17 hours ago, MarcG said:

it has peeked my interest 

Piqued...it has piqued your interest.  Sorry about that, but that spelling was like looking at a chip in a windshield, it can't be un-seen.

I think if they do it right (where people can't grief other users, or hypermod the planes) then it could be interesting.  Anything they do to expand the flight sim audience is ok with me, and this might pull in some more people.  Gamey aspects of flight sim don't bother me...I'm a veteran of the WW1 flying ace game in FS2.   I would even (gasp) not mind racing around skyscrapers in Manhattan, as in down at near street-level at high speed.   I can put down the checklists and procedures at times to do that, I like to change things up for myself.

To anyone who is curious about the feedback to the testing, the pre-release testing forum is open to all as well:

Latest Reno Pre-Release Testing topics - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

Actually looks like the multiplayer aspects are pretty solid (with no warping / ghosting).

Update - looks like spaces are still available. Just joined through the insider hub. It can be a separate install from the rest of the sim (i.e. a separate "game").

3 minutes ago, DylanM said:

Update - looks like spaces are still available. Just joined through the insider hub. It can be a separate install from the rest of the sim (i.e. a separate "game").

It has to be a separate install from the game...

24 minutes ago, MrNuke said:

It has to be a separate install from the game...

Well you could accidentally point it to your existing directory, but there's a pretty stern warning about that 🙃

Steam users can also test it since it doesn't require you to own the base sim for this test.

Edited October 23, 20214 yr by Tuskin38

Spent a couple of hours with it.  Gamier than I expected it to be. A bit let down about the in-your-face aspect of it and the canned feel.  On the plus side, once you go to the trouble of getting the your controllers set up the way you like again, some of the racing action does get tense and the adrenaline running a bit. 

The audio aspects wore me out though. Between the heavy reverb of the race announcer blasting away and the spotter/crew chief/whatever he is talking to you on the radio I wish there were some audio options to turn those guys off.  I don't need the guy on the radio saying "You got this!" every time I finish a lap. Dude I had it before we even cranked the engine up.  The fun of online racing is being on comms with your friends and talking trash to one another as you race.  Not sure how that will be possible with the cacophony of noise that's present. 

The biggest question is how expandable will it be by the user base.  Having just one venue, Reno, will get old rather quickly.  If users cannot design additional courses I can't see sticking with it.  And it would be a break of sorts with the heritage of the FS series which has found it's success and appeal thanks to expandability through user-created content.  That should at least include the ability to design courses particularly since this sim already provides us the entire world to partake of.  Imagine those possibilities. 

Edited October 23, 20214 yr by Stoopy

 

13 hours ago, sd_flyer said:

14 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

A2A helped with some of the planes. So they might not be entirely basic.

You can also use the planes outside of the races.

Yes I'm assuming this to! By the way several default airplanes in MSFS that I also flown IRL have pretty good authentic feel. So I assume people look down on default model mostly due to heaver jets. 

I picked some stuff from a video such as wake turbulence and prop wash effect which is very welcome addition! I'm personally looking forward to that ! 

A2A's contribution was to paint some of the cockpits, nothing outside of that, no A2A accu-sim or flight model tuning, nada.

So whatever comes out of the add-in in the way of performance has nothing to do with A2A, but has hopefully raised the Asobo programing bar.

Cheers

I was thinking of getting the basic Reno pack just to get some of the aircraft to use in free flight but since we're unable to evaluate the aircraft handling with the arcade flight model that is being used in the test I guess I'm going to hold off.

6 hours ago, MrNuke said:

The courses are true to the actual reno air race courses per class.

Sure, this just means that this activity is not really something I'd be willing to spend money on personally.

18 hours ago, MadDog said:

I'm thinking some will embrace it... most won't.  ..... I remember messing around with the races for few hours; but quickly lost interest.

exactly my thinking. the typical MSFS flier wants VFR scenery or FMS airliner flying. there just is not enough depth or variety in races. I lost interest already after my 2nd race, I would buy Reno only for the aircraft.

18 hours ago, JSmith2112 said:

Sure, this just means that this activity is not really something I'd be willing to spend money on personally.

Yeah I get it, and like any other payware add-on be it an airport, a plane, missions, a utility, etc. that is something everyone is going to have to decide on whether or not it is worth it to them.

On 10/22/2021 at 6:37 PM, espent said:

Who knows how popular the Reno races will be, but at least the technology that it adds to the core sim will be with us no matter what happens to it.

I'm hoping it will tap into an online gamer cohort who otherwise wouldn't be interested in flight sim, so bringing in new blood and enlarging the market.

Here's a clip I made earlier. It seems YouTube is still processing the high res version so it might look pretty low res although it was recorded in 4k at 30 FPS.

The clip is unedited to show the kind of wait times that you are in for before actually flying so feel free to fast forward. Please excuse the janky flying as I'm as right-handed as they come but was flying with my left hand while smoking a cigarette.

Reno Air Races Preview

On 10/22/2021 at 7:35 AM, MarcG said:

But my fear is will the Races be dead 2 months after release?

I'm hearing this is the case over on the official forums, hopefully the quick cash cow worked and they made more from it than losses.