Difference from Project Cars?

[NLxAROSA]

Agreed. Bash PCARS for as long as you want for things like controller settings, FFB settings, camber issues, default setups, etc., etc. as those are all valid complaints. Hell, even a simple "I just don't like it" is fine, but don't start making stuff up. And none of it detracts from the fact that it is a sim. Sure you can think or have the opinion it's not, doesn't change the fact you are wrong.

 

[CHEN255]

There seems to be an unreasonable amount of contempt and hatred towards PCars that I personally haven't seen before with a video game. AC has not launched well which I knew would happen, but it hasn't attracted the same level of disgust as PCars.

 

[Stylin]

with the ds4 , you can catch a car in a slide. in project cars, slides were impossible to ssave and you just went lazily into hte gravel or wall.

 

[bleeder]

OK so here we go, AI and Gameplay comparison with open wheelers at Spa.

Yes, it is entirely possible to have a good race with open wheel AI in pCARS as you found out. Probably the same with AC I suppose.

I recently did the FRookie championship in pCARS, 75% AI, and could barely make it through 1 lap (never bothered with quali so always started last). Was very frustrating. Wheels kept getting snagged and I'd give them plenty of room but still get contact. One thing if note is that I'd run with damage off, I wonder if the AI behave slightly more sensibly if the damage is on? I never got around to testing that one.

Good video.

 

[NLxAROSA]

with the ds4 , you can catch a car in a slide. in project cars, slides were impossible to ssave and you just went lazily into hte gravel or wall.

I never got PCARS to work really well with a controller, despite having tried numerous settings. Especially with faster cars it's too hard to control. AC works much better in that regard, at least on the PC where I tried it.

 

[Scaff]

Yes, it is entirely possible to have a good race with open wheel AI in pCARS as you found out. Probably the same with AC I suppose.

I recently did the FRookie championship in pCARS, 75% AI, and could barely make it through 1 lap (never bothered with quali so always started last). Was very frustrating. Wheels kept getting snagged and I'd give them plenty of room but still get contact. One thing if note is that I'd run with damage off, I wonder if the AI behave slightly more sensibly if the damage is on? I never got around to testing that one.

Good video.

I've run all three regions of the Formula Rookie right through to the finals without any major issues with AI at all. It's the only open wheel formula I really like.

This is a video I did a while ago of the German rounds.



However I always run with damage on, so you may be onto something with that.

 

[Mike_grpA]

with the ds4 , you can catch a car in a slide. in project cars, slides were impossible to ssave and you just went lazily into hte gravel or wall.

You can catch slides with the controller if you set the controller up right to do so, but the controller settings in Pcars are such a mess that you're always making compromises one way or another. If you want it to be smooth, and not insanely twitchy, you'll end up dampening the inputs so much that fast reactions don't register, and hence slides become impossible to catch. If you want to have more direct control, and be able to catch slides, you'll end up with incredibly twitchy controls, particularly noticeable on straights.

One of the reasons I didn't play Pcars much at all before I got my PS4 wheel.

 

[Scaff]

I hope AI in AC is never like AI in PCars, they are all over the track, in AC they drive well, they stay within the track boundaries and do not have superhuman acceleration, they have the same physic as the human driver. Interesting to note that on the AC short footage, the only car that does not stay within track boundaries is the human driver in Eau rouge.

Have you ever actually watched any open wheel racing from Spa? Say like the GP a few days ago, did they all stay in the track limits on the first lap?

In any case AI in console AC will improve drastically as it will be equivalent to 1.8 we have on PC.

It may well do, but that isn't what I have to play right now, so I will judge it on what I have, not what I may have.

To me after watching both replay, the GT3 and the Tatus, AC looks like a real race with professional racers, at least on the AI side and PCars looks like a racing game. PCars can be very entertaining, but it does not simulate real life racing like AC does.

So a pitt maneuver for no reason when you have plenty of room to pass on either side of the car is the action of a professional is it?

Say what you like about the AI in PCars, but it didn't deliberately drive me off the road for no reason at all.

with the ds4 , you can catch a car in a slide. in project cars, slides were impossible to save and you just went lazily into hte gravel or wall.

Pcars is (as standard) not well optimised on the controller at all and requires far too much messing about to get it acceptable. However it is possible to save a slide with one.

 

[Cote Dazur]

@Scaff even if we see thing differently thank you for taking the time to do those comparisons and show the differences, it will allow people who have not decided yet to check for them self which type of AI they prefer to race with.
As for the other who already have both they can decide on their own what they like best, to me the over the top attitude of the AI in PCars wears out quickly.

 

[Mike_grpA]

to me the over the top attitude of the AI in PCars wears out quickly.

I'd personally take over the top attitude over brain dead drone any day of the week. For all the downfalls of the AI in Pcars, at least they feel alive, which is more than I can say of the vast majority of other racing games on the market. I even had a mate, who watched a video of mine that I linked to Facebook, ask me if the video was from a league race. I told him "nah it was offline against the AI in career", and he was surprised, saying "the way they were actually getting creative looking for an opportunity to pass, I wouldn't have thought AI could do that". He's an old iRacing bloke from a few years ago, and has been out of sim racing circles since then.

 

[Cote Dazur]

I'd personally take over the top attitude over brain dead drone any day of the week. For all the downfalls of the AI in Pcars, at least they feel alive, which is more than I can say of the vast majority of other racing games on the market. I even had a mate, who watched a video of mine that I linked to Facebook, ask me if the video was from a league race. I told him "nah it was offline against the AI in career", and he was surprised, saying "the way they were actually getting creative looking for an opportunity to pass, I wouldn't have thought AI could do that". He's an old iRacing bloke from a few years ago, and has been out of sim racing circles since then.

Mike I am happy for you that you have a found and are experiencing racing with an AI that you like. We are both lucky their is an alternative to the one we prefer.

 

[boxster233]

I never got PCARS to work really well with a controller, despite having tried numerous settings. Especially with faster cars it's too hard to control. AC works much better in that regard, at least on the PC where I tried it.

I was just playing it with a controller a few weeks ago for the first time. It wasn't bad with a controller. Better race times with my wheel for sure. Some cars like Yellowbird are painful to control with DS4, that's for sure.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Had to reinstall of both AC and PCARS yesterday after doing a clean Windows install. Of course I didn't save my FFB settings so had to redo them. Took me around 5 minutes to get a decent (not perfect, but ok) setup with AC. Just can't do that with PCARS without going into the individual car FFB settings. The defaults in there are 'not so great'. Mostly resulting in lack of kerb/road feel. Of coure it can all be dialed out/in, but definitely didn't feel like an hour of setting up yesterday.

 

[Bealdor]

Had to reinstall of both AC and PCARS yesterday after doing a clean Windows install. Of course I didn't save my FFB settings so had to redo them. Took me around 5 minutes to get a decent (not perfect, but ok) setup with AC. Just can't do that with PCARS without going into the individual car FFB settings. The defaults in there are 'not so great'. Mostly resulting in lack of kerb/road feel. Of coure it can all be dialed out/in, but definitely didn't feel like an hour of setting up yesterday.

Take one of Jack Spade's tweaker files and be done with it.

 

[TT92]

I will start off by saying I mostly agree with your other comments, well close enough anyway ;-) I should add that I have had AC on PS4 for 1 week now and am over 60% through the career. I have done a *lot* of racing in this game so far.

So I've spent a few days with AC now and the comparison to PCars is an interesting one.
AI I would also give to PCars at the present moment, AC is good, but lacks some of the situational awareness that PCars has, however I run PCars with the Crew Chief app, which does help.

I just cannot believe what you have said here. How many times has AC AI ever cut the grass to overtake you or dive bombed you into a corner and spun you out or exited a corner to only jump on the brakes so you rear end them and cop a penalty?

The AI in PCars is atrocious and only gets worse with open wheelers or Go-Karts.

 

[Scaff]

I will start off by saying I mostly agree with your other comments, well close enough anyway ;-) I should add that I have had AC on PS4 for 1 week now and am over 60% through the career. I have done a *lot* of racing in this game so far.



I just cannot believe what you have said here. How many times has AC AI ever cut the grass to overtake you or dive bombed you into a corner and spun you out or exited a corner to only jump on the brakes so you rear end them and cop a penalty?

The AI in PCars is atrocious and only gets worse with open wheelers or Go-Karts.

In order, never, twice and twice.

I've even posted a video of the AC AI doing a Pitt manoeuvre on me on the straight, when more than enough room to pass cleanly exists. It also shows how little the AI is affected by contact.

So you don't need to believe it, but it does happen.

 

[TT92]

In order, never, twice and twice.

I've even posted a video of the AC AI doing a Pitt manoeuvre on me on the straight, when more than enough room to pass cleanly exists. It also shows how little the AI is affected by contact.

So you don't need to believe it, but it does happen.

Yes I do believe it happens, what I find incredulous is you rate AC AI worse than PCars. The AC AI does have some problems, yes, but no where as many or as bad as PCars.

In AC I have actually had some very enjoyable races against the AI and find them no more or less than what I usually find in an aggressive online room in GT6. The AI in PCars is like GT6 Quick Match, full of dive bombing, grass cutting, first corner heroes.

 

[killerjimbag]

Yes I do believe it happens, what I find incredulous is you rate AC AI worse than PCars. The AC AI does have some problems, yes, but no where as many or as bad as PCars.

In AC I have actually had some very enjoyable races against the AI and find them no more or less than what I usually find in an aggressive online room in GT6. The AI in PCars is like GT6 Quick Match, full of dive bombing, grass cutting, first corner heroes.

Really? Just did 10 laps at Road America at %80 AI. Using the BMW TC. The AI was great. I don't know what game your playing or maybe you missed an update. But please enough already.

 

[bleeder]

Really? Just did 10 laps at Road America at %80 AI. Using the BMW TC. The AI was great. I don't know what game your playing or maybe you missed an update. But please enough already.

There's nowhere for them to cut the track on that circuit though. I get what he's saying; they are prone to some silly unfair/cheating moves (right hander at Imola before the slow uphill left-hander is always a place they'll cut if you're in the way) but on the whole I've had some great races too in pCARS, really great. Open wheeled a whole other story for me...

AC's AI looks a bit more respectful of track limits and not forcing their way past the player if there's no room, but I've also seen them punting people off by ramming them in the back.

I think as long as most of the time any AI gives a good race then that's a good sign. Being sometime idiots is just something we have to accept.

 

[TT92]

There's nowhere for them to cut the track on that circuit though. I get what he's saying; they are prone to some silly unfair/cheating moves (right hander at Imola before the slow uphill left-hander is always a place they'll cut if you're in the way) but on the whole I've had some great races too in pCARS, really great. Open wheeled a whole other story for me...

AC's AI looks a bit more respectful of track limits and not forcing their way past the player if there's no room, but I've also seen them punting people off by ramming them in the back.

I think as long as most of the time any AI gives a good race then that's a good sign. Being sometime idiots is just something we have to accept.

Road America for me is one of the worse tracks for AI cutting. At the bottom of the big long straight at the slow left hander, then the next corner just after the Corvette bridge/overpass and then again at the next slow left hander. There are three corners at RA I have continual AI trouble with.

I should add, killerjimbag if you are not on PS4 then any comments on this subject are not applicable.

 

[bleeder]

Road America for me is one of the worse tracks for AI cutting. At the bottom of the big long straight at the slow left hander, then the next corner just after the Corvette bridge/overpass and then again at the next slow left hander. There are three corners at RA I have continual AI trouble with.

I should add, killerjimbag if you are not on PS4 then any comments on this subject are not applicable.

I like it when they try to cut the first chicane at Oulton Park and I gently persuade them to drive straight into the little tyre wall in the middle. That's what they get for not braking!

 

[Scaff]

Yes I do believe it happens, what I find incredulous is you rate AC AI worse than PCars. The AC AI does have some problems, yes, but no where as many or as bad as PCars.

In AC I have actually had some very enjoyable races against the AI and find them no more or less than what I usually find in an aggressive online room in GT6. The AI in PCars is like GT6 Quick Match, full of dive bombing, grass cutting, first corner heroes.

On that we will have to disagree then, however the issues you are describing in regard to Pcars are not ones I have come across regularly in quite a while, yet braking on the straights, pitt maneuvers and being driving into from behind I have experienced regularly in AC.

Its certainly not helped by the AI cars seeming to not suffer the same consequences from contact as the player does.

Its not as if I'm alone in thinking this either, this si just one of the reviews that points out the same issue:

"The chief offender, however, is the opponent AI, which regularly pays no mind to your presence on each circuit and is particularly deft at muscling you onto the grass and turning your car around by poking its nose into gaps it really should have thought better of. This is where the top-notch driving dynamics Kunos has massaged into all the available vehicles becomes a double-edged sword, because it takes very little to unsettle your car at speed. Even a mild tap on the rear fender can and will spear you right off the asphalt, and there are no consequences for the AI for shunting you off. Frustratingly, opponent cars seem curiously immune to any loss of control when the shoe is on the other foot. Make a little contact via an overzealous overtake and you’ll generally come off second-best, while the AI peels away unaffected. It’s telling, perhaps, that in Assetto Corsa all I want to do is stay away from other racers entirely, though in its Pan-European peer Project CARSI relish the aggressive, doorhandle-to-doorhandle pack racing.

But it’s not just their racing etiquette that is wanting; it’s also their common sense. I’ve raced several events over the past few days where the entire field has entered the pits on the penultimate lap of a four- or six-lap race. I’m totally befuddled by how such a weird bug could survive a trip to retail and it helps make Assetto Corsa’s already chore-like career mode feel even more untested."
Source: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/08/31/assetto-corsa-ps4xbox-one-review

The ISR review mentioned pretty much the same thing and Kunos have already said they need to look at the AI, as many have also pointed out it appears to be a few patches (at least) behind the PC AI.

 

[CHEN255]

Really? Just did 10 laps at Road America at %80 AI. Using the BMW TC. The AI was great. I don't know what game your playing or maybe you missed an update. But please enough already.

Yep me too. Having great races against the AI in PCars. Had a thoroughly enjoyable GT4 race at Hockenheim this morning vs 23 AI, no complaints whatsoever from me. PCars scratches that racing itch for me and does one thing I've always wanted in my console racers, large grids 👍

 

[skazz]

Let's just add that from the PC side we've been very clear that AI in versions 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 has made big steps forward. Before roughly patch 1.5 the AI was very poor indeed on AC PC version (look back through the big AC thread on GTP and you can see roughly when the AI started to become actually usable).

It's looking like the console release is closest to AC v1.5 code, which hopefully means that big steps forward can happen as Kunos ports their AI improvements to console. Then again, we don't know whether they can achieve that with the CPU limitations of console, so it's still "wait and see".

 

[Scaff]

Let's just add that from the PC side we've been very clear that AI in versions 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 has made big steps forward. Before roughly patch 1.5 the AI was very poor indeed on AC PC version (look back through the big AC thread on GTP and you can see roughly when the AI started to become actually usable).

It's looking like the console release is closest to AC v1.5 code, which hopefully means that big steps forward can happen as Kunos ports their AI improvements to console. Then again, we don't know whether they can achieve that with the CPU limitations of console, so it's still "wait and see".

I certainly hope that's the case, as AC is an excellent physics engine and some good AI to race against would be great.

However they also need to fix the pit stop bug and also the AI speed, I read a post on the AC forums last night that the 'Easy' AI on PC is around 4 seconds a lap slower than the 'Easy' AI on PS4, quite a difference.

 

[skazz]

I certainly hope that's the case, as AC is an excellent physics engine and some good AI to race against would be great.

However they also need to fix the pit stop bug and also the AI speed, I read a post on the AC forums last night that the 'Easy' AI on PC is around 4 seconds a lap slower than the 'Easy' AI on PS4, quite a difference.

I saw somewhere test results which implied that Easy AI approximates to 88% on PC side (not sure which car type), but PC can drop down to 80% as a lowest setting. That's 10% slower (6 seconds per minute of lap time)

 

[killerjimbag]

Road America for me is one of the worse tracks for AI cutting. At the bottom of the big long straight at the slow left hander, then the next corner just after the Corvette bridge/overpass and then again at the next slow left hander. There are three corners at RA I have continual AI trouble with.

I should add, killerjimbag if you are not on PS4 then any comments on this subject are not applicable.

I've had a PS4 since day one. Maybe you got a bad copy of PCARS, or the AI can't stand complaining.

 

[Speedster911]

Okay, so I just picked up this game on sale and it seriously lacks quality and polish. What's the best controller setup? And what can I do to make the sound stage of the game more balanced? It does not sound as exciting as Forza or PCARS. In fact, quite dull by comparison. The cars appear to have good samples on top, but there's virtually no depth or oomph in those exhaust/engine notes. Am I being too critical here? Please tell me if that's the case! I've heard some of these cars up close while revving and high speed drive bys - Forza and PCARS seem to do a good job, especially the former.

Was very eager to pick up this game but it did not grab my attention the way I had hoped. And why are there so many frame hiccups even when I'm hotlapping? Max FOV 60 degrees, really? No sense of speed at all, and both bumper and chase cams are terrible. This game is only playable from the cockpit and hood perspective.

What are you guys doing on Xbox One to get more out of AC that I'm not? Getting serious buyer's remorse here.

 

[rcallsign]

return the game

 

[mister dog]

Keep it but give it some time. AC sucks presentation wise but the physics are among the best that's out there, so once you take the time to dial yourself in you'll eventually understand why everybody is playing this game.