Sound as atmosphere...

[Nand Gate]

First up, once more a big congrats to ISI. I purchased the BETA within the first few days and have enjoyed being a part of the build up.

But on to the whinging.

I am a little under-whelmed with the sound in this game. Actually to be exact - its terrible. Awful. I am struggling to comprehend the fact that this is referred to as a simulator - yet one of the most immersive senses (if not THE most immersive) is being completely ignored. Totally ignored. I mean the sound is BOLLOCKS. No offence.

There is plenty of research out there pointing to the primary importance of sound in immersive virtual reality environs. I ignored the terribad quality of the sound in the early days, for obvious reasons. But when I began testing the new Nissans out on the new tracks....I realised it was now getting to me so bad that I was having trouble enjoying myself. It sounds like someone has amplified 16 flatulent goats and turned it up to 11. Unfortunately I have a multi-thousand dollar playback system - and it sounds like 16 flatulent goats turned it up to 11 - in high definition.

Is there a road map planned for the sound? Any improvements on the way? As I said - anything called a simulator deserves top-notch, realistic sounds.

I did some forum searching, but came up with nothing. Forgive me if this has already been covered in depth.

Here is a link of a terrible recording through a phone - still sounds better.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW6XSuTOFDc&t=1m1s

Cheers

[bastins]

Were those 16 flatulent goats from the Nissan GT-R? If so, I thought the same thing The 370Z seems fine, but the GT-R sounds very strange. And overall, I agree that the entire sound department could use some work.

Although, I can't agree that they're terrible, or have been completely ignored. While they're not particularly great, I think they're at least a decent step up from what I remember of rFactor 1.

[Nand Gate]

Yeah - just pointing out that sound is SOOO important. Of course it is no substitute for physics, graphics, gameplay etc - but without good, realistic sound, no sim can rightfully call itself a sim!

[GTrFreak]

+1

I agree with all of this.. I like detail. I like graphical detail but without some good sounds the sim lacks realism

[Nielty]

+1
http://gtr3.com/

[buddhatree]

Well considering they have doubled the number of max sounds - from 32 to 64 - I think it's safe to say sound improvement is a priority for ISI.

I highly doubt they would double the number of sounds only to have it remain as is

[rVeloce]

First up, once more a big congrats to ISI. I purchased the BETA within the first few days and have enjoyed being a part of the build up.

But on to the whinging.

I am a little under-whelmed with the sound in this game. Actually to be exact - its terrible. Awful. I am struggling to comprehend the fact that this is referred to as a simulator - yet one of the most immersive senses (if not THE most immersive) is being completely ignored. Totally ignored. I mean the sound is BOLLOCKS. No offence.


There is plenty of research out there pointing to the primary importance of sound in immersive virtual reality environs. I ignored the terribad quality of the sound in the early days, for obvious reasons. But when I began testing the new Nissans out on the new tracks....I realised it was now getting to me so bad that I was having trouble enjoying myself. It sounds like someone has amplified 16 flatulent goats and turned it up to 11. Unfortunately I have a multi-thousand dollar playback system - and it sounds like 16 flatulent goats turned it up to 11 - in high definition.

Is there a road map planned for the sound? Any improvements on the way? As I said - anything called a simulator deserves top-notch, realistic sounds.

I did some forum searching, but came up with nothing. Forgive me if this has already been covered in depth.

Here is a link of a terrible recording through a phone - still sounds better.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW6XSuTOFDc&t=1m1s

Cheers

Totaly agree..Problem is, most players are more concerned with other aspects, and don't care as much about sound design THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT IN MOTORSPORTS gaming . No other way to put it. It's sad.

[Tim Wheatley]

Learned something new. There was me thinking tires were top of the list as most important aspect in motorsports.

[rVeloce]

you know what I mean...LOL...we love the sound

[JvM]

Hahah.

Well, I won't say there isn't room for improvement, but IMO the sounds are not as bad as the op states.

When trying the GTR I noticed that the sound definitely was lacking some roar in the higher revs, and overall volume was a bit lower.
It is not too far though...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLfBR-nPfk

[Tim Wheatley]

you know what I mean...LOL...we love the sound

I know how important it is. I think I match up with the community on a lot of 'wants'.

[bander]

everything is important.

watching video on youtube of nissan gtr onboard is quite similar to what we have now in rfactor 2. career at 7 pm in mid ohio palm beach.


I have wanted to see the finished game.

[fastfezzer]

For me, sounds are the most important part of becoming immersed in a simulation.

GT Legends and GTR first brought this to my attention. The 911 bi-turbo in GTR2 gave me goosebumps.

I hope rF2 can get this right.

I hope we get rain sounds, proper wet track sounds, brake squeal, induction roar, wastegate noise, turbo spool, body crumple, exhaust pops/bangs, transmission whine etc etc.

Also, if your at a race track, it is never quiet, you always hear cars in the far distance or cars in the paddock. Whilst watching a replay it can be deadly silent at times.

[sg333]

I'd rather the sound and models/textures were improved for the current cars, before we get any new ones. A dozen mediocre cars is no substitute for a couple of very well done models. Being completely honest, the sounds and textures are so far disappointing compared to modder-released RF1 content.

A great tire and physics model is no good if it isnt matched with the rest of the features required for a full immersion simulation

[PLAYLIFE]

Yes, sound has been my biggest gripe with the current state of the game (although the 60s cars are at least half decent). I think most other aspects of the game meets or exceeds the 'bar' except sound.

Sound is obviously extremely important given it is a fundamental sense!

Physics - touch
Graphics - sight
Sound - hearing!

That's one third of our 'intake' although we can argue that it imparts less feedback than the other two senses.

Never mind the font size in chat windows, texture quality of a sandbag and other relatively trivial things, sound needs some serious attention.

[Tim Wheatley]

Last paragraph...

[CdnRacer]

There was me thinking tires were top of the list as most important aspect in motorsports.

+1


I'm liking the sounds so far except for the short sound loop that the Nissan gt has when pit limiter is on.


In my opinion if some don't like the sound, all the tools are there to do sound mods.

[PLAYLIFE]

+1

I'm liking the sounds so far except for the short sound loop that the Nissan gt has when pit limiter is on.

In my opinion if some don't like the sound, all the tools are there to do sound mods.

Some of the sounds are good, some are not so good. As I said, overall I think the sound is the least of the developed key areas.

This forum is for beta feedback so I'm sure ISI are after constructive feedback which is what this thread thus far is. End of the day, we all want the same thing, a great simulation. That's why ISI have put all their time and effort into it and us the users have put our hard earned money into.

As a previous software developer, I know I'd rather hear what's wrong and what can be improved more than how fantastic everything is. The former is constructive to create the best bit of software possible while the latter is an ego boost. An ego boost is good every now and then though I've never developed software for profit but I think the amount of money that has been poured in by users will testify as to how good a job you're doing.

All-in-all (I sound like Vettel), I'm a happy customer, hence why I frequent this forum and try to offer my feedback constructively.

If I had the time I'd love to produce my own mod from scratch but unfortunately I have a job to do, career to pursue, with bills to pay and a family to support!

[CdnRacer]

My main point was that IMO sound is not the most important aspect of a sim. I just wanted to let ISI know that not everyone thinks that rF2 should be built around a great sound model. rF2 should be built around a great physics model in my opinion.


ISI could spend tonnes of time and money on sound only to have some still make their own sound mods. At least that's how I look at it anyways. You'll never please everyone. Plus we all know that the ISI engine is very capable of great sounds.

Personally I just hate synthesized sounds. I'd much prefer something raw and basic. Ever listen to the little buzz box rF trainer when it's idling? Sounds great imo. lol.

[BobDobbs]

I'd place physics as most important (because only a handful of sims even approach fidelity in managing the interaction of the car with the road); but graphics and sound rank equal second in my opinion. And ISI is on the right track - ambient sounds, echoes, multiple samples for engine/tire/mechanical sounds. I really think that with good attention to the sample quality, rF2 is as good as any sim out there. But having good samples and applying them correctly is not a feature of every car in rF2 yet.

I think someone mentioned the major lack in a post a few weeks ago - inside a racing car there is a constant barrage of low frequency sounds, even at high speed, from the engine and drive train. The current pitched sample-based sound software can't do this - everything rises in pitch as the speed increases and there appears to be no easy route to inserting a separate layer of drive train noise that isn't a static sample. Of course, I don't think any sim does this right yet...