Free-roam driving or JUST racing?

[Rhyagelle]

Is it possible to just drive through maps without racing? I'm looking for a driving game that i can just drive through maps, like at night and stuff, hopefully this is one of them. lol

[mayhem]

Yes you can free-roam on any track, and there are mods to get maps of highways, or towns, or country side roads. With mods you can even get some decent traffic simulation going on some maps. You can set time of day and get some weather changes too.

Highly recommend to look into:
- Content Manager to configure driving setups and launch the game instead of default launcher
- Custom Shader Patch installed through Content Manager
- SOL mod for weather and graphics filter options

(Also, if you're not familiar with BeamNG, should definitely check that game out too)

[Rhyagelle]

mayhem a écrit :

Yes you can free-roam on any track, and there are mods to get maps of highways, or towns, or country side roads. With mods you can even get some decent traffic simulation going on some maps. You can set time of day and get some weather changes too.

Highly recommend to look into:
- Content Manager to configure driving setups and launch the game instead of default launcher
- Custom Shader Patch installed through Content Manager
- SOL mod for weather and graphics filter options

(Also, if you're not familiar with BeamNG, should definitely check that game out too)

Thank you, I appreciate the help! I'm gonna get it then, really want that relaxing driving vibe. lol

I'll look into BeamNG, too. Does it allow the same sort of thing?

[nomorevideos]

Rhyagelle a écrit :

mayhem a écrit :

Yes you can free-roam on any track, and there are mods to get maps of highways, or towns, or country side roads. With mods you can even get some decent traffic simulation going on some maps. You can set time of day and get some weather changes too.

Highly recommend to look into:
- Content Manager to configure driving setups and launch the game instead of default launcher
- Custom Shader Patch installed through Content Manager
- SOL mod for weather and graphics filter options

(Also, if you're not familiar with BeamNG, should definitely check that game out too)

Thank you, I appreciate the help! I'm gonna get it then, really want that relaxing driving vibe. lol

I'll look into BeamNG, too. Does it allow the same sort of thing?

BeamNG has a lot of custom maps, yeah. From vast terrain to cities and racetracks. You can find custom maps on its website.

[Rhyagelle]

nomorevideos a écrit :

Rhyagelle a écrit :

Thank you, I appreciate the help! I'm gonna get it then, really want that relaxing driving vibe. lol

I'll look into BeamNG, too. Does it allow the same sort of thing?

BeamNG has a lot of custom maps, yeah. From vast terrain to cities and racetracks. You can find custom maps on its website.

Thanks again for the help! :)

[mayhem]

To add a bit more info on BeamNG, its main focus is that sandbox-drive-around-open-world feeling and it's great for just cruising. The base game before getting into mods has a wide range of street cars (without official licencing) and all kinds of maps for open-world driving, and there are even built-in traffic options. The mods are definitely worth checking out though, there is so much content out there.

[TactiRōnin]

Maybe Forza 4 or 5 is what you're looking for? It's a complete online open world driving around without having to race and just enjoy :)

[WKB]

Tactimal a écrit :

Maybe Forza 4 or 5 is what you're looking for? It's a complete online open world driving around without having to race and just enjoy :)

I don't want to sounded like arse, but this is completely false.

In FH4 and FH5, You can't even have very basic cars such as Opel Corsa, Camaro IROC-Z or even just a GT86 (and they're called "EXCLUSIVE CARS"), unless you potentially wait for up to 8 months to showing weekly event that offers specific car you want.

You may grab those "Exclusive Cars" in Auction House, yes. But Auction House in FH4/FH5 is broken mess. Most of "Exclusive Cars" are likely out of stock or priced like 20,000,000, which is 2 times more expensive than the 250GTO. Not just that, there are over 150 exclusive cars in Forza Horizon 4. You need to do 230 hours of grinding to get all of those stupid exclusive cars.

And what grind is? a Racing. Of course.

Most importantly, "Forza Horizon 4 is notorious for save-data corruption". Which you'd lose all exclusive cars.
Edit: Also you can get banned for taking local save data backup, if the claims on Reddit was true.

Is this sounds like a "just enjoy" to you?

Not just that, in FH4/FH5, there are only 12 other players can be seen in one session (and most of other players are 12 years old kid with Ferrari 599XX Evo). But in AC and Beam.NG, you'd see more than 12 players in one session with more varieties.

Also Forza Horizon 4/5 is very notorious for False-Banning, Terrible Customer Support and Political Correctness, which prevents you from "just enjoy". But that's a different story.

Sorry for derailing, but both FH4 and FH5 are highly not recommended.

So, as others suggested, if you're looking for open-world driving, please pick either Assetto Corsa or Beam.NG Drive.
Both game offers more contents and more freedoms by modding without doing the chore grinding..

[the.lovewyrm]

Screw forza, believe in the Black Cat from Italy.

No experience with BeamNG but it looks both good, and a bit worrying...seems like the kind of game that can be milked with DLCs.
Which AC has too, but it's cheap as chips at least.

BeamNG seems like one of those games that can be DLC'd eternally. Like a train simulator etc.
But it does look good.

[mayhem]

the.lovewyrm a écrit :

BeamNG seems like one of those games that can be DLC'd eternally.

I bought BeamNG for like $20 before it was on Steam in 2015 and haven't been charged for anything since. it has gone through major changes including engine upgrades to get more modern graphics and a steady flow of new content.

I don't know if they'll ever do DLC, but I'd buy it in a heartbeat just to pay back what I've already gotten out of it over the years. Just don't want someone getting the wrong idea about it.

[the.lovewyrm]

mayhem a écrit :

the.lovewyrm a écrit :

BeamNG seems like one of those games that can be DLC'd eternally.

I bought BeamNG for like $20 before it was on Steam in 2015 and haven't been charged for anything since. it has gone through major changes including engine upgrades to get more modern graphics and a steady flow of new content.

I don't know if they'll ever do DLC, but I'd buy it in a heartbeat just to pay back what I've already gotten out of it over the years. Just don't want someone getting the wrong idea about it.

Yeah I researched it a bit on my own and it seems the devs are not big fans of DLC.
Pretty big props to that.

In fact, them doing an experimental linux port is making me want to reward them (with a purchase), even though those usually end up ♥♥♥♥♥♥, with proton being the way to go after all.

But...the efforts have to be rewarded.

[Sassanid]

WKB a écrit :

Tactimal a écrit :

Maybe Forza 4 or 5 is what you're looking for? It's a complete online open world driving around without having to race and just enjoy :)

I don't want to sounded like arse, but this is completely false.

In FH4 and FH5, You can't even have very basic cars such as Opel Corsa, Camaro IROC-Z or even just a GT86 (and they're called "EXCLUSIVE CARS"), unless you potentially wait for up to 8 months to showing weekly event that offers specific car you want.

You may grab those "Exclusive Cars" in Auction House, yes. But Auction House in FH4/FH5 is broken mess. Most of "Exclusive Cars" are likely out of stock or priced like 20,000,000, which is 2 times more expensive than the 250GTO. Not just that, there are over 150 exclusive cars in Forza Horizon 4. You need to do 230 hours of grinding to get all of those stupid exclusive cars.

And what grind is? a Racing. Of course.

Most importantly, "Forza Horizon 4 is notorious for save-data corruption". Which you'd lose all exclusive cars.
Edit: Also you can get banned for taking local save data backup, if the claims on Reddit was true.

Is this sounds like a "just enjoy" to you?

Not just that, in FH4/FH5, there are only 12 other players can be seen in one session (and most of other players are 12 years old kid with Ferrari 599XX Evo). But in AC and Beam.NG, you'd see more than 12 players in one session with more varieties.

Also Forza Horizon 4/5 is very notorious for False-Banning, Terrible Customer Support and Political Correctness, which prevents you from "just enjoy". But that's a different story.

Sorry for derailing, but both FH4 and FH5 are highly not recommended.

So, as others suggested, if you're looking for open-world driving, please pick either Assetto Corsa or Beam.NG Drive.
Both game offers more contents and more freedoms by modding without doing the chore grinding..

A lot of good points.

Even more important than those for me is that forza horizon is 100% arcade and AC is 100% sim. Can't even compare them. If someone wants to just cruise on line in an openworld with others, Forza Horizon does it best. But, and here's the big but, if you want to do the above but you want to do it with realistic handling in cars, realistic sounds, laser scanned tracks on real world locations, with even better and more realistic graphics than Forza in some cases, thanks to mods and reshade, then there's no question AC is the pick.

I see people looking for Forza games and those looking for AC as two completely different species of living organisms. One is looking for fun, the other is looking to learn how to drive. AC is like a driving instructor, regardless whether you're cruising down the freeway in a lambo, racing other real people online in F1 or GT cars, or learning to drift from scratch when you know nothing, AC is the best to ever do it. This is coming from someone who played and loved Forza for years on a gamepad. Back when I used to think those guys who played racing game with wheels and pedals and VR where "a bit over the top". Then I try and AC and what do you know!

[Reversoman]

For another take on the just driving, and a game I have the most hours in, there's American Truck Simulator. Map mod's, etc easily available.