Surprise surprise PACER delayed till end of Septmber .

[Concealed Sequence]

Yeah, seems unlikely that all those will make it to the final game.

What about the game itself. What do you think to it?

[blackwiggle]

I'm waiting to see if the a new sever is activated for the full review codes they are sending out get activated so I can test online, as I think that's where people will be diving in ASAP and where people will be scoring the game the most.

Campaign has been expanded, as you would expect with more tracks [The last track, which is a new one - LAIKA ] is a real speed demons course, sort of reminds me of the hidden track [once opened the whole game up] that I think it was WO3SE, which was a remake of a track that previously only appeared on the Japanese version of WO3 or XL/2097.

I think his track might end up being played online a lot, the sheer speed of it will be the attraction, especially in the highest speed class with a maxed out craft build.

This track will probably end up the ultimate 'Bragging Rights' track, holding the lap or TT record on, it should be fun to see what can be achieved.......actually I haven't yet tried this track in NIGHT mode, with the craft headlights on, it should give a different experience considering the atmosphere and setting of the track.

[Concealed Sequence]

This new track sounds excellent. Can't wait to try it out!!

[blackwiggle]

Seems to be quite a few updates going on with the development build.
I turned it on this morning and there was a 6.5 GB update, then shut down for a hour and there was another smaller update.

I wanted to see what I could MAX my PC's settings at just for a laugh.
I got it working at 3840 X 2160 with Fullscreen and all settings set at Very High, but only at around 35 FPS with my Nvidia GTX970 i7 490 32GB RAM SSD's etc, which was smooth enough, but to be honest there wasn't a great deal of action going on in the game due to the control issue below, IE no weapons use by me........I'll try dropping from Very High to lower settings to see what FPS I get, as if I remember correctly I was getting around 75 FPS at EPIC settings with FF, and FF never had Auto Detect where PACER does.

It might be with all the constant changes in the development build that optimized settings aren't coming into play as yet, where they will in the final product, especially the console versions [guessing here if you can't tell ]

When I emailed R8 last week about my graphics stuff up,they did say that 4K playback will be capped at 60FPS MAX.

I don't want to goof around with the graphic settings to much after the last debacle of me screwing them up.

My biggest problem ATM is I unable to change the default control layout to PS4 controller configuration, they won't move from Xbox configuration no matter how I try to change them, either in the game [Worked on FF] or via controller input on the STEAM options, [I'll email R8 shortly to find out what the problem might be ] which is a PITA because ATM the only controls I can seem to get to work when racing are the sticks, view change and airbrakes, which TBH is pretty much useless unless in SL or TT mode

R8 must have at least started up the online server to test on, as before it used to say no server available, but now it searches for matchmaking etc, but I gather there are few people with the actual game to play against because it didn't find anybody [My timezone difference might have a fair bit to do with not being able to find anybody else online yet ]....I'll keep trying.

When I did the first bigger update I was immediately show some special new content on screen that I think you will need to unlock in game to use, as I couldn't access it yet....TIP- do the Training Course first to start unlocking special skins/craft mods ETC and I suppose Trophies given that two popped up after doing the first training race.
It's a little extra R8 have added to the game just for a laugh [No spoilers]........If this will be available on the console versions I don't know, I can't see why it wouldn't end up as a small DLC update almost immediately.

OK, guess I'll go back to trying to figure out WTF is going on with these controller settings

That's why I like consoles rather than PC gaming, less stuffing about with settings that can counteract each other leaving you with a WTF is going on now situation.

[Concealed Sequence]

I agree, consoles over pc any day (imho)

[blackwiggle]

I finally got the development build working FULLY with a controller, thank God for that, it was driving me nuts not being able to use weapons or boost.

Seems the DEV build is only partially supporting controllers and the PS4 controller isn't one of them ....I Finally found a old Xbox controller which the DEV build does fully support [never thought I'd use that again] so all is fine.

I'll mention before hand that the DEV build I have has MORE options than the FULL GAME, what exactly those are I don't know, but it was something R8 told me when they sent me the code, so bare that in mind when reading what I post below.

A few things I have noticed.

Getting hit with a Flash-bang weapon is a total bitch, it seems more powerful than before, but then again I think the intensity of the effect can be changed in weapon mods, so that might be the reason why, and I suspect the effect [this goes for all weapons] relates to the AI difficulty you are racing against at the time.

AI difficulty is now changeable, and at least on the DEV build, 1-10 difficulty......I'm not masochistic enough to try level 10 AI yet.
There are a lot of options available to change BOT numbers and AI difficulty etc in the race setup menu, so you can make the game as easy or as hard as you like.
Most, if not all these are also available when choosing to setup a ONLINE race.....again, remember this is in the DEV build I'm talking about.
Strangely, I also noticed that Speed Lap is also a choice for Online among the other race modes.

TIP
Learn where the Shield pickups are, you'll going to need them, that's if some other craft doesn't beat you to one.....I don't know if there are fewer shield pickups now, or they have been placed differently, but I seemed to be needing to find one quite often to survive.......Open the game up and apply shield/armor balanced with engine/handling upgrades cards would be a good idea when starting out.

I also suspect that in the latter NEW tracks of the game [which are I suspect are designed for the fastest speed classes, you'll see what I mean when you open them up], there might actually be less shield pickups available.
Not only that, but there placement on the NEW tracks at least, seems to favor those who can keep VERY tight racing lines, same goes for the speed pads.....I'm don't usually use a STICK to steer, so my finding might differ to others, I usually prefer the D-Pad [very old school]....put it this way, I think you'll know if you missed running over SP/pickups more than was the case in FF [ I still have the ability to load FF, but since it doesn't have the NEW tracks I can't compare it to see if this is true].
Generally I found I was missing Pads/ Pickus more than on FF, but that could also be put down to having to use a Xbox controller that I'm not used to.
It's hard for me to tell if R8 have tightened the 'Run Over' tolerances or not.....Jury is still out on this aspect.

KERS works differently than in FF, and a far better IMHO.
In FF to use KERS you had a single press of the button and it used all available KERS until depleted [causing you to smash into things if you used it in a inappropriate place, that's unless I've always been using it wrongly, which wouldn't surprise me TBH ]

Now you have to HOLD DOWN the KERS button to activate it, you now have control of this, if you release the button it will disengage KERS and still leave a partial charge in your KERS meter.....a FAR better system.....great for getting that first place when you can see 2nd place ahead if you have enough KERS charge left, especially if you have a double charged KERS available.

Hopefully what info I give above hasn't been in breech of the agreement I have with R8 [praying ], as I consider what I've written hasn't been spoilers so to speak, more of a general opinion on slight noticable changes from what was already available in FF.

I think PACER can be a lot better game than FF was, it has LOADS of options to change pretty much anything, not that FF was missing that much really.

What you put into it regarding craft/card/race mode preferences etc will determine what you get out of the game, you'll certainly spoilt for choice.

There are quick setup modes for those who just want to press a few button and race, but it's once you get into the menus and start changing things around that PACERS potential starts truly showing itself.
You are going to want to spend a fair bit of time going through the options available, and do some testing along the way, which will be time consuming, but HEY, you get out what you put in, so it will be worth the effort.

I can see whole play guides being written on 'Best Practice' regarding craft/card setups for different race types....some new cards are more 'Race type specific' than others , and when you run across these new cards you think, what would I want to use that for in this race type for, seems pretty useless, then it clicks that these very cards would be awesome if fitted to 1 or 2 craft in a TEAM E-Sport racing environment to balance a team build out.

I'll leave it there, at least for the moment.....sorry I can't give more away, especially pictures or videos, but a promise is a promise.

Only 4 days to go till you can all be playing PACER !

[Concealed Sequence]

Yeah, CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!