Some of my friends want to learn sim racing. But now it's really difficult for those NFSers to control steering and pedals to maintain proper amount of slip and hold the line. I think it's better for them to start with a semi-sim so the can navigate cars with arrow keys ( using "steering help" or something similar ) and focus on the timing of braking / corner cutting, which is a lot easier.

This is not as meaningless as some of you may see. Those guys even don't understand why drivers brake on the track. Things we consider natural may be difficult for them, so some "transition time" is needed.

One bad thing is that we don't have any powerful PC in the dormitory. Super GPU eaters won't help much. ( The hottest thing my ancient laptop can do is running NFS9 at 15-40fps with a very low setting ~ :schwitz

Any recommendation ?

Any game from Simbin, mods for F1 Challenge, Total Inmersion Racing, Sports Cars GT...

Start them on the wheel straight away, but with auto-gears (and auto clutch obviously). Once they get the hang of braking and accelerating, you can introduce gear changes.

Probably something like rFactor, where they can also pick real-world cars and tracks to keep their interest up.

I find rfactor better as a sim than lfs, depends on the mods though.

Quote from Tomba(FIN) :

I find rfactor better as a sim than lfs, depends on the mods though.

That's considered blasphemy on this forum

I agree with you, though.

As for the OP's question, I agree that you should start them off on the wheel + pedals straight away but enable driving aids. But if they really haven't the faintest clue about racing I wonder why they would be interested in learning to simrace

Mah, just give them the full deal. Unsing aids or semi-realistic sims just teaches them bad habits which in turn can make the transition to proper sims even harder.

Quote from Tomba(FIN) :

I find rfactor better as a sim than lfs, depends on the mods though.

LFS is the better sim, but I'd say rFactor is the better game. I've been getting back into LFS recently though and playing it a lot more

The reason rFactor feels better to most, is because it's immersible. LFS isn't, no matter how simulatory it is, it always just feels like a game, it's much easier to get into 'the zone' on rFactor I find at least.

I got a semi...

Quote from obsolum :

That's considered blasphemy on this forum

I agree with you, though.

As for the OP's question, I agree that you should start them off on the wheel + pedals straight away but enable driving aids. But if they really haven't the faintest clue about racing I wonder why they would be interested in learning to simrace

I also agree.

@ Blue Flame
I find my case to be the exact opposite.

TOCA 3?

Quote from DevilDare :

TOCA 3?

That's gonna be hard to get a hold of now mate, you can't even torrent Toca World Touring Cars (TOCA 3)

Wasn't there some kind of arcade mode in GTR-Evo? I've just noticed that I NEVER drove on any other track than Nordschleife since i bought the Race07/Evo/Stcc stuff

For complete beginners I think something along the lines of NFS 5 Porsche Unleashed, focusing on not braking with the walls..

Perhaps organize a mini championship writing down their times, giving them hints about how to be quicker, the basic concepts(eg: faster =! quicker).

Edit: That ^ and upgrade to LFS after a while, as a "bonus" for the looser, so he WILL get better at NFS and beat the other guy..

Or start with LFS from the start, but with max intake restriction, max weight penalty, mouse, follow the line.. They won`t go over 140 km/h and will be slow as hell.
Did that last row^ to a friend of mine recently, only he is remotely interested in cars.. Now(2 weeks later~) he runs low 1.36's.

Thank you for your concern and advice. Will try those games/ways.

Quote from STF :

...
Did that last row^ to a friend of mine recently, only he is remotely interested in cars.. Now(2 weeks later~) he runs low 1.36's.

That's really wonderful.