iRacing Review

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Bram Hengeveld submitted a new blog post:

iRacing Review

More than five years after its initial release, I feel it’s finally time to give iRacing the professional review treatment. Five years is more than enough time for one game to sort out all of its issues, the game costs several times more than your traditional boxed PC game available on the shelves at Best Buy, and deciding whether to take the plunge based on biased forum ramblings is never a good idea. Six hundred million laps later, it’s time to finally take a look at iRacing, and determine...
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Fantastic review! I love your writing style, it fits very well to the article. Can't wait to read more of your work!

I've never tried iRacing since it's way too expensive, but what you are saying definitely fits the description that one of my friends gave me. He tried the game after hearing so much about it, only to be utterly disappointed in the physics. Again, I can't judge for myself, but from your words I see why you gave this 'world class experience' a 7/10 instead of 9/10.
 
I'd heard some of these bad rumours about favoritism, so i contacted Iracings support. i never received an answer from them. the possibility of spending thousands of dollars on something, and then having a few butthurt players get you banned will never sit right with me, and just the mere CHANCE that this could happen leaves me saying 'nope' all day long.
 
One thing, I find the McLaren to be one of the best sim cars I've driven since the last build was introduced and I haven't had any problems with grip in the speed range you mentioned. I do agree that this service is still best for oval racing but I also believe it has the best road racing in the sim world.

The Skip Barber however, is horrible.
 
I don't know how true it is that the oval physics are way, way better; what you said about the MP4-12C applies equally well to the Legends car. They let 12-year-olds drive that thing! If it was anywhere close to as uncontrollable as it is in iRacing, oval racing in the US would have been banned long ago. iRacing's physics are the most overrated thing in simracing.
 
Thanks for the review I have been looking for a place to race oval in a euro time zone for a long time but up till now have been racing with the usa guys at 2am on weekends,
Is there a chance that you would use Stock car Evolution (SCE)I think its one of the best nascar mods out there and its free, here is the link if anyone is interested in checking it out. http://stockcarevolution.com/index.php
 
  • Deleted member 17730

Well this is disappointing as I was just about to road racing in iRacing and finished building a computer for it.
 
A great review, but I disagree that the road racing is so bad. Granted I'm still only rookie and working on my D license in the MX5, but I enjoy it a LOT! That said, do try oval racing if you pick up iRacing, it's a lot more fun than I expected it to be, just make sure you have someone explain the rules to you first :p
 
lol nice write, but when I arrived at "physics suited for asymmetrical setup, road racing abandoned, favoritism ecc ecc" I thought: who wrote this review? Ogonoski? Yes...

I mean, Kaemmer (iR guru), is spending his time trying to improve the NTM on the Lotus 49, that is not an oval car.
Also you don't need a physic for asymmetrical setup, and one for symmetrical...you need just one physic very good, and that will work good for both, and iR have it for sure.

Now, it is sure the NTM has some problems, they are known by the staff but improvements need time.

Btw I'm not here to fight with someone. IMO this review is not so much objective...... IR membership is growing, and is growing both oval and road, so road is not abandoned.

Maybe mr Ogonosky doesn't like the road cars feeling, but this is another story. Fortunately this is not common between people who tried iR.
 
Last thing for moderators:

IMO the review contains some aspects that are untrue (about favoritism), don't the moderators need to check those information before let this review go online?

I mean, one thing is a post on the forum, another thing is something wrote on the main page of an international simracing website...
 
Austin, cleverly disguising your agenda by making it seem like a balanced review? I just can't believe this site is letting you do a review on iRacing. Very unprofessional. There is an agenda and it comes through in several places. Please disregard this bogus review.
 
Austin, cleverly disguising your agenda by making it seem like a balanced review? I just can't believe this site is letting you do a review on iRacing. Very unprofessional. There is an agenda and it comes through in several places. Please disregard this bogus review.
Everybody can submit their articles/reviews Jim Lee. Its a community portal http://www.racedepartment.com/submit-an-article/

Welcome btw :thumbsup:
 
This is a very unfair review. The comment about it being setup for asymmetric racing is a myth; the developers haven't said anything about that before and there is no possible way for anyone else to know.

Also the comment about the McLaren is pretty irrelevant as this is the race spec version of the car, not the road car.

It is true that the cars are too skittish at low speeds and that the heat modelling and tyre degradation are really quite awful but these things don't ruin the road racing and the road racing isn't dead either. Just as many people sign up to the popular road races as the popular oval races.

A new tyre model is being released soonish too which should hopefully address these issues.

There are a lot of things I wish iRacing would implement, like driver swapping, the dynamic track from rFactor 2, day/night cycles and weather, but due to the nature of the game these things can be added at a later date.

In the end I think if you have the money for it nothing comes close in terms of the overall experience even if other games do a better job of the actual simulator part.
 
Last thing for moderators:

IMO the review contains some aspects that are untrue (about favoritism), don't the moderators need to check those information before let this review go online?

So, the "some aspects" that are "untrue" pertain to "favoritism"? That is not "some aspects", that is just one, and one with which many agree. There have been discussions about this, and also about elitism (another aspect that detracts from the service's quality).
 
lol nice write, but when I arrived at "physics suited for asymmetrical setup, road racing abandoned, favoritism ecc ecc" I thought: who wrote this review? Ogonoski? Yes...

I mean, Kaemmer (iR guru), is spending his time trying to improve the NTM on the Lotus 49, that is not an oval car.
Also you don't need a physic for asymmetrical setup, and one for symmetrical...you need just one physic very good, and that will work good for both, and iR have it for sure.

You (not only you) misunderstood what the reviewer said. For your benefit, take a second look:

The problem lies within two main factors: the underlying physics engine being adjusted primarily to suit asymmetrical setup American stock cars, and the tire model that is still largely in development.

Adjustment primarily to suit asymmetrical setup. This is not a myth (as someone said here), this is the reviewer's opinion.

The tire model has problems, and these problems are not just degradation and temperature. Grip, for most cars, is being underestimated in many circumstances, something that is surprising given the criticism (unfair and untrue) that non-theoretical tire models suffer from this and as a result Dave Kaemmer decided to go after a full physical model. Grip is being underestimated and the development of forces vs slip angle is also below proper levels - hence the uncontrollable spins at relatively low speeds at the slightest imbalance.

Then there's aeros, which seemed to be subjected to some "revolution" that hasn't happened yet.

Instead of focusing on the review, why don't some of you ask the developers directly on the official forums, like some did when the NTM was released?

-----

The review: mostly spot on, as it ties several elements (costs, realism, service quality). Good review.

Still, iRacing is a good sim and a phenomenal online racing service.

Side note: the comments about Eutechnyx and the series developed by this studio have no bearing here and are of poor taste.
 
Very good. The part about iRacing Physics is spot on and I am 100% member. This is something that they'd better fix soon or once AC is mature iRacing won't be getting my $$ anymore.

The most troublesome thing is that for many members there isn;t a problem and that I think gives the developer a false sense of being on the right track (no pun intended). They are not. The road racing physics are terrible and, as you said, if the rear end goes, it's gone.
 
lol nice write, but when I arrived at "physics suited for asymmetrical setup, road racing abandoned, favoritism ecc ecc" I thought: who wrote this review? Ogonoski? Yes...

I mean, Kaemmer (iR guru), is spending his time trying to improve the NTM on the Lotus 49, that is not an oval car.
Also you don't need a physic for asymmetrical setup, and one for symmetrical...you need just one physic very good, and that will work good for both, and iR have it for sure.

Now, it is sure the NTM has some problems, they are known by the staff but improvements need time.

Btw I'm not here to fight with someone. IMO this review is not so much objective...... IR membership is growing, and is growing both oval and road, so road is not abandoned.

Maybe mr Ogonosky doesn't like the road cars feeling, but this is another story. Fortunately this is not common between people who tried iR.
"Maybe mr Ogonosky doesn’t like the road cars feeling, but this is another story. Fortunately this is not common between people who tried iR."

Actually it is common.
 

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