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...

Addressing the missing

 As per my previous post, I miss GT5/6.

Well, the magic the internet has Deep Forest for Assetto Corsa, and with some tasty GT500 class cars I was able to recreate some great racing.

What I also recreated in the replay was HDR not transferring to MP4, consequently, I have period-correct image quality too.

Ah well, my care factor of the replay is zero, as the race was so much fun...

I miss this

 I don't miss GT Shart. I never got on with that game. 

But GT6 and GT5. Yes. So much yes.

I'm not sure if it was the (what I now realise was) relaxed yet predictable physics, the easy-to-make courses - GT5 and its Toscana tracks were great driving, or if it was the tuning of the cars that did it, but I loved it.

I think probably the cafe racer style is it - I certainly enjoyed tuning cars up to being race-ready, although on reflection you could tune any car to being pretty much the same handling with the same gear.

Still, the memory is good. GT7 won't feature on my radar though, I've become a PC snob and am shifting my PS4 capable wheel. If only they would port it to PC too - go on Sony, you know you want to! (and you'll corner the market too!)

Surprisingly good fun!

One of my favourite cars - quick too for it's class.

JDM Art

It was possible to have some excellent, unique cars.

We raced V8s in a class. 4 doors, V8 and wing. This was a winning car (Sometimes)

Tune. Everything

And so it passes

 Today I listed my G29.

It's been a great wheel, but I've had my epic Fanatec for over a year now, so it's time to retire it, and by retiring it I mean sell it and pretty much for the price of the G29, shifter and stand buy a stop button for my current rig. Such is the scale of things.

A reminder of what it was...

Tidy unit

#Improved

To get it fit for sale there was a bit of work, not least as the potentiometer for the throttle wasn't really showing much potential for the future.

The lucky purchaser will have a unit that has:

• A deep cleaned unit - I stripped it right back and blew out every cat hair I could find...
• I even put dubbin on the leather wheel!
• A replaced throttle with the clutch unit from a spare - this potentiometer does less work so lasts longer. I.e. refurbed the throttle.
• Replaced cover - I had a spare, better condition one (one that I hadn't cut in half to get to the pots' to clean them*)
• An upgraded shifter. It's not Fanatec, but it's a mile better than standard.
• A cleaned Fanatec stand (still can't believe they put their name to it). I did remove the 'triangle' brace that was on it, though I might chuck that in once explained to the prospective purchaser.

And for all that, someone will hopefully enjoy sim racing just a little bit more.

*My not great potentiometer on the throttle used to flutter at full throttle, a quick blast of contact cleaner and it used to work for a few nights - to facilitate this I cut the back off the pedal casing, it looked ghetto but actually worked better. Not fit for sale though!

And what of the new rig, the one that's roughly 20x the price (OMG saying it like that!).

I re-did all the cabling, that's what. And whilst it doesn't make a great pic, it's far better now than it was...

A lot of cables. Not quite cablegore.

I also put blanking capping in all the channels that are likely to accumulate dust, and by dust I mean red wine when I knock over a full glass getting into the seat. Nothing to see here, move along...

And update time:

Gone...

$300 and that's a good deal for everyone actually.

I hope the two kids who've bought it enjoy it just as much as I did - they'll never know it's had upgraded springs I bet!

This is the most useless post ever

 

This is the QR Code for this page. Useless as you're already here.

Upgrade your Rim

 

You might be the owner of the fantastic Fanatec Porsche 918 rim - suitable for racing in all positions and classes with the shift lights that can be seen from space...

Possibly like me, you’ve considered upgrading the 918 rim’s shifters, they’re smooth, but not ‘snick/click’ like a shifter should be, in my opinion.

To cut to the chase, I bought some of the cheaper magnetic upgrades of eBay, it’s a bolt-on accessory so no harm no foul, etc.

Fitting, easy. Four bolts + a bit of fettling of the 3D printing that was ‘ok’ spec at best.

But, the magnets aren’t touching the shifters – so no click. On reflection, I’m divided on this as it’s kept it all quiet (midnight racing goodness), but then again I’ve not got a definitive click on pulling.

I think there’s more weight, but it’s a bit like putting a K&N on your car – it goes faster because you’re trying harder to notice…

Overall, would I do it again? No. The risk of something bad happening (threading the plastic hole that the M3’s go in, something else breaking) is actually not worth the return on the particular set I got. It’s not a monumental upgrade.

I might be saving for the proper upgrade, they do look good.

You had so much potential

A late post edit to this...

On the 918 wheel you can adjust the shifters fore and aft with a few turns of adjustment. I did this and now these are nearly my favourite addition to the overall sim rig - my shifters snick and click as I wanted them too. And it's very noticeable.

Happy Days!

Automobilista 2 - skinned

 AMS 2 is a great game. 

Actually, it's a fantastic game that's been getting better and better over the past year or so.  

But they're a small setup and don't waste money on race series liveries (assuming licensing costs). But they did waste a little time on being able to add skins to the game. And it's transformed it from one with great racing to one with a much deeper immersion.

I'm not really sure why, but I'm assuming it's because the races look so much realistic. Whatever the case is, this is a game worth getting and spending time in.

Supercar v8s -they're all the same underneath right?

GT1 Porsche - how could you not like this!

Actually, unskinned, but still awesome.

Around about now I get confused as to what's skinned and what isn't. Carrera Cup racing is awesome in any case.

Put a bit of time into looking at this, and you can see that it's more than just an action shot - there's tyre deformation, suspension travel and the car is rolling. Impressive really.

I made the news. Literally.

First off, points for counting the puns in that title. My finest work!

And the second bit of fine work would be an addition to a fine gentleman who records "let's play" sessions on Farm Sim 19.

Without getting too embroiled in my history and love of farming in general (and love of not having to do it, cos it's crazy hard work) I regularly watch a fellow, MrSealyP, play through various maps online.

It's very cathartic actually, he enjoys a chat and so along with some easy viewing, there's some easy listening...

But, high drama, an episode or so ago in the early stages of a new map he got his tractor stuck and said "that'll make the news"... and so it did.

Whilst I watched the rest of the episode I created a one-pager headlines page for the 'local rag' and submitted it to the channel's discord server.

And, I do feel privileged, it is featured in the next episode!

Behold:

I'm humbled and thrilled about this. Not sure I'll do another one, other than fake news (and there's enough of that) then there's not too much material. We'll see...

And in the meantime, here is the news!