Dallara DW12

rFactor 2 : The Other DW12 Video You Expected... Or Didn't. (DW12 @ Indy Road / Oval)

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• published: 26 May 2014
• views: 18090

I write descriptions and don't spam tags, so read this if you want. It's pretty much everything in the video, though in text format if you just want a read and be done. Well, let's just say I rate this car high on the importance list personally. I'm a fan of Indycar, I'm a fan of this level of performance, I'm a fan of road courses and a fan of ovals. I really, really, really want to like it. And for the most part, I do. It is overall a pretty enjoyable car. It's an enjoyable drive with solid FFB, the sounds are pretty good as well, they sound a bit more raw, and I like that. I do feel there is a bit too much rear grip (which would explain the lulzy saves you can have on the oval that should be impossible to save at that point), but who knows. It's within the realm of possibility, not like it's super glued or anything. The model of the car is pretty good though the front wing on the speedway wings is slightly wrong - though that is a minor point that affects nothing other than the visuals. Cockpit could be better though, the display LCD looks very PS2 like, and it's sort of weird that they used the second least common steering wheel that I'm pretty sure only a few Honda guys are running - though as someone who will be driving the iRacing version, I welcome the change. That's such a minor thing anyways. Would have liked to see the variety though. As a road course content, and only a road course experience, it's more solid stuff up to ISI's current standards. That is great. Buuuut.... Part of Indycar is racing on ovals unless we all decide to be Mike Conway. TBH, that would be lame. I know ISI will say they only have one source of data which isn't ideal and they can't build it to suit anything other than the data. I fully understand, but it does not take a rocket scientist to notice how much is wrong on the oval side of things. You people ask, I answer with my thoughts. I'm not going to simply ignore something that major on something that I know a decent amount about. The oval side of things are just wrong. It really does make me say "when does it stop becoming a sim?" The car is 10 MPH up in race trim on the real world. It runs max negative wing - IRL exclusively a qualifying thing - in race trim and you can survive. It lacks rather vital in car adjustments. The most simple way I can put it is "it feels like what I'd expect from Forza." It's not a compelling experience, it's not engaging, it's not unique, it's not nearly in the same league as rF2 on a road course and certainly iRacing's DW12 at Indy over there. Tire wear be damned, least their car doesn't do light speed and run two grooves off the bottom with no issue. Yea, that is kind of a cheap shot, though they also rushed their car. TBH though - I could probably put up with the way the car is on the oval, missing features and all. Though I do have a strong suspicion ISI doesn't rank having the various car's systems adjustable per the real world too highly considering the variety of F1 cars with still no diff adjustments - another highly important in car adjustment missing. The one thing that seals it's fate for me is the way the track races thanks to real road. I was concerned about this before release, and my worst fears were precisely true. Because with the acceleration of track rubbering, rubber tends to coat the whole track, not just a groove. While it will be an impressive feature for a track that should be a multigroove track - such as Fontana - for Indy it well and truly breaks the experience at Indy. I was hoping they would magically make it so it never becomes more than one groove, so the marbles become that boogieman in grey that eats race cars.... Instead I got more rubber than you can shake a stick at. According to rF2, there is no way JR Hildebrand could have put it in the wall in Turn 4 in 2011 and 3 wide is certainly possible in Turn 1 - though the race I saw today certainly said it wasn't. Should add in fairness - the AI works a little better in that regard, as the groove stays more of a groove and less of a 60' wide rubber paint roller around the track. However, the AI on the oval was lackluster and just as unenjoyable to race with. Again, some won't care. I do. Some will say I'm judging it too hard - well, guess what, I like these cars, I like this track. I want it to not suck, and currently the oval experience isn't doing a good job of it IMHO. Thankfully the road course is good, and the road course car is a bucket of fun to drive. Follow me like a stalker! (please dont actually stalk me... duh) https://twitter.com/EmptyBox_007