ACC v1.8 VR Optimization - MichealCanacari/AccVrGuide GitHub Wiki

Introduction

As of version 1.8 getting ACC to run in a way that is performant and also visually clear is quite a challenge. Being personally frustrated with the different methods of optimization, it has become evident that there is a lot of good info out there but equally a lot of not so good info. Unfortunately, due to the limitation of screen capturing tools, it can be quite tough to judge what works well and what doesn't without implementing it yourself.

Goal

We submit that there is no perfect universal VR setup for ACC - Just like optimizing your car setups in ACC, there are some things that work well, and others that don't; there are for sure "operating windows" for the specifications of your hardware and system. Like building a car setup, your VR setup should be to the needs of the user. Different specs are going to require different optimizations. Think of these options as your baseline "aggressive setup". You start with a benchmark or good foundation and optimize from there.

Out of Scope

Just like learning how different settings in a car change the behavior of your vehicle, there are lots of different settings and configurations you are going to change in hardware, configurable files, etc. With all of these options, it would be quite a long document to explain them all, and candidly I don't have the expertise to explain the inner workings of all these settings. But know along the journey of this implementation as you get a solid benchmark you like, learning the best ways to optimize for your setup will require time, research, and trial + error.

Hardware Specs

All of the options below have been configured with my setup - all work pretty well (some better than others). Of course, know there are compromises and benefits to each one. I will do my best to summarize these along the way.

Ryzen 7 5800X
GeForce RTX3080
32 GB ram 3200mhz ddr 4
Headgear G2 reverb V2
Windows 10

Before you get started

Get your hardware right

Before even touching ACC, downloading any 3rd party tools, or messing with in-game files. Start with optimizing your PC. This is the foundation that you are going to build from. Safely overclock your system, get as fancy as you like - or in my case not so fancy. I downloaded MSI Afterburner and used the scan tool (following their tutorial).

I also implemented XMP in my bios so that from a RAM perspective I made sure I was getting the MHz (3200) that were on my spec. There is a Linus tech tip video that is easy to implement.

Test as you implement

On each of these steps including overclocking your system, it is important that you consistently test as you go. Trust me when I say, there is nothing more frustrating than blindly implementing everything in this guide, something doesn't work and now you are blindly debugging what is the problem. If you test each step, after implementing and get a fatal error, simply undo your last step and your back on track, or at least have a point in time to understand where the problem is coming from.

Plan to back everything up

No matter which of these implementation options you are planning to use, first back up your system to recover (always a good idea)- and as you go, if you are touching engine files, config files, etc. Always keep a copy of the original - rename it in the folder. Trust me it will come in handy along the way. Especially if you end up trying all of the options.

Options for optimizing

There are three different guides here and they all have their pros and cons, all of which are different implementations up-scaling techniques, aimed at improving FPS by reducing the load on the GPU, below are the options and what is required:

In-Game FSR/DLSS - tweaking in-game settings, Mixed Reality, SteamVR, Nvidia control panel.
FSR Implementation SteamVR - tweaking in-game settings, mixed reality, Nvidia control panel, SteamVR, engine files, VRPerformance Toolkit implementation.
FSR Implementation OpenXR - tweaking in-game settings, mixed reality, Nvidia control panel, engine files, OpenXR implementation & toolkit.

Pros & Cons of the options

In-Game FSR The main benefit, this is incredibly low-touch - you are using all settings that are very supported, and easy to implement/learn. There are a ton of videos on optimizing this way. For my purpose, unfortunately, I had to make too many compromises. Specifically, I was constantly having to balance performance versus clarity. However, without a doubt - if this works for your system, it's the easiest & best choice.

FSR Implementation SteamVR Solid benchmark, has pretty great clarity and good performance - better optimized than in-game FSR options. Was a pretty easy tutorial to follow and required minimal invasiveness. I would have not had issues using this approach long-term, the challenge for me was there was still some stuttering on certain corners that I was being nitpicky about, that I just couldn't tweak away.

FSR Implementation Open XR Solid benchmark, a little bit more of a learning curve to get set up properly, has the best available visibility, and performs very well on my system. The biggest con here is you may have to switch between OpenXR and SteamVR for certain titles, the learning curve as stated, loss of steamVR functionality (convenience like reseat position.) and is community-driven updates. So likely changes in ACC over time are going to require you to keep these tools updated as well (and could break). This is what I have been using on my system & what will be described in-depth. For my purpose, it gave me the most performance and visibility, so I can deal with the compromise of my time.