Rate The Sims: Community Edition | iRacing

[Paul Jeffrey]

We are looking to crown the 'RaceDepartment Community Favourite' racing game - get your votes in now for our next game on the list... iRacing!

Our dear RaceDepartment community. You folks are the most mighty fans of sim racing, often displaying an immense amount of understanding and depth of knowledge when it comes to our favourite hobby.

With sim racing and eSports in such a wonderful boom period of late. Gamers looking to have some fun with their virtual racing machines have never before had such a wide and robust variety of software to enjoy.

Now occasionally I've been in a position to rate new racing titles that have come my way, and almost every time I've received a wide variety of folks agreeing, or strongly disagreeing with my own opinions.

Opinions are great, but sometimes the opinion of one person, with their own likes and dislikes taken into account, can often give a bit of a skewed picture (intentional or not) to the greater cause in which said person is trying to explain.

As such, rather than doing one myself, and in the spirit of engaging some interesting community discussion, I thought it could be fun to let our own community rate each of the key sim racing / racing games available today.

As always with these things, please do try and respect each other and their opinions, and let's try to see if we can give a fun, but fair shake of the stick to each of the games included in this poll.

For transparency, I'm going to be featuring the following racing games over the next weeks:

• Assetto Corsa
• Assetto Corsa Competizione
• Automobilista (AMS)
• DiRT 2.0
• F1 2019
• GT Sport
• GRID
• iRacing
• NASCAR Heat 4
• PCARS 2
• RaceRoom Racing Experience
• rFactor 2
• WRC 8

I'm going to launch the article each Monday evening, and keep the poll running for a full week until the next new article is pushed live. So get your votes in quick!

Once I've completed the full list of games, I'll publish a final results feature, and we can award the winning developer the lofty title of 'RaceDepartment Community Favourite'!

Have fun, stay sensible and let the voting commence!

 

[Koen Verlinde]

I think you have the pricing backwards. The only reason they can keep a subscriber base at this price is because they are the only game in town with with their feature set and they have a large subscriber base.

Other titles can't charge that because they don't have the infrastructure and they don't have the critical mass of online players. This has to do with iRacing's origins and what they have evolved into. The were purchased a while back by a guy who owned the Red Sox who specifically wanted to create an eSport. So it has been designed specifically to foster competition, hence their iRating and Safety and automatic penalty system. They allow appeals and I know for a fact that they respond to those reasonably quickly. So it's not just keeping the servers going. They have people to handle thousands of complaints. They are working with NBC to get TV coverage of the more serious races. They are very specifically trying to grow an eSport, not just create a video game.

People can complain all they want, but if the iRacing model didn't work, they wouldn't be able to maintain their subscriber base. That's simple economics. If members didn't see the value, they wouldn't renew, and some don't, but others join and the base keeps growing. Like it or not they've done a lot of things right and they have a large user base because of that.

You completely missed what I was saying about the price level and decided to go on the typical road of "I'm going to excuse them for everything just because it works for them".

 

[2112]

I hated it when I first tried it. The physics sucked, set-ups to go fast were unrealistic, the cars and tracks were dated and it should have been called iRenting.

I was forced back into it because my league went to it. Why? No other sim offered the on-line community iRenting does.

The physics have improved but they are still lacking, IMO, compared to other sims. I don't give a crap about GFX, just show me the track, the rating system penalizes onerously if you are the victim of someone else's stupidity, many of the long-time participants seem to forget that there is rubbing in racing and will spaz if you try to race close with them, many of those same people think that their higher iRating makes it so you must give up your position in a race because you should be in awe of their rating...

I have a lot of complaints about the sim.

Yet, it is the only sim I can go on and find a well populated race. I stay away from the higher levels as much as I can and stick with the skippy's, the SCCA Fords, the Porsche Cup cars with an occasional foray into IMSA or Le Mans.

I still do not like the pricing, I still think many of the higher ranked are cork-sniffers, but the truth is that iRenting is where you can find a race. Until the other sims can guarantee that, every day, all day, I will continue to fight it out in the lower levels and enjoy myself.

I gave it a 6 because of their strong on-line presence. Otherwise they would have received a 2 for their many shortcomings and the cork-sniffers.

 

[F_B]

I don’t understand why some people think iRacing needs the most time investment. I actually think it’s the opposite. It’s so quick to sit down, pick a race in 5 minutes and start racing in a competitive field.
I gave 10/10, not because it’s perfect, but because it’s the sim I enjoy the most and where I made the most friends.

In my most active time (2014-2016 probably) I spend a whole evening (2-3 hours) during the week to practice for two or three races I’ll attend at the weekend. I wanted to be prepared for the races and of course finish them in the best possible way. That meant that there was not much time left for other sims or other games. And because of the costs I always felt some pressure to do races otherwise the whole investment wouldn’t be profitable.

Iracing is an investment time and moneywise. If you have that you’ll get a lot joy out of this sim. If you are limited in time like me you better consider if you want to spend your money and time elsewhere. Additionally to my time problem there is also a content/car problem I have: the only series I’m really interested in just have one or two offical races during the week (Kamel GT and Lotus 79) and I’m not really interested in all the modern GT cars (which have many official races) as an alternative. The F3 is also recommendable but a) the standard in this series is quite low and b) it falls apart the moment you touch it. You do the math…

The Formula Renault 3.5 is also a nice car but here comes the Iracing curse: the faster and more difficult the car more noobs will drive it or total aliens. Nothing in between. [Exaggerated a bit on this one]

So…as you can see I have quite a love-hate-relationship to this sim. I’m thinking about not resubbing for the first time since I joined (end of 2013). As long as they don’t have AI or a Porsche 962 it probably will stay this way.

 

[JasonMADCow]

Love it, not the best.... but definitely the easiest to setup and start racing online. I enjoy it very much and overall that's an 8 if not a 9.

 

[Scottt]

They are the only ones with good structured multiplayer, so yes they have monopoly over that, which is the reason people pay.

That isn't what a monopoly is. They don't and can't create any artificial barriers for any other company to enter the marketplace. Providing a better product than the competitors does not make them a monopoly.

 

[RCHeliguy]

You completely missed what I was saying about the price level and decided to go on the typical road of "I'm going to excuse them for everything just because it works for them".

You seem to think they need an excuse. Why would they need an excuse?
So they should pick a price you like because you think it is the socially correct thing to do?

They are under no such obligation. My point was simply that if their subscribers didn't think it was worth what they paid, they wouldn't pay it. This is economics and capitalism. The last time I checked iRacing was not a non-profit.

I also don't have a problem with their pricing. I just renewed for 2 more years for about $150. I'm currently also paying for Virtual Racing School @ $100 per year to help me learn how to drive better. This has made the whole process more enjoyable for me. I can hot lap a track for a while and then compare my driving against someone who knows what they are doing. Try out different car setups etc.. Great stuff!

The software is the cheap part unless you are driving on a console with a game controller.

 

[madhopz]

I considered Iracing when I decided to really get into sim racing. I didn't get it for the following reasons.

A. Online racing is not something I care to do
B. Subscription
C. If I buy something I should own it. (Cars,Tracks)

The amount of money for content was not prohibitive for me, but the fact that if I decided not to race anymore, I couldn't take the tracks and cars "with me". I am not a fan of any subscription software whether it's for gaming or production of content.

Sitting on the sidelines I have seen complaints about FFB, lack of weather, day/night took too long, no online competitor. To me we are participating in a niche hobby and no vendor is going to cover all of the bases just like any other product.

 

[Jugulador]

All sims suck, but iracing sucks the least.
Easiest sim to get going in vr and ffb, once AI is here its bye bye to the rest.
oh and those who cant afford it, stop spending your money on McDonalds and dope.

During the early 1990's i've sold my soul for Rock'n Roll and never regretted (because a soul is useless) ... on the 2010's I should have sold my kids for iRacing. Only with diapers I could have paid some years of subscription, and iRacing don't smell, don't wake you in the middle of the night (but make you stay awake during all the night) and needs no college funds, that could be used to pay for some content.

That is it, folks... do more iRacing to don't have kids (or no more kids)... it's safer than condoms.

 

[Koen Verlinde]

You seem to think they need an excuse. Why would they need an excuse?
So they should pick a price you like because you think it is the socially correct thing to do?

They are under no such obligation. My point was simply that if their subscribers didn't think it was worth what they paid, they wouldn't pay it. This is economics and capitalism. The last time I checked iRacing was not a non-profit.

I also don't have a problem with their pricing. I just renewed for 2 more years for about $150. I'm currently also paying for Virtual Racing School @ $100 per year to help me learn how to drive better. This has made the whole process more enjoyable for me. I can hot lap a track for a while and then compare my driving against someone who knows what they are doing. Try out different car setups etc.. Great stuff!

The software is the cheap part unless you are driving on a console with a game controller.

The software is the cheap part? No it isn't, cause your wheel and pedals work on all the sims, not just one. I've heard all these arguments before and it doesn't change the fact that you still don't understand what I wrote. IRacing does it like this, they deserve the backlash for it, cause otherwhise every other company out there is going to do the exact same thing, and then simracing stops being attainable for a lot of the people out there.

Do you want a little club of semi-rich people or do you want simracing to be for the masses? We're not talking about skill here, just pricing.

There's no way IRacing has to ask this price for their product and there's no way people have to spend that kind of money. When they do, they either can or don't care. The first I can live with, human stupidity which is a far bigger factor I will not live with.

 

[PickABetterUsername01]

That isn't what a monopoly is. They don't and can't create any artificial barriers for any other company to enter the marketplace. Providing a better product than the competitors does not make them a monopoly.

Yes it's. If you want a good structured multiplayer, it's either iRacing or nothing. Doesn't matter that others could try and replicate their system, because they don't.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Do you want a little club of semi-rich people or do you want simracing to be for the masses? We're not talking about skill here, just pricing.

What does what you or I want matter in this. We are dealing with simple supply and demand. iRacing has likely optimized for what they believe the market will bear. They have no doubt done market research to see what people would be willing to pay and arrived at the maximum profit.

Cheaper cost = more players
More expensive = less players
X number of players = enough to keep the competition alive.
Somewhere the price hits the sweet spot where the number of players x cost = the largest profit where they still keep the number of players high enough to have a solid base.

there's no way people have to spend that kind of money. When they do, they either can or don't care. The first I can live with, human stupidity which is a far bigger factor I will not live with.

OK, so now you are suggesting someone is stupid for paying for an iRacing subscription?

You are suggesting that I'm being an elitist for not boycotting this title until everyone can afford to play?

Judgmental much?

Also your logic about hardware cost being immaterial because it can be used by more than one software package doesn't hold water. All that hardware doesn't do diddly squat unless you have software to drive it that is engaging enough for you to want to play.

Let me put this another way. I had AC, ACC, PC2 and found track racing boring. I probably have 10 hours between all of those titles over the last 2 years. I only really played Dirt Rally for my first year and a half and I put some hours on that. Then I got into iRacing this August and THAT lit a spark for me. Tracks were now exciting. Everything mattered. There were consequences to your actions and real people to race against and a real challenge, hence the VRS etc.. I'm reading a book on driving techniques etc.. because I want to learn and I have resources to help me.

So if you are perfectly happy with other titles, that's great! Enjoy yourself, but if I gave up iRacing my rig would collect dust. So to me iRacing matters.

 

[Deleted member 205301]

very (not) interesting thread turning into a haters/fanboys discuss....
Some are openminded, and that's great, but it's really sad to read other posts ...
Eveyone run the sim they prefears, no need to bash other titles...
@++

 

[RCHeliguy]

very (not) interesting thread turning into a haters/fanboys discuss....
Some are openminded, and that's great, but it's really sad to read other posts ...
Eveyone run the sim they prefears, no need to bash other titles...
@++

I'm not sure the problem we are seeing is about people saying my sim is better than your sim.

Many sims have areas that they do better than others and there currently isn't one sim that is best at everything. I know that many titles are better than iRacing at various things and that doesn't bother me in the least.

Please don't take my comment as an attack on other games. I love the two Dirt Rally games even though I use none of their online capabilities. "To me" rally driving is fun by itself in a time trial. My comment was more that driving against AI's on a track isn't compelling or exciting "to me". Other people feel differently and that is perfectly fine.

The problem seems to be people who want to play iRacing but are upset about the price.

 

[Scottt]

Yes it's. If you want a good structured multiplayer, it's either iRacing or nothing. Doesn't matter that others could try and replicate their system, because they don't.

No, its simply not what the word 'monopoly' means. First there are other options, they just aren't as good in your opinion. Second, even if there weren't other options, there is nothing that to prevent others from developing a competing service. It's simply not a monopoly.

It would be like saying that Mercedes has a monopoly on luxury cars because their luxury cars are the best; despite the fact that there are other companies making luxury cars.

 

[Scottt]

I don’t understand why some people think iRacing needs the most time investment. I actually think it’s the opposite. It’s so quick to sit down, pick a race in 5 minutes and start racing in a competitive field.
I gave 10/10, not because it’s perfect, but because it’s the sim I enjoy the most and where I made the most friends.

I guess it depends on how good you are right out of the gate. And what you consider a large amount of time invested. Personally, it takes me a few hours to learn the track well enough that I can get through most races and be reasonably competitive. Then I had to free up the time to actually start the race that starts at a specific time.

In terms of multiplayer, I don't think it takes that much longer than other sims, but I think all multiplayer races require a decent amount of time investment to not be a liability on the track. I think that's the primary reason I rarely use iRacing anymore, just too much of a commitment.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I will practice the track for the week for a while ( sometimes 2-3 hours) to learn the line, brake points and then compare my lap times to a known good to see where I can improve. I still have a lot to learn. I'm hoping it comes faster when I get better. If I don't practice, I just get blown away in races and worse, I'm dangerous to other drivers because I don't know where to brake yet and someone can run into me.

 

[RCHeliguy]

No, its simply not what the word 'monopoly' means. First there are other options, they just aren't as good in your opinion. Second, even if there weren't other options, there is nothing that to prevent others from developing a competing service. It's simply not a monopoly.

It would be like saying that Mercedes has a monopoly on luxury cars because their luxury cars are the best; despite the fact that there are other companies making luxury cars.

Actually I think there is some truth to the term monopoly in this case.

Mercedes is one of many competitors in that space and has no monopoly because because many other companies are large enough and have dealer networks and supply chains in place. So it's basically a level playing field and it is all about innovation. If they sleep they will fall behind.

Think of it this way. iRacing is more like Facebook in this niche. Facebook has a monopoly on one part of social media because everyone is there. Google Plus made mistakes, but didn't stand much chance at gaining critical mass because everyone was somewhere else. They needed to be better in a compelling way to have any chance at all.

Likewise a competitor to iRacing is starting from no players and would need to be extremely well funded, and have a very good product to stand a chance.
1. They would have to take a loss for an extended time to gain market share and almost need to give service away to gain enough market share.
2. They would have to have good people who could quickly scale up their servers to handle demand and develop an infrastructure.
3. And before they could start this they would need to have a very good product that was designed to scale well.

Meanwhile iRacing is already in the black and could temporarily adjust pricing to stop bleeding their user base and do other things to keep an existing base happy.

Going head to head with iRacing would be extremely hard and expensive to do because they are entrenched. They have in effect achieved a monopoly by thinking big from the beginning and putting themselves in a position of power.

However, let me append to that and say that all this is VERY relative to the size of this niche market.

From a bit of Google Searching it looks like CodeMasters and Slightly Mad Studios actually make a great deal more than iRacing and have a lot more employees. So my "guess" is that iRacing may actually serve a very small niche that these companies don't see as profitable enough to bother with. They would rather build a mostly stand alone product that they can sell in much larger quantities.

iRacing claims to have 90,000 users, but both Codemasters and Slightly Mad Studios have titles that they sell a quarter million copies on their introduction week and sell up to or over a million copies over the lifespan of a title.

If you look at the employee ratio to revenue for each of these companies, I'm not sure that iRacing is actually asking too much to maintain and develop a product used by a relatively small niche within this niche.

 

[Cote Dazur]

I can understand why it would be some SIM racer favorite, but it is almost useless to me. I spend much of my time to either do laps on my own, some call them hot laps, but mine are not particularly hot, or racing against AI.
If I go online, it is on the whim of the moment.
I also like to collect different cars and tracks from different period and arrange my own events.
So a SIM who caters to renting cars and tracks to participate in time arranged online events with a structured schedule and points standings, even if it was free, I would not be there often, but if it is expensive on top of it then, as I said, pretty much useless to me.

 

[Gelly916]

If you took away iracing's multiplayer platform and made all the content for the sim available for 60 bucks, would it be considered a good game? In my opinion, it wouldn't be anything special.

I REALLY want to get into iracing but it's difficult to justify spending that sort of money and be limited to such a small choice of cars/tracks, mediocre force feedback, and debatable physics. The lack of cars/tracks is what really kills it for me. Virtually zero historic racing.

As my sim racing career ages, I'm almost entirely devoted to competitive online racing. iracing's multiplayer sounds so good to me, but there is just something about the sim which forces me to not take the plunge. (Probably the price tag LOL)

P.S. I hate when people try to make the argument that the price tag of iracing keeps out all the riff raff and cleans up the racing. That is total BS, there is races which are full of knuckleheads, and there are races that are full of respectful drivers.

 

[Koen Verlinde]

Snip

Still didn't even try to understand what me - and so many others with the same opinion - wrote about IRacing their approach towards monetizing.

Then again, maybe you can't grasp it, and that's the first half judgmental thing I've said towards you. Probably will be the last as well.

If you think 90k people can't pay for the servers of a by now outdated product, I would really advise to take some lessons in R&D and how much costs what. And don't go of millenials doing powerpoints or social media, they don't know the F they're talking about anyway.

See, did a judgmental thing. Strangely, the last part is already almost entirely truthful, I have to combat this on a professional level every day. Guess what? Those marketing suits don't really like me for shooting of their project that consists of "we're going to have a lot of fun going through 70 slides that tell abstract wording that don't mean **** to you all, but please donate us for our lecture".

I'm glad to be in the position to be able to call them out on their BS. I'll do it with Iracing, I did it with Kunos as well although I think ACC is great. I'll do it with all the products I personally from my perspective as a customer deserve to hear at least one voice that isn't completely molded by the BS out there.

Can I make my life simpler? Yes, I can, no I don't want to. Again, this is nothing against you personally, but against this - I don't really care, because I refuse to have a strong opinion on anything, whatever man, lalalala".