Iracing graphics feedback

Pimax 8K Series
43

I just got my Pimax 5k+ last night, so I have not yet been able to spent a lot of time doing testing… but my comments are below.

I also wanted to thank Pimax for getting this done. The forums are an absolutely brutal place, but I want to let you know that some of us are extremely happy with how this turned out. Anyway, my comments below are from what I posted to the iRacing Forum.

"So I am tapping this out while riding the train this AM. I will apologize for the readability.

My first impressions from last night remains…WOW.

Background / Setup
Intel 8400, no overclocking
Asus Prime 370
16GB
M.2 drive
Titan XP card (almost the same as a 1080TI), use the card for some machine learning projects

VR evolution
Oculus Rift (still have) ->; Samsung Odyssey (gave to my dad for iRacing) ->; Samsung Odyssey + ->; Pimax 5k+

Pimax Kickstarter #32X

Shipping time from the batch QC pass to door was 24 days. No tracking or notification was given until 2 days before delivery when I received tracking information from Pimax for UPS.

Installation was easy… Download the installer , plug in the headset… Wait a few minutes for all the new stuff to install (3-5 minutes…felt like forever), became depressed when the software would not detect the headset, rebooted the computer and everything worked. :slight_smile: I enabled parallel projection and set SS at 1.25. I’ll post pics of my settings tonight. I started with the normal field of view (~150 degrees), and changed it to wide almost immediately (~170)… I will have to play with it to see which is better

Started SteamVR , then simvibe, and iRacing. I only ran the SRF at Autodromo Jose Carlos last night for about 2 hours. For some reason, my graphics setting had changed. Everything set to high, 8x for all AA , 8x for shading . I will post tonight my settings. Frame rate is still pegged at 89-90fps.

It is really hard to describe first impressions (beyond Wow). Full field of view,much clearer picture then the Odyssey plus. All of the text is clear and readable (to include the white lettering describing the video setting at the bottom). I know this sounds silly, but it was basically the same feeling of joy I had running iRacing in VR for the first time. It basically feels like I get the resolution of triples in VR.

With that said, not everything is perfect in the land of OZ. There is some distortion of the image at the extremes of Field of View (left and right). I don’t notice while driving, but it is much more noticeable while in the moving camera mode from the main menu (where you request a new car). While driving , it isn’t distracting and I think I would keep it because it helps when everyone passes me.

Colors are not as nice as the Oddysey plus. Overall, the color pallet seems to be a little higher toward the blue and white range. First impression was of colors similar to overexposure (but with Great clarity). Within 10 seconds this left my mind and was not thought of again.

I also had a little motion sickness / queezyness when I started. I have always been sensitive to this in VR, but it hasn’t happened in a while. I ended up closing all of the pop up notifications and this seemed to help a lot (or I got more familiar with the VR). I believe this was do to the larger field of view. I also now run without the virtual mirror as well since I can see my two side mirrors at the same time without needing to turn my head. Without the status menus and virtual mirror, and the large FOV, it feels much more realistic.

I should have mentioned that I am running the Pimax without a base station or lighthouse and am only using the internal gyroscopes built into the headset. You can do this by disabling the lighthouse(s) in the Pimax settings. Overall, head tracking seems to be on-par with the Odyssey and I have not noticed a down side to only 3DOF at the moment. I will probably pick up a remaining accessories to have a complete VR setup. With that said, I don’t have the ability to turn my head behind me due to my racing seat setup… so I am essentially trapped inside the seat, much like a real car.

Brian"

Thanks again. Like I said, I am extremely happy with the 5K+.

6 Likes
44

Good to hear you can get 90fps in iracing with 5K+!

45

Yes I get a flat 90fps in iRacing also… But now I’m trying to get rFactor2 working right and it’s a disaster for me. I can get 90fps, but the settings are so low that it looks like crap for me. The moment I have it looking half-way decent, it’s down to 70-80fps. And when I want it looking awesome it’s at 60fps.

Does anyone have decent settings for rFactor2 that I can use?
Here’s my Nvidia CP Global and rFactor2 Settings if anyone can see anything that could be changed, please let me know what you think: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

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@MikeJeffries

First question… how many opponents in iRacing when you had solid 90Hz?

I personally run the CP settings at default except Pre-rendered VR frames is at 2. Not sure if that is default or not.

I run rF2 a lot. Can you post a screen-shot of your in-game settings for rF2. (don’t see them in your link) Also, you have to be careful what track and car combos you run. Best to stay with the ISI or Studio 397 content for better optimization.

Maybe post it in https://community.openmr.ai/t/can-we-talk-sim-racing-performance-with-the-8k/ unless OP doesn’t mind a hi-jacking.

47

Hey @ricknau
in iRacing I put 15 cars visible and I get 90fps nearly every track and every car, except for certain bad spots.

Here’s my in-game graphics settings for rFactor2
AA Level 2 or Level 3 - i’ve tried both and level 3 is the limit

I’m running the GT3 cars at sebring and silverstone and getting 70-75fps.
I tried the Skip Barbers and got a flat 90fps

Circuit High/Full
Player High/Full
Opponent Low
Texture Detail High/Full
Texture Filter: Anisotropic 8x
Special Effects all the way down I turned off for now
12 cars visible
HUD Off

Also, I noticed SteamVR SS at 100% was too high. I was getting 50-55fps. I dropped it to 70% and got the bump to 70-75fps. Any lower than that and it didn’t help, but the visual quality at 70-100% Steam VR SS was the same in my opinion.

I dont know what I’m doing wrong but with the endurance pack, I should be at 90fps with my PC Specs, unless they’re an issue for others as well.

Someone told me to put VR Pre-Rendered frames from 2 to 1, which I did, but that didnt help

What do you recommend I do?

Are you racing in a Pimax 5k+ as well?

1 Like
48

@MikeJefferies

First off rF2 is simply harder on FPS than any other sim. It’s a shame because it has arguably the best physics and FF of any other sim. Probably a correlation there. I’m not expert enough to argue the argument but I think there is some consensus to that… at least in the rF2 community! :smile: But it’s my sim of choice and I’ll sacrifice whatever eye candy necessarily to run it.

Regarding your experience, Sebring can be THE most brutal track if you pick the wrong version. For the Studio 397 version (as opposed to the popular VLM version), do NOT pick the 12 Hour Road Course. It is LOADED with tons of off-track graphical objects that will bring almost any system to its knees. Pick the “12 hour layout”. And start with Circuit, Player, Opponent, Texture details on medium. Shadows low (or off). Special effects, rain, reflections, particles, all off. Texture filter 8x. And limit the Pimax to Normal FOV.

See how that does with 10-15 cars. If it sucks rF2 is in deep doo-doo.

Edit:

[quote=“ricknau, post:48, topic:11221”]It is LOADED with tons of off-track graphical objects that will bring almost any system to its knees.
[/quote]

Not intended to drag this discussion out further, but I can’t just let this mis-statement linger in the interweb ether. For any rF2 veterans that may have shaken their head upon reading it or potential new comers wondering about rF2 in general, the Studio 397 Sebring “12 Hour Road Course” (and all tracks in general) is now way better on my Vive than I state above. I updated my Nvidia drivers (as well as Vive) to the latest and the performance at this track with my 1080ti is waaaay better than it was when I first tried it. It does not bring “any system to it’s knees.” I can now maintian 90Hz easily with 15 AI, even with shadows on medium, higher detail and SS set above what SteamVR recommends.

Sorry, just have to set the record straight.

49

That’s exactly what I had it at, but I ran the Full Course of Sebring (new version) and was getting 70-75 fps.

I do feel that rf2 has amazing physics and FFB. The FFB i felt on that track were really good. Next behind it would be either Raceroom and AC probably. iRacing is my sim of choice right now, but that’s because of the way they have a race every 2 hours that I can always jump into.

50

I just looked at your earlier post to see what you’re running. Holy Cow! I’m doomed without an upgrade from my measly 1080ti!

I’m not clear if you mean normal FOV or normal FOV and the rest of settings like I suggested (med details on everything). But it probably wouldn’t make much difference anyway. Pimax needs to give us those “promised” FPS options.

One more question… for now. :smile: When you drop below the target FPS do you see jitters and/or stutter? I always see that with my Vive. Some have said that doesn’t happen with the Pimax.

51

Well, i played some more with the settings and its really vehicle dependent on rfactor2. I tried the same settings and different cars gave me anywhere from 70-75fps to a flat 90fps

I put full/high settings for circuit and player detail. Opponent detail to low because it doesnt matter, and texture detail full. Anisotropic at 4x or 8x. I also tried AA at level 4 and that was where i took a massive hit to fps. Level 2 gave me full 90fps but the actual quality was horrible. So i left it at level 3 and maximized as much as i could.

Keep in mind 1080ti isnt far off and my vive pro was almost equally as intensive on my gpu as the pimax.

Also, at 70-75fps, youre right there isnt much jitter like i saw on oculus rift and vive pro. IL-2 sturmovik i couldnt get past 70-80fps (i didnt tweak the settings much either) and that game is one of the toughest on the gpu, and yet it was smooth as hell.

Iracing, assetto corsa, and raceroom i got flat 90fps

Pcars2 i didnt bother reinstalling since i had the vive pro because it ran like crap on that hmd as well.

52

You are right, rF2 performance is very dependent on car choice. And dependent on one other thing neither of us mentioned specifically, and that is shadows. For many (most?) cars you MUST have shadows on low. More often than not it puts a make-or-break drag on performance. But strangely, some cars aren’t effected as much and you can get away with medium, which looks decent. Low is fakey looking pseudo shadows. If by any chance you had shadows on med, try again on low.

I appreciate your indulging me in the rF2 testing. It has a much smaller following than the other sims so not much specific feedback has been out there.

(Sorry to the OP for straying off his topic.)

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Not at all Rick, thanks for the heads up.

I did more homework on the topic, and the performance I’m currently getting is the best it’ll be. rFactor2 is just too hard on graphics because of their intensive tire model calculations.

I pushed the graphics to the limit so I’ll keep it there and see how multiplayer goes. Now, I just have to find some leagues, lol

54

I run in Sim Racers 4 Life (SR4L). A great league that tries to stay with the “classic” cars (1966-1980s). Bunch of very friendly (many older) guys. No drama. Skill range from very fast to not so fast. Always looking for new members.

:+1: That’s what makes it outstanding IMO.

OK, now waaay off topic! :grin:

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If it’s cars the require stick shift, ill be horrible. I only really know paddle shifting for now.

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Well in real life they do but paddle shifters work in the game and most (me included) SR4L drivers use the paddles. Though we have at least one very fast guy that uses stick and clutch. He amazes me.

57

Edited my reply #46 above.

58

Anybody got any idea why I’m getting 2 images in iracing rather than a combined 3d image? I’ve tried turning the parallel projection on and off, re-ran the iracing graphics config and ran with/without pitool running with no results and I’m not really sure what else to do with it.

The splash image while loading is perfectly clear, but once in game everything is duplicated.

59

It doesn’t change for me until I:

  1. Close iRacing.
  2. Shut off SteamVR and then Pitool
  3. Then open up Pitool first and then SteamVR
  4. Start up iracing

Make sure your HMD is blinking a lighter blue color and the status light is purple. If not, try the Reboot HMD from Pitool

1 Like
60

I just fixed it. Had to completely shut down the pc and reboot without the display port plugged in.

This thing is incredible!

3 Likes
61

Just FYI, turn off parallel projections if you play other games, as long as those games don’t also give you double-vision you’ll get better performance. Unfortunately, all the racing games besides AC for VR need it on, so we lose out on some performance.

1 Like
62

Except Assetto Corsa :+1:. It runs perfect with PP off

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