Kick Ass - Pt2

 The long-awaited sequel to my ordering of a rumble motor is here!

The question to answer first is, is it worth it?

Yes. Yes, it was worth the $250 or so I spent on DIY. And No, no it wouldn't be worth the $600+ (Aud) you'd spend on a kit to do exactly the same thing. Right, now that's out of the way, as you're doing this anyway, to the build...

Installation was easy. There's any number of gadgets and plates you can buy online to fit a DaytonAudio shaker to 8040 profile rigs. All of them look terrible.

Why? You want your shaker to be as tightly coupled to your rig as possible, any flex is lost fidelity. And looking online various Etsy and eBay sOlutions looked great, would have been a pain to fit, and would have ended up with something akin to a big guy on the end of a diving board (ask me how I know what that's like). So rubbish... 

I did briefly toy with 8040 cross members (two of them) and all the accompanying bracketry and in that the price went through the roof - so I decided to go ghetto on it, behold;

The only sticker on my rig. Tasteful.

Yes, it looks crap, but read on!

It looks like a poor fit, but in fact, works really well... the reasoning for this two-bolt approach?

Essentially the magnet being flung about inside is only going up and down, there's no lateral movement, so no need to worry about the thing rocking back and forth.

Fitting like this I drilled out the mounting holes to take the standard t-slot (M8 I think) bolts, then bolted it down directly to the rig. Above you can see the seat, so it's directly beneath my butt. Perfect placement in fact.

As an aside, there's a soft pad that sits on the base of the speaker. I get that if I were fitting that to a sofa or something as a movie kicker, but I want the full flex, so I re-tightened it a few nights later and sure enough, it had relaxed. 

Are there better ways to fit it? Not for $0 there isn't. I'm not sure if another way would get more "action" out of the kicker, but how I have it is plenty so I'm happy. If I'd not been I'd have invested in something more designed. Try this approach first!

I had a win on the amp side of things too! With my original rig purchase, I bought a keyboard and tablet mounting rig, it was ridiculously over-engineered, resembling an armored car mounted on the end of a Waldo arm. So I had spare parts (I should post all the places I've used the kit, it's impressive), specifically the lower clamp bit for the keyboard, hard to describe, but it mounted under my mouse plate like this:

By Design!

I don't think it could have fitted better to be honest. Loose cabling has since been sorted with Etsy cable clamps which is far cheaper than the official - no way I'm paying $20 postage for 10 tiny bits of plastic!

Configuration

One of the key reasons I shunned a proper solution was reviews talking about using SimHub as a driving app for the "proper" kits - so there's no benefit in having to pay for the software, and then it becomes easy to buy the hardware (see Pt1).

I'll not bore with the technical details of connectivity and running a usb sound card to the back of this amp, it's all simple stuff.

SimHub is comprehensive, I found that out the hard way, and you can set your rumble shaker up to basically be on all the time, it's easy to saturate the effect. 

So I took an informative + immersion route and set this:

What do we have...

• RPMs - set to a slow(ish) rumble at idle, and then cut out at any revs. 
• This is for immersion - as I join the grid or am in the pits my whole rig rumbles like it's a lumpy idle. Excellent.
• Gear Shift - set to kick on up/down shift. This is really apparent in paddle and sequential shifting,
• This is immersion - it's just cool to feel a bit of a kick on shifting - most reviewers have this on too, and I can see why.
• Wheels Lock - set to screech (high frequency) on locking. Overrides every other setting.
• This is informative - it really is a shocker when you lock up. Feels horrible, training me nicely!
• Road Impacts - set pretty low, still rubbish on Bathurst
• This is mostly for immersion - it does let me know if the track is really bumpy, as in losing traction. I don't have this setting very high as it can saturate the shaker easily.
• Road Rumble - set for curbs etc.
• This is informative and actually does help with immersion. This is an excellent setting that means when I clip a curb I feel the rumble. That coupled to sound in headphones and I'm tricked into 'feeling it' on the left and right-hand sides respectively. Very cool.

And that's it. It's worth noting I'm using a DD1 with a 918 rim - which has rumble motors in the wheel itself. I'm also using V3 Clubsport pedals which have near-useless motors in the brake and accelerator. All of this in a fairly stiff rig means I get an absolute ton of feedback, any more and it would be counter-intuitive. 

As it is, I'm sure it's not to everyone's taste, we all want different things and indeed race in different environments. But for me, it's just right, I use this profile on every game I race on (AMS2, ACC, AC, RRRE, Forza, and so on) to get a consistent feedback experience, and I love it.

Would I do it again, yep, it's worth the initial cost and effort to set up for sure.

Why Forza, Why?

Don't buy before release. 

That's the advice in my head, the scars from No Mans Sky run deep, and yet here I am spending up on Forza '23 (for want of a better way to distinguish it).

And I can tell you, I wanted to like it, I wasn't bought into the hype, there was clearly so much of it around it was unreal, and being a refugee from the PS4/GT Sport era now in PC land, I was prepared for the worst - better to be pleasantly surprised.

So, you'll have guessed by now, that I'm not the happiest camper out there. Let's do a list and unpack...

• UI
• Handling
• Peripheral devices
• AI

That's the sh*t list, but before that, let's talk about what I do like...

The game itself, the way it flows and the upgrades, etc - that's all fantastic. Coming from GT6 on PS4 (I rage quit PS4 land with GT Sport, but this is not that tale) I have long missed a game where it's a case of buying a road car and working my way up to a race car - club racing like that is excellent fun.

And I'm new enough to this franchise to not worry about upgrade points being limited to one car, or over-tuning my car so it's un-raceable, I like to buy a few bits and get in. This is that. If you liked old-school Gran Turismo, this game is for you (mostly). 

The content and graphics aren't half bad either, I'm running a 3080 Ti at 4k, so it's hard not to look good, and if I'm honest, I like RRRE and don't mind their "overly dated" graphics. I thought I was a snob, clearly I like a bit of rough.

But let's get to the list, it is most of the game after all...

UI

The easy one. It's a pet hate and a frustration that games that are ported to/from console don't do it properly. This game is no exception. Half the time there's a back button, the rest it's press escape. The continuity tester should be shot, or maybe made to spend a day with only one shoe on. 

It's not the end of the world, but having to pick a mouse or keyboard depending on what screen I want to get out of is a pain for me, and smacks of poor design. 

Outside of that, it's not so bad. Placing it on the spectrum... RF2 (as it was in '23) is the bottom, RRRE is the top (it really is easy to use, except when you change your mind in track selection) - I'd put the UI closer to the top for sure, it's easy to get to what you want when you want it, just not the way you want.

Handling

Ah yes. For context I'm using a DD1 and 918 Rim with V3 pedals, a solid upper-middle-of-the-road setup. Day zero I had serious doubts about the game...

Feedback through the wheel was wooden, no ripple strip feedback and just really lifeless, but patience... and I knew there were some settings to change. 

A setup guide was released, and it's so much better. It's not AMS2, and never will be, but it's certainly enjoyable now and the wheel talks to what's going on, I'm OK with that.

So why is handling in the bin list?

This is an easy test... get an Audi GT3, go to Spa, and take it through Raidillon & Eau Rouge. Then do that with AMS2 (you'll need another GT3, doesn't matter), RRRE, AC and ACC.

It's terrible in Forza.

The best I can say is it's like racing in the rain, you get wash-out, then grip, then oversteer. It really does feel like the wet in other games.

That corner is iconic, that car is a classic, and having watched any amount of GT3s go through that bend I reckon I could drive through there with my eyes closed on the right line. Except in Forza '23, in which it's a lottery as to what happens next.

To be fair, it's not so bad in the club (tweaked road) cars, they handle OK, but I'm not looking forward to the higher-class races in the game for sure. In fact I said the exact same thing of Shift 2 years ago. It's the same; Physics that have been applied to some road cars the devs had access to have been cranked up (in the numbers) to make "racecar" - and that's just not the case.

I do like to be thorough in my disappointment though, so the plan is one evening to do a test and tune and see if it's a tuning issue for the car on that track. I'm not going to hold my breath though.

GT6 - better through Raidillon

Peripheral Devices

I recently bought a ghetto bass shaker - it's surprisingly cheap to do so (and you'll see the post below about that). And it's excellent.

I also run a couple of dashboards - a shift/racelogic dash on an old phone an ancient tablet with full dashboard on it, from the excellent https://www.stryder-it.de/simdashboard/ site. I love the immersion this gives me - in AMS2 for example every gear change is a shift light flashing, then a kick as I change gear - the intensity of immersion that gives is fantastic.

Couple that with crew chief, Fanatec's shift lights on the wheel & mini-dash on the DD1, and I'm well stocked with info while I race. I use all of it.

Not in Forza.

Forza, I'll accept it's day zero (or so) and devs haven't nailed the peripheral apps yet. But none of it works. I managed to get one device working - the large dash. You basically have to point the game to that specific device on your network - which is great, but I have many other devices that are now without info and won't work. 

So, by design, I'm unlikely to be able to use all the gear I've built into my rig. 

And that's a poor show - GRID does it fine, Dirt2 is fine... the list of older games working is right there MS... do the right thing and make it work as per the other games.

Apparently, it has to do with the sandbox game environment. Whatever, that's called an excuse, not a reason. 

AI

I grew up on a farm, and for many years AI was Artificial Insemination (side note, proud to say I never lost sight of my hands in all the years of working on the farm). I actually wonder if that's the manual that was used by the devs in gathering requirements for this game's AI.

Truly I've not been f****d by AI as hard as I have in this game.

No two ways about it, I've had cars side-swipe me off the track, even if I'm off the racing line, and alongside - maybe it's meant to be a blocking move, but with a 5ghz PC I'd like to think the decision to 'change lanes' could be a bit more snappy and happen before I'm there. If it was real it would be dangerous driving.

And then into the first few corners. This is masterful - the devs have managed to recreate the open lobby experience to perfection. It's a total sh*tfest on the first few bends. Again, I'm at club level to be fair, but there's really no attempt by AI to avoid collisions, none whatsoever. 

If crew chief worked, I'd expect a "hold your line" moment, but they'd need to add in some more commentary along the lines of "Car front, left, right, behind, all closing in on you" - which would aptly describe the moshpit of the early race.

In summary...

I sat down to race last night, finally after a busy week I had a spare hour or so. I was looking forward to some Forza, it's my new game after all.

10 minutes in and I was back out. 

All of the above just doesn't make it a game I want to play. It's OK as a game, but the experience is very shallow for sure. 

And I found myself racing a new track in RRRE in 1992 DTM cars. And it was glorious, the ripple strips rumbled, the crew chief called it, and the cars handled well (as they do for that age). I could feel the grip coming on and dropping off. The AI was behaved but assertive. And so on...

I thoroughly enjoyed the race.

And surely, when it boils down to it 99% of us are here to enjoy the racing. Forza has a way to go before I get to that point I think, and I wonder if I ever will when there are alternatives out there.

Kick Ass - Pt1

A cursory spin through this blog and it's clear that thanks to zero actual budget I've spent a relative fortune on my sim budget. It's all simulation, right?

But what to spend some cash on this month... One thing that many reviewers (and some that don't have the gear for free even) have stated really improves their game is the Butt Kicker system - honestly I avoid online FPS games for the very reason I don't want my ass kicked, but this is different...

You see, one of the things missing in sim racing is haptic feedback on anything other than the wheel, which is very unlike real life where there's feedback all over the place, much is in the seat of your pants in fact.

And whilst my setup does have rumble motors in the wheel (not just the steering, it's complicated) and also some weedy things going on with pedals too, it doesn't really do much 'seat of the pants'. Somehow, and I'm not really sure, it does shake the frame occasionally, and whilst it's mild, it's certainly something that extends the immersion beyond the wheel - I want more!

Enter the Butt Kicker. In every sense, imagine stapping a sub-woofer speaker to your seat and then having it rumble for things like hitting the curbs. This is exactly what it is, just the official "butt kicker" does it in a nice package, pre-built and plug-and-play. It's also priced to suit the I don't care, I just want it, brigade. I'm not that.

What I am though is happy to drill holes in seats and frame (maybe not the frame) and to make up my own sweet solution for less. And this is that...

A bit of research and it's really not hard:

• A speaker/shaker
• An amp to drive it
• Some form of sound card output
• Software to make it work
• Just enough cable to make it look terrible, and not fit perfectly

The software is easy, https://www.simhubdash.com/ is free and actually has a module to drive third-party butt kickers - in fact, it's recommended for the official gear which has its own solution anyway.

The rest I've had to buy, I probably have the cables, but they'll be old and feeble, and frankly I'd like new gear!

(prices are in Aud$, which basically is ten times whatever you think you're spending).

Speaker

Research led me to the DaytonAudio driver, which if I get from a fancy shop is upwards of $200 easily, on Amazon is $170 or (And guess where I went) from eBay is $109 + $10 delivery. Bargain.

Fitting is going to be easy enough if I'm brave enough to drill holes in the base of my seat. Clue: I am.

Amp

Nobsound seems to be the way to go (why is everything butt/nob related!).

There are two options, one (Nobsound G2 Mini Subwoofer) which appears to be well tested and plugs into a sound card, and the other which can do Bluetooth & be a sound card. The latter seemed to have a few "it keeps dropping out" comments, and whilst it's the work of a moment to pause a movie (if you're using this setup for movie kicks) it's a pain if you're getting mixed messages whilst concentrating on making it to last within two laps.

So I've opted for the simpler (and slightly cheaper) option, which looks to be easy to set up in any case. I'm all for simple!

That was also an eBay special at $63 shipped. Also cheaper than anywhere else I might add.

The rest of it I got from Amazon. I probably could have hunted around on eBay for the cheaper cables, but frankly, it was a pain, and really down in the lower-priced stuff you're gambling a bit for a few dollars. One order it was then...

Sound card and cables

The princely sum of $53 shipped. And no stress over the sound "card" - this is not recreating the Teatro la Fenice, this is sending some rumbles so my ass (with less fidelity than my ears I reckon) can sense a gear change or something.. low-fi it is. Oh, and the sound card is needed for the Butt Kicker setup too, so not a unique cost.

Wrap up

So all up around $230 or so compared, and I just checked, to the $649 for the 'official' gear. Quite the saving and that was without adding in shipping.

Will it measure up? Some folks reckon it's easily as good as the official gear, time will tell. I certainly have the challenge of mounting this in a way that won't break my seat, something that I'm actually looking forward to - once I have the gear I'll figure it out.

I'll also post in a pt.2 to this once I've done it, detailing how I built it and how it plays out.

Till then!

Rant Air

I've had a hankering for a flight sim for a while. Not something where I sit looking at autopilot for 5 hours as I cross the Atlantic at night to not "Pull Up" when I'm told, killing my precious cargo of NPCs. I want to use missiles to do that!

And so the research started... and soon stopped.

I'd have thought that a decent combat flight sim would be a hotly contested arena, at the very least a mod or two to strap sidewinders on my Cessna in MS Flight Sim seemed reasonable, but apparently not.

Diving in at the top is DCS World - a mega combat flight sim that appears faithful to the last. I say appears as the faithfulness seems to run right down the cost of the aircraft. Sure there are a couple of shitty aircraft for free, but I reckon my backside is going to be handed to me if I fly in one of those.

And the price of a "real" aircraft is eyewatering. What's more, faithfulness is good and all, but I'm not an experienced combat pilot - death will be swift.

So that's out, what's next...

There are two out there apparently, both on sale too... Ace Combat 7 and Project Wingman (loosely based on AC7)

Let's get the first one I bought out of the way first then...

This thing looks fantastic! And really, it plays well too, mostly. But...

Here I am looking at the menu screens, and it's a confusing mess - surely it's picking the aircraft, picking a bunch of weapons, and rolling into combat. Clearly, I've been at high altitude too long as I seemed to set flight time and again without anything other than my sharp wit to fend off the bogies. 

And I'm sat staring at a load of aircraft I can't fly too - screw you rookie, you're driving the little baggage cart around until you earn your wings! Pffft, I just paid for them.

So I rage quit - this is not going to give me instant gratification.

Ace Combat 7 it is then.

I reckon it also looks great, I think on balance I prefer PW though.

50Gb of download later... I'm in, oh yes.

Oh no.

What's this? You're a 3Pm game? Piss Poor Port. No mouse control, in the menus. OK. I can live with that, your budget was immense, I'm assuming you saved the investment for the gaming!

But wait, my aging (and it is aging, I'm trying flying before buying a flight controller) controller isn't supported. A quick check and ah yes.. when you didn't bother to port the game in any way other than the basics - you didn't bother supporting any PC peripherals... So it's xBox controller, some flight stick (that also works on the xBox) or a keyboard. 

I think Steam has me logged at 7 minutes before I requested a refund - if they can't be bothered to allow controller mapping, then how much effort went into the rest of the game... don't tell me, I like complaining.

So here we are, one too expensive, one that's got a UI created using crayons, and one that has the care factor of a six-week-old mosquito.

So where does that leave me? With an ongoing flight sim itch, that's where.... 

Options are IL17 - I have that, I wanted jets'n'stuff but it might serve. I also think that somewhere I have Wings Over Vietnam - which amazingly is coming up for its 18th birthday - should rock on a current PC then.

All I'm looking for is a relive of the experience I had with a really old game - Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, maybe with some ground attack thrown in. how hard can it be!

Adventures in replays continue...

Following the F1 as any self-respecting motorsport fan should, my friend and I like to enjoy the same track that's being raced in one of the plethora of games that we own.

And so it passed that we raced Hungary in ACC, spoiler alert - the replay below isn't that.

But it's worth mentioning as ACC is the very best and worst game all at the same time...

The best bits...

• Amazing handling and immersion
• Easy tuning really, compared to many other games
• Graphics are stunning
• The online community is alive and well and quite active
• Fully licensed cars

And the worst bits are all the same...

• Handling that is on point, but my word it's picky
• How hard, really, how hard would it be to do the fuel/lap thing in-game as a predicted laps value?
• Graphics you need to borrow something from NASA to fully maximize
• The online community is full of psychopaths
• Cars are real mmkay... which means some are just faster than others, no matter what.

So it's a frustrating game to play online. For a long time I took the game seriously, played it, did the tuning and ran races, constantly getting upset by no mark torpedo driver who felt your car should be used as a breaking point. I left the game alone for a long time.

But last weekend (or so) we were talking about it and thought we may as well get back into racing there, and I'll confess I have a passion for Porsche Cup racing - and in that the game has the best content.

In preparation for a race at Hungary, which was upcoming, I decided to fire up ACC, but rather than race the proletariat I decided to race the AI, ranking scores be damned! - for those never playing this game, if someone punts you, you lose safety ratings or something. Only an issue if you want to move out of banger racing and into something more civilised. 

The choice, the new cup car at Donnington, a marvelous combination in anyone's eyes I think you'll agree.

As is the norm, recording HDR to youtube involves everything going crazy dark, however, as I realise now, I race ACC at "nearby nuclear strike" levels of brightness. Meh.

Behold...

And because you've read this far, and not really other reason, here's my current lock screen (you'll have read the previous post in which I talk about Brands)...

This is my lock screen

Most people treat their lock screen like it's the main entrance to the Louvre.

It isn't.

Anyway, why post? Because I do have an image on there that I like, but for a different reason, and no not some overcoming adversity in life way (still working on that), it's this...

I like it. 

I like it because this race typifies all that I am about sim racing...

• It's at Brands Hatch, an iconic track that's made it to just about every racing game of note
• Group C - and a healthy collection of them, I love Group C
• A field that's bourne of questing the Internet to get them
• Assetto Corsa, a game I don't think can be beaten really

and last and by no means least...

• A race that I can achieve in, win even, but for the life of me I can't manage.

Which sums up sim racing for me. I come back to this race regularly but it's a challenge every time, and the car/track combination means that a 10+ lap race is tough to master.

I've managed 5th so far, the highest placed Porsche, so there's that, but certainly there's more, and that's so very frustrating.

Every time I see my lock screen I see this and am inspired!

Breakpoint vs Wildlands

 On many levels, there is no contest. 

A shot of the Bolivian wilderness is the backdrop of my PS4 home screen after all. Going back to Wildlands is like going home, just with more cartels.

But Steve and I have been spending a bit of time in Breakpoint, culminating in a five-hour "where the hell did those last five hours go" session recently, it turns out it's not a bad game at all.

But it's not one to compare with Wildlands, they are very different games.

So let's do that anyway;

Environment

Wildlands is a vast 'Bolivian' map that looks spectacular and really is. Time and again as we traversed it in helicopters, cars and on foot we lamented that the game didn't make more use of it's environment. For example, as you move around you come across farms or villages, and some have no sicarios in them at all - they're just villages - but you imagine the awesome firefight you could have across the buildings, it would be awesome.

And the jungles, it's dense and would make for an excellent warfare area, but it's hardly ever you're fighting there.

Breakpoint is similar really. We notice there are less NPCs, so fewer cars and you can't spawn a helicopter. Often it's a case of hoofing it across the landscape until you find some motorbikes. This is an important point as it changes the dynamic of the game from mission-based to travel-based, remember that.

Hello from Bolivia

Shoot'n'loot

Wildlands is quite limited in this - there are a few weapons crates and a few more ingredients crates that help unlock more skills. It's totally feasible to collect them all (as we have).

As mentioned, Breakpoint is all about the loot. It's everywhere. It's a hosepipe down the throat compared to it's predecessor. Getting used to harvesting, crafting, upgrading and generally spending almost as much time in menus as in firefights has taken some getting used to.

But... once you get in the saddle it's not half bad. The trick has been to not sweat upgrading all the time, I mean, we do... but not at the cost of the game. It's a fine balance. One thing though. the food crafting... that's all too much, I'm sure we're missing some cool game dynamic, but what with breaking down guns and picking new skills... we're OK without.

Weapons

This is a hard comparison. In Wildlands we went from regular to advanced, or whatever it's called. At the higher levels it's one shot death and multi-shot to kill. Frankly, I don't enjoy it - the game should be balanced in terms of the effectiveness of weapons. Turning it back down a notch and it's all good.

My choice of weapons in Wildlands has been the same for some time, the DesertTech sniper and a Stoner LMG with silencer and short stock. Both have prodigious stopping power for sure. And I'll be honest taking the silencer off the LMG and opening up is very satisfying!

Breakpoint, hmmm. With the weapons leveling up all the time (with your xp, we think) the choice isn't so clear-cut. But I was using an AUG assault rifle with a grenade launcher, but then moved to a designated marksman rifle in recent gaming. For sure the stopping power isn't the same as Wildlands (it's lower), and it's a bit cheesy that a full .50cal anti-armor rifle can't take out a heavy in one shot, and certainly not a helicopter. Not the case in wildlands where you can drop a helicopter at hundreds of meters away.

Breakpoint does nail it with grenade and gatling damage though, these are deadly compared to Wildlands.

Story

Wildlands is easy, faction action until there's no more faction, pretty much. There's a plot, but it's all but transparent. To be honest, it's better for that. You can work your way through the game as you wish.

Breakpoint is similar in fact, you can work through various missions. But here in is probably the biggest bugbear of the game. There is so much going on in the mission board. Main stories, chapters, factions, and all sorts. It says it all that I have some fishing mission to complete, and it keeps popping up. This area of the game is completely over-engineered and if you get embroiled in managing your missions you'll not enjoy the game. Probably.

Helicopters, and all the other vehicles

Being able to call up just about any vehicle in Wildlands makes for a great game. But it also makes it an easy game. Playing three up one session we had a helicopter with gatling guns and a Unidad helicopter with rockets whilst Ghost #3 went in for the kill. There was no hope for the sicarios. 

It pains me to say this, but I think Breakpoint is better balanced here, finding helicopters is better than calling a delivery in - and overall they're better helos anyway.

So in summary...

• Breakpoint is tailored for roaming over flying
• Loot boxes are everywhere in Breakpoint
• It's a lot harder to achieve kills in Breakpoint
• Weapons are more complex to manage in Breakpoint
• The mission board in Breakpoint is like the NY stock exchange in it's complexity.
• There's less transport in Breakpoint

If you add all of the above up and try and play it like the mission focussed Wildlands with limited mucking about with weapons and no crafting - you're going to be very disappointed (we were).

If you play Breakpoint as a more free-roaming looting game, dare I say it more like a DayZ (it's not that by any stretch) approach you're going to enjoy it a lot more. Do all you can to avoid the mission media and plot lines and you'll have an excellent game.

Final word

It seems I like Breakpoint. I do, I really do. But Wildlands is the only game I completed, came back and played through some 80% with a friend... then continued and got all trophies, then continued (again!) and collected the remaining skill points and documents. And... Am still re-playing missions with a mate online. There's no other game, other than racing sims, that I've come back to so I can replay the same stuff again as much. 

Wildlands Vs. Breakpoint. No contest.

Edit: Final, final word

So we're now many hours into Breakpoint, and I think the critics may be wrong. Breakpoint is every bit as good as Wildlands, it's just not Wildlands. If you embrace the free-roaming in Breakpoint there is far more to see and do - one of our criticisms of Wildlands was that there was not much action across the map, only at bases. They've addressed this in Breakpoint - there are little groups of guys everywhere. 

I can see how casual gaming of Breakpoint lost favour though, you really do need to embrace the game and spend time in it. A cautionary note to those who seek reviews - look for folks with many hours on it, not a cursory 10 or less. It's not so much the depth of plot or gameplay, just the style takes time to sink in.

Not sure it's better than Wildlands, but there's room in my heart for both now for sure. Well done Breakpoint.

The next game

We've been playing, neigh, living in Ghost Recon Wildlands of late. My only wish is that it's a 1:1 map of actual Bolivia, albeit I hope they have less of a drugs problem - which of course they would do now that we've laid waste to most of the Sicarios. 

And life after Bolivia? That seemed to be Breakpoint, but with so much more it's less of a game, to the point that it's really no fun at all, in no particular order:

• The landscape is littered with loot boxes, that you need to open to gain the loot so...
• You can craft weapon upgrades. Which you can also...
• Buy in a store that is in some rebel base that's full of...
• Dialogue that is never-ending, and...
• An interface that is crazy busy.

All in all, Breakpoint took all the ingredients of every other online shooter and put them into one game, or tried to. It's terrible.

I sincerely recommend avoiding, go get Wildlands and be an operative in a vast map. Breakpoint is nice to look at, but to sum it up, it's trying too hard.

So what's next? I have a shortlist (with pricing at 16/April/22):

1. Insurgency Sandstorm $63
2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege $?? (not available online)
3. RAID: World War II $63
4. Payday2 Crimewave Edition $24
5. Strange Brigade $116
6. Dead Island Definitive Collection $25
7. Gen Zero $?? (not sure, already have it)
8. Watch Dogs 2 $160
9. Fallout 76 $54

Scroll to the bottom for my thoughts...

The case for any/all of the above, compared to Wildlands and Breakpoint as points of reference...

1. Insurgency Sandstorm

Pros: Looks amazing, not too complicated (no looting etc). Designed to be co-op.

Cons: Could be limited in playability - not sure if it's open map

2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

Pros:  Looks fantastic. A well-regarded game

Cons: Co-op, not sure how long the PVE is. A bit run & gun

3. RAID: World War II $63

Pros: Shoot and loot, but not in the loot box sense. This is kelly's heros in a game.

Cons: It's Payday2 reskinned to WW2, and three times the price...

4. Payday2 Crimewave Edition

Pros: A jolly romp designed for co-op.

Cons: Dated somewhat.

5. Strange Brigade

Pros: Something very different and actually quite interesting. Some puzzles etc.

Cons: Price, randomness for sure...

6. Dead Island Definitive Collection $25

Pros: Different for sure.

Cons: Zombie killing mostly (they're just sick people!)

7. Gen Zero $??

Pros: I enjoyed the open world'ness of it. Not an easy game.

Cons: A bit janky in its gameplay (the review below slams it, it's been updated since).

8. Watch Dogs 2 $160

Pros: Largely a current game. Much stealth.

Cons: Not a great genre, to be running around cities in stealth, a lot of gadgets to manage. That price...

9. Fallout 76 $54

Pros: A very big game indeed.

Cons: Not a quest game as such, more about survival.

My thoughts?

These are out:

• Watch Dogs 2 is out, price and gameplay aren't doing it for me.
• Strange Brigade - too soon to be tackling an odd game like this

These are the maybes:

• TC's Rainbow Six Seige. If I can work out how to purchase it online - may be pricey though.
• RAID WW2 - I do like this, but three times the prices of Payday 2!
• Dead Island Definitive - I'd only play this co-op, but it's priced to play.
• Fallout 76 - I do like the sound of this game to be honest, but it's a departure from what we play.

These I think are worth a go:

• Payday 2 Definitive collection - designed to be co-op. Looks to be a lot of fun.
• Gen Zero - I'd recommend this, though the bugs of multi-player are a bit worrying.

This though...

• Insurgency Sandstorm - This looks awesome. 

A long time ago in a galaxy far away....

 Well, not so much a galaxy, but certainly a different continent, and certainly a long time ago..

Below, cos you'll have looked already is the only remaining picture of my awesome (and second) BMW E30.

Behold the majesty...

No, it did not buff out.

What happened? Well... to quote one of the attending officers "Were you going too fast?" - Yes officer, if I'd been doing a pedestrian 4mph I'd have not punched through the telegraph pole, which you can see on the hill above. 

As a distant memory, it's all a bit hazy... but it was on the B4077, around about here.

I did have passengers, and whilst everyone was fine, there was some blood - from where the glass traveled through the cabin on one of the rolls.

I ended up closing the road, with an air ambulance on call. 

As we watched the car burn (they do occasionally catch fire, like in the movies), the fire and police had a hard time believing the four of us were OK and apart from some shock and a minor cut all good.

Would I do it again? In someone else's car maybe. But it's a helluva gamble to take.. you see what launched us over the wall and down the hill was a stump of a tree that was around 2metres across. 

Adventures in replays continue

 I'm practicing sharing my replays.

The last one, in Assetto Corsa, didn't go too well insofar as it recorded it in HDR, or rather didn't - it recorded HDR not in HDR. Or something. The upshot was 90's filter...

So a couple of nights ago I decided to try the same method with AMS2 - and pleasantly surprised with the results I am.

I thought I was recording in 720p, but this replay seems to be upscaling or whatever to 4k, which is what I play at anyway, certainly watching this at 1080p is great. I recommend it...

Until around lap 5 which is when I start to make mistakes. In my defense I never meant this race to be aired, it was late, real drivers don't get asked if they want a cup of tea, or a dog's nose in their thigh going into a bend... perhaps they should. Mind you, then I think they'd need to have damage turned off too, as I do (it's about the race, not the pits).

And on pits, I have mandatory pits turned on. Why? Because it introduces an element of suspense and strategy into the game. I pitted early to gain track time (no overtaking), but also, had no idea of my final win until lap 9.

So, Adelaide (RIP such good racing there) in Porsche Cup cars. With a few errors...