The Racing Game Thread

[Schlitzbrille]

4 hours ago, Jasonmufc said:

AC1 is a great game too, so much to do and so many mods to pick from.

SO MUCH THIS. Everyone can keep their microscopically-different versions of *insert GT3-class racer*, I wanna have the choice to fool around in pre-WW2 era machinery and the Adam West-era Batmobile. Incidentally, thread linked is a good place to look at for AC1 mods

[JasonM]

6 hours ago, A Businessman said:

SO MUCH THIS. Everyone can keep their microscopically-different versions of *insert GT3-class racer*, I wanna have the choice to fool around in pre-WW2 era machinery and the Adam West-era Batmobile. Incidentally, thread linked is a good place to look at for AC1 mods

On our leagues last post/pre-season fun-race we raced with Yugo Trophy Cars and they were so incredibly fun to fly around in. https://www.lemaxsimracing.com/assettocorsa/yugotac.php

[Schlitzbrille]

Well I'm more interested. I know the hip location to want for FH5 was Japan but this works.
 

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Q: When is the release date for Forza Horizon 5?
A: The Forza Horizon 5 Standard Digital/Disk and Deluxe Digital Editions release on November 9th, 2021.

The Forza Horizon 5 Premium Edition Early Access begins on November 5th, 2021, and is available for Xbox Game Pass members and Standard Digital or Deluxe Digital Edition owners as part of the Premium Add-Ons Bundle for separate purchase.

Q; What platforms will the game launch on?
A: Forza Horizon 5 will launch on the following platforms:

• Xbox Game Pass
• Xbox Series X|S
• Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X
• Windows 10 PC
• Steam
• Available to stream on Android Phones and tablets with Xbox Cloud Gaming with the Xbox Game Pass mobile app.

Q: When can I pre-order Forza Horizon 5?
A: Forza Horizon 5 is available now for pre-order across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and can be added to your Wishlist on Steam. Please check with your local retailers on pre-order availability for the Forza Horizon 5 Standard Disk Edition.

Q: Will Forza Horizon 5 be available with Xbox Game Pass?
A: Yes, the Forza Horizon 5 Standard Digital Edition will be available with Xbox Game Pass at launch on November 9th, 2021. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Forza Horizon 5 will be available to stream on Android Phones and tablets with Xbox Cloud Gaming with the Xbox Game Pass mobile app.

Q: Which markets will the game be available in, and what are your localization plans?
A: Forza Horizon 5 will feature localized text in the following languages:

• English
• French
• German
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Spanish (Mexico and Spain)
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Russian
• Czech
• Turkish
• Hungarian
• Traditional Chinese
• Simplified Chinese
• Polish

Forza Horizon 5 will feature full localized voiceover support for English, French, German, Spanish (Mexico) and Portuguese (Brazil).

Q: How much will Forza Horizon 5 cost?
A:

• Game Pass: Starting at $9.99 USD per month.
• Standard Edition (Digital and Disk): $59.99 USD (£54.99 GBP and €69.99 EUR)
  • Includes:
    • Base game
• Deluxe Edition (Digital only): $79.99 (£69.99 GBP and €89.99 EUR)
  • Includes:
    • Base game
    • Car pass
• Premium Edition (Digital only): $99.99 (£84.99 GBP and €99.99 EUR)
  • Includes:
    • Base game
    • Car Pass
    • Expansion 1
    • Expansion 2
    • VIP
    • Welcome Pack
    • Early Access begins November 5th, 2021.
• Premium Add-Ons Bundle (Digital only): $49.99 USD (£39.99 GBP and €49.99 EUR)
  • Sold separately as an upgrade for Game Pass, Standard Digital, and Deluxe Digital.
  • Includes:
    • Car Pass
    • Expansion 1
    • Expansion 2
    • VIP
    • Welcome Pack
    • Early Access begins on November 5th, 2021.

Q: Which car will be on the cover of Forza Horizon 5?
A: We will have more information to share this summer, stay tuned!

Q: What features and modes set Forza Horizon 5 apart from previous Forza Horizon games?
A: Forza Horizon 5 features our most diverse, adventurous, and social open world yet, inviting players to lead breathtaking expeditions across the vibrant and ever-evolving landscapes of Mexico with limitless, fun driving action in hundreds of the world’s greatest cars. In making the greatest Horizon experience yet, we have worked to add and evolve several new features and modes that will enhance the player experience with Forza Horizon 5. Here are some of the new features highlighted by Mike Brown – Creative Director at Playground Games during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.

• Horizon Story - Experience a deep and rewarding campaign, where you will meet new characters and determine the outcome of their Horizon Story missions. You will take on expeditions across the map, battling the elements in hundreds of the world's greatest cars.
• Forza LINC– The new AI assistant that intelligently tracks your status, the people you meet online and then helps you Link Up and play together.
• Horizon Arcade – Invites players to journey to Arcade markers across the map to engage in various challenges and mini games.
• EventLab – The incredible new toolset that allows you to create your very own races, game modes and game play experiences – you customize everything – right down to the fundamental rules of the game.
• Horizon Open – Refines the traditional Forza Horizon PvP experience with an emphasis on lower friction and fun by unifying it under one banner, allowing players to seamlessly jump into sessions for Racing, Games, Drift, Eliminator and more and stay until they have had their fill.
• Horizon Tour – See players jump into races from anywhere across the world, meeting up with other players to race against Drivatars on Average difficulty. This mode captures the experiences of a car-meet, with players meeting up in the world to race and having the option to continue together to the next Tour location in the world.
• Vehicle Customization – A complete UX overhaul to bring the experience in-line with modern image manipulation software. We have also added 100 new rims, hundreds of new visual upgrades, and thousands of performance upgrades.
• Character Customizer – Improved to provide players with a more diverse cast of selectable characters. New customization options include the ability to customize hair style and color, select prosthetic limbs, choose pronouns, select from different voices and the ability to purchase clothing with credits.
• Kudos – A social currency awarded between players for positive acts, unlocking flairs that can be attached to a player’s label and visible to others.
• Gift Drops – Send and receive gifts from the community. You can take one of your cars, apply upgrades and a paint job and then drop it as a gift to another player.

Q: How many cars can players collect in the game?
A: Forza Horizon 5 will feature hundreds of the world’s greatest cars. We will have more information on Garage capacity coming later this year.

Q: How does Forza Horizon 5 perform on Xbox Series X|S?
A: On Xbox Series X Forza Horizon 5 will feature 4K resolution at 30fps, on Xbox Series S Forza Horizon 5 will play at 1080p resolution at 30fps. Both platforms will feature a performance mode that runs at 60fps.

Q: What Xbox Series X|S features does Forza Horizon 5 take advantage of?
A: Xbox Series X|S enabled us to provide players the most technologically advanced Forza Horizon experience yet. The power of this Xbox Series consoles has enabled us to deliver incredible realism and immersion with a world rendered in higher detail and with extreme draw distances. Forza Horizon 5 runs at 4K 30 FPS on Xbox Series X, and 1080p 30 FPS on Xbox Series S. For players that prefer to optimize for framerate, we are providing a performance mode option that will run at 60 FPS.

Q: Does the game feature ray tracing?
A: Ray tracing is utilized in Forzavista to make the cars look even more true to real life.

Q: With Forza Horizon 5 launching Day One on Steam and Windows 10, how can PC players get the most out of the game?
A: We’re excited to be bringing Forza Horizon 5 to players on both Windows 10 and Steam at launch. We will have more to share on PC requirements and features later this year.

Q: Does Forza Horizon 5 support Smart Delivery?
A: Yes, Forza Horizon 5 supports Smart Delivery to ensure you are playing the best version of the game for the console you are playing on.

Q: Does Forza Horizon 5 support cross-play and cross-save across console generations and between console and PC?
A: Forza Horizon 5 will support cross-play and cross-save across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Steam will have support for cross-play, but cross-save with Xbox is not supported.

 

[JasonM]

I decided to pick up the new F1 2021 on Saturday. Mostly because of the new addition of Co-Op career mode. Which you can both play versus (you both sign contracts individual of each other, so you can go in your own career direction) or co-op (You're a package deal and share development points). Very fun stuff with a friend whose on the general same level as you.

Me and my friend started as Williams and Haas F1 drivers respectively, trying to see who'll be able to suffer in crap cars the longest and find their way to the top of F1. It has most of the same functionality as the single player career mode too, so it has development. (sadly no Team owner mode though, sadly).

In between I have started my own career in singleplayer, had no real desire for My Team this year so I picked up a normal career starting in F2. Started on pole, then crashed out in the first race (no flashbacks for me to steel myself for the multiplayer coop), then managed to claw to P9 all the way from last place in the sprint, to get 2 points from the FL (in the sprint top 8 only gets points)

[METALMAN]

I tried the F1 game on a steering wheel and ... oh my god I'm utterly terrible. Way worse than I am on a controller.

That wasn't quite what I was expecting... : /

[Baddar]

Playing FM on a steering wheel must be tough tbf.

[METALMAN]

Very good Baddar. I'm glad you got a wee laugh out of that.

[JasonM]

On 06/08/2021 at 22:36, metalman said:

I tried the F1 game on a steering wheel and ... oh my god I'm utterly terrible. Way worse than I am on a controller.

That wasn't quite what I was expecting... : /

It definitely takes a while to get used to the change. Especially if you take out most/all training wheels like stability control and whatnot. And I have found F1 2021 to be particularly lary compared to other racing games.

My rear is constantly stepping out even when i'm soft on the throttle, and the kerbs are utterly ridiculous in how they'll near immediately throw you off the track without giving you any chance to catch a slide.

So yeah, F1 2021 is really tough, and I definitely hope they make a few physics adjustments in the next major patch because even the e-sports drivers are struggling to do things they should be able to do, because the cars are so wildly unpredictable.

[Bobfoc]

This is being developed by Frontier Developments, who make the Planet Coaster/Zoo and Jurassic World Evolution games. I hope it's as good as Motorsport Manager.

[JasonM]

I'm definitely not holding my breath for it until I see some actual in game footage and mechanics. But Frontier does have a good track record and I really hope it will translate to an F1 title. MotMan was a fun yet flawed game and I am sad they never continued the franchise on PC, so if this can fill that hole then i'll be really content if there's some depth in there.

[Chris2K]

My first instinct is that being an FIA licenced game it's going to be completely locked in to the drivers/teams already in existence, and customisation will be at a minimum. The website already indicates you can only join an existing team, not start a new one.

[METALMAN]

Yeah one of the things I liked about Motorsport Manager was it had some really nice real world mods and you could sign drivers from other series and all that. 
 

That’s obviously not going to be the case for this game but I’m still curious. I’d like to see what the race management is like.

[Bobfoc]

Without doubt, the pool of real world drivers across different racing series will be much more limited. I'm hoping that's mitigated a little by the inclusion of newly generated young drivers as the real ones retire.

In other news, F1 2021 will be coming to EA Play and Game Pass next week.

[Draevyn]

Has anyone played the new Gran Turismo game? I haven't played one since the original but this one looks slick and has piqued my interest. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

[JasonM]

3 hours ago, Forky said:

Has anyone played the new Gran Turismo game? I haven't played one since the original but this one looks slick and has piqued my interest. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

Haven't played it since I don't own a ps5, but from the people I know it's basically what you will expect from a Gran Turismo game.

It's a high quality piece of craftsmanship built on a love for automobiles.

But it also comes with some of GTs quirks that it has always had. Like races being all a case of last-to-first racing against ai that won't really give you a race and will meekly do their laps in a constant yet unimpressive way.

Also for some reason the car list doesn't extend beyond 2017, which is a head scratcher.

 

 

[Draevyn]

Yeah I did read about the 2017 thing. I'm kind of trying to decide between the newest NHL, MLB, WWE or GT game. Basically a game that I can throw on do a few races/games and then just not have to worry about it for awhile. Considering the Nascar games are usually garbage, I figured I'd give GT a shot but I'm not sure it's for me to be honest.

[JasonM]

Speaking of racing games. Humblebundle has a pretty good bundle going on for the next 11 days.

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/ultimate-racing-sim-bundle

- Automobilista 1 & 2
- Assetto Corsa: Ultimate Edition (AC1 + all DLC)
- Assetto Corsa: Competizione (ACC base)
- rFactor 2
- Drift 21
- Nascar Heat 5: Ultimate Edition
- Coupons for 20% on two Thrustmaster wheels. (For if you want to start an expensive hobby a little less pricey)
- Coupon for 3 months of iRacing for first time subscriptions. (no extra fees)

[Bobfoc]

This comes out in August.

 

[Schlitzbrille]

So the new update for BeamNG has a modern-ish fictional supercar.

It has an off-road ready variant available.

 

I simply had to test it.

[JasonM]

BeamNG is an utterly delight of a game and every time I come back to it I continue to be impressed by the improvements the developers have made, it's just such a brilliant project.

Another thing I love is that there's also a modding community that's producing comparable vehicles to base game, realfakes with a level of detail that matches the cars made by the developers. With an absolute glut of variants and ways to modify them, so they feel like they're on par with the vanilla content.

On another note, I have been playing a bunch of Ride 4 in the past month or so after picking it up on sale. (currently also on sale for 75% off). And I must say it's a game I love and hate in equal spades but I keep coming back to because despite the frustrations and the grind of improvement I truly feel like it's challenging me in ways that games like Gran Turismo or Forza never did. It's not perfect, the AI can be utterly insane, but they also genuinely are breathing down my neck when I got the difficulty at 100 out of 120, they push me to my absolute limits and well beyond at times.

So I get angry, I get frustrated, but an hour later I will find myself back playing the game because I want to get a gold medal on every challenge. And there's SO MANY challenges that I truly feel I can play over a hundred hours and not be in the final leagues. of course, that's ignoring the mental multi-hour endurance races that are in this game.

If you love bikes, if you're prepared to grind to reach a competent level let alone become truly fast, then Ride 4 is one of the best SP racing games i've played. Truly reminds me of the days playing GT4 on PS2 as a wee lad and trying to improve. Bombing down a windy road at 200+ KPH is a truly terrifying experience that no other racing game has managed to give me.