Forza Horizon 5?

[Sassanid]

10 years ago the younger me would have been SO excited for a game like Horizon 5, it's an arcade racers dream game. But now the older more grumpier version of me just wants to drive cars realistically in the most accurate sim racers I can.

I just have no will or excitement over arcade style racers anymore, even though they look gorgeous, and I wouldn't play games like Horizon or NFS even if they were free. In my mind, the kind of gamer I am today, my driving focus has shifted and now shaving off seconds on my favorite real life tracks like Imola and Nordschleife in my favorite real cars feels way more exhilarating and rewarding than getting x10,000 XP Turbo Super Speed/Landscaping points in arcade racers, doing things and stunts in cars which are all just pure fiction and beyond reality.

How do others feeling about? Anyone jump between sim and arcade?

[clairvoyantwolf]

In real life I try not to begrudge any of the many ways someone can enjoy their car. Though I personally don't "get" the Cars and Coffee crowd that is no "higher" or "lower" than chasing lap times (I track my car).

A day or so ago I took my four year old son for a drive in my car (C5 Corvette). Stopped at a playground where a group of young boys ceased what they were doing to admire the almost thirty year old car. Gave them a rev on the way out. Went around a turn with a bit too much power and the back end stepped out of line, a quick flick of opposite lock was all it took to settle the car, but it made my son giggle.

I remember the blue 3rd gen Camaro that I couldn't stop staring at down the street from where I lived as a boy, it got me into cars. I try to pass the torch where I can. That to me is the epitome of what fun with cars is all about.

[ling.speed]

In 10-20 years you'll be back to Forza. The cycle of life, wife, kids, no space or time for rigs and mid life crisis :).

But more seriously, i felt the same some years ago chasing tenths and learning stuff, tons of fun! But when you get fast enough in simulators (to account for all their details subconciously) the arcades will start to feel closer again. At least for me, it's much more natural to go back to arcade from sims. And not only for "couch entertainment".

I've tried Wreckfest semi-recently (not as arcade as F5 but not that far) after being able to set WR's in AC. Even when driving realistically with wheel and cockpit view, with smooth inputs and not sliding hard i still could get into top5 in laptime/race challanges with 100x less playtime compared to AC. It was not easy and i had ton of fun learning it. Even if in theory it should be much simpler.

Silly bragging aside, i find it quite neat that the skills you gain in sims do work back in arcades making them more fun to drive than when it was just mashing buttons for better scores.

It's going to be minority oppinion ofc, im not as much into cars as most here. Just find driving itself fun.

[hoghug]

Originally posted by ling.speed:

In 10-20 years you'll be back to Forza. The cycle of life, wife, kids, no space or time for rigs and mid life crisis :).

But more seriously, i felt the same some years ago chasing tenths and learning stuff, tons of fun! But when you get fast enough in simulators (to account for all their details subconciously) the arcades will start to feel closer again. At least for me, it's much more natural to go back to arcade from sims. And not only for "couch entertainment".

I've tried Wreckfest semi-recently (not as arcade as F5 but not that far) after being able to set WR's in AC. Even when driving realistically with wheel and cockpit view, with smooth inputs and not sliding hard i still could get into top5 in laptime/race challanges with 100x less playtime compared to AC. It was not easy and i had ton of fun learning it. Even if in theory it should be much simpler.

Silly bragging aside, i find it quite neat that the skills you gain in sims do work back in arcades making them more fun to drive than when it was just mashing buttons for better scores.

It's going to be minority oppinion ofc, im not as much into cars as most here. Just find driving itself fun.

wow, how long did it take to get that kind of skill in ac? also do you race in real life?

[clairvoyantwolf]

Originally posted by ling.speed:

It's going to be minority oppinion ofc, im not as much into cars as most here. Just find driving itself fun.

Perhaps yes perhaps no. There are all sorts of ways people have fun with cars. Some people don’t even like driving, but car collecting. Others building up an old wreck. Modding (appearance or performance). Cruising, road rallying, or canyon carving. Or track work (autocross, drag, road course, wheel to wheel).

It really is a very broad range. And it is much the same in gaming. I don’t get into those truck driving sims, but there are people who love them. I still play NFS 3 and 4, but tapped out of the series when they started NFS Underground (I don’t care for tuner cars or tuner car culture). I love AC, but have little interest in touching ACC.

As I said before there is no higher or lower.

[Firebirb]

I suggest to keep playing AC, fh5 physics are worse than assetto and rfactor, these games have been in development for several years, forza horizon is not a full simulator, it has good graphics, but not good physics, also assetto can get good with graphical ensurances using mods. Try rFactor instead.

[Sassanid]

Originally posted by kiva.sopo:

forza horizon is not a full simulator, it has good graphics, but....

I wouldn't class Horizon games as sims at all. Not half sims, not quarter sims, nothing about them is sim like. The Forza Motorsport series are closer to sims, but even those I class as arcade sims, or simcades.

There's just something very uninteresting about driving $1,000,000 super cars off a mountain cliff and being rewarded for it by receiving landscaping points and high jump bonuses, etc. I think I'm just past that age group where games like that seem more like a waste of time than actually fun.

Maybe I've just become a boring old fart but for me now, "fun" is doing a few chilled laps around some of the smaller easier maps like Laguna Seca or Imola without needing the feel to race others, just driving around chilled, focusing on apex entry and exit, getting my gear selection down better, etc.

[SirSilverLXVIII]

Horizon 5 is nothing but eye candy and no substance, same formula same cars and a reskinned map to look like mexico, i paid £1 for 3 months of game pass to see what the fuss was about and its left me very underwhelmed and a large dose of de ja vu but for that amount of money for 3 months i cant complain at all.

As fpr AC its like a vintage wine, gets better with age and with the SOL and CSP mods they have really made the game shine even more.

[Sassanid]

Originally posted by SirSilverLXVIII:

As fpr AC its like a vintage wine, gets better with age and with the SOL and CSP mods they have really made the game shine even more.

Well said

[ling.speed]

Originally posted by lunatic:

wow, how long did it take to get that kind of skill in ac? also do you race in real life?

Currently at 8k+ hours in AC, but at least 3k was spent just having launcher open over night or modding/debugging. Plus few "k" more in other sims. Not much real racing experiance... except for g-forces i guess (in gliders)

Seen people learn much faster (from zero to serious level in months) when decicated and focused. But you also need to have good coaching to not get stuck on invisible walls in knowleage or physical habits that tend to develop as you improve. Took me this long since i was doing everything myself (reading books, figuring out hardware configs, writing own telemetry apps/spreedsheets, studying replays etc). And there was (is?) a lot of misinformation floating on the web or forums that created dead ends.

Originally posted by clairvoyantwolf:

It really is a very broad range.

Hmm yeah you are right. Crazy how varied AC community is when you think about it...
Only sad thing about it that always comes to mind next is that AC2 is not gonna fit such a large shoes anytime soon even in best case scenario.