I don't have time to learn the cars and tracks enough to be quick online. I don't care for the selfish attitude of online racers (restart now, revenge wrecks, setup exploits), and I certainly don't have time to do leagues. I've won enough league races in my time, and don't need more accolades. I just want to fire up when I have a spare hour (between real racing cars and bed time) to enjoy a scamper around a track on my terms. AI can provide that, online generally can't.
It just cannot, it's proven by just every AI ever tried to be implemented in a sim, it just doesn't work and their behavior is never (will never be?) like the real people.. It automatically becomes an arcade racer or a mobile phone game when i race the AI's..
As long as they don't cheat (more power/more grip), then I'm reasonably happy. Online requires too much dedication - dedication I used to have time for, but not any more. If there is no AI then it's just a hotlapping game, which is fun but I do need a but of wheel to wheel.
Barely used nKP , rF or GT5 online, and whilst I was online all the time in LFS for a while, it's an offline only game for me now.
Tristan you goddam pussy! Racing is not about being the best or winning races you knob, it's about racing. Racing is going door to door and loving the challenge even when you lose. You sound so much like a spoilt rich kid who's parents gave you the opportunities that normal SIM racers would dream of.
Who gives a shit if your quick online? No one.. Get in the sim and enjoy it you knobber
All that bothers me about AC is that running triples wrecks the FPS. Using a 4670K OC'ed and a GTX770 and I've got almost everything turned off to get a decent frame-rate at my res, I could turn a few things on and get 60fps but it's a stuttery mess and gives me a headache after 5 minutes, or use vsync and put up with the input lag, but it really needs 120 ish to get it smooth enough to feel good. Obviously a 770 isn't exactly top end hardware, but it's got more than enough grunt for iR to run at 120 with everything maxed and looking 10x better than AC on min settings.
Um, I smell some contradiction in that post, quite a big one even. You are calling online simracers selfish, yet you would happily take the chance away from the majority of the community, because you can't be assed to join a server and have fun. Sounds logical to me indeed.
I'm sure there will be pickup races like CTRA in LFS, and at that point, nobody cares if you are 1st or 15th. You have a place to go door to door with actual humans. Of course it feels good to win something, but hey you learn from your own mistakes, right?
@DeKo, just wait for the next update. It will have a few optimization changes promised. That video linked on the other page seems to be pretty neat at that point.
Honestly, I'm not sure if AC will end up with pickup races. The way the UI currently is is so much like NKP was, that it scares me because it seems like it will be this horribly rigid system like NKP.
You missed his point. Firing up the game and having an offline race with AI is faster to setup that getting online, searching for an online server/race with a combo you like, joining, waiting for the race to start, get wrecked on T1 because Online, waiting for restart, restarting, etc , etc.
Can't see the problem with refining AI, it's true that a lot of people race offline. Then why not. MP will come whenever it comes, I'm not sitting here waiting for it and cry after each update that why is X "useless" feature included and why MP isn't... The sim is getting better and better every 2 weeks. I'm sure they'll deliver MP in a few weeks, we only have to wait. At least this community is well experienced in waiting.
I have no interest in being the slow person on the grid. A lot of sim racers practice more than I do, and I can compete with that AND have fun.
Sorry if I come across as a spoilt rich kid. I admit my Dad has provided some funding (for instance, buying a racing car that I can race, at considerable economic strain to himself), but most of my racing is funded by my own income, and is why I go racing on roughly 15% of the budget of my rivals.
I'm not saying they shouldn't do MP. Of course they should. I'm just saying I'm glad they are also working on AI (and probably in parallel with each other, not just a case of finishing one before starting on the other). I didn't like the CTRA system of having to prove myself to join a server. I can see the merits in it - it reduces the number of noobs and crashers - but I don't consider myself a noob or a crasher, so I don't like being excluded simply because I haven't done 30 hours online.
MP is great. But given my current restrictions, it's not for me. So I want some AI at some level.
Me either. You could possibly add talent my list of things I don't have, but it's mostly time. It might be once a month where I could dedicate a couple of hours and have a decent session. Otherwise, it's the odd 30 minutes here or there, which amounts to a quick couple of races against the AI. So, I'm glad they're improving it.
People can lose perspective when they hang around forums, where like many minded people congregate. They assume everybody is the same; can invest dozens of hours every week and play on-line all night most nights. The fact is, that it's only a small minority of people who actually do this.
The AI does not mind if you crash them but still takes practice, missing turns all the time is no fun either.
Even on the lower servers with no requirements did not like it too much. Some random car-track combo got voted, I had no setup for that, after some laps I have learned the track a bit - but then it gets changed again or I must stop playing.
Basically spent more time getting used to the track than actually racing. And when you finally are in a good race someone else gets in your way, someone who struggles with track just like you did before.
So unless *everybody* knows *all* combos there can hardly be any good racing. Otherwise there is always people trying to learn the track while others around them are trying to race. I think racing multiplayer can not really work like that, no matter what game. (Unless maybe there is only slow cars and easy tracks.)
Solution to me is organized races, it takes less time because there is only one track to learn.
Anyone can find 2x 30 minutes to practice during the week which is enough to finish most races without messing up.
More practice=better results, obviously, well that is what racing is like.
In the end racing is always about money. And "time is money"
AI is must have for my best friend, he is having more fun racing with AI then online, crashing,learning track and all that is not that "big" stuff when you race against AI.
Sadly I don't prance around in tights much these days, but I was asked yesterday if I wanted to audition for a part.
The racing itself doesn't make much time at all. That's a couple of hours of sitting in a car once a month. It's the fact that:
If the engine needs work/rebuilds/fettling then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
If the gearbox needs work/rebuilds/fettling then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
If the bodywork needs work/fettling then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends (although I don't personally do the actual painting, but I do do a lot of the prep and a lot of the carbon work).
If the data needs looking at between races then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
If I want the car setup before the race then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
If I want to work out what setup to put on the car, or what changes to make from last time then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
If I need tyres changing/fitting on the wheels (away from the weekend) then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
If the truck/quad/trolleys need work then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
If I need parts then I have to save up and order them, and then fit them.
If the workshop needs cleaning/tidying then I have to do it myself in my evenings/weekends.
In short, I don't have a lot of free time in my evenings and weekends.
it is now public!
