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.

 

[Jempy]

I just noticed that launching DTM Experience by mean of the desktop shortcut doesn't open Steam.

It seems DTM Experience uses Steam and R3E but may be played offline.

Please delete my post.

When I wrote that, I thought Steam wasn't online as there was surely a problem with the right-click menu on Steam Icon: the mention 'Leave Steam' wasn't present at that moment.
And I don't know why.

Sorry for that wrong statement that I now realize.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Ive put a few hrs in overall iam quit happy with it
There are a few things missing but iam not sure why people were expecting to have more features available than whats currently in RRE? its the same engine. Diego stated in his video interview it would be a WIP and more or less giving us something fun and new to run while they continue working on RRE.

Price is a bit steep imo for what we got but Simbin said DTM 2014 would be free to buyers of DTM 213 with all the features that are currently missing so thats a good thing.
Personally I feel the 2013 edition should have been much less due to missing features like a thank you price for supporting them, than when everything is polished for 2014 i would have had no problem paying more....my .02

Gamewise I like the ui and subscription to the DTM, iam able to watch all the Quali, races from the past season as well as onboard track guides by pro drives.
At first I wasnt blown away by the ffb due to a really heavy wheel feel but once i lightened it up it felt good. Reading this article
http://www.racedepartment.com/2013/12/a-commentary-on-the-future-of-racing-sims/ and watching the video with Chris when describing how the dtm car felt to him seemed alot like what i was feeling, so i watched a few onbaord track guides available in the DTM experience and what the pro was describing what the car was doing and reacting at certain points of the track was exactly the same as what i was feeling ingame. So i guess the point was proven in the above article do you want the car to feel close to the real experience or judge on how you think it should feel?
I checked the leaderboard on a few tracks and compared them to the rl fastest lap times and so far ive only seen 1 person thats beaten a rl time and it was only by .080....so lap times seem pretty accurate.

AI which must be a very new feature since RRE doesnt have it is decent iam sure it will get better in time, from what ive read in other threads its adaptive and takes 8-10 laps to adjust to the player....sometimes there good sometimes there not lol
Performance-seems worse than RRE and ive encountered stuttering in certain parts of the track but is apparently due to a few new graphics features that have recently been added that are not yet optimized and turning down a few of those features seems to improve things.

I think the biggest issue in simracing atm is that were all frustrated with these new titles being in beta stage with missing features that are too buggy to run online with our friends and just hoped this title would be a finished ready to go game. Doing my research before the purchase I knew what i was getting so there were no surprises. I wouldnt write it off at all as i really enjoy the little they have given us and going forward with development its only gonna get better, I do wish tho that Simbin would communicate better with the community about there intentions with this title and be a bit more clear about the features that can and cant be implemented

 

[CasualRacer47]

I just noticed that launching DTM Experience by mean of the desktop shortcut doesn't open Steam.

It seems DTM Experience uses Steam and R3E but may be played offline.

No, it cannot be played offline. When trying that there is an error claiming that it needs Steam online to be played. Unfortunately, I really hate that.

 

[Jempy]

Right CasualRacer ... I corrected my post by a new post as I don't succeed to delete the 1st one.
Sorry for the wrong info.

 

[UOPshadow]

Thanks for the information, David.

Well... I took the plunge. Hopefully SimBin will deliver. What I already don't like is that they don't respond to questions about upcoming features.

 

[JayS]

Does anybody know how to get/config the car cams like in the preview videos?
Means this roof cam and the cockpit side cam.
Because I don't like the standart ones.

 

[Gary Horneck]

I like it. Goofy interface, as in RRE, but quite useable. AI are pretty good drivers. You get your nose into a corner first, and they will back off. Always been a SimBin fan, so this just feels right to me. Great FFB, and customization of the parameters. My new choice for a quick 25 lap race against the AI that are supposed to adapt to your driving... good luck matching my unpredictable moves.

 

[alless1184]

Does anybody know how to get/config the car cams like in the preview videos?
Means this roof cam and the cockpit side cam.
Because I don't like the standart ones.

There seem to be some xml files that you could probably edit, they are cam files for sure and when you open them you can see all the values there so it should work.
You can find them here as example for Audi \Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\raceroom racing experience\Game\GameData\Cars\Audi_RS_5_DTM\Cameras

 

[UOPshadow]

Is there a manual somewhere hidden? I have some questions about some options and interfaces in the game.

 

[Peter]

Is there a manual somewhere hidden? I have some questions about some options and interfaces in the game.

Just ask them here.

 

[Justin Swan]

Wow, disappointing reading
This whole "Let's release a game before it's actually finished" concept is getting a little boring now but somewhere down the line has become the norm and it's not just confined to sim racing. I think the game industry is taking the wrong road these days (pardon the pun)
I won't be spending any money on R3E/DTM or AC until they are fully functioning racing sims/games.

 

[jimortality]

Wow, disappointing reading
This whole "Let's release a game before it's actually finished" concept is getting a little boring now but somewhere down the line has become the norm and it's not just confined to sim racing. I think the game industry is taking the wrong road these days (pardon the pun)
I won't be spending any money on R3E/DTM or AC until they are fully functioning racing sims/games.

I agree with this although I did purchase AC last week but only paid £19 for it. RAce 07 is a great game and has had plenty of support and still gets biggish grids so my question is, why mess with a successful product, why not just do Race 14. It works, people are happy, simbin sell loads win all round. I don't get this new way of making and releasing games. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Jan Mikuž]

It appears to be a big joint business project/venture of RaceRoom and Simbin and not merely a standalone racing game. But, yeah, Simbin is along for the ride and they'll have to take the hits, eventhough it appears as though they are not the ones making the business decisions or are in charge of this project, speed of progress, etc...

 

[UOPshadow]

Just ask them here.

If I would have had any hope they would answer this, I'd have asked.

 

[Andi Goodwin]

If I would have had any hope they would answer this, I'd have asked.

ask away , both peter and myself know this inside out , and if we cant find the answer we can usually find out

Andi

 

[UOPshadow]

ask away , both peter and myself know this inside out , and if we cant find the answer we can usually find out

Andi

Thank you very much, Andi! I created a new topic. It would be nice if you could read and maybe help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Peter]

Thank you very much, Andi! I created a new topic. It would be nice if you could read and maybe help. Thanks in advance.

The Staff is reading your topic at this moment.

 

[UOPshadow]

The Staff is reading your topic at this moment.

Great to hear.

 

[JayS]

A note to the graphical settings:
Why cause the reflections from low to reduced settings such a big fps hit?
Naturally I realised that this affect the whole visual atmosphere a lot. For example the chrome Mercedes from Vietoris look so much better with reflections.
The main problem is that the game is now unplayable with this settings. (I've a strong HD6970 card)
Any solutions?

 

[Travis]

Not sure if I can post what the art director had to say regarding the reflections but they do cause a huge hit on performance as what your car reflects, so does the AI cars.

A breakdown of the reflections:

Simple reflections show the sky and blends image based lighting data as reflections. This offers very good on performance.

Reduced: reflection are in real time however the sim renders objects that are selected for being visible in the mirrors and 512 resolution for each cube side.

Full: Realtime reflections that reflects everything except cars.

Reduced 1k: Reduced: reflection are in real time however the sim renders objects that are selected for being visible in the mirrors. 1K resolution for each cube side.

Full 1k: Realtime reflections and reflects everything except cars at 1K resoultion. Performance takes a hit (I think it's around 20% more taxing than the 512 resolution) at this resolution as it's meant for high end PC builds (e.g. multi-GPU setups).