Driving in Simulation Mode...

[NCRthree]

...or as close we can get in GT5. Cockpit view, HUD off, no aids, no tuning, default tires (or lesser compound).

Now that GT5 is 2 years old, I started thinking about how my preferences have evolved. Several months back I had an injury that forced me to quit my online league race life. That was my main focus of GT5...practice, practice, practice, tuning, using bumper cam for it's better track visibility, using abs1 and sometimes tc on occasion and running the softest compounds.

Just to stay in the game I started driving offline in shorter sessions-seasonals, Arcades set up competively (adding ballast, dumbing down the tires etc). To make that more interesting I tried cockpit view with hud off. Standards I use the minimal HUD. Think I started with the F1 seasonal and loved it. Then got into no ABS and that was a similar revalation. Then joined a tuning prohibited group and found a similar joy in running the cars bone stock.

Now that 2.09 is with us, it's made driving bone stock "hard to drive" cars much easier and a joy. I ran the YellowBird bone stock at the Nordshchleife on CM's and had a blast. I'm know I'm late to the Purist Party but it's gotten me back to enjoying so many cars I'd never spent any quality time in. Driving that way has made offline much more interesting-certainly no substitute for the thrill of close racing with friends by any means. But it's made me see GT5 to be more of a Driving Simulator than I'd given it credit for. Obviously it still has a looong way to go in that respect with better sounds, less static in car view, tire modeling, road and track imperfections and a more interesting AI for starters. However for Test Driving and treating longer Arcade races as Track Day events with clean driving, it's allowed me to come full circle in GT5 and get back to the basics.

 

[avens]

be sure to turn abs off and check that community and/or leagues that have it turned off.

 

[szejok666]

Personally I think GT in 'simulation mode' is much more entertaining. However there's one thing that almost spoils it. Tire selection. For me it's almost imbossible to find true-to-life tires for certain cars. I've tried using this https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=259386 as guideline, but it doesn't seem to work anymore. For example Ferrari F40 has N2 tires, but then laptimes are far off the real ones. Another car you've mention - RUF CTR, as a car from the 80's should also have max N2 tires (due to PD philosophy seen in spreadsheet). Try match real lap time with these (8.03). I get 8.15 tops on N2's. Same is Acura NSX (N1). 8.38 on The Ring - don't think it's really possible.

I'm currently testing road cars for months now, trying to find most accurate tires for each one (basically I'm doing what PD should have done), comparing lap times with these IRL. When I'll finish I'll post my results here. For now I can say, that Calan's skidpad method isn't working at all. None of the road cars in the game, maybe except Viper ACR is going to have S2 tires. S1 is max, and actually according to my research only few of them got them (Enzo for sure, Aventador). The other thing I've found is the fact, that most realistic tires are dependable not on the skidpad, but of the car production year. For instance, I think there's very few, if none cars from the 90's with N3 or better tires, from the 80's N2 or better. I'm also quite sure that none of the road cars in the game built up till 1979, except the two Cobras feel realistically with other than N1's.

 

[Samus]

be sure to turn abs off and check that community and/or leagues that have it turned off.

Don't worry you don't need to find the no ABS community, they will find you.

 

[NSXDriver]

Don't worry you don't need to find the no ABS community, they will find you.

like this guy you quoted, all he does is go around championing that he doesn't use ABS 👍

 

[avens]

like this guy you quoted, all he does is go around championing that he doesn't use abs 👍

abs
b
s

 

[TuomaZ]

Personally, I use comfort soft tyres in 300~ bhp cars and sport hards in 500~ bhp cars. Almost in every car I use ABS at 1, but in race cars it's switched off.

 

[TuomaZ]

Personally, I use comfort soft tyres in 300~ bhp cars and sport hards in 500~ bhp cars. Almost in every car I use ABS at 1, but in race cars it's switched off. All the other assists are always switched off.
Edit: Sorry for double post...

 

[SpiffyDeeezy]

I race with sport hards only, all HUD off, all radars turned off, gear indicators turned off...even in standard cars!

 

[Ryk]

It is loads of fun driving with no hud

No tyre wear candles
No fuel indicators
No turbo boost pressure guages
No track map (That said a very zoomed in one is good for removing the blidspots if you are in close quarter combat with another driver and you don't want to turn into them.)
No technicolour drivers line
No optimal gear guide
No speedometer
No tachometer
No lateral G meter
No brake guage
No throttle indicator
None of that ABS foolishness
No Traction control while we are in town
No Anti skid forced turning milarky
No list of other drivers
No wheel grip level circle things

Nice empty uncluttered screen... If you want to know how fast you went, watch the replay!

I love longer races where you leave a smokey trail of shame where you lock up a tyre or spin up a wheel into, through and out of corners. And they stay there as a literal black mark on your racing ability lap after lap.

Pop up times gets rid of the nagging temporal element.

As Kimi once said - Leave me alone I know what I am doing.

 

[eran0004]

I love driving in cockpit view with no hud, but the problem is that there's only a few cars that has a good cockpit environment where you can see the rear view mirrors, and even fewer that has functional instruments (other than rpm and speed). The cars with the best cockpit environments are the Infiniti G35, Fiat 500, Nissan Skyline Coupé, Nissan Skyline Sedan and Nissan Leaf. I wish the other cars had the same quality as those. Actually, it would be a pretty easy fix I imagine. All that's required is to move the camera back a bit, so that you can see the mirrors, and add functional instruments. I don't get it why they did that on only a handful of the cars.

 

[Exorcet]

...or as close we can get in GT5. Cockpit view, HUD off, no aids, no tuning, default tires (or lesser compound)...

Just remember, even though this may look more real, there are still problems. Cockpit view is very restrictive, and unless you have head tracking, your awareness is probably way less than real life.

The HUD is what you get on some cars' displays and from your crew cheif. Turning it all off doesn't really make sense unless you're doing an autocross.

Aids are real, so yeah. Only SRF doesn't exist.

Tuning is the same as above. In fact, no tuning is actually being less realistic. You don't race bone stock cars, and race cars typically use power limiters and ballasts to be eligible for competition, especially if the car is being "imported" to a series it was not originally mean for.

Tire selection is aweful, but when it comes to racing, Comforts are typically road tires, maybe Sports Hard. On the track, you'll probably use the equivalent SM or SS for a road car unless it's really low level or autocross, but you could probably justify CS to RH because the tire model is so bad. Racing tires make a good fit for most race cars, though some probably dip down to SS.

I think the definition of "simulation mode" is pretty debatable.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Aids are real, so yeah. Only SRF doesn't exist.

The ones in GT5 don't act realistic at all though, except maybe for the TCS on low levels. Especially the ASM and ABS are completely unrealistic and the cars behave way more like they would in reality if you turn that crap off.

Racing tires make a good fit for most race cars,

The Racing tires only fit to LMPs and the Formula vehicles.
All the GT race cars including SuperGT should use Sports tires. The NASCAR cars behave more realistic on Sports Hard too.

EDIT: And don't forget that old cars should use worse tires too. I use Comforts for cars like the MKIV and P4 to simulate that.

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

Just remember, even though this may look more real, there are still problems. Cockpit view is very restrictive, and unless you have head tracking, your awareness is probably way less than real life.

The HUD is what you get on some cars' displays and from your crew cheif. Turning it all off doesn't really make sense unless you're doing an autocross.

Aids are real, so yeah. Only SRF doesn't exist.

Tuning is the same as above. In fact, no tuning is actually being less realistic. You don't race bone stock cars, and race cars typically use power limiters and ballasts to be eligible for competition, especially if the car is being "imported" to a series it was not originally mean for.

Tire selection is aweful, but when it comes to racing, Comforts are typically road tires, maybe Sports Hard. On the track, you'll probably use the equivalent SM or SS for a road car unless it's really low level or autocross, but you could probably justify CS to RH because the tire model is so bad. Racing tires make a good fit for most race cars, though some probably dip down to SS.

I think the definition of "simulation mode" is pretty debatable.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[NCRthree]

Just remember, even though this may look more real, there are still problems. Cockpit view is very restrictive, and unless you have head tracking, your awareness is probably way less than real life.

The HUD is what you get on some cars' displays and from your crew cheif. Turning it all off doesn't really make sense unless you're doing an autocross.

Aids are real, so yeah. Only SRF doesn't exist.

Tuning is the same as above. In fact, no tuning is actually being less realistic. You don't race bone stock cars, and race cars typically use power limiters and ballasts to be eligible for competition, especially if the car is being "imported" to a series it was not originally mean for.

Tire selection is aweful, but when it comes to racing, Comforts are typically road tires, maybe Sports Hard. On the track, you'll probably use the equivalent SM or SS for a road car unless it's really low level or autocross, but you could probably justify CS to RH because the tire model is so bad. Racing tires make a good fit for most race cars, though some probably dip down to SS.

I think the definition of "simulation mode" is pretty debatable.

Well like I said "as close as we can get". I'm not suggesting anything more than having a more interesting offline driving experience with GT5. Either cruising or just making driving with the AI less boring. Obviously racing in a proper PC sim will be a more "simulation mode" experience.

Good point about the race car tires. I've run SS's on GT500's to good effect. Plenty enough grip.

 

[Exorcet]

The ones in GT5 don't act realistic at all though, except maybe for the TCS on low levels. Especially the ASM and ABS are completely unrealistic and the cars behave way more like they would in reality if you turn that crap off.

Well I don't use anything enough to be familiar except ABS 1, but from the times I've accidentally/been forced to by the game to use TCS or ASM, that didn't feel that bad (in terms of realism). Also remember, the physics by itself is not perfect, so it isn't like turning everything off makes GT perfectly accurate. I think the aids, ASM and ABS stability included, aren't significantly less accurate than driving physics.

The Racing tires only fit to LMPs and the Formula vehicles.
All the GT race cars including SuperGT should use Sports tires. The NASCAR cars behave more realistic on Sports Hard too.

EDIT: And don't forget that old cars should use worse tires too. I use Comforts for cars like the MKIV and P4 to simulate that.

I completely agree on the older cars. On modern cars, GT does capture the effect of downforce, which is what primarily separates GT from LMP and LMP from F1. Even with the same tires, those three classes of cars should corner differently. I can definitely see SS on GT cars though.

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

I often do races Best Motoring style, sports car and super cars with street tires 400pp to 600pp ( comfort hard, medium or soft ) at various tracks. Racing can be done on all levels, I like BM style races, no slicks/racing tire, just street ( untuned cars ) or semi slick- SH tires ( tuned cars ).

I did these races at Arcade mode, not bad really, it can be quite fun getting into 1st slowly, set the lap to infinite, tire wear on, no ABS or other aids, turn of HUD, and enjoy the race, taking my time passing each cars, usually I did 10 to 20 laps per race. A good practice for clean driving and passing.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I don't use any other driving games so this may be done somewhere already, but what would be cool for the "simulation" mode for me are these couple of changes.

1. I want at least one view mode where I can see all the mirrors. I have tried the furthest one back and usually half the mirrors were cut off which isn't very simulation.

2. Remove the steering wheel from the video. I have one in front of me, two of them isn't very realistic. Keep it in for the replay though. Toggle on and off would be fine.

3. Pit crew exchanges. In real racing you'd have your pit crew telling you some lap times, your potential fuel consumption, tire issues etc. You should be able to program your preferences or turn it all on or all off easily. They should also be telling you your position, gap to the cars in front and behind etc. All quite useful and very simulation like.

 

[Cote Dazur]

...or as close we can get in GT5. Cockpit view, HUD off, no aids, no tuning, default tires (or lesser compound).

Now that GT5 is 2 years old, I started thinking about how my preferences have evolved. Several months back I had an injury that forced me to quit my online league race life. That was my main focus of GT5...practice, practice, practice, tuning, using bumper cam for it's better track visibility, using abs1 and sometimes tc on occasion and running the softest compounds.

Just to stay in the game I started driving offline in shorter sessions-seasonals, Arcades set up competively (adding ballast, dumbing down the tires etc). To make that more interesting I tried cockpit view with hud off. Standards I use the minimal HUD. Think I started with the F1 seasonal and loved it. Then got into no ABS and that was a similar revalation. Then joined a tuning prohibited group and found a similar joy in running the cars bone stock.

Now that 2.09 is with us, it's made driving bone stock "hard to drive" cars much easier and a joy. I ran the YellowBird bone stock at the Nordshchleife on CM's and had a blast. I'm know I'm late to the Purist Party but it's gotten me back to enjoying so many cars I'd never spent any quality time in. Driving that way has made offline much more interesting-certainly no substitute for the thrill of close racing with friends by any means. But it's made me see GT5 to be more of a Driving Simulator than I'd given it credit for. Obviously it still has a looong way to go in that respect with better sounds, less static in car view, tire modeling, road and track imperfections and a more interesting AI for starters. However for Test Driving and treating longer Arcade races as Track Day events with clean driving, it's allowed me to come full circle in GT5 and get back to the basics.

100% agreement with you. When you go away from the mindset of I have to win this race to go to the mindset of I will make this race interesting and challenging, you discover how deeply layered and rich GT5 is as a game and a simulator.