My friend you spoke exactly what goes in my mind for years....There even was a project called need for speed xms remake but it was more of remaking the old game to run on new systems....
Well i tried i-racing a few months ago by purchasing a 3 month subscription and a couple of tracks and well to be honest it is really not the game everybody keeps praising..Well before starting any fires the physics are really top notch and i would not exept anything less from Craemmer as if it wasn't for him maybe there would not be a car simulation genre altogether today...
And that leads to i-racing being absolutely astonishing on some things and completely abysmal on some others...
Physics are great and coupled with the laser scanned tracks really bring racing a notch up from gtr games and rfactor and for me even...lfs.Thats not to say lfs physics are inferior -actually quite the opposite- but coupled with the laser scanned tracks were you feel every pothole the road feeling is very alive.On this subject its not impossible to replicate the feeling of laser scanning tracks -even on fantasy tracks- if enough time is given to allocate very subtle elevation changes on even straight flat surfaces to emulate real road surfaces,potholes etc..Some tracks in rfactor really come close to this.
Then come graphics.They are not by any means incredible by they are a notch better than lfs,gtr games and the older content of rfactor tracks/cars.That said some tracks and cars in rfactor really are way better looking with more detail than i-racing.I-racing tracks are very accurate but feel very sterile-empty...(basically nothing is moving or animated on them...No bouncing when hit tyre barriers/no 3d crews,no 3d /2d spectators/no flags or trees that that sway with wind etc...)
About sound i found it actually quite good.Espeasially with a surround system you will love it.
i hoped i had that device they are advertising lately a lot butkicker...I can only imagine how better it would feel with the bass vibrations....
Damage is a half baked deal...There is mechanical damage and you can completely destroy or make undrivable your car some times but often nothing will happen after a big collition or roll over(it is supposed to be improved with the latest patch through i have not raced lately).Also visual damage is almost none existant for that matter....
And what about actual racing ? Well i found this to be more of a personal choice.
As a lot of people already said I-racing is a more "serius" sim.Its not serius in the way ultra realistic but in the way that every race counts.If you try driving 100% you will crash and after many crashes you will be punished by having your "safety rating lowered" .That will stop you from getting to the more advance races with the more powerfull cars and the more complex tracks..You start racing mostly in oval tracks and to be honest i personally hate ovals..Racing in an oval from time to time would have been nice but 60% of i-racing tracks are ovals and most rookie tracks races are in ovals....If you are patient and carefull enough you will advance but again if you are not carefull enough and cause many accidents you will be thrown back to the lower class events...Thats from the one hand builds a lot of tension on every race as you would think twice to attempt passing a car or give 100% on a turn....but at the same time sometimes you just want to race as fast as you can and this concept stops you from doing that....
So now lets go to the actual content witch was the BIGGEST dissapointment for me...I love simulations because i can drive real cars i could never afford to or real cars in a matter i would never dare in real life...
In I-racing there are NO real life cars at ALL.ZERO/NADA....OR well there are 2...a insect like track specked pontiac solstice and a vw golf zetta....witch turned out to be the BEST car in i-racing.....And when the best car in a sim turnes out to be one of the most boring cars in real life then something is not right in my book...
I mean ok there are a ton of open wheelers,funny cars,nascar stock cars,australian v8....But where are the normal cars...Even 2 amazing cars ended up to be gtr cars like the mustang and the corvette...
And on the content subject lets go to tracks...There are very few of them....Sure there are 41 laser scanned tracks but more than half of them are actually ovals....(there are variations through to some ovals and they get more interesting through).And there are very few international tracks.
And now i left the worst and most controvertial thing in i-racing for last.Craemmer always made games that would last and give simmers months and years of fun.But now you have to pay a subscription to play the game.If it was only that somehow i could let it slip...I mean there are many mmo games out there where you pay monthly.But I-racing is not a mmo my friends...PLEASE TAKE CARE OF WHAT I AM GOING TO SAY :
In a mmo you pay monthly but you continue your adventure on new places and locations.
In I-racing you pay montly FOR THE SAME CONTENT that is 3 "cars" and 7-8 tracks...The devs sure add steadily new content BUT you have to buy it.Physics do get improved but the cars and tracks you already have stay the same ofcourse...IF you stick on the main suscription you may spend from 100 to 170$ just to play only online for a year those same 3 cars and 7-8 tracks......You can have a great online experience with lfs for years with 6 times the amount of cars for 40$ or with the latest gtr evo/on bundle for like 50$ and have 3 times the tracks and 20 times the cars of the I-racing basic subscription.......And i don't even mention rfactor were nowdays there may be over 30-40 very high quality cars and 20-30 very high quality tracks to race....
So lets say you pass the rookie events and want to continue playing i-racing what you have to do is buy more tracks and cars...Granded you don't have to buy them all but we are speaking eventually for an additional cost of 100 up to 300 $ easily....
Thats my friend is a lot of money if you think about it...If i-racing was perfect,If it had perfect physics and ultra realistic car damage with deformable body,detachable body parts and always registering mechanical damage,If it had weather effects,If it had a nice bunch of real world normal cars,If it had better graphics,If it had more international tracks and a couple of roads,If it had more alive tracks with wind,moving 3d spectators,deformable barriers etc and if it had some ofline mode with some basic ai to practice or do a quick race without fearing you are going to loose your safety rating then and only then i-racing would worth all this money given....
As a closure that was my personall experience with i-racing....The game does have potential through and may get better.And definetely for anybody that loves open wheelers or nascar stock cars i-racing IS the definite simulation with its ambudance of ovals and incredible modeled stock cars and open wheelers...
And that leads to i-racing being absolutely astonishing on some things and completely abysmal on some others...
Physics are great and coupled with the laser scanned tracks really bring racing a notch up from gtr games and rfactor and for me even...lfs.Thats not to say lfs physics are inferior -actually quite the opposite- but coupled with the laser scanned tracks were you feel every pothole the road feeling is very alive.On this subject its not impossible to replicate the feeling of laser scanning tracks -even on fantasy tracks- if enough time is given to allocate very subtle elevation changes on even straight flat surfaces to emulate real road surfaces,potholes etc..Some tracks in rfactor really come close to this.
Then come graphics.They are not by any means incredible by they are a notch better than lfs,gtr games and the older content of rfactor tracks/cars.That said some tracks and cars in rfactor really are way better looking with more detail than i-racing.I-racing tracks are very accurate but feel very sterile-empty...(basically nothing is moving or animated on them...No bouncing when hit tyre barriers/no 3d crews,no 3d /2d spectators/no flags or trees that that sway with wind etc...)
About sound i found it actually quite good.Espeasially with a surround system you will love it.
i hoped i had that device they are advertising lately a lot butkicker...I can only imagine how better it would feel with the bass vibrations....
Damage is a half baked deal...There is mechanical damage and you can completely destroy or make undrivable your car some times but often nothing will happen after a big collition or roll over(it is supposed to be improved with the latest patch through i have not raced lately).Also visual damage is almost none existant for that matter....
And what about actual racing ? Well i found this to be more of a personal choice.
As a lot of people already said I-racing is a more "serius" sim.Its not serius in the way ultra realistic but in the way that every race counts.If you try driving 100% you will crash and after many crashes you will be punished by having your "safety rating lowered" .That will stop you from getting to the more advance races with the more powerfull cars and the more complex tracks..You start racing mostly in oval tracks and to be honest i personally hate ovals..Racing in an oval from time to time would have been nice but 60% of i-racing tracks are ovals and most rookie tracks races are in ovals....If you are patient and carefull enough you will advance but again if you are not carefull enough and cause many accidents you will be thrown back to the lower class events...Thats from the one hand builds a lot of tension on every race as you would think twice to attempt passing a car or give 100% on a turn....but at the same time sometimes you just want to race as fast as you can and this concept stops you from doing that....
So now lets go to the actual content witch was the BIGGEST dissapointment for me...I love simulations because i can drive real cars i could never afford to or real cars in a matter i would never dare in real life...
In I-racing there are NO real life cars at ALL.ZERO/NADA....OR well there are 2...a insect like track specked pontiac solstice and a vw golf zetta....witch turned out to be the BEST car in i-racing.....And when the best car in a sim turnes out to be one of the most boring cars in real life then something is not right in my book...
I mean ok there are a ton of open wheelers,funny cars,nascar stock cars,australian v8....But where are the normal cars...Even 2 amazing cars ended up to be gtr cars like the mustang and the corvette...
And on the content subject lets go to tracks...There are very few of them....Sure there are 41 laser scanned tracks but more than half of them are actually ovals....(there are variations through to some ovals and they get more interesting through).And there are very few international tracks.
And now i left the worst and most controvertial thing in i-racing for last.Craemmer always made games that would last and give simmers months and years of fun.But now you have to pay a subscription to play the game.If it was only that somehow i could let it slip...I mean there are many mmo games out there where you pay monthly.But I-racing is not a mmo my friends...PLEASE TAKE CARE OF WHAT I AM GOING TO SAY :
In a mmo you pay monthly but you continue your adventure on new places and locations.
In I-racing you pay montly FOR THE SAME CONTENT that is 3 "cars" and 7-8 tracks...The devs sure add steadily new content BUT you have to buy it.Physics do get improved but the cars and tracks you already have stay the same ofcourse...IF you stick on the main suscription you may spend from 100 to 170$ just to play only online for a year those same 3 cars and 7-8 tracks......You can have a great online experience with lfs for years with 6 times the amount of cars for 40$ or with the latest gtr evo/on bundle for like 50$ and have 3 times the tracks and 20 times the cars of the I-racing basic subscription.......And i don't even mention rfactor were nowdays there may be over 30-40 very high quality cars and 20-30 very high quality tracks to race....
So lets say you pass the rookie events and want to continue playing i-racing what you have to do is buy more tracks and cars...Granded you don't have to buy them all but we are speaking eventually for an additional cost of 100 up to 300 $ easily....
Thats my friend is a lot of money if you think about it...If i-racing was perfect,If it had perfect physics and ultra realistic car damage with deformable body,detachable body parts and always registering mechanical damage,If it had weather effects,If it had a nice bunch of real world normal cars,If it had better graphics,If it had more international tracks and a couple of roads,If it had more alive tracks with wind,moving 3d spectators,deformable barriers etc and if it had some ofline mode with some basic ai to practice or do a quick race without fearing you are going to loose your safety rating then and only then i-racing would worth all this money given....
As a closure that was my personall experience with i-racing....The game does have potential through and may get better.And definetely for anybody that loves open wheelers or nascar stock cars i-racing IS the definite simulation with its ambudance of ovals and incredible modeled stock cars and open wheelers...
Last edited by justasimfan, .
Hi there again ! After starting posting here i have to post another post....
Anyway your arguments about car/track incompatibility are sound as also another's poster's,JazzOn witch was very sceptical about the quality of these user created content.
Car/Track incompatibility was partly to blame for Racer's "death" for those that remember that sim (Witch by the way is still being slowly developed) BUT the most important reason was the developer/s negative stand on some very very talented users to help him with the core programming and to develop a system for importing specific car data for each car so whenever a new version gets released it would always work based on that rock solid data...With that way it would have been a matter of tweaking physics for the entire engine so each car fwd/rwd/4wd/awd gets represended realistically....
Those that remember Racer it had for a time the most amazing models of tracks and cars....Even after so many years give a try to a hillclimb track called swiss stroll and you are going to be shocked from the models quality.
Anyway all those talented people migrated to rfactor and eventually made some amazing user created content...
In the begining to be honest most user content was to put it clearly......was utter rubbish...
Yet after people got familiar with the engine they started to make some incredible content there.....At this moment Rfactor has some of the best representations of many real world tracks like Nurburing,le mans,magny course,monza,lienz,spa,isle of man,mount panorama,paris,eastern creek,oran park,pikes peak,shangai,singapure,pau,fuji,montreal,barcelona,suzuka,monako,mont venoux and the upcoming mind blowing 70 mile targa florio...
And about cars were...there is some stunning f1 mods like fsone,ctdp 2006-9,some great classic cars mods like historic gt,world touring cars,posche cup,ferrari challenge cup,gt cars,lexus,supra,supra gt,corvete,skyline,skyline gt and i could go on and on.....
The thing is lfs needs users like that and the truth be told we have a ton of users like that,just go to LFSMODS.The quality of some cars as far as modeling goes can be compared easily to commercial products and some actually surpass many simiral models in recent racing games( sim and those bling bling arcade games)
I can only imagine what can be done with tracks.We could have scratch built versions of many if not all tracks i mentioned before or at least converted versions of the originals...
I wish the devs read this and in the future( maybe after the next physics update....) decide to add user created content availability...
Or if there is still fear of incompatibility at least unlock the tracks code as i can't imagine tracks to be affected that much with physics upgrades..
Anyway your arguments about car/track incompatibility are sound as also another's poster's,JazzOn witch was very sceptical about the quality of these user created content.Car/Track incompatibility was partly to blame for Racer's "death" for those that remember that sim (Witch by the way is still being slowly developed) BUT the most important reason was the developer/s negative stand on some very very talented users to help him with the core programming and to develop a system for importing specific car data for each car so whenever a new version gets released it would always work based on that rock solid data...With that way it would have been a matter of tweaking physics for the entire engine so each car fwd/rwd/4wd/awd gets represended realistically....
Those that remember Racer it had for a time the most amazing models of tracks and cars....Even after so many years give a try to a hillclimb track called swiss stroll and you are going to be shocked from the models quality.
Anyway all those talented people migrated to rfactor and eventually made some amazing user created content...
In the begining to be honest most user content was to put it clearly......was utter rubbish...
Yet after people got familiar with the engine they started to make some incredible content there.....At this moment Rfactor has some of the best representations of many real world tracks like Nurburing,le mans,magny course,monza,lienz,spa,isle of man,mount panorama,paris,eastern creek,oran park,pikes peak,shangai,singapure,pau,fuji,montreal,barcelona,suzuka,monako,mont venoux and the upcoming mind blowing 70 mile targa florio...
And about cars were...there is some stunning f1 mods like fsone,ctdp 2006-9,some great classic cars mods like historic gt,world touring cars,posche cup,ferrari challenge cup,gt cars,lexus,supra,supra gt,corvete,skyline,skyline gt and i could go on and on.....
The thing is lfs needs users like that and the truth be told we have a ton of users like that,just go to LFSMODS.The quality of some cars as far as modeling goes can be compared easily to commercial products and some actually surpass many simiral models in recent racing games( sim and those bling bling arcade games)
I can only imagine what can be done with tracks.We could have scratch built versions of many if not all tracks i mentioned before or at least converted versions of the originals...
I wish the devs read this and in the future( maybe after the next physics update....) decide to add user created content availability...
Or if there is still fear of incompatibility at least unlock the tracks code as i can't imagine tracks to be affected that much with physics upgrades..
Last edited by justasimfan, .
Well i tryed the latest demo version and through it is still way off as far as physics and overal polish compared to lfs,gtr games and rfactor.
It does show through steady improvement over time whenever each new version comes out.
What i really like on this sim is the premise of driving normal cars instead of the usual open wheelers or extreme gtr cars.The 3d render engine is great too as it is a true dx9 shader based engine-though the tracks are very simple and unpolished with some ABYSMAL flatness as there are very little elevation changes and the sides of the track are basically flat....MORE complex terrain
and more trackside detail like grass/more random trees/more trackside objects/spectators would improve the game a lot.
i would recommend to everyone to at least try it and post his thoughts on the developer forums in racedepartment.The dev/s look as they honestly hear poeple thoughs and suggestions...
-Well to actually buy through i would wait for a few version updates and see what will be improved for the moment .If enough improvements are made than it will worth it buying and helping the dev/s.
It does show through steady improvement over time whenever each new version comes out.
What i really like on this sim is the premise of driving normal cars instead of the usual open wheelers or extreme gtr cars.The 3d render engine is great too as it is a true dx9 shader based engine-though the tracks are very simple and unpolished with some ABYSMAL flatness as there are very little elevation changes and the sides of the track are basically flat....MORE complex terrain
and more trackside detail like grass/more random trees/more trackside objects/spectators would improve the game a lot.
i would recommend to everyone to at least try it and post his thoughts on the developer forums in racedepartment.The dev/s look as they honestly hear poeple thoughs and suggestions...
-Well to actually buy through i would wait for a few version updates and see what will be improved for the moment .If enough improvements are made than it will worth it buying and helping the dev/s.
Well this is my first actual post here as i just registered. I played lfs for years on my brothers sim riq and i believe as far as physics and overal polish is among the best sims out there.I don't know what exactly makes it so special but the tyre feeling feels simply right.If it wasn't as good as it is well i don't think i would been spending my time in these forums.
Yet the last few years truth to be told there was no new content released were the competitor simulations have started to evolve.
I still think that i-racing needs more normal tracks and is missing real normal cars,Gtr evo/on may start to look a bit dated yet it features a huge amount of content and some great ai and weather effects.
But my least favourite sim when released,Rfactor has become the game now i and my brother spend most time racing.After rfactor got the real feel update the rest was history as a lot of talented modders brought nurburing,le mans,magny course,monza,lienz,spa,isle of man,mount panorama,paris,eastern creek,oran park,pikes peak,shangai,singapure,pau,
fuji,montreal,barcelona and a ton of other great tracks/mountain roads(like the upcoming targa florio-a convertion from gpl).The same applies to cars as there are many exellent real normal cars/car packs released.
For God's sake i don't mention all the above to bash lfs,i mentioned all that because ISI used the Strengh,Ingenuity and talent of sim gamers/users by giving them the ability to make all the above possible.
In the lfs community there are some incredibly talented people and the
proof of that is the mods found in LFSMODS.There are some amazing car models to be found there complete with some incredible interiors.There are some very talented modelers and some very talented textures in the lfs community.IF the developers could give the users more freedom and power to create end user content lfs could become the best sim of all time.As things are to add a user made car you have to overwrite the files of the original cars and also the handling characteristics are limited by the handling characteristics of the car being overwritten.IF the developers were open to the idea of adding user content that was handled intependently from the main cars and having each cars their own completely unique configuration parameters....
The same things can be said about tracks as their format is completely lock at the moment...
As i said before i didn't post to bash lfs or any of the developers.For God's shake its an astonishing game for what it is and to be created by just 3 people it makes it even an even more incredible feet.
The reason i posted is that i feel its a pitty when so many talented people want to help make lfs an even better game than it is ,that they are not given the chance. I can only imagine if the developers opened the car/track format what could be archived from content side while they could allocate their time to improve physics,damage,sounds,weather effects and generally not have to worry about end user content...
That my 2 cent worth of thoughts and i wish if any of the devs actually read this ,at least please give it a thought or 2...
Have a nice racing
Yet the last few years truth to be told there was no new content released were the competitor simulations have started to evolve.
I still think that i-racing needs more normal tracks and is missing real normal cars,Gtr evo/on may start to look a bit dated yet it features a huge amount of content and some great ai and weather effects.
But my least favourite sim when released,Rfactor has become the game now i and my brother spend most time racing.After rfactor got the real feel update the rest was history as a lot of talented modders brought nurburing,le mans,magny course,monza,lienz,spa,isle of man,mount panorama,paris,eastern creek,oran park,pikes peak,shangai,singapure,pau,
fuji,montreal,barcelona and a ton of other great tracks/mountain roads(like the upcoming targa florio-a convertion from gpl).The same applies to cars as there are many exellent real normal cars/car packs released.
For God's sake i don't mention all the above to bash lfs,i mentioned all that because ISI used the Strengh,Ingenuity and talent of sim gamers/users by giving them the ability to make all the above possible.
In the lfs community there are some incredibly talented people and the
proof of that is the mods found in LFSMODS.There are some amazing car models to be found there complete with some incredible interiors.There are some very talented modelers and some very talented textures in the lfs community.IF the developers could give the users more freedom and power to create end user content lfs could become the best sim of all time.As things are to add a user made car you have to overwrite the files of the original cars and also the handling characteristics are limited by the handling characteristics of the car being overwritten.IF the developers were open to the idea of adding user content that was handled intependently from the main cars and having each cars their own completely unique configuration parameters....
The same things can be said about tracks as their format is completely lock at the moment...
As i said before i didn't post to bash lfs or any of the developers.For God's shake its an astonishing game for what it is and to be created by just 3 people it makes it even an even more incredible feet.
The reason i posted is that i feel its a pitty when so many talented people want to help make lfs an even better game than it is ,that they are not given the chance. I can only imagine if the developers opened the car/track format what could be archived from content side while they could allocate their time to improve physics,damage,sounds,weather effects and generally not have to worry about end user content...
That my 2 cent worth of thoughts and i wish if any of the devs actually read this ,at least please give it a thought or 2...
Have a nice racing
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG