The AI's a bit dodgy though...
So far, rFactor is looking pretty good yes? Well there is one slight fly in the ointment and that’s the opponent AI which, to put it nicely, is robotic. To put it as I would like, the AI is bloody annoyingly overly aggressively dangerously arsey. For the most part the AI drives around the track as you’d expect it to, taking the racing line, being a tad over cautious with the braking and overtaking each other less often than I’d like.Now I’ve previously mentioned that they’ll ram you up the chuff if you don’t keep out of the way and that holds true. But even once you’ve equipped your car with all the more powerful extras, even taking it all the way and buying an absolute monster of a car that sucks up entire lakes of high octane jet fuel each lap, you’ll still have trouble with the AI.
Because as keen as the AI is to let you know you’re in the way with a ‘friendly’ bumper rub, they’re just as keen to get in your way if you try and pass them. Honestly, try setting your car up for max downforce giving you the ability to corner like a demon at silly speeds and even then the AI will deliberately come off the racing line and block you. Any human driver will stick on the racing line safe in the knowledge that he’ll have his foot back on the gas before you and cream you in the straight… I’m honestly starting to wonder if the AI was coded by the same guy who, if you accidentally cut him up on a roundabout, will then do a three lane cross to get in front of you and do an emergency stop… It’s digital road rage, I swear it’s digital road rage!
Click for larger imageAnyhoo, let’s have a look at the graphics which, in this day and age of DX10 and Vista, are actually holding up pretty well. It does feel a bit, well, DX8-ish with some harsh edges on the cars and some of the scenery but comparing it to the likes of TOCA Race Driver and rFactor is holding up pretty well. Certainly the graphics are more than up to the job and, as I said before, the most important part is getting that feeling of speed… which is just about there.
Where rFactor shines, from a gameplay point of view, is with the physics engine which from multiple, multiple hours of driving, is just about spot on. I really couldn’t put my finger on what it is exactly that feels right, it just all does. Maybe it’s the way the cars can be balanced before going into a turn… you know, you give it a bit of right to settle the springs on the left before turning in more right for the actual corner. It might be the varying grip you get if you get out of shape or, as I’ve done several time, if you lose it, smoke a tyre in frustration and then overheat it… you’ll know as the back feels loose and out of shape.
Which brings me to a critical point about rFactor. Unless you’ve a decent quality force feedback wheel and analogue pedals, forget it. No, really, don’t bother. rFactor is all about driving a car on the very edge to beat everyone else and you’ll have a about as much use for a keyboard as a duck would for nailgun. It’s the one sure fire way to end up in the Armco 200 yards down the start/finish straight, (using the keyboard that is, not the duck and the nailgun). So, unless you like to be supremely frustrated, get yourself a good quality wheel and pedals, tune them up (I go for max sensitivity and feedback) and then rFactor opens up nicely.
Click for larger imageAnd time for another ‘downside’ point, which this time is the sound. How do I put it nicely? Thin, reedy, lacking in bass, lacking in detail, a mash of a mess of generic sounding tyre squeals and engine noises? How’s that? Nice enough? Probably not but the truth is that rFactor has disappointingly poor sound. All the engines sound like a few angry wasps trapped inside a big tin room and the general race sounds all mash into one giving you little or no idea of what’s going on with your car or the cars around you.
Where’s my tyre squealing audio cue to let me know the front is on the verge of understeer? Where’s the sound of the car creeping up my inside as I try and hold off an overtaking manoeuvre from the guy on the outside? To be fair, these sounds are there, but there’s not enough differentiation between them and the general hubbub to give me the aural clues I need if I’m racing in the cockpit… and believe me, from my Formula Ford experience, you can hear other cars when they’re nearby.
