I did a lot of research into sim racing before buying any of these products, but in the end I now own all 3 now and here is my view and questions from a non-hardcore sim racer fan. My goal is to eliminate 2 of these and have one dedicated racing sim. The fact I'm posting here and not on the other two forums should let you know where my heart is currently. Graphics are the most important to me followed by fun factor and realism just so you know where I'm coming from. I have a i7 3.6ghz quad core, evga gtx590, 6gh 1333 ram, and a momo racing wheel. Iracing - Of the three I think iracing has the cleanest and most polished graphics, but of the 3 it's the only one that's not in beta and has not been for a while. IFor online play and stats it can not be beat. The points system and promotion really go a long way in making me think about my driving so I realized it better to finish 15th without a crash vs 1st with 3 crashes. It forced me to become a better driver, can't say the same about some of the other clowns online though. I really enjoyed the car customizations/painting, how each car felt different with my momo racer, and how accurate the tracks looked and performed. Of the three sims this one had me holding my breath the most when racing online. The price point killed it for me though, I'm not about to pay 20+ for a tack and car each week to keep racing. As others have stated they need to do a bundle/package deal ... 1 year @ xx price all content included. So Iracing is out, now on to CARS and Rfactor. CARS - I owned Rfactor first, but after reading recently about CARS and seeing some videos I thought CARS would blow away Rfactor graphically and frankly thought it would be my choice of sims going forward. I started to write a review the other day on why Rfactor over CARS but held off and after playing Rfactor even more had a change of heart. CARS does outshine Rfactor in graphics overall but can't even yet compete when it comes to physics and tire modeling. I bought a junior level membership just to try it and at the moment it's running a close second to my choice in sims. Rfactor 2 - What impresses me most with this one is the force feedback, simply amazing. I can feel every bump and tire slip. I like the 60's model cars and driving them is has been a real challange for me just to complete a lap, I have a tendancy to think I can speed like I have the grip of an F3 car. Graphically there is a lot going on, and at times it does look the best of the 3. The weather system outshines anything I've seen yet and although at first I hated the look of wet and drying road, I've come to love them. What I'd like to see is road texture imporvment, 3d people improvement and tree/grass improvement. With these I think it can looks as good or better than CARS. The road textures in CARS just seem to shine a little more in the right places comparing both sims in dry weather, overall CARS just look more realistic on the road. I can't really speak much about car handling and physics as I stated I'm still new to this, but the cars do feel more real in Rfactor. At the present I think I enjoy Rfactor more than CARS but it's close and as both develop that could change. - Will Rfactor 2 have animated pit stops? - Will Rfactor 2 have voices/pitt crew announcing? - Will Rfactor 2 have a career mode? - Tell me about Rfactor 2 modding. As I understand Rfactor was known for the mods, both cars and tracks. Can we expect the same quality of tracks and cars from the mods as we see with the Beta? - What are your thoughts about these sims? Is there something I should consider I have not? Thanks
Thanks for correcting what I said Domi, I thought Iracing had been out for a year and been through several versions now. Lorenzo I agree as of right now CARS is not a sim, there is nothing there to make it a SIM but from what I read there are plans down the road to add these things.
Can you elaborate on this? If you say it isnt up to rf2 standards, it is a different story. As far as I know, its target is simming.
Well, in my opinion, you're forgetting something here: Assetto Corsa. As for the rest, pCARS is still in ALPHA and rFactor is still BETA, so I think it's too early to start to draw conclusions. iRacing has a strong foot in multiplayer, but isn't cheap. Graphics wise, I don't think it takes the crown. I risk that pCARS will be the less "sim" between all the contestants in the end, but gorgeous nevertheless, so probably your choice. Is you're after physics and ffb, my bet would be on Assetto and rFactor2. Until then, GSC (which I currently like *very* much, although it is based on ISI-1 engine). Cheers
Agree with that, but looking from a more pure point of view, also it is a simulator, more simple than rFactor and others, but still a sim.
If you can afford them all, have them all. If not, then it comes to personal preferences for sure, even pcars is simple, it probably has things that attract to many people and can give them enjoyment, probably very high for casual gamer's list? What comes to mods, it takes time, but with mods there probably will be a lot of content for rF2 eventually, also ISI has shown lot of content that is coming in the long run, so maybe you get more than you pay for with rF2? However as I did read that Assetto Corsa will support modding too, it will be interesting to see what it does to modding, depends how different it is to mod of course, there are limited number of modders and for rF1 during the years we got really lot of mods, will that be more or less for rF2, that is unknown. Racer.nl is free simulator, moddable too, but I don't know how much there are modders today. RigsOfRods is also free, moddable platform, but it has it's own unique approach and driving is not as good as in others perhaps, but it has some features none of others have. There are modders doing cars for that too, some modders then move around based on what they wish to create etc. but Assetto Corsa might cause some reduction to amount of mods for rF2, there is not knowing until that is released though. Some months ago I also learned that there are some German sims, moddable too, but I have never seen them anywhere, world racing 2, but it does not look very good with my realism eyes: Anyway as I did read it being moddable, there are modders probably there too, who knows maybe some do mods for rF2 some day? I'm sure that there will be lot of mods with various quality, some look awesome and are nice to drive, but nothing what could be called realistic by numbers at least, then there will be some that are not perhaps so pretty and are bit more realistic, sometimes both qualities are in same mod, but it will be bit rare, but that probably depends a bit from several of things, however there will be mods for sure.
Forgive me for my lack of knowledge, but I thought that GSC was pretty much just a mod for rF1, am I wrong in this?
I think we'll find that pretty much all of this next generation of sims will follow this model--which can more accurately be considered as 'services' rather than a "finished" game. Where with the latter, they ship, release a few minor updates, then start development on the next game. I don't think we'll ever see an iRacing 2...at least not for a good long while. From the sounds of it, rFactor2 will fall more in line with this model as well. They're services that will continually improve, just not in quite so discreet of steps as previous software.
No and yes, it is based on rFactor engine, similar to GTR, GT-Legends, Race07 etc. But it is also same way product of it's own. I have been planning to buy that one, but it might take some time until I can. I don't know is ISI likes from links to other sims, but if they license their engine with royalties per sold copy, then they would be all happy to get more people buying Reiza's product too?
That is exactly what I have been thinking and I think that is good thing as it will generate revenue for companies more steadily, making planning and improving much easier so eventually we end up with better product and it will be easier to pay say 30 a year instead of 150 for 5 years.
I don't have rf1, but GSC is supposed to be rf1 maxed with very good GFX{textures}, and also impressive sounds, the Camaro probably has the best V8 sounds of any car. GSC and G27 are probably the greatest combo in sim racing, but GSC also has very strong FFB if you have a high torque wheel. The two biggest surprises in gaming for me are Fallout 3 and GSC.
2 weeks with iracing with a 2 year suscription and i will not touch any other sim until rf2 goes gold. I love isi sims and will come back but if i want to enjoy racing NOW, iracing is my choice. I have the feeling that im testing rf2, not enjoying it, so i made my decision. I will keep rf2 and visiting the forums every day, this is not a thing of "oh my sim is better than yours" each sim a lot of pros and cons that i dont have time to discuss here, in my case is a feeling about the situation we have NOW. Keep doing isi Tapatalk2, Samsung Galaxy Note.
I have to agree with Lorenzo. It's very arcade, looks fantastic but that's all. I have a full membership and followed it since day one but have lost interest.
Three very different approaches. The writing looked on the wall for hardcore sim racing titles after the big publishers pulled out chasing console titles, there simply isn't enough money to be made. So iRacing have gone down the subscription route, ISI funding the consumer product with commercial projects and SMS looking to bridge the gap between what they describe as "real" and "sim" titles (like GT5 and iRacing) with view that the wider audience will fund the niche. All three will frustrate the hardcore sim racer in one way or other, be it price, speed of development or too many concessions to the console racing audience but we are lucky to have the choice. With all the titles in development there are a core of enthusiasts who want to make a hardcore sim viable, I would imagine an action racing title would be an easier and more lucrative venture.
I think the big Problem with pCARS is, that it is also developed for PS3 and Xbox360. Those Consoles just can't compete with up-to-date PCs, especially when it comes down to non-graphical evaluation (i.e. Physics simulation). So i think, they will never be able to implement a very good physics-simulation, as long as they develop it for the consoles. The other thing with pCARS is: for me, it feels very bad in FFB and unrealistic physics-wise...i know, i know, you'll say it's because it is in alpha stage. BUT: there are just few people on the forum complaining about this. this fact, and the fact, that there has been hardly any progress on physics simulation over many updates leads me to the conclusion, that the physics are not really important to them. As you can see, they were able to sell all those memberships with just the graphics. Maybe that's their business-model. But who am i to know i hope i am completely wrong, and pCARS will in the end at least be fun to drive (when you have rf2 as comparison) so i will be able to enjoy all the amazing content they will have. on the OP: iRacing is no option for me, because of the price. But i have lost hope for pCARS, so my bet is on RF2, or maybe Assetto Corsa.
I think pcars is the best overall sim out of rf2 and pcars at this point of time. I have both of them My 2 cents. PS, I don't have iracing or AC.
