Need more use of my wheel!!!

[ps3ud0]

Hi,

Im lucky enough to have a G25 wheel but just not getting good use out of it. I was hoping you guys could give me some good recommendations of games to get to use it for. Im new to the whole racing sim genre (played the console favourites and the both the TOCA series') so Im looking for something that is going to be fun and rewarding initially, but give scope for me to become a better racer online. Im not that interested in arcade racers, since I doubt a wheel actually helps playing them (indeed I found NFS U2 impossible to play with a wheel)..

Ive already tried the LFS demo and not really enjoyed it - seems more of a grind than actual enjoyment. Perhaps the demo isnt indictive of the full game?!?

Also Ive got RBR which just is way too tough, its more luck than judgement when you do something right it seems and it punishes you too much when you do get something wrong (guess thats realism for you )...

Theres been quite a few racing threads, so I have a good idea whats out there, but what to know which to try first and what to leave until Im better. Also are there any demos out there and if they give a true representation of the final game? The ones Im aware of are:

GTR
GTR 2
GT Legends
GP Legends
rFactor
GP4
TDR series (got 1 and 2 already - more arcadey, but I guess the wheel will help)
Missed anything?!? A better/easier rally game?

Cheers

ps3ud0

 

[mark_t50]

I wouldn't dismiss LFS, it's one of the best racing sims available and is fantastic online. I suppose the problem with LFS and some of the other 'sims' is that they can take a lot of practice to get good at them. I remember when I first started playing LFS I couldn't do a single lap in some of the cars without spining, it took a lot of patience and some custom setups before I found the fun factor in LFS. Once I felt comfortable I took my racing online and it's great, of course I got completely whopped first time out and spent most of the time trying not to crash into people.

Of all the racing sims I own I couldn't be without LFS, RFactor, GT Legends and GTR2. Each has its own merits and they are all fantastic racing sims. If I was forced to pick one game to play when I first started racing and using my wheel I think I would go for GT Legends, purely because it has a bit less of a learning curve than the others, especially when playing the single players cups which are good fun and get you learning the tracks which helps in online racing.

 

[GSDog]

I was very happy when I upgraded from the LFS demo to the full version - the demo is boring, the cars are slow and there are not enough circuits.

 

[Stellios]

LFS is great, but you get the crap cars in the demo. However, you will forever find yourself chasing perfection on it.

 

[ps3ud0]

Cheers guys,

I think Ill give LFS another thought then, I think because it is online only that its hard to work out how to get better. Problem Im having is knowing how to tweak the cars, and if the lap times Im doing is because of the car setup or because Im driving wrongly (bad lines etc...). I think its best at first to play racing sims that have got a good single player mode first before tackling them online - least you know the A.I. is going to be pretty 'perfect' lap wise.

Any of the ones above do that?

Im definitely picking up GTR and GT Legends - can get both for under a tenner . Love to find GP4 as I adored GP2...

Happy New Year btw

ps3ud0

 

[Darryn]

I finally got around to buying GTR2 last week, It is/was only £14.99 which is a bargain, its a nice improvement over the original and the online seems to work well enough which was my main problem with the first one.

 

[ps3ud0]

Anyone heard of Xpand Rally?!?

Meant to be quite good, but unsure if its old/new and where to buy it from...

P.S. Glad to see another GP Masters fan in the forums DreederOcUK - did you go to Silverstone this year?

ps3ud0

 

[neoboy]

Anyone heard of Xpand Rally?!?

Meant to be quite good, but unsure if its old/new and where to buy it from...

P.S. Glad to see another GP Masters fan in the forums DreederOcUK - did you go to Silverstone this year?

ps3ud0

It's quite an old game now. Remember playing a demo while back and the only extra feature it offered (compared to competition, which basically means Colin McRae series and RBR but that one is a very unforgiving game) was that separate bits of the drivers body used to get injured (with appropriate effect).

 

[Bean0]

Cheers guys,

I think Ill give LFS another thought then, I think because it is online only that its hard to work out how to get better. Problem Im having is knowing how to tweak the cars, and if the lap times Im doing is because of the car setup or because Im driving wrongly (bad lines etc...). I think its best at first to play racing sims that have got a good single player mode first before tackling them online - least you know the A.I. is going to be pretty 'perfect' lap wise.

Any of the ones above do that?

Im definitely picking up GTR and GT Legends - can get both for under a tenner . Love to find GP4 as I adored GP2...

Happy New Year btw

ps3ud0

With LFS, the AI learns the more it drives a particular car/track combo, so they will be pretty poor to begin with.

A good way of learning lines/braking points etc is to either spectate the faster guys on a server, or to download the replays of the top hotlaps from LFSWorld, you can also 'test drive' the setup that was used to set the hotlap.

Most of the fast guys will be willing to send you a decent setup in game, unless it's a team specific race set, and you are polite about it. Otherwise you can download a lot of the WR setups from the Inferno Setupfield.

There's also a little guide to a lap around Blackwood in the XF GTi that I wrote a little while back here, it was written before the car got altered slightly in a patch, so the split times might be a tad optimistic.

 

[hardc0re_tid]

i never really like playing racing games on the PC, would rather leave that to my PS2, but i think its down to the fact that i dont like my current controller for the PC - Neo something, and the fact that the buttons have to be programmed for each game (different layouts sometimes). If i was to get a brand named one like the XBOX360 for the PC that may be a different matter.

never really got used to the wheels either, i had a Jordan Racing one for the PS2, and never really like it and it broke about 2 months later.

FSP is where its at, for the meantime anyway

would need to get a good controller before i would buy a game as my current one would put me off playing a game like GTR2 if it was the best racing sim ever

 

[NutritioN]

I think another game that would be good is "1nsane." Old though.

Not tarmac racing but loads of fun with a good wheel and manual gears. Loads of single player stuff, generate a random landscape playarea, jump in a 4x4 or quad bike and try and climb the highest peak.