iRacing Week 13 update

"ncasolowork2" (ncasolowork2) 07/22/2014 at 13:38 • Filed to: None

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Lots of tire changes... has anyone had a chance to try things out that can give feedback?

MHunter905 > ncasolowork2 07/22/2014 at 14:06

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Hey, this is slightly off topic but iRacing related. I am looking for a good racing sim to get into and I like what I have seen from iRacing but I would like to know an opinion from someone who has it.

The only thing holding me back is that it looks like to play other tracks and cars you have to pay $10-15 per car and track. Buying a two year membership and a few tracks and cars could cost me around $250! This is when $60 for GT6 seems a lot more appealing.

Also I have noticed a lot of the tracks seem to be out of date old versions from 5 years ago or more (ie: Mosport aka Canadian Tire Motorsport park)

The other sims I am looking at are:

Live For Speed $44

Assetto Corsa $40 < Not sure if this game is complete either

Next Car Game (racing junkers) $30

If you have any other good suggestions I am open to all realistic sim options.

I might even get Beam NG just to have some fun with.

ncasolowork2 > MHunter905 07/22/2014 at 14:40

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If you take advantage of discounts and participation bonuses and bulk purchase discounts you can do a lot with your money. That said you just missed out on the 2 year for $99 promo. In addition to that or similar promos they will offer 20% discount on purchases of 6 or more pieces of content and after a certain number of tracks/cars are licensed it is increased to 25% no matter how many pieces you get... or if you have it all 30%.

And they frequently will do credit promotions where you can get $100 in credit for $75.

So if you like math

Get 2x$75 promo packs for $150 = $200 in content. Average $13 per piece of content at a 25% discount = $9.75 per piece = 20 cars/tracks for $150. With discounts and participation the annual membership can be mitigated to ~$10 a year. Keep in mind with iRacing you aren't buying a new game every 2 years. By the time you purchase the DLC in Forza the price difference isn't as significant as it initially appears. Keep in mind I think there are 7 tracks on the newest version of Forza. Those 7 tracks on iRacing can be had for roughly the same as the cost of Forza. Granted they have added Long Beach and Nurburgring for free. iRacing added Okayama free a couple years back along with the MX-5. Sure all that content costs a lot but the amount of track content available at iRacing is untouchable by GT or Forza

Ultimately though it will require a bit of an initial investment to get involved in. I've been doing it now for almost 4 years and in 2014 I've spent $0 on iRacing due to promos and credits i've earned through member referrals ($10 per member) and participation. I've also kept up with licensing new content. I got the 2 years for $99 last year so I'm good yet for another year.

Setting numbers aside it boils down to this. If you like GT or Forza because of all the variety of cars then iRacing isn't right for you. If you don't like Forza or GT because the competition experience is lacking then iRacing is for you. It isn't a perfect system but iRacing does promote clean racing. They ban people who drive backwards or intentionally wreck other drivers. The other thing about iRacing is the racing is extremely organized (though there are some less popular series where it isn't like you'll be able to sign on and race whenever. For example the Lotus 49 they typically have races on the weekends but due to how hard the car is to drive people are usually practicing during weekdays so they're able to keep it on the track when the races take place on the weekends) and you have fewer turn 1 heroes because the shortest races are around 25-30 minutes with some longer special events here and there (2.4 hours at Spa in GT3 cars this weekend on iRacing as their event to mirror the 24 hours of Spa)

Oh and driver swaps are coming in 3 months which means 24 hour races for real.

As for the other racing sims I have to admit I don't know much about them other than I know they don't have the same type of organized racing structure iRacing has. They may feel great, look great, and generally be great sims, but without a good competition structure they're meaningless to me because the reason I sim race is to race against other people.

This is a broadcast of an official iRacing series (damn near impossible to qualify for basically open to 50 members). This should give you an idea of what the competition can be like. Fast forward to ~11:10 for the start of the race. I ran that race. Got some nice air time before I put it in the wall.

Driver in P1 in that race is GP3 driver, Formula Renault 3.5 driver and Aston Martin WEC driver Richie Stanaway.