Are there any other simracing enthusiasts?
Hey all,
I will admit, one thing I will miss about the other site is having the strong simracing community. Have any other sim racers made the jump?
I told myself I wouldn’t buy another F1 game (hell, I partially got a PC to keep F1 22 alive with mods), but F1 23 looks like it’s a huge step better. Maybe that will be my last F1 game, lol.
Otherwise, I find myself really only playing Assetto Corsa. I know other games are better at one thing or another, but AC just seems to have the best all-around. I play single player almost exclusively, so I want a decent AI and also be able to race everywhere they do IRL. For example, I hear the indycars are better in Automobilista 2, but AC has all the track mods, and I’m honestly having fun using AI apps to fix any kind of AI dumbness that occurs. Same with WEC- AC probably isn’t the best physics, but I have all the cars and the tracks.
Any other sim racers here?
Over the pandemic I got really into it, and now I have an aluminum extrusion rig, heusinkveld sprint pedals, and a fanatec CSW2.5. Like you, primarily I'm doing modded Assetto Corsa and Dirt Rally 2.0, but I do dabble with iRacing every once and a while.
I've been neglecting the rig over the last year or so and while I do get some serious enjoyment out of it when I play, I'm finding it harder and harder to justify the space required to keep the rig, especially having moved into a smaller space in the interim.
Maybe if enough people here are into Assetto Corsa we can get a small race session together.
I’d be down!
Also I currently have a rig thats foldable, which works when I need to put it away. Though, I think I can get to the point where I can get one that has the seat as part of the rig. That’s what’s keeping me from playing rally a bit, I feel like swinging the wheel like needed for rally might be better on a more rigid stand. And also not having another rim besides just a formula rim would help too lol
Is it the Playseat Challenge? I have that with a CSW 2.5 and it handles Dirt Rally just fine. Though it probably won't work well if you only have a formula style wheel.
I believe so actually. But yeah I’d want to get a full wheel rim before I go off rallying…be a bit more appropriate lol
Used to love simracing! Sadly I had to sell off my gear about a year ago, was pretty active on the reddit too. Loved playing Assetto Corsa with loads of mods and just cruisin' on that one Japanese highway map. Chill times.
It's not exactly simracing but it is racing in a sim - I've been doing a bunch of beam multiplayer. Very fun and the damage model adds a ton of depth. Highly recommend it.
Man, I need to do Beam.NG more. I’ve only played a little bit but had a lot of fun with it.
I play iRacing in VR almost exclusively. I used to race in a weekly Porsche Cup league (Season 3 Am Champion!), but the practice requirements are too much now. I've pivoted to doing mainly endurance events. The occasional solo two-hour event and the bigger races every few months. I just did a 24 hour of Le Mans (P3 in GT Am) and 6 hour of Watkins Glen. I find it much easier to casually practice in the few weeks leading up to the event and then commit one day every few months to a race versus practicing a new track every week.
Setup is mid/high end, I guess.
Simucube 2 base
Gomez GXL wheel
Heusinkveld Sprints
8020 rig
HP Reverb G2
VR will be my next step up for sure. Thing with iRacing is, I know it’s one of the top sims, but I can’t justify cost with how little I play multiplayer. If I do go that route I might end up doing what you do, and doing endurance events. I feel like I’d enjoy those, with being a fan of endurance racing.
VR is a literal game changer for sims.
iRacing has a terrible business model, I can get behind having to pay a subscription, but having to pay for each car and track you want is crazy.
Exactly. And yeah I’m so ready to try VR. But I imagine you can’t go back to racing not VR once you start!
No, it is very unsatisfying to play in flat after experiencing VR. It is amazing how immersive VR is, your brain just thinks you are in a car.
I think the endurance events are more rewarding too. Seems like more of an accomplishment than grinding out weekly races.
iRacing does nickle-and-dime you. If you run one or two series, it's not terrible, but the costs add up. They do develop the sim very actively and are pretty responsive to fixing bugs, so it does feel like the money is put to good use.
I've forgotten about racing for a while, but I got a new PC recently and look forward to get back in the game. Got a nice wheel and a Valve Index ... racing is one of those genres which fits VR perfectly. Can't really imagine playing it without.
For a crazy arcade racer, I enjoyed Buck Up and Drive!
Yeah once I get tired of my AC stuff I’ll go back to NR2003. I need to play with the settings a bit but I really enjoyed the one Indycar oval race I did over there.
I learned very quick that my driving style is not conducive to a loose car though.
I prefer arcade style racing games. I appreciate the higher skill level of simulation-type racing games, but I really don't find the act of driving to be a stimulating activity, especially with many of those racing games starting you off with cars that don't have particularly good handling or performance. More than anything I just prefer the pick-up-and-play quick rush that arcade style racing games provide, which is kind of odd because those are the only kinds of game that I like for those reasons.
I totally get that! It’s not my personal cup of tea, but I completely get the appeal of the pick up and play racers.
Most sim games let you race anything you like from the start. It is the arcade games that gate content.
You know, you're probably right that it's an unfair criticism; most of the ones I've played have some equivalent of a "quick race" mode that offers at least a majority of the cars. But I usually want to play games "as they're meant to be played", and as such I'm going to go into the biggest mode on offer, which is usually something like a career mode where you start from the bottom.
This is what disappointed me the most about Gran Turismo 7 on PS5. GT3 and 4 on PS2 were the pinnacle of this experience for me - there was a clear distinction between "Arcade Mode" and "Simulation Mode" that you could choose right from the title screen (or in the case of the PSX era, two separate discs) and you had a ton of cars to choose from right from the start for Arcade Mode for a quick race. While I still enjoy Gran Turismo 7, not only is the arcade mode limited to what you unlock from the "simulation" GT mode, but split screen felt incredibly unfinished. Player 2 in GT7 couldn't even change driving assists. Multiplayer isn't unlocked until you complete a number of single player missions.
This clear distinction between arcade racing (start game, pick from a large roster of cars, play) and a "simulation" style of progressing through GPs and missions to unlock stuff is what I've been looking for in a modern racing game for years now, and nothing has been able to match that PS2 era so far.
I’ve played every GT growing up, and yeah the 1 through 4 era of a distinct arcade/sim break was awesome. I think people expected Polyphony to go back to that with 7 and leave the Sport-type gameplay to Sport, but it didn’t really work like that.
Most sim games don't have career modes, you have the cars and the tracks and the challenge of improving your times or racing AI/players.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe I just played the "wrong" games, or it's simply because I haven't played one in a good long while.
At some point, I'll probably dive into more-detailed sims. I have a partial rig - it's a DIY wooden frame with an old seat from my brother's 240SX, and Logitech G27 wheel and pedals. It doesn't have its own PC/display, so I need to put it in front of my desktop to use - which means I don't use it often because moving it back and forth is a pain. Eventually, I think I can find a way to get the setup its own space, and then I'll be able to actually try to get good at the whole driving thing.
I have a decent setup and played a ton of iRacing for about two years but stopped about a half year ago. I might come back to again at some point. But hobbies come and go for me.
Even though iRacing get ridiculously expensive, there was just no competition when it came to having a challenging and fun online session matched with others of similar skill. I also became quite hooked on oval racing even though I at that point only have followed Formula 1. It is way more difficult and fun to go around in circles than it looks.
Like I said above, it took a lot more getting used to than I thought. I went with modded Nascar Racing 2003 as I’m single player 99% of the time, but if I were to try multiplayer I’d splurge on iRacing most likely.
Fairly new to Sim Racing, only got my wheel less than a year ago. Started with F121 then f122, Forza Horizon 5, and now im playing a lot of Assetto Corsa Competizione. I have Assetto Corsa, but I can't get the controls on my wheel to map as readily as with Competizione.
Nice! I started with F1 2017.
I can’t tell if you have a PC or not, but if you do download Content Manager for AC. There is a section (I believe it’s called Patch) where you can map some more bindings than the base game. There is certainly a learning curve to figuring out CM but at this point that’s the only way I launch Assetto Corsa nowadays.
I really need to get back into ACC, I really enjoyed driving it when I did play it.
Thanks! I do have PC so I will definitely be checking that out.
I play mostly on a casual level, but I've started with Project Cars, moved to Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista, Project Cars 2... Maybe a few multiplayer races here and there, but I'd love to do something in Assetto Corsa with more people one day.
Honestly same. I struggle with wanting to commit as simracing is usually my “escape the world” time which is why I usually just like to race the AI.
I need to give AMS another shot, I never could really get behind rF2 though.
A few years ago I got into iRacing a bit. Really enjoyed it. My arms would be tired trying to keep everything straight. Lol Then I had a kid. Now I rarely get enough time to commit to it. I enjoy more casual racing games now like NASCAR Heat or the old PS2 era racing games. Once the kid gets a bit older I hope to jump back into it.
You mentioned F1 23 and I am very tempted. Lol
Honestly I’m thinking about it. The problem with 21 and 22 was the physics, so if they don’t accidentally patch it back to where it was I’m going to get it eventually.
Does GT7 count even though it is more "simcade" than a hard-core sim? If so, count me among the ranks.
I’d say so! That was my main before getting a PC. Hell, I consider F1 a simcade but that’s one of my mains now.
As an F1 fan, I started a little bit of simracing with F1 2012. Then had a little break till 2017 or 18 I think and got few years of league racing out of F1 games. Those games were basically the same year after year with minor modifications so it became really hard to justify buying them every year.
I am currently racing in ACC with an incredibly awesome community.
In regards of gear, I started with a cheap-ish Thrustmaster RGT. Then bougth T300 with a basic wheelstand. And now I am rocking an aluminium rig with Moza R9 and Asetek Forte pedals.
Nice! I have a CSL elite that apparently got discontinued…? Was fun to find that out after I needed to get it fixed lol
That's unfortunate. Fanatec has the CSL DD bundle (5nm) on sale at the moment, for 400 euros, I think.
I did end up getting it fixed, but it was still tougher than it should’ve been to get it done. I have been thinking about going for the DD though…
I really can't make the switch back to the F1 games after playing RSS's Formula mods on AC. And the fact that ACC is getting better and better I don't see myself playing anything else. If I had the money I'd be dropping both and playing iRacing!
If AC had a proper safety car system I’d likely do the same. Especially now that I know how to fix individual car performance.
I bought the Super Formula car and I have a blast with it!
Fair enough yeah, I just use it mostly for lapping the Nord lol
I love Dirt Rally 2. That actually got me into WRC/Rally, which is a bonus.
Can't wait to see what Codemasters comes up with with the new WRC title, I'm hoping it'll be similar to Dirt Rally 2, but with some major improvements, especially to the career mode, and the asphalt. It feels to... slippery in DR2.
That being said, I'm also terrified to see how EA forced some cut corners. Can't be any worse then WRC generations I guess.
I do need to buy a wheel/pedal combo though. Some people are very judgemental when I say I'm using a controller.
I met a friend through karting back in 2019/early 2020 and when the pandemic started, I couldn't really do any IRL racing for a time, but he told me about the magical world of simracing. I became instantly hooked on iRacing. At this point in time, I don't play every week anymore (just have some other priorities going on), but I still race every few weeks and still do endurance events with my team (just came off a P2 finish at the Glen 6 hour!). Really, getting to know this guy got me into a hobby I don't think I would have before. I never would have played Assetto, iRacing, rFactor, or any number of other games without him.
I'm probably going to be upgrading to an 80/20 rig soon and I think having a more comfortable space will help drive me to race more. Right now I'm using a budget rig that just isn't that comfortable, but I'd like to get back to doing at least two races a week, if not more.
not a sim racer, but I really like a genre of racing games called anti-grav racing (closest thing in pop culture would be podracing in star wars). I play a fair amount of redout and balistic.ng.