Sim Racing Discussion Thread

[Andrew]

Rather than making 10+ threads for the individual racing sims, I've decided to create a thread for all of them, both PC and console. This thread is racing simulators including, but not limited to:

• Assetto Corsa series
  
• Automobilista series
  
• Dirt series
  
• Forza Motorsport series
  
• Gran Turismo series
  
• iRacing
  
• Live For Speed
  
• Project CARS series
  
• Race series
  
• Raceroom
  
• rFactor series
  

Personally, I play Assetto Corsa, Forza Motorsport 6 and 7 and iRacing. I used to play Race: WTCC, Race 07, Live For Speed and the entire Gran Turismo series except Sport. I am thinking of picking up a PS4 for Gran Turismo Sport though.

[Simmons]

Where's Rocket League

 

Looking forward to content in here. I've been getting an itch lately to check out racing sims.

[Andrew]

The Forza Motorsport series is probably a good start. It doesn't have the most realistic physics, but they're good enough and it's playable with a controller. You can also try out a demo (built on Forza Motorsport 6) with Forza 6: Apex on PC.

[Simmons]

Sounds good to me!

[Supercrumpet]

Seconding Forza games. They're about as arcadey as I'm willing to go, and they're also quite controller-friendly. Only thing is they tend to be relatively expensive.

[Andrew]

Seconding Forza games. They're about as arcadey as I'm willing to go, and they're also quite controller-friendly. Only thing is they tend to be relatively expensive.

 

[Supercrumpet]

 

 

 

Yep, okay, iRacing wins that one. I'll give you that.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Supercrumpet

[ENTERPRISE]

[Alex]

Need to get back into iRacing...

[Andrew]

Same. My internet connections seems stable again so I won't get disconnected and penalized. I dumped over £350 into content for it that I'm not using at the moment.

[ENTERPRISE]

Same. My internet connections seems stable again so I won't get disconnected and penalized. I dumped over £350 into content for it that I'm not using at the moment.

 

Are we talking just downloadable content ? That is a lot of cash!

[Andrew]

 

Are we talking just downloadable content ? That is a lot of cash!

 

Yes, that doesn't include the subscription either. iRacing is by far the most expensive racing sim out there. All prices here are in USD excluding local VAT here, I can't be bothered to convert it and they only show USD on their website. When you do get a subscription ($13/month, $33/3 months, $110/year or $199/2 year, 40% discount for new memberships for all of them) you get 18 cars and 18 tracks included. Those cars and tracks are only really useful if you only want to do the Rookie races which I wouldn't recommend. The people who do Rookie races are generally really, really bad. I've seen people crash the slowest cars in the game on a straight with no one around them.

 

Once you get your D license, you pretty much have to buy more content and this is where you give them your wallet. Each car is $11.95 and each track is $11.95 or $14.95 each, most of which are $14.95. You don't need to buy all content, you just buy what you want. Of course, the more you buy the bigger of a discount you get as a "bulk buy" bonus. Total price of everything including that discount but excluding local taxes would cost over $1500.

 

iRacing do have a monopoly on this type of sim racing though. There's only online racing, no AI at all and there's no competition for this type of game, at least on PC. The closest sim to iRacing as far as gameplay goes is Gran Turismo Sport which is only on PS4.

[ENTERPRISE]

I will consider myself educated on the subject, I am not much of a racing sim/game kinda guy but I had heard of iRacing. Certainly an expensive thing to be involved in, especially if you are very keen on it.

[Supercrumpet]

 

Yes, that doesn't include the subscription either. iRacing is by far the most expensive racing sim out there. All prices here are in USD excluding local VAT here, I can't be bothered to convert it and they only show USD on their website. When you do get a subscription ($13/month, $33/3 months, $110/year or $199/2 year, 40% discount for new memberships for all of them) you get 18 cars and 18 tracks included. Those cars and tracks are only really useful if you only want to do the Rookie races which I wouldn't recommend. The people who do Rookie races are generally really, really bad. I've seen people crash the slowest cars in the game on a straight with no one around them.

 

Once you get your D license, you pretty much have to buy more content and this is where you give them your wallet. Each car is $11.95 and each track is $11.95 or $14.95 each, most of which are $14.95. You don't need to buy all content, you just buy what you want. Of course, the more you buy the bigger of a discount you get as a "bulk buy" bonus. Total price of everything including that discount but excluding local taxes would cost over $1500.

 

iRacing do have a monopoly on this type of sim racing though. There's only online racing, no AI at all and there's no competition for this type of game, at least on PC. The closest sim to iRacing as far as gameplay goes is Gran Turismo Sport which is only on PS4.

 

Competition-wise, ACC seemed/seems like they want to compete with iRacing for that online sim market, but last time I checked, they have a ways to go.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Supercrumpet

[Andrew]

 

Competition-wise, ACC seemed/seems like the want to compete with iRacing for that online sim market, but last time I checked, they have a ways to go.

 

They are trying, but it's not working. ACC is missing so much content, on top of that it's currrently broken.

[Supercrumpet]

 

They are trying, but it's not working. ACC is missing so much content, on top of that it's currrently broken.

 

The nice thing is that, as far as I've seen, they are updating the game relatively frequently. Again, I really need to figure out how to set my stuff up again and have another go. Last time I played it was probably a month or six weeks before the game's "release".

[Supercrumpet]

I know we haven't been speaking of it super highly just now, but ACC is on sale at the Humble Store:

 

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/assetto-corsa-competizione

[Andrew]

The new tyre model for iRacing does look pretty good. Cold tyres no longer have more grip than warm and the grip levels seem more realistic. However, they still don't have flatspots. The tyre model developer really needs to find a way to impliment that. At the price iRacing is, not having a tyre model that supports flatspots is a joke. Live For Speed (free demo, £36) had flatspots since at least 2008. But still, it's a massive improvement.

[TheBadBull]

I enjoy the occasional Assetto Corsa spat but I'm nowhere near willing to invest in iRacing.

[Andrew]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYhZQZiXANo

 

New track, new cars, new tyre model and new damage model. Pretty big update this time. Only issue with the damage model that I have is I now have to avoid debris and idiots instead of just idiots.

[Supercrumpet]

Every day I'm more and more tempted to jump into iRacing. Still have to find a place for my wheel first though.

[Andrew]

The G29 is the biggest pile of turd Logitech has ever made. There's a reason why used G27s are selling for more than new G29s. I shouldn't have sold my G27 when I had it, then I could have incrementally upgraded it to a Fanatec Clubsport wheel. You'd be better off buying a used T300RS than a new G29.

 

If I can get my G29 fixed, I'll most likely start iRacing again from Monday, or maybe Tuesday because that's when the track rotations are.

[Andrew]

Now that I have a new wheel that actually works, VR and enough money to get iRacing again. I tried iRacing in VR, it makes it incredibly easy. When I was using my monitor, corners 5, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 of Interlagos in the Audi R18 were almost impossible as all of them are blind corners in a car with enormous blind spots. In VR, it's a non-issue. I was immediately faster than I had ever been without VR and I was using the stock setup which is terrible around there as well as not using KERS.

[Supercrumpet]

Now that I have a new wheel that actually works, VR and enough money to get iRacing again. I tried iRacing in VR, it makes it incredibly easy. When I was using my monitor, corners 5, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 of Interlagos in the Audi R18 were almost impossible as all of them are blind corners in a car with enormous blind spots. In VR, it's a non-issue. I was immediately faster than I had ever been without VR and I was using the stock setup which is terrible around there as well as not using KERS.

 

Yeah, the benefits of VR are most obvious in LMP1 cars where you have more area of blind spots than not. They go from being extremely difficult to drive, even in triple screen, to very natural and cozy feeling. Those are very fun cars.

 

Somewhat related, I'm seriously considering upgrading my sim gear and trying out iRacing next time there's a new member promotion. That'd probably be around Black Friday (fingers crossed for some good Fanatec deals) and/or December.

[Andrew]

 

Yeah, the benefits of VR are most obvious in LMP1 cars where you have more area of blind spots than not. They go from being extremely difficult to drive, even in triple screen, to very natural and cozy feeling. Those are very fun cars.

 

Somewhat related, I'm seriously considering upgrading my sim gear and trying out iRacing next time there's a new member promotion. That'd probably be around Black Friday (fingers crossed for some good Fanatec deals) and/or December.

 

There's always new member promotions 🙃

 

 

It doesn't really get better than this.

 

Alternatively you can use "PR-eNASCAR2019" "PR-GRIPTV19" or "PRNASCAR1019" to get 3 months for $10, or "PR-HOTLAPS" to get 3 months for $4.78 or "PR-OUTLAWS" to get 12 months for $50. Those do only apply to new members and I'm not even sure if any of them work. It's worth trying out though.