I have not played a racing game since Microprose's Formula 1 Grand Prix , so after an exchange of the pros and cons of what's out there now with Gabriel, last night, I opted for Assetto Corsa. I am thrilled to bits that the "Jim Clark special" Lotus 49 was among the cars.

Once again, my enjoyment of racing games has an IRL precedent; I did a couple of seasons of club level motorcycle racing in the mid 80's, here in Ecuador. Here's a couple of snaps of ole Cygon at age 15, "El Negro" (you can see why I wanted bort number 20 on the S77/F99th now), at Yaguarcocha racetrack...





And here's a clip of my first try of Assetto Corsa , at a snail's pace, but still remembering racing line after all that time. The song from Scarface was, understandably and obviously, my favorite back then. I never understood why it was associated with a drug dealer movie, when it is clearly about racing, LOL! I hope it whets the appetite of a few guys so we can have a racing meet sometime!

Edit: BTW, I am going to have to do a ToolBandit style adaptation and superglue a steering wheel to the top of my joystick, for added realism.

My interest is piqued.. If it goes on sale I'll definitely get it, but even if it doesn't I may pick it up when I hit one of those "bored with everything" stints.

Motorcycle racing pictures are awesome too. Reminds me of how much I want to go for a track day with my bike. All around, another top-notch Cygon post. +1

pyroooo! Nooo! It just went off sale a couple of hours ago. It was one of the reasons, aside that it looked like one of the better racing games, that I got it.

I missed the sale as well. I wasn't able to go home for my lunch and make the purchase unfortunately. So I may grab it at the end of the month well see.

What kind of discount did they have for it? The normal price seems about right at $60. Looks like an awesome racing game.

30% off, which also included 2 add on packs. It was a pretty good deal.

Incidentally, and out of curiosity; what bike?

I played a few seasons of iRacing but I'm not sure I'll be renewing it this year. I know that as soon as it runs out I'll miss if though lol. I can't say enough positives for iRacing when it comes to a solid sim, but mostly the systems they have in place to actually have a real online race instead of the bumper cars that is every other game. Racing sims and flight sims go hand in hand like pilots and motorcycles.

Ugh. I would have jumped on that deal in a heartbeat.

My bike is a 2013 BMW K1300S. Here's a picture my cousin's friend took of it with my cousin's M3:


Do you have a bike currently? We should probably start a motorcycle thread.. I know Tracer and Frollo are both enthusiasts, I'm sure there are more.

Now that's a bike. BMW exclusively hung onto their horizontally opposed twin configuration for so long they were beginning to penalize themselves. Some years ago they woke up with some style, eh?

Sadly, not at the moment. I went through a patch in 2009 during which several factors coincided in having to part company with my last bike in 2010, a much beloved 1992 Honda "Crazy Bastard's Rocket" 600 F2 on which I had many adventures, including a frenetic chase of a friend's stolen car! After 28 years of motorcycles staunchly being my only mode of transportation, it was a bit of a moment seeing my last pair of wheels departing, as you can imagine.

I have been "exploratory" with my motorcycling, and by that I mean over the years I have owned, ridden and worked on many types, from prewar British models to Russian MZs. The 10 years I had in England were the best for motorcycling, I fell in with a very good little group of enthusiasts and restorers.

I am out of the doldrums now, and am considering getting an Indian fabrication Royal Enfield Cafe Racer 500 single to start off again in the coming year, as there is definitely something tangibly missing without a bike. But this is all better stuff for the motorcycle thread, which I, for one, think is a great idea!

So, I have played around with Assetto Corsa for some 20 hours now, demo video here . I can say; WOW! It is awesome. Of course this is not a professional review, just a casual player's angle on it. Compared to the last racing game I played, which was old, there are pros and cons, though cons are pale and pros bright and resplendant. I'll start with the cons;

- It is WIP. You get an excellent selection of different cars from most motor racing stages, and several tracks, including variations over time or for event, for some of them, like Monza in the 60's and today, and the shortened, national Silverstone. However, there are not enough tracks nor is there one entire run of a selection of cars from a specific era to create exactly the grid of your favorite Grand Prix, for example. The promise is that more vehicles are being made for it. I hope they do keep expanding.

- It is designed for a control wheel. Using my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, I found I could not assign anything to the coolie hat. That said, the Logitech joystick works surprisingly well with the sim, using the twist (rudder axis) for steering and the throttle, well, for the throttle and brakes. The set up is more than acceptable, as is. No wheel required.

- Perhaps I am wrong with this, but I could not find a setting for wet track and rain. Dusty, yes, but I seem to be missing a "wet track" option.

- No user's manual. For those who are not automobile engineers, or at least competent mechanics, some of the set up options might leave them scratching their heads.

Pros;

- The speed, above all else. The whole impression and illusion of going fast, combined with the audio is fantastic. Taking the Lotus 98T around Silverstone and changing up through the gears on home straight is the most intense, artificially induced bit of adrenaline I have had for a while. It is mindblowingly realistic.

- Contributing to the above are the graphics. They ran perfectly on my 970 video card. Things like the simulation shine and reflectivity of a polyurethane finish are excellent, as are the effects of sunlight glare on the road and the effect of low angle sunlight coming through trees when you drive through a wooded area.

- There is a wide enough range of activities, challenges and a career mode. Though, as mentioned, this cross-section approach reduces the chronological "compatibility" of some cars, it vastly enhances replayability. There are two particularly useful practice options I had not seen on the older racing games I played; Time Attack and Hot Lap. Spent a lot of time with them learning new tracks.

- There are these things called "achievements". Every so often, while I am driving around, a massage came up informing me I have surpassed some milestone, like distance, speed and race positions. It is a Steam thing, and you can see the resume of your achievements so far, and what's to come, on your profile. So can other Steam-sters, it seems. Good for community interest, I suppose.

- The realism of the racing ambient is very good. You get your markers and line sorted out on practice, then stick to them during the race with discipline, waiting only for openings and gaps to present themselves to get ahead, and you will finish races. The AI drivers, from easy to alien difficulty, seem to be "respectful", to an extent. There was one game I remember in which the opposition seemed to be programmed to run into you Phoenecian galley ram style. Not here, unless you do something stupid in front of them.

- The car set up screen; a huge pro if you know what to go after "tweak" wise for a particular track. Each car, depending on whether it is a production vehicle or a fully tunable F1, has a different range of configuration items available, from tire pressures to gear ratios, and of course, suspension settings.

- Each car "feels" different, as it should, and responds effectively and predictably to configuration changes made in the set up section.

I have run the game from the beginning on pro settings, with all assists off except for the clutch (set to auto-clutch), as I have no effective interface to control it. Therefore I am unable to comment on how useful the assists may be for those who want to use them.

I've had fun, and still am having fun, with Assetto Corsa. I am glad I got it. I would recommend it, if you like racing car sims, with little worry of having made a duff suggestion.

Awesome! Im sold thanks for the review sir! Ill grab it when I can.

As will I. It's been a while since I've had a good racing game and some buddies to play it with. And that last one was Forza 4 on 360, so that was pretty damn arcade-ey. Having a proper sim-level racing game will be nice.

So, another Assetto Corsa review, this time about a bit of compatible hardware. First thing's first; I found a Logitech G-29 wheel device in Bogota, going comparatively cheaper than they do in the US, surprisingly ($ 305.00 USD). Colombian Peso devaluation helped there, it seems. Then I was very worried about running the Ecuadorian customs gauntlet, as usual, bringing it back; it is a big bit of kit and sure to attract attention on the X-ray machine, despite my unboxing it and separating it into two bags. Fortunately my friend helped me by doing a great job of distracting the customs agent while my bags went through; he said "good morning", the time being 22:00 HL, to the guy and engaged him briefly in a conversation about the effects of fatigue and time perception, by which time I had grabbed my bags and gone. A perfect example of using a person's inherent desire to correct someone to our own purpose. Very clever!

Installation of the G-29 was easy. Plug in, download the Logitech Gaming software, set the switch to PS4 on top of the wheel (important, if you are using the device on Windows), load up Assetto Corsa, and select the G-29 preset. All done, kind of (more on that further down this post).



Then the test run. I took an old Alfa Romeo GTA (which I would not mind as my daily runabout IRL!) out on Nurnberg for the test and got the most seroius case of vestibular dissociative-disorientation I ever did have. Having a wheel and pedals for the sim made it realistic, and every time I accelerated, braked or cornered I was experiencing the false sensation of being pushed back, launched forward, or being slung sideways, respectively, under G forces. It was eerie, and made me dizzy after a couple of laps.

Now, apart from that...

The product's finish is good. Nice padded wheel, with allen head screws on the boss. Enough buttons, easily accessible with thumbs, and paddle shifters behind the wheel. The desk securing clamps do their job well, too. The pedals have good, logical feel. Soft accelerator, progressively hardening brake as you press it, so you don't feel like you have run out of brake fluid in the reservoir, and a reasonably firm clutch. Only thing about the pedal mount; you'll want to secure it to the floor properly, either with better friction pads, some contact cement (maybe) or some retaining contraption. The stock friction is not bad for gentle driving, but get extreme on bends, braking hard before entry and then booting the accelerator on turn exit, and it will slowly shift away from your feet. LOL! You won't want that happening during a 20 lap on line race at Spa.

On to the "piece the resistance"; force feedback. This was another ball game. You simply must access the Assetto Corsa controls configuration screens and experiment here to get an adequate feel, to your liking, and you must use the program built in configuration wizard to properly calibrate the wheel and pedals. The heart of the feedback calibration is on the advanced controls tab, and includes Gain, Filter, Minimum Force, Kerb, Road and Slip Effects, and Enhanced Understeer Effect. Changing these settings seriously changes the behaviour of the wheel, from a wheel that has a life of its own, shakes your desk, and flies out of your hands, to one that feels like the turn sector unit needs some radical maintenance at Eddie's Garage. Somewhere in the middle of all that, you find a perfect setup. When you do, caster simulated autocentering feels great, there is a slight resistance while you hold the wheel into the turn, coupled with a simulated rumble from the road, and a gradual lightening of steering force as you go into over or under steer. It is a great warning that you are about to loose it, and a useful cue that some shock damper, spring rate or anti-roll bar settings need some attention.



Still getting used to it, but it does seem a good buy, if you really like racing games. A little expensive, perhaps, even with the "devaluation discount", but very good just the same.

Hahaha

This having to smuggle anything nice through the border is a pain in the ass I'm sure, but it sure makes for entertaining reading for the rest of us.

Thanks for putting up such a thorough review! Hope that dizziness issue resolves itself and you can focus on enjoying the setup. Congrats buddy!

LOL! Thanks! The dizziness has sorted itself out, after a couple of additional drives. As I drive quite a bit IRL, it all stemmed from the brain expecting its own feedback from the vestibular system, based on the "muscle memory" of anticipated G from certain actions, and not getting it, so it was providing false sensations. I quite literally and fundamentally confused myself at motor neuron level! If anything, it is a blazing credit to the added realism provided by the device.

With many thanks to Gabriel for collaborating with the test (who incidentally was going around Nürnberg GP like a red flash in the Lotus during said test) we have an on demand server for any Assetto Corsa events or general meets, for those of us who play it. It was a bit tricky, for me at least, to get this server working as there were some permutations of port forwarding and static IP stuff to do, but it all worked out. Great fun, in the end, and I am thrilled that I eventually got my head around it!

As it happens, I spent a bit of additional time after the test tweaking some settings and it does still run fine without a static IP at my end, but does seem to require two router forwarded ports for other players to be able join (and of course the usual firewall exceptions, if you are one of those like me and shut down all but the very most essential exceptions on it). Also, if you are hosting, it seems you can only join your own server via the LAN setting on the AC MP page.

Configuration of the server is better set manually in the server_cfg.ini file than by using the Assetto Corsa Server Manager, as the utility does not seem to save the settings that effectively after creation of the very first server settings. Launching the server is also better done by use of the acserver.exe application than by the START SERVER button the ACS Manager.

All that is just some info, most probably so that I don't forget and have a reference here. LOL! Corrections welcome from any who know more about this stuff...

PM if any of you ever want the server, it will be called F99th_AC_Server.

There was a bit of an update to Assetto Corsa. In the "special events" section there are now a few more new tasks, mostly labelled "Unavailable" (as yet). Now, I am not one who prowls around after info on upcoming updates, but looking at the stills shows a Lotus 72 and what appears to be an old style Ford Escort, plus mention of "Down the Hatch", which I can only assume means Brands Hatch.

I am guessing these are going to be additions in the near future, and they would be welcome if it is going that way, for me. I remain a fan of 1970's F1, the era of Stewart, Hailwood, Cevert, Revson and a whole load more, most of which died like flies on the track in a time when track safety was second or third priority, but I still maintain it needs the old Le Mans track and some of the "olden golden" Mercedes and Jaguar sports cars of the '50s.

Looking forward to the present update, though....

EDIT: Yeah, it is all on the intro AC channel video, now that I watched it at last: dream pack 3, LOL! Available.

I had a bit of an Assetto Corsa gaming splurge. Thought I'd give my favorite ride a whirl around Magione, and after a couple of set up tweaking sessions found that I was beating the RSR Live lap times. Here's a video of the fastest of one of the set up sessions...

Video AC Magione.

I activated the RSR app in AC and, at the moment of this post, RSR Live Timing lap record is yours truly's. That's a first for me, LOL! Surely, someone out there is not trying...

As I have always wanted the Le Mans track, I looked just out of curiosity to see what plans there to develop Sarthe for AC and found this page , where it and several other tracks are already available. Didn't know about it.

Also found Snetterton there, a track I knew IRL, albeit nearly thirty years ago now. Here's a lap of it in AC, using my dad's old "company car" Ford Escort, hehe! (Wish that car was still around now, Gad!)

Video AC Snetterton.

Now, it seems there have been several alterations to Snetterton since I knew it, including an infield addition option, a double back hairpin at Sear, and (if the simulated track is faithful to reality) the bumpy dip at the Bomb Crater seems to have been smoothed out a bit. That was a very dangerous feature to motorcycles that caused racing riders to wake up in a cold sweat at night dreaming of it, back in the late '80s, LOL!

And finally, Le Mans! I couldn't wait to try the Ford GT 40 out on this one. In the sim, on any tight track that car handles in a way that makes you feel like a magician trying to do a "hand faster than the eye" trick with a wet towel. But, on Circuit de la Sarthe, for which it was designed IRL, it is a different beast. Sit back and enjoy 200 mph on that fabulous, long straight of the classic track with that V8 growling away!

Video Le Mans GT 40.

Early try outs, both of those videos, but I can see I'm going to enjoy these two tracks, and probably a few more off that link!

Well done Cygon! I had not idea RSR existed. Im gonna get that set up right away, thankyou!

Good going sir, that's wild!