Alternatives to Forza 5 - Is there a potential crown taker?

[SunCrossed]

I've had a bit of time lately to explore other options for racing while I wait solution for F5. Meaning I'm waiting for suitable wheel option for the Xb1. It's sad that I'll miss the V8 Supercars and all the other races currently going on, but without a wheel it's not enjoyable. So I've spent the last couple of weeks looking at alternatives and last weekend I sat down and played through these over the weekend.

The one's I've played over the weekend:

Forza 5
GT6
rFactor 2
Project CARS
Asseto Corsa

Quick comments on currently released games, Forza 5 is a beautiful game in every way. it is without doubt the king of driving games even with all its faults. Give me a decent Steering wheel solution and I wouldn't even be having this discussion. GT6 is a great game, but is sorely let down by low graphics cars and low sound quality. Even one of the best sounding in the game the Mazda 787B is not as good as Forza 4 or 5 (I'm only going off a Youtube video I saw, and memory, so don't crucify me if I'm wrong). But with heaps of cars and tracks and solid car physics model does make it well worth the effort. rFactor 2 even though newish is so graphically dated it was really hard to get into it, so I gave it very little time, but thought I'd quickly touch on it as I did briefly check it out.

Onto the Early Access games

Assetto Corsa it a good looking game, some of the styling and feeling seem to come from Race Pro. Not a bad thing, but it is clearly still in early days. Though driving the P4/5 is pretty cool. FFB and audio are pretty average, Audio is GT6 quality, insert generic car noise here sort of thing... But it is early days and it does seem to have potential. With people able to add mods easily it has quite a bit of potential. Take note if you do decide to use a wheel there are 4 steps that must happen to get it working and it isn't obvious. 1. Select supported wheel from list 2. run the Wheel Wizard. 3. Assign the inputs to left right shifts accelerator brake and the like. 4. Advanced Set you buttons you want to set. After that yo should have a great experience.

Project CARS, really leaving the best for last. I'll say straight off I think this game if any game has chance of taking the crown off T10 and F5 as king of the racers it's this one. Graphics and audio is great. The GT cars sound just amazing especially the Z4 GT3 I don't know if they are accurate but it sounds good. Even in development phase it has more tracks than F5. Azure coast is a nice coastal drive for a super car and overall it feels really nice and takes about 8 - 10 minutes of driving. And Bathurst in Hi Def glory with a steering wheel is in a GT car is awesome, you know what I'll be doing while watching Bathurst 24hr streaming on my PC! There is no doubt if they keep going this direction they are a direct challenger to F5. I don't think anything else is coming close to F5's quality. I do find interesting clutch behaviour though especially when using a sequential shifting car like all modern GT cars. Depressing the clutch would sometimes work and sometimes not. Make sure you set a button for the starter because you'll need it once you stall a car. Of note, my favourite car is the Maclaren MP4 GT3 car but launch is quite difficult and I stall it all the time. Don't have that problem with others. Tip leave it in first, flatten the accelerator and press the starter and it'll lurch off.

The only thing I haven't tested out yet is iRacing and with 3 aussie tracks Phillip Island, Bathurst and Oran Park it is potentially worth looking at. If you want to understand how much effort was put into Bathurst check out the video in iRacing sites 2 man years went into it. 4 odd months of intense development which is way more than they have ever done before and numerous visits to the track so it's pretty cool.

Anyway that's my thoughts on all the current crop of racers out there. I'll update if I test out any more or have a change of heart. I keep coming back to pCars every couple of days to have a go of it as it is thoroughly enjoyable testing out all the different tracks.

[Reaps]

Nice write up suncrossed, thanks for taking the time to give your impressions, much appreciated!   

[mad DANNO 29]

what...no Need for Speed   

cool.....Project CARS is looking good

.....could OZFM become C.A.R.S ( Clean Australian Racing Series) hehe

....time will tell if it will destroy FM5

[TheSwatDx]

whats your thoughts on the upcoming Drive Club

[surferofthemind]

To me Drive Club looks a lot like what Horizon could have been without the open world driving.



Maybe make it Forza Motorsport and Online Racing Community. Kind of opens the community up but still keeping the original reason we are all here.

FM5 could only have a years life. Horizon 2 is due out October/November and at the same time Project CARS also comes out. Will PCARS have more than a years life? And what will FM6 give us? Horizon... Can't see a serious game but maybe that fun break we need from time to time.

Let's see what is out (or coming out) and on what platform.

Forza Motorsport 5 - ONE
Project CARS - ONE, PS4, PC, Wii U, Steam Box
Drive Club - PS4
GT6 - PS3
rFactor 2 - PC
Asseto Corsa - PC
iRacing - PC

Cost to re-build and maintain my PC and equipped well enough to race is a little out of my budget and the PS4 never really grabbed me (at all) so it does limit my options. A PS3 may be mine one day but not really for GT6. I will stick with the ONE and PCARS might win out against Horizon when they come out (or go both, lol). I hope that PCARS allows some sort of livery editor on the ONE version. The year after that I will still be keen to see what T10 give us in FM6.

[TheSwatDx]

Well I'm good for all consoles and pc. Just gotta decide what one I would like to play lol

[Zabbey21]

If you're talking about in terms of which one could potentially be the one that we revolve around here on OZFM:

GT6 - from my not-so-brief 1 and a half hour play around on GT6, it could in no way replace what Turn 10 have done with Forza 5. Yes, before you chime in Envy The Best (not naming names), Forza 5's graphics, sound, physics and pretty much everything to do with the actual driving is better. GT6 is good for quantity of massive amounts of things that sometimes you don't even need. Not to mention we would all need wheels to play as the handling on the controller feels no better than Gran Turismo 5. The only thing GT6 has going for it is community support and updates, if Turn 10 released updates as frequently as PD there wouldn't even be a competition.

PC sim racing games (bundling them in) - some people, myself included, simply don't have the budget to maintain a PC good enough to handle the demands of a racing simulator. And again, there's the extra cost that the wheel will bring in if the Fanatec is not cross compatible.

Project Cars - Will most likely be the most viable choice for those who want to op for the "super" serious sim racer on the next-gen consoles and the PC.

Honestly, I see FM5 in terms of quality and accessibility to members on here as the number one out of all of them. Time may change that, but we shall see.

[SunCrossed]

Yep Zabbey, the first comment on FM5 is it is the king, but my topic was around what's out there in general if you're curious, in many ways what's out there for people with wheels who can't/won't play FM5 without a wheel. And you are right, it's unlikely OZFM will move from FM5 as a vast majority of the people who race use gamepads. Most 360 wheel owners are currently waiting for a decent solution to present for the Xbox1. I'm dying to play FM5 the way it was clearly intended. It frustrates me no end that I can't experience Bathurst with a wheel. So hence why GT6 and Project cars and this mini article. And I love how awesome the top of the mountain is with a wheel in pCars! It just makes me more frustrated that I can't experience it in FM5 and with everyone in a V8 race. Place (rage emoticon here) Because it is that good a game in many ways  

That said if at the end of the year everyone is fed up with T10's poor support efforts or lack of tracks and Fanatec release a wheel for Xbox1 then Project Cars is potentially a good option for racing going forward. It was more around "hey I've checked out all these games played with them for a few hours and you know what there are possibly options out there especially at the end of the year. Or they are just really cool go check them out."

As for building a PC rig, that's an interesting topic but you can build a decent steam box for less than a $1000 (rough calculations based on a quick browse of MSY), not saying it's cheap cheap but it's not unobtainable. I'm considering building a Windows "Steam" box just for big screen gaming so I don't faff around with cabling between computer and TV. For my media Server I just bought a new Motherboard AMD CPU and 8gb ram for $250. So it is possible.

I only "reviewed" games I could actually play. But Horizon 2 could be cool, but needs to have way more roads than FM:H1 and Drive club looks to split part NFS but slightly more real, maybe slightly less than Horizon.

NFS Rivals I can play with a gamepad so I don't consider it a racer in anyway =) It's a very pretty game and fun to play.

I did fail to mention anyone who wants to check out Assetto Corsa on PC and wheel really should for $40 it's worth supporting a small team trying to do something big. And early Access really suits Racing games as there is no story to be spoiled only fun to be had watching the development and maturing of a racing sim.

Anyway glad it has created some discussion. It's been since before Xmas since I raced and it's frustrating as F....... (rage emoticon here) table flip

[crimson eagle73]

I don't get why people would build a PC for racing only. I have a good PC that can handle Pcars fine. Only spent about $500 getting the thing up to spec. ANd that was putting in a new CPU Mem Vid and power supply.
I can use my fanatec on it so it's a cheaper solution than One and a new wheel. for $1000 (price of ONE and a half decent wheel) you could have a kick ass graphics card to boot.
But here is the beautiful thing, it's not just for racing as you can run just about anything and most of the software is tons cheaper. That being said Forza 5 is the best out there right now hands down.

[TEEROY 34]

Suncrossed, we are in the exact same position my friend. Soooo pissed off right now about not being able to play Fm5 with my wheel.
What a great write up, well done.
for me ive not been racing at all, i have been smashing the crap out of people online in Dirt Showdowns demolition derby mode which is really helping with my rage issues atm.

Gotta say im less impressed with FM5's non attendance to "sim racing" than i was before the game was released.
Less tracks and car packs being their usual packages of nothingness are not making me that keen to get the game.
Ive still holding out for the adapter though, perhaps when it actually hits the market there will be a genuine "sim racer" out there compared to the current "pretty racer".

On a side note
Im happy to run a FM4 V8 series for 360wheel users if we have enough people to do so?? oh hand controller fm4 users (who dont have Fm5) would be welcome also.
Ca be run same time as the upcoming series 9?
What ya think?

[sempeR]

If anything can better the feel of Forza Autosalon, that is the actual driving feel, then ill be there.

[SunCrossed]

Suncrossed, we are in the exact same position my friend. Soooo pissed off right now about not being able to play Fm5 with my wheel.
What a great write up, well done.
for me ive not been racing at all, i have been smashing the crap out of people online in Dirt Showdowns demolition derby mode which is really helping with my rage issues atm.

Gotta say im less impressed with FM5's non attendance to "sim racing" than i was before the game was released.
Less tracks and car packs being their usual packages of nothingness are not making me that keen to get the game.
Ive still holding out for the adapter though, perhaps when it actually hits the market there will be a genuine "sim racer" out there compared to the current "pretty racer".

On a side note
Im happy to run a FM4 V8 series for 360wheel users if we have enough people to do so?? oh hand controller fm4 users (who dont have Fm5) would be welcome also.
Ca be run same time as the upcoming series 9?
What ya think?

I'd be in for race been way too long! Happy to assist with anything setting it up too.

[RU four 86]

Good read, thxs for posting.

I've finally sorted out the Mac in getting it dual booted into windows 7(yuck), spent my $6 on a monthly subscription to iracing, and $14 on Bathurst, $20 bucks well spent!

I did a firmware update to the GT2 wheel, seemed like a good idear!

Only spent a few hrs praciticing and tring to set the wheel up, big difference in wheel setting/game setting. Personally having troubles sorting out the brake feel, hopefully can sort out setting between both game/wheel. He first obvious things was tring to keep any car from spinning out, can't remember how many times I spun the back, still spinning the back, lol. Big learning curve from forza.

The feel of the wheel. and FFB is far better in my humble opinion, it feels much closer than FM, I can feel much more response when driving on/over kerbs, undulations on the track. A lot may be the wheel in its native PC mode rather Xbox.

Enjoying the change, but still need to sort a few things out, but can live without the candy coating graphics.

Havnt raced online, simply arnt good enough, a couple of more hr practice and I'll give it a go....

RU

[FrankTank]

I'm in about the same situation - I really do quitle like FM5, but just cannot get the hang of thumbstick driving. I gave it a go on a couple of occassions (wheel problems) in FM4 - but it just seems for some reason even further removed in FM5, and I can't get the hang of it.

I've finally sorted out the Mac in getting it dual booted into windows 7(yuck), spent my $6 on a monthly subscription to iracing, and $14 on Bathurst, $20 bucks well spent!

I'm fairly certain there's a (semi) native Mac port now - did you give it a go?

Havnt raced online, simply arnt good enough, a couple of more hr practice and I'll give it a go....

RU

My subs has lapsed now, but I'd suggest going online for the practice sessions, I think you can practice even if you don't have the license  to race. You'll probably pick up some tips, and most likely a decent tune. I actually found the lower class cars really fun to drive - the MX5 is a blast, and the Spec Ford is fun too... If you're paying for subscriptions get in there  

[RU four 86]

Your right u can port to Mac with iracing but no fanatec drivers or third party available for the Mac, so it windows or nothing. Lol

Found a few forums that seem to help others tune for iracing and setting things up, arnt we all a helpful bunch!...must admit it's a big learning curv from forza

Yeah the ford spec's good to learn on, down on pwr, but not such a bad thing

RU

[Envy The Best]

What about playing ALL the sims you have access to? Can easily be an Australian sim-racing community rather than a dedicated "Forza only" community. Enough of us here have PS3's and PC's, with a number planning on obtaining either in the future too. Variety is awesome.

Want to know why i still hang around? Because i still consider a number of you guys as friends, and truly enjoyed the time we've spent racing both Forza and F1. I've made my own judgments on where to spend my money, and what i want to get out of sim-racing as a whole. Yeah, i'm impressed by GT6 to a degree, i'd probably be impressed with FM5 if i had it too.

When buying an Xbone becomes cheaper, i'll be there

Forza 5's graphics, sound, physics and pretty much everything to do with the actual driving is better.

I've never claimed otherwise with regards to FM5, always only compared to FM4

You guys know i never even intended on getting GT6 right? And that its not the only sim i play yea?

I don't get why people would build a PC for racing only.

The potential to run a triple 1440p screen set up. Need a card with 3-4GB onboard memory for that. Then you've got stuff like TrackIR5 (like me) which is absolutely fantastic and pretty much changes everything.

On a side note
Im happy to run a FM4 V8 series for 360wheel users if we have enough people to do so?? oh hand controller fm4 users (who dont have Fm5) would be welcome also.
Ca be run same time as the upcoming series 9?
What ya think?

Probably don't have any gold left, but i'll grab a 3 monther or something come join if work allows

[SunCrossed]

So I sat down over the Bathurst 12hr and went through all the games with Bathurst in them and right now the winner is iRacing. I went a little over board with iRacing on the weekend. Getting Bathurst, Oran Park and Philip island (Oran Park my Dad used to race there all the time so have fond memories, Philip Island we did once too) and the Maclaren GT3 for equal measurement against every game I have tested this on. You really feel connected to the car and track in iRacing. The track appears to be very well scanned, the road and the kerbs and grass next to it all seems well done. The trees and stuff further out are less so, but this is probably to cater to lower spec systems. You don't notice, because you really don't have the time. Across the mountain is a sketchy experience and seems to replicate it as well as you would hope. iRacing really seem to have the wheel feedback all very sorted and that really adds to the overall experience.

The video by iRacing states it took them 2 visits and 3000 photos, 2 man years and 4 1/2 months of intense development to do the track. Frankly it shows it feels great every bump is there and the wheel fights you as it hits them.

iRacing really does force you to change your driving habits though but offer you plenty of information and tutorials to help you get the most out of it...

RU four 86, if I'd had your email address I would have used you as my reference as you would have been credited $10 for the shop...

Anyway they are still all really good, Project cars new update is fantastic and they are making some fantastic progress. So many games to race at the moment it's nuts.

[RU four 86]

RU four 86, if I'd had your email address I would have used you as my reference as you would have been credited $10 for the shop...

Bugger! No probs, still havn afew probs with the wheel setup, either there is actually something wrong with the wheel or I've got a settings wrong, between the game and the wheel, Sun I'm going to pm ya for some help rather than clog up this thread

RU

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