The online racing simulator
iRacing
(13603 posts, closed, started )
For start, ill just quote soem of the content on iRacing.com. I just hope they wont sue me or charge me cash for that:

->FAQS
02. Is this a game?
No, iRacing.com is not a video game. It is a training tool for real-world racers and a platform for a new branch of motorsport — known as simracing — which is the sport of real-time, online racing.

-> PArtners
Market Opportunity
With the unparalleled accuracy and authenticity of its racing simulations, and its position of influence within the new and growing sport of simracing, iRacing.com's primary audience is the global motorsport market, including professional and amateur drivers, engineers and other industry professionals, as well as racing fans around the world. Within North America, that market includes an estimated 451,000 active participants with a median household income of $98,500 and well-established brand loyalty. But iRacing.com's reach extends well beyond the racing enthusiast and the confines of the North American continent.
As viewership for traditional, television-based entertainment continues to fragment and decline, the popularity of interactive, broadband-enabled entertainment is on the rise. Last year 1.4 million people spent $344 million for online gaming subscriptions, and Massively Multi-Player Online Games (MMOGs) have attracted an estimated 25 – 30 million participants worldwide. Sports Sims will soon replace the traditional passive TV sports audience experience, redefining what "sports entertainment" is at its core.
Importantly, the PC-gamer profile more closely resembles the motorsport demographic than it does the commonly held stereotypes. The average gamer is 33 years old, 44 percent are between 18 and 49, and 69 percent of American heads of households play computer and video games. Average household income is $71,400.




-> Company Info
iRacing.com's simulations are not video games. Thanks to proprietary technology, the iRacing.com simulations include unprecedented accuracy of track replication and vehicle-handling dynamics. With curbing, cracks, patches, and other trackside features recreated with precision measured in millimeters, and a physics engine and tire model that reproduce the feel of each particular car with absolute fidelity; the result is an experience so authentic that professional racers and experienced amateurs can hone their skills prior to on-track competition or testing.


This all sounds very interesting, at least to me. To me, it sounds like this is gonna be some real hard-core simulation of the racing experience. That it will include track temperature/grip varying, track warming up while racing, dust/grass/gravel throwing on the track if you fly out, thus reducing grip on that places, that it will simulate rain racing, with wind changing, air preasure changing, ..... Of course it will have track/car modeling like never before seen, we dont wanna forget that.
And it will simulate racing experience as no other. Maybe it will somehow simulate Gforce on my ass, so i will be able to see how HARD it rly is, not just how hard it rly is, as we can see in our current non simulations -> all just games. And offcourse iRacing is not something for all people. Its for households of yearly average income at least 71,400 $.

"Yea. Only they are worthy of such a product, thats why we shall charge them. Fook it, they got the cash! Why should we be left out of the huge online games market business? FFS, we're da sh1t, we be having laser mapped tracks, and RL cars most of them have never seen. Our product is gonna be worth so much, that they will pay us just to be able to try it out and see if they have what it takes to participate in simracing. We be big, eat most expensive caviar and drink the expensive coffe that some animal shits out first."

What i think of this, no thank you. Naturally most of this type of mercandise arrives form the US. And as i said somewhere b4, I secretly wish for someone to come around this silly little Earth and slaughter them capitalysts Conan style.
I agree with you PS. Its quite silly to say everything else is a game, and that SimRacing is only a sport coming from OUR software and that a true simracer has 71-100 odd thousand dollar anual salary.

It comes across as so brash and elitest...
I can kind of see where you're coming from, but I don't understand what the problem is. They've made a product based on market research that they conducted (must've been that dilbert guy). Why does that make them "elitist"? I mean, I wish I could afford a Porsche (Shot's favorite) but I can't... Maybe that makes Porsche an elitist company, or maybe it just means they make a great product that costs a lot - in their case even if it doesn't have to. And real nice words about the USA PS, I guess that means I should wish doom on the Germans, because I can't afford a Porsche right? That was a pretty ignorant thing to say.
Bah i was afraid of this BBT, i meant the capitalysts, not the people in US. I kinda feel bad for people who live there whos government is feckin them up real bad. Infact all the governments are feckin us all up real bad, along with them big corporations and what not.

Generaly what i meant about iRacing is taht i dont believe them, i just dont. When it comes out, and if infact will be all that good, i will be very sorry i wont be playing it, but it still has to come and show what it rly can do. All this hype around stuff is profit for only them, who develope it, and its free comercial. I bet they like us very much lol.
Ahh I see.
There are two possibilities here:

1) They chose a method of creating a sim that can't possibly turn a profit, and millions will go up in smoke.

2) The product is actually revolutionary and it goes down in history as a huge turning point in computer gaming and motorsport.

Come on BBT, tell us which one it is. Screw the stupid NDA - those lawyer clowns just like to bullshit.

That is officially the end of this thread BTW. I can't believe you lot are still arguing about pricing 24 pages into a thread. Maybe I should come back and hijack threads full-time again like I used to.
It's elitest in that they claim "iRental == Sim Racing"

That infers that, "Everything else == games for tots == LFS'ers == poo"
Quote from PwrSlave :
This all sounds very interesting, at least to me. To me, it sounds like this is gonna be some real hard-core simulation of the racing experience. That it will include track temperature/grip varying, track warming up while racing, dust/grass/gravel throwing on the track if you fly out, thus reducing grip on that places, that it will simulate rain racing, with wind changing, air preasure changing, ..... Of course it will have track/car modeling like never before seen, we dont wanna forget that.
And it will simulate racing experience as no other. Maybe it will somehow simulate Gforce on my ass, so i will be able to see how HARD it rly is, not just how hard it rly is, as we can see in our current non simulations -> all just games. And offcourse iRacing is not something for all people. Its for households of yearly average income at least 71,400 $.

"Yea. Only they are worthy of such a product, thats why we shall charge them. Fook it, they got the cash! Why should we be left out of the huge online games market business? FFS, we're da sh1t, we be having laser mapped tracks, and RL cars most of them have never seen. Our product is gonna be worth so much, that they will pay us just to be able to try it out and see if they have what it takes to participate in simracing. We be big, eat most expensive caviar and drink the expensive coffe that some animal shits out first."

What i think of this, no thank you. Naturally most of this type of mercandise arrives form the US. And as i said somewhere b4, I secretly wish for someone to come around this silly little Earth and slaughter them capitalysts Conan style.

Translation: Americans are fat and elitist and I want to slaughter all of them. Oh, they also might have made a great sim but I really don't care. If I do play it, I will just pirate it so I don't support their economy!

I'm sorry but no where does it say the required annual income is $70k to play. You can work at McDonalds and still afford this game. Seriously.... but atleast the folks at iRacing have given some of you new reasons to hate Americans!
Quote :It's elitest in that they claim "iRental == Sim Racing"

That infers that, "Everything else == games for tots == LFS'ers == poo"

LFS never called itself a video game either. There are very few true racing sims around, and fewer still which are actually finished- if your product was one of them I'd think that you'd want to advertise that point pretty heavily.
Quote from thisnameistaken :There are two possibilities here:

1) They chose a method of creating a sim that can't possibly turn a profit, and millions will go up in smoke.

2) The product is actually revolutionary and it goes down in history as a huge turning point in computer gaming and motorsport.

Come on BBT, tell us which one it is. Screw the stupid NDA - those lawyer clowns just like to bullshit.

The crow flies at midnight, operation red tide is functional. Meet me at the bikeracks at 3.

Quote :Maybe I should come back and hijack threads full-time again like I used to.

I've been missing that!

Quote from srdsprinter :It's elitest in that they claim "iRental == Sim Racing"

Many of us have been claiming that about LFS for some time now... Nobody's ever called us LFSers a bunch of elitist jer.. oh wait...

Quote :That infers that, "Everything else == games for tots == LFS'ers == poo"



(not LFSers... I don't think RF players are poo, but I think RF is poo... Soon a lot of things will appear rather fecal)

Quote from Electrik Kar :There are very few true racing sims around, and NONE which are actually finished- if your product was one of them I'd think that you'd want to advertise that point pretty heavily.

FTFY
Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

despite what you may believe old man beetles (especially german ones) were not intelligently designed

Quote from Electrik Kar :LFS never called itself a video game either.

you must have forgotten all about how you set your game password to unlock lfs (the lfs page writes game in caps btw)

Quote :if your product was one of them I'd think that you'd want to advertise that point pretty heavily.

i cant think of any that claim to be a first and the be all end all though... no matter how much their fanbase may think of them as
TBH, I can't really see what the (main) problem is, is it that people are worried that this subscription system will work, and that other programs may follow suit?.
thats one aspect yes
i dont want to live in a world where developers can get away with selling time limited demos for 20$... or actually contentwise selling demos for anywhere between 20$ and 150$
Quote :i cant think of any that claim to be a first and the be all end all though... no matter how much their fanbase may think of them as

Huh?

Toca 3 - 'The Ultimate Driving Simulator'
rFactor - 'The Future of Race Sims'
Gtr2 - "Warning, GTR2 may seriously damage your perception of other racing games"

etc
etc

If this isn't glowing self testimonial I don't know what is!
Quote from Shotglass :thats one aspect yes
i dont want to live in a world where developers can get away with selling time limited demos for 20$... or actually contentwise selling demos for anywhere between 20$ and 150$

But surely if the market is willing to support the pricing structure, then its going to happen, regardless of who does it first.

Bottomline is, if you don't agree with the pricing structure, don't buy it, if enough people don't buy it, then it won't succeed anyway
I'd possibly be willing to pay the price but only if the content is interesting to me, I'm not at a serious disadvantage being in my timezone/location and the physics were way way way better than LFS.

Personally I'm highly doubtful all those conditions will be met
Quote from danowat :
Bottomline is, if you don't agree with the pricing structure, don't buy it, if enough people don't buy it, then it won't succeed anyway

Quote from Electrik Kar :Toca 3 - 'The Ultimate Driving Simulator'
rFactor - 'The Future of Race Sims'
Gtr2 - "Warning, GTR2 may seriously damage your perception of other racing games"

well ok then i wasnt considering these because i refuse to take isi et al seriously

Quote from danowat :Bottomline is, if you don't agree with the pricing structure, don't buy it, if enough people don't buy it, then it won't succeed anyway

i wont and im here hoping to convince some people that its not ok for developers to shove overpriced games down out throats

no matter how good iracing is i honestly hope it bombs both because of their history in dealing with modders and for the future of gaming as a whole
Quote from Shotglass :i wont and im here hoping to convince some people that its not ok for developers to shove overpriced games down out throats

Who are you to decide what pricing is good?, who are you to decide what others should think is acceptable?, how are they "shoving it down our throats?"

I would like to think that the majority of serious LFS'ers in this forum would have enough intelligence to make up their own minds without have you standing on the street corner with your sandwich board shouting the odds
Quote from danowat :Who are you to decide what pricing is good?

a customer... you know the one who pays the price and their bills

Quote :who are you to decide what others should think is acceptable?

i never said that

Quote :how are they "shoving it down our throats?"

demo 20$
Quote from Shotglass :a customer... you know the one who pays the price and their bills

A customer is one who buys the product, you are never going to buy the product, so I will ask again, what makes you an expert in pricing models?



Quote from Shotglass :i never said that

Well, I respectfully disagree, you DID say it, and I qoute "i wont and im here hoping to convince some people that its not ok for developers to shove overpriced games down out throats".
So you disagree in the pricing, so you are going to try and convince others that your opinion is correct.



Quote from Shotglass :demo 20$

Even if the demo was free, would it matter to you?, you have clearly laid out your stall, you have issues with the developers, you have issues with the pricing model, a free demo would not change any of that, even if it were the best thing in the world, you don't agree with the pricing model, so you trying a free demo is pointless.

BTW, the $20 is not for a demo, it's for the full product, just a month's trial.

Don't get me wrong, I don't "support" the pricing model, but ultimately, the market will decide, it's not up to me or you, you vote with your feet, like everything in commerce.
Quote from danowat :A customer is one who buys the product, you are never going to buy the product, so I will ask again, what makes you an expert in pricing models?

fine call me the target market then... point is im the one supposed to pay their bills

Quote :Well, I respectfully disagree, you DID say it, and I qoute "i wont and im here hoping to convince some people that its not ok for developers to shove overpriced games down out throats".
So you disagree in the pricing, so you are going to try and convince others that your opinion is correct.

yes and how is that deciding for them?

Quote :Even if the demo was free, would it matter to you?, you have clearly laid out your stall, you have issues with the developers, you have issues with the pricing model, a free demo would not change any of that, even if it were the best thing in the world, you don't agree with the pricing model, so you trying a free demo is pointless.

it would change things fundamentally
do you know these kind of companies that offer you a great job and all you have to do to apply is attend this amazing seminar for only 1000$? would you consider these trustworthy?

Quote :BTW, the $20 is not for a demo, it's for the full product, just a month's trial.

its for 2 cars and 2 tracks... i dont know what youve done the last 5 years of lfs ownership but round here thats considered the content you can expect from a demo
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(AndroidXP) DELETED by AndroidXP
iRacing IS NOT LFS, they are two VERY different animals, you can't compare the two, it's that simple.

iRacing's pricing structure is here to stay, regardless of how many people don't like it/them.

No one is forcing you, or anyone to use iRacing, the service is there for people who want (and understand) the type of service they are offering.

iRacing appeals to a (fairly) different demographic than LFS does, if LFS does everything you want, then just stick to LFS.

I can't understand all the sniping, it just doesn't make sense, I think people are just worried that LFS might go down this route in the future, and don't fancy being rail-roaded into it, but I really don't think that is going to happen, because they are completely different.

In my eyes, a demo is a cut down demostration version of a product, the 1 month trial isn't a demo, but I guess it's just down to symantec's and how you view the term demo.
This thread is closed

iRacing
(13603 posts, closed, started )
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