I'm so fed up of the video gaming hardware industry

[ItsHim]

It's been about 10 years since I first bought a gaming console of my own again, a second hand slim PS2, and about 4 years since I got my PS3. From the day I walked out on IBM-PCs and bought my first PowerBook to be "different" and "creative" I managed to lead a happy life. Probably I bought too many Apple gadgets, but hey, they keep me happy and I hardly use my old, cumbersome yet handsome shiny all aluminium desktop Mac anymore thanks to the ever convenient iPads that seem to multiply every fortnight.

The PS2, PS3 and 360 were good companions for my video gaming needs,many especially GT4-6 have eaten away my spare time in chunks. Happy days. I shed quite some money on a new set of speakers, a Beamer, G25 and G27 wheel, a wheel stand. And it's all been worth it.

But now Sony suddenly decided they won't support the Logitech wheels anymore. So for the next game driving fun, I'm basically asked to shed out 300 € for a compatible wheel, 130 € for a shifter and 20 € for a dongle so I can still use my old pedals. And probably some tinkering with my wheel stand to fit hardware I didn't like buying in the first place.

So I thought, well, there must be an off the shelve Alternative that's fit for gaming for 500 €. Surely as prices dropped over the past 15 years, that must be a possibility.

Today I learned otherwise. They're still asking around 1000 € for a fairly decent machine, with 1500 € being easily spend for some more cutting edge technology.

And I suddenly came to realise there must be something wrong with the industry. As my income grew from teenager to adult, also my disposable income grew but also the responsibilities. The priorities changed, too.

So yes I could basically afford to spend 1000 € on a new console and wheel and rig just to play an upcoming release of PCars (which somehow seems like a TOCA rip off). Or I could use my ole wheel and spend 1000 € on a new gaming PC which will be obsolete in three years.

But I've seen that and done that 15 years ago. What the hell went wrong? I just bought a new car a few months back, and although it was only 5 years newer than the old model at roughly the same price, I really do feel like I step up at least a price bracket.

Sorry folks, I really had to let off some steam, but right here, right now, I seriously think about quitting video games. Something I've loved for over 25 years, but all of a sudden it feels like, it's hard to put in words, but I kind of feel ripped off for no good reason.

Graphics and in part game play design have moved on a great deal, but in the end I'm seriously doubting I'll play the money shedding game. And that makes me sad a bit because I feel I'm saying finally good bye to my inner child, sim or console racing. Is it because I'm getting old? I really don't know but I somehow feel let down by the industry because they don't offer me anything else than they did 15 years ago.

 

[Techy]

Well on PC you can use pretty much any wheel on PCARS. It's just on consoles where you need a wheel that's compatible, which is far more limited (click here).
Additionally, you won't need to shed a large fund of money on a gaming PC. Start with a budget build. It is true that the parts can get pricey, but it'll be a very good investment. Plus if you're worried if PCARS won't run on your system, you can wait and see how it performs after it comes out or buy the PC parts now and upgrade so you can meet the needs of the game.

So yes I could basically afford to spend 1000 € on a new console and wheel and rig just to play an upcoming release of PCars (which somehow seems like a TOCA rip off). Or I could use my ole wheel and spend 1000 € on a new gaming PC which will be obsolete in three years.

Of course it'll be obsolete in 3 years. Technology is always improving. So is games. And in that they'll get more demanding. All you can do is buy what's the best right now at your budget. Plus one of the beauties of PC is that if you need more power, you can just buy the newest components. Sure it gets expensive, but as I said before it's a good investment.

Graphics and in part game play design have moved on a great deal, but in the end I'm seriously doubting I'll play the money shedding game. And that makes me sad a bit because I feel I'm saying finally good bye to my inner child, sim or console racing. Is it because I'm getting old? I really don't know but I somehow feel let down by the industry because they don't offer me anything else than they did 15 years ago.

Apart from the PC parts themselves and a few games, you're pretty much set to do and play practically anything on PC. The consoles expect the user to be someone who just wants to keep it simple, and that's what Sony and Microsoft are doing. Those that are going to buy PCARS will most likely be ones who never owned a wheel before so buying a wheel that's compatible is no problem to them.

 

[Joey D]

For $1,100 you could build an epic gaming PC, however you can still build a really good PC for the cost of a console and just hook it into your TV. With a PC pretty much anything works and if it doesn't, typically someone, somewhere has figured out a program to make it work through some witchcraft. I would also guess you'd have a larger selection of driving games to choose from on the PC, even some of the older ones can be freshened up with mods from diverse user communities.

 

[sesselpupser]

Probably I bought too many Apple gadgets, but hey, they keep me happy and I hardly use my old, cumbersome yet handsome shiny all aluminium desktop Mac anymore thanks to the ever convenient iPads that seem to multiply every fortnight.

So you're ok with Apple and their proprietary software, formats and connectors that are frequently made obsolete which forces you to upgrade...? Even their switch from the dock connector to the Lightning thing between the iPhone 4S and 5 meant I had to replace two USB docks, a stereo music dock thing, buy two cables at £15 each (after Apple kindly locked out cheap third-party copies (I realise they 'cracked' the encryption but the point is Apple did try to prevent them), swap the connector in my car, the battery pack I had... Oh, wait, this is what I would've done had I decided to replace my 4S with another iPhone. Instead I'm going with a Sony Android because micro USB cables are widely available and cheap and a pile of other reasons. Fortunately my other Apple product, a MacBook Air, is free of proprietary connectors; sure there's a Thunderbolt port but it doubles as a mini DisplayPort connector so that's fine by me.

But now Sony suddenly decided they won't support the Logitech wheels anymore.

You know it's not just Sony's decision, of course; it's Sony, Logitech and (secondarily) every developer making software for the PS4. The PS4 still uses the HID protocol, this rumour going around that there's a security chip requirement that breaks compatibility with the old Logitech is just not true - just look at the people testing various flight sim HOTAS peripherals with War Thunder for proof of that. They pre-date the PS4 and they still work, so why don't Logitech's FFB wheels? Because there's no driver for them (HOTAS gear typically uses a much more generic HID profile but FFB wheels are obviously more complex), because Logitech and Sony haven't co-developed and implemented one.

Or I could use my ole wheel and spend 1000 € on a new gaming PC which will be obsolete in three years.

I built my PC in 2011, upgraded my graphics card once six months later when the GTX 680 was released because it can drive three monitors at once with no additional hardware (upgrading from a GTX 580 to 680 was cheaper than the other two options (another 580 or a Matrox Triple Head2Go)) and haven't upgraded the processing hardware since. It still meets the recommended spec for GTA V but I could do with a GTX 970 if I want to play modern racing sims on three monitors, but that's quite a niche requirement... So if you build it right in the first place it'll last more than three years for sure.

 

[MatskiMonk]

The problem with PC gaming, is you have to be into the hardware.... the benefit is you can upgrade it bit by bit...
The problem with Console gaming, is you cannot upgrade it.... the benefit is everything else.

 

[BobK]

Quite simply, the industry does it because they can and they know there's no shortage of gamers out there who are willing to shell out top dollar for something only marginally better than something much more reasonable.

Basically you pay their price or you don't play.

 

[LeMansAid]

People seem to think that their PCs will be "obsolete" when they can't max out settings for new games, but somehow don't think that in regards to consoles when console developers can't max out their settings.

On wheel support, I'll risk having to admit that I'm becoming ever more narcissistic and quote a previous post of mine from the hardware section for the second time in about a week.

When there's an upward trajectory, obsolescence can be useful in bankrolling new and better products. We need people to buy T300 wheels so that there might eventually be a T1000, or whatever. The jump from a non-ffb wheel to a G27 is huge, but as nice as it is, the jump from a G27 to a T300 is not going to be quite as pronounced. If the T300 doesn't sell well enough, we may end up with a downward trajectory, which then repeats on itself because people hang on to their older (and better) products rather than buying the newer (and worse) products.

It's like where tv display tech is at. So many people bought in to lcd and plasma because it included the jump from sd to hd, for the most part (there are sd flat panels and hd crts). Now we've got oled trying to make an impact, but in most people's eyes there's no reason to change. Make it impossible to watch new movies on non-oled displays and suddenly the tech gets a massive life-saving boost.

Anyway, for so many reasons - just buy a damn T300!!!

Great thing is, it's not like you'd be some early adopter paying $2000 for a Blu-ray UHD player or something.

Three options - buy a gaming PC and help the upward trajectory of gaming in general, buy a PS4 usable wheel and help the upward trajectory of sim racing gear, or buy nothing and help the upward trajectory of the number of people sitting around with arms defiantly crossed and sulking.

 

[Johnnypenso]

For $1,100 you could build an epic gaming PC, however you can still build a really good PC for the cost of a console and just hook it into your TV. With a PC pretty much anything works and if it doesn't, typically someone, somewhere has figured out a program to make it work through some witchcraft. I would also guess you'd have a larger selection of driving games to choose from on the PC, even some of the older ones can be freshened up with mods from diverse user communities.

You won't be running PCars on a $400 PC, not if you want double digit FPS on minimum settings

 

[Joey D]

You won't be running PCars on a $400 PC, not if you want double digit FPS on minimum settings

I don't really see how you couldn't, my $700 PC runs just about everything at a reasonably high setting and that's on 4 year old parts. You don't need the latest and greatest components with a PC.

 

[Rubencho]

most industries are like that... 'if you want it you have to pay for it' I own a X360 and a PS3, with the cost of the wheels for PS4 and Xbone I decided to jump to Pc, anyway I do have to work with the PC and have little time to spare so it was a no braininer for me, I decided to skip this gen of consoles

 

[Saidur_Ali]

You won't be running PCars on a $400 PC, not if you want double digit FPS on minimum settings

I got a laptop that cost less than that will likely run pCARS at over 60FPS for minimum settings. PC gaming is getting seriously cheap and I imagine by end of this year you will be able to get some seriously high end performance for a more entry level budget for 1080p gaming.

@ItsHim I built a PC for less than 450 € near end of 2013 IIRC and can play most games on really high settings at 60FPS including pCARS. Even an old PC from 2008 with a cheap GPU from 2010 can play pCARS at 60FPS at decent settings and I think that cost me less than 400 €.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I don't really see how you couldn't, my $700 PC runs just about everything at a reasonably high setting and that's on 4 year old parts. You don't need the latest and greatest components with a PC.

I'd love to see you put together a "really good" PC for $400 (don't forget the OS) that will run the game at anything close to decent settings and be able to run good sized fields online and off:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/

http://www.pcgamer.com/project-cars-system-requirements-will-put-your-pc-to-the-test/

 

[Joey D]

I'd love to see you put together a "really good" PC for $400 (don't forget the OS) that will run the game at anything close to decent settings and be able to run good sized fields online and off:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/

http://www.pcgamer.com/project-cars-system-requirements-will-put-your-pc-to-the-test/

You don't need brand new parts for a PC, buy a second hand graphics cards from a year or two ago and it'd be half the price. I've upgrades several parts on my PC's over the years by buying second hand from either trade shows or off eBay. As long as the seller isn't shady it's pretty easy to find used parts in good condition. Or you could even find close out prices for older models of parts that were sitting around in a warehouse that someone is trying to dump, they're always on eBay.

Sure it's not as easy as going to the local electronics store and picking up a ready made PC off the shelf, but if you want to save money you need to do some work.

Also second hand laptops will work fine as well.

 

[Pseudopod]

Depending on what sort of license you have for your current OS, you could be able to use the product key you already have with the new hardware you buy. You don't always have to buy a new OS license every time you upgrade, as long as you don't install the OS on several computers at the same time.

 

[NLxAROSA]

will run the game at anything close to decent settings and be able to run good sized fields online and off

Especially the bolded bit. FPS also varies a lot per track in my experience. But I also agree with Joey D. that if you bring second hand into the equation, you can get a decent PC for a very nice price. 👍 Personally I wouldn't go with second hand, but that's just me I guess.

 

[Monatsende]

I see your point @ItsHim. But that`s what we call free market economy determined by the law of supply and demand.

 

[Imari]

So yes I could basically afford to spend 1000 € on a new console and wheel and rig just to play an upcoming release of PCars (which somehow seems like a TOCA rip off). Or I could use my ole wheel and spend 1000 € on a new gaming PC which will be obsolete in three years.

In three years your console won't be obsolete, but won't be looking that flash next to the latest and greatest that just came out. Just as the PC that you could have bought would be.

Consoles are not a way to escape the whole dirty cycle of hardware upgrades, they just mean that you're locked in and there's nothing you can do about it. Maybe that makes some people feel better, that they can't spend any more money even if they wanted to.

Do what makes sense for you. Myself, I've gone the PC route but if someone wanted to get a console with the money instead I couldn't bring myself to say it was a bad choice. For the most part, it's basically the same, given that most people don't do piece by piece upgrades of their PC anyway.