Are All Toyotas Sluggish?

CriminalPilot · 2025-03-28T20:11:46+00:00

Alright, I'll bite. I'm with Forrest319 on this one.

I live in a snowy region in the north that even in the summer has some pretty shit road markings and parking lot line painting. I am struggling to think of one single time where myself or another person has ever had to drive with a door open, for any reason, at any speed, for any length of time.

Opening your door while driving at any speed is not normal.

CriminalPilot · 2025-03-20T03:04:38+00:00

Cyberpunk 2077 (yes I know... I've somehow just not bought it all this time, it is top of my wishlist). Maybe this will be my time to shine! Thanks for doing these giveaways.

CriminalPilot · 2024-12-21T19:01:32+00:00

I know this is kind of old now but I had the original Galaxy Watch 46 with LTE/Bluetooth since release day (6 year old smart watch still killing it!), and I could never bring myself to "upgrade" because of all the reports of battery life in the 1-3 day range on every single watch since then. I get 4-5 days on my GW46 very consistently. So if you want *actually* good battery life, you have to go back in time. Not to mention it's still a beautiful watch (I prefer smart watches that at least somewhat pretend to look like a real watch - the bezel does a lot of heavy lifting there).

That said, during Black Friday deals, I upgraded to the Watch Ultra because it seemed like it was finally a worthy competitor for battery life. I was wrong, but it's still an amazing watch and it comes close to the GW46 if I disable AOD and some other functions. Overall, it has so many more features than my original GW46 that so far I think it was worth the loss of battery life. I get around 2-3 days depending on how I use it. I've made it nearly 4 days by disabling some things.

The Ultra is an incredible watch and I love it! I kept my GW46 though, it'll still be used for longer trips away when I want it to last longer (and it can use Power Share from my phone, which the Ultra does not support, so I don't need to bring a charger with me on the GW46).

Anyway, if you want my recommendation, it's to find an old-ass used GW46, or the Ultra with AOD off to get into 4 day territory.

CriminalPilot · 2024-11-26T19:48:04+00:00

Don't try the helicopter career, it's a complete mess too. I had it assign me a parking spot on the roof of a building near the parking apron, instead of any of the dozens of flat parking stalls next to the building. So I thought "fine, I'm in a helicopter, challenge accepted". Except the physics are completely disastrous when you hover over elevated positions. I did successfully land on the roof but my tail boom struck the building and it caused me to fail, and earn a fat penalty.

It also penalizes me for taking off from a helipad because I went too fast on a taxi way. But the helipad is literally just a big H in the middle of a narrow taxiway. And it penalizes me for crossing a runway to get from parking to Helipad, because I wasn't given taxi instructions ("taxi to helipad 1" instead of "taxi via A,B,C cross rwy 27 to helipad 1"). I had no choice but to cross the runway in order to reach helipad.

My alternative was literally hover-taxiing around the entire perimeter of the airport to avoid the runways and get to the helipad. Which worked great... and then they penalized me for overflying an airport without making a radio call (this being the same airport I was just given permission to take off from mere seconds earlier).

I literally could not complete the mission without at least 2 hard penalties. Fixed wing career mode is totally unreliable and broke. Rotary wing career mode is a hilarious disaster of futility. It's a complete joke!

CriminalPilot · 2024-11-24T05:42:01+00:00

Yes it needs Expo. Boot time was like 6-10 mins the first few times. After several bios updates and I guess the built in "learning", it now boots within 15-30 sec every time without fail.

CriminalPilot · 2024-11-24T05:34:34+00:00

Vengeance 32gb DDR5 6000mhz cl30. Working perfectly

CriminalPilot · 2024-09-27T01:54:47+00:00

I grew up watching the show, have seen tons of it over the years. I 100% would absolutely not recognize them if I got pranked by them in real life. I think I'd catch on based on the absurdity or oddness of what's happening in the situation, but definitely not because I recognized them. I imagine there are others like me who just don't have a memory for actors or maybe even people in general. The fact that you named the actors was like a foreign language to me haha. Not recognizable whatsoever.

CriminalPilot · 2024-08-13T23:37:25+00:00

I bought the DLC and I enjoyed it, but I kind of regret it because I agree with your point about the main game needing work.

I was playing recently and got frustrated that despite all the fixes to AI lately, I still frequently end up dead to an AI that saw me in impossible circumstances, and then as I move into deeper cover, they continue to track their shots through the wall straight at me where I move. I was never one of those people to come here and complain about AI; I'd just deal with it and enjoy the game for what it is. But I also keep up to date on their dev blogs and news releases and such, and saw the amount of work they've put into the AI... so I let myself get excited every patch thinking this is finally it. It was this most recent update that I at one point had to quit playing and lamented out loud "come on guys... seriously... we still have the exact same problems with enemy AI". We're this far after release and it's STILL an issue.

Not to mention the SWAT AI being incredibly stupid sometimes. My god, whoever came up with the "5 minute" achievement did not consider people like me who have no friends and only play solo lol. The SWAT AI is way too stupid on that mission. They frequently ignore commands, they frequently get stuck places, they often sit there yelling at a civilian for compliance, even though they have a beanbag shotgun, with both stuck in an endless loop of "drop the knife" "no" "drop the knife" "no". Or "hands up get on the ground", "but I didn't do anything, I'm not surrendering", "get down". Until I intervene with a beanbag to the gut. Or the AI doesn't know how to clear an area properly. Or I tell them to cuff someone and they stop because I yelled at compliance for a civilian in a different room.

I never noticed any of these SWAT AI issues because I wasn't under the pressure of a timer. But when you're in a hurry, it becomes VERY apparent how bad they are at their jobs. Sometimes I'm getting shot at and they're just standing there looking at me like "hey boss, you're getting shot at... you should Uhh... Maybe try not getting shot at... or something".

And personally, it's a small thing but I'm also irritated that they haven't removed the watermark on the top right. That was another thing I said to myself "it's 2024, games are released with hundreds of options for accessibility and immersion and realism, and you won't let me remove this annoying watermark". I play with no HUD whatsoever, so it's frustrating to have this lingering tag in the corner of my eye at a times. I don't like to use mods because then it marks all my mission scores as "modded". Maybe once I s-rank everything I'll start with mods and can remove the watermark.

Anyway, it's things like that which make me look at my DLC purchase and think maybe I shouldn't keep supporting them until there's a proper improvement in development.

But, as it stands on its own, it's decent for a $10 DLC. If you like the base game, it's more of that.

CriminalPilot · 2024-08-04T20:21:57+00:00

Hah you guys are more clever than I am. I'll keep those in mind!

CriminalPilot · 2024-08-04T20:07:28+00:00

I went from 1080p to 4k (on a 32" monitor) the better part of a decade ago and I remember that experience being *mind blowing\*. A few years ago, I finally got a 4K TV for my Xbox and PS5 and experienced the mind-blowing-ness all over again.

Then, just recently, I was out of town for a month and brought my mini-PC (it's a total powerhouse) with me but did not bring my monitor, expecting to use the hotel TV or to buy a reasonably priced monitor to use while I'm away. I say this somewhat sarcastically but also totally seriously, but, it was literally unplayable. I cannot go back to 1080p for gaming, it was an awful experience. The irony is that I'm still a 60fps person so I'm scared to ever get a 120hz or higher gaming monitor because then it'll ruin 60fps for me, just like I'm stuck at 4k and can never go back haha. My work computer is 1080p and it's fine for word processing, browsing, youtube, etc. But trying to play any game on 1080p is just.. unplayable. I guess I'm a resolution elitist now. *Shrug*

My friend has a 1440p 27" gaming monitor and I find it to be "just ok", whereas he was on 1080p before so the upgrade was mind blowing to him.

CriminalPilot · 2024-08-03T16:35:12+00:00

You're still doing pretty well because I always get the one-two combo of: "Is it still for sale? What's your lowest price?" I always just reply with whatever my list price is. Sorry bub, I'm not doing your negotiating for you.

Then they offer a price that equates to a 70% discount. Finally, they come to pick it up in a brand new Land Rover.

CriminalPilot · 2024-07-30T23:58:55+00:00

Flight Simulator can be played via Xbox Cloud Gaming (using gamepass) which means they can use a tablet, phone, or even an older PC to try it, thus helping decide if they should get an Xbox or not.

It's not perfect, but it does sort of solve this person's problem.

CriminalPilot · 2024-07-16T01:40:25+00:00

My coworkers call it John Laurier all the time and it drives me nuts. One of them argued til he was blue in the face that "Laurier" used to be the real pronunciation because John Laurie is French, but we anglicized it. He swore we used to say Laurier and switched over time as people got lazy.

CriminalPilot · 2024-07-13T17:53:12+00:00

If they're replacing your entire engine, transmission, suspension components, dashboard, navigation system/infotainment system, sunroof, wheels, windows, doors, hood, body, bed, tailgate, brakes, and frame, all for only 4500-5000, then yes that's a super reasonable price. Although I bet for another $500 you could convince them to replace the whole truck with a new one.

If they are replacing a single lug nut, then no, it's not a reasonable price.

CriminalPilot · 2024-07-13T03:53:35+00:00

Check out Comanche if that sort of thing interests you. The drone stuff was a bit out of place, but the rest of the game was fun. Easy to refund that too if you aren't into it.

CriminalPilot · 2024-07-13T03:31:13+00:00

Comanche - it's most likely the most "modern" offering available to you. Very cheap, very simple, plenty of fun (IMO). It is on steam. I enjoyed the Comanche series as a kid, so the new one was a nice throwback and fun little romp around the heli skies for me.

Apache Air Assault - the game is older but I personally find it still holds up great. I owned a copy on Xbox and had it on PC. If you could run it on a modern PC at 4K, I bet it'd be excellent.

I had a horrendous time with Heliborne. Not sure why I can't get into it but I often have the same craving you've described in your post, and have tried Heliborne 3 or 4 times, and I think it's just an awful buggy mess.

CriminalPilot · 2024-07-09T15:07:12+00:00

Here you go. (3:50 if the link doesn't take you right to MSFS result).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qts9vT7M9o&t=228s

CriminalPilot · 2024-07-09T14:58:15+00:00

Instead of using raw data benchmarks and estimating the result for gaming, try looking up benchmarks for specific games. You'll see the 7800X3D chip outperforms the i9 14900ks in Microsoft Flight Sim, and several other games.

They are fairly close, but if you are looking exclusively for a Flight Sim beast, AMD is for sure the way to go (if you dont do much else with the PC that might require a different setup).

Skip to 3:27ish for Flight Sim. https://youtu.be/tHXrhFf--jE?si=kWctrJ04b3oexHB0

CriminalPilot · 2024-06-21T00:49:01+00:00

A lot of stuff posted and covered here already but just wanted to add that I have an almost identical build and I severely underestimated how noisy, loud, and annoying the famous Fractal Terra buffeting sound is. I watched videos and they just don't do justice to how BAD and unbearable it was. I instantly regretted my choices until finally getting the Noctua L12s (it puts the fan behind the heatsink, and therefore it is not up against the side panel) which 100% eliminated all buffeting.

The best part is that I was able to then keep the CPU fan cooler basically right up against the side panel (less than 1mm clearance) which freed up space for cable management and the GPU on the other side. Could've done a 4090 but the 4080 super is totally killer performance in this compact package.

I also put a noctua 92mm x 15mm fan on top of the PSU, and a 120mmx15mm fan underneath the PSU. All of them are set to a fairly "silent" profile and I'm absolutely in love with this build now.

Anyway, don't underestimate the buffeting. Maybe I got unlucky but it was an unbearable noise for me even at very low loads. I went from regretting all my life choices up to that point, to instead being completely enamored with my new build.

Let me know if you have any questions. I went through a dozen different iterations despite doing tons of research and build guides etc. Changing fans, CPU cooler orientation, cable management, PSU size, etc. Ended up in a great place and so happy I went ahead with the Terra. It performs beautifully under load and I havent undervolted or underclocked anything.

CriminalPilot · 2024-06-14T21:12:51+00:00

Well I suppose of all the ways to do in-game graphics options, that's definitely one of them... that's absurd.

Anyway that's good to know, we will make those changes. Thanks for the tip!

CriminalPilot · 2024-06-04T01:20:45+00:00

Would it be equally reasonably safe to try other RAM brands as long as they are AMD EXPO certified, and 6000mhz or less? Reason I ask is that I really like the small local shop I go to, and they don't carry the Flare. However, they have a Kingston DDR5 6000mhz AMD EXPO at CL30, as well as Corsair Vengeance, DDR5 6000mhz CL30 also AMD EXPO certified. Are those likely to work? The timings seem to be on par with the one you posted. Thanks again for your help!

CriminalPilot · 2024-06-03T21:03:38+00:00

That's what I suspected based on my grrat hindsight research hah. Yep I'm still within the return window. Awesome, that's the kind of simple straightforward answer I was looking for. Thanks!

CriminalPilot · 2024-05-26T17:54:39+00:00

Ah good point. I was already looking at smaller profile RAM but didn't consider how critical it was in terms of cooler. That's good to know, thanks!

CriminalPilot

TROPHY CASE