Sim Racing. General discussions and thoughts

With the increased interest in Sim racing over the last few years and especially the last 6 months I thought a thread could be interesting to see whats going on.
With the increase in real drivers taking up sim racing including a lot of F1and others ,with wide coverage of it, I stumbled on this vid from a real driver and sim racer making some comparisons that I found enlightening.
Can you become faster with a better rig? Vr or screens? DD wheel ? Motion rig. game controller? Mmm
Please share your personal experience and interesting vids.
Especially if you actually race some Vehicles and tracks in real life that we have in AMS sims

Have you raced a vintage race car on track? how does it compare ? pls share if so,
What single item in your rig has helped you the most improve your driving?

 

Nice 1 CR/em
sure got the tyre temps up

 

I seen a few of his vids, tip top.
No hrs to speak of in ams 1 here (11 at launch), I have having read so many comments about it often thought I need to go back and try again just to ref what all the comments are about when comparisions are made the 2..
Retros for me tonight I think! had little enough time so far this week
Thanks for the response

 

Yes I just love the weather options, 1 lap the racing line is there next lap cant be used!.
IRL not much different with the British weather.
Came round a bend this week from the beach (country lanes) bloody great puddles had appeared within minutes thanks to a short torrential downpour then sunshine within 1-2 miles and little time.
Like the Livetrack and its drying up.
Trouble is with this "sim thing" it can become too addictive, and much fun.
Wives and partners can find it like a 3 way relationship

 

A well known sim racer gets advice on improving

 

Oh wow, a lot of question
Let’s see.....I started with racing games years ago on PlayStation 2 & 3, then came Forza 7 on Xbox. 1 1/2 years ago I got my first true gaming PC and shortly there after I felt the need for a wheel and pedals which I first used on Xbox and then shortly after on the PC. I ditched the Xbox and dived in to Sim Racing. RaceRoom, iRacing, AC and ACC. I tried to race in 2 Leagues with RaceRoom but learned quickly I wasn’t ready for that. So, where am I today? Well, I discovered AMS2 and pretty much ditched all the other Sims. In the end, constantly jumping from one Sim to another doesn’t seem to be helpful for me and for my driving skills. I do feel that I have somewhat reached some limits with my T3PA pedals and going to look for some upgrades. It feels like the Thrustmaster TX was a good choice and I don’t think I would be much faster with a DD wheel.
Anyways, that’s my story

 

Well...talking about the general topic, I think games from the technological point of view are better and better with the years. However, what the games/sims offer is what clients want, and this is what I see that has changed over the years (for bad).

For me, simracing is about online competition, leagues, championships, endurance events. I don't like to race against AI car.

Years ago each game used to represent an unique kind of racing, Formula 1, Indycar, Nascar, Rally. That specialization made the drivers and leagues really well trained and some seasons had the need of several servers at the same time to cover the demand of a single championship. It used to be up to you how many races do you wanted to had that day. It was normal to join a server and drive against Andreas Wilke, Marcel Offermans and even Greger Huttu just to name some of them.

Then the offer of games was bigger and games offered a variety of cars, that was the first symptom of divergence, because the base of players/drivers was the same. With that bigger offer it had become more difficult to find good races, and the solution was to join a league just to find somebody to race against.

Now people jumps from a kind of car to another, and from game to game and there is a lack of specialization. What we use to have in the past, is what we see now as "the pros".

There is too much talking about computer and game setup, but just a few talk about car's setup.

In resume, I see more simracing, but less driving quality.

 

Hi Micropitt.
Many thanks for your response and input, started myself on the first play station, (long time ago and just for entertainment, which it was).
I built a 2 core pc just before pc1 launch, bought a mickey mouse s/h £25 wheel and had a blast. Pc2 upgrade to g29. Thats it really late last year. I7and budget mb.

For me yes to the above g29 tip top budget wheel.

I posted the Qs because now I thought maybe an upgrade, but what? VR, tripples, dd wheel, gear shift?, PC, seems a mindfield of options. I know the wheel has helped my pace. VR looks amazing, 3 screens also.
Took the plunge 3 days ago and bought, for dual use front room., (reduced £s last years model) 1/2 price Samsung 65 inch hdmi 2.1 ready 4k@120hz very low lag mad tv. Mad because its huge, with mental resolution. still sorting the room. I have to say Im not disappointed. Big movie fan so works for both. Ams 2 is stunning graphic from the old 40in plasma screen. The choice was made to consider partner also.
Sim to sim, I tried ac, pc2 modded ffb yesterday and it was refreshing to feel the differences between them and ams2 after 240 hrs or so I was getting cabin ams 2 fever) Always good to compare I think, I will be back on it soon.
Saw this the other day and was so impressed but no lottery win for me here!! all I can say is Blimey tip top rig.Some serious racers out there.

I hope you have good luck with the pedals should be a good upgrade
But I not the guy to comment, I am sure others here may advise.
Saw a vid today about g29 linear potentiometer in cnc alloy housing brake mod. interesting at £60. Saw the reviewers required effort to manage the dd wheel, I can see how the bug pulling to the right in ams2 could be dangerous!! esp set at max Nm
Thanks for your story and good luck & good speed!

 

Hi Damian. Thanks for your reply
I had not thought of it from that perspective, thanks for pointing it out . Reading your comments I can see what you mean.
I know for me its been great to try the various options and hone my preferences.
We live in a world of endless possibilities for entertainment, sometimes too much I think, so concentration levels is not what it used to be? .
(I'll catch up soon been busy this week)

 

Setup talk , laymans terms, a little insight to the black arts
From N H

 

Skip to bottom Question to miss the rant

Well the big screen has gone back after 2 weeks. It improved the my sim racing experience, but and a big 1 at that was the loss of 7.1 sound. Should not be the case Atmos ready amp ect.
2 problems. 1st fault with passing hdmi arc info through theatre amp, spent days trying to sort, to no avail. stuck with simulated surround or poor 5.1with no rear sounds being correct. Tv at fault, i hope they sort it.
Only hdmi will carry all the data for 7.1 or more optical will not. Tv would only return through hdmi arc poor data and would not accept the vid out. only pc direct hdmi to tv.
(Amp is not at fault here or settings)
I mention it because I have read on these forums so much about engine sound from wrong end of vehicle. When the pc, drivers monitor hook up and amp are correct then its stunning. Maybe something in game but not necessarily.
ie for 7.1 (and 5.1 without the sides) jump in a retro or rear wheel vehicle and the engine sound is only heard from the rear speakers,period.
Sit in the car off track at 90 degrees and all the passing cars sounds behind you will go from left to right but only on rear speakers, just as it should be. 360 sound is impressive. Hit something on the side and the sound comes from side speakers great. If thats not the case for you then its not correct.
Hook up old plasma screen to amp and all is good off the bat, back to the sound of f1 engine behind me, loud enough to make you jump or v8 motana up front
The expensive tv with resolution 4k up to 120hz, low lag is truly stunning, wish I could have 3, but the sound, which is the point of my rant is so so much important for the realism and immersion that I have grown used to. I'll stick to 40in single screen with full sounds@360degrees
I just have to wait to see if they sort the tv for its fault of not passing vid/or audio through amp correctly. (yes it was all setup correct)
I aught to just weld up my rig for stability as a more useful improvement for now.
new tec is great when it works and a frustration when it does not. some of these wizardry electronics just take away something rather than add.
Has any body tried one of these??

TrueBrake – Mod for Logitech G25/G27/G29/G920 Brake Pedals (Pre-Order) – AXC Sim – Sim Racing Products

 

Something to watch over a coffee or beer.
One of the great car designers does not give up his passion.
back with another cosworth powered beast

 

The next generation of sim rigs
The passion for sim racing is for me enjoyable but also interesting.
Choice of sim aside, looking at the available options for your rig, well, in short I am amazed and impressed with whats on offer, sometimes stunned by the amount of hard earned cash, one could part with to enjoy the pastime.
Modern manufacturing techniques have open up endless possibilities for the rigs to "feel real" with all the options (motion, vibration add on electronics etc) plus all the data and processing side of things
I believe there is an avenue of improvement in striving to achieve more realism.

Lets start with the finest, most accurate expensive works team rig.
Whats missing?
Put aside online mutiplayer, as unless all players had the system it would be rather unfair.

For for single player racing, training.
In a post elswhere I commented the following, but I did so with a serious intent.

The thing missing from racing sims in general is PAIN.
Rigs should have tazer high voltage points for body attachment with varying degrees of pain dependant on car impact and part of body, legs, neck etc. then people would have total immersions and not want to have an impact as in real life
(with the exception of some drivers irl no names here)
Sim racing lacks the fear of injury/death as we have in real life

Sounds amusing I know.
Pain sharpens the senses, works with adrenal glands and other systems in the body some noticeable effects are to boost our performance, reaction times the list would be quite long.
Sometimes a boxers trainer will slap him around the head a bit before he enters the ring he will perform better as a result If he takes a big hit in the ring with pain, he will quickly sharpen up to avoid it again.
In the rig if you shunted somebody and had an immediate (level controlled by user ) moderate pain in the neck you would, one hope avoid it. If you kept running off by going too fast and wrecked the front of the car (been there) but this time had pain in your legs and feet also, you would improve quickly rather than go off. Because you could feel the consequences of your actions and your "increased immersion, realism" I dont think one would get worse
.
The "Ultimate single use Simulator" can be made with these added features and take the current generations of Sim rigs to the next level.
Silverstone 70th on the tv soon so ramblings over

 

You are right that Kevin Magnussen said that - but he later acknowledged that a lot of journalists had misunderstood it.
He absolutely dont want to die in a racing car - but when he is on track he just gives everything - and pushing thoughts of the personal outcome behind him.

ByTheWay: This attitude comes probably from his father Jan Magnussen who after a terrible crash on Laguna Seca which he obviously could have avoided said - that in the moment where he could have backed off he just did chose to give a damn of what would happen.

Bergmeister vs Magnussen ALMS 2009 Finale @ Laguna Seca