Discussion
In terms of physics (in my opinion of course):-
iRacing is the best, but expensive (no demo)
NetKar is behind racing, but has no AI and online isn't very good (demo available).
LFS next, poor AI but great online community (online demo available).
GTR2, good physics, plenty of mods, good AI and technically free (but you need the original disc - available from pirates)
rFactor next for me - others will rate this more highly but I just can't get on with the physics or UI although rFactor 2 is looking promising. (timed demo available)
In terms of specs none of them need super computers to run.
iRacing is the best, but expensive (no demo)
NetKar is behind racing, but has no AI and online isn't very good (demo available).
LFS next, poor AI but great online community (online demo available).
GTR2, good physics, plenty of mods, good AI and technically free (but you need the original disc - available from pirates)
rFactor next for me - others will rate this more highly but I just can't get on with the physics or UI although rFactor 2 is looking promising. (timed demo available)
In terms of specs none of them need super computers to run.
andycambo said:
In terms of physics (in my opinion of course):-
iRacing is the best, but expensive (no demo)
NetKar is behind racing, but has no AI and online isn't very good (demo available).
LFS next, poor AI but great online community (online demo available).
GTR2, good physics, plenty of mods, good AI and technically free (but you need the original disc - available from pirates)
rFactor next for me - others will rate this more highly but I just can't get on with the physics or UI although rFactor 2 is looking promising. (timed demo available)
In terms of specs none of them need super computers to run.
I would whole-heartedly agree with that list. Linky to RFactor 2 demo please..? iRacing is the best, but expensive (no demo)
NetKar is behind racing, but has no AI and online isn't very good (demo available).
LFS next, poor AI but great online community (online demo available).
GTR2, good physics, plenty of mods, good AI and technically free (but you need the original disc - available from pirates)
rFactor next for me - others will rate this more highly but I just can't get on with the physics or UI although rFactor 2 is looking promising. (timed demo available)
In terms of specs none of them need super computers to run.
Purely online-based. You pay so much per month, $12 I believe or follow this link http://www.iracing.com/insidesimracing/ for a good deal, then you pay between $10 and $15 per additional car/track you want to download. Not sure as to the specs of a Mac mini, but i'm sure the website will tell you 
Chunkychucky said:
I would whole-heartedly agree with that list. Linky to RFactor 2 demo please..?
Sorry I meant the first one available! I wish rFactor 2 had a demo!As mentioned iRacing is online only but community racing is generally much better than other games because people are paying out of their arse for it. Also, they have a licence system in which you progress though which depends on your driving ability and SR (safety record, basically not crashing), so it is taken a lot more seriously.
It isn't a job in which you think 'I'll just have half an hour', you have to put at least an hour a side to compete. The races are scheduled which is makes planning a little easier but iRacing is a much more serious outfit than any other sim. Maybe that adds to the 'sim' element but it's just isn't as fun, for me.
An Iracer here.
This is what you will need.
http://www.iracing.com/membership/system-requireme...
The only other thing that somebody already pointed out is a deepish wallet and a fair bit of time.
I've been going for a couple of years now and I've bought every bit of road racing content (tracks and cars). Total spend on it so far is $160 (on content) but thats if you pay full price. There are always deals going on. 10%-25% off when you bulk buy content.
BTW that $160 is not a lump sum. You will only need to pay an initially membership and then its $15 per track and $12 per car so cost becomes spread out (and thats even if you want the content!) The initial membership comes with a few cars (all rookie level) and a number of tracks. (only 3 road tracks from memory).
What usually puts some people off if once you stop paying the membership you don't have access to any of the service.
On the plus side, if you do a race 8 weeks out of the 12 that the season runs for then they pay you money back. Not vast sums but if you got maximum then its about $40 per year. I normally do a years membership which is $99 however this year they did a 25% off deal so I bought then.
I've tried many sims over the years but Iracing really does hit the mark. There is no AI to mess around with, its real people making real mistakes. Been a long long time since I've driven any sim apart from Iracing. There is a deal running at the moment for 3 months membership for the price of one. $12 for a month so about £7 for 3 months to trial it.
Let me know if you need anything more. (inc details of that 3 month deal)
This is what you will need.
http://www.iracing.com/membership/system-requireme...
The only other thing that somebody already pointed out is a deepish wallet and a fair bit of time.
I've been going for a couple of years now and I've bought every bit of road racing content (tracks and cars). Total spend on it so far is $160 (on content) but thats if you pay full price. There are always deals going on. 10%-25% off when you bulk buy content.
BTW that $160 is not a lump sum. You will only need to pay an initially membership and then its $15 per track and $12 per car so cost becomes spread out (and thats even if you want the content!) The initial membership comes with a few cars (all rookie level) and a number of tracks. (only 3 road tracks from memory).
What usually puts some people off if once you stop paying the membership you don't have access to any of the service.
On the plus side, if you do a race 8 weeks out of the 12 that the season runs for then they pay you money back. Not vast sums but if you got maximum then its about $40 per year. I normally do a years membership which is $99 however this year they did a 25% off deal so I bought then.
I've tried many sims over the years but Iracing really does hit the mark. There is no AI to mess around with, its real people making real mistakes. Been a long long time since I've driven any sim apart from Iracing. There is a deal running at the moment for 3 months membership for the price of one. $12 for a month so about £7 for 3 months to trial it.
Let me know if you need anything more. (inc details of that 3 month deal)
You get some great close racing in iRacing, you wont get anyone intentionally having you off the road. You get a great sense of learning and getting faster pushing the cars closer to the limit aswell. I even enjoy doing the ovals! Star Mazda, HPD and the 'Vette are my personal faves!
Ricepilot said:
An Iracer here.
This is what you will need.
http://www.iracing.com/membership/system-requireme...
The only other thing that somebody already pointed out is a deepish wallet and a fair bit of time.
I've been going for a couple of years now and I've bought every bit of road racing content (tracks and cars). Total spend on it so far is $160 (on content) but thats if you pay full price. There are always deals going on. 10%-25% off when you bulk buy content.
BTW that $160 is not a lump sum. You will only need to pay an initially membership and then its $15 per track and $12 per car so cost becomes spread out (and thats even if you want the content!) The initial membership comes with a few cars (all rookie level) and a number of tracks. (only 3 road tracks from memory).
What usually puts some people off if once you stop paying the membership you don't have access to any of the service.
On the plus side, if you do a race 8 weeks out of the 12 that the season runs for then they pay you money back. Not vast sums but if you got maximum then its about $40 per year. I normally do a years membership which is $99 however this year they did a 25% off deal so I bought then.
I've tried many sims over the years but Iracing really does hit the mark. There is no AI to mess around with, its real people making real mistakes. Been a long long time since I've driven any sim apart from Iracing. There is a deal running at the moment for 3 months membership for the price of one. $12 for a month so about £7 for 3 months to trial it.
Let me know if you need anything more. (inc details of that 3 month deal)
Hey Ricepilot, got a few general questions about iRacing if thats okay? I've read most of the official stuff about it.This is what you will need.
http://www.iracing.com/membership/system-requireme...
The only other thing that somebody already pointed out is a deepish wallet and a fair bit of time.
I've been going for a couple of years now and I've bought every bit of road racing content (tracks and cars). Total spend on it so far is $160 (on content) but thats if you pay full price. There are always deals going on. 10%-25% off when you bulk buy content.
BTW that $160 is not a lump sum. You will only need to pay an initially membership and then its $15 per track and $12 per car so cost becomes spread out (and thats even if you want the content!) The initial membership comes with a few cars (all rookie level) and a number of tracks. (only 3 road tracks from memory).
What usually puts some people off if once you stop paying the membership you don't have access to any of the service.
On the plus side, if you do a race 8 weeks out of the 12 that the season runs for then they pay you money back. Not vast sums but if you got maximum then its about $40 per year. I normally do a years membership which is $99 however this year they did a 25% off deal so I bought then.
I've tried many sims over the years but Iracing really does hit the mark. There is no AI to mess around with, its real people making real mistakes. Been a long long time since I've driven any sim apart from Iracing. There is a deal running at the moment for 3 months membership for the price of one. $12 for a month so about £7 for 3 months to trial it.
Let me know if you need anything more. (inc details of that 3 month deal)
How busy is iRacing? Can you go on there any time of day and find a race/practice with people in? Are certain types of day busier etc? Are certain cars/tracks more popular than others?
I'v played my fair share of LFS and Rfactor, but the lack of choice for online races puts me off. The price seems worth it if it was busy enough, I like the sound of the safety rating etc.
Thanks!
Edit: Also, how complex is it to set up steering/force feedback settings? Not sure if you have played rfactor much but i have spent VAST amounts of time setting up force feedback etc and not sure if I can take much more of that
Edited by DRCAGE on Monday 26th September 11:25
I have found it quite simple to set your wheel up on iRacing, just the usual calibration stuf turn wheel fully one way etc etc. They added some new settings recently that have caused a few people issues but nothing for myself, its more fine tuning to your own style I think.
Its usually busy enough, especially at the lower license levels. If you join an mx5 race you will have a full grid 95% of the time, it can get a bit harder once you get upto GT racing but now they have given the option of user made races its a lot easier. I race a lot of Star Mazda races and its usually a full grid, you normally lose a few people after the usual first lap antics
Its usually busy enough, especially at the lower license levels. If you join an mx5 race you will have a full grid 95% of the time, it can get a bit harder once you get upto GT racing but now they have given the option of user made races its a lot easier. I race a lot of Star Mazda races and its usually a full grid, you normally lose a few people after the usual first lap antics
DRCAGE said:
Hey Ricepilot, got a few general questions about iRacing if thats okay? I've read most of the official stuff about it.
How busy is iRacing? Can you go on there any time of day and find a race/practice with people in? Are certain types of day busier etc? Are certain cars/tracks more popular than others?
I'v played my fair share of LFS and Rfactor, but the lack of choice for online races puts me off. The price seems worth it if it was busy enough, I like the sound of the safety rating etc.
Thanks!
Edit: Also, how complex is it to set up steering/force feedback settings? Not sure if you have played rfactor much but i have spent VAST amounts of time setting up force feedback etc and not sure if I can take much more of that
HTH.How busy is iRacing? Can you go on there any time of day and find a race/practice with people in? Are certain types of day busier etc? Are certain cars/tracks more popular than others?
I'v played my fair share of LFS and Rfactor, but the lack of choice for online races puts me off. The price seems worth it if it was busy enough, I like the sound of the safety rating etc.
Thanks!
Edit: Also, how complex is it to set up steering/force feedback settings? Not sure if you have played rfactor much but i have spent VAST amounts of time setting up force feedback etc and not sure if I can take much more of that
Edited by DRCAGE on Monday 26th September 11:25
Its pretty busy. Though it does depend of the time of day in what part of the world. For instance if I looked online now the majority of players would be using the V8 Supercar because its prime time for the Aussies. Day or night its always got somebody there. At this exact moment in time there is 1132 players online across the whole variety of series. (not too bad for a Monday morning). Evenings there are so many people racing they put the races into splits. For instance there is a max grid size of 12 in the rookie series. If there were 64 racers wanting to race then it would split into 5 different races putting people of a similar ability into each race to ensure close racing. The rookie series are always the most popular because its the cheapest. However some of the next tier of series are just as popular but with bigger grid sizes. Allow me to demonstrate.
Thats the start of the multi class race of Jetta's and MX5's. 29 car grid if I remember. Thats not unusual...
Most of my time is spent in open practice. The problem with the races is that they are scheduled for different times. Rookie (road) is always every hour on the hour. Other series might be every three hours or some are even every other day and spaced at 2hrs apart. Its annoying when you bin it on the first lap. Realistic I s'pose... The safety rating is ok. It doesn't stop wreckers but they are very very few. I've never been wrecked deliberately. The only problem with the SR is that if somebody hits you, you both get a penalty (yes even if somebody misses their braking point and slams you from behind). You end up getting a sense for it and you do have to drive a bit defensively. Takes a few hours though!!!
FF is good straight out the box via a wizard. I spent ages and ages trying to fine tune Rfactor and got it there in the end but with Iracing within 10 mins I'm sorted and it already felt better than Rfactor.
As said before let me know if you want the 3 months for 1 deal. Its a toe in the water for very little outlay. I'll PM the details across if you are interested.
I found the Safety Rating pretty annoying to start with, especially on the short ovals where you always seem to be tapping someone or getting tapped however, after a while I started to forget about it and just get on with racing. I find it always finds its way of increasing, you have some bad races where you lose some Safety Racing but on the whole it works quite well to force people to learn how to race close but fair.
andycambo said:
In terms of physics (in my opinion of course):-
GTR2, good physics, plenty of mods, good AI and technically free (but you need the original disc - available from pirates)
In terms of specs none of them need super computers to run.
Andy, can you explain more please, what do you mean technically free? has GTR morphed into an online only game now? (I have the original GTR disc)GTR2, good physics, plenty of mods, good AI and technically free (but you need the original disc - available from pirates)
In terms of specs none of them need super computers to run.
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