AbsolutSurgen

Ok. I think the progression is focused on multiplayer, not single player. I’m not sure I understand the rationale of spending more time practicing.

I understand why you would say that, but I disagree. Adding experience to your car doesn’t give you much, but adds time to your progress.

My brother from Brooklyn finally accepts the truth

Things I missed earlier, and I understand now: 1) In the HUD/GUI menu, there are a bunch of good toggles. I have turned on a time delta box in the top left that shows where I am compared to the lead car and those around me, along with an indicator above each car that shows their position. 2) The "target" time in practice varies with your car (and its upgrades) along with the drivatar level. How you perform in practice is a good indicator of whether you are at the right drivatar level. 3) Some cars can't compete effectively in each cup. If the car you've selected isn't in any of the top places, and you are struggling placing in a cup-- switch it up (preferably to one of the cars that the AI is placing high with). 4) The auto upgrade when customizing your car leaves performance on the table, it is a good start, but I am now in the habit of auto upgrading, then tweaking. 5) Before each practice, set your fuel level and tire compound. This is easy free performance. (I set fuel to one tick above the minimum to complete the race, and use soft tires). 6) When selecting your grid slot, the game uses your practice time to estimate your final position. When you decide to race against high drivatar levels, it can be a good judge about where to move yourself up the order. 7) Turn off most driving assists (stability control, ABS, traction control). You're preventing yourself from getting better by using them. 8) The AI can be very aggressive (and ignores where you are), if you're starting further back, it's often better to let the AI take each other out, and play it safe for the first few corners.

I haven’t seen that yet.

ClubSport DD FANATEC.COM

No, once MS announced they were releasing their games day-and-date with PC, I stopped buying Xboxes.

Embracer never had the type of top-tier franchises that Xbox has decimated (Halo, Gears of War, Forza Motorsport).

Given their financial performance, they're probably not a good company to emulate.

Keeping all of those separate publishing arms has to be the least efficient structure in the history of video game publishing.

Nope. My PC is wireless (Internet is theoretically 1.5GB down), I have 2 Asus ROG GT-AX11000 routers in an AI mesh that gives my pretty good wireless speed throughout my house.

The killing of Warcraft, CoD, and Diablo has franchises has begun.

I could only come up with 142 games that I thought were better.

My download from the MS store was about 15 minutes, so I don't think it is MS's servers.

My shock was that that thedigitalbits.com still exists as a website. I used to that blog 25 years ago as i moved from LaserDisc to DVD. As someone who used to be HUGE into physical media (and has thousands of Blu-Rays and DVDs in my basement). What the fuck took Best Buy so long?

I use an EPOS H6PRO headset (Open side version) on my PC (that I purchased open box). Very happy with it.

Similarly, I never owned a non-Atari 2600 console until Saturn/PSX. I was mostly a Atari/Commodore/PC/Arcade gamer. There are a LOT of old arcade games on the list.

Week 6 Feature Game Baltimore Ravens $400 QUESTIONS 1) Ravens TD 2) Zay Flowers 3) Breece Hall 4) Under 5) Minnesota, Cincinnatti, Detroit

Different strokes for different folks. Your number 1 game was number 142 for me. It's not that either one of us is wrong, we just enjoy different experiences.

I agree, the driving experience is what I have been enjoying about the game. I agree with most of what you say here. However, I think the single player is meant to prepare you for the multiplayer. I'm not really a sim player (the last 2 racing games I put much time in were the last 2 Forza Horizon games). I just stepped up to AI level 5, and am considering going to 6. (I just started the Miata cup, and passed everyone during the 3rd lap of the first race). If you have traction control on, and are not using manual shifting you may find it harder to out-accelerate your opponents. As well, if you are braking to early (or hard) you may find your opponents passing you in corners. I'm usually trying to keep the braking line yellow through the apex. As well, the car you pick has a huge impact -- I chose the Mustang in the first cup, and it's just not competitive. I'm starting to get a handle on the penalty system -- track limits are defined by a hard line that you need to keep 2 tires within. You can turn on indicators to see it. There is a TON of time you can make up on course with chicanes by aggressively hitting the apex. Time penalties for collisions seems to be based on whether you are actively trying to avoid the other cars. I find that if I'm braking hard at the moment of collision, or I'm not driving into the side of a car while I pass them, I'm rarely penalized. I think its for a "casual racing enthusiast". I love track racing, but have no interest in buying a sim rig to play iRacing. (Actually, that's a lie, I do, I just can't justify spending $1,500 on one.) I think I agree with a lot of your criticisms, the game isn't as good as I wanted, but I am still having lots of fun. I haven't run a benchmark yet, but I'm mostly getting ~80 fps (3440x1440p with a RTX-4080).

OK, this process doesn't end with a list I 100% agree with -- sometimes as you're going through the 600+ choices, you change your mind on how good a game was... 1) Forza Horizon 5 Open world racing games are by far my favourite genre, and Playground has consistently made each version better. Was FH5 a big leap over FH4? No, but it was better. There is tons to do, and you can do most of it whenever you want. Challenges -- it has a bunch, speed traps, speed zones, danger zones (jumping for distance), and drifting. Racing -- four unique types of onroad/offroad. Quirky story missions? Yup. And the driving is a pure arcadey joy. 2) Half-Life 2 (+ Episodes) Half Life was revolutionary in its time for a story based FPS -- and in a gravity gun? And it becomes one of my favourite experiences ever. 3) Tetris I played the Spectrum Holobyte version on the Amiga, and dumped hundreds of hours into it. It's incredibly simple, yet also very deep and challenging. 4) God of War 2 One of the best action games of all time. Not incredibly difficult, but still challenging. 5) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots A controversial choice for a controversial game. 6) Portal A great short experience. Sublime puzzles combined with great funny dialog. 7) Horizon: Zero Dawn The best open world game. An engrossing story, an interesting protagonist and some of the best combat in any open world game. 8) God of War (2005) A great reimagining of the original series. 9) The Witcher 3 (+ DLC Expansions) The combat was a little easy, but this game is all about the storytelling and the none-of-them-are-good choices. 10) Doom (2016) In a world where FPSs had all become super defensive, Doom comes back with it's uberaggressive frenetic gameplay. A winner.

Forza Motorsport is a great racing game, it's not a sim. Assetto Corsa and iRacing are sims. That's not a criticism of FM, I actually prefer FM to real sims. And while, I prefer Forza Horizon even more, FM scratches a very different itch for me.

I just think they didn't spend any time optimizing for non-Xbox.

Pitfall 2?