel settings for those who've found the "sweet spot" to share, and stuff like graphic settings for people to be able to use as a baseline for getting the best picture vs fps on different hardware etc. Oh yeah and of course the fairly new VR stuff can be complicated for those new in, so anyone who runs a headset and has found a nice compromise between picture quality and performance to share their findings.

Just generally to chat really, but if we can also share some goodness then all the better !

 

[TheReaper GT]

I know it will sound strange, but if you have an AMD cpu, turn off the global shadows, leave only the car's shadows on. Your fps will rise like a rocket. I have a 1070 and to me the shadows look clearly cpu bound.