Sooooooooo, this thread is very on topic.

Apparantly I'm still in the top 250 for the oval pro series, I might try to get in.

I just got my Class B road course license in iRacing so I'm fairly pleased. I'm starting to see some flaws within the game itself but for now I'm still very very happy.

After all I only bought iRacing about 3 weeks ago.

But I'm starting to see the argument of "It's not worth all that money" as something very valid. Especially if you have to keep paying for each new content added and a lot of the physics is still a problem. The V8 Supercar and Phillip Island has already got me very invested in iRacing so I might keep renewing my subscription after my $5 month is up. I guess I can only hope that iRacing will start getting better rather than turning stagnent

whilst cost is a variable for everyone in relation to their disposable income, for me the current subs are very cheap, certainly a lot less than what i would spend on car mags if i didn't get a chance to read then in work. sure content is still fairly costly, but it's cheaper now than it used to be and the fact they don't change the schedules as much as we'd like means that after an expensive season with a new car, the following ones are pretty cheap. add in the fact that the racing is a lot cleaner than most on LFS since CTRA went away and a certain something it has which somehow makes it feel right and it's worth it for me.

I was an iRacing subscriber for four months last spring, and enjoyed it a lot. I even got a Pro licence just driving the core content and the skippy..! So yeah I raced quite a lot. While I certainly enjoyed the overall experience, there were some things missing from the core service which I wasn't too pleased with.. for me, the most important things missing were clutch/gearbox modeling and weather/variable track conditions. While I was a subscriber they just seemed to be pouring out new cars and tracks without changing the core service much.

Then a lot of things happened in my life.. long story short, I am currently on a forced simracing hiatus until the summer. All this time I felt very certain that by the time I get back, iRaicing will have had plenty of time to implement the stuff that I was missing. The plan was to jump right back into iRacing and stay there.

However, things didn't turn out quite that way.. even now, a year later, the core service is virtually unchanged! I think it is a major disappointment that they still haven't been able to implement at least a very basic clutch modeling system... or brake heating... or driver changes... or dynamic lighting...

All in all I'm quite disappointed. And while iRacing has been at a near standstill in this department the last year, things have happened elsewhere in the simcaring world. nKP has seen some major updates and lots of new people are joining, and I already liked the physics better in nKP than iRacing a year ago. Race2Play offers sanctioned and organized racing for all the major sims, so it's not like iRacing is the only place you can find that!

It seems that other sims are overtaking iRacing in certain areas while iRacing itself has stagnated (except for the # of tracks and cars).

However, iRacing has a couple of very strong points which, in the end, I think will probably reel me back in. For me, those are:

• The quality of the tracks. The track surface is just miles ahead of anything else. It really brings a whole new dimension to sim racing,
  
• The quality of racing. While it is certainly possible to find good clean racing in other sims as well, you will have to look for it. Whereas in iRacing, the standards are very high across the board. I don't know.. the whole atmosphere of the races (including the ever-present SR threat..!) makes it feel more important and more real than other sims.
  
• The (faint, I admit..) possibility that I might make my way to the iRacing Drivers' World Championship some time in the future and race against the big guns. Well, what can you say, at least it gives me something to aim for
  

So while I'm disappointed with the development in the past year, and other sims have been doing well in the mean time, I still think iRacing provides something unique which will, eventually, make me re-subscribe.

I hear what your saying. For example GTR2 has everything you mention there , and it works well. God damn that is a fun sim at a very low cost racing against AI. Racing a full season on 100% in sim mode is a very good test of driving ability.

LFS is LFS don't even need to really mention it!

For me, The FFB and feeling you get with the iRacing cars is , for me, second to none.

The racing atmosphere and excitement in iRacing is pretty non existent in the races or practice, they need to sort this out...somehow...how?...I ahve no idea unfortunately!

Quote from Gnomie :

I was an iRacing subscriber

Nice write up Gnomie.... I think you're about right with what you've said!

Well I've been enjoying iRacing so far, except the SR which has been quite annoying. So many times at Lime Rock I was stuck with a bunch of idiots and been 40+ seconds ahead when I would come across someone reversing onto the racing line in front of me and I only get 0.07 SR at the end of the race... then get stuck with the same guy in the next race. Vicious circle. :|

Quote from AlienT. :

The racing atmosphere and excitement in iRacing is pretty non existent in the races or practice, they need to sort this out...somehow...how?...I ahve no idea unfortunately!

I dont know, I sorta disagree that the excitement isnt there. Trying your absolute best to bring your SR up in races adds a lot of stress to me especially when I'm in a pack or racing hard for the lead.

What makes it worse is that I'm not exactly the most consistent guy either so throughout the race I've gripped my wheel harder than I ever did in LFS or rFactor. Plus the higher ups like class Cs and onward has some very compelling competition.

Quote from boothy :

Indeed. LFS and iRacing are a pair of lovers which each have exactly what the other wants. Content, impetence for LFS, a proper interface, and many other core features for iRacing. It's a pity their lovechild will never come to fruition...

Nicely said.

Quote from lizardfolk :

I dont know, I sorta disagree that the excitement isnt there. Trying your absolute best to bring your SR up in races adds a lot of stress to me especially when I'm in a pack or racing hard for the lead.

True. For me it isn't like i'm banging my head after every race i don't have SR+, but as already said, it's something like money replacement, along with iRating. So being competitive and clean at the same moment gives it something more, than just driving in a trulli train to the finish. I kinda don't like the idea of punishing you for minor incidents, like one wheel off track or light contacts, that's what could be improved imo, but thanks to not perfect netcode and also the prediction code it's probably not going to happen.

Anyway, this thread has turned in a interesting discussion. I'm still in this "WOW" state of mind, when i see anything new (though i'm in for 4 or 5 months already), but i'm slowly starting to see some of the flaws, which already were pointed out above, like brakes, damage, transmission, splits etc. I believe it will come along at some point. They have enough people for this and imo Dave Kaemmer should know, what features good sim should have. On the other side, they've commited themselves to a risky business and they've gone the other way, than ScaViEr did... "content first, attract people and then update the rest".
I am still very optimistic in this. It's a long run this one with the way, the've chosen, but at some point we could have good sim, with all features, which should be there.

Phew, one of my longest posts ever. Let's go race some more.

I will probably buy this for 3 months..

You can get one month, the Mosport track and the Star Mazda for only $10 ..

http://www.iracing.com/promotions/grand-prix-masters/

Quote from Gnomie :

• The quality of the tracks. The track surface is just miles ahead of anything else. It really brings a whole new dimension to sim racing,
  
• The quality of racing. While it is certainly possible to find good clean racing in other sims as well, you will have to look for it. Whereas in iRacing, the standards are very high across the board. I don't know.. the whole atmosphere of the races (including the ever-present SR threat..!) makes it feel more important and more real than other sims.

My thoughts exactly.

For me iRacing is the place to be now, but the price is not "reasonable" enough. I am voting with my wallet, though I'm fairly skeptic it will make any difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmbZ21LoCEE

First V8 @ PI teaser is out.

Sound is weird, not so rough and kinda like LFS sounds...but the track looks awesome. Come on, can't wait.

I'm just not interested in LFS anymore even if it is cheaper and rFactor's crap. So regarding the sims, and ignoring the money side of it, iRacing just has a more complete package imho.

It doesnt have the same independently organized league atmosphere that LFS has but that's not very important to me.

Sure, there's plenty of flaws. But the flaws within LFS and rFactor are much more glaring than iRacing atm and iRacing is currently the only sim that is moving forward. Maybe not necessarily in the direction that some may want...but it's atleast moving. Which is more than I can say for LFS and rF.

rFactor 2 with it's dynamic weather feature might actually turn out to be pretty good and I'd gladly drop my iRacing subscription if rFactor 2 turns out to have a more complete package or if LFS ever gets out of this deadlock it's in right now. But atm.

Out of LFS, rFactor, and iRacing. I would much prefer to stay in iRacing if I have the money to pay for it and i do atm

Quote from Kid222 :

but i'm slowly starting to see some of the flaws, which already were pointed out above, like brakes, damage, transmission, splits etc. I believe it will come along at some point.

iR staff just stated an hour ago that much better damage models (plural) are super high priority right now. Visual, mechanical etc etc.

So hopefully we'll get more details on that soon.

Quote from Kid222 :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmbZ21LoCEE

First V8 @ PI teaser is out.

Sound is weird, not so rough and kinda like LFS sounds...but the track looks awesome. Come on, can't wait.

That video has 3 different sound sources all mixed together. It can be set up to be very loose as well..don't judge the car totally from the video, although it will like to understeer with its puny front tires and massive weight on the nose.

anyone else catch the anouncement of the competition to race (online)against an F1 driver in june ?

Honestly, the only reason i think i enjoy iracing so much(besides the level of maturity there) is because it gives me something to race towards.

When i was a rookie in road, all i did were races every hour, just trying to get to D as fast as i could to be able to try a new car.

Strange, I did the same thing on LFS with the cruise servers. I obsessed over getting the next license so i could drive a new car

Hey guys, how much time iracing takes? I just want to know is it a smart decicion to buy this before summer when school ends

Anyone taking part in the 312 or 499 @ Dega this weekend?

Quote from Uke :

Hey guys, how much time iracing takes? I just want to know is it a smart decicion to buy this before summer when school ends

What do you mean? You race whenever you want to, there are races every hour

Quote from obsolum :

What do you mean? You race whenever you want to, there are races every hour

Did i sound stupid? ;S I tough that if you join a season it's like you have a race per week or something like that Lol..

Quote from Uke :

Did i sound stupid? ;S I tough that if you join a season it's like you have a race per week or something like that Lol..

The track changes every week, and you can race as many times as you want during the week. Each season lasts 12 weeks, but only 8 weeks will count towards the championship. So you can skip four weeks and still be among the top contenders (theoretically, that is).

If you complete one race every week in at least 8 weeks in a season you will also get some iRacing $$ which you can spend to buy new content or renew your subscription. The details can be found here (scroll down to the "racing participation program" bit.

Wow.. that seems to take alot of your freetime.. i think i'll buy for summer when i have free from school.. In the other hand.. the talladega promo sounds very interesting...

Any suggestions?

... it doesn't take any more time than you want it to. One race per week for 8 out of 12 weeks if you want credit towards content, other than that, it's ready when you are...