Sim Discussion Monday - RaceRoom Racing Experience

[Paul Jeffrey]

Another working week on the horizon and to lighten the mood (probably), let's have ourselves a discussion about RaceRoom Racing Experience..

The sim with the silly name, RaceRoom Racing Experience has plenty of licenced racing content to offer players who can navigate their way through the occasionally confusing pricing and store structure.

If you do manage to find you way into the game itself then you are rewarded by a product that has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. With plenty of officially licenced racing series to be found (no road car nonsense here), a very robust and varied selection of greater and lesser known circuits and easily the best audio experience in the sim racing marketplace, RaceRoom and Sector3 Studios have pulled together a very compelling product for sim racers to enjoy.

With all that said, the core game experience does still lack in several fundamental areas before it can genuinely be considered a true racing simulation, to be frank that same accusation can be levelled at pretty much all the current crop of sims to varying degrees, and what it does it does very well indeed.

So in the spirit of sharing our collective experiences and knowledge can our community let us all know what we like / don't like about the sim, share any useful tips to get the most from the title, let us know what you'd like to see in the future and just generally shoot the breeze for a day or two about Sector3 Studios current racing simulation..


Mondays be like...

Image credits: M-Bimmer and TheReaper GT

 

[Amanda]

Can you elaborate on this? I honestly don't understand what you mean by that it's always on sale, let alone what 600 USD for premium pack are you talking about.

From what I've gathered with other members, the number that appears by the side of the price (e.g. '4.99$ 87%') is the amount of the discount, in this case 87%.

I could verify this in the case of the Nordschleife. Last-last time I visited it, the price was around 19 BRL and there was a "34%" by the side of the price, from what I remember. Today there's no discount (no xx% by the number, and the price is around 31 BRL.

Very rarely do I see their prices not in a discount, specially the prices of their Packs.

 

[Amanda]

Though there's obviously the issue of Steam games (including AC) being much cheaper for you in your region than they normally are, while R3E likely is not.

Yes, which is exactly the reason I personally won't be able to buy content from them.

Assetto Corsa base game and all DLC with no discount: 175 BRL.
With discount: at least half of that.

R3E Premium Pack with discount: 369 BRL.
R3E Premium Pack without discount: 2700 BRL, close to the price of my entire Steam library.

If in your region you're able to get all the content for 70 USD or close to that, then the pricing is actually not bad at all, it's a good thing that the Pack is always on sale. I think the pricing comes close to what Assetto Corsa with all DLC costs, and the good part is that all the content comes from the developers which means all cars will have a substantial amount of data coming from either racing teams or manufacturers; the sound will always be good, 3D models and textures too.

Too bad the pricing is just to high for my region.

 

[Case_]

From what I've gathered with other members, the number that appears by the side of the price (e.g. '4.99$ 87%') is the amount of the discount, in this case 87%.

I could verify this in the case of the Nordschleife. Last-last time I visited it, the price was around 19 BRL and there was a "34%" by the side of the price, from what I remember. Today there's no discount (no xx% by the number, and the price is around 31 BRL.

Very rarely do I see their prices not in a discount, specially the prices of their Packs.

Packs usually have discounts as you get personalized discounts for any content in the pack you already own (as I've mentioned in one of my previous comments), so that's pretty normal. And the base discount you see for packs if you don't own any content yet is just to show how much you save by getting the pack compared to buying every single piece of the pack's content individually, which obviously no-one in their right mind would do.
And 31 BRL sounds about right for non-discounted Nordschleife, yes, when I convert the price to euro (around 8 euro). It's the most expensive track in R3E. Normal tracks are between 3-5 euro.

 

[apex11]

OK regards the price you really just need to be a bit savvy and if you want all the sims then discount on one sim will make up for paying more for say raceroom...

I am lucky as i love raceroom so any penny spent was worth it, so far 130 odd hours of play. So let me explain.

I picked up AMS for £6
RFactor 2 for £11.99
GSCE £4
AC in steam sales so all DLC and base game about £30
Then RaceRoom which must stand me at about £90

So as a collection of 5 great games all sat on my PC ready to play it comes to approx £28 each.....

Sometimes its the way you have to look at things...if anything just so i can explain to my wife ;-)

And to add i used to do track days and karting for a few years, average track day £159 fuel £40. I also recently did an arrive and drive karting championship, was still £45 per month, yes its fun, but i get just about enough from sim racing, i really do, in fact in truth i get more, no need to leave the wife and kids on a weekend, can race at night on any car or track....this is cheap guys which ever way you spin it...

 

[Deleted member 99238]

I give a hint to those who want to start R3E. In the store Steam there are DLC package DTM Experience 2013/2014. Having bought it you will receive 3 championship cars and 9 excellent tracks in one package for little money.

 

[Case_]

Or you can just buy the Starter pack for less than 10 euro (999 vRP) and instead of getting three cars from the same class that's hardly ever used in races nowadays (provided you're interested in online racing, which you should be ) get 10 cars from 10 classes, which will make you eligible to enter way more races and give you a lot more variety than three almost same (and old) DTM cars, and also open up a very cheap purchase path to some of the other classes for you. Plus you also get 5 tracks, to which you can add another 3 tracks if you spend another 6 or so euro (679 vRP) for the American track pack, rounding the costs at around 16 euro, so exactly the same amount of money you'd pay on Steam for DTM 2013 experience (which will actually cost you 14 euro if you buy it from Raceroom shop instead of on Steam).

In fact the American track pack will be even cheaper if you buy it *after* you've bought the Starter pack as the Starter pack includes Laguna Seca, which is also part of the American track pack, and since you never pay for the same content twice in R3E, you'll automatically get a discount for the American track pack. So you'll pay even less for it.

My point is there really are solid options on how to get the maximum bang for your buck with R3E if you are smart about it. Yes, it's kinda complicated, but I'd say it's worth the bit of effort.
And also that you should never buy R3E content directly on Steam, it's always the most expensive way to get R3E content.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Great info from @Martin Fiala

 

[Will Mazeo]

Yes, which is exactly the reason I personally won't be able to buy content from them.

Assetto Corsa base game and all DLC with no discount: 175 BRL.
With discount: at least half of that.

R3E Premium Pack with discount: 369 BRL.
R3E Premium Pack without discount: 2700 BRL, close to the price of my entire Steam library.

If in your region you're able to get all the content for 70 USD or close to that, then the pricing is actually not bad at all, it's a good thing that the Pack is always on sale. I think the pricing comes close to what Assetto Corsa with all DLC costs, and the good part is that all the content comes from the developers which means all cars will have a substantial amount of data coming from either racing teams or manufacturers; the sound will always be good, 3D models and textures too.

Too bad the pricing is just to high for my region.

I'd recommend doing this if buying from Brazil: get the pack that gives you the most content, only one. Why? Because Steam currency is active there, but not in the site obviously.
You can see packs can be up to 40% cheaper in Brazil https://steamdb.info/app/455280/
Problem is... you'll pay twice for the same content if you buy packs that have same tracks via DLC. So you get only one pack that has more content or would be more expensive, then go to the site and buy the rest of what you need because there your account will list the content you have and you won't pay again for tracks/cars you already have, this increase the discount you'll get
It's not like you'll drive every car in the game anyway. And the good thing about RR is that you can drive online without having to own all the DLC like AC does.
Or wait for a sale too then you can buy cheap in Steam and in the site.
Dont blame the price on the site on the devs, we live in a **** country. See rF2 GT3 pack is at full price here too and it changes at the end of the day every day because of euro price change, it's not worth it for S397 to give a discount to other regions. Not every dev can active the Steam currency.

 

[Deleted member 99238]

10 cars from 10 classes, which will make you eligible to enter way more races and give you a lot more variety than three almost same (and old) DTM cars...

DTM cars can not be old as well as there are no old bolids of Formula 1.

And also that you should never buy R3E content directly on Steam, it's always the most expensive way to get R3E content.

Never... never.... never....
You will collect in the store R3E 9 european tracks for 10-12$? Or can you buy a DLC DTM 1992 package for 5$? For 15$ in store Steam, I can collect a very interesting set of classic and modern DTM content with a solid set of tracks. DTM 1992 is generally the best in the touring class. And do not forget that what is bought in the store Steam will always remain on your account, but where your purchases at the R3E store are not know.

 

[Amanda]

I'd recommend doing this if buying from Brazil: get the pack that gives you the most content, only one. Why? Because Steam currency is active there, but not in the site obviously.
You can see packs can be up to 40% cheaper in Brazil https://steamdb.info/app/455280/
Problem is... you'll pay twice for the same content if you buy packs that have same tracks via DLC. So you get only one pack that has more content or would be more expensive, then go to the site and buy the rest of what you need because there your account will list the content you have and you won't pay again for tracks/cars you already have, this increase the discount you'll get
It's not like you'll drive every car in the game anyway. And the good thing about RR is that you can drive online without having to own all the DLC like AC does.

I have considered selling my 757-200 for X-Plane to buy a few of R3E's content on Steam, but still the always-connected DRM is something which I cannot accept. The dev's know this bothers many users, yet they chose to stick with it. I chose not to buy their products.

Dont blame the price on the site on the devs, we live in a **** country. See rF2 GT3 pack is at full price here too and it changes at the end of the day every day because of euro price change, it's not worth it for S397 to give a discount to other regions. Not every dev can active the Steam currency.

The very fact that we live in a poor country should enable Sector3 to offer their content in a lower price to us; this is what most developers/publishers do because they know the buying power of poor countries cannot withstand a simple conversion from USD/EU to BRL, it's just too much. And by lowering prices to such countries, they sell more, it's simple economics: you're way more likely to sell 10 oranges for 2 dollars each, than to sell 10 oranges for 5 dollars each.

And for what I know, every single developer on Steam is able to chose different pricing for each country. If they don't do it, they have simply chosen not to.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Because people have to care their own business, not every dev will take the same decision, some won't even go to Steam because they don't consider worthy paying the price for it.
A license that costs $20,000+ won't cost less because Brazil is a "poor" country, especially when it really isn't poor, it is just a mess
If I was a dev I wouldn't lower my prices for this country either. If people work near half a year just to pay tax without caring about it I wouldn't give a crap about how expensive it could be, it's obvious most people don't care about their money here. We have what we deserve. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They may sell more with lower prices, but I doubt it would cover the costs. Those that really want to play it will pay for it. Brazil is not an important market for many other products (what we get here is what is left from other places), let alone simracing.
But that's another topic, as I said above, get a pack from Steam, login with Steam ccount in the site and get the rest from there, price is good. Good luck

 

[D.Boon]

Good news is that the tire-pressures have been implemented in the beta-builds, and pretty much are just waiting to be activated in the consumer-versions.
Presumably they're doing a little bug-squashing on it first.

Sorry mate, where did you hear that?

 

[J-F Chardon]

Sorry mate, where did you hear that?

Also curious ;-)

What's in beta is tire compounds. Going to have to clean up the test team again I guess. Someone can't even leak stuff right...

 

[D.Boon]

Also curious ;-)

What's in beta is tire compounds. Going to have to clean up the test team again I guess. Someone can't even leak stuff right...

Wasn't me, you know I only leak stuff to PRC

 

[protonv5]

Also curious ;-)

What's in beta is tire compounds. Going to have to clean up the test team again I guess. Someone can't even leak stuff right...

Just heard today that Sector3 has been acquired by Kunos, which has in turn been acquired by Digital Bros., which in turn has been acquired by Activision. Of course this led to a merger of Slightly Mad Studios and Turn 10. The day after this was announced, we became aware that the whole thing was then bought by EA. When asked about updated tire modelling they only stated that their primary focus was a massive DLC rollout coming every month followed by the title going completely toward monster trucks. So, some big changes ahead indeed.

 

[Lars Hansen]

Also curious ;-)

What's in beta is tire compounds. Going to have to clean up the test team again I guess. Someone can't even leak stuff right...

Oops, my bad.
Well, I got the tire-part right.

EDIT: Knew I'd seen it somewhere.
https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/tire-pressure-adjusting.9134/#post-126697

 

[Christian Moreau]

Oops, my bad.
Well, I got the tire-part right.

And buggered if you know....

 

[Lars Hansen]

And buggered if you know....

Well, that one's a given at any point of the discussion.

 

[Case_]

Never... never.... never....
You will collect in the store R3E 9 european tracks for 10-12$? Or can you buy a DLC DTM 1992 package for 5$? For 15$ in store Steam, I can collect a very interesting set of classic and modern DTM content with a solid set of tracks. DTM 1992 is generally the best in the touring class. And do not forget that what is bought in the store Steam will always remain on your account, but where your purchases at the R3E store are not know.

Well, enjoy. I was just offering a well meant advice. What anyone will do with it is obviously his/her own decision/choice.

 

[apex11]

It's a real mystery to me why this game doesn't ever get mentioned in the big 'sim' debates..but all i know is its great to play, has the best FWD sim cars by a long long long way and i have driven FWD racing cars and track focused cars in real life on UK race tracks.
It also from my experience doesn't suffer from having over rabid fanboys like AC and PCars who attack people for expressing opinions on a game they paid for and own.
I maybe wrong but no way is the sector 3 forum as scary as the PCars or AC forums...