The online racing simulator
Anyone tried the rFactor demo?
1
(32 posts, started )
Anyone tried the rFactor demo?
They dont seem to want people to know but if you download the latest rFactor you can trial it with the bmw sauber and some other car at the nurburgring grand prix track and their fantasy track (i think) toban short.

http://www.rfactor.net/?page=mirrors its a 700 meg download.

Im guessing the LFS devs didnt want to give the BMW Sauber away for free and thats the difference between the deals. But give the demo a shot it can be fun at times.
i wish there was a demo when i bought it originally
Time to see how good LFS is
Just think twice before getting it - multiplayers isnt enabled.
Quote from BurnOut69 :Just think twice before getting it - multiplayers isnt enabled.

yeah forgot to mention that. The game was better than i expected but not good enough for me to throw money at.
#6 - ZORER
I think i tried but couldn't manage to switch to bumper cam....is there a bumper cam on that game?


Anyways, lfs is the only one for me.
I still maintain that the FFB gives little information on what the car is actually doing. I locked both the BMWs fronts when I just touched the pedal and didn't notice till the car was unstable on the screen.

Also don't press F :/ seems to put the game in fast forward mode :o I hit it by accident and found myself flying into a wall

Quote :Im guessing the LFS devs didnt want to give the BMW Sauber away for free and thats the difference between the deals. But give the demo a shot it can be fun at times.

My guess on the whole deal is that Eric didn't want to model every car update which ISI seems to have done.
Quote from keiran :Also don't press F :/ seems to put the game in fast forward mode :o I hit it by accident and found myself flying into a wall

LOL i did the same thing in GTR2.


Quote from keiran :My guess on the whole deal is that Eric didn't want to model every car update which ISI seems to have done.

But why would they include the BMW in the demo?
Quote from sil3ntwar :LOL i did the same thing in GTR2.


But why would they include the BMW in the demo?

LFS has only ever had 3 demo cars and can you imagine what it would be like if you gave them the BF1. I can't see a company like Intel & BMW being fussed if it's included in a demo or not. They aren't there to promote the game in the end, they are just putting on a show for the fans and trying to make them think `BMW` for there next car.

I think it's just ISI trying to appeal to a wider audience now that they have a real car to place in the demo. They really need it in there as well, that small car is just terrible in my opinion.
Quote from ZORER :I think i tried but couldn't manage to switch to bumper cam....is there a bumper cam on that game?

Press "Insert" to cycle through nose cam, TV cockpit and Cockpit views. Press Home to cycle through on-car replay views, Page up for swingman (on the keypad, 4 and 5 rotate. 2 and 8 change pitch, 7 and 9 zoom in and out). Page down for replay (track) cameras, and I believe End cycles through the track cameras.

I do like rF, but Idon't play it often because it's just not in the same league as LFS imho. There is not enough feel in the wheel, and it's too hard on the computer. I think LFS looks better graphically, but it runs soo much better than rF does. I get over 100 FPS with rF, but it still studders. Go figure. (this is with everything running the background shut off, norton included.)

MAGGOT
The BMW Sauber that rF has really feels alot better than any other car in rF.

Infact, I may be burned for this, but I prefer it to the LFS BMW :spin:
#12 - axus
Woah... I"m left speechless.

Normally, when I drive a new sim, I write a review and post it on some forum for people to bitch about me not entirely liking the sim. Normally, I slide in a couple of good comments about the things that are actually good so that I don't sound like a fanboy or an ****... but... well - I can't think of anything good to say.

The sounds made my ears ring and gave me a headache. They also provided no feedback. The graphics blinded me with all their shiny bling-bling. The track design wasn't that great. The force feedback was shit. The cars' reactions felt un-natural. Further steering inputs were futile after understeer or oversteer occured. The BMW's engine lacked any torque at low rpm. The UI was annoying. I had major controller lag.

I think I've had enough of rFactor. I'm going to go do something less painful like burning my ears with a soldering iron.
Tried the demo to see what the BMW was like, but i can't really tell. rFactor gives me massive steering lag, if i turn the wheel fast enough from side to side, the in-game steering wheel is basically at the other end at all times. FFB doesn't tell me a thing about, well, anything. It all feels a bit like driving LFS with the keyboard.

Steering lag would make sense if i had 1 or 2 fps, but i've got well over 60.

Tried to slide around a bit in the road car too, which didn't really work. The sound still reminds me of the washing machine hall in an apartment building where i used to live.
Believe it or not, the steering lag in the new version of rFactor is a significant improvement over previous versions. Previous versions polled the controllers once every frame so if your framerate was 20fps the controllers were polled at only 20Hz. The new version uses a separate thread which polls the controllers at a constant 100Hz which makes the steering much more responsive. If you think there's lag now, be thankful you didn't try it before!

There's a lot about this latest version of rFactor that I like and which has been improved upon but there's still a lot about it that I don't like. GTR2 delivers a better driving experience in my opinion than rFactor -- especially when using axus' tweaked tyre curves -- which is strange considering that they both use similar game engines. I suspect ISI aren't very good at creating content while SimBin/Blimey! are able to wring out the most possible from ISI's game engine.

All in all though, in my opinion LFS still provides the best, most natural feeling and most dynamic driving experience of all the games currently on the market. However, the gap is narrowing and the amount of quality content available for GTL/GTR2/rFactor is steadily increasing. I have been spending quite a bit of time recently running the GTR2 Saleen around some of the better GTL add-on tracks (Limerock Park, Nordschleife, Croft, Assen, Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen, etc) and have been having a lot of fun. I just wish the LFS dynamics and driving feel could be merged somehow with the GTR2/GTL content ...
#15 - DeKo
i quite like Rfactor, obviously its not as sim like as LFS, but i quite like the nascar and the F1 cars in it. the graphics are good once you crank them up, and i like driving round the real tracks, also the addon content is starting to get really good, the 1979 mod is amazing i think, but meh.

the rfactor community is a bit shit though, if you ask for a set, you very rarely get one, although its like the exact opposite of lfs, in that the Oval community is the best part, whereas in LFS its probably the worst.

just my opinions.
Guys, for those of you who are having problems with steering feel and force feedback, try adjusting these settings in your controller.ini configuration file, which is located in the UserData/<USERNAME> folder.

Fixed Rate Inputs="1" // Forces the game to poll input at a constant 100Hz
Steer Ratio Speed="0.00000" // Removes annoying speed sensitive steering
Speed Sensitive Steering="0.00000" // Removes annoying speed sensitive steering
Steering Wheel Range="540" // Sets the in-game steering wheel range

FFB Effects Level="1" // Gets rid of some canned effects
FFB steer force neutral range="0.00000" // Removes force feedback center deadzone
FFB steer force input max="-11500.00000" // Need to use negative values for Logitech wheels
FFB steer force grip factor="0.10000" // Reduces lost force feedback during understeer
FFB steer front grip fract="0.00000" // Reduces lost force feedback during understeer

I find these settings dramatically improve the steering feel; it's still nowhere near as good as LFS but still much better than stock.
Quote from axus :Woah... I"m left speechless.

Normally, when I drive a new sim, I write a review and post it on some forum for people to bitch about me not entirely liking the sim. Normally, I slide in a couple of good comments about the things that are actually good so that I don't sound like a fanboy or an ****... but... well - I can't think of anything good to say.

The sounds made my ears ring and gave me a headache. They also provided no feedback. The graphics blinded me with all their shiny bling-bling. The track design wasn't that great. The force feedback was shit. The cars' reactions felt un-natural. Further steering inputs were futile after understeer or oversteer occured. The BMW's engine lacked any torque at low rpm. The UI was annoying. I had major controller lag.

I think I've had enough of rFactor. I'm going to go do something less painful like burning my ears with a soldering iron.

Couldnt have said it better
Quote from Ryanry64 :The BMW Sauber that rF has really feels alot better than any other car in rF.

Infact, I may be burned for this, but I prefer it to the LFS BMW :spin:

Ryan, bear in mind you always like the new thing. Remember how you loved GTL? Then you loved rFecker? Then you loved LFS when I made you play it properly, then you loved GTR2, then you loved rFactor demo.

I think I've realised I should ignore your opinion on new racing games for at least 6 months to a year. Otherwise they are newness biased.

Not tried this rFactor demo, but I will when I get home. Hopefully.
I won't bother to go through the negatives, it's the same over again after all. A few positives.

+ The physics seem alot better than the MP Test.

+ You can run with blue/yellow flags in the corner + no other HUD - wish LFS could do this, even with an InSim app.

+ You start with cars that really are standard - This is what LFS really needs, even without chassis flex simulation cars with a set along the lines of the road going sets inforced would be a great addition. Then the current road cars could all be added with cages and offered in basically the same state as the moment but with striped down interiors and maybe a server side slicks option as a Group N type class.
Quote from tristancliffe :Ryan, bear in mind you always like the new thing. Remember how you loved GTL? Then you loved rFecker? Then you loved LFS when I made you play it properly, then you loved GTR2, then you loved rFactor demo.

I think I've realised I should ignore your opinion on new racing games for at least 6 months to a year. Otherwise they are newness biased.

Not tried this rFactor demo, but I will when I get home. Hopefully.

I loved LFS long before you 'made me play it properly'. But I also enjoy the other games. rFactor isn't exactly a youngun being, well, must be about a year old now.

People go into a new racing sim/game by saying 'OK it isn't going to be as good as LFS and I won't like it' so then they end up not liking it. People complain about silly things as well, such as the graphics. I don't know how some people's rFactor looks but mine atleast doesn't look cartoony at all. Neither does it look splashed in DX9 effects.

Sure the physics engine isn't as complex as LFS, but that doesn't automatically mean it's terrible. Same with the FFB, if you actually set the settings correct then it'll feel fine, but the people that hate it usually give it about 10 minutes.

So the sound isn't generated on the fly, but some people prefer a car that sounds like a car with slightly less feedback on what the engine is doing. Instead of the opposite.

As with all things, racing sims/games are all personal preference. No amount of saying 'X isn't as good as LFS' will make people change their minds about either one. Both games are fun, that's all there is to it, for me atleast.
It feels somewhat realistic, the graphics ar nice, the sound FX ar quite good but isn't very much fun in my opinion anyway.
hmmm glad theres a demo out.. been wanting to try this for a while.. can you only buy this game online or can you get a cd-rom for it?
#23 - Jakg
afaik no cd, although im sure if you send me lots of money i can set you up with something
you can indeed get it on a cd. Check at the bottom of the buy online page, I believe there are two websites to order a cd from.
hmmm wonderful... installed the demo, went to run it and comp crashed... on some sub menu with something.something.connect (can't remember what it said)..help anyone
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Anyone tried the rFactor demo?
(32 posts, started )
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