Best rFactor mods?

I'm on another sabbatical away from iRacing and, as usual, find myself messing
about with all my other sims looking for a bit of stress-free, offline AI racing to
scratch the racing itch.

LFS is out because the AI is shockingly poor. GT Evo has failed to grow on me even
though it probably offers the best rendition of the 'Ring so far. The AI's good,
but the driving leaves me unsatisfied.

So I found myself back at rfactor for the first time since getting my triplehead
setup working, and actually had some fun messing about it in the Sauber F1 car...
on a superspeedway, then the 'Ring. So I thought I'd go exploring RSC and assorted
sites in search of mod recommendations. But with so many to choose from (and they
can't all be great!) I wondered if anyone here had trawled through a lot of mods
and found anything particularly satisfying to drive recently.

Andrew McP

I like the rFactor Porsche 997 Cup mod (
http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=PCC%202007 ) but i'm a little
bias toward the marque. Ever try Race 07? I found it excellent right
out of the box for offline racing.

GP

>On Sun, 9 Nov 2008 15:21 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
>I'm on another sabbatical away from iRacing and, as usual, find myself messing
>about with all my other sims looking for a bit of stress-free, offline AI racing to
>scratch the racing itch.
>
>LFS is out because the AI is shockingly poor. GT Evo has failed to grow on me even
>though it probably offers the best rendition of the 'Ring so far. The AI's good,
>but the driving leaves me unsatisfied.
>
>So I found myself back at rfactor for the first time since getting my triplehead
>setup working, and actually had some fun messing about it in the Sauber F1 car...
>on a superspeedway, then the 'Ring. So I thought I'd go exploring RSC and assorted
>sites in search of mod recommendations. But with so many to choose from (and they
>can't all be great!) I wondered if anyone here had trawled through a lot of mods
>and found anything particularly satisfying to drive recently.
>
>Andrew McP

(GaryR) wrote:

> I like the rFactor Porsche 997 Cup mod
> http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=PCC%202007

Thanks. I've installed it now, and it's definitely a *very* well executed mod. I
would, however, say that -- like all other rFactor vehicles -- it falls short of
making me feel anywhere near as 'connected' to the track as iRacing does. Reading
around it seems to be a well respected mod though. I think I'll persevere with it
for a while and see if I can learn to connect my brain to the track.

I also added one of the recent Nordschleife tracks and was very impressed indeed!
http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm...chleife%202007
That seems in some ways better than the Evo version, which had definitely become my
favourite until now. I need to learn the new part of the circuit though... I got
completely confused. :-)

> Ever try Race 07? I found it excellent right
> out of the box for offline racing.

Ah, you see now you've gone and made me wonder whether I can trust you. ;-)

I disliked the Race07 demo. Again there was no connection to the tarmac for me. So
I only bought it in order to add GTR Evo, which I hoped would inject some life into
the experience. Sadly, although I enjoy the overall product as a racing experience,
and enjoy their version of the 'Ring a lot, I struggle to feel how the cars I'm sat
in are connected to the track.

How to explain this? In iRacing I can very easily suspend my disbelief... I simply
feel like I'm driving a real vehicle. In other sims I always feel like I'm driving
by remote control. The vehicles behave realistically, but I don't feel I'm in the
seat in anything like the same way iRacing manages to convey.

Again I return to my boring theme... iRacing has ruined me. :-) I can have the
driving experience I long for in an online sim experience I don't care for, or the
offline sim experience I want without the driving experience I now demand!

Life is, as ever, cruel. :-) I started off the Skip Barber Liberation Front as a
joke on iRacing to wrap around my recent movie. But I think I'm serious now... I
won't be happy until the Skip Barber is liberated from iRacing and put into a sim I
can enjoy offline as well as on.

I may be in for a very, very, very long wait indeed!

Andrew McP

PS I should start a Paypal collection site. I reckon I could get enough small
contributions from you lot to keep me subscribed to iRacing forever. At least then
you'd be spared my repeated public whining. I could whinge there instead. But
that's no fun. In iRacing space, no-one else can hear you scream! ;-)

Try the BMW E21 320 sometime, these cars are a blast and provide some
good, close online racing (ok offline, too). Come join us on our
"Screamers Open Practise" server sometime so that we can begin the
recruiting process ;-) We currently run the Watkins Glen 70years
Historical track, should be an interesting race.

Has anyone tried running 15-18 drivers on this track online? It looks
like the pitlane is a bit short of pitboxes...

All the best, Uwe


--

(hoover) wrote:

> Try the BMW E21 320 sometime

Thanks Uwe, I just have. It's not bad, but I think if I had to pick a winner so far
it'd be the SRSchool mod, which looks like it might be trying to emulate a Skip
Barber trainer. It still suffers from the 'I feel disconnected from the track'
problem I'm having, but the physics are scary enough to be challenging.

Andrew McP

Andrew -
Just do a 1 year subscription and be done with it!! It only hurts
once, you get a substantial rebate in iRacing dollars to buy tracks
and cars with (or toward the next year), and you can forget about it
until 11/09!

You obviously won't be happy until you do..

As for Race 07, I should have been more specific. The feel of my
Logitech wheel was just right without messing with anything, the game
itself is just ok.. rFactor has the best online play IMO, and seems to
have tte most cars and tracks available.

Now you can trust me again.. ;-)

GP

>On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:55 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
(GaryR) wrote:
>
>> I like the rFactor Porsche 997 Cup mod
>> http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=PCC%202007
>
>Thanks. I've installed it now, and it's definitely a *very* well executed mod. I
>would, however, say that -- like all other rFactor vehicles -- it falls short of
>making me feel anywhere near as 'connected' to the track as iRacing does. Reading
>around it seems to be a well respected mod though. I think I'll persevere with it
>for a while and see if I can learn to connect my brain to the track.
>
>I also added one of the recent Nordschleife tracks and was very impressed indeed!
>http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm...chleife%202007
>That seems in some ways better than the Evo version, which had definitely become my
>favourite until now. I need to learn the new part of the circuit though... I got
>completely confused. :-)
>
>> Ever try Race 07? I found it excellent right
>> out of the box for offline racing.
>
>Ah, you see now you've gone and made me wonder whether I can trust you. ;-)
>
>I disliked the Race07 demo. Again there was no connection to the tarmac for me. So
>I only bought it in order to add GTR Evo, which I hoped would inject some life into
>the experience. Sadly, although I enjoy the overall product as a racing experience,
>and enjoy their version of the 'Ring a lot, I struggle to feel how the cars I'm sat
>in are connected to the track.
>
>How to explain this? In iRacing I can very easily suspend my disbelief... I simply
>feel like I'm driving a real vehicle. In other sims I always feel like I'm driving
>by remote control. The vehicles behave realistically, but I don't feel I'm in the
>seat in anything like the same way iRacing manages to convey.
>
>Again I return to my boring theme... iRacing has ruined me. :-) I can have the
>driving experience I long for in an online sim experience I don't care for, or the
>offline sim experience I want without the driving experience I now demand!
>
>Life is, as ever, cruel. :-) I started off the Skip Barber Liberation Front as a
>joke on iRacing to wrap around my recent movie. But I think I'm serious now... I
>won't be happy until the Skip Barber is liberated from iRacing and put into a sim I
>can enjoy offline as well as on.
>
>I may be in for a very, very, very long wait indeed!
>
>Andrew McP
>
>PS I should start a Paypal collection site. I reckon I could get enough small
>contributions from you lot to keep me subscribed to iRacing forever. At least then
>you'd be spared my repeated public whining. I could whinge there instead. But
>that's no fun. In iRacing space, no-one else can hear you scream! ;-)

Andrew -
Just do a 1 year subscription and be done with it!! It only hurts
once, you get a substantial rebate in iRacing dollars to buy tracks
and cars with (or toward the next year), and you can forget about it
until 11/09!

You obviously won't be happy until you do..

As for Race 07, I should have been more specific. The feel of my
Logitech wheel was just right without messing with anything, the game
itself is just ok.. rFactor has the best online play IMO, and seems to
have tte most cars and tracks available.

Now you can trust me again.. ;-)

GP

>On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:55 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
(GaryR) wrote:
>
>> I like the rFactor Porsche 997 Cup mod
>> http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=PCC%202007
>
>Thanks. I've installed it now, and it's definitely a *very* well executed mod. I
>would, however, say that -- like all other rFactor vehicles -- it falls short of
>making me feel anywhere near as 'connected' to the track as iRacing does. Reading
>around it seems to be a well respected mod though. I think I'll persevere with it
>for a while and see if I can learn to connect my brain to the track.
>
>I also added one of the recent Nordschleife tracks and was very impressed indeed!
>http://rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm...chleife%202007
>That seems in some ways better than the Evo version, which had definitely become my
>favourite until now. I need to learn the new part of the circuit though... I got
>completely confused. :-)
>
>> Ever try Race 07? I found it excellent right
>> out of the box for offline racing.
>
>Ah, you see now you've gone and made me wonder whether I can trust you. ;-)
>
>I disliked the Race07 demo. Again there was no connection to the tarmac for me. So
>I only bought it in order to add GTR Evo, which I hoped would inject some life into
>the experience. Sadly, although I enjoy the overall product as a racing experience,
>and enjoy their version of the 'Ring a lot, I struggle to feel how the cars I'm sat
>in are connected to the track.
>
>How to explain this? In iRacing I can very easily suspend my disbelief... I simply
>feel like I'm driving a real vehicle. In other sims I always feel like I'm driving
>by remote control. The vehicles behave realistically, but I don't feel I'm in the
>seat in anything like the same way iRacing manages to convey.
>
>Again I return to my boring theme... iRacing has ruined me. :-) I can have the
>driving experience I long for in an online sim experience I don't care for, or the
>offline sim experience I want without the driving experience I now demand!
>
>Life is, as ever, cruel. :-) I started off the Skip Barber Liberation Front as a
>joke on iRacing to wrap around my recent movie. But I think I'm serious now... I
>won't be happy until the Skip Barber is liberated from iRacing and put into a sim I
>can enjoy offline as well as on.
>
>I may be in for a very, very, very long wait indeed!
>
>Andrew McP
>
>PS I should start a Paypal collection site. I reckon I could get enough small
>contributions from you lot to keep me subscribed to iRacing forever. At least then
>you'd be spared my repeated public whining. I could whinge there instead. But
>that's no fun. In iRacing space, no-one else can hear you scream! ;-)

(GaryR) wrote:

> Just do a 1 year subscription and be done with it!

It's not that simple. I love driving the cars (ok, not all of them ;-), but I
dislike the pressure of driving in the iRacing environment. I need the breaks to
build up my appetite to drive the cars again. But the longer I'm there, the more
the environment eats into my pleasure.

Besides the pound has tanked against the dollar. This is no time to be spending
more than absolutely necessary in the USA.

> Now you can trust me again.. ;-)

Ok, but only a little bit. :-)

Andrew McP

Off topic,

AP, do you know of a sport over there called Trials, or Observed trials? It
is a sport done with Motorcycles... (to be frank Im not sure where 'over
there' is, as I conjure up to many assumptions when you say pounds when I
say dollars, LOL. and tanked as in how much? (ok I can Google and check
myself, but tell me...) As it was just over 2 dollars to a pound when I
ordered my motorcycle that comes from Spain, 3 months ago.


"Andrew MacPherson" > wrote in message
...
> (GaryR) wrote:
>
>> Just do a 1 year subscription and be done with it!
>
> It's not that simple. I love driving the cars (ok, not all of them ;-),
> but I
> dislike the pressure of driving in the iRacing environment. I need the
> breaks to
> build up my appetite to drive the cars again. But the longer I'm there,
> the more
> the environment eats into my pleasure.
>
> Besides the pound has tanked against the dollar. This is no time to be
> spending
> more than absolutely necessary in the USA.
>
>> Now you can trust me again.. ;-)
>
> Ok, but only a little bit. :-)
>
> Andrew McP
>

Andrew,

The Lotus Elan from the Historic GT & Touring cars mod is my current (i
mean, this week's) favourite. Great on tracks such as Varano, Livet
Glen, Barber Motorsports, Oulton Park, Eastern Creek Laser or Mid-Ohio.
I recently rediscovered a version of the 'ring which seems really good
graphically and fps-wise (Nordschleife The Ring 2007 2.20a on rFC).

Regards
Mr. Sylvestre.

BTW, I hate your iRacing movies. My credit card is getting dangerously
close to a first iRacing subscription despite the fact that I am not
much into online racing and I am not too enthusiastic about their
business model either.