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Welcome to your 2012 PC racing sim Thread, I'll be your guide though the aspergers, elitism, complexity and The fantastic racing that makes up PC sim racing. What is Sim Racing? This is a bit of a philosophical question. But long story short, a sim focuses on the physics of the car first with graphics, career mode, accessibility, collection etc coming in second if at all. Whereas a game focuses on graphics/collection etc first. This is very much a scale with no hard line saying what is and isn't a sim. But its generally accepted among sim racers that the games featured here have a more accurate driving experience then GT5 or Forza 4. Besides physics, what sets sim racing apart from the likes of GT5/Forza 4 In my opinion the number one reason to get into PC sim racing is the leagues and communities that grow up around these sims. The best example I can find would be the iRacing drivers world championship which offers 10,000 US Dollars for its championship winner. The fields feature 35 drivers per race and real sponsorship deals. In addition it also features televised races on PSRTV. Excellent race recaps featuring a lot of drivers you may recognize. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YYLYSHH-Io&feature=related (NASCAR Sim Pros) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T26aVdEhBaQ (Formula Sim Pros) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmR0SzNkH6w (Actual Pros) Every televised race can be found here. http://www.psrtv.com/archive/index.php Leagues come in every ability level/car/sim and timeslot so there is opportunity to race in a league no matter what your situation or preference. There are even leagues such as the 16th street racing league where you can race against real life Indycar drivers (Will Power is a member). I'll cover some of the top leagues and video examples when I get to each respective racing sim. Another added benefit (especially on iRacing) is racing against real life drivers. Over 50 Real life drivers such as Will Power and Dale Earnhardt Jr can be found racing against the general public. If you haven't already check that youtube link above and see for yourself. Where can I find out more about this community you speak of? http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/ : Best place for general news in the simracing world. Very iRacing centric however. http://www.insidesimracing.tv/ : Less iRacing centric (but still owned more or less by iracing) and an excellent place to find hardware/software reviews and videos. This is probably the best website to start at. http://www.racedepartment.com/ : A more eurocentric and less iRacing focused news source. This is an excellent start for those interested in finding a league. http://racesimcentral.com/ : once the old stalwart but has run into trouble over the years. Still an excellent news source. So What Racing sims are out there? Many, In fact now is the best time to be a sim racer because we have the healthiest lineup there has ever been. First up is...  https://www.iracing.com The great revolution in sim racing. It is currently the number one sim in all of sim racing. Its founder Dave Kaemmer pretty much founded sim racing with his Grand Prix Legends back in the 90's.He is famous for his attention to detail and is spergtastic knowledge of all things physics. He fell off the face of the planet until around 2008 where this came out of the ground. It goes for an MMO model where every race is against other human beings. This can be intimidating at first since you cant scale your opponents back like you can racing the AI but it is ultimately the most rewarding. Pros - Best overall simulation. - All tracks are laser scanned within a millimeter of accuracy. - Manufacturer partnership allows access to manufacture data regarding all the cars they put into the sim. - Since its an MMO format, constantly updating. - Race real live humans with grids up to 62 cars (I've done it and it works pretty drat well. Hardly any lag). - Pickup Leauges where you can show up, drive and score points(Subject to your licence) - Best Community, no trouble finding leagues. Also has number 1 leagues (the ones that pay out 10,000$ to best driver) for both Oval and Road. - Over 50 real world drivers (see youtube link marked real pros above) - Partnerships with real series. http://indycar.com/stats/content/41321/ http://www.grand-am.com/news/iracing.cfm?series=i Cons - Cost! you will be paying 100's of dollars if you want to get into this hobby seriously. Its 14 bucks a track and 11 dollars per car plus about 10-15 bucks a month for access. There are specials, freebies and credits but there's no getting around the fact that its the most expensive option. - Race real live humans (as we're all aware some of them are retarded) - Learning Curve (Sims are all tough to learn but in my opinion Dave Kaemmer sims are the toughest). - American Centric Content (Though this is changing) Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCBxGf1XiHE : Indycar Season Highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6-lxYeQRwA&feature=channel_video_title : Silverstone Le Mans Series Race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPs17tvwJ4k&feature=relmfu : Skip Barber Battle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxax1J_FFNA&feature=channel_video_title : GT1 Vette Porn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhrAZ8tNBNE&feature=related :Maximum Nerdage, 3 projector racing. Community The great genius of iRacing was to have its community entirely self contained. The main website has access to private leauges, events, forums etc. Everything community related can be found on the main website. You can also hang out with Goons and get a more in depth look in the offical Goon iRacing thread here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3394529&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1  http://rfactor.net/ What reigned supreme from 2005 till 2008-9ish was rfactor. This is best described as the flight simulator of sim racing. It features cars and tracks no ones ever heard of on an excellent physics model. What makes rfactor stand out is the mods. Mods include almost every major (and most minor) racing series. You want the 1994 CART season, How bout 1992 F1 Season, or Maybe Porche Super Cup, Perhaps Old School NASCAR is your thing? you can have it all and more free thanks to the wonderful community around this sim. Pros - Tons of mods free! - Well established racing leagues - Halfway Decent AI - Cheap Cons - Old, came out in 2005 - With the Yin of tons of great mods comes the yang of quality control problems, version issues and install headaches - Community slowly drying up. Will be dead when rfactor 2 comes out later this year/ next year. Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V-hWHcSKag&feature=related : Fantastic look at rFactor. Infact just watch this if your a fan of motorsports in general http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xphQ08xA16M : Same as above, drat rfactor people are good at making videos! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GP9UEtFHsk&list=UU-Ks4oN8kVskUeEJWxzSj7w&index=14&feature=plpp_video : race department league race recap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ_lbpMBZj0 : Because simracing doesn't need to make sense Community http://www.rfactorcentral.com/ - This is where all those great mods are I was talking about. Go take a look and see whats out there. https://www.racedepartment.com - Probably the best place to find a league or pickup race against other humans.  http://rfactor.net/web/rf2/ Same idea as rFactor 1, so much so the modding SDK has already been released despite rfactor 2 not being out yet. This sim is still in Beta and does not have a Release date yet. But for kicks and giggles you can go to their website and purchase the beta at full price and wait for the patches to roll in. Word on the street is that the beta is pretty good. The biggest improvement however is that the cars and tracks wont suck out of the box like the previous sim. Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_bq51EDmWc Rfactor 2 trailer featuring old school formula 1 porn, did I mention these guys are good at making videos? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF1-8fmT4U4&feature=related : impressive tech demo featuring their tires http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPIgX8T66ac&feature=related : A lap around Spa, with a twist.  http://www.netkar-pro.com/main/index.php Before there was iRacing, there was only one place to go for your super hardcore racing sims, and that was netkar pro. Basicly put, if you are a formula 1 team and are looking for a sim that supports your 6 axis simulator pod then this would be it. Pros - If you have the equipment to take advantage of it, its force feedback is probably the best/most complete in the business - High simulation fidelity and a super hardcore community - Cheap, especially for what its offering at 15 euros. cons - Super hardcore community, don't expect a warm welcome compared to rfactor or iracing - Small community. Hard to find leagues/ races which is a huge problem for a game with no AI - Licencing issues, Small amount of cars and tracks most of which aren't even real videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWExwrPf7BA community - pretty much just the main website forum.  http://www.simbin.se/games/ This is really a catchall for all the expansions and GTR 2 Take rfactor 1's main idea and add the all important quality control. Then give it a FIA GT/ WTCC main focus and thats Race 07. This sim has an addon structure that fans of the sims would find familiar. It has several content packs that cost various amounts of money all made in house by the studio. However it still maintains the modability of rfactor. So its a bit of a compromise. The modding community isn't what it is in rfactor but the quality content packs try to make up for it (if you don't mind paying for them that is). Graphics and physics are just a bit above rfactor 1. pros - Focused experience on WTCC and FIA GT - Still just as moddable as rfactor - See rfactor pros cons - Expensive for what they're offering. The sim is getting long in the tooth (2008ish) but they're still charging drat near full price. - your effectively paying for an (admittedly good) mod to rfactor since they're built on roughly the same engine. Would not get unless you like the subject matter a lot. - Smallish community, tough to find good leagues. Even tougher without all expansions, Check with your league first before buying things. videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUO0K-AifrI Community Pretty much same as rfactor  http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/cars/ A sim that's crowd-sourced the funding and is still 1.5 years from being done. Still worthy to check out but currently nothing but a decent alpha test and some lofty goals. Anything else? I havn't covered some of the farther off projects such as GTR 3 and whatever the netkar pro people are working on. I think it's a little early to tell how these projects are going to shake out. I know gently caress all about F1 2011 since its in that sim/game gray zone but if someone wants to break it down I'll add it to the OP. Also if anyone wants to post community links, updates, suggestions or sees a sim I forgot I'll add them to the OP in time. I'll also be updating the second post with Sim racing gear such as wheels!
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Jan 17, 2012 03:18
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 10:01 |
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Reserved for Wheel/gear guide
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Jan 17, 2012 03:18
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HAIL LORD ZLATAN posted:Theres also Live For Speed which is the best simulator. Whoops, knew I forgot one. They had a 24 hour all star race with that sim and its the first I'd heard of it. Looked like an unmoddable rfactor with Nascar Racing 2003's online code.
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Jan 17, 2012 03:52
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Capn Payne posted:It's got the best fundamental physics (the tire simulation is one-of-a-kind at the moment) and force feedback out there, but the graphics and tracks are seriously showing their age. The tracks are all extremely smooth. It's not even comparable to rFactor, though, it's so vastly much better. I grew up on Dave Kaemmer sims so I always thought that rfactor's slides where a bit too easy to recover from. Can't wait to see how rF 2's finished tire model stacks up to iRacing. I do love their tire deformation though, thats already way ahead anyone else on the market.
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Jan 21, 2012 23:19
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