Is this worth buying?

May not be the best place to get a critical answer to this, but I am interested in the game. Unfortunately, almost every video I see is just sort of the same drive off a cliff and drop into slow mo thing. It's cool for a while, but after 15-30 minutes it starts to wear out a bit. I know the game is still in development, but is there anything to really look forward to other than demolition derby's? Is the actual car handling physics any good? Have they sorted out the weird controller issues where you have to go into config to set it up? There seems to be a lot of potential for this game to be really good, but as far as I can see after 2 years of development most of what's been added is some new cars (great) and ui improvements, (also good) but there still isn't a game, just kind of an extended tech demo. The AI isn't brilliant, and I don't think there's multiplayer, and for this kind of game, I want to do racing with actual physical impacts when they inevitably happen, or rally racing through windy roads that makes you **** your pants because if you touch that tree your dead. I just want an honest answer if there's currently anything now or coming soon in the pipeline to make me buy it? Is there a newer tech demo than last year? Literally almost a year ago? I just don't want to buy in and have it turn into an Overgrowth situation where there's a brilliant concept, but after 7 years there's still really.... just well... nothing.

 

As an unbiasedish opinion: The game itself is fantastic as long as you can make your own path; As for what to do there are some scenario's, but that's all there is so far for challenges, but most of the content lies in the freeroam area of the game so far. If you are OK with driving around for the sake of having fun driving around, or doing self made challenges the possibilities are all but endless. Also in free mode there is plenty of tuning options with if you select adjustable parts, and there are plenty of random parts for the cars so far, although not all cars have a ton of bumpers/exterior cosmetic options, or mechanical options... yet (although there is still quite a bit). Sounds are Heavily WIP, and aside from one car all vehicles have the same sound regardless of exhaust system/engine (although mods can fix this), and sound on some terrains (grass, dirt, etc), doesn't even exist, among other things. The modding community is descent, although few car mods match the quality of the official cars, and the same can be said of terrains (not to say there isn't some fantastic content out there). Stay away from other sights with beamng mods, these are 99.999% of the time junk rips of official cars, modded to look like a different car, so you will end up with a Lamborghini that deforms and handles like a 90's american luxobarge. Handling in the game is fairly realistic, moreso than most games, though it takes a bit of a learning curve to drive the stock street cars fast, even if you are used to other racing sim games, especially since most other racing sim games focus on cars on smooth tracks, with race tires that have crazy friction coefficients. Tires are one of beamng's less perfect aspects (in the eyes of a pure race sim person because they are node based and are not perfectly circular), although they do react very realistically, although tire wear and heat is still on its way. Although beam may not be able to match a game like rfactor2 in pure uberrealistic race simulation, its more representative of real world driving that most people will experience on public roads and average tires; Personally I have picked up more skills that I may be able to apply to my driving IRL in beam, than I have in any other racing sim. Remember though, this game is in alpha so much more is to come, plus the price may go up in the future to match development costs.

Personal bias: This game is wonderful and I think you should buy it, based on what you say you want in your post you will love it. I have only one recommendation: Get a wheel with 900 degree rotation, it transforms beam more than anything else can.

Sadly beam is seen by most as a crash sim and nothing else, where it has the potential to develop into a respectable race/general driving/(pick thing to do on 4 wheels) sim. Hopefully one day we can see multiplayer of some form (personally I think beam could be a great touge battle sim), or at least great AI

 

Well i could say it is worth picking up at the moment as maybe in the future they might raise the price but it all comes down to if your computer can play it.

 

yes, i think you would enjoy. There is one race track, the hirochi raceway, with a few configs to take. Short/medium long/ That can present a challenge, and take a while to master. There are a few maps great for rallying, Small island, east coast has plenty of high speed dirt paths, and jungle rock island has a fantastic rally track around the island. When you get bored of that, smash some cars, or use some props (cannon, car crusher, spinner top, ect) to find new ways to smash cars. I have 500+ hours in game, and i'm still entertained.

I forgot: there are plenty of cars to race and rally with. each car is unique, and can take time to master and presents unique challenges.

Edit: i forgot to add that those are only the official maps. There are some community made maps that are awesome for rallying and racing (rally forest). Plenty of content to keep one busy

 

I have 347 and there are still vast areas of the game I have not even touched; there is plenty to do if you look for it. Also its great that the handling aspects of beam are a result of the car's inherent structure/suspension layout, like real life, so each car has its own quirks. There is much to discover about how to handle/tune each car to its fullest potential in a particular role, what that role may be is up to you to decide.

 

Is it worth buying:hell yeah i have over 500 hours of beam and i still find new things and the mod support
Is from heaven and the car handeling is good and there isnt multiplayer but there is multiseat mode .and remember its only 0.5.2.1 and i think it jumps out of the early access

 

Only thing i can say is: YES. THIS GAME TOTALLY WORTH BUYING

 

I have played over 800 hours and I still did not do everything. I recommend you buy it.

 

I got over 1000 hours since i bought the game

 

It still seems kind of crazy to me that after 2 years there's only (I guess) 2 different engine noises.... I think the biggest thing holding me back is just the idea of how long it's been in EA, and unless they have a development goal list, it seems like it'll take another 4 years or so. I have a wheel, and maybe it's been fixed, but I remember that most cars at high speeds just start shaking themselves apart. The Bolide was really bad that at higher speed you couldn't turn at all otherwise the front axle would snap... Again, any form of a newer tech demo might bring more people into the game. Based off the old one I can currently get, the physics still need a lot of work, the handling isn't great, the ui barely works, controller support is DIY, and it crashes, a lot. I know some of those have been fixed and improved upon, but I can't really see buying it without really knowing what I'm getting. I know Steam got a refund policy, which absolutely sucks, it ripped me off about $20, so after getting the game set up, it's been too long and I can't return it. Are there any good track mods? Like actual tracks like Bathurst or Laguna? The Nordschliefe?

 

Well, ive made Indianapolis, its not the best tho.
Game is worth buying tho, but it depends on what you like.
Im going to hit 800 hours soon and i still find it extremely entertaining.
Ill take a look into Bathurst, Laguna and Nordschliefe. and maybe one day, ill make them if its possible.
And BeamNG is not a 500 person team, its a small team, there are monthly updates, and yeah, its early access, but one of the best if you ask me.

 

wrapped in spoiler tags, since I can only respond in books it seems.

Spoiler

As for physics stability the game is very good now, some older (and some newer, depending on which one) mods will still shake around to some extent but the official cars now act very realistically. The Bolide has been tamed, and it no longer shakes, nor do any of the other cars, although depending on the suspension setups of some cars with solid axles, the suspension might bounce under hard cornering on bumpy roads, but this is what happens pretty closely to real life as well. The roads in the base terrains are now very good as well.
Just to expand on what i said before about handling compared to other race games: Handling in beam is much more representative of realistic handling on everyday roads than most other racing games (eg, Assetto corsa, Rfactor, iracing). Most other games, even with stock cars, focus on cars already tuned somewhat for handling, and on smooth tracks with well set up surfaces. One of my biggest gripes with Assetto corsa is how the cars ride like they are on glass, even stock cheap cars feel like they have fully custom racing suspension setups. Production cars in the non virtual world are tuned for under steer, and beam replicates this tuning to factory versions of its mock companies, so for the stock vehicles they mostly understeer at the limit (as most cars are set up to do), you can however (like real life) undue this tuning with some minor suspension adjustments such as camber and toe, or with better tires. Note that most car's suspensions are tuned for comfort and not track stiffness like most other racing games, but this can also be tuned. The tuned versions in game now feel very good. From what I gather you remember beam as a Tech demo, and you are correct in saying in terms of campaign content the game has remained largely unchanged, however in terms of optimization, handling, overall stuff to do (like tuning) the game is nothing like it was before, its much better.

As for track mods, there are some and I do believe there is Laguna seca, but don't expect perfect graphics since most tracks out there are rips from old games, as not to cause take-down notices from other devs, plus the torque graphics engine is somewhat dated, but it would only prolong the game for years to come if the dev team was to switch engines just to gain some better shadows and slight effects, although the team is at work overhauling the engine itself. As for the physics, they are mostly independent of the graphics engine, and draw a lot of CPU power so note that beam is a CPU intensive game, and not so GPU intensive.

As for development time, there are only a few devs, and with the nature of the game's content it takes a long time, 2 months avg per vehicle for example, and there is a lot more the devs are up to than just creating cars; try not to expect content every week, as it just is not possible for the devs, not to say there isn't lots of improvements to the game in all nooks and crannies along the way. It is in alpha, and compared to most other games in alpha our there this is easily one of the best. Generally updates come within 1-2 months nowadays, but don't expect a release anytime too soon, there is still much to do, not to say there isn't lots in the game already. This is not a bad thing, the devs should be giving us the absolute best content as they have been so far, and that takes time to develop. Sadly too often nowadays games get released as a rushed content, luckily the beam devs aren't following this sad trend, honestly the devs don't get nearly enough credit for how hard they work.

Personal opinion time.. again: From what I gather you are looking for a realistic driving game that you can also goof around in and have fun in, without being forced around a track, but if you feel like it you can do that too. "I want to do racing with actual physical impacts when they inevitably happen, or rally racing through windy roads that makes you **** your pants because if you touch that tree your dead" perfectly describes how I play beam; a realistic driving sim with actual consequences, not just a damage texture and a yellow bumper highlight on the HUD after hitting a wall at speeds > 200kph (120ish mph).

Just a final note, this game's Force Feedback leaves something to be desired when compared to games with laser-scanned tracks like Assetto Corsa. Beam calculates its force feedback from inputs to the steering column so it does feel proper, however personally I feel its a bit weak, and needs more smoothing even on the highest smoothing settings, although games like Assetto Corsa spoil you for FFB.

 

They are in the process of hiring sound engineers to make new sounds, also we have gotten suspension and glass shattering sounds last updates. Last week Tdev, the main developer behind everything, said a blog post was in the works detailing a roadmapd for the future (http://www.beamng.com/threads/beamng-personal-micro-blog-s.14715/page-30#post-321096). I can understand your reservations about this being early access, but for the nearly three years the game has been in development, the devs have not abandoned or let us down. They could work on their communication, but they just work so much that they almost don't have time. Apparently Tdev has a 92 hour work week, working on this full time.

 

I do like some good old fashioned road cars... unfortunately all of these cars are fake. (I know, I know, licensing issues.) But I feel like AC is pretty good with the road car physics, but it's also sort of lookup table based, whereas this might not be? As much? I don't know. Yes, I only tried the tech demo a long time ago, which brings up my question of why don't they ever update it? I thought Beam was running on Cryengine? I remember them trying to get rid of the weird DOF and they said they couldn't figure out Cryengine's way to disable it... I also know they're a small team and an update every month or so is absolutely fine, but a list of goals would be nice to see.

Uhh, thanks? Seriously, It's nice to see a staff member's attention.... but Steam support wasn't mentioned anywhere I don't think? My biggest problem I think you guys should address is releasing a newer version of the tech demo. I haven't bought the game because the tech demo, was, well just that. It didn't really seem like anything near a finished a product and I still have no idea what's it's like now. As any new customer coming in might not do all the research and download a year and a half old demo, where everything's changed, might be off putting. Just releasing the same grid map and the Gavril with all the other updates and improvements would help people decide on purchasing. (or at least I feel like that.) But what do I know?


Hmm. Ehh, What the hell, I'll give it a shot. My only problem now is that I'll end up spending all night setting it up and probably not even play it.

 

The devs are working on a blog post which will talk about what they have accomplished and what their plans/goals for the future are

 

Let us know how it gos.

 

This game isnt all about race cars and race tracks. Its a vehicle simulator, not a racing simulator, it does everything well, not some things perfect. If you think this game isnt worth a measly 20$ then dont buy it. I would buy this game for 100 if i had to. There may be no "story mode" or "game aspect" of it, but if you are looking for that look somewhere else. Here is not the place to find a good story or a traditional "game" this is the future, not the past.