Rant begins.
All these sims are basically copy/pasta versions of previous games that are copy pasta of rFactor, all with new shiny graphics and slight tweaks here and there. Are they actually getting better? Not really. They are just looking better. AMS2 looks good but lacks the depth that a sim racer should have at this point. I will contend that AMS1 is better in many areas comparatively. And no, I don't want to hear the talking point that AMS2 was built from the ground up like the shills at the Steam forum push. There are literal remnants of PC2 in it, including bugs and UI.
Speaking of UI ... UI's in all the sims are horrible and some don't even try to hide that they are just copy/pasta the UI from game to game and even to previously released games that get a UI "update"
To this day, real championship multi-class race scoring is missing in most sims.
Most of the same AI problems persist year after year. Can I pause the game and set up my pit strategy yet or do I have to fiddle with it as I'm racing a small and tight road course. Instead of editing files, is there a built in UI to fiddle with the values and create profiles THAT ARE TRACK AND AI CAR(s) SPECIFIC that can also be downloaded online and copied into a folder? Why am I editing XML files in AMS2 in 2023? Is there a way to EASILY within the game (in the UI) to speed a car up in the chicane at Daytona RC while slowing it down around the first turn? Can I pick and choose every single car, the driver and team name within the game at the time of a race or beginning of a season/championship within the game? Why is the hyper car sitting behind the GT car down the straights of Daytona RC? Why are the cars breaking way later than they should be able to or braking earlier than they need .. and if so, I can I easily change that within the UI?
Sim after sim after sim.
We can make explanations or excuses all day long (and some are probably valid) ... but thats not the point. The point is that I have very little faith that the devs are going to give a fully flushed out sim - WETHER THEY ARE CAPABLE OF IT OR NOT. They didn't do it in GTR2 when they could of ... why would they do it now? And honestly, GTR2s AI car selection process was ridiculous, restrictive and unintuitive even when it came out and was just a carry over from rFactor. Lets come out and say it ... GTR2 was just a mod for rFactor sold as an independent game.
The graphics aren't the problem anymore ... its the UI and features available to the player. The physics aren't the stumbling block anymore ... its the small things. And the small things take a lot of time to flush out and implement ... and devs just don't want to waste time on it. its easier to just copy/pasta and make as much money as they can from a "new" sim while putting the least amount of effort and time into it. And that is what is happening in the racing sim arena to this date. Why would I expect it to change?
I hope GTR2 Revival is the best racing sim ever created and has all the features we should expect from a current gen racing sim. But it hasn't happened yet and therefore I have very little anticipation for this new title. Hope I am proven wrong.
All these sims are basically copy/pasta versions of previous games that are copy pasta of rFactor, all with new shiny graphics and slight tweaks here and there. Are they actually getting better? Not really. They are just looking better. AMS2 looks good but lacks the depth that a sim racer should have at this point. I will contend that AMS1 is better in many areas comparatively. And no, I don't want to hear the talking point that AMS2 was built from the ground up like the shills at the Steam forum push. There are literal remnants of PC2 in it, including bugs and UI.
Speaking of UI ... UI's in all the sims are horrible and some don't even try to hide that they are just copy/pasta the UI from game to game and even to previously released games that get a UI "update"
To this day, real championship multi-class race scoring is missing in most sims.
Most of the same AI problems persist year after year. Can I pause the game and set up my pit strategy yet or do I have to fiddle with it as I'm racing a small and tight road course. Instead of editing files, is there a built in UI to fiddle with the values and create profiles THAT ARE TRACK AND AI CAR(s) SPECIFIC that can also be downloaded online and copied into a folder? Why am I editing XML files in AMS2 in 2023? Is there a way to EASILY within the game (in the UI) to speed a car up in the chicane at Daytona RC while slowing it down around the first turn? Can I pick and choose every single car, the driver and team name within the game at the time of a race or beginning of a season/championship within the game? Why is the hyper car sitting behind the GT car down the straights of Daytona RC? Why are the cars breaking way later than they should be able to or braking earlier than they need .. and if so, I can I easily change that within the UI?
Sim after sim after sim.
We can make explanations or excuses all day long (and some are probably valid) ... but thats not the point. The point is that I have very little faith that the devs are going to give a fully flushed out sim - WETHER THEY ARE CAPABLE OF IT OR NOT. They didn't do it in GTR2 when they could of ... why would they do it now? And honestly, GTR2s AI car selection process was ridiculous, restrictive and unintuitive even when it came out and was just a carry over from rFactor. Lets come out and say it ... GTR2 was just a mod for rFactor sold as an independent game.
The graphics aren't the problem anymore ... its the UI and features available to the player. The physics aren't the stumbling block anymore ... its the small things. And the small things take a lot of time to flush out and implement ... and devs just don't want to waste time on it. its easier to just copy/pasta and make as much money as they can from a "new" sim while putting the least amount of effort and time into it. And that is what is happening in the racing sim arena to this date. Why would I expect it to change?
I hope GTR2 Revival is the best racing sim ever created and has all the features we should expect from a current gen racing sim. But it hasn't happened yet and therefore I have very little anticipation for this new title. Hope I am proven wrong.