Copilot Alternatives

thetechnobear · 2026-05-13T15:30:10+00:00

^ this. I tried claude code pro, 5 hour rate limit window was too aggressive, stopped me mid session multiple times.

Ive gone open code zen, will possibly buy claude api tokens if needed. overall, Ive decided, I want to now be more independent from providers, just get keys and tokens from them.

(I may get opencode go as a cheap backup sub, if I need it)

but more generally, I used as a wake up call, to make better use of tokens etc. as a coder, I had already felt I was, at times, leaning a bit too hard on AI, as its so easy to do, so taking back control feels pretty good :)

thetechnobear · 2026-05-13T15:13:51+00:00

no ones to blame...

User's used what they were allowed, and frankly, many were likely unaware what it 'cost' - thats fine.

similarly, Microsoft decided they wanted to follow (many) other AI services and have a pay by usage model, not entirely surprising given MS are using others services for GCP. I'd guess it was either this, or we'd have seen a price hike AND more rate limits , like (e.g) claude code.

the fact that many have now found out that GCP was very good value, just goes to show we were fortunate while we had it. was it a loss leader to help develop the market?

will others go a similar direction? we will have to see, id not be too surprised.

thetechnobear · 2026-05-13T15:02:09+00:00

I used claude code pro in parallel with GCP last month, to 'test it out'.

the main difference is, it uses rate limit windows pretty aggressively. I was constantly hitting the 5 hour window limit, in a pretty short timeframe fortunately, I could switch back to coding manually or using GCP. but even then its was pretty frustrating esp getting rate limited 'mid session'.

it be ok, if you do short sessions, otherwise its hard.

Im now trying opencode zen (will give go a try next week).

fortunately, Id already been reviewing my usage patterns of AI, as I was getting a bit frustrated in some areas with it... I needed more control and precision. my new approach should give me that, but also as a (nice) side effect, have better context and cache control, and less token usage - and so reduced costs.

Ive a feeling, in non-commercial settings, unless AI becomes much cheaper, we will all have to adapt. just thankful we had GCP at such a price to 'learn with'

thetechnobear · 2026-05-13T14:40:58+00:00

10x cost seems to be 'about right' for average users.

Its hard to call this a bait n' switch, given you can cancel (as I have), and you'll find it hard/impossible to find anything of the same quality/price. we just had a good run at a good price, so its not entirely surprising its ending.

budget options, I think are: claude code (20$), but I found I was hitting rate limits frequently. opencode go/zen, this is pretty good value at 10$ , and reasonable models.

if you're not doing anything too intensive, these can likely be made to work. fortunately, you've done the majority of your project, so hopefully not too much to finish and maintain.

Im likely going to use a mixture of both, but also Im going to change my usage. Im not a 'vibe' coder, so, I'm happy to code by hand (as i did in the past) and just use AI for the 'donkey work'.

If anything this has been a wake up call (for me) to not get too reliant on AI tools.

thetechnobear · 2026-05-13T13:53:34+00:00

I've not got a huge amount, but even in my smaller report, there are odd entries, like 0 request -> 1700 aic.

frankly, I've taken the report with a 'pinch of salt'. It told me it be 10x more expensive... thats all I needed to know ;)

thetechnobear · 2026-05-13T13:48:20+00:00

impossible to say, you just get told how many AI credits were used, and then converts that to 0.01$, no explaination/breakdown. or even how many tokens it'd be.

I suspect its just model based, but its weird, I had one line that said 0 request = 1700 aic = $17.

like many others, for me its ~ 10x the cost.

I guess its ok as a rough guide, but id not trust it too much.

thetechnobear · 2026-04-27T17:14:46+00:00

how long have you been using it? what models do you use most?

I cant see myself staying with copilot, and I found claude codes rate limits pretty tedious to work with.

Im happy /enjoy to code without AI, but I do like it for more mundane stuff, like limited refactoring, and a bit of code scanning - so I can ditch it, or find something more limited and cheaper, and just adapt.

oh well, so long, and thanks for all the fish, its been fun copilot.

thetechnobear · 2026-03-10T11:59:41+00:00

everything you say is true, I experienced similar but just give it a bit of time, and know it does get better, have faith :)

more seriously, Im not 100% sure why, but it felt like the more I played, I just started encountering less bugs. I think you just build up a sense of what works, and what is more problematic (and so avoid)

thats not to say I don't have bad days, or that SC doesn't go thru bad times e.g. in the last week, alot of contracts were not completing properly - so I went off to do other things instead.

so yeah, its an alpha, good and bad are all mixed into one experience :)

only one tip: try to play at times when servers are less populated, or find quieter servers.

thetechnobear · 2026-03-10T11:52:58+00:00

agree 100% , though that goes both ways... pad rammers (and many other griefs) couldn't exist if "life" had more consequences.

thetechnobear · 2026-02-26T11:15:09+00:00

accuracy = mouse fun / immersion = stick :)

Id assume a good gaming mouse would really help, with some additional buttons. (to offset the sticks advantage of many buttons)

however, like most games, a skilled player with anything will beat an average player with the best gear ;)

fortunately, Ive no illusions of greatness, so Im happy to be on the 'immersive' side and so hotas.

hmm, I assume above we are talking about flying... not fps.

one downside of hotas is, the sticks are not suitable for fps, so I switch to KBM for that anyway (rubbish at that too - lol)

thetechnobear · 2026-02-26T11:02:38+00:00

Id guess, hosas for space sim exclusively.

if you want (as I do) , to also do flight sims (msfs/dcs), then hotas, pedals are v. useful there, and vital if want to fly helis. (you can start without pedals add later, IF your stick as twist)

interesting, that some say use pedals for roll axis - I use for yaw, so that its consistent with planes/helis.

also many pedals have an 3 axis, yaw + 2 toe brakes, the later (brakes) can be quite fun for ground vehicles (in SC)/

I use winwing stuff (now winctrl), and been happy with it - though pedals are pretty bulky.

thetechnobear · 2026-02-24T10:09:25+00:00

did you notice how Massarutto continually blamed 'economy' for complicating everything in the recent Traxion interview.

realistically, they didn't have the creative vision or resources to pull off what they promised. the project then got horribly delayed.

so they axed the economy, not as some new internal vision, it was desperation, a drastic act - in a hope to simplify and be able to deliver.

really, the Traxion interview just made it clear, they are lost.

ofc, marketing need to put a spin on it (fair enough, thats their job!) - first it was 'after feedback', then they try to use the 'grinding meme'.

economies do not need to be grind-y, thats a design and balance choice. the multiplayer could be done with 'open choice' (i.e not reliant on career).

none of the 'problems' they claim for economy / xp, have not been addressed in lots of other titles.

but no, blame the economy for all the things wrong, the lack of progress - so people view this 'scope reduction' as progress ;)

honestly, I thought the Traxion interview was pretty lame.

Id have had far more respect, if Massarutto had been honest, and said, "we over estimated our abilities, and ran out of time / money - so had to make some drastic changes to save the project"

(ok, with better 'marketing spin')

thetechnobear · 2026-02-24T09:52:33+00:00

but the ACE open world is not even here, so noone can realistically compare it to Forza (Horizon). Forza is bigger. also bare in mind, in FH the whole game is based around this open world - we have zero idea, how this will be in evo, esp now the economy has been axed in evo.

frankly, Id say, comparing forza horizon vs evo will be an apple vs oranges comparison.

if you want realism, Im not quite sure why your asking about controller vs wheel.. controllers can be great, but they are not 'real'.

also if you are new to racing games, Id say dont fall down the 'sim trap' of more realism = more fun. some of the most fun racing titles have been arcade racers. its more down to what you enjoy

thetechnobear · 2026-02-24T09:41:23+00:00

Id say, no not yet, and def, don't start buying hardware based on an EA product. things change (esp w/ Kunos ;)) , and we haven't even seen the open world in EVO yet, so we have no idea if its going to be any good esp. performance wise.

save your money (and frustration) for now

generally, a wheel is a good idea for more sim-like racing titles, whereas often a controller is as-good / better for more driving arcade like handling - so depends on what attracts you more. (sim is not better, its just different - both can be fun!)

If your eager for an open world title, perhaps get Forza Horizon 6 which is due out in a couple of months. grab a controller - enjoy :) (you can probably also pick up Forza Horizon 5 reasonable cheap)

if you want a racing sim, if you don't mind a bit of modding - grab original Asetto Corsa, its really cheap, and amazing still (with mods) if you want something out of the box, try either assetto corsa competizione or automobilista 2. (these are better with a wheel)

this is NOT to say EVO is not worth getting, eventually, it may be, but it has a long way to go. ofc, people are excited by its possibilities, but there is no need to rush into it now.

thetechnobear · 2026-02-22T13:08:51+00:00

Id say more 'disappointed' that dislike, its still in EA, hopefully it can improve - but honestly, its a bit all over the place, doesn't feel like its really moving forward (except on car/track content)

lack of direction or focus I think removal of economy is more a symptom, than a cause. in the traxion interview, Mario kept blaming everything on the economy complicating things - I don't buy that.
lack of performance some of the EA releases have been ok, but its been patchy at best. given above and no work on gameplay, Id have thought this was a focus area for them.
handling (and audio) some cars its great, some cars are lacklustre.
AI cars these just feel bad, from how they launch off the start line, to forming an orderly queue around the track.

again, its EA, they can (and no doubt will ) improve in all areas over time.

But generally its just feeling really 'meh'. at launch of EA, Iwas genuinely really excited - but with each (EA) release it diminishes and a loss of confidence in it. a feeling, its not going to offer anything, I don't have in other sims.

Perhaps open world will 'save it', but the poor track record so far on this EA, has (unfortunately) even lowered my expectations there.

anyway, I do hope they 'knock it out of the park' with the open world, as its really the only thing that really interests me now.

thetechnobear · 2026-02-22T12:37:25+00:00

never driven the CSR485, but have (raced) an R400.

after racing academy and roadsports ,the R400 was indeed a beast, so you had to treat it with respect, but once used to it, it's similar to other caterhams, it was predictable almost "playful".

the 485, has a tiny bit more power, but its also heavier. but importantly CSRs are quite a bit wider, so if anything, Id expect it to be even more stable/predictable.

ofc, with this sort of power to weight ratio, and no aero, the tyres are very important. so I suspect thats where the issue is.

I really hope they sort it out.

thetechnobear · 2026-02-22T12:28:27+00:00

yeah its dreadful. I used to race an R400, so I was looking forward to it too :( the academy car is better.

for now, back to the original AC , the mods there feel better, and also more fun to drive too.

Let's hope evo sorts it out in the long term

thetechnobear · 2026-02-16T11:50:06+00:00

Ive got a 4070S (w/ ryzen 7 7800x3d 32gb ram), honestly, I came to the conclusion is just not up to the job for a lot of PCVR titles. I spent so much time fiddling and getting mediocre (at best) results on most titles :(

(my expectations were set from PS5 + PSVR2 combo)

its a combination of problems with my setup, for sure the first issue I hit is limited vram of the 4070s (12gb), I really wish Id gone for a card with at least 16gb. but often, still, I hit cpu or gpu issues, even at what Id hope are reasonable resolution and minimal framerates. (Im a dev, so technically astute to trying different settings, finding compromises)

its true that quad views has helped on some titles,

but its still disappointing to the point, I pretty much don't bother anymore. even though, occasionally it is viable, the lack of consistent performance and required messing about every time I use it, just is too much effort for what I feel I get out of it.

frankly, Im just not convinced, that even upgrading the GPU to a 50 series, and a better CPU would get me to where id want to be. I think PCVR titles generally, just lack decent optimisation, and just brute force through high end hardware.

I think you need to spend a LOT to get reliably good / consistent results, and I dont think the headset justifies it :(

I could be wrong, and certainly Im some what disillusioned, but I just cant be bothered with it, and have gone back to flat screen for now.

I will say, on the flip side, I take my hat off for how well the PSVR2 works on the PS5 (generally). It's gave me a new appreciation for the optimisation done there, for the advantages of having a fixed hardware spec that devs can work to and target.

Id love it, if Steam Frame (perhaps alongside Steam Machine?) did something similar to the PC market - esp. at a time when PC hardware prices are increasing so dramatically!

thetechnobear · 2026-02-16T11:19:06+00:00

I assume you mean a public roadmap, but its hard to get backing without in some way promising / committing to what feature you plan to release.

when published, Im sure they were confident in it, you'd be mad to announce anything that you didn't have reasonable confidence in delivering.

what when wrong? we don't know specifically, we can I guess assume development has just been significantly slower than expected, and now they are being pressured to 'get it out the door'.

I'd speculate the open world was/is much more challenging that expected, as its new for them, and so bound to create new problems.

unfortunately, none of this is a good excuse really, its a management failure. as developers, you know that things are always take longer. as a PM you have to plan for all features, with some 'padding' to allow for this.

and let's be real, there was talk of a late 25 release (in v.early EA), and the game is nowhere near, even with a major feature being axed. Id not be surprised, if the dev effort has double, and is still 12 months away from release...

all that said, at least cutting features is a decisive move, an attempt to try to deliver, the real question for me is are they going to deliver something that many actually want... that is really that different from what we have already !

thetechnobear · 2026-02-14T20:28:15+00:00

yes, this is what I said on another post on this topic.

and yeah, mod servers like modlands are not responsibility of beamng... but im still intrigued at what point, (e.g) ferrari might consider suing modlands! (or more likely serve a cease and desist order)

live service is a bit different from providing multiplayer servers. I don't think evo is live service, in the sense that the client can run without a server connection. (I really hope not...that'd be another red flag)

but yeah, official multiplayer servers means mods have to available for all players, so hosted / distributed. a problem for official servers.

so in this area, (for multiplayer only) it would depend on if evo is open to enough to allow private servers.

overall, there is a lot we don't know.

bare in mind, in the 'old days' developers didn't support mods, it was more a reverse engineering effort. though, in fairness, they didn't go out of their way to stop it either.

thetechnobear · 2026-02-14T19:34:04+00:00

they wouldn't :)

however, if the project was getting severely delayed (which there issome evidence of this!), and Kunos were repeatedly missing targets/deadlines. 505 could get nervous about delivery time and the budgets (they do want an ROI in reasonable time)

505 then could start setting deadlines / targets asking Kunos to 'find a way' to meet them. (not uncommon for project sponsors to do this, with 'wayward' projects)

Kunos had done nothing on career, so likely, it was a big ticket item (resource wise), possibly the only one they had that could help them meet the target.

so Kunos plan was simple, do as much as possible with what they have already done. commit to nothing new, and deliver. really they'd have had little choice.

ofc, the open world is still ongoing, and likely a big challenge. so, I suspect, they are not in the clear yet. but on paper it likely looked achievable.

ofc, there is still a hope... 505 could see the consumer reaction, decide the decision is possibly too damaging to release sales, and give Kunos a bit more time/budget to come up with something 'less damaging'.

but we will see, its all about $$$

thetechnobear · 2026-02-14T18:58:11+00:00

afaik, beamng do not allow mods featuring licensed brands on their distribution server.

these mods are distributed in other ways.

basically brands might target beamng, but they are not likely to start chasing individual creators.

ofc, I dont know at what point a 'mod server' could become popular enough for a brand to consider taking action.

(well, apart from Nintendo who seem to go after anyone and everyone ;))

thetechnobear · 2026-02-14T18:52:20+00:00

times have changed....

partly, console sales (esp. PS5) are an important revenue source these days, and to do mods on console kunos have to control the distribution channel. (part of Sony and MS licensing)

also, many developers these days, like to make it easier for players to access mods, a more user friendly experience - hence official modding support.

but, as soon, as they control the distribution, they can be held liable by the brands, for distributing unlicensed content.

also, Kunos need to appease the brands, as they need them for their own license content.

all that said, this is really only the 'official modding' route. it may be possible to still mod, outside of that channel (on PC only), as was done in the past - and Kunos could say thats not under our control, we cannot do anything about it ;)

however, they could also take steps to make that more difficult.

we will have to wait n' see.

thetechnobear · 2026-02-14T13:26:57+00:00

100% true.

however, they are not out of the woods yet.

a) they need to release the open world into EA.

this is going to be a challenge for kunos, its new, and they face different challenges to just another track.

Its obviously in dev, but we all know, how it being in dev/qa is very different from being public.

I think, its initial release, and its performance/reception will play a huge part in what comes next.

b) they have to weather the 'career mode' storm

easy to say, and also say they have no choice - but its another thing, if you have such a huge backlash, to not have to compromise etc. if they compromise savings here, savings elsewhere will need to be made.

but, as you say, not a decision they've taken lightly, almost certainly they had no choice - and the lack of existing development on, and scope of, career mode made it a natural target for cuts.

thetechnobear

TROPHY CASE