Drivers licence challenges on controller too hard!

[battlefieldgavin]

Cars with no TC such as the porch on the second last race just want to spin out on controller! and the lap times set to beat are beyond a joke!

[Derek Moore]

I use 37 fov because that's the correct fov for my monitor and distance, it's great. All 3 stars with a couple of 2 stars. I wouldn't want an unnaturally high fov,I find it easier with the correctly calculated fov because then you have real world breaking distances without distortion. But I'm on a wheel, I could never imagine using a controller. With a controller, I'd be proud to get 1 star. Seriously, lots of respect to anyone who can get a 1 star on a controller. And if you can get a 2 star on a controller, well that's just crazy.

[B-Runner]

Originally posted by Brainspasm:

im streaming the licence tests right now. most of them first try 1-2 star pass. it is realy not that hard. all you need is TRACK KNOWLEDGE :)

it's a whole different story on a controller than it is with a wheel (i tried both). track knowledge does not help with twichy controller settings.

[Paradoxagi]

Well... you have to adjust controller settings for accuracy (very small, better no deadzone, responsive without filtering so the virtual wheel follows your inputs about instantly) and a proper feel for the car, then there is not that much of a difference to a racing wheel but you don't have the force feedback information coming from a wheel (I had some wheels in the past and while it was fun I always preffered the gamepad for convenience, also my pace was about the same).

If you set up you controller properly it's not twitchy at all and two stars are very easy to obtain while one star is handed over for participating - three stars however need some practice.

If you have completely garbage gamepads (those do exist), apply massive deadzones and flick the sticks full left and right all the time I expect you to have some disadvantage (but also I believe that there are talented guys out there succeeding even with this playstyle).

[lukwtwz]

Originally posted by Paradoxagi:

Well... you have to adjust controller settings for accuracy (very small, better no deadzone, responsive without filtering so the virtual wheel follows your inputs about instantly) and a proper feel for the car, then there is not that much of a difference to a racing wheel but you don't have the force feedback information coming from a wheel (I had some wheels in the past and while it was fun I always preffered the gamepad for convenience, also my pace was about the same).

If you set up you controller properly it's not twitchy at all and two stars are very easy to obtain while one star is handed over for participating - three stars however need some practice.

If you have completely garbage gamepads (those do exist), apply massive deadzones and flick the sticks full left and right all the time I expect you to have some disadvantage (but also I believe that there are talented guys out there succeeding even with this playstyle).

I'd have agreed with the 1-star (mostly) just for participation point if not for having seen Racing2-5 last time I played. That took a couple dozen or so attempts to 1-star, in part because the time it requires one to get is laughably low compared to the earlier tests and partly because for some reason the downshifting rate restriction is more severe with that car, making it harder to avoid the Mount Panorama corkscrew turns not far from the end when driving at a good clip. Maintaining good acceleration coming out of uphill turns is also challenging there. I'd be impressed with any 2-star on that challenge on controller.

[Paradoxagi]

I will start doing all these tests, so far I only completed the sportscars section... Maybe you are right, if I struggle too much I will report back.

[VANYA▲]

This is a simulator, not a simcade or arcade, to play on a gamepad

[edo]

Originally posted by lukwtwz:

Originally posted by RiZou:

I just checked my comments on the FOV, and on YouTube there is a guy who gets 3 stars without any problem.
Yes, but its FOV is 87!
I'll be curious to see it with a FOV of 54!
Give it a try and you will see the difference.

I haven't given up with the default FOV but I did search settings after seeing your posts and FOV seems to be nowhere. Not in video or graphics and not in gameplay options. Is that setting supposed to be available to non-VR players?

Edit: Never mind. I found this thread below which mentions having to first start a race or practice (I assume it's the same for license tests) and then open settings.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/3058630/discussions/0/595138831417610356/

Do not listen to anyone telling you higher or lower FOV ist better. A "normal" working human brain (given you also posess "normal" eyesight) is able to adjust to pretty much any FOV. There is no perfect one for everyone. That is especially true since it depends on monitor size, resolution, distance from the monitor etc.. as well as personal preference.
You need to find the right compromise between sense of speed (lower FOV) and overview/spatial awareness (higher FOV) for YOU.
Try a few different FOV values and stick to the one that feels good for you.
Personally i use a litte lower FOV values then default in ACE (Ultra Wide Screen) and have beaten all licence tests on 3 stars within 3 trys ... damn you track limits .. (but i am doing this simracing stuff for years now and have a steering wheel :D)
Only practice makes you faster :)
GL HF

[Paradoxagi]

I'm progressing nicely so far, this wasn't too hard yet, but now I have to charge my battery. The BMW at Imola was wild, that thing really is fun and somewhat hard to control but I made it in the end.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3423711671

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3423711643

[Johnnie Concrete]

Too hard. ...BnB..1994.

[Paradoxagi]

This guy made a video about how to setup your controller, he also has a video about the license tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORxi9vXBNHs&t=5s

I have no idea how he does this given that large deadzones on his steering, he definitively has a different playstyle than I have. If you struggle using his settings I can post mine too.

[```skunk3```]

Originally posted by Paradoxagi:

This guy made a video about how to setup your controller, he also has a video about the license tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORxi9vXBNHs&t=5s

I have no idea how he does this given that large deadzones on his steering, he definitively has a different playstyle than I have. If you struggle using his settings I can post mine too.

Dude, THANK YOU. This video was so helpful. I hated this game because it felt like every car I drove would understeer like crazy and I couldn't get any control. Changing the settings to what the guy in the video did instantly made my performance much better. They really need to have tooltips and explain what each of these settings do / mean.

Now I can finally race and not feel like I'm fighting against bad settings.

[Paradoxagi]

Yeah, great to hear that it works for you. :-)

That is what I wanted to say in the first place, the game can be played 'properly' with a gamepad but you need a good configuration that suits your needs - if you have that, your results depend on your racing skills just like when using a racing wheel.

There are tons of videos for sim-racing beginners out there teaching the basics of how to race and all that can be executed properly with a game controller in ACE. If this is not the case for you, there is most likely an issue with your controller configuration.

[lukwtwz]

Originally posted by Paradoxagi:

Yeah, great to hear that it works for you. :-)

That is what I wanted to say in the first place, the game can be played 'properly' with a gamepad but you need a good configuration that suits your needs - if you have that, your results depend on your racing skills just like when using a racing wheel.

There are tons of videos for sim-racing beginners out there teaching the basics of how to race and all that can be executed properly with a game controller in ACE. If this is not the case for you, there is most likely an issue with your controller configuration.

Everyone's different and I respect that but watching any videos (let alone tons of videos) about the basics of racing is farther than I would take it at this point. Everything I know about sim racing is mostly ingrained from trial and error doing time and lap trials in various games.

I know this is "a real sim" but on some level, including any 'meta' (real or hypothetical, current or future), driving sims are still action games, and action games (unless maybe they're designed to teach something of real-world value) are about having fun while learning from one's mistakes and developing a reliably stable internal reactionary framework to engage the totality of what's being thrown at you given the constraints that the game/sim makers have placed on the player (i.e. even though ACE is an EA sim, the developers are free to make something as simple
as binding the handbrake to a Dualsense controller button need a workaround).

Then again, my reluctance to take sim driving seriously enough to resort to watching videos (I've never even watched a real car race or turned on 'ideal line' in any game, btw) could be in part a matter of knowing I'd be practically unable to integrate the more challenging/perceptually demanding things that such videos probably teach.

People who know they're talented (including but not limited to those who've been in real racing cars and maybe attended real race events or watched racing TV) might have no qualms about consuming driving line-related instructional content because they know/feel their limits might reach well into the seriously competitive range, which I guess might make instructional videos a better sell to them. At some point the immersive potential of serious flight simulators might start beckoning. It's hard to take cars that seriously when people are racing things that fly.

Seriously though, I love the ACE physics, real sim or not, way more than GT7's. GT7 VR gave great spatial awareness (e.g. at Mount Panorama) but something felt off about the physics - there wasn't enough nuance and that detracted from presence. ACE on flatscreen in some ways seems more real.

[```skunk3```]

Originally posted by Paradoxagi:

Yeah, great to hear that it works for you. :-)

That is what I wanted to say in the first place, the game can be played 'properly' with a gamepad but you need a good configuration that suits your needs - if you have that, your results depend on your racing skills just like when using a racing wheel.

There are tons of videos for sim-racing beginners out there teaching the basics of how to race and all that can be executed properly with a game controller in ACE. If this is not the case for you, there is most likely an issue with your controller configuration.

I dont understand why the default settings are such trash. I also don't understand why there is no explanation in the menus regarding what most of the settings mean.

I made a review about how all cars seem to understeer and spin out way too easily and the response was something like "skill issue." Turns out, I was absolutely right and the settings were crap. Now that I have settings dialed in to my taste I can complete the licenses without any issue. I was stuck on the 5th license where you have to do a lap. Certain corners were impossible for me to make unless I braked super hard and went slow. Now I can fly through them because my car actually steers.

[Paradoxagi]

Trash default gampad setups are more or less a standard in sim racing, at least by my experience. Raceroom has also very good controller support with dozens of useful settings but their defaults were completely unusable, my custom configuration was good enough to have a sensational feel for the cars like never seen before and after in any racing game - only ACE can compare to that and might be even better in this aspect.

The downside of my good settings in these games is I can't play games like Forza anymore because I can't get a similar feel for the cars and these games don't have the settings to fix that.

Regarding sim racing videos: This was just a hint for players that absolutely have no idea about more realistic racing. Of course you can learn all that by practice alone and figure all that out yourself but some people might find it helpful to watch these videos when struggling with this or that or if players are not that patient and want some instructions. All I want to say is actually: All the information you need is out there and if proper racing does not work as expected in ACE this is most likely caused by a bad controller configuration (or some assist doing more harm then good, such as the stability control did for me).