Shower thoughts: Do we have too many racing sims?

[Martin Vindis]

I've been pondering over the current state of racing simulators and the seemingly endless array of options available to us. Don't get me wrong, I love the thrill of virtual racing as much as the next person, but I can't help but wonder: have we reached a saturation point with racing sims? Wouldn't it be better if we had just two or three exceptional titles that receive the majority of attention and resources?

Let me clarify my thoughts. As it stands, we have an abundance of racing sims on the market, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, and dedicated communities. We have titles focused on Formula 1, rally racing, endurance racing, karting, and many more. While this variety offers choices catering to different tastes and preferences, I can't shake off the feeling that it might be doing more harm than good.

Firstly, the player base of each racing sim gets fragmented. With so many options available, players are dispersed across multiple games, leading to smaller and more fragmented communities. This can result in longer wait times for multiplayer sessions, reduced competitiveness, and fewer opportunities for engaging with a thriving community.

Secondly, the resources required to develop and maintain these numerous racing sims are spread thin. Each developer has to invest time, effort, and money into creating and updating their title, which inevitably affects the overall quality and innovation. Imagine if these resources were concentrated on just a couple of racing sims. We could potentially witness groundbreaking advancements, stunning visuals, and more realistic physics, leading to a truly immersive experience.

Additionally, consolidating the racing sim market could foster healthy competition between the remaining titles. Developers would strive to outshine one another, leading to increased innovation, more robust features, and refined gameplay mechanics. This competition-driven environment could ultimately benefit the racing sim community as a whole, providing us with an exceptional flagship experience.

Now, I understand that personal preferences and the diverse nature of racing disciplines play a significant role here. Some of us are die-hard Formula 1 fans, while others prefer the thrill of rally racing. However, isn't it possible to incorporate multiple racing disciplines within two or three exceptional titles? By doing so, we could create comprehensive experiences that offer a wider range of racing options while maintaining a unified player base.

I'm not suggesting that all racing sims should disappear, but rather questioning whether having so many options is the most ideal scenario for the racing sim community. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Do you believe that consolidating the market and focusing on two or three flagship racing sims would be a step in the right direction? Or do you think the current diverse landscape is the best way to cater to everyone's unique racing preferences?

 

[ASGear]

Surprised to see no replies to this topic.

I do agree with the idea that it would be better for sims to be fewer in number but with higher budgets and manpower.
Making improvements in physics, visuals and content represent a heavy burden on developpers. It would definately be better to have larger teams for existing companies. People will have to accept less varied content in online matches, though I doubt online players will dissapprove of more people driving together. Offline players, hovever, may be fewer in numbers, though that may not be the case.

 

[BrightCandle]

As it stands no sim stands out on anything but a subset of its features. Some on a particular class of multiplayer, others on mods, FFB and physics and weather etc etc. You could make an argument for all the sims, there is a good amount of competition happening with various strengths and weaknesses.

We still have areas that are not addressed, quite a lot of us would like an open world game like Horizons but with simulation qualities. Quite a few would want a more serious simulation F1 game. Some of the career features of Formula 1 would be fantastic attached to other sims. I think we could really benefit from an open source sim as well, there are a lot of modders that could with lots of individual contributions produce a fantastic sim that caters to a lot of us.

No sim that wins in enough elements is struggling for playerbase at the moment, there are enough of us to keep quite a few alive. I do think some of the less popular sims need to look at what they intend to be best at or a compromise in and make a better offering if they want more of the players. The market will almost certainly consolidate, F1 with Codemasters and Slightly Mad Studios are two examples of the big games companies starting to buy into the driving simulation market. I doubt such consolidation will be good for us as players in practice, there is a limit to how big a project can be and the bigger companies haven't been historically good for us, most of the innovation and driving forward has come from studios making a sim they wanted.

 

[jgf]

On one hand, you can't have too many race sims. On the other, an embarrassment of riches.

Years ago I had three sims - Indycar Racing 2, NASCAR Racing 2, and F1GP2. Track making was in its infancy so had maybe a couple of extra tracks for each. And had plenty of time to explore them all; time to practice with every car, work up setups for each car at each track, run a season with each carset....

About ten years ago I did a quick computation for GPL. A race weekend (one hour practice, one hour qualifying, two hour race) with each car, each class (F1, F2, F3), from each mod, at each track, would take over 23 years of nonstop racing.

With that in mind, I consider what I currently have:

GPL - two installs (default with many mods, and '67 Historic)
GTL - two installs (default, for the challenges, the other highly modded)
GTR2 - four installs (GT, open wheel, prototype, P&G)
rfactor - two installs (vintage and modern open wheel)
NR2003 - three installs (default, with a dozen mods; two GTP, default and open wheel)
RBR - three installs (default and two mods)
Rally Trophy - three installs (default and two with different cars and tracks)

All but the rally sims have around 300 tracks installed.

I should live so long. But in ICR2, N2, and GP2 I knew every car and track intimately.

"A man with one watch always knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never sure."

I seem to spend most of my time tweaking, testing, and practicing, with an occasional race. But can't recall the last time I did a season in any of them.

Recently spent several weeks "streamlining" my GTR2 GT install. Do I want to race the '03 cars? '04 cars? BPR? late '90s FIA? '09 Spanish GT? .... they all use essentially the same cars. So I dumped the season gdb files, ran a few laps at a couple of tracks with one of each car, just enough to create a basic setup and note my lap times, and created an "International GT" series based solely on performance (don't care whether it's a rebuilt street car or purpose built race car, don't care what engine, don't care if turbo or NA, all that matters is laptimes). Oddly enough the GT1, GT2, GT3 categories split directly along hp lines - 400-500hp, 500-600hp, 600-700hp; there's also a "Club" class for all those mods around 200hp or less; and a generic "Porsche Cup" series made from a half dozen Porsche Cup mods, all using the same chassis/engine now. Heresy? Yes. Fun? Definitely.

 

[Kenny Paton]

I've been pondering over the current state of racing simulators and the seemingly endless array of options available to us

Surprised to see no replies to this topic

Yes it's a pity it took over a month before getting some.
I wonder Martin if you'd considered submitting it as a news article because I'm sure it would have attracted a fair amount of interest.

 

[ASGear]

To continue on what BrightCandle and jgf said, simulators who have a focus in their features should be more common, as they can be successful. But there need to be a sufficient number of people invested in a particular series or theme for that simulator to work. For instance, Reiza Studios had the advantage of having a passionnate Latin American sim community, who wanted to see their home championships and tracks represented in a racing simulator. RaceRoom's DTM packs also take advantage of the German community and the popularity of the DTM series both locally and internationally. And we all know the success of the official Formula 1 games.