Racing games

Have just tried Live For Speed demo and overall I'd say it's very good.

Most importantly of all my Thrustmaster F430 wheel works perfectly with it, has a real nice feel and response.

There are a million and one control settings within this game and my wheel was quite difficult to get set up and working. I guess a lot of fine settings may appeal to the nerdy race-sim driver but to me it's more than I need.

Ran the graphics at 1600 x 1200, AA x 2 and most everything else maxed out, the graphics look good, they're acceptable but they won't take your breath away.

There seems to be only one race view - within the cockpit with steering wheel, dash and bonnet showing but you can tweak this view, set the angle of cut-off vision etc.

It is not arcade style at all, it's realistic and is sometimes quite unforgiving. it's very easy to spin off if you so much as just brush another car. And, amusingly, the applause at the end of each race sounds like somebody pouring water into a metal bucket.

I got on fine with the Hatch and the BMW single seater but had a helluva job controlling the big saloon.

Because racing games that work well with this Thrustmaster wheel seem to be thin on the ground I am definitely going to buy GTR-Evolution/GTR 07 and I will very probably buy this Live For Speed because the wheel works very well indeed with it. Nice to note the paddle gear change levers worked very well, quite a joy to use those :thumb:

The two games are priced respectively £18.00 (GTR-Evolution/GTR-07) and £24.00 (Live for speed 1 & 2 combined) so not too heavy on the wallet.

I've decided I am going to download GTR-Evo from Steam, about time I tried an online download purchase. I will report back within a week and let you all know how I get on with that download.

For those who like realistic racing games, download the LFS demo and give it a go. My thanks to Mr Postill for pointing me towards the game :)
 
Bit of an update here.

Of all the racing games I've tried so far only these three work well with the Thrustmaster F430 steering wheel:

1) Live For Speed
2) GTR Evolution/Race 07
3) Flat Out - Total Carnage

This is all within Vista (although as reported earlier I haven't got the wheel to work with ONE earlier racing game within XP).

GRID almost works, but doesn't quite.

I spent literally hours tweaking the game to make the steering wheel acceptable for use, to the point where it would lock, sieze up and display anomalies that required a computer reboot.

Almost, but not quite, is not good enough. A damn shame cos I was looking forward to GRID with a wheel. Works ok with gamepad but it's not the same is it? :(

GTR Evolution is class and extremely enjoyable. Quite hard though, not one to play when you've been consuming alcoholic beverages or toking the herbal ciggies, oh no. Concentration and experience are the key words here.

My thanks to MadXgraphics for recommending it, it is very good :thumb:

Now then, here's a little gem - Flat Out - Total Carnage.

It's an arcadey dirt track racer from STEAM for seventeen quid.

This game alone has made the steering wheel worthwhile - it is just so much fun :)

The wheel feels just right without any setting up at all and it just works.

I thought the game was too easy at first but the more you progress, tuning your car, buying upgrades and stuff, the harder it gets.

For £17.00, especially if you have a steering wheel, I would thoroughly recommend Flat Out :)

STEAM's Monster Truck Nitro is total rubbish btw, I tried the demo. And I'm still searching for steering wheel compatible games, will be d/l demos in the very near future to try.
 
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