PACER now available at the PStore

[blackwiggle]

I just had a look and saw PACER had been put up at the PStore....use search to find it.[I'm 10+ hours ahead of UK, so it might not show at the UK PStore yet]

File size is 15.13GB....Price was AUS $59.95

Join PS4 community - PACER AG RACING GROUP - for like minded AG racing nutters who want to get into the game. :)

EDIT: I have just put a few hours into PACER and can Happily say that on a PS4 PRO the game not only looks FAR better than a lot of people are going to expect, but it plays as smooth as silk. [I'm playing on a 65" 200HZ 4K TV ] and it looks amazing, better than my PC IMHO.

Surprisingly all 80+ music tracks that were in the development version are in the game.:eek

Also if you were a Kickstarter person your name will be listed in the credits....it's something I suppose.

I'm not sure how long the Halloween craft skins will be available, maybe just for early purchasers till end of OCT.....it was the little extra something R8 put into the game that I mentioned about in another thread.

This is NOT FF, it's a lot more refined than FF in every department.

[eLhabib]

Thanks, that's reassuring. Now I have to wait until I receive my download key...

[blackwiggle]

All was good with the game, that was until I went to remap controls.

Doesn't work.

I just TRIED to sign into DISCHORD to report the problem and I'm stuck in a endless loop of clicking of stupid squares of pictures to prove I'm not a robot, that doesn't work either.

[blackwiggle]

The game should be up now on all except Xbox, apparently there was a major FAIL regarding that....what it was I don't know.

Also I have reported the none working of the controller remapping and R8 said they already knew about the problem and are in 'Fix it' mode, something to do with UNREAL engine

[Pico de Goroh]

I'm seeing reports of inconsistent frame rates. Like the game will easily stay above 60 but drop below frequently, with CPU and GPU usage at or below 50% on high end systems.

I guess I might pick it up and play for an hour and refund it if I don't think it's in a playable (for a racer) state.

[multibodydynamics]

After playing for a few hours I'm very impressed over all. Only a few strange things. The ingame volume is really low. I had to adjust volume quite a bit compared to other PS4 games. Still I could barely hear the music tracks at all. It is good now but I had to lower voice and sound effects massively in the settings.
Also when the craft passes by post race there is a really weird stuttering sound until the audio track fades away.
Still trying to sideshift... not the games fault though.


Just tried the game with headphones. Wow! What a massive difference! That was very immersive. Audio is one of the most impressive things so far.
Still has the stuttering audio bug post race. I hope they fix that. It is kind of annoying.

[Autechom]

Multibody, I totally agree. First, I used my hifi-equipment. Well, it was okay. But the music was too low, so I decreased FX etc. Later I switched to my Beyerdynamic headphones and oooh boy...as you said, the immersion overcame me :)
The soundtrack is massive. Maybe 60 songs, several Warp records artists etc. Very cool.

Though it crashed 3 times during 3 hours of play. Hope they can fix this. But overall I am really happy with the outcome so far. Enjoy it far more than Redout (which is a very good game - just feels different than I prefer).

So far, I can really recommend it!

[blackwiggle]

I haven't tried this yet, but as PACER doesn't have a dedicated side shift move, you might want to try making a craft loadout using DRIFT as a basis.

Combined with a none default airbrake mod, that might give you the handling type your after.

[Racingfan]

I'm seeing reports of inconsistent frame rates. Like the game will easily stay above 60 but drop below frequently, with CPU and GPU usage at or below 50% on high end systems.

I guess I might pick it up and play for an hour and refund it if I don't think it's in a playable (for a racer) state.

Correct. I was one of the ones who posted on steam forums. After i did, the moderator merged it to the bug thread so it would be harder for people to spot the unoptimized mess. Its basically unplayable if you want a 144hz experience. I can turn down the settings/res scaling to the point that even 2097 would look better, and it would still drop to 25-30 FPS at specfic parts of the track. Its too annoying to play with these frame spikes especially in a fast paced game like this

Even need for speed heat & almost any modern Ubisoft PC game that uses two malware DRM's that utilizes CPU like insane is more optimized than this mess

Good game though, but needs more work on optimizing it, and some QoL features as well.


Also if anyone is annoyed by unmappable binds, you can open up run and type %localappdata% then go to formulafusion/saved/config/windowsnoeditor and open up Input.ini in something like notepad++. Here you can adjust some of the binds like thrust & airbrakes. Here is the controller input names for unreal engine 4 games


https://michaeljcole.github.io/wiki.unrealengine.com/List_of_Key/Gamepad_Input_Names/

[Pico de Goroh]

Yeah, I just picked it up to see how it performs on my PC.

Got drops to 50fps regardless of resolution and settings. 1440p Ultra, or 720p medium, didn't matter.

So this... probably isn't going to be addressed, right? Like, they've had a very long time to dial in performance.

[blackwiggle]

Apparently if you drop shadows from Ultra settings to something lower it fixes the problem.
The Person who reported this said all other settings can remain the same.

QUOTE:
UPDATE: I installed the latest driver (v457.09) and it didn't help much. The FPS wouldn't drop quite as low, however it still happened on most tracks.

I dropped all settings to low, and I no longer had the issue. So, I bumped all settings back to Ultra and dropped each setting to Low one at a time to see which setting might be causing it.

Seems like it was Shadows causing the issue, as I no longer got any fps drop or stuttering when looking behind me with the setting lowered. I can even run the setting on Very High without having any issues, so I guess it's just the Ultra setting causing me issues specifically.

[Xavier]

I was there at the PSN store to download this within an hour or so of it finally being released! So happy to have this game again, and big congratulations to the creators for their many years of perseverance!

[Concealed Sequence]

I second that. Excellent game!!!

[blackwiggle]

I just went through the PACER records...F3000 El MURO Day to see how many records have been set.....since everybody has to set a record on this track you can gauge PS4 PACER SALES.

It's around 400 times set ATM

So I wrote around 150 PSN-IDs down from those records to sent them invites to the Pacer AG racing group, only to find that roughly half of those records were set by PS4 owners who are not on PS+, so around hald of all PACER purchasers are playing PACER offline like a old PSone WO.

[Concealed Sequence]

And I'm one of them!😜

[blackwiggle]

Might explain why the WO Omega Pack servers died so quick if 50% of the game purchasers don't play online.

[Autechom]

Found a podcast/interview with Cold Storage from October 9th 2020: https://insertmoin.de/interview-mit-dem-musiker-tim-wright-aka-cold-storage/
It starts in German, but just skip the first 2-3 minutes and you´re good.

[Xavier]

Sony charging for online now, unlike in the PS3 era, was a terrible decision for Wipeout fans. A decade ago any random person buying the game could play online.

I actually signed up for PS+ for the first time in anticipation of playing online. But I haven't been able to get into any online games so far on Pacer. A few people were playing Omega, I was happy to see, so I joined over there and finally got the online trophies :)

[Concealed Sequence]

I can't justify paying for online play for just one game I'm afraid.

[multibodydynamics]

I actually signed up for PS+ for the first time in anticipation of playing online. But I haven't been able to get into any online games so far on Pacer. A few people were playing Omega, I was happy to see, so I joined over there and finally got the online trophies :)

Pacer v1.02 has a lot of bugs in online mode, frame freeze more common than actually working. It also has a critical bug in campaign making it impossible to complete. R8 are aware of these bugs and they are working on a solution, especially the critical campaign bug. Let's hope that online play gets a lot more stable soon.

[Xavier]

I was lucky enough to get a discount code from a friend, and there are a couple of games I'd like to finally try online, so I'm giving PSN+ a shot for one year to see what it's like. I really miss racing games online -- WO Omega has a few players, but Redout seemed empty :(

[Concealed Sequence]

Wipeout on the PS3 was a good time.

[blackwiggle]

I was one of those people that originally balked at paying for a PS+ subscription, but I eventually came around to think it's actually good value compared to a lot of other things out there that are subscription services.
And it's not as if Sony are consistently upping the price every year, it's been pretty stable since it came into being.

Sony have PS+ subscriptions discounted by 20-25% at least twice a year [A 1 year subscription is always the best value], usually around June/July and I again at some other time,that's when I buy it, you just need to watch out for it, I usually keep my subscription two years ahead, which it the max I think they cap it at, so you are covered for any price rises over that period if they do occur.
I mean if you look at it as what else can you get for under $50 a year now days, the argument for not getting it does seem rather petty.

When you consider you get at least 24 free games a year, plus discounts at the PStore, and get to use the online services, plus cloud storage to backup your games, it's not a bad deal.
You don't even need to download the free games straight away, you can just select to add to library and that game will be perpetually linked to you PS+ account and you can download them whenever you want, as long as your subscription is kept active.
And I think even if you do let your subscription lapse at any stage, as long as you are using the same PSN ID and resubscribe, everything linked to your account is reinstated.
Also I think you should be able to get the free PS+ PS5 games as well [won't know till I try on Nov 3rd when the games are made available], even if you don't own a PS5 yet, just press add to library and you'll have it available when you do get a PS5.

Free PS4 games for November will be Middle-earth: Shadow of War [reviewed at 8/10] and Hollow Knight [reviewed at 9/10], and that's the thing with these free games, you can get games that you would otherwise never consider,[ which happens to be the case with those two games] and on playing them find they are really good, that's happened on so many occasions to me over the years I've lost count, actually Farcry 3 given away on the PS3 is a case in point, I ended up loving it and it's sort of perverse humour and have got every Farcry game since.
And it's not as if Sony are only giving you 24 crap games over the year, then the argument against getting it would be valid, you'll find you get at LEAST half a dozen that will more than cover the cost of the subscription several times over were you to actually purchase those games.

The problem is, especially for we AG racing fans is, people NOT getting a PS+ subscription now leaves a lot of games without a solid player base, or at least one that is not as active as when playing online was free.....Omega pack is a prime example
So it's ends up to your own benefit to get a PS+ subscription, and to recommend others to get one as well if you want the same sort of online activity that we had with WOHD, which was the golden era for Wipeout fans.

So don't be cheapskates, for the same price of a bottle of wine and a couple of pizzas you can get a yearly PS+ subscription, which is far better value IMHO.

[Concealed Sequence]

Your argument is sound. I'll get it soon. Plus, I'm really into Pacer in a big way, so I'm really up for playing it online which I'm normally not bothered about. Cheers Blackwiggle 😊

Watch out for Pirtek3 on the track! 😉

- - - Updated - - -

Oh another thing. I'm considering changing my PlayStation ID name, but get a warning it could effect certain things. Does anyone know if it's worth the risk? Cheers!

[blackwiggle]

I have one particular person on my friends list who changes his PSN name quite a bit, I'm not sure what it effects overall, I suppose it's more to do if you are the main account holder.

Reading the spiel from Sony about this it seems to me that the main catch to changing your PS name is possible loss or use of purchased DLC.

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/04/10/you-can-change-your-psn-username-today-but-there-are-several-catches

Pirtek3, Elhabib and now Mad-Ice are killing it with PACER on the PS4.

I think R8 will be having Crossplay working across all 3 platforms as soon as they can get it working,[Xbox release is weeks away apparently ] they can see that keeping the ports separate might lead to a early demise, which many of us have seen happen to other games, especially racing ones, which tend to already have a smaller than average online player base.
Nothing is worse than going online and seeing a empty lobby, as we have all seem happen with the Omega pack.

Here's a reply from R8 when questioned about it
QUOTE:
Not reconsidered but considered. Amongst many things it’s one of the leaders in what to focus on next.

The benefits to the entire community by effectively tripling its size would be enormous. Definitely under consideration.

[Concealed Sequence]

Thanks for that Blackwiggle. Very helpful of you!
Apart from Wipeout Omega collection, I can't see any other games listed I play regular. Still, I'm not sure to risk it or now lol!

I was going to change it to my music artist name which is Virtekh. Might just stick with Pirtek3 now! But thanks anyway. Appreciate your help!

Oh and I've done some promotion for Pacer on a music forum that I go on regularly. I really want this game to do well.

Glad to hear about cross play. My son-in-law wants it one Xbox (he was so disappointed with the delay announcement, bless him!)

[blackwiggle]

By the way, the Halloween extras will only be available till Thursday NOV 5th, which is the next PStore update day.....you get to keep them forever by the way, they won't disappear.

Great to hear your helping promote the game, it needs all the promotion it can get ATM

Going by the El MURO track records set to estimate PACER sales, it's hit a bit over 400 since release, which considering it's hidden away deep in the PStore [I had a French pilot that couldn't find it at the French PStore, soon found it for him LOL] isn't that bad, but not great sales wise.

Apparently Sony will feature it in their Facebook blog.

Also no reviews of the full game have appeared to my knowledge as yet.
I'm hoping R8 has asked those sent review codes to hold off reviewing the game until the major online and tournament bugs are fixed first.
I dread to think of what type of review PACER would get in it's current state otherwise.
It certainly doesn't need bad or even average reviews ATM, and IMHO doesn't deserve it....but then I am slightly biased after being associated with the game of such a long time.

With a little luck, and God don't R8 need a bit of that after all the drama, good reviews will start to appear.:hyper

EDIT:
R8 games are running a comp on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/R8Games/status/1322735819459710976

[slimjim]

Just realized I had a kickstarter code so I'm downloading it now wish me luck

[Xavier]

By the way, the Halloween extras will only be available till Thursday NOV 5th, which is the next PStore update day.....you get to keep them forever by the way, they won't disappear.


How do you get these extras? I see the Halloween logo but don't see anything else that looks special.

[blackwiggle]

They open up when you beat the first Campaign.
Then appear in craft mods.

Also if you play the game in NIGHT mode Pumpkin lantern will appear around the track.

Ivé just been watching PACER on TWICTH, its the highest watch game ATM, had over 22K people watching it.

EDIT: something is wrong with the WOzones editing, it keeps bringing up stuff that I tried to delete and replace :twisted

See what gets posted this time.

[Concealed Sequence]

I wish this game all the best. Like you Blackwiggle, I've been on this journey from the beginning!! 🤞

[blackwiggle]

Hey if you see any reviews around post a link, hard to keep track of what gets posted given how much content is out there on the internet.

I started a thread at the STEAM PACER discussion forum titled PACER REVIEWS asking the same.

Well that didn't take long for a reply at STEAM, seems there have been quite a few reviews of PACER posted, the vast majority very favorable :)

Hardcore Gamer review
https://hardcoregamer.com/2020/10/30/review-pacer/391118/

THe sixaxis review
https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2020/10/29/pacer-review/

God is Geek review
https://www.godisageek.com/reviews/pacer-review/

Press Play Media review
https://pressplaynews.net/2020/10/31/pacer-review-ps4/

Way Too Many Games review
https://waytoomany.games/2020/10/29/review-pacer/

Got Game review
https://gotgame.com/2020/10/29/review-pacer/

I can't be sure, but I think Kieran from Got Game is the same person that have been giving R8 a bit of stick on DISCORD about how the game was released with the problems it has, fair enough I suppose, but it's the only really negative review out of all of them, all the rest give it 8/10 or higher

[Concealed Sequence]

That's good then!

Oh btw, I decided to do the ID change from pirtek3 to Virtekh. Everything seems to be ok! 🤞

[stever]

I've put a few hours into the campaign mode on PS4 and I have to say I'm really quite impressed. Some of the menus and mechanics could be a bit clearer, but the handling and other important bits all feel pretty much spot on.

I am having quite a bit of trouble with the volume levels though. On cockpit view there's a continuous bass tone from the LFE/sub channel that drowns out the music. The music conversely seems very lacking at the low end and at times is almost completely inaudible. I've pushed the effects volume right down in the game settings and it's improved it quite a bit, but for a game where such a lot of effort has gone into the soundtrack it's a shame that in game it loses most of its impact.

Anyone else having the same issue?

[Xavier]

I'm feeling the same way about the music. The default balance is just a bit off, like the music is pushed into the background. I haven't played with the volume sliders, but if anyone knows of a good setting where the music has the impact it's supposed to have, please post it!

[Concealed Sequence]

I think they're aware of this, so hopefully it'll get sorted.

[blackwiggle]

They are a heap of small NONE game breaking issues with the game, and R8 are aware of them, I'll list a few.

First two that R8 should have a update for VERY soon, it might be available while I'm typing this, I haven't checked yet.
1] Fixing ONLINE problems...a big one, so it got priority
2] Tournament glitch in one of latter Campaigns when the game would crash on the 2nd lap of the third race, not allowing you to progress....again a big one..got priority
On the list
3] Various volume problems, the first overly loud whoosh when you start the game..[ nearly blew my speakers], and the low music volume/high effect disparity between the two.
4]Various UI problems
5]Records not scrolling up past a certain point
6] Unable to remap controllers in game.....if on PS4 use PS4 system software > Accessibility > controller remap function to remap controls until fix is up

Those are the main ones that I can think of off the top of my head, but there are quite a few other minor ones on the 'To fix list'

Good news is CROSSPLAY across ALL posts is now one of the major updates on the cards.

Xbox release has been delayed for a few weeks, they only found out about it when the game was up on the Australian store....we are 10+ hours ahead of the rest of the world, so it was a shock to them!

If you have and problems with the game, you can report them either on DISCORD > PACER and they have a BUG REPORT channel for each port
Or additionally if on PC, you can use the above, or report on Steam > Pacer > Discussion forum > Bug report at top of page.

EDIT:
I just saw this had been posted at the Steam discussion page in the PACER REVIEW thread, and I think it mightbe important for PACER.
QUOTE:

Only review score people care about these days is Metacritic. It's not like the good old days where you read video game magazine reviews anymore.

That's why Cyberpunk has been delayed for another 4 weeks... Because CDPR know the game will sell badly if it gets a score below 90.

SOURCE: https://www.ginx.tv/en/cyberpunk-2077/cyberpunk-2077-devs-reveal-metacritic-score-as-reason-for-the-latest-delay

Casual gamers don't trawl websites for hours searching for review scores, so if you want Pacer to sell well, just gotta pray Metacritic reviews are good.

EDIT 2:
METACRITIC HAS REVIEW UP....PACER GOT 75
https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/pacer

[Concealed Sequence]

Just got a Kickstarter email saying they're hoping to get XB1 out by mid-November.

Also, Metacritic mention Spectator mode. I've not noticed this, where is it!? Also, can't see a photo mode 🤔

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, that whoosh made me jump the first time!!
Not come across campaign problems as I've only just started it. I've been doing quick play mainly to get used to the game first.

[blackwiggle]

Just got a Kickstarter email saying they're hoping to get XB1 out by mid-November.

Also, Metacritic mention Spectator mode. I've not noticed this, where is it!? Also, can't see a photo mode 🤔

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, that whoosh made me jump the first time!!
Not come across campaign problems as I've only just started it. I've been doing quick play mainly to get used to the game first.

What does that tell you about what you read in reviews ? ;)

Yeah. I'm spending most of my time trying to get a solid player base up and running, I'm happy to wait for the fixes to come, then I'll zap through the Campaign and open everything up, I'm in no hurry.

TBH, I'd recommend people spend their time getting REALLY good at the tracks they have opened already and do heaps of SL & TT, really get to know where to apply airbrakes, tweak F3000 craft etc, then move on to F2000.

On the quiet I've watched a few steams of people on the PS4 racing, ATBH as I'm watching I'm thinking what the Funk are you doing?

A DONK fest of the craft doing everything except staying in the middle of the track, and this is at F3000 speed OMG!....funny but disturbing at the same time.

TIP 101. Don't use Drift on the slower speed classes, you don't need it, it's for the fastest speed classes.

Once you get Voxel and Vixen craft, here are the best loadouts that are recommended.....used by the best pilots ;)
ENGINE -OPEN
HANDLING- Handling from Airbrakes
BRAKING- Sharp Airbrakes
ANTI GRAVITY- Sunken

Voxel craft are best used when you intend to try to run ahead of the pack.
Vixen craft are best used for Combat and have better handling.

See this video of Angeyman in action, [ He's a well know record holder]....actually watch a lot of his videos to see how a real expert handles PACER.


https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/pacer

[Concealed Sequence]

Yeah, that's good advice and that's what I'm going to concentrate on. And yeah, I thought too that drift would be better for faster classes. Like you said, you don't need it for F3009 speed!

- - - Updated - - -

video of Angeyman in action, [ He's a well know record holder]....actually watch a lot of his videos to see how a real expert handles PACER.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/pacer

Going to look now! 😊

[Xavier]

@Blackwiggle, that is some great news! I really want to remap the controller so that Square accelerates and X boosts.

Right now I'm stuck on the fourth Izulu race; can't figure out a way to finish higher than about seventh as this ship slips and slides all over the place. The game won't let you leave a team and try out for another once you've started, it seems.

[blackwiggle]

Yeah, the problem when quitting a Tournament [doesn't seem to happen with all of them] is that you might find that you have to start the whole tournament from the beginning again.
Hopefully this situation will be sorted with updates when they are eventually show up.
Try one of the setup's I give in my previous post.

[Xavier]

I should have been clearer; this isn't a tournament. It's the fourth part of the Izulu team challenge; it's a single race. I don't see any way to go back and join a different team. Originally I had my pick of three (Neutron, Dragon Star, and Izulu); I picked Izulu but I just can't drive their ship at all.

[Concealed Sequence]

Update file has just been installed!👍

[blackwiggle]

OK, I've just been on to DISCORD....strongly suggest anybody that has PACER start doing the same if you want to keep up to date with what's happening with the game, great from tips and tricks as well.

Here is the lowdown of what the first game patch does......Expect more patches to come relatively quickly to address other issues,they have to test that the fixes actually work first....No I don't known when.

QUOTE FROM R8 PATCH NOTES

PACER has been out for less than a week and our team here at R8Games are incredibly happy that you are all finally all able to enjoy the incredible amount of work our team have put into the game - but our work is just beginning!

We've been listening to your feedback and have begun to systematically evaluate and address every thought and comment sent our way! As such, today we have released our first patch for PACER to improve the experience for the few and the many!

Here's the low-down on what is included and addressed in PACER Patch 1.03!

Patch 1.03 includes various crash and stability fixes including:

- {Crash} Fixed an issue with the Dragon Stars Team goal that crashes the title on events where the goal isn't achievable.
- {Crash} Fixed an issue where users couldn't access time trial in certain languages.
- {Crash} Fixed an issue where attempting to access Elite speed in certain modes in some languages would cause a crash.
- {Crash} Fixed an issue where video information wasn't purged from the buffer on the track select screen causing a crash.
- {Crash} Fixed an issue with the avatar system that could cause a crash when entering/returning to a lobby at the end of a race (or on the Map Vote Screen).
- {Crash} Fixed an issue where the lobby could a crash due to removing of Avatar data.
- {Crash} Fixed an issue where the title could crash when selecting matchmaking multiple times in succession.
- {Crash} Fixed an issue where the title could crash when a user was dead when the race ended.
- Fixed an issue where the incorrect shaders were cached in the build pipeline, so built incorrectly on some tracks.

Plus additional minor tweaks and improvements.

Our team are very thankful for every piece of feedback you send our way to keep PACER in tip-top shape, so if you have any thoughts and feedback keep them coming our way!

[Xavier]

I'm totally out of the loop on what Discord is... some kind of chat app? How do I get involved?

[blackwiggle]

You can download it to PC or iphone. I prefer the PC.
https://discord.com/

At it's most basic it's a chat app. but it's also much more.

If you download the app and join, just click on the STEAM PACER link below, then scroll down to where it says DISCORD and click on it, it will take you directly to the PACER DISCORD page.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/389670/Pacer/

You'll see on the left all the different channels, Announcements: General Chat:Fan ART: etc, then there are 3 different channels for each port of PACER, say for PS4 there is PS4 Leaderboards: Racing Clips [new]: Bugs reports and Ifg, which is live online discussion.
There is a lot more to DISCORD that would take too long to explain, but easy to get your head around once you start looking through things.

Here's a screen shot of PACERS DISCORD page to give you a idea.
11141

[Concealed Sequence]

Does anyone know where online there's a playlist in line for the music?

[Xavier]

Just joined, Blackwiggle! Looking forward to the lively chat there!