A Question for Race Sim Folks

"area man" (hurrburgring)
12/17/2014 at 12:59 • Filed to: None

For those who play iRacing, Live for Speed, Assetto, etc. Do you have a kickass PC that runs everything really well? Not that I want a setup like the one here, but every YouTube video I've seen shows the games running silky-smooth. Meanwhile, all these sims have really low baseline requirements. I'm no expert, but I know running things at the minimum or anywhere near it doesn't look that good.

I'm currently on a 5 year old throwaway HP laptop that can't run anything as I save up for something new (lost my newer Sony, very sad). Can you play these with a decent framerate and solid graphics on a non-gaming-focused new computer? Or should I not get my hopes up without investing a fair amount of money in making my new machine gaming-ready?

DISCUSSION (14)

ddavidn > area man
12/17/2014 at 13:02

The issue with your laptop is going to be the video card. It isn't likely very good, and won't run sims. My computer is older and a bit decrepit, but still runs iRacing really well. IRacing isn't a terribly demanding game, but Dirt3 is. I can't run Dirt3 comfortably. I have a Core Quad 2.6, 4GB RAM and a GeForce 460 or something. I wouldn't recommend jumping into racing sims unless you have a halfway decent video card.

Edit: Assetto Corsa also runs fine on my machine, albeit with the graphics turned down quite a bit.

area man > ddavidn
12/17/2014 at 13:10

Yeah, my laptop is garbage, and I'm not even going to waste the money trying to make it halfway decent. So when you say it runs iRacing really well, where are the game settings at?

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > area man
12/17/2014 at 13:16

I don't have the best rig, but it's fairly powerful despite being inexpensive. my graphics card is the weakest point of my system for me, and I'm looking for a replacement for it.

Also,

Live for speed can even run on an eee pc, which is known to be slow.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > area man
12/17/2014 at 13:19

If you want something that will run on an ancient laptop, Live for Speed and TOCA Race Driver 3 are two solid options. LFS has one of the best simulation and tire physics engines around and will run on a potato, while TOCA is a bit more arcadey but has a lot more content. If you want realistic rally racing, Richard Burns Rally is from 2003 or something like that and has yet to be matched for realistic physics and force feedback, and since it's so old will run on french fries.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > area man
12/17/2014 at 13:46

iRacing isn't as intensive graphically as a number of other games are. It also gives alot of leeway with regards to how you can set up the detail. For example, you can choose to have off-track textures and items set at low-quality but set up your mirrors and other cars to be high quality. I've never had an issue running it at max graphics with my 3-4 year old custom built PC. It was pretty ballin' at the time and is still a pretty hot computer, but it's nothing super special. i7 2600k, Radeon hd (6870?), 16 gigs of ram, etc. You should be able to get away with running iRacing on it with lower quality while building another computer.

area man > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
12/17/2014 at 13:48

16 gigs is a crapton of ram, sounds pretty ballin' even today.

area man > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
12/17/2014 at 13:49

Good to know, thanks!

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > area man
12/17/2014 at 13:51

Yeah, I went pretty extreme with the ram, but not with gaming in mind. It was primarily built as a recording computer and I frequently record entire shows of up to 48 channels with it. I've never come close to its capabilities.

Tapas > area man
12/17/2014 at 14:13

Related question: WHERE can I buy/rent/use the pictured racing sim?!

area man > Tapas
12/17/2014 at 14:17

Idk, it was one of the first things in Google when I searched "racing simulator rig"

burntartichoke > area man
12/17/2014 at 14:37

It depends on what you are looking to get out of it, do amazing visuals make or break a game or can you still enjoy lower quality graphics. I was running a Q6600 Core 2 Quad and GTX 260 up until a week ago and that would do medium settings for GTR2, GT Legends and Shift 2 and low settings for RaceRoom and Project Cars just fine but start to bog when I tried to dial it up. If you are looking to just turn solo laps and dont mind lower graphics then, in theory you could run them. AI races will bog down the computer if you want large starting grids but I cant say how many opponents you would be able to have on that laptop without just trying it out. Online performance is mostly connection speed based so that should be a bit easier to support more opponents than AI racing. If you are dead set on playing a given game no matter what system you are running, get the game and try it out, since it sounds like you are already planning on a new computer. There are lots of ideas for budget builds and you can get as much enjoyment out of a sub $1k build as you can from a $4k build.

lameofdog > area man
12/17/2014 at 14:41

If you want to play racing sims and enjoy it I recommend a good desktop PC. If you don't have any of the components to start you're looking spending a thousand dollars though.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > area man
12/17/2014 at 15:06

Im able to run most things at a really high level. I have no clue what's in it though. Its not technically my computer.

ddavidn > area man
12/18/2014 at 11:09

I think they are generally at medium setting. For comparison, Dirt3 is all set to ultra low, and still lags too much to enjoy.