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KasperHviid: What was that? Someone wrote something??? :-)

Narh, you're right, 1st person perspective lacks some of the info gained from 3rd person camera. Win some, lose some ....
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tinyE: Normally when I tell people I drive 3rd person they call me the world's biggest idiot. I was kind of waiting for that reply. :P
They do?
I can't stand First Person Driving in games.
I hate it. xD
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nicethugbert: The problem I havenow, besides, actually getting good, is that there are so many racing games and I still really do not know what the hell I'm doing. I can't tell the difference between one game and the next except the graphics. I don't understand the mechanism.
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timppu: That might be a problem, since different racing games have wildly different kinds of physics model. Some are more simulator-like where you indeed have to slow down for corners and try to find the correct angle, while some are more arcade action racers where you can pretty much keep the pedal down all the time, even in corners (IIRC, POD Gold on GOG is this kind of racing game, or Powerslide).

Also in a game like Gran Turismo, while the physics were quite realistic otherwise, the fact that all cars were indestructible meant that sometimes it made sense to go to corners at full speed and bump into another car in front of you, instead of trying to take the corner correctly.

Different racing games handle so differently that it is hard to give an universal answer to your question. BTW do you drive a car in real life?

If the question is specifically about how to handle corners, some racing simulators have an aid which shows you the optimal driving line on the track, giving you an idea in which angle to approach the corners. There's no big magic to it, you should try to drive the corners in as gently curved (flat) line as possible, by driving on the outer edge when you approach the corner, drive in the inner edge in the corner itself, and continue towards the outer edge again after the corner, hence being able to drive through the corner as fast as possible without sliding.

I used to be big into racing games (early Need for Speed games, Grand Prix Legends, Gran Turismo and such), but over the time I've just mostly lost interest to the genre, and find other genres considerably more interesting.
Yes, I drive a car in real life but like a normal person, no racing.



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apehater: one of the most improtant lessons that you have to master in racing games, is TO FIND OUT IN WHICH DIRECTION YOU SHOULD DRIVE. this is hard as nails. there are mostly 2 directions to shoose in a racing game, sometimes more, but only one of them is the right one. and its an important life lesson too, you can get really big trouble if you drive in the wrong direction. police is always helpful at this kind of problem.
But if you go around in a circle, you get all the directions. One of them has to be right.
Post edited June 11, 2016 by nicethugbert
Chase cam view in racing games (other than karts) is literally unplayable. In-car/Dash/Bumper cam is the only way to not go flailing all over the road.
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tinyE: Normally when I tell people I drive 3rd person they call me the world's biggest idiot.
In a way a 3rd person (camera) view in racing games is more realistic because it gives you the similar peripheral vision as you have when driving a car in real life. 1st person view in normal racing games is a bit like you'd have "tags" on the sides of your head so that you can't see a glimpse of what is happening beside you, a bit like racing horses. In real life racing you have a better peripheral vision.
Post edited June 11, 2016 by timppu
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tinyE: Normally when I tell people I drive 3rd person they call me the world's biggest idiot.
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timppu: In a way a 3rd person (camera) view in racing games is more realistic because it gives you the similar peripheral vision as you have when driving a car in real life. 1st person view in normal racing games is a bit like you'd have "tags" on the sides of your head so that you can't see a glimpse of what is happening beside you, a bit like racing horses. In real life racing you have a better peripheral vision.
True. The 1st person view is hampered by the lack of peripheral vision and depth perception. Both of these would be present if you played with VR goggles. I really think this VR stuff could do wonders for racing.
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nicethugbert: I enjoy fast responsive movement games. So, I am attracted to racing games because of the fast movement. However, I'm really bad at them because they are so unresponsive, slip and slide all over the place. But I want that speed!

I mentioned that to a racing game fan and he remarked something about the need ot downshift when taking corners. That's not a lot to go on, but, apparently, there is a method to the madness.

The problem I havenow, besides, actually getting good, is that there are so many racing games and I still really do not know what the hell I'm doing. I can't tell the difference between one game and the next except the graphics. I don't understand the mechanism.

So, will anyone familiar with racing games help me make sense out of them?
There's no quick way to get good at them. It takes time to build up the technical skill, a concept that's not any different from playing games like Dark Souls or FIFA. If you play it long enough you'll eventually get better.

Getting good is mainly about practice,practice, practice. Learning the track and the car.
Some corners you don't need to brake for and can just coast through by simply letting go of the gas pedal or downshift, other corners of-course require braking. This is why you need to practice, to learn where to do what.

Sound is very important, you need to hear when it's time to shift up or down, which again comes down to experience. The best way to learn the mechanics is to have as few assists on as possible, choose manual shifting for example. There will be lots of mistakes to begin with but that is unavoidable because it's all part of the learning process.

So initially it's all about trial and error, but eventually it becomes more about experience. As you get better you also learn faster.

As for games, it really depends on what kind of game you are interested in.

There's the sim-arcade hybrids, games that have elements of PC sim-racing but are much more forgiving:
F1 by Codemasters, Dirt 1-3, the WRC rally games, Forza and Gran Turismo, Shift 1-2, Grid Autosport etc.
These usually give you sim-racing options such as manual shifting and car setting adjustments.

My favourites among these if you aim for more sim-like racing would be Dirt 1, F1 2011, WRC 4, Forza 3, GT 6.
I find that the AI in games like Shift, Grid and the later Forza games to be unrealistically aggressive.
These are just my personal preferences mind you.

The more "hardcore" racing sims, which are more demanding to learn, include:
Dirt Rally, Assetto Corsa, the SBK superbike series, the Race 07 collection, the RaceRoomExperience game and it's many expansions (DTM, ADAC, WTCC ... ), the Reiza Studios games (Game Stock Car 2012, Stock Car Extreme, Formula Truck, Automobilista), rFactor 1-2 and iRacing.

If you don't want to use Steam, the Reiza Studio games can be bought directly from them, you get an activation code which can be renewed simply by dropping them an email. I have bought three of their games in this way and have not had any problems. They have demos you can download..

iRacing is subscription based, just like an mmo, which is why I haven't stuck with it. Great game though.

The core game in rFactor 1-2 come with plenty of stuff to be worth the price in my opinion, but the bulk of the content - the modded stuff - is mainly accessed through subscription fees. I think you can still buy the rFactor games directly from ISI in case you don't want to use Steam. They also have demos you can download and try.

The core of RaceRoomExperience is free, but you don't get much free stuff, instead you buy individual cars and tracks, or buy packages of cars and tracks, or buy the so-called "Experience" packages which come with all the cars and tracks for a specific racing championship (DTM 2013 Experience, ADAC 2014 Experience ...)
There's no subscription fee but you can't play it offline. There's no demo but the core game is free, so ...

I mainly play in single-player mode, and apart from iRacing they all work really well for this. For online multiplayer iRacing is the best, it's what it was designed for.

Even the more "hardcore" PC racing sims have an arcade-sim game mode for people who want something more forgiving but still want to experience the rawness of these games. So don't be intimidated by the "hardcore" PC sims, everyone can play play them, not just an elitist few. Contrary to popular dogma they all work really well with a gamepad, or even keyboard.

There's some really good forums around for you too look for more information, for example how to set your car or driving wheel: , [url=http://forum.reizastudios.com/]Reiza, and [url=http://www.isrtv.com/forums/]InsideSimRacing.

Most games of sim-like nature have some kind of forum or forum section dedicated to it.
Post edited June 11, 2016 by Ricky_Bobby
The first game that got me hooked on racing was a PC game where you raced in some japanese city. This location really gave the game a different feel. It was sort of a middleground between sim and arcade. The third track took place during winter, and was way hard. Anyone remember this game?
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nicethugbert: I enjoy fast responsive movement games. So, I am attracted to racing games because of the fast movement. However, I'm really bad at them because they are so unresponsive, slip and slide all over the place. But I want that speed!

I mentioned that to a racing game fan and he remarked something about the need ot downshift when taking corners. That's not a lot to go on, but, apparently, there is a method to the madness.

The problem I havenow, besides, actually getting good, is that there are so many racing games and I still really do not know what the hell I'm doing. I can't tell the difference between one game and the next except the graphics. I don't understand the mechanism.

So, will anyone familiar with racing games help me make sense out of them?
avatar
Ricky_Bobby: There's no quick way to get good at them. It takes time to build up the technical skill, a concept that's not any different from playing games like Dark Souls or FIFA. If you play it long enough you'll eventually get better.

Getting good is mainly about practice,practice, practice. Learning the track and the car.
Some corners you don't need to brake for and can just coast through by simply letting go of the gas pedal or downshift, other corners of-course require braking. This is why you need to practice, to learn where to do what.

Sound is very important, you need to hear when it's time to shift up or down, which again comes down to experience. The best way to learn the mechanics is to have as few assists on as possible, choose manual shifting for example. There will be lots of mistakes to begin with but that is unavoidable because it's all part of the learning process.

So initially it's all about trial and error, but eventually it becomes more about experience. As you get better you also learn faster.

As for games, it really depends on what kind of game you are interested in.

There's the sim-arcade hybrids, games that have elements of PC sim-racing but are much more forgiving:
F1 by Codemasters, Dirt 1-3, the WRC rally games, Forza and Gran Turismo, Shift 1-2, Grid Autosport etc.
These usually give you sim-racing options such as manual shifting and car setting adjustments.

My favourites among these if you aim for more sim-like racing would be Dirt 1, F1 2011, WRC 4, Forza 3, GT 6.
I find that the AI in games like Shift, Grid and the later Forza games to be unrealistically aggressive.
These are just my personal preferences mind you.

The more "hardcore" racing sims, which are more demanding to learn, include:
Dirt Rally, Assetto Corsa, the SBK superbike series, the Race 07 collection, the RaceRoomExperience game and it's many expansions (DTM, ADAC, WTCC ... ), the Reiza Studios games (Game Stock Car 2012, Stock Car Extreme, Formula Truck, Automobilista), rFactor 1-2 and iRacing.

If you don't want to use Steam, the Reiza Studio games can be bought directly from them, you get an activation code which can be renewed simply by dropping them an email. I have bought three of their games in this way and have not had any problems. They have demos you can download..

iRacing is subscription based, just like an mmo, which is why I haven't stuck with it. Great game though.

The core game in rFactor 1-2 come with plenty of stuff to be worth the price in my opinion, but the bulk of the content - the modded stuff - is mainly accessed through subscription fees. I think you can still buy the rFactor games directly from ISI in case you don't want to use Steam. They also have demos you can download and try.

The core of RaceRoomExperience is free, but you don't get much free stuff, instead you buy individual cars and tracks, or buy packages of cars and tracks, or buy the so-called "Experience" packages which come with all the cars and tracks for a specific racing championship (DTM 2013 Experience, ADAC 2014 Experience ...)
There's no subscription fee but you can't play it offline. There's no demo but the core game is free, so ...

I mainly play in single-player mode, and apart from iRacing they all work really well for this. For online multiplayer iRacing is the best, it's what it was designed for.

Even the more "hardcore" PC racing sims have an arcade-sim game mode for people who want something more forgiving but still want to experience the rawness of these games. So don't be intimidated by the "hardcore" PC sims, everyone can play play them, not just an elitist few. Contrary to popular dogma they all work really well with a gamepad, or even keyboard.

There's some really good forums around for you too look for more information, for example how to set your car or driving wheel: , [url=http://forum.reizastudios.com/]Reiza, and [url=http://www.isrtv.com/forums/]InsideSimRacing.

Most games of sim-like nature have some kind of forum or forum section dedicated to it.
Excellant answer. I'll try those games. Thank you.


EDIT: I just tried Coffin Racers demo. it was fun.
Post edited June 13, 2016 by nicethugbert
Tried Grid 2 Demo and it was total bullshit.

I start 5th car in the pack ot of 6 and the rest zoom off while I slip and slide all over the place. Even when I learned to use the brake I was horrible while the AI cheats. It was typical racing experience for me so I'm not going to get Grid 2 and it's making me question if I should bother getting any "realistic" racers.

Coffin Racer was fun.

BTW GRID 2 Demo makes you look at stupid advertsing after every match. Fuck them.
Gas Guzzler's Extreme was fun. The cars had reasonable control.
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tinyE: Yeah but what good is that if you can't see how sharp you need to make the turn? Without 3rd person I have no clue how much room I have to work with turning or passing; I hit EVERYTHING! :P
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sunshinecorp: That's exactly why I drive riding the roof of my car!!!
I found a picture of you!

Personally, I sit on a stool at the end of a 10-foot pole sticking out of the rear window. I also have a mechanism for lowering the pole mere milliseconds before I hit my face against the wall above tunnel openings, but it sometimes fails to react quickly enough and either my face gets scraped against the ceiling or my head digs an upside-down trench in the ceiling along the path I'm driving.
Attachments:
Post edited June 13, 2016 by Maighstir
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sunshinecorp: That's exactly why I drive riding the roof of my car!!!
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Maighstir: I found a picture of you!
Goddamn paparazzi.
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Maighstir: I found a picture of you!
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sunshinecorp: Goddamn paparazzi.
Just run them the fuck over with your nascar.