What's the verdict??

[John Rowland]

I've been following iRacing from a distance, and been reading through the forums here, but wanted to get your folks opinions on this?

I know Bob loves it, and the tracks look great, but how is the whole system of iRacing? Is it hard to find races, I see seasons set up, but with that many subscribers, is there a waiting list, etc.? I'm really intrigued and thinking about getting this, but none of the cars really jumps out and says "boy I WANT to drive that", when we have so many choices in rF and other sims.

I figure it's a $300 investment, or so? ~ $150 for a year subscription, and figure another $200 in buying tracks and cars?

Just wanted thoughts from guys I know before I take the plunge.

John

[Wes Tribble]

http://www.radicalsportscars.com/racing/virtual-racing
Go sign up for the free trial from Radical and see for yourself.

I love it. The tracks are beyond anything you have ever seen in rFactor or the Simbin stuff. Every little tiny detail is modelled to perfection. The mechanical grip feeling is the best in any sim to date. The aero modelling needs some work, but they are constantly updating the sim. That is actually one of the most addicting parts of the sim for me. Every 12 weeks, we get some new toys/features to play with. Also, If you are a FFB fan, no other sim even compares to the feedback you get in iRacing.

I will warn you that there is an adjustment period. The cars move around much more than in rFactor and You must slide the car around some to get the most speed out of it. It is really rewarding when you get it right though.

As for the service. I can always find a race in the lower series cars. The A and B license cars can be hard to find races, but usually there are peak times when you know one will go off. The Safety Rating system seems to be working really well at keeping people sane and the iRating is a pretty good judge of your skill level after you race enough to stabilize it.

[Kinger]

John I opted out after a month. Others love it and have not been back to rFactor racing. It is a good product, as you would expect from the creator of Papyrus and the legendary sims that came from them. Here is my reasoning. Until some or all of these things change, I'm happy with rFactor/GTR and the other sim's that are out there.

I found paying for every little piece of content to be a bit too much in additional to the service fee. They should either be service fee or content fee only in my opinion. They are asking for too much.

I also didn't like the fact you where always racing spec cars. There was no Ford vs Chev or Porsche Vs Ferrari. It’s a licensing issue for one and the system is not setup to be anything but a spec race series.

You rarely race with people you know. Sure you may get the chance to race against JR or Allmendinger. But there is very little in the way of community that you would find in a place like here. In the month I used the service, at the start. I did not see a single person from the CMS or VOR communities that where also racing at that time. I like to know the people I'm racing with not just some user from Timbuktu.

There is only one track per week in each series and you can race it as many times as you like. This just isn't racing to me. Its a kind of hybrid of hot-lapping with others on the track. If it was one chance per week that would be more appealing.

These are my feelings about it and it’s in no way meant to dis the service. it is a quality product. It fits perfectly with the needs of some, just not mine.

To current users, if any of the above has changed please correct me.

[TimCollier]

I totally agree with all points Stephen has made. iRacing has it's place, and for those who have erratic schedules, it's a system made just for them. But as for those who really enjoy the league aspect with camaraderie, it's just not there. I especially don't like spending money on things I'll never own...every car and track is mine to use, as long as I keep my subscription active. But, even though I spent money "buying" a car or track, if my subscription is inactive the content is not available.

[Troy Dalton]

DITTO!

I couldn't agree more with Stephen and Tim's assessments. I tried it for a month and quit. However, I'm interested to see how the league's are formed.

[John Rowland]

Thanks for all of the replies!! Those were some of my concerns as well... I really don't have much desire to just go out there and run laps with people I don't know. I've heard they are developing a system where leagues could have private races, but don't know if/when that would come about (I'm sure there would be a monthly league fee too! lol).

I definitely agree with Tim on the "if I bought it, I want to be able to race it two years from now" sentiment. Like paying rent, money goes out, but you have something only as long as you have that continuing outflow of cash. Not a fan of the system on principal I suppose! lol Like Stephen said, if it was one or the other (subscription vs. content), I could live with that. If I loved the cars and tracks, but didn't care to play online or didn't develop a community I was interested in, then I could still have fun running offline (ala NetKar when it came out).

80% of the fun of racing is running with folks you know, and the message boards, race recaps, setup sharing, etc.

I'm still getting rF all set up so maybe in a month or so I'll give it a shot and see how it is for a month or two, but for now, I'm happy to run rF, GTR, GTL, etc. here.

[Jeff Chandler]

The reason I joined back up is hoping the league racing will happen and if I start now working with it the transition will be a bit easier. In no means will this take the place of what we have here at CMS with our community and the ILMS mod but I can find the time to play around with iracing from time to time.

John, the iracing tracks are unbelievable. Take a Craftsman Truck around Daytona for a couple of laps and you will find out what I mean. On TV the racers say the track is the roughest on the circuit and you can actually experience that yourself. You can almost feel the bumps. If we had that technology in rfactor I don't think we'd be talking about iracing very much.

[aichseamido]

Tim and Kinger have really nailed it on the head. I'm in my one month trial now. Love it, outstanding physics. So far though, I've driven with one person I know. Plus I'm a college student and I'm going to be a grad student in the fall. I ain't exactly rolling in it. I can't justify 20 a month and the rest of the stuff too.

I love racing in a league with people I know and trust. Yes: with the safety rating I can be sure that these people aren't knobs. Even so, I'd much rather go through a corner side by side with Tim, Kinger, Jim, or anyone else here. I know you guys, I know you all can keep your head and we can go in and come out side by side and in on piece, going straight.

It's just not the same. Same with the one track as many times as you want. I practice... a lot. I qualify... once. I race once. Otherwise, it's not racing, it's heats, why I'm not really a fan of, you race once, you eff up? try again later. thank you, come again.

I'll be canceling at the end of the month. If they fix the concerns Tim, Kinger, and others have had, I could be persuaded to start paying again, but not right now.

[vendsale]

Hi John!!! It's been a while! I've been a member since August of last year. I signed up for a year based on the reputation of Dave K. and crew. As far as the quality of the cars, physics, and track, they are second to none. I really love the way the cars feel.

I think most of the negatives have been pointed out already and I certainly agree with them. They are all very good points. As I have been racing there I have met new people in the sim community and had some really great racing. I've also had some terrible experiences with people that have made really stupid moves. I definitely don't feel comfortable racing beside someone I don't know.

All in all the positives outweigh the negatives for me. Most of the people I meet on there are respectful and have a good time racing and chatting. There is almost always someone that is running the same pace as you. I never feel like the whole field is getting away from me or vice versa. The detail of the physics, cars, and tracks are something that I feel like I can't get in any other sim. I still prefer league racing with guys I know far more but iRacing is great for my downtime.

[davidan]

I believe iRacing is by far and away the very best option for sim racing from a product stand point -- nothing else out today really compares with it physics and track quality, etc ... it feels really good ... When they bring league support to it (which is coming soon) I believe it will be even that much better ... it's not for everyone, but for me -- especially given my limited schedule it will be where I spend alot of my time to race ...

Try it John and see what you think - you can do the free trial and that is a good way to see if it's for you or not.

It's not for everyone, and is a bit more expensive than the way most of us are used to paying for content -- but there is not any question that the content is of extremely high quality.

I should also say that the concept they are doing for software as a service, and renting the software is not unique to them. I work in the software industry and they and many others are moving to this direction including the large software companies like Google, Microsoft, Oracle and others. The days of buying packaged product are almost over -- it will all be service based --- like it or not it is the way things are headed. Much like buying music online. Ask yourself when the last time was you bought a CD -- or Rented a movie from a blockbuster. The internet has arrived and with broadband and Software as a Service this concept is here to stay. So I figure you might as well embrace it as the ship has sailed.

The unfortunate part of iRacing is the pricing model may be a bit rich for some guys -- and that's a shame. I hope they continue to add more and more free content. It was good to see the Spec Ford released Free ... but they need more free tracks and cars -- and maybe even a 100% free option for guys on lmited budget, etc.

David