VR Sim racing - the reality

[24lemons]

I’m looking for some advice. I have a PSVR2 with Gran Turismo 7 and to be frank I will struggle to enjoy racing games on flat screens now that I’ve tasted VR. I had a go on some of the fancy sims set up around the fan areas at Le Mans recently and they just didn’t do it for me in 2d.

The problem with GT7 for me is that It’s slightly limited content wise and what I really want to do is recreate modern IMSA or WEC, with a bit of 1990’s F1 here and there too. Plus maybe a spot of BTCC for good measure. But with no more PS5 racing titles taking advantage of PSVR on the horizon I’m looking towards the PC

I’ve dabbled in PC gaming in the past but I think I spent more time tinkering with the settings or downloading new content only to find it needed yet more tinkering to work properly. I don’t have the time, knowledge or inclination to spend my limited free time tinkering, I just want to plug in and race. Have things improved in that front over the last 15-20 years at all?

Is it possible these days to buy a PC and run something like RFactor 2 in VR or will i still end up spending most of my time trying to get it to run smoothly?

Any thoughts appreciated.

[Dave.]

I wouldn’t go with rf2 if you want simplicity/plug and play

Assetto Corsa does well on older hardware, still needs a bit of initial configuration, but once that’s done it pretty much done. And there’s an absolute fk tonne of content (of varying quality though).

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

Dave. said:

Assetto Corsa does well on older hardware, still needs a bit of initial configuration, but once that’s done it pretty much done. And there’s an absolute fk tonne of content (of varying quality though).

Assetto Corsa is my go to racing game. As you say the amount of mods are incredible, downloading content manager and the SOL weather mods are a must.

You can buy it on CD Keys for £1.99, easily the best two quid you will spend for the hours of gaming you will get out of it.

[SturdyHSV]

Assetto Corsa is your answer.

There will likely be mods of those cars you want, these packs by Bazza are generally pretty well balanced and enjoyable to drive, naturally they won't be 100% accurate but they are enjoyable and there's some really nice variety.

https://thracing.de/ac-legends-gt-classics-by-bazz...

Sony are releasing a dongle to let you plug the PSVR2 into the PC, so that's even your headset sorted already. Sadly it won't have the eye tracking to enable some really optimised rendering, but AC runs pretty well on old hardware, so you'll likely get away with something 'good enough' to enjoy, although don't expect GT7 levels of quality without a serious graphics card update and various mods to improve how AC looks.

Watch a youtube video or two about what mods to get in 2024 for AC, it's constantly being improved so it can be hard to keep up, a reasonable summary video will get you up to speed.

However, for clarity, you will not get the plug in and race experience of GT7 with a PC. You just won't, you can't have it both ways, easy setup and play whilst also having all the cars and tracks your little heart can desire. The compromise you make for getting all the content you want, is you have to put some effort in to set it up and occasionally put up with PC annoyances.

I was a long time AC player who eventually got sick of PC things, and ultimately just stopped playing because of the perceived faff of starting / setting it up. To get back in to a race in 30 seconds or so in GT7 was the ideal solution for me, even if I really miss a lot of the AC content.

Edited by SturdyHSV on Tuesday 16th July 08:42

[24lemons]

Thanks that’s really helpful. It kind of confirms my worry that sim racing on PC especially with VR can still be a minefield. If I’m lucky get maybe and two or three hours a week to play and the beauty of GT7 is that it is so simple to set up. I’ll just have to hope that we will see some new content for GT7 or even some new racing games to use with PSVR

[SturdyHSV]

24lemons said:

Thanks that’s really helpful. It kind of confirms my worry that sim racing on PC especially with VR can still be a minefield. If I’m lucky get maybe and two or three hours a week to play and the beauty of GT7 is that it is so simple to set up. I’ll just have to hope that we will see some new content for GT7 or even some new racing games to use with PSVR

It's a pain in the arse but the Custom Race in GT7 can be used to make some fairly entertaining races.

You need to own all of the cars (potentially multiples for different liveries) you want to race, but you can then set things up to be fairly balanced and so on. There are bugs, such as what tyres the AI cars use may not reflect what they're set as (from memory they default to whatever they came on originally, even if you've set the car up with a different set of tyres), the AI only uses 95% throttle, you can't turn boost off (even if it's off, it's then actually on still) and various classic PD cock ups, but you can still make some really good grids and have a good race if you balance your own car well.

You can save the grid / settings and then just load them (on any track) so can have your favourite grids set up and ready to go after some initial pain of configuration.

[Chunkychucky]

God damn, a thread titled "VR Sim racing - the reality." and discussions about GT7, standards are slipping around here

OP - if you actually want to 'sim race', do yourself a favour and bin the console off for a PC.

[durbster]

Have a look at Automobilista 2 too - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1066890/Automob...

A couple of the lads I race with use VR with it.

It has an excellent range of cars and tracks now, plus the weather and time of day effects are as good as anything out there. There's also less faffing about than with Assetto Corsa mods so you can just get on and race.

[SturdyHSV]

Chunkychucky said:

God damn, a thread titled "VR Sim racing - the reality." and discussions about GT7, standards are slipping around here

OP - if you actually want to 'sim race', do yourself a favour and bin the console off for a PC.

Ah yes, but after the title, the OP said:

24lemons said:

I’ve dabbled in PC gaming in the past but I think I spent more time tinkering with the settings or downloading new content only to find it needed yet more tinkering to work properly. I don’t have the time, knowledge or inclination to spend my limited free time tinkering, I just want to plug in and race. Have things improved in that front over the last 15-20 years at all?

You've got your work cut out convincing anyone that sim racing on the PC involves the words "plug in and race" in the same sentence.

Yes, when the stars align and you use it regularly, it can get pretty slick, but aside from the odd update (which you can set the PS5 to install whilst it's "off") you can be racing in VR in GT7 within a minute, you could resume a race that you started with the controller on a flat screen but using your wheel and VR. The VR implementation in GT7 is very well done, you don't need to take the headset off for menus etc. if you don't want to, it's all very seamless. You can then also just take the headset off and carry on on the flat screen if you want to etc., it is seamlessly integrated, to GT7's credit.

The game fks up all sorts of other basic playability / enjoyment aspects, but the VR implementation is very good.

[durbster]

SturdyHSV said:

You've got your work cut out convincing anyone that sim racing on the PC involves the words "plug in and race" in the same sentence.

Yeah, Assetto Corsa is fantastic but it's misleading to suggest it's a plug and play sim. I think people who have been playing it for a while tend to forget how much work it was to get it to where they have it. There's a lot of searching, reading documentation, following tutorials, installing programmes, downloading content, putting files into folders, managing configs etc.

Automobilista 2 is far simpler and much closer to plug and play as far as PC sims go.

[24lemons]

Chunkychucky said:

God damn, a thread titled "VR Sim racing - the reality." and discussions about GT7, standards are slipping around here

OP - if you actually want to 'sim race', do yourself a favour and bin the console off for a PC.

That’s rather the point of my post. As much as I’m enjoying GT7, I could like to delve further into VR but I’m put off by the time/knowledge and cost implications associated with PC gaming, hence why was wondering if things have improved on any of those fronts since I last attempted pc gaming

[durbster]

It's also worth mentioning that the next version of Assetto Corsa is in the works and is scheduled for release this year. They haven't said much about it but did say it'll have first class support for triple screens and VR.

Given the track record of the developer (going right back to the original netKar!), I'm pretty confident it'll be something special.

[TGCOTF-dewey]

I would really recommend borrowing one for an extended period if you can.

I bought an occulus for sim racing and ended up hugging the toilet for several hours.

A few people I've lent it to were the same.

[benp1]

Hmmm, it's posts like this that make me appreciate PS5 sim racing. It's no effort to set up.

I regularly think about getting a PC set up but i'd probably need to spend a couple of grand to get something that felt like a big enough step up to warrant the change, and then I'd be annoyed at all the faffing

Don't yet have PS VR2, would really like to just try it before splashing out. The challenge is it only works with GT7 and I like a bit of rallying too