Why is

the pacing of your post

broken into different
lines? Or

is it just me?

Edit - Nice review btw, formatting aside.

I know not of what you speak?

BBT, great review, really useful, thanks a lot.

Pho is the food of champions. Good review.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and don't go thinking that I've actually played iRacing, but from what you guys are generally posting, it just seems to be better than LFS.

From what I understand, every aspect, seldom graphics, is similar to LFS. That is, whether it's better or worse, it's very close to what you get in LFS.

I have a feeling that the aspects iRacing promotes and counts on to make itself stand alone from other sims are indeed playing a big part in its sucess. That is, real tracks and cars, along with the graphics. Apart from that, it seems to be quite similar to LFS, maybe with a touch more developpment in it (?).

The structure, both in pricing, racing, and (dare i say) freedom, is very different than what you find in LFS afaict.

It will be hugely appealing to some, not at all to others.

That said, it seems you are correct judging from some in the terms of the actual driving.

Again, afaik. (will find out for sure tonight!!!!111Eleven!)

Quote from boosterfire :

From what I understand, every aspect, seldom graphics, is similar to LFS. That is, whether it's better or worse, it's very close to what you get in LFS.
...

That is, real tracks and cars, along with the graphics. Apart from that, it seems to be quite similar to LFS, maybe with a touch more developpment in it (?).

I haven't tried iRacing either, but from what I gather, the driving feel is much more involving as well. BBT described it as less of a clinical experience, and everyone else's description supports that.

Having tried something less clinical myself, in the form of NKPro, it's something that can go a long long long in making the sim a better drive.

I don't know why I'm lurking in this thread so much.

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

PS Why is Shotglass so quiet? I bet he secretly bought a month to play with and doesn't want to admit it :P

i assure you i did not... its more to do with me having just finished my diploma thesis about a week ago and having to prepare my final presentation for monday

Quote from Mattesa :

Pho is the food of champions.

Damn freaking straight!!11

Quote from boosterfire :

Correct me if I'm wrong, and don't go thinking that I've actually played iRacing, but from what you guys are generally posting, it just seems to be better than LFS.

From what I understand, every aspect, seldom graphics, is similar to LFS. That is, whether it's better or worse, it's very close to what you get in LFS.

I have a feeling that the aspects iRacing promotes and counts on to make itself stand alone from other sims are indeed playing a big part in its sucess. That is, real tracks and cars, along with the graphics. Apart from that, it seems to be quite similar to LFS, maybe with a touch more developpment in it (?).

You're quite right, but it's actually more than a little better than LFS overall. The graphics are more than a little better, but you don't *notice* it all that much - ok the car and the track surface you really notice - but the rest you don't see that much while trying to drift the car just enough to be fast, but not too much because you'll lose speed or have a SERIOUS problem to deal with.

The thing that catches my attention the most is the feeling that you better know what the hell you're doing to be fast. Being properly smooth is more difficult than in LFS, but at the same time much more rewarding. I literally found myself holding my breath trying to be as fast as possible in the skippy, testing the limits and seeing what I can get away with. I'm pondering how this perception is acheived .... I'm thinking it is a combination of better tires physics and the fancy laser scanned on the tracks. Tire wise, you won't find better lat/long grip combination around right now and that's probably a lot of the difference.

Quote from Mattesa :

I don't know why I'm lurking in this thread so much.

You know you want to try it, that's why!

Yes, it is much less clinical.

One other thing that pisses me off: why do the brakes automatically engage when you come to a stop? Geez, that's retarded.

It's definitely raised the bar in sim-racing, and yet with the manpower and budget there's the odd thing that makes me shake my head (per the bullshit section in my review).

just had my second complete lap at laguna...

1:50.6 something from 1:51.3

I had a couple flubs too that lap. I think my next completed lap out of 25 attempts might be in the 49s!

A decent improvement, except I'd rather have 20 laps all strung together at 1:52 than 2 laps that are near race speed :P

I'm not very good at slowing down...especially since I know the track already I want to go balls to the wall every turn

Also bbt, I agree...some things are like pre s1 material and others are a bit more advanced than what we've got here.

Quote from Mattesa :

I haven't tried iRacing either, but from what I gather, the driving feel is much more involving as well. BBT described it as less of a clinical experience, and everyone else's description supports that.

To be honest I've only driven the Solstice, and I find it a frustrating car to drive. It's hard to judge the simulation fairly when it fails to hold your interest for more than a few laps.

I'd say...

Plus sides: Tyres feel very good, tracks feel very good, graphics are very good.

Down sides: Car content not compelling, multiplayer currently way too restrictive, price, additional costs for advanced content, probably a load of other stuff.

It's worth trying for a month, but you might get bored of it quickly.

The way I see it, they got good solid base to build on. It still lacks features here and there but those shouldn't be too hard to add down by the road.

I definitely intend to try for a month when it goes full public. Just from reading everybody's posts, I think I have a pretty good idea what to expect, and frankly my anticipation level is quite low. I fully expect to reach apathy in two weeks, and not renew.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

To be honest I've only driven the Solstice, and I find it a frustrating car to drive. It's hard to judge the simulation fairly when it fails to hold your interest for more than a few laps.

Yeah but isn't even the UF1 frustrating for you?

/runs

Quote :

It's worth trying for a month, but you might get bored of it quickly.

Indeed; if the lack of cars doesn't put you off then it's the best out there right now - unless you're a glutton for pickup racing that is.

Quote from Crommi :

The way I see it, they got good solid base to build on. It still lacks features here and there but those shouldn't be too hard to add down by the road.

I see it that way too. It seems no developer can make something truly great and FINISH the damn thing. Why is that? Financial pressures I guess. The only things we get in finished form nowdays is simple crap. Age of Conan is the same, groundbreaking but unfinished. LFS will pretty much be the same a year from now, iRacing probably will be a lot better even than now in a year which will only widen the gap. Probably by then the private leagues thing will be sorted and of course races will likely be happening constantly.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

To be honest I've only driven the Solstice, and I find it a frustrating car to drive. It's hard to judge the simulation fairly when it fails to hold your interest for more than a few laps.

I'd say...

Plus sides: Tyres feel very good, tracks feel very good, graphics are very good.

Down sides: Car content not compelling, multiplayer currently way too restrictive, price, additional costs for advanced content, probably a load of other stuff.

It's worth trying for a month, but you might get bored of it quickly.

I feel pretty much the same about it... Except that it hasn't "gripped" me at all, pretty much the same as I got when I tried rFactor (), it just doesn't hold my interest for longer than a couple of laps, while in LFS I can just go on and on and on. But still I'm glad I tried it out, so I know what I'm on about

BBT, there is no engine damage at all... You can just put it in 1st from 4th at 140 and continue happily afterwards. I can't help but feel iRacing is actually much more incomplete than LFS, and they had the same dev time... There are no flags, no engine damage, no dirt on tires, no pitstops, i don't know... The tracks and the driveability are very good though. Not too sure about the car graphics, they look too "shiny" to me.

(anyway, just some random ramblings )

Quote from Gil07 :

BBT, there is no engine damage at all... You can just put it in 1st from 4th at 140 and continue happily afterwards. I can't help but feel iRacing is actually much more incomplete than LFS, and they had the same dev time... There are no flags, no engine damage, no dirt on tires, no pitstops, i don't know...

... brake lights.


I pretty much feel the same as you, Gil

Thanks for letting me through earlier, btw ;-)

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

Yeah but isn't even the UF1 frustrating for you?

/runs

Actually yeah I'm pretty crap in the UF1 too! I think with slow or understeery cars I get bored and distracted too easily.

The annoying thing with HiPricing is the way the car selection goes Solstice > Skip Barber. It seems to have missed out the range of cars I imagine I might be interested in and gone straight to a single-seater.

i dont think the united states of americaland have ever even heard of the caterham kind you like... a 500 kilo car? a set of supersized cupholders weights more

Woohoo, 1:49.5 around laguna in the rookie solstice...I might be ready for a race here soon. I got some consistency going too, can do multiple laps in a row now zomg!

I would love a caterham or some other kit car with about the same power as the solstice, but purpose built to like turn and stuff

Not really sure why everyone is bashing the solstice though...aside from the gearing I really love the thing (really gotta fly it through the corners to keep it in the powerband in 3rd) But hey, I'll race anything I guess

Quote from Shotglass :

i dont think the united states of americaland have ever even heard of the caterham kind you like... a 500 kilo car? a set of supersized cupholders weights more

<sarcastic>Yet... an American company is responsible for the best simulation on the market. Amazing how they can accomplish that without any appreciation for said cars.</sarcastic>

Given their choice of cars that form a progression of a racer's career path, it would seem a bit odd to focus on a Caterham at the moment when they already have a perfectly fine base car in the Solstice. But maybe with all of your racing experience they should have signed you on as a consultant.

Shotglass: "ZOMG YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CATERHAM AND ARIEL ATOM YOU NOOBZ. DUMB AMERICANZ"

but hey they do have a radical

Quote from Gil07 :

There are no flags, no engine damage, no dirt on tires, no pitstops, i don't know... )

Not too worried about dirt on the tires, for now, but no pitstops or flags? That just seems ridiculous. No endurance races or caution laps for near $200 a year?

There was a comment from someone who hadn't tried iRacing that the Radical didn't look too fun or realistic or something along those lines. I agree...before I started playing iRacing I was not too impressed with how onboard videos from in-game looked. But trust me it feels a lot better than it looks. I wasn't too excited by watching the videos, but that does not reflect on how it feels to play. So if you're put off by videos, try the $20 month and give it a go, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I have been thinking some more about the things that are currently lacking in iRacing. It is quite surprising that there are some basic things missing, as mentioned already. But the driving experience is so good for me that I'm not really bothered about them for the most part. I have been going back and forth about whether iRacing is for me, and whenever I have my doubts, they are washed away once I'm behind the wheel in a race.

Initially I was not too keen on the Skip Barber car; it left me feeling a little flat. But I suspected I just needed more time with it, and I was right. Now I'm starting to get comfortable with it and push it a little harder, it is a joy to drive. There is one particular corner that I just LOVE on VIR with the Skip Barber. You are coming out of a 2nd gear right hand turn, and flick it into first for the following left. If I come in on a steady throttle I can turn it in to the left and then gradually increase the throttle as I go through. If I try and push it there though I often end up with understeer and needing to back out of the throttle a little. One lap I came in a bit faster than usual, and therefore lifted a bit harder on the entry, rotating the car nicely. I then applied full throttle and came through the corner in a lovely four wheel drift, not really needing to correct so much as just unwind a little lock. From then on, I have tried this same technique each lap, just because it's so damn fun. The car really started to come alive at this point and suddenly I have started enjoying it more. It's moments like this that make me not care how much iRacing costs, and the fact that it's missing a bunch of features right now.

thisnameistaken... I felt exactly the same as you with regards to the car content initially. Solstice initially left me feeling very flat, as did the Skip Barber car. I am really finding I need to put a lot of time in with each car in order to start enjoying them. I found it easy to just pick up iRacing and put in some clean laps in either car. It took me a LOT of laps to get close to competitive times though, and now I'm at that stage, I can see there is so much more to learn still and a lot of work to be put in to continue to improve.

wow.

just had my first race in the rookie solstice, it was fantastic!

I went through qualifying and had quite a few incidents and docked my safety rating...ouch I'll have to hop onto a practice session before qualy starts now so I don't kill my rating every time.

The whole race procedure was very confusing at first. I didn't quite understand what was going on...I was just driving around and all of a sudden people started to disappear. I stopped on track and was taken to the pits.

(sorry, a bit long :shy

I click grid, and am happy to find I'm qualified 3rd. I didn't know where to find the positions before the race. We are all gridded up and lights come on. I slam it in to 1st, and off we go. I got a pretty good jump, and am on the inside headed to turn 1. I've got 1st in front, and second to my right. I brake a bit early and give it some room not really knowing what to expect with the cold tires, and am trying to get through cleanly. Through all of that, it appears I forgot what speed I was supposed to take the turn, and find myself in the gravel watching people go by.

I get on the track, and don't have a clue what position I'm in...all I know is I want to catch up. Turns out I fell back to 8th from 2nd/3rd.

I was chasing this one guy down until the very last lap. There was one point when I was on his bumper on the 6th or 7th lap going into the corkscrew. I was a good second faster than him around the track, and knew I should leave him some room under braking. He screws up bad in front of me and swings wide, I proceed on line and all of a sudden I see him start to cut back. I'm forced off track on the inside slightly and given a black flag I have to slam on the brakes and get it down to 15 mph so I can go again. He now has a 5 second lead again and I have 4 laps left...I was pissed

Turns out this whole time I was in 5th chasing 4th. On the 10th lap there is carnage on the main straight apparently involving one of the leaders. I move up to 4th. On the 11th and final lap, I'm catching up fast. I have the gap down to 1 second going into turn 2, and am doing all I can to catch up.

Coming down out of the corkscrew I see the guy in front of me, the one I've been chasing down for 8 laps gets into the back of 2nd place! He spins second out, and is forced to slow down to get untangled. I have to slam on the brakes to avoid the spun car, and dodge to the inside. We're flying towards turn 10...I'm on the inside and am fully along side him. I brake generously and sneak through and rocket out towards 11 and on to the finish line.

I pick up a 2nd place in my first race, and had a great time doing it. My safety rating is back up to 2.50, and hopefully it'll keep going up.

It was really a unique experience. I've not had racing like that on the computer ever. I've done a few league races in LFS, and pug races all the time. I sense a much greater amount of respect in iracing. People seem to be there because they want to have the best experience possible. I don't know if its the cost, the bulky and confusing registration format, the safety rating, or some other unexplainable thing, but there was an atmosphere of respect (for the car and the other racers) and competition that I haven't gotten in any lfs pug race.

I'm actually sad when I keep remembering that its a monthly subscription and daftly expensive to get any more content

Quite happy I gave it a go for at least a month though. Good to know lfs will be waiting for me when I get back

Another side note. It was excellent to be able to do qualifying at 8 pm, and race at 10 pm...on lfs I might find 3 drift servers and ctra with 2 people in it. I just raced with a full field for a solid 11 laps and feel very content. If I tried to race on lfs at 10 pm I'd give up and wake up around 10 in the morning and hop on cone dodgers or ctra and have an excellent race, but at a much less convenient time.

Sounds like you're having fun spanks

I just posted this to a friend on MSN, so I thought I would share it....

My thoughts on why t1 is better in iRacing:
1) No restarting races. This is your only chance to make t1, and you can't just vote to restart and then do it again, so you had better get it right.
2) Races are longer so t1 is less crucial anyway.
3) Incident points mean you are encouraged to avoid contact
4) Races only every hour or two mean you can't just start a different race if you mess up t1.
5) hiPricing means less 10 year olds thinking they are the shit and divebombing in t1.

I have seriously only have 2 races where I had any issues in t1 at all. Very very different from LFS so far. Of course I am comparing to LFS pickup races, which is a little unfair really. It's totally different in LFS league races and that sort of thing. But my experiences with iRacing so far lead me to feel that they could definitely get rid of the vote to restart a race in LFS. This way people know you have to at least wait until the next race if you mess up in t1. Usually in small races a big pile up in t1 affects close to 50% of the field and it usually ends up being enough to get the race restarted which bugs the hell out of me.

And as for the fact that races are longer in iRacing, well I just need to find the servers in LFS that have longer races. Trouble is, finding a server that has longer races, runs the cars I'm interested in, and has at least 5 people in is often nearly impossible....