holoz0r's A-Z of Steam: Automobilista is not fun to say or play for a sim
Automobilista was the next game in my list as far sim racing titles were to go. My initial impressions were "hmmmmm," feels complicated, and that is exactly the view I had from playing the game (by game... I may mean menu) - because once you were through the complexities of configurating controls, graphics, and all of that fun stuff...
The simulation and the racing just feels ordinary. Perhaps that's because it is incredibly realistic, but the interface does not excuse this, if I can't understand, or even comprehend what it is I am setting up.
The bad UI extends beyond the menu system into the game itself proper; where visibility is poor, and there's what feels to be dozens of unlabelled gauges populating all the areas of the screen.
This is a flaw I found with the original Assetto Corsa, and it was indeed fixed for the subsequent game, so I am hoping that the same is true of Automobilista 2, which is in the process of installing now.
It is a bit of a shame, given the amount of content on offer and the insane number of cars and apparent licences that the game has.
It sounds great when you're tearing around a track, but that feedback is not as visceral or as loud as you'd expect a sim game to sound. The tracks left by cars on the track surfaces make you feel like you should be smelling fuel, oil, and rubber fumes, but it doesn't get down to that level of immersion for me.
It didn't make the driving of the vehicles a fun experience, it made it somewhat of a chore, which is disappointing for a game, sure its a sim game, but it still needs to be fun!
At least on aggregate, this game didn't cost me very much being part of the sim racing humble bundle from not too long ago.
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Unfortunatly, the setup thing seems to be typical for advanced race sims. PCars is one of the worst for that, I think. Even only the setup of the FFB for different wheels filled entire forums, and volumes of pdf charts. Plus tips for calibration and steering angle and all that. And thats just before you even start driving. The car setups are so detailed and complex that you can spend years to work out the best setup, since there are so many cars and tracks.
But you know what I found most annoying in race sims/games? When you get a promising looking sim with lots of cars and tracks - and then you have to start with a Vauxhall Corsa to unlock something else by winning a race, and so on and on. I ditched quite a few of that kind, because its not what I payed for. Its also why I still like PCars (1 and 2), you can drive every car on every track in every condition right from the beginning. In PCars 2 there is even a test track that contains a "soup bowl", a circle track with extreme banking, on which you can run any kind of car at top speed. Unless the car itself is too unstable to do that.
But another thing is, that I don't buy games for the PC anymore - for quite some years already by now. It was just too annoying to constantly having to get updates for the games, the graphics card and whatever else. And often enough it still didn't work properly, after all the messing around. Thats why I changed to the Playstation. It may have limitations, but at least it works.
I gave the 2nd one a go so far, and it is so much better. I still need to install Project Cars on the PC, but I've got a lot of rFactor 2 content to get through, not to mention hordes of fun to have in Automobilista 2.
I also have still a few sims I have to check out further. Some Rally stuff and Truck racing, and NASCAR. I heard Truck racing is quite big in Australia, too, right? I mean the real HGV trucks. But there is also a series called "Stadium Super Trucks" which is rather entertaining. Thats custom build buggies, similar to what they use in the Baha racing in California - only the Stadium trucks race on proper roads with jump ramps on them. I would like to have a sim model of that, they must be really crazy to drive with that 50cm supension travel and all that.
Another interesting idea for a racing game would be the figure 8 racing the crazy Yankees do, have you seen that yet? If not, take a look on YT. :)