Nylige anmeldelser av MicHaeL MonStaR

A non-functioning product (on Linux), a studio closure, and indifference from Steam Support.

I thought I'd give this game a chance, as something of a more casual sim-ish title, considering they were adding more and more positive updates to it and, had Turn 10 not dissolved since I had purchased it, they probably would have added more. While I usually don't spend 30 Euros or more on a game easily, I thought it would be a good deal for the "complete" edition and probably get enough enjoyment out of it, again also with more updates over time.

However, when I finally had time to sit down and play a few weeks after purchasing it, as I had purchased it quickly before the discount went away, upon trying to launch it I got the error that it needs this “Microsoft Gaming Services”. But I run Linux and can’t really install that.
I presumed that, because the “Horizon”-games run on Linux (through Proton) with next to no issue, it would be the same for “Motorsport”.
That’s partly my own fault, but I didn’t expect it to be absolutely “borked”, as I later found on ProtonDB. - Lesson learned to check anyway, I suppose.

So I contacted Steam Support for a refund, explaining I cannot run it, as well as the unlikeliness of any updates coming, but while they say "we understand the situation", they also go "not after 2 weeks, bub". - Again, I haven't even been able to launch the game because of what is basically a preventative measure. - I simply do not run Windows and there wasn't a clear warning about this.

I've been put up with an unfinished and non-functioning product for 30 Euros. - Thanks, Microsoft/Xbox/Turn10/Valve!

I will make sure to avoid Microsoft/Xbox products, as well as purchasing from Steam directly, where I can from now on. - American companies are the worst. (Yes, Valve ain't no saints.) - Take your 30% cut and go make all the "3"s, if you remember how.

I recommend just going for 'Automobilista 2', as this title just looks and feels way too outdated, even for when it first came out (2012/2013), while the second feels a lot more like something from that time, ironically, even though it's from 2020. - Other than potential different content, I don't really see the reason to still buy (or sell) this one here. I also couldn't really get to grips with it and it's technically inferior as well. The second title actually built upon 'Project Cars 2' and improved various aspects of the physics and such, so you get a much more "complete" experience there.

Notice (at 40 more hours): Although some of what is below still holds true, I have changed my view on this game somewhat. - It's good (not that I necessarily found it "bad" before), while flawed, and I recommend it with with some conditions. - I might detail it later, but for now just know that it has its good/enjoyable parts but also significant drawbacks.

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Rage-inducing because it's harder than sim-racing. - The AI is absolutely determined to put very specific racers in certain positions and it will do its utmost to get its predetermined way, however much it needs to screw you over. - I mean, it really seems like whenever you finally take over positions by actually driving well, the AI that it really wants to get to win gets a boost or a free pass for taking shortcuts or anything like that. - The only way I won in the end sometimes is just to play dirty and ram those predetermined cars to get them back in the pack so that I could take more points than those and win more easily of the ones that aren't meant to really win. - And it still feels fair, because the AI will ram you and make your rear-end slide out as well. - I feel like real players mostly play more fair than the AI in this game.

There needs to be more settings for analog input (sensitivity etc.), because that's part of the problem in my experience. It's easy to both oversteer and understeer, because analog sticks just don't have much "travel". They're meant for like moving characters in a world, not steer a car precisely. And yea, you can get used to being really precise, but it's just so tedious and finicky and not that fun to play that way. - This is also why it's harder than sim-racing, because in THAT you have a LOT more control over a vehicle, especially in first-person.

Also the performance is still crap. How does a game with this perspective and fidelity stutter on a 6950 with settings turned down??... Guess it's Unity to blame or something, but this ain't no Subnautica.

Update: The performance seems to have improved a bit. I think it's not as stuttery as it used to be, although there is still the spike here and there and it always seems to be a bit "on edge". This could also be updates to other drivers in my system, however.

Pretty fun to play with lots of tables (purchasable, but discounted often), with plenty of creativity put into it.
Though, while the audio is good, it can be repetitive (but then that's the nature of pinball-games, I suppose) and some sound-levels can be inconsistent in that sometimes things are louder than others.

Some significant downsides are:
- Loading into the game in general takes long. Always a solid minute, with first about 30 seconds until the "press any button" prompt comes up (for whatever reason), after which it takes another 30 seconds to load into the main menu. I don't understand why, cause I have a pretty fast computer, with a fast NVMe and everything.*
- Speaking of the menus, they are a little convoluted. They've managed to stuff everything onto a gamepad, which is good, but it's still a bit confusing and convoluted to navigate the various pages. It could be re-designed a bit to improve things. - Also, you're out of luck if you want to play with a pinball-setup, because you will need more buttons than you'd usually have on a table, plus you need to TYPE names into the scoreboard and I didn't see a setting to use initials only like on a real table like there also was in FX3.
- As for playing on the tables, you can choose from a bunch of camera-angles, including a manual setting. The latter doesn't allow for all that much freedom, but at least it's there. What's worse is that the game doesn't remember which one you used last after leaving them, so you have to change the camera every time. It should really just remember how you set it for each table. Even games like 'Dirt Rally' remember the camera-setting for each car, so it should be possible. - Also, you can't really get a proper angle in Cabinet Mode, which will always just be odd. They should at least make it so that the Manual camera can be set exactly the way you like, if not a specialized "realistic" perspective or something like that for Cabinet Mode.
- Performance is another thing: I have a beefy 6950XT and, while it can do 120fps+ (with 4K more or less), it has to work hard to do so, even with the settings not even completely up, and for some reason it's in the 90s in the menu or "room". Which the latter isn't an issue, but just weird for how "simplistic" the scenery is, even though it also renders a table and such. It should be improved, also to reduce lag on slower systems. - It does respond super-fast for me, but I can definitely notice that the engine is struggling, so thank Unreal once again. - Though, it does look very good.

- Finally, I recently purchased some tables to start out with (although you get a few free ones, which are pretty good), but I can't get them to show up in the game because it needs to connect to their game-servers** (or something) and the game stopped being able to. It did before, but at some point it failed and couldn't ever re-connect. - I understand you can't see the online leaderboards and such, but I don't know why that means I can't play the tables for myself. It should simply see from Steam (or my account) that I've purchased them and unlock them.

All that said, the game is really nice to play once you're in, but there's too much "clutter" or "hassle" to get it to work properly. A lot of QoL-improvements are still necessary, even after a year or two.

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Edit:

OK, I've found out what the deal with both the *loading and **connecting is. - It turns out that the firewall in my router was too tight for the game to connect to the servers. Which... is "my bad", but not really, cause I don't have this issue with about any other game (turns out "Forza Horizon" as well, but that's the only other one of the games with online capabilities), plus imagine if you don't know anything about router-settings (casual computer-users exist, way more than "us" geeks and nerds). It shouldn't have to be that you have to lower the firewall just to let a game connect. - Also, I would try and open a single port (or whatever it needs) if I knew which one it was, but every time I ask about that to Zen's support they simply don't answer. (What is with that??)

In any case, that's probably why loading kept taking exactly those times I'd described, because there's probably a number of attempts it makes before it gives up and just lets it continue, and now that it can connect it indeed loads within seconds, and I can also finally play the tables I had purchased.
The weird thing is just that it had connected before, without any changes to the router-settings, so I don't know if something to the router or even the game got updated for there to be a conflict.

I can't get a mid-range Thrustmaster wheel to work properly under Linux, even when it simply works with most other racers. It's not KW Studios their fault for trying to do it with odd software, but it's so bad that, while it registers, it just turns the wheel completely to one side and it has no idea what to do with the inputs. Well, the pedals and shifters work, but it's completely lost on steering.

Other than that, it has terrible convoluted menus, also too bright when there's a lot of white like when selecting cars and tracks, besides that it's also weirdly "laggy", like the menu responds at 30fps/Hz even though the actual framerate is higher. It's that typical "we've made a simulator but we don't know how to design an interface" jank.

Look, I'm sure the actual driving itself is pretty damn good at the very least, but I can't access it and it's also terrible to try and configure. - It reminds me a lot of rFactor 2 in that sense, but at least that works, which I'm going to play instead now.

Didn't give it a lot of time, but it comes off like it's a budget game from like 2001. - I'm impressed with the level of customization, though it's overwhelming and just too much (I just wanted to drive and I'm not necessarily a car-person), but the driving is impossible and it also looks and sound downright ugly. - I mean, can ya add some anti-aliasing and better blending?... Also don't make it sound like left and right sounds are isolated from each other. Cause the engine will just be screaming into one ear like there's no reflection in the cabin. - I know that's not easy to make, but this has been done for at least since the late 2000s, and if you're going to call it "simulation", also get the sound right.

I only tried this game because it came in a bundle, or I wouldn't have purchased it based on the ratings to begin with. But I'm open to try things. It just immediately left a bad impression within the hour or so I tried it.

It's 2 AM. The fear has gone. I'm sitting here waiting.
Maybe my connection is tired of taking chances.
There's a storm on the loose, sirens in my head.
Wrapped up in silence, all circuits are dead.
Cannot decode, my whole life spins into a frenzy.

I'm falling down a spiral, destination unknown.
Double-crossed messenger all alone.
Can't get no connection. Can't get through. Where are you?

I'm stepping into the Twilight Zone.
Place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned.
My beacon has been moved under moon and star.
Where am I to go now that I've gone too far?

Soon you will come to know...

I DID MY BEST

Say goodbye to what you think you know about physics: Machine = heavy + fast = goes in same direction.

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