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[Silent_Thunder]

So, after the iRacing Thread died, I decided instead we should do a thread about SimRacing games in general. Assetto Corsa, iRacing, rFactor, NR2003, anything really.

iRacing is a Racing Sim based on the code for Nascar Racing 2003, widely considered to be one of the best oval racing sims of all time, killed shortly after release by NASCAR signing an exclusive agreement with EA. It's subscription and content based, and Multiplayer only, and usually has anywhere from 2-4k concurrent online users depending on time of day. The shortest races tend to run a minimum of 25 min, and at the longest during special events run the entire length of a real world race, such as the yearly Daytona 500 event. Despite all this, it also has a just as complete Road Racing side, featuring everything from Mazda Miatas to GT3s, Formula 1, and more. On both sides it features races split by ranking and a saftey rating system designed to keep unfit drivers out of cars they can't handle without crashing.

So in iRacing news, Season 4's update just dropped, and while the content itself is slim pickings, the Holden V8 car has been added for the V8 series, Gateway Motorsports Park has been added as the new track, and the Ford GT2 has had a GT3 version released for the GT3 Series, (both are now sold in a package for the price of 1 car, much like the RUF Porsche and it's 4 variants before it) bringing iRacing's GT3 series to a total of 4 cars, the main update this time is team racing for endurance series. Now you and several friends can all compete as one team, with driver swaps during pitting procedures during the race. They are going to have a few series specifically dedicated to team racing, although what they are aren't announced yet, it's assumed GT3 will be one of them. Come next week when the update week is over we'll know for sure.

Currently, Reddit runs a weekly race league based entirely around the free content.

I've taken the liberty of creating a Bay 12 Motorsports team here if anyone wants to have races together.

Current promo codes for new iRacing customers are:
PR-LIONEL for 3 Months for $9 and a free Gen 6 car
PR-INRACING for 1 Month for $5
http://www.iracing.com/nurburgring1000/ For three months FREE, valid until 10/15
PR-NURBURGRINGEXPO for 3 months free, valid untill 1/1/15



Assetto Corsa is an up and coming primarily single player Road racing simulator with a more modest multiplayer component comparable to standard multiplayer games. Currently featuring a handful and tracks and a much larger handfull of cars, the current release candidate is promising. Currently races are usually much shorter than iRacings, and all races, multiplayer and singleplayer, are custom setup by the users, and as such tend to be on the short side, although pitting is now available for multiplayer sessions.

In Assetto Corsa news, the current release candidate is out, adding a few new cars and 3 more tracks. The Career Mode is also implimented

Assetto Corsa is currently $40 on Steam Early Access.

Race 07 Going to be honest, don't know much about Race 07, other than the fact that's it's pretty decently regarded and can be had for only $4 on Steam, so that's probably worth a look.

[Silent_Thunder]

And today's Bundle Star giveaway thing is GTR Evolution and Race 07, a couple of rather good sims from awhile ago. Requires a Facebook account to "like" them to get the Steam key, but you could just make a dummy account to claim the key and then not use it if you aren't a fan of Facebook.

Also includes RaceRoom which is a F2P that most people aren't quite so keen on, but you might still want to try it.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/23/free-steam-key/

[Zangi]

So this is about any racing games?  Or ones based on real stuff?

Cause the only ones I liked to play extensively(I still sucked at it) is Burnout on PSP and some JetMoto game on Playstation.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

By 'Sim Racing' he is referring to realistic simulation, not the likes of Need for Speed or Burnout.

Personally I think to enjoy racing sim, you need a wheel and pedals and not everyone has one, limiting the market share. Similar to flight sim market.

On a sidenote, after not driving a manual transmission for six years, I test drove four 2006 Impreza WRXes today. Still can't stop smiling.

[Silent_Thunder]

So, iRacing just dropped a new promo. Three months for free. Still requires valid credit card and all that, but you can just make sure to disable auto-renewal in your account options.

http://www.iracing.com/nurburgring1000/

[Silent_Thunder]

Hate to double post, but my browsers (both FF and Chrome) keeps crapping itself every time I try to edit.

For custom skins, I was thinking of having a Bay 12 Racing logo, but have 0 skill in graphics design. If anyone is interesting in simracing and can do that sorta thing, any chance I could convince you to make one?

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Hello folks,

I just bought a 2004 WRX STi (in WR Blue colour with original gold rims!).

I am saving the STi as weekend drive, so to satisfy my driving bug on weekdays, I am looking for the PC equivalent of Gran Turismo or Forza.  It doesn't have to be hardcore sim, can be somewhere between arcade or sim, as long as it offers customisations. A game that has the variety of cars of NFS Underground 2 (I love old school Japanese cars the most), but with greater realism, would be ideal. iRacing is perhaps too hardcore for me.

GetGames has 75% off on Codemasters games, so I bought GRID. GRID2 got bad reviews, so skipping it. GRID Autosport just got released so I'll wait til the Game of the Year Edition with all DLCs is released. Any other recommendation?

[Silent_Thunder]

Hello folks,

I just bought a 2004 WRX STi (in WR Blue colour with original gold rims!).

I am saving the STi as weekend drive, so to satisfy my driving bug on weekdays, I am looking for the PC equivalent of Gran Turismo or Forza.  It doesn't have to be hardcore sim, can be somewhere between arcade or sim, as long as it offers customisations. A game that has the variety of cars of NFS Underground 2 (I love old school Japanese cars the most), but with greater realism, would be ideal. iRacing is perhaps too hardcore for me.

GetGames has 75% off on Codemasters games, so I bought GRID. GRID2 got bad reviews, so skipping it. GRID Autosport just got released so I'll wait til the Game of the Year Edition with all DLCs is released. Any other recommendation?

Eh, not really anything approaching the level of "Car Pokemon" for PC that PS3/360 has. pCARS might have customization on that level but I'm not sure, and either way it's not in any sort of open beta and won't be for a good while. For right now, your main choices are rFactor, Assetto Corsa, and iRacing, none of which really do the "car tuner" type things NFS games did where it was about making your car as flashy as possible. Unless you are skilled in 3d modeling and can manually edit the cars yourself, then Assetto Corsa would work in that regard, but that's probably far too much effort. That said, Assetto Corsa is likely going to have a large modding community, so a large number of cars is to be expected in the future. There's already a decent number of custom cars and tracks on their forums.

I mean unless you want to count making a truck look as flashy as possible as tuning, then Euro Truck Simulator 2 would work, but that's not quite the same either is it.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Hmm I shall check on Asserto Corsa then. Project CARS dont seem to have that many cars listed yet, but it does seem promising!

Played GRID for a couple of hours last night and it was great. However, being unable to customise the cars other than visual was slightly disappointing.

Any opinions on DIRT? I enjoy watching WRC more than closed track races so I may enjoy DIRT more than GRID. DIRT 3 was (still is?) 75% off on GetGames.

I already have Euro Truck Simulator 2, good fun. Man I like driving so much I plan on getting light truck license next year.

[Silent_Thunder]

Hmm I shall check on Asserto Corsa then. Project CARS dont seem to have that many cars listed yet, but it does seem promising!

Played GRID for a couple of hours last night and it was great. However, being unable to customise the cars other than visual was slightly disappointing.

Any opinions on DIRT? I enjoy watching WRC more than closed track races so I may enjoy DIRT more than GRID. DIRT 3 was (still is?) 75% off on GetGames.

I already have Euro Truck Simulator 2, good fun. Man I like driving so much I plan on getting light truck license next year.

Enjoyed DIRT 1 as well as the original Colin McRae Rally (not to be confused with that godawful mobile port on Steam now), but no idea if 2 an 3 are as good never tried them

Also, was messing around with modded cameras after a race at Watkins Glen in the NASCAR Nationwide cars, and managed to grab this shot which I think is phenomenal. Also a shot of me barely surviving a wreck in the Indycars.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Silent_Thunder]

Bumping because new weekend deal is active for Assetto Corsa.

[sneakey pete]

Picked it up today.
Dammit, need to buy a wheel now.

RE Dirt 2: not really that great in my opinion.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Bumping because new weekend deal is active for Assetto Corsa.

Very tempting. Is there a plan to add Japanese cars? If I added a modded car, would it replace existing car or just add more cars to select?

[Silent_Thunder]

Bumping because new weekend deal is active for Assetto Corsa.

Very tempting. Is there a plan to add Japanese cars? If I added a modded car, would it replace existing car or just add more cars to select?

For now probably just focusing on European cars, but modded in cars don't replace anything, same with tracks, which there are a lot of.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

So the only excuse not buying is the lack of steering wheel and the space for it.  You're making this hard!