Looking for a great racing game (NFS Shift demo tested)

Bram Turismo

Bram Turismo

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bramturismo
Title explains it all, really. I have been playing GTR for years but ever since I got a new laptop it has gathered a layer of dust since it only works with Windows XP. I won't bother installing a dual OS since the graphics are too outdated in comparison to the current games.

I have a Logitech DFP, and will play racing games on a laptop:

ASUS N61JA
Intel Core i3-350M @ 2.27 Ghz
4GB DDR3 RAM memory
Windows 7 x64
Ati Mobility Radeon HD5730 @ 1GB RAM

Am I looking for arcade games or sim racers? I'm not entirely sure. I am a huge fan of motorsport branches like the ALMS and GT cars in general. Forza 3 would probably be my game, but I have no plans of purchasing an XBOX, especially with GT5 around the corner.

Even though GT5 is about to come around, I still want a good racer for my PC.

F1 2010 comes first to mind, but will be put on hold until the game has been actually fixed and working like it should have in the first place.

I'm not a fan of Dirt or Dirt 2; It's just not my style of gaming. I don't care so much for off-road racing, and in general I hate the overall brown look Codemasters are putting in all their games.

NFS Shift looks very good, definitely a candidate unless users report otherwise.

No rFactor. I know I have a laptop, but rFactor is just too much of a graphical downgrade in comparison to Fallout 3 and Crysis that I also play on this laptop.

The same could probably be said about GTR2, but I haven't researched on the newer games of Simbin yet.

Anything with some sweet graphics that will run on my system and that gives me the opportunity to race LMP cars or GT cars around Sebring or Laguna Seca are all candidates.

On that; Any demos out there?
 
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GTR Evo/Race 07 with some mods.
Should satisfy most of your needs. 👍
 
GTR Evo (mod it or not)
NSF Shift (look in the thread for the mods. Change physics to GTR and it's a must)


That should suffice till GT5
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys 👍

I'm going to give the demo for NFS Shift a try and see if I like it :)
 
I've been playing GTR Evo for a while, doesn't look dated, and feels awesome to drive. Highly recommended. It's cheap now too.

Maybe these will sway you?

Race_Steam2010-09-2003-38-33-55.jpg


Race_Steam2010-09-2003-38-54-49.jpg


Race_Steam2010-09-2000-35-20-73.jpg


Race_Steam2010-09-2000-36-38-99.jpg
 
For Shift you need to try the mods. It will feel 200x better. The standards physics are not mind blowing.
Modded you have a great sim. Don't think the demo is modable
 
Well, Race Driver GRID caught my attention. The variety of cars is insane. It even has a Le Mans race just like the very PSX Le Mans game, with LMP and GT cars included. Everything seemed perfect until...



Those have got to be the most awful physics coming from Codemasters. I miss their TOCA 2 days, which was a brilliant game. GRID is exactly what I'm looking for in terms of car variety, tracks, day-night change, and damage. But the physics screw it all up. Also love how they got the straight after the Mulsanne hairpin horribly wrong :grumpy:

It starts to feel as if Codemasters is turning into an NFS-like game. They bring out so many games, all seem to be equally arcade-dullness.

*Sigh* I have been looking at NFS Shift as well, but judging from the cars and tracks it looks an awful lot like NFS Prostreet, only a bit more serious. I hated Prostreet. I haven't come across any GT or prototype racing mods yet for Shift, but let me know if you do 👍

I did take a look at GTR Evo, iRacing and GTR2. But unfortunately the graphics are not living up to my expectations. I don't even understand the point of GTR2 since it's just GTR with visible hands on the steering wheel and sunrays...
 
Iracing, it looks more realistic than other games to be honest. And you got real physics, not made by some random guy. And the laserscanned tracks are just amazing. You will never go back once you drive on a laserscanned track, trust me.

c6r_ss_4_screen_full.jpg

c6r_ss_6_screen_full.jpg
 
Still going to say Rfactor, the graphical quality depends on the quality of the model and attention to detail on the car/track models, the driving experience and variety of content is second to none, its a must have.

F1 2010 : Good game, if you can get over the crazy bugs and im not going to go into that discussion but il say the good things. Graphics are second to none, best looking racing game that has been released, if you have a computer powerful enough to run it that high, car models are great (tho FVA's Ferarri F10 is more detailed). The physics are decent for a codemasters title, though its no sim, sounds are great, career mode is great fun and as a gaming experience its spot on, the FFB is quite bad but its a worthy game if you're not too fussed on it not driving like Iracing.

GRID : Decent game but it is your typical need for speed type race game, the driving experience is best with a gamepad, a lot of rubberbanding with the AI, quite good fun, graphics are great and its worth a blast, but a realistic or challenging experience you will not find with this, drifting in this game is great fun, as is racing around some of the steet circuits. Biggest flaw is that it doesnt work well with a wheel, and for me atleast the physics are too mario kart.

GTR2 - Very good good, lots of mods available, graphics are pretty decent (around about the same as Rfactor), physics are good, sounds are good, a must have for a racing fan.

Iracing - Not played it but it has the reputation as the best, and its probably true.



One point - You keep saying "ooh graphics are not good enough" i dont get this, why are you so set on the graphics having to be top to play a game, there are not many games that are going to give you that with PC racing sims.

The top racing sim developers aren't spending all their time and money on making the games look like big screen movies, they spend the time on the physics and making sure the tracks are detailed, they focus mostly on the driving experience. These companies are smaller specialist companies, mostly for the PC which is a much smaller market than consoles. Console games developers will throw a lot of money in order to spit out games with great graphics every year, but take away the pretty pictures and more often than not you're left with a less quality product.

The best racing games out at the moment if you want a quality driving experience are the GTR series, Rfactor, LFS, Iracing. All of those have nicely modelled cars, some of them very very nicely, and decently done tracks, but you won't see the same sort of graphically focussed design that you would find in F1 2010 for example.

If you want a good racing game for the pc, that isnt an "arcade game", you're simply going to have to swallow your pride and just play whats there..

Rfactor 2, GTR3 are down the road and will have updated graphics, but even those will not likely compare to something like F1 2010 graphics wise, where the graphics was a huge focus in the development.

Rfactors 2007 Bmw Sauber F1 car - Absolutely stunning graphically

07-06bmwsauber1.jpg


07-06bmwsauber3.jpg
 
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Test Drive Unlimited. I love it on the 360 and heard it is also on the PC. Oh wait I guess it is not on the PC so nevermind.

GRID Great game. Hmm doenst look like this is on the pc either.
 
CAMAROBOY69
Test Drive Unlimited. I love it on the 360 and heard it is also on the PC. Oh wait I guess it is not on the PC so nevermind.

GRID Great game. Hmm doenst look like this is on the pc either.
Click to expand...

LOL. The 2 exist for PC and you can actually play it with a wheel ;)
But i would only recommend TDU (which is primary a PC game and had console ports)
Grid was never meant to be played with a wheel, so the physics and handling are a bit messy. I gave that game up after 6 rounds and messing with the controls
 
Concerning GRID, it's actually fantastic if you turn all the driver aids off. It's a little known fact actually.

SHIFT is far, far worse than GRID.
 
Grid is a terrible game with a wheel. I already didn't really like the controls with a pad, but it looks like they did an even worse job with steering wheels.
 
CAMAROBOY69
Test Drive Unlimited. I love it on the 360 and heard it is also on the PC. Oh wait I guess it is not on the PC so nevermind.

GRID Great game. Hmm doenst look like this is on the pc either.
Click to expand...
As said, TDU is on the PC & has a lot of mods released for it on Diablo's forum. ;)

However, it may only keep the OP busy for a few months as TDU2 is right around the corner & is very promising.
 
I would also say GTR2, GTL and rFactor.
They doesn't look that bad with some mods and definitely worth it (they are cheap nowadays).
 
McLaren
As said, TDU is on the PC & has a lot of mods released for it on Diablo's forum. ;)

However, it may only keep the OP busy for a few months as TDU2 is right around the corner & is very promising.
Click to expand...

Well the game is probably going to keep me busy until GT5 arrives at which point I'm probably going to buy the GT5 bundle. I think it's safe to say that I won't be looking for a new racing game once I've got my hands on GT5...
 
I downloaded the NFS Shift demo today and rather liked it.

The graphics were set to medium by the game but they looked really nice to me. Laptop ran it smoother than I expected. It's running so smooth that I want to try run it on all high settings. This laptop is chewing everything I've thrown at it so far; the Ati HD5730 mobility card has some amazing performance!

The controls were very difficult. The DFP was hard to set up and the controls are still crap. The steering input seems dead when starting to turn, while the car oversteers so easily when steering lock. I set up the dead zone to 0% and the sensitivity to 10-20%. A lot better than the original settings, but the game still feels rather dead. Probably because there's no Force Feedback.

It's a lot of fun, though; very pretty visuals, awesome sounds, it's no too easy and while it is an arcade game it feels like a sim at the same time.

If the physics mod works for the demo and the I've figured out the controls for my DFP I'm pretty sure I'll love it.
 

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