What "features" is AC going to have?

Hi,

so far, i like AC very much. But to be honest, if the features are going to "stay" at what they are atm, then it would even be a step back from NKPro - which i would hate to see.

Maybe it's just me, but personally, i like "real" physics very much. That doesn't necessarily mean the most realistic driving. For me, that means all (!) car systems are properly simulated. From the electrical system (like in NKPro - if you start the car too often, the battery may run flat), oil systems in the gearbox and the engine, up to the shifting of fluids in an old car without a baffle plates in the fuel tank (i admit - that may be overkill). Also mechanical simulation would be very nice. So i may be able to set the wear on an engine - drive a few laps and "kill" it unintentionally.
Which brings me to my biggest "critique" on all simulations out there, at the moment (GT-Legends had it back in the days): Engine Damage.

From a Turbo blowing up, spraying oil on the windscreen on the car behind, to a thrown rod...or maybe even "hearing" the engine start to knock, letting of the gas and saving the race. Also some minute failures would be nice to see, like a coolant leak and overheating the engine or having a tough fight with an opponent, "bumping" into him and smashing the intercooler or normal watercooler...
Maybe all that is something for the career mode, but hell - i probably would not play anything else any more!

Also Functioning gauges in the cockpit and the possibility to "upgrade" your car to have a Display or a Smartphone mounted on the Dash which can be controlled over one of those very cool apps (which are a great idea!) - like those in NKPro, only with "more". Maybe even have functioning onboard computer, like in the Fiat 500 and the Fuel-App. I like being able to control my fuel usage and "see" what's happening.

In the bigger pictures, all that i listed may be just "details" - but those details are what would make AC pretty much perfect. There are a lot more things i would love to see (Weather, Tyres bursting while driving to forcefully over curbs, smoke and parts being thrown from damaged engines, maybe even a safety car), but i don't expect a racing simulation to make the jump to a full fledged driving simulation

So my big question is: What features will - if any - be included in the final version of AC? Will it be possible to add some of those "functions" as a mod? And most importantly (no, not really xD), am i the only one, who wants to see such things?

 

Adjustable cockpits will not appear in AC, has been confirmed by devs.

Regarding engine/brake wear etc, I don't think we had 'hard' comments on the availability of these features in AC, but I remember some devs have hinted at them. Perhaps not in so much detail as you decribed above though.

 

https://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?threads/mechanical-failures.3141/
^ That thread is the main source I know of for info on engine damage.
In summary, there will never be 'random' engine failures, but various types of wear will be considered. So if you're always overrevving the engine that might be a habit to break...

 

Me too ;-)

- real lights
- day/night
- weather, changeable by parameter (timeline/wetness/temperature)
- driver change (online) for team race/24h race
- extra weights
- working wipers

and yes, i don`t need the horn

 

Damage to the engine due to overheating/over-revving, gearbox-failures and overheating of the brakes would be nice to have included. Because that forces you to treat the car like a precious object.

But all kinds of weird stuff like modifying the interior, adding screens, functioning on-board fuel-economy etc are way too time consuming to implement considering the time/necessity formula any developer has to factor in.
I'd much rather have the devs working on the important stuff like AI, online, career mode, physics, optimization of graphics etc than wasting their time on what is basically unnecessary stuff.

One must appreciate the enormous amount of work needed to implement that kind of stuff.

 

Well, i should have clarified that a little more: Of course the most important things are the mechanical failures, AI, career mode and so on - BUT it would be nice if there is even the chance to add those things later. Maybe not even until patch 2.0 or something like that - it just would be on the bottom of the list. I would consider weather and basically the whole environment more important then the Multiplayer-Mode, but i'm probably alone with that one If i want really good Multiplayer with a very good physics engine, i could just play Simraceway or iRacing (although iRacing is too "'murcia-based" and too expensive) - but i want more

And i know that all this is an enormous amount of work - that's why i tried to ask politely and i do keep in mind that at the moment it's just early access - so basically we are playing beta testers, but IMHO that is what beta testing is about. Oh and: Graphics Optimization? Right now it looks even better then nearly every other car game i tried - what is there to optimize?

 

tire deformation is missing atm.

rfactor 2 is good example, how it should look:

 

I can only copy & paste (Endurance is why i bought a racing sim...):
- real lights
- day/night
- weather, changeable by parameter (timeline/wetness/temperature)
- driver change (online) for team race/24h race

 

David You are not alone.

To me that is what make this simulation complete... not to race like crazy and driving with unrealistic techniques that IRL you will never get to the end of the race because multiple things will start to fall apart.

Taking care of your car / tires is a must to me to generate the needed immersion.

 

+1

 

Oh and to clarify further: I've read the statement about interactive cockpits. It's a pity that they are not going to be done - but i can understand it. What i would NOT understand is having every "interactivity" missing from the cockpit.
So if i flash my high beams, the light in the cockpit should also turn on. If i overheat the engine and the car has one of those symbols in the dash, that should illuminate. If something with the engine is going haywire, the there should be the check engine light. And it would be a blast having the ceck control computer telling you things.
for example, if you are in a race, you get a slight bump from behind and one of your brake lights is gone for good, i would LOVE to see the computer telling you "brake light right - failure" (or something like that, i only now the german messages ). With something like that you would also know "hey, i need to be careful, those guys behind me are not going to see if and when i'm braking".

And as i mentioned in the first post, i would accept apps that control the things in the cockpit which were click able in NKPro. But at least the cockpit should "show" me what i just did. Also, if i loose oil pressure, because the car has 25.000 km of racing on it and the oil pump goes out, it would be nice to see the oil pressure light illuminating or/and oil pressure indicator going to zero.

For me, those are things which make a racing "simulation" desirable. I don't care that much about Graphics, and TBH, i don't think you will ever be able to match the glory of those screenshots i've seen from project cars. AC looks very good, but looks are way down on the list i care about in a racing "simulation"....

Just my 2 cents

 

+1

 

forgot one important point: it would be very nice, to decide in the pitbox to keep the used tyres for some setup testing reason. For example: you`re driving a long stint, testing tyre temps, change the tyre pressure after e.g. 10 laps and keep than the used tyres for further testing with the changed pressure.

 

Yeah, I think you are in a minority if you feel the weather and environment is more important than multiplayer mode. AC is aiming for the same community as iRacing and other racing simulators do, so it's paramount that they focus on the simulation aspect of racing. And without a top-level multiplayer mode, AC would be left behind and would absolutely not be taken seriously as a "simulator".

What you want to include is a fully simulated car with every system working and the possibility to manipulate everything. There's only one simulator that I know of that does that, DCS (combat air simulator), and it's basically achieved by having only one aircraft available. (More can be bought as DLC at nearly full-game cost). In my eyes, a fully functioning high-fidelity car is just too much work compared to reward in a racing simulator, simply because the focus of the driver is (or should be) the car behavior relative to what it's doing on the track. Adjustable speed on the wipers, functioning turning lights or being able to turn on the seat heater doesn't mean anything at all in that context.

And that's the key word; context. You need to judge a game in the context it's meant for. Claiming a racing simulator to be unrealistic because you can't flip some switches or adjust something you can do in real-life, is taking the matter out of context.

 

Why though? You dont see this from the cockpit while driving.

 

Well, i feel weather and environment is more important than multiplayer, because there are so many multiplayer racing sims out there, which are very good (physics wise), but lack so much finesse and detail. And everyone who does not take AC as a serious simulator is - sorry - a *****, even in this early stages.

And no, i don't want do include EVERY system working. I just want something like Microsofts FSX for the car world. Something like DCS would be overkill and would not be a racing simulator. As i said, i'm perfectly fine with not beeing able to manipulate buttons directly in the cockpit - but at least i want the possibility to do that with one of those apps. And the behaviour of a car can be influence by a number of settings/things you change in the cockpit. Especially Wipers are a must have, if the windscreen is able to get dirty. Turning lights and seat heaters are surely not on my list.

And i do judge a game in the context it's meant for -AC doesn't claim just to be another racing sim, it's aiming to be the most realistic. It even features the Open Dynamics Engine for collision and damage detection and as stated at the wikipedia page, it's going to have rigid body physics. If they just stop there it's not the most realistic simulation - then it's going to be the most incomplete realistic simulation.

 

No but you can feel the tire deformation while driving. And with open wheeler you can see them

 

Dont see the point on the visual part myself, the feel yes.

 

For me, a simulator makes only sense with MP. Most drivers i know, don`t drive offline. And i believe, AC could be the best serious simulator with the best physics and one of the best graphics. Racing sim without MP? Never ever...

 

Couldn't disagree more. The hardest thing to simulate well is other drivers, and the single most important aspect of racing is other drivers. I'm not knocking Kunos' AI in advance, but even if it's very good it won't be a patch on the real thing, and that real thing is humans.

Does this mean I don't want to see a dynamic environment? No, clearly not. Optional variable weather, the diurnal cycle, and a live track would really add to the sim, and hopefully they'll be things we'll see in the future. However, they come a very poor second to actually having some opposition that's worth racing against.