[edit:]That video came up in a discussion about drifting in rFactor over at RSC. Here's a link to the thread: http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=280457 It contains a lot of good information though there is quite a bit of noise in the discussion which can get annoying.
I still check up on what's happening with rFactor every few weeks. The last time I checked the latest and greatest mod which everyone was raving about was Grand Prix 1979 which contains the cars and several of the tracks for the 1979 F1 season. It's not my favourite F1 era (that would be the late 60s and early 70s), but I've always had a soft spot for Gilles Villeneuve and fat slicks so I installed it hoping to take some of those roaring 79 F1 beasts for a blast around some classic race tracks. Colour me completely unimpressed. The mod is certainly ambitious in scope but the execution is terrible (a part of me wants to cut the mod makers some slack since they're not charging for their work and they clearly put a lot of time and effort into the mod but another part of me thinks that that would just be partially excusing poor quality).
If that is among the best of the mods being released, I shudder to think what the others that aren't as highly-acclaimed among the rFactor afficianados are like.
And thus ended my most recent foray into the world of rFactor. I don't want to come across as an LFS fanboy here nor be seen to be critical of the game just because it's not LFS; I really do want to see other games raise the standard of simulation as far as they can - the more quality titles there are out there, the better it is for us all as consumers. I just don't see even the potential for excellence in rFactor at all.
I have been playing a little bit of Rfactor lately
mainly because of the ICA Karts and V8Supercars
Rfactor physics isnt to bad as everyone makes out..
reading a interview with James Courtney (now v8 supercar driver)
He said the main difference between open wheelers and v8supercars is
in open wheeler everything is very precise you feel every movement through the wheel, v8supercars is like a delayed reaction
Physics LFS = Precise V8factor = delayed
i'd rather precise thats why i like LFS
and LFS is tons better for online racing
you pretty much gotta download a new track everytime you want to join a server then when u install it the track on the servers changes
Can't comment much about that one even I know and could
Game engine has some issues indeed, it is clearly designed to weird slip curves and so that you spin out, however it is possible to make driftable car, but it still will have issues, different ones.
I will keep looking better handling to my car, don't know how good or bad is best it can do but that is what I'm trying to find out.
I don't know any released mod that I would been happy with, cars seem to miss weight or have some other serious problems with physics.
rFactor Kids seem also to think that Megane is one of the best mods even that does not resemble car too much, it sure looks pretty and had some nice sounds in it, they say real race driver has helped with physics and he says it is very realistic, but as we all know, if real race driver is not simmer it is not going to be any worth what they say.
And then comes my favorite steering wheel turning angle, if mod maker makes super realistic mod and he has momo wheel, what we can say?
It is just impossible to make any mod realistic with such low steering wheel rotation.
There was some Rally mod coming too, I thought it looked even more funny, but then again RBR cars look funny, imo.
I have played a few games with the same physics engine, although not rFactor itself (except demo). To me the physics feel fine. Assuming of course that one expects all cars to handle like front wheel drive. Driving a rear wheel drive car with front wheel drive physics does make car setup a little difficult, I sometimes end up with cars that can both over and under steer within the space of a second.
On the whole the ISI engine isnt bad and there are some really nice touches that do make LFS feel incomplete, like the animated spectators and pit crew, and the day / night cycle. Driving it does feel more 'game' than 'sim' to me, but I dont mind that - i've nothing against games.
I very much enjoy the v8 Super Cars mod in single player.
i just tried the rFactor demo that came with my G25, and i must say, i like it alot. it doesnt push me to actually purchase it (Not at this stage anyways).
is it me, or is it rFactor needs mods to drift in it?
if so - that makes me happy I didnt install it...physics wise
(you dont need to modify real world physics in real life to drift...just as LFS)
The issue isn't (entirely) the rF physics engine more the fact that few people make realistic tire curves for their mods. It uses a basic non-calculated spreadsheet style system so if the right data is inputted it can completely change things.
Mods, well mods are cars and their parts, there are ISI mods that are standard cars, their standard cars are possible to drift only with unrealistic controllers like MOMO wheel and setting steering lock to max, well still you can mostly just powerslide, no real drifting possible because spin of doom and tire curves that loose 30% or more from tire grip on slide, yet from that over 60% is lost because of other paramters when sliding with tires that game comes with so yes, you need to make your own tires and car to make it handle like a car, imo.
Well, still there will remain few problems that can't be overcome, would need some changes to code, but it seems to be that is not going to happen as sim makers have their own view how driftable standard street cars for example are.
And it is not all about drifting, it effects also how car acts at limit, how well you can save small errors etc.
But you don't need to modify physics in sense of modding real world physics, no that is different thing, physics engine itself is not needed to modify or gravity or anything like that, only definition of tires. To understand well what is difference you should examine how cars are built for it.
So when someone says something about making physics for rFactor it is really not physics, just inertia, suspension, tires etc. parameters, physics are still untouched. Physics is just term that some reason is used for those car parameters.
@ajp, curves are only maybe 20%(?) other tire parameters are even larger part of the effect, from this area very few shares real info and even more rare are people that really do understand how to use it. Reason why most mods are crap is that there is modders that don't like to spend time to understand meaning of those parameters.
Doesn't have to, can be run in DX7, 8 or 9. rF will be limited by your GPU, LFS by CPU (unless one is miles better than the other) but with 200fps in LFS I think it's fair to say you aren't going to have an issue running rF with decent framerates.
Yes it need better PC, but you can run it in DX7, DX8 or DX9 so that greatly helps it, however it is really heavy even with lightest settings and you really don't wish to see fps to drop below 60 because then controller lag will be already too great.
I think I'm getting something like 200fps but I keep that limited to 60fps as my screen won't display any more anyway.
edit: Beaten by ajp, am I becoming slow as well as old or what?
Since when is there REAL cars in rFactor? Ive got the demo, and looked at the website, and the only real car i saw was the BMW F1, like in LFS.
Anyways, i have the demo and its really not that great. Theres a good sence of speed, but thats about it. The Fact that how much you turn the wheel doesnt affect how much the wheel turns in the game (meaning if the wheel is turned 90 degrees, somtimes in game it will turn 90 degrees, somtimes the game driver will decide to turn it 180 degrees, and then ajust back to 90 while your still pinned at 90). Game really isnt that much fun, and just seems like a cheap immitation of NFS underground, just with slightly more realistic physics.
Not saying that those would be much better anyway.
Also it is stupid that you need to browse forums and look lot of ingame files to get force feedback to work as it should + many other things, also practically you have to make car to it to utilize even 50% from potential of game engine. Also there are no instructions, procedure increase head's velocity in square and meet brick wall with beautiful crunching sound is not most easiest way, imo.
Still best platform for getting your self made car into game there is, let's see there is two, maybe three of such platforms, RoR, Racer and rFactor. I have high hopes from LFS in this sector.
I tried the rFactor demo too, hated the menu system (very bling bling and slow for no good reason), and couldn't work out how to switch off the driver aids so I could give it a proper spin ... anyway, got LFS, thats enough game to keep me going for the next few years, lol.
Switching off driver aids never have changed, same as in Sports Car GT, EA's F1 series, GTR, GT-Legends you name it, game still has some other things same as SCGT, they just improve that game slowly so we could just say it is SCGT 5 or 6?
I race LFS too, best value for money and absolutely best for racing, rFactor is just to satisfy my creation needs, would like to satisfy those with LFS, but that may take time.
