I've been away from sim racing for several months now, due to moving and other things. I had "planned" that iRacing 2.0 would pull me back in this autumn. However, with the massive fail they've got going on right now, it turned out to be the new build of Netkar that brought me back to simming! Unexpected, but cool enough.

In terms of the "number of boxes ticked", iRacing is still ahead, though. I don't care what other people might be saying, I think the iRacing netcode is second to none. I much prefer their predictive code to cars jittering and bouncing around like we see in other sims. Also, I like the sound in general, and the crispness of the graphics. The transmission model is better than netkar (which pretty much doesn't have one...). Once they nail the tire model their service is pretty much complete; that's the time to start working on dynamic lighting and track surfaces, weather and other things.

So I chose to remain optimistic! But I won't resubscribe until the tire model is fixed.

Quote from Gnomie :

Also, I like the sound in general, and the crispness of the graphics.

It astounds me when people say this. Both sound and graphics are, for me horribly sterile/synthetic. I never stop thinking 'this is a computer game'..ever. Which is actually not true of other sims. And I know I'm not the only one who thinks that. Still, LFS sounds really bad too IMO. The sound is what makes it impossible for me to 'enjoy' iRacing.

Quote from Gnomie :

But I won't resubscribe until the tire model is fixed.

+1 Everyone should do this.
facebook group anyone?

iRacing sounds is better than LFS's.. so is the graphics by miles, I love iRacing's graphics. I can't believe I actually went for the year deal on this piece of shit game /fp

Quote from Gnomie :

I think the iRacing netcode is second to none. I much prefer their predictive code to cars jittering and bouncing around like we see in other sims.

There's actually quite a bit of bouncing going around in the faster cars. The F1 is death trap to lag hits (known in iR as phantom 4x), and the CoT is coming along nicely as being a good #2 to it. I only watch the SoF A class races (both oval and road) and the DWC races (both oval and road), and it is getting scary how much the netcode is actually hurting people more than being consistent/helping. Sure it can look nice for when you are watching cars not near each other, but when it comes to racing side by side, it is truly becoming a death trap.

Quote from The Moose :

I'll take that as compliment

A Big Compliment if you ask me

Quote from The Moose :

I just wish the rFacors and nKPro's of this world could afford to run a structured racing environment like iRacings. That currently is the only thing going for it.

the best thing about iracing is that they only allow you to play it once a fortnight when the moon and the sun align and under no circumstances when it fits your own schedule?

Quote from Shotglass :

the best thing about iracing is that they only allow you to play it once a fortnight when the moon and the sun align and under no circumstances when it fits your own schedule?

That's my biggest complaint about the iracing scheduled pickup racing. If I want to race something I need to organize my evening around it just to get one race in. Many times I've found myself looking around the iracing website to see what races are there coming and next one is always at least one hour away.

I can understand why for some people it is lovely and awsum and all that but for me... just makes me not want to race.

If I want scheduled time for races I join a league. If I want to race now I don't want to check the calendar to see if I can.

I literally am only racing the two top SoF races on Sunday nights because of that very issue. I hate getting home, wanting to jump in a race quickly, only to see the next available race is 40 minutes away and is a series I don't care at all of running. If I want to wait for a series I enjoy running, here comes a nice 90 minute wait.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Psssssssssssssst. You know "The Moose"? You know... the guy you are talking to in this thread. Click in his signature "My iRacing". Name look familiar?

Are there people who dont know THE MOOSE. Some say he .... all we know is he IS RADICAL ENOUGH

Quote from Hyperactive :

I can understand why for some people it is lovely and awsum and all that

presumably you mean students and unemployed people
ironically the exact kind of peopme who probably have a hard time affording the most ridiculously overpriced sim in the history of sim racing... well with the exception of rc racing sims

Quote from Shotglass :

presumably you mean students and unemployed people
ironically the exact kind of peopme who probably have a hard time affording the most ridiculously overpriced sim in the history of sim racing... well with the exception of rc racing sims

I'm not saying it doesn't have its own benefits. Positives like knowing for sure at certain times there is a race, there is a race for every car in the service and the racing is not very likely to be bad when the race eventually happens.

So for people who are ok for doing maybe couple of races per week it might work.

For me the biggest fear about rf2 is that would try to introduce some kind of similar "organized scheduled pickup racing scheme". Apart from bad tire physics there is really nothing that could kill a sim as efficiently for me.

RF2 confirmed it will not be taking that route. At least not any type of ratings etc. I doubt they would schedule racing.

Quote from Hyperactive :

Positives like knowing for sure at certain times there is a race, there is a race for every car in the service and the racing is not very likely to be bad when the race eventually happens.

well when a sim is actually alive and kicking its more or less the same with actual proper pickup racing

also its not just that youre only allowed to race at certain times in the day its also that youre forced to drive races of a certain (and rather too long) length on only one track a week

the whole idea of paying through the nose to get my freedom of choice restricted heavily just doesnt make any sense to me

Quote from Shotglass :

well when a sim is actually alive and kicking its more or less the same with actual proper pickup racing

also its not just that youre only allowed to race at certain times in the day its also that youre forced to drive races of a certain (and rather too long) length on only one track a week

the whole idea of paying through the nose to get my freedom of choice restricted heavily just doesnt make any sense to me

Despite a sim being "alive and kicking" certain type of cars tend to be just barely used for online racing. What the iracing system does really well is to have all of the cars active. Some less, some more. Sure you can not just jump in and race the lotus, v8 or the dp at any time you wish but when the race time comes there is usually other people as well. Despite what kind of car it is. I'm not saying that there is always enough people to race with when the scheduled race event start but with some forum browsing it is relatively easy to figure out when that car is popular.

Compared to lfs for example how possible it is to get a race with the mrt or lx6 for example? None unless you plan it ahead i.e. schedule the event.

The one week can also been seen as a positive or negative just like the car selection. With the iracing system all tracks are being used. Even the more difficult ones. Sure at times it can be annoying if there are only combos available that one doesn't like but imho that thing is sometimes good as well as it pushes people out from their comfort zones.

There are good and bad sides. And like I said I don't like the scheduled aspect of it but it surely has some nice things too.

There seems to be an absolute refusal with them to do anything but their one race every 2 hours (one hour for rookie) though. Except week 13 of course. They seem to think that everybody wants to race seriously for points all the time. (not to mention a points system that encourages those that do care about points to race only 2 races per week *I know it's deeper than that but you get my gist*).

I don't see why they can't have a combo that runs a race every half hour, randomly changing every day for fun. Possibly even 2, with one of them only running base content.

Their idea of fun is a 20 min race every hour rotating oval and road with the 2 top cars!

If it wasn't for the cheap deal that Chuck secured for a number of us last year I think I would be long gone from there. (doesn't stop me spending on content though. The fool that I am, parted from my money so easily)

You mean the 24 Du Fun or whatever they called it? I use to do that because it was fun, but it has been ditched a while ago now.

Quote :

September 28,2011 - Save 25%, Get $25 Credits
Save 25% and get a $25 bonus! Add 1-year to your membership for only $75 and you save 25%, plus we’ll give you $25 bonus credits to spend on anything you want. Hurry, as this offer is only good until October 7th.

Don’t worry if your membership is not yet due for renewal, if you take advantage of this offer the additional year will be added to your current membership so you won’t miss anything.

Use promo code: PR-1FOR75-0911 when renewing to qualify for the savings and bonus credits.


Bonus credits will be emailed on October 14th. Limit one renewal bonus per member. Offer expires 10/7/2011.

1. Click the Renew Subscription button.
2. Choose 1-year from the Subscription Choices drop down.
3. Then choose payment method and fill out/review the billing and shipping information.
4. Accept the Terms and Agreements and then click the Next button.
5. Copy and Paste, or type the promotion code you were given and then click Apply and Confirm.
6. Review the Description and Price (will have been adjusted to the promotional price) and then click Next and follow along with the rest of the online instructions.

Desperate fools. I can't even force myself to take this offer.

well the 24hr fun thing was still one or 2 hour gaps and only for 24 hours at the weekend? Something like that. And like you say they ditched that too.

That is nearly as good as the offer Chuck got us last year if you make the assumption that you are going to spend money on content at some point anyway (which I did). But like you, I'm going to pass on that one. Easy to say when I still have time left on my subs though. Like an alcoholic, it's easy to say you're going to give up when the beer runs out. When the beer actually runs out though it becomes a lot harder.

I used Chucks deal and it was amazing value compared to anything iracing have offered, but I will not be renewing... I think it was $48 for a year, but tbh, I have used it less than NKPro, which cost £13, which I have only had for a few weeks... And I don't have to pay for content..

I really cannot justify paying a penny more on iracing in it's current state than I have already paid, which was way to much. I would rather set up something with nkpro for the lfs community whilst waiting for the LFS updates than waste more money on iracing.

This is my opinion on the current sim racing situation for me (purely my opinion)

LFS (£24)=struggling on it's knees tbh, we could really do with those physics updates before 2012... Until then, we will play it, but without the enthusiasm it needs for us to be competitive..

NKPro(£13)=with the new updates, the physics seem pretty awesome, plus the fact that you can run any track (almost) makes this a serious option for us, and I would suggest any LFS team looking for something different. Whether we (SR) are able to manage a small league is still open to debate, but it is something that we will consider. The netcode is improved so I hear, but until we run it on a proper server I can't comment..

iRacing(£100's+)=Really hard to run a team using this as our main sim. There is no api to enable us to effectively monitor what is going on, and the fact it costs so much means for a team of our size, with differing financial situations with our members, it means we can only support a handful of racers. Also, with the release of iracing 2.0, I personally have lost faith in iracing altogether.

^^ I would like to qualify this above statement.

iRacing=IMHO, iracing physics are wrong. It only takes a few minutes looking at the comments from all the iracers saying how bad the OTM (original tyre model) was, to realise that they all agree. If you asked this question before the NTM (new tyre model) came along, they would say iracing physics were the best EVER... Now they are saying that the ntm is wrong also, but in a whole new way. I only know how it feels, and to me it feels wrong. Also, iracing costs a freaking fortune...

Live for Speed=LFS feels right. Not perfect in any way, but right. It really needs updating, which we are all waiting for. I can only hope Scawen does a better job than Dave K. Personally I think he will, as LFS seemed to me to have a better model from the beginning, whereas iracing's model was wrong from the start...

NKPRO=Only just started with this, but it feels right. It feels to me like a more advanced LFS, physics wise. It is pretty close to what I would imagine Scawen's tyre model will feel like. Some of the cars feel a bit shit, but some are awesome. It pisses all over iracing IMHO with some of the cars. The fact that it has unlimited tracks (track editor, plus loads of tracks already made by the community) is a massive bonus. The huge downside for NKPro is lack of online racing, plus it really feels like a beta game, with some really bad UI. I am not convinced yet that the sim is developed enough atm to support a community the way lfs does.

rfactor=not for me, like everyone waiting to see what rfactor2 offers.

Seriously... Pointing out that iR has put oval first in the past, and pretty much completely ignores the lotus, gets you called a whiner by a guy with over 6000 posts in 18 months and he hasn't raced in over 3 months.

Keyboard warrior.

A fully paid up member of the iRacing defence league.

I've posted my idea for pick up racing, well fun races every half hour, in the suggestions forum. I'm just waiting for the defence league to tell me how wrong I am now.

Quote from menantoll :

A fully paid up member of the iRacing defence league.

I've posted my idea for pick up racing, well fun races every half hour, in the suggestions forum. I'm just waiting for the defence league to tell me how wrong I am now.

....That forum is crazy. I signed up for the 3 months for 12 dollars deal to see what iracing was all about. iRacing is the simracing version of WoW. hahaha.

What do you mean? WoW is actually a pretty decent game with a lot of features. iRacing has lots of potential that isn't being realized and is too half baked for me to justify paying any more into it for now.

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

What do you mean? WoW is actually a pretty decent game with a lot of features. iRacing has lots of potential that isn't being realized and is too half baked for me to justify paying any more into it for now.

Don't be too nice.

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

What do you mean? WoW is actually a pretty decent game with a lot of features. iRacing has lots of potential that isn't being realized and is too half baked for me to justify paying any more into it for now.

WoW is a great game! To some it's like a religious cult, just like iracing seems to be a cult with some members.

I was positive I wasn't going to continue with iracing but this latest 75 dollar deal has me thinking. iracing hasn't impressed me but I'm thinking of renewing. I think I'm an idiot.