Should I buy rFactor?

Latch · Post by **Latch** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:43 pm

Hey dudes.

I've been hearing more and more goss about rF and comments that's become good. I know I basically ignored it when it first came out, but I hear some of the recent mods are really good. But those comments come from mouths I don't really trust when it comes to sim recommendations.

So will an old timer LFS nut like me enjoy it without getting 'frustrated' with the physics? Are people playing online a lot?

SE1Z · Post by **SE1Z** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:47 pm

I dont love it.... I dont hate it. I'm camped firmly in between.

I still enjoy LFS more.

The ONLY thing that made me buy rFactor was the V8mod. For this, rFactor is worth the money.

I only play online in the V8factor championship, so I cant comment on the other races on public servers.

Sterling · Post by **Sterling** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 2:09 pm

Personally I think its worth owning both, LFS and rF are completely different sims and offer different experiences........ in my opinion its very hard to compare/pick one over they other because they are so different. If you have driven LFS for a long while rF will seem quite strange and backward and probably the biggest adjustment you will need to make will be with the FFB and not physics.

LFS still has the best FFB feel for me and rF felt quite poor in comparison but after quite a bit of controller tweaking and just general racing with rF I've adjusted and it feels quite good now.

Netcode and client prediction is better in LFS and its easy to just pickup and drive but LFS's main drawback is that there is only so many times you can drive the same cars on the same tracks, rF just has so much content, real cars, real tracks.......... there is always something different to try and the casual servers are pretty active if you just want to pop on and race...........but you really need to keep you eye on the forums and rfactorcentral to keep uptodate with mod changes and releases.

Don't believe all the missmatch hoo har, obviously there are always going to be a few issues as things get patched but I don't seem to have too many problems considering the amount of content that is available.

*Edit*
Oh and you need a 'decent' machine to run rF at its best. I have a p4 3.2, 1gig, 7800GS, on max settings I usually get between 60 and 85fps.

LoudHoward · Post by **LoudHoward** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 2:22 pm

The V8Factor mod is worth it alone

Plus, heaps of early 90s F1 mods are coming!

Latch · Post by **Latch** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:54 pm

LoudHoward wrote:The V8Factor mod is worth it alone

Heh, that's what I've been hearing everywhere. And to be honest, and no offence to you, but I just can't believe it. I have no idea who you are, or whether you've even driven LFS or just an rF fanboy.

I searched this forum after I started this thread, and I found the feedback I was looking for. These 3 posts: Link

After all, I think I'll get it to fang around in F1's around real F1 tracks. Will give the V8 mod a go too, but I'm not really a V8 fan. News of the early 90s mods sounds alright too.

Sterl, is there a summary of the good FFB settings anywhere? I don't fancy fiddling for hours just to make it feel right.

SE1Z · Post by **SE1Z** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:04 pm

this is a good start for setting up RF
http://arse.norbtech.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5684

Latch · Post by **Latch** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:14 pm

Thanks Seiz

LoudHoward · Post by **LoudHoward** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:56 pm

I find the experience of rFactor to be greater than that of LFS - the suspension of disbelief is much easier maintained.

I've argued on RSC that rFactor does have some problems, mainly at low speed when you get into a tank slapper the pivot point of the car feels like it's the midpoint of the car rather than the front wheels, which is a problem - but those circumstances occur so rarely I haven't found it a problem in general gameplay.

It's hard to say what you'll like and you wont. Is the greatest aircraft sim Falcon 4 or Flight Simulator 9? Who knows, you can really only try both to find out

I've found they live nicely beside each other, complement each other. One could argue that House is a better TV show than Nip/Tuck until you're blue in the face, I watch both though!

Post by **Bauer** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:05 pm

House shits all over Nip/Tuck

steve_w05 · Post by **steve_w05** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:27 pm

good to see you didn't hurt yourself on ya roof today stu

Latch, I'm a bit biased when it comes to rF. so I won't try to sway your decision. I'm pretty sure that the latest version of rF has a demo mode. only certain cars and tracks are available until such time that you pay for and entry the unlock code. so give it a try and make your own decision. Your entertainment value is a personal thing, completely different to others. Only you can say if you'll like it or not. But in saying that, it'll be something different than you've been used to with LFS, so go into it with an open mind and give it time, so you can get used to the different "feel" of the game.

cheers

steve

LoudHoward · Post by **LoudHoward** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:40 pm

I actually prefer Nip/Tuck

An individual episode of House will probably be better than any individual ep of Nip/Tuck, but theres much better season long story arcs going with Nip/Tuck. They try and you know have House going out with Cameron, or him having a battle with an evil cop...but really it's worse than Neighbours in that regard.

House is a very funny comedy with some drama tacked on.

Nip/Tuck is very dramatic with some comedy tacked on.

Thats why I like 24 over something like NCIS

Blowtus · Post by **Blowtus** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:54 pm

rfactor has a lot more 'extraneous' realism - real cars, real tracks, more realistic sound and graphics, etc etc. Personally, that stuff doesn't make up for the less realistic feel of driving - to me it feels a lot more like I'm piloting a computer game with a whole bunch of great stuff piled around an average core. I'm still trying to get over this problem and enjoy it, but it's not happening easily...

Post by **Bauer** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:56 pm

LoudHoward wrote:
Thats why I like 24 over something like NCIS

you and i are not getting on are we

Gotta love the whole 'team' aspect of NCIS. 24 is good though.

Suppose you like SG-1 over Atlantis too?

Post by **Hz-Lab** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:56 pm

Dont buy Rfactor, its absolute bullshit, nothing feels right, but it does look good. Dont buy it.......

not really my personal opinion, just no one else had bagged it yet..lol

i own it, gets played as much if not more than lfs. I dont think its great, but its enjoyable, and forever updating with new mods and that. I think there's room for both games.

TassieDevil_Original · Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:25 pm

Hey Latch, I only brought rF for the V8 Mod, but have downloaded a few other mods now. But personally I still think LFS is much better, because I hate all these sims that have crap slow speed physics, I don't find rF quite as bad of most of them. But as far as playing online goes the most online racing I get is in the V8Factor league in this forum, because there seem to be hardly any people playing this game when you want to have race, and because it is so hard to join a damn race. Why can't rFactor make so people can join a server at any time even if to be a spectator till the next race starts, this is what craps me about the game, at least in LFS there are usually quite a few people around most of the time and you can get into any public room. But that being said I do still enjoy playing the V8Factor Mod with all the ARSE guys, even if I am way slower than most of them....

Tassie

LoudHoward · Post by **LoudHoward** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:24 pm

Bauer wrote:
LoudHoward wrote:
Thats why I like 24 over something like NCIS
you and i are not getting on are we

Gotta love the whole 'team' aspect of NCIS. 24 is good though.

Suppose you like SG-1 over Atlantis too?

I liked the first season of NCIS - it's just silly now though

Never seen Atlantis, but I've watched a fair bit of SG-1

GT VIRUS · Post by **GT VIRUS** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:26 pm

If ya really wanna know, download it and test it! the installer is a demo until its unlocked

Woodee · Post by **Woodee** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:26 pm

is there a regular ARSE RF race going on? Non league stuff? Ya never know I might be up early enough to catch a race with you guys sometime

Exar Kun · Post by **Exar Kun** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:07 am

We race the V8 mod Wednesday nights which would equate to about 9:30am Wednesdays for you.

Hard to compare LFS to rF because, as I've said before, LFS is the most different to all the other sims. People who have done most of their sim racing with LFS usually find other sim's handling to be odd and vice-versa. I've been playing sims for a really long time but could never get right into LFS because it just feels wrong to me (not to mention the sound sux

).

So, I wouldn't get rFactor hoping that the handling, FFB etc is going to be 'as good or better' than LFS because it's so different that you're very unlikely to think so. Get it for the real cars and tracks and the huge variety thereof and you won't be disappointed.

schmickle · Post by **schmickle** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:01 am

It's an interesting debate and one that a few of us at OzB discuss pretty regularly. I do agree with earlier comments that you can't compare the 2 sims side by side and say one is better than the other, because that argument is based on perspective. rF still has a long way to go in terms of netcode and collision modelling but that'll come soon enough. The rF devs seem more active than the LFS guys and the community is pumping out mods/tracks/cars all the time so it'll get better quicker than LFS in my opinion.

Here's what rF has over LFS IMHO:

Best graphics
Real cars/tracks
Best sounds
Best immersion factor
More forgiving (realistic) side by side racing (rubbing paint won't necessarily send u off into the sand)
Always something new to have a crack at
Better online race management - flag rules/pace car (you'll receive a drive through for dramatically cutting a corner for example)
Better overall enjoyment (currently)
Better realism - you can blow your engine (aye SEIZ :P) - and if u have damage the pit crew may not be able to repair everything
Driving with pedals is actually real (in LFS u won't stall, ever) + better overall gearbox
Better user interface
Directly output movie files of replays (also able to fast forward/rewind/pause replays)

Where LFS is better:

Netcode
Better steering wheel 'feel' @ understeer/oversteer loss of grip & generall FFB
Collision model

In summing up, from a pure sim perspective rF may lack superiority in a couple of key sim areas (esp collision model) but from an overall perspective rF is currenlty providing me with greater overall enjoyment. Just my humble opinion

dvestate · Post by **dvestate** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:51 pm

The online gaming, unless and organised event, can be quite poor if the servers are setup with prac and qual being too long

rF is good in the sense that you have a massive amount of mod's so there is no way that you can get borred, although I am playing V8's alot

juggle · Post by **juggle** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:29 pm

Latch: its worth the monies. So many good mods out now V8 as youve heard , caterham 7, historic rally and they all have differnt feeling and attributes.
The real life tracks are also a bonus and i prefer this to GTR2 if i was honest with myself.
Not as polished but i feel it is more entertaining and immersive.

nutty · Post by **nutty** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:35 pm

I still find LFS to be a better game, I feel it has the edge on car physic's, realism.

But I think after soo many LFS races, I reached the point of just being over the tracks, and rfactor has added back in the freshness of sim racing.

I recommend it, come join us at v8's on wednesday's its great fun

Latch · Post by **Latch** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:12 pm

Thanks for the comments guys. I think I now know what to expect when I buy it. And I will buy it.

somebloke · Post by **somebloke** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:34 pm

I'm keen to get get RF once i get a new PC going. V8 mod sounds like fun... hmm... Bathurst

Also a sprintcar mod for it, i'm still searching for a good game, this may be it!