Is amazing how real looking games are today

[dex92]

To think 10 years ago i was walking out of Dixons with a brand new copy of gran turismo 2 and thinking wow this is gobsmackingly realistic and now fast forward ten years and these are 5 photos ive got from Gran turimso 5, makes you wonder what gran turismo 8 will look like in 10 years time.

#1


#2


#3


#4



#5



Dex

[tux]

Yeah i totally agree with you. A few weeks ago i was playing Forza 4 and was driving a DBR9 around the Top Gear track and when watching the replay it wasnt much different than watching the video of it on Youtube.

I remember one of the first Indycar games on the MS Dos the wheels looked like hexagons rather than round and you used to load it on a floppy disk. Will never ever forget this intro to the game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpd1v_eC8po

I'm Paul Page, from Papyrus.
This is Indy Car Racing!

[chunder]

It might look nice fella, but boy it doesnt play too nice!

God knows how those aliens get to be so fast at Le Mans when theya re used to driving this awful physics!

[ECW Dan Selby]

Yeh it looks a beaut, but I really wasn't in to the game.

Saying that, I was on to a loser straight off the bat as I have an Xbox 360 wheel, so couldn't use it on the PS3...

Selby

[chunder]

I neve tried a wheel on the PS3, I reckon it would be better, I was still tryng to use a joypad, and I really dont think GT5 was desiged for gamepad use at the higher levels

[ECW Dan Selby]

I still find it incredible how much i'd have to pay to just use the Xbox wheel on a PS3. Just not worth it.

Selby

[dyewat808]

I know I've already seen thumbnails on Youtube and mistook real-life for games and vice versa. dex92 I particularly like #4 and #5 here as they are especially hard to tell the difference, because of the focus differences and the blur effect.

[adam46]

In regards to you saying what GT8 will be like in 10 years; The truth is we'll still be playing 6 wondering how many more delays 7 will get.

[nickyf1]

Seeing as GT5 took six years of development.. in 10 years we will probably be playing GT6.

Although they have started work on GT6, they will update GT5 for as long as they can until the next Playstation is released.

[MartinSmith]

As much as it is good, it still annoys me that unlike my Le Mans 2000 game for the PS2, the GT5 Le Mans sim I cannot do "Just the race" without going through heaven and earth before hand. I only really bought GT5 so I could drive the 24 hours of Le Mans....why cant i have the option to just do that?....it bugs me (and the cars do not handle as they should at times)

there...off soap box , unless someone knows of a way to cheat at GT5 to jump straight to Le Mans?

[chunder]

Buy Rfactor, buy a decent wheel., download the Enduracers mod and download VirtualRs latest Le Mans track. It will take yu 10 minutes

And then the GT70's mod, you will never play console sims (lol) again, both these mods and the track are free and you can download the game client for free too, you just pay for online basically and to unlock the full game

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by chunder

Buy Rfactor, buy a decent wheel., download the Enduracers mod and download VirtualRs latest Le Mans track. It will take yu 10 minutes

And then the GT70's mod, you will never play console sims (lol) again, both these mods and the track are free and you can download the game client for free too, you just pay for online basically and to unlock the full game

OK...can you say that in English hon? because I am lost (blonde from Essex)

[ECW Dan Selby]

Buy rFactor: http://rfactor.net/web/rf1/buyonline/

Buy a decent wheel (i'd suggest seeking some advice on that one before I post a link..! I use an XBOX 360 wheel, which I can use for the XBOX and the PC, which is pretty cool! All you need is the XBOX wheel, and a Microsoft XBOX Dongle for the PC)

Then sign up to rFactor Central (www.rfactorcentral.com). I'd then suggest paying for the Pro service. This allows you to download any mods from rFactor Central and it'll automatically install them to your rFactor game, which saves you having to mess about with installing mods in to the correct folders etc. It's only a few quid, and well worthwhile!

Hope this helps...

Selby

[ECW Dan Selby]

I havn't missed anything there have I, chunder?

Selby

[dyewat808]

Originally Posted by ClaireSmith

OK...can you say that in English hon? because I am lost (blonde from Essex)

I think Dan and chunder have covered pretty much everything. I'm presuming some of the terms are confusing you here so here's a quick explanation:

Enduracers is a modification (i.e. an addon for the game) that gives you cars from a variety of the classes at Le Mans. It's almost worth getting rFactor just for that. You download this separately to the game.

VirtualR is the name of a sim-racing website which is the creator of the addon Le Mans track for the game.

rFactor is obviously the game. Pretty important component. It doesn't give you much by default, but the number of addons out there make it easily worth the money. If you had all the addons out there for rFactor installed on your PC, you'd probably have a game tens of gigabytes in size, and possibly into the hundreds.

Cars and tracks are downloaded separately in rFactor. I didn't know about the pro service Dan has mentioned but it definitely sounds like its worth it to avoid the hassle of moving your downloaded addons into the various folders of rFactor.

The wheel is also vital but like Dan said this is a whole can of worms on its own. There are a couple of threads here if I remember correctly about this, there is some solid advice in there. It will depend on your budget and how realistic you want the game to be.

You might also want to wait for rFactor 2 to come out (you can pay to try the beta version and you get updates as the developers release them iirc. I haven't done this yet, as I'm waiting for the full thing to come out, but it will be worth it because of the upgraded tyre model, the inclusion of weather and various other things).

You'll never go back to GT5 after trying it (IMO)

[BajaTom]

I remember playing V Rally and Gran Turismo 2 .. and I thought , wow, these graphics are like real life.

If I were to show myself forza4 saying, this when your 20. I don't think I'd believe myself :/

[McMuttley]

they need to bring out sim racing set up for dummies - i tried even the basic GPL set up and 'flip me over' you need to be a total whizzgeeknerd on a pc to even load the damn thing; tried all the easy loader links and the best i ever got was a view of the pit lane with no way of driving out of it ; is rfactor/iracing any easier to install ?? I need an sim that is an easy as an arcade game to load up and start up -after all, i'm a driver not a computechwhizz.

It should be like my real racing; ie, pay man to set car up, switch on, go round, break, hand back to man to fix, switch back on and drive again (pl' nobody take the bait!!) - but why do we have to know more about computers than race cars to play a decent sim.

[chunder]

Well if anyone wants any help, just PM me and i can get you started!

Its fairly simple, but if you are only used to consoles and stuff getting into a PC sim game might be a little tricky, especially Rfactor as it is pretty haevy on the install and mod management side.

but once you get into it it's second nature.

Think of Rfactor not as a standalone game, but as a sort of holding area, for you to plug in anything you like sim related.

As I say, if anyone wants some guidance on what to do, where to buy it, how to do it, gimme a shout.

Rob

[ECW Dan Selby]

Good way of looking at it, Rob.

Dylan, add me on Facebook, mate! ecwselby@hotmail.com

Selby

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by dyewat808

I think Dan and chunder have covered pretty much everything. I'm presuming some of the terms are confusing you here so here's a quick explanation:

Enduracers is a modification (i.e. an addon for the game) that gives you cars from a variety of the classes at Le Mans. It's almost worth getting rFactor just for that. You download this separately to the game.

VirtualR is the name of a sim-racing website which is the creator of the addon Le Mans track for the game.

rFactor is obviously the game. Pretty important component. It doesn't give you much by default, but the number of addons out there make it easily worth the money. If you had all the addons out there for rFactor installed on your PC, you'd probably have a game tens of gigabytes in size, and possibly into the hundreds.

Cars and tracks are downloaded separately in rFactor. I didn't know about the pro service Dan has mentioned but it definitely sounds like its worth it to avoid the hassle of moving your downloaded addons into the various folders of rFactor.

The wheel is also vital but like Dan said this is a whole can of worms on its own. There are a couple of threads here if I remember correctly about this, there is some solid advice in there. It will depend on your budget and how realistic you want the game to be.

You might also want to wait for rFactor 2 to come out (you can pay to try the beta version and you get updates as the developers release them iirc. I haven't done this yet, as I'm waiting for the full thing to come out, but it will be worth it because of the upgraded tyre model, the inclusion of weather and various other things).

You'll never go back to GT5 after trying it (IMO)

Seriously thank you all...I will PM those I need to once I have sorted wheel etc

[valet_dave]

What impresses me more than the visuals of todays games (which of course a brilliant compared to my C64 days), are the actual improvments in modelling the physics of the car handling. I was amazed how realistic and progressively the brake pedal responded the first time I played GT5 using a decent force feedback wheel and pedal setup.

I've been a bit reluctant to move to the PC based simulators for similar reasons the others are mentioning. It seems like you need to upgrade a PC every 12 months, just to play the latest releases... and as simple as plugging in a new video card or memory module sounds, I've found it rarely goes to plan.

There's no doubt consoles like the Xbox and PS3 are showing their age (they could probably be considered out of date at the time of release), but it's hard to go past their simplicity.

[chunder]

Dave, believe me you dont need to buy decent gear all the time.

Rfactor is a really old engine now and besides if you are struggling with grahpics and the like you can adjust them down in detail.

I spent 400 quid on a PC 2 years ago and can play any sim on there with more than enough detail to make it a proper experience. If a game doesnt work that well then it will be because the track hasnt been coded properly mroe than likely, this happened with the early builds of Rfactor 2, but they worked on it and it's a lot better.

Seriously, it isnt hard. Even games like Rfactor which might sound geeky are linked into superb forums like this that will get the very best help. Every time I have had any kind of issue I have gone somewhere liek racedepartment and found a resolution, even for console games! they cover them there too.

One thng I would like to try is a full on Le Mans or Nurburring 24 hour race! Even though I dislike endurance racing from a spectators point of view, there is something about the challenge even on PC sim games that appeals.

Imagine the smell of 40 odd nerds in a sports hall after 24 hours of racing! Maybe not such a good idea!

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by chunder

One thng I would like to try is a full on Le Mans or Nurburring 24 hour race! Even though I dislike endurance racing from a spectators point of view, there is something about the challenge even on PC sim games that appeals.

Imagine the smell of 40 odd nerds in a sports hall after 24 hours of racing! Maybe not such a good idea!

Have you taken your temperature this morning? I think you may be going down with something......

Nevertheless, I agree entirely.

[chunder]

As I say Ayes, I dont really get whay you would pay as afan to watch an endurance race! But I can certainly see the appeal of competing in an endurance race.

That is a different matter entirely, but just don't expect me to suddenly get interested in watching it!

Though to be fair the Deltawing piqued my interest in Le Mans this year, and I would certainly go to Germany to watch a proper 24 hour race on the best track in the world!

And to the guy earlier who was commenting on GPL, Ayes is your man, I cant get on with it, but apprently if you give it about 10 years you might get to grips with it, don't let GPL but you off PC sim gaming, it's an acquired taste

[Peat]

Have to say, that Enduracer's mod on the new VirtualLM Le Mans track is just heavenly.

During the 24hr i had a few mates around and we were hot lapping around it. One of my normally console-toting mates couldn't get over how it felt so 'ballsy' to go through Indianapolis flat.