iRacing impressions

I noticed that there was a special for the first month's subscription to iRacing last weekend, and I thought for $5 American (about 6.50 NZ at the mo) it was probably worth a look.

My initial impressions were that the physics were impressive (IMO similar to Forza without Forza's active steering assist), the graphics aren't bad, but that there are far too many overheads... If you want more than a '34 coupe, an MX5, a Pontiac Solstice or a Ford Spec racer, and about 5 tracks it costs money to licence the tracks and cars. It's between $12 and $20 american per track and $12 per car, which probably isn't a huge amount, but given the lack of content from standard it's not cheap either IMO - given that you pay to play at all.

There's no offline practice - so no i-net no iRacing. There's a limited number of events available, I was playing for a reasonable amount of the weekend, and I wasn't able to select anything other than practice sessions (you need at least 2 races, or 4 time trial sessions to be promoted above the beginner level).

So all in all - I don't think I'll be renewing my first month's subscription. Which is something you have to be a little careful about - because like a lot of web services, if you pay by credit card they'll automatically re-charge each month until you cancel.

I'd wondered if anyone else has or has had a subscription, and if so whether you had any impressions that differed from mine (or if I'm being premature in my conclusions)

i had a quick go, not my cup of tea. it is a cheap game to get started with, but the extra dlc is not worth it imo.

that reminds me, i have to cancel my sub.

ive always looked at it and thought for what ive got (and paid for already) its not worth it.
So much more opportunity to do things via FM3.

And playing on the pc chair and not on my insanely massive projector screen and stereo system ....pffftttttt.

I've often thought about giving it a go, but then my PC died and I've never bothered building another one capable of running games since I mostly just play Forza.

When my PC *was* working, I'd been playing Live For Speed for about 5yrs and regard it as the best simulation racer for the PC, especially when they introduced tyre deformation physics. It's different from Forza in that you race a selection of cars which are based on real cars but not officially licensed.

There's a go-kart, FWD hatches (kind of like a mini and a VW Golf), RWD performance streeters (Kind of like an MA41 Supra and a stock 350Z), purpose built race cars (more like a JGTC 350Z and an MA41 Supra), and open wheelers similar to a Formula Holden (6cyl open wheeler), and a V8 open wheeler kind of like an old F1, an official Formula BMW model, and an official model of the BMW Sauber F1. Certain cars suited certain tracks, but no 2 cars felt the same to drive. The F1 was rediculously fast and in my opinion feels more realistic than F1 2010. None of the tracks were real-life but still wheel designed and very challenging. One thing I always liked was that every track had a different character. Some were bumpy but sticky, others were smooth but low-grip, some had multiple surface changes throughout the track requiring a compromise in setup. Forza generally seems to be the same grip level around the track, and the only track that actually feels bumpy is Nurburg GP.

It also has support for driver changes during enduros which added another element of strategy. Apart from that it has fuel burn depending on the car (the hatches are more efficient than the full race cars) and the car handling changes noticably as the fuel was used up, and adjustable anti-roll bars while racing which allows you to trim the car as the fuel burns.

I also consider LFS to have more realistic tyre wear physics than Forza. In LFS the tyre would start off with plenty of grip once you got them up to temp, then gradually as they wore down over 20-30laps (depending on the car and how you treat the tyres) the temps would rise and then fall as the performance died away, and then if you really risked it, you'd get 1-2laps of awesome grip right before the tyre popped. In Forza I never seem to get more than about 20% wear before the tyres are stuffed, the car is sliding around all over the place and you need a new set.

Unfortuately they haven't updated it in a while, which is apparently due to trying to create a real-life tyre model. When I used to play there was a lot of excitement that they were going to add the VW Scirocco and the official UK Rockingham circuit but the tyre physics delayed that for about 2yrs. Maybe 2011 is the year. The Australian forum is www.mondaynightracing.com if you like it and want to find like-minded racers.


Sorry, MA71 Supras. The square ones anyway

Thanks for reminding me about LFS okrad - I have tried the free trial a few times, but nothing more. Maybe I should have pulled my wallet out for the whole 40 odd AU dollars, but again for the content you get that sounds like quite a lot to me (maybe I'm just spoilt by console racers).

I like the idea of changing drivers in enduros - that's a brilliant idea, and something that would suit a console racer awesomely, given that you can give data priority to drivers, and spectators get the dregs until they take the seat, in my mind that's ideal (at least for a dedicated serverless XB Live)...

Hopefully, given that Nurburgring GP was the most recently created track T10 will create some tracks with more feeling the next time round, although in my limited experience Leguna Seca is almost identical between iRacing and Forza.

I reckon LFS is definately worth the money. None of this "pay a subscription for the game, then pay for the cars/tracks" crap. You buy it, you get the whole game and all the cars and tracks for your $30 or whatever.

The other thing I liked about it is www.setupgrid.net. They have tunes for just about every car on every track. If you're not the best at tuning, you can go there and find (usually) a WR tune. From there you can usually just reduce the tyre pressures and maybe some slight ARB adjustments and usually end up with a decent race car. The other great thing about the LFS community is that they're usually not afraid to share a tune.