DTM Experience Initial Thoughts

[Nox]

Hi all,

So, I installed DTM Experience and got going, doing a little time (not long) at Hockenheim. I'm not one of those people that just is a fanboy, or bitches and moans about stuff. But this time, I want to share my (DTM) experience. Here's my initial thoughts on it.

Pros:
Graphics look nice
The sounds are quite good
It runs smooth on my computer (GTX 680, if I remember right)

Cons:
NO PIT STOPS - I mean, nada, nothing. No tyre changes, no repairs, no pit strategy. If you drive into the pit lane the game just drives you right through like a drive through penalty. SimBin, this is unacceptable. I heard the rumours this might be the case but I thought that would be like releasing a Call of Duty game without guns. Of all the things you haven't got, like multiplayer, releasing a motor sports game without pitstops is nothing short of shameful.

Too much stuff on screen - There's position boards, fastest laps, and all sorts of race 'info' flickering around the place all the time it's very easy to get distracted by one and make a mistake. It's like racing from inside a slot machine.

Harsh cut rules - Playing on Get Real (I want no traction, brake help, etc) you so much as just get deep into a corner and run wide off track, even when it COSTS you time, you get a cut-track warning. A few of these and it's a drive through. I agree that cutting the track should be punished, but not if I just make a mistake and miss the corner, lose time, positions, etc.

There's more stuff I am disappointed about, but I am going to cut it here so that it doesn't end up being a rant thread. This is NOT a DTM Experience at all. I was fine to get this game even without multiplayer, but I expected a game, complete, with a full, you guessed it, 'DTM Experience'. How can that be without pitstops?

They've released a game that is very disappointing, especially considering the high price point (I had money for one game this season, and regret my choice). I'll put some more hours into it so I'm not going to be unfair and not give it fair chance, see how it pans out, but I kind of feel ripped off. 40 euros is already high for a game. It feels like nothing more than an alpha version of DTM Experience 2014. My initial recommendation: Save your cash.

If 2014 version doesn't have pit stops or multi player, it's the last time I spend a cent on new SimBin stuff. They haven't even bothered replying to stuff on here, or to the contact form I filled out on their website days ago. It's almost as if they know it's crap and they're avoiding customers.

 

[JayS]

Thanks for this explanation. All clear so far but principally I'd like to know how to lowering the 512 resolution of cubemaps to to get a better framerate.

My main doubt is that the cars in the game looking really poor with the simple reflections.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Please start a new thread for questions as this thread is to give your initial thoughts about the game.

 

[rakke17]

I really enjoy this game. Let me preface my post by saying that other than the pricing model, I've been a big fan of Raceroom Racing Experience. I love driving the cars and I have no problems with the force feedback. I realize this kind of puts me in the minority around here. If you have major problems with RRE you probably won't like DTM Experience.

I also love driving DTM cars. Touring cars in general are my favorite to drive.

I've been racing over the weekend with 50% length races. I've done a track test outside of my championship before each race of at least 10-15 laps with at least 5 quality laps representative of my top speed before each race to allow the AI to adapt. This has led to more difficult qualifying and more difficult races for sure (first few races without doing this I lapped the field).


PROS:
- Graphics look great.
- Sounds are amazing and really add to the immersion.
- Adaptive AI is working better than I thought it would (room for improvement though).
- Driving the car in Get Real Mode is a joy. It isn't totally punishing like some sims, but I enjoy that fact because it gives me the chance to recover from mistakes. I know some may feel it is too easy but I enjoy it.
- The tracks are awesome. I've never driven the Red Bull Ring, Norisring, Moscow or Lausitzring and I find them all enjoyable. Brands Hatch Indy course is such a fun short lap I can do 50 laps without even realizing it. And I never get tired of Nurburgring GP or Hockenheim.


CONS:
- Priced high with small content.
- Graphics performance hit is large with no SLI support.
- No pit stops or weather changes.
- No multiplayer (but it is coming).
- AI can overly aggressive and ram at times. They also struggle at some corners at certain tracks.
- No option to disable brake markers or DTM lap/position timing.


I could probably add more but this post is probably already too long for most. I will say that even though this game is far from perfect at the moment I am having a lot of fun playing it. Going back to GT6 seems like a chore after battling a 22 car grid for 30-50 laps with PHENOMENAL engine sounds.

Thank you Simbin - looking forward to future releases.

 

[Sean Lander]

I'm loving it. I just wish it was more integrated into RaceRoom itself. So we could use the DTM tracks with our other cars that we've bought, and we could drive DTM cars on the tracks we've bought. This to me would have made the purchase price much better value.

I really want to drive a DTM around Bathurst! But overall well done SimBin.

 

[f1superracer]

Yeah great game, shame that we don't have any pitstops , but other than that very good not worth £33 though. I will add more things after I have played it more!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

So we could use the DTM tracks with our other cars that we've bought, and we could drive DTM cars on the tracks we've bought.

As far as I understood when testing the alpha version of the game that is not going to happen. DTM tracks are for DTM cars only, which from a series point of view (branding) is logical.

 

[Jeffry in t Veld]

I noticed that this game has the Zandvoort track, a track i have been visiting as a kid and even got the oppertunity this year to drive on the track in a Ferrari (my avatar holds the actual logo of the car!) but seeing al the negativity around the game. Im just gonna wait till it drops in its price.

 

[Victor Ivanov]

I was expecting this game for months, playing every single demo which was out and when they released it, they just killed my passion. 40 eur for a racing game with no pit stops and multiplayer?! Are you kidding? This is not NFS, this is supposed to be a "sim". Charging us now for something that "might" be included in 2014 version isn't really nice, don't you think? For now it only looks like this: 40 eur for 3 cars and 9 tracks. Thank you SimBin, you lost me.

 

[Jeffry in t Veld]

3 Cars? The demo only holds 3 cars, the full version 22! Right?

 

[Nox]

3 Cars? The demo only holds 3 cars, the full version 22! Right?

3 models; Audi. Mercedes, BMW (but a full grid of liveries, yes)

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

just installed the demo and just as in racerrom i am utterly unable to find acceptable feel for the g27. there is a kind of spongy weight around the center and you never get the impression that one actually has four separate wheels with weight shifting between these as one does in iracing. hugely disappointing, seems to be geared to gamepad use. sounds and graphics are brilliant and i have followed dtm for ages, but this simply is no fun at all. pity.

 

[Andi Goodwin]

just installed the demo and just as in racerrom i am utterly unable to find acceptable feel for the g27. there is a kind of spongy weight around the center and you never get the impression that one actually has four separate wheels with weight shifting between these as one does in iracing. hugely disappointing, seems to be geared to gamepad use. sounds and graphics are brilliant and i have followed dtm for ages, but this simply is no fun at all. pity.

i find many games have an uninteresting or not what i want feel with the base ffnb setup , this is due i believe to people trying to make it neutral or easy ; across the board ... anyway , there is a discussion here and a link within the first post to some tweaked files .... hope that helps

http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/force-feedback-and-hopefully-some-ideas.74887/


Andi

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

thx andi, might try them over the next couple of days.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

done tested and it feels way better but still is set to make you take a turn as a series of twitches rather than one fine arc. that's because the center is too heavy imo and the shifting weights are not represented well. thx anyway.

 

[Tom]

So I keep thinking about purchasing this. Is it possible, at long last, to disable the brake markers? Talking about the big green / red ones that are clearly NOT part of the real track.

Tom

 

[Peter]

Sonat said there would be an option to toggle them off in the near future.

 

[Tom]

Sonat said there would be an option to toggle them off in the near future.

Well I guess I'll have the option to purchase it in the near future (read: after that's been done) then. Thanks Peter.

Tom

 

[Mika Kerttula]

Pros: great driving (novice is too care, con), great graphics, AI is cool on Get real, good support for T500 and Th8, tracks are awesome and there's enough difficulty.

Cons: pitstops are just what they are, loading times for better graphics, autosetup is too low, AI drives back too many times, view angle bug when it starts going around (I have sent many reports of it)

 

[James Cook]

Well I guess I'll have the option to purchase it in the near future (read: after that's been done) then. Thanks Peter.

Tom

Same here. Won't be touching DTM-E unless this and a few other things are sorted.

 

[Kurt Vanhee]

Got the game last saturday. Did some testing and can only say i am disappointed.
Installing the game from the dvd is a bit confusing but nevertheless in the end its installed.
Loading times are long in my opninion.

And no suipport of Crossfire-SLI i think. Running the game on med settings, no AA and HDR on 7680x1440 gives me an astonishing 22fps.
Assetto Corsa gives me on these settings a stable 55=60 fps.
On the smaller resolutions 4....x900, around 120fps.

So SIMBIN can i expect in the next release a game with a higher FPS. or did i just waste 38euros!!!!!!!

As for now this game does not deserve the name DTM.

Edit: is there a Simbin support forum?