Too many sims these days, but which is the best band for the buck?


I love the SimBim series, but it seems they are dwindling down, and not many are online anymore.

iRacing seems fun, but expensive, and limited to your budget.

Asetta Corsa looks amazing visually, but how are the physics, and how many people are playing it?

I just picked up R3E DTM 2013 on a steam sale, but have yet to play it.




Opinions?

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https://my.flightradar24.com/Sadokist
http://www.twitter.com/sadokist
2017 Circuit Mont Tremblant Fall Classic - 3rd GTC
2017 Jack Canfield Memorial 3 Hour Enduro - 1st Overall
2019 CASC-OR Celebration of Motorsport - 1st GT2
NBSCC Race Director

I'm guessing, only played it once, that the iracing is worth it. I just wish I had a proper system and a lot more free time.

SimBim still feels the most natural to drive, to me. R3E is insanely tricky, and the DTM cars snap easy as hell.

I only ever did Miatas on Limerock in iR, but I was doing 59's pretty comfortably... They felt fun but I didn't lack the lack of force feedback they gave me.


Still waiting to talk with someone who has AC. It looks super appealing!

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https://my.flightradar24.com/Sadokist
http://www.twitter.com/sadokist
2017 Circuit Mont Tremblant Fall Classic - 3rd GTC
2017 Jack Canfield Memorial 3 Hour Enduro - 1st Overall
2019 CASC-OR Celebration of Motorsport - 1st GT2
NBSCC Race Director

Matt, keep in mind that I had the force feedback dialed down on my steering wheel (trying to keep the stupid Fa;na'tec from overheating with the multiplier users) the night you tried iRacing. It can be set up to sprain your wrist if you want

Imho you may also want to consider the skill level of your competition (and track decorum) when making your decision too?

Stacy

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The fricton circle for my 911 Porsche resembles more of an oblong... I'm either trailbraking or accelerating while trying to get it to turn!

Yeah thats the reason I am leaving Simbin... There is no one good playing anymore. 3 races back and I haven't been challenged yet - And I'm for sure not faster... there just aren't people playing...

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http://www.twitter.com/sadokist
2017 Circuit Mont Tremblant Fall Classic - 3rd GTC
2017 Jack Canfield Memorial 3 Hour Enduro - 1st Overall
2019 CASC-OR Celebration of Motorsport - 1st GT2
NBSCC Race Director

Nothing comes close to iRacing for racing real people. There are races going on at any time of the day / night, and their licence, iRating, and Saftey Rating systems help weed out the wreckers and group you with others of similar skill and ability.

While iRacing has the perception of being very expensive with its membership fees and paid content, you can actually race quite cheaply if you're smart about it. For example, a few times a year you can purchase credits for 75% cost. The you can use those credits when membership renewals go on sale for 50% off; so effectively you're only paying 25% for your annual membership. And you can also use those credits for buying car & track content; which if you buy in bulk give you an additional 25% off, or effectively 1/2 price. Plus all you have to do is run 8 races in a season and you will get iRacing participation credits, up to $10 per season. So that's another $40 per year you can save.

Bottom line, you can run iRacing for only a few dollars per month if you take advantage of all their deals / sales / incentives. And if you're good enough, you can join a sponsored team and race for free / possibly make more money than you spend on the sim.

So really, there's no excuse not to join iRacing.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I really must try iRacing in someone's proper setup sometime. I could never get it dialed in in any way that I felt comfortable driving it. The steering was always off, the Force feedback wrong and I could never develop a proper sensation of speed. I'd constantly be spinning out in corners when I felt like I was just poking around the track at commuting speeds.

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2005 Forester XT (Daily/B2Tuned), 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS P4WD Class Rally Car, 2006 WRX RallyCross Car (Sponsors: Rally-Tech, Great North Performance, ISI Automotive)
Check out: Rally East, The Ledwidge Lookoff Rally

If you want to go hardcore into sim racing, the computer, the gear, the setup, the monthly fee.... it's iRacing.
There's a lot to iRacing, but once you get it 'dialed in', it's probably as real as you can get in your living room.

If you want something that's almost as good, but much easy to jump into Gran Turismo 6.
PS3 + Wheel + Internet and you're done. A one time fee when you buy the game. No monthly fees, no paying real money for virtual cars and tracks.



I also own Assetto Corsa. I find the graphics amazing and the physics are great.... the only issue is it's still in beta. The game is still evolving. That's good and bad. Good because I feel it's heading in the right direction, but bad because it's not as polished as GT6 or iRacing.......yet.

With Assetto Corsa you'll still need a gaming PC and the gear / setup, but there is no monthly fee or extra fees for purchasing cars or tracks (at least not at this time). Even though AC is limited on car selection there are still some great cars to drive.... BMW M3 E30, Ferrari F1 312T, Lotus Type 49, etc. One other thing worth mentioning is I think the sound of AC is fantastic.

If you have any other specific questions regarding AC let me know.



Going back to my original point, if you are going to spend some serious time and money on a sim setup, go iRacing. If you want to just jump in and play, go Gran Turismo 6.

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Iracing is also super easy to get into, I have a very basic G25 wheel on a desk and use a kitchen chair. I have a OTS desktop from future shop and use a cheap old dynex TV for a monitor.
Not ideal compared to some of the guys, but I can go almost as fast with my setup.

It does cost a bit to get all the cars and tracks, but there is nothing closer to the real thing.
There is a super late model in the game, and with a road course setup on it, it drives EXACTLY like our real one.

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Paul

..with everything being said I just wanna point out that AC is currently on sale right now if that changes anything.

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1997 Eagle Talon TSI

I find it weird no one has mentioned a simbin title in here regarding physics. I've always thought the physic in Race On and GTR Evo were/are the best around. RaceRoom Racing Experience (their new one) seems a little falsified or dumbed down. Cars point like an arrow... I rather enjoy fighting understeer (call me Kubica, I guess). It too is still in beta, though, but all content would cost $140.00. :/

I think I'll likely go iRacing on a budget to get started just for the sake of competition. It was fun for the month I had it.


Jason, can you compare the physics in AC to that of rFactor2? I always thought the rFactor 1 feedback was horrendous, but that physics engine itself wasn't bad. Simbin actually bought it and revamped it for GTR.

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https://my.flightradar24.com/Sadokist
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2017 Circuit Mont Tremblant Fall Classic - 3rd GTC
2017 Jack Canfield Memorial 3 Hour Enduro - 1st Overall
2019 CASC-OR Celebration of Motorsport - 1st GT2
NBSCC Race Director

Matt there are some many things you can tweek in AC regarding the physics and feedback that it can get silly at times.
Once you have it dialed in, it's pretty nice. It's a lot like iRacing because it's on a PC you can configure it X many ways.

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Downloading AC now

I don't think I'm ready to commit to iRacing yet. Soon, I will.

_________________
https://my.flightradar24.com/Sadokist
http://www.twitter.com/sadokist
2017 Circuit Mont Tremblant Fall Classic - 3rd GTC
2017 Jack Canfield Memorial 3 Hour Enduro - 1st Overall
2019 CASC-OR Celebration of Motorsport - 1st GT2
NBSCC Race Director

I recently abandoned Live for Speed after racing it at a very high international level, the game just died after the devs completely lost sight in reasonable development schedules and all the leagues dried up.

Recently I have been doing very little sim-racing, work and buying a house got in the way, I am just starting to pick it up again. I am most likely going to get into Assetto Corsa. I bought AC on Day 1 in Nov 2013 and have very few complaints. LFS was famous for its dirt simple pick-up-and-play online racing, AC does not have this, it more resembles the iR online system that is more time consuming and more scheduled. The Ac online racing is kind of "meh" but it is public server racing, and driving quality will be the same in any sim in open servers. Even the first set of iR servers that new players have to race in are a gong show. I have not done any organized Ac races, but I just signed up for my first Ac community and am hoping to start some "club" racing soon, I have been told that the races are very good, with a fun oriented attitude.

I have dabbled with iR and was not impressed with the feel, it just felt very numb to me. iR is a continuation to Nascar Racing 2003 Season (a game I played a ton of), it feels like a numbed NR2003 in order to cover up my biggest NR2003 complaints, but those issues do show their ugly face. I find iR is love it or hate it. Rej (kart racer and sim team mate) loves iR, I hate it. A lot of LFS people I have talked to have been equally divided.

The full potential of AC is still to be seen, open modding may create great things, but they may fail to make the online system more user friendly so it is a little bit of an unknown. But I think on dollar value, AC will be better, especially if you get into a good community / league. AC is a little iffy for pick-up racing.