Thinking of switching to AC (from GT)

[Lewis_Hamilton_]

Yeah, I saw this coming (mods joker)
In the vast majority of cases you can't compare the official content quality with mods quality and you know it!
We are talking about games with very high graphics detail, this is not rfactor or other old games.

And everyone see's your same responses coming too.
It almost seems like you're trying to say that the quality mods that we have all downloaded have pulled the wool over our eyes and are in fact not worthy of driving. I'm also baffled by your statement towards graphics since I'm sure you've tooted in the past about graphics being unimportant when defending Gran Turismo. Was it yourself that said graphics don't make a game fun? Perhaps you could consider non-Kunos cars as "standard" and Kunos' cars as "premium", perhaps then it will become acceptable to you as that will then fit inline with GT's variable car quality?

As stated, you refusing to use mods is entirely your problem, meanwhile everyone else is enjoying them often more so than the officially provided cars.

 

[Esotic1972]

I think MODs are simultaneously awesome and problematic. I've hosted GTR LAN parties and loved being able to make custom skins for all the cars, so that part is awesome. Watching what NAGP do with MODs is also on the very cool end of the spectrum. Spending all that time tracking down the MODs, and then figuring out how to fix them or which one is crashing your software when something doesn't work right? That part sucks.

 

[NixxxoN]

And everyone see's your same responses coming too.
It almost seems like you're trying to say that the quality mods that we have all downloaded have pulled the wool over our eyes and are in fact not worthy of driving. I'm also baffled by your statement towards graphics since I'm sure you've tooted in the past about graphics being unimportant when defending Gran Turismo. Was it yourself that said graphics don't make a game fun? Perhaps you could consider non-Kunos cars as "standard" and Kunos' cars as "premium", perhaps then it will become acceptable to you as that will then fit inline with GT's variable car quality?

As stated, you refusing to use mods is entirely your problem, meanwhile everyone else is enjoying them often more so than the officially provided cars.

Yeah of course Im not graphics obsessed, I say so because apparently one of the main reasons to play PC simulators is the machine power, the capacity of handle very high detail graphics, the physics, many cars, weather effects, all in once without losings FPS.
Then with using mods one of this big advantages disappears.

 

[Punknoodle]

No it doesn't. Go look at the Formula Renault, Miata and 787B off the top of my head and compare the graphical quality. Then check out Barbagallo and Donnington Park. I don't feel like there is a noticeable step going from original content to these mods at all. The Formula Renault I think looks BETTER than a lot of the Kunos cars. One of the advantages of PC gaming you left out. Moddability.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Mods are the single biggest reason why PC is better than consoles for me. I dunno, maybe it's because I was raised in the PS1 era of pixellated graphics, but as long as the cars handle nice I don't care of they look like crap.

Gran Turismo is convenient in that it gives you ~800 cars (without duplicates) and 40 tracks right off the bat, but you are limited to what PD gives you. The physics are great for a console sim, but even compared to rFactor (released 10 years ago in 2005) it's way behind. It's not a hardware issue either because rF can run perfectly fine on PCs with lesser specs than the PS3.

AC is even better in terms of physics. The vanilla content can also hold its own in the graphics department. Mods are of variable quality, but they are no worse than the standard cars in GT. For the price of tinkering a bit more, you can have a library of all the tracks and cars in the world. Car and track count really isn't an issue. You have to put in more work, sure, but you also get rewarded more as a result 👍

At the end of the day it comes down to what YOU want from a racing game. If you value convenience and don't mind slightly less good physics, stick with GT. If you value the best physics and don't mind spending a bit of time tinkering, PC is really the way to go. Or you can also have both like me

 

[Esotic1972]

Speaking of AC MODs, I made a skin pack for the 458 Italia. There's 21 skins in there, and this pic should give you an idea of what to expect.

Download here: http://esotic.com/media/ac_458_skin_pack.zip

Cheers,

Dave/Esotic

 

[Johnnypenso]

If other players can get used to those frame drops without problems and without headache, you can too. Don't exaggerate.
I use the same yardstick to compare the physics of both games and I know its not as precise as a wheel but its equally valid to compare them I guess.

Not everyone is affected by frame drops the same way, it's an individual thing. I never paid much attention to it myself but after I bought a pc and played AC at a rock solid 60 fps in all conditions and then went back to GT6, the frame rate issues were obvious and annoying. Not that I can't adapt but why would I want to when I have something better on the table?

Physics wise, AC is leaps and bounds beyond GT, as it should be on vastly superior hardware. In every single aspect of simulation I can't think of a single area where GT is even on par, even the most basic areas like aero, weight transfer, lift-off oversteer etc. If you think the games are close, either your equipment prevents you from feeling the differences between the two, or you lack a basic understanding of car physics at the limit and many of the subtle but important little nuances incorporated into AC physics.

 

[Soulfresh_ACV]

Not everyone is affected by frame drops the same way, it's an individual thing. I never paid much attention to it myself but after I bought a pc and played AC at a rock solid 60 fps in all conditions and then went back to GT6, the frame rate issues were obvious and annoying. Not that I can't adapt but why would I want to when I have something better on the table?

Physics wise, AC is leaps and bounds beyond GT, as it should be on vastly superior hardware. In every single aspect of simulation I can't think of a single area where GT is even on par, even the most basic areas like aero, weight transfer, lift-off oversteer etc. If you think the games are close, either your equipment prevents you from feeling the differences between the two, or you lack a basic understanding of car physics at the limit and many of the subtle but important little nuances incorporated into AC physics.

Glad I'm not the only one who is exaggerating lol

 

[Esotic1972]

Frame rate drops in GT6 can be affected by the system and game settings (https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/gt6-framerate-depends-on-which-console-you-have.295306/). This is no different than AC settings on a PC. AC will let you pick settings that have low frame rates. AC does allow for more control so you can "dial-in" the best visuals for whatever computer you happen to own. The notebook I use to play AC cost about $1600. This is a far cry from how much my PS3 cost. My notebook also happens to be immensely more functional than a PS3.

As a test I attempted to create "identical" settings for a Ferrari 599 in GT6 and AC and then compared the experiences. I started with GT6, and then moved over to AC. My lap times on the Nordschleife were pretty close to identical in the 2 games (about 7 minutes).

- GT6 appears to be communicating grip through the Force Feed Back. AC is communicating body roll AND grip through the FFB. If I'm driving an "oldie but a goodie" car in GT6 I can feel weight transfer happening, but that feeling is not present in the FFB with the same level of sophistication as AC.

- GT6 has more options for customizing a vehicle. As an example: There's no "LSD" in AC, so there's no way to "tame" a torque happy vehicle. The 599 in AC was more likely to spin out the back tires, but I did eventually learn to compensate by shifting earlier and going easy on the accelerator.

- The car in AC felt looser at first due to the body roll, but after adjusting my driving style it eventually felt more stable, which I'm assuming may be due to the active wing on the 599xxEvo in AC (GT6 wing is static). Or it could just be a variance in how "racing hard" tires are implemented in the 2 games.

- The PhotoMode in AC seemed buggy. It did allow me to do a few things that GT6 won't, in terms of camera placement, but the textures got confugled at one point and some of the pictures were not what I had framed in the "camera".

- The vast majority of the track felt familiar between the two games, but there are slight differences. I'm curious to see if my AC experience feeds back into better GT6 lap times (and vice versa).

Playing video games to conduct strict scientific observation is a win/win in my book.

 

[Johnnypenso]

- The vast majority of the track felt familiar between the two games, but there are slight differences. I'm curious to see if my AC experience feeds back into better GT6 lap times (and vice versa).

There's really no way to compare tires and levels of grip between the game since AC is attempting to simulate period specific tires and GT has a generic model with arbitrary levels of grip, unrelated to the real car.

 

[Esotic1972]

For the "fun of it" I've spent the past week playing mostly AC. I think the racing feel/physics of AC are arguably superior to GT6, but I'm consistently frustrated by things AC doesn't do. Pit stops in offline mode don't work. Pit stops online work sometimes. Replay data with online races doesn't exist. Photo mode only works when post-processing effects are on, PP negatively effects your FPS and may result in poor contrast or saturation. Liveries are far more customizable in AC, but that doesn't matter unless the server you happen to be racing on contains your customization.

The racing part of AC is pretty fantastic, but GT6 is for more capable/friendly in every other regard. AC is a version 1 product, which means they are constantly adding to the functionality. GT6 is a Version 6 product running on a 9 year old platform, which was arguably ahead of it's time, and GT6 is still pretty fantastic in all the ways it gets it right. I think AC may need another revision or two before I would be happy "making the switch".

I'm not anti-AC. I made multiple skin packs to give to the AC community:
http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/formula-abarth-skin-pack.7253/

At this point I would say "it's got potential", but a good friend of mine once said "my mother told me I should never date potential".