The cars do look very good, but I agree they seem to be pasted into the picture. I'm not saying they are, but it just seems that way probably because of the environment map which doesn't seem to fit in very well. The tires don't look amazing, but certainly not bad. They look better than LFS' tires. Shadows are a bit weird but also better than LFS'.
The track looks nothing short of amazing.

Turn off your hypocrisy mode

Finally a realistic looking asphalt texture that looks like it's NOT build yesterday.

Grow up guys.

Its a business after all, would you like something you've worked on for years and years to be freely available to the masses to dissect and learn about (possibly in malicious ways), or rather keep it and build it into the vision you originally had for it as the ultimate simulator?.

Its obvious why they would go to such lengths to protect it. And i for one cant wait to see what they come up with.

It's starting to look like a promising title, but there is still no word about the pricing is there? If it's meant as a platform for professionals, as it was at some point, it could cost a tiny fortune!

Quote from Blackout :

It's starting to look like a promising title, but there is still no word about the pricing is there? If it's meant as a platform for professionals, as it was at some point, it could cost a tiny fortune!

Not more then what some people spend on a wheel. (im guessing here :P)

Quote from RMachucaA :

Not more then what some people spend on a wheel. (im guessing here :P)

Sooo...it would be something around 0-1000+ dollars then.

(IF) Being priced a bit high has its good and bad points. They are marketing the game also for hardcore simulation enthusiasts, and those of which would really be the primary ones interested to buy the product (or just have the money). Look at LFS's userbase... you have a lot of noobs, and a real select few of diehard fans that are really serious about realism by getting tons of displays, building a cockpit, etc. I imagine that most people that WILL buy this game will be some pretty good drivers as well as ones that want another new game made by some 'legends' of sim developers.

The only downside to a possible hefty price would be of course that it cuts off the amount of sales through multiple people, leaving a large sum of quick-to-buy-and-under-$50-please customers to be hesitant about the purchase. Though I guess they figured out some kind of proportion of Serious Sim-Enthusiasts versus Any Given Simulation Player. Though, that probably isn't why the price is so high... they need to pay the bills, employees, and all that extra stuff. I guess they have a profitable business in the works, money should be flowing in since they have the whole 'for professionals' stance on their game... and big buyers like real racing teams come in handy I bet.

I like old Papyrus simulations, still some of my favorite. But they always lacked something extra visually. A real simulation definitely looks all plain and simple for the scenery, but it definitely needs to look like you are really in the proper location while racing. From the recent pictures it looks slightly better, but nothing spectacular compared to their past sims. It should all be in the physics I guess, which is always a nice focus of theirs.

Either they don't know the pricing yet (?!) or they just want to keep it as a secret until the game is out... if they revealed it now and it turned out to be too high for casual gamer, most of them might just forget the whole game. This way they'll ensure the hype keeps going on.

I'm really suspicious that are there enough real life racers that NEEDS or wants a virtual practice platform? Sim gamers are already a very niche group, if the price is too high I think they're making a huge mistake.

The biggest mistake is that they believe virtual motorsports will somehow conquer over real motorsports coverage... yet that is the dullest thing you could watch on TV as it lacks all kinds of reallife situations, and even personalities of the drivers... and so on. They have some kind of mindset that real fast racing drivers will use their iRacing platform in online tournaments instead because it is cheaper and safer... yet it completely goes against the true feel of DRIVING a car.

Maybe in a few decades from now when petrol cars are banned from the face of the earth and racing becomes really lame with electric cars or whatever we might have by then... But honestly, making motorsports virtual as a substitute for the actual racing series that take place, gimme a break. They explain all this and their envisions of the 'future' somewhere on their site. They definitely have high hopes for that aspect of the platform.

For now, I think it should be kept to a practice platform, and a good competitive racer for just simulation fans -- they will be the ones involved the most. If I was a racecar driver and wanted to practice the track a bit more, and if they had a good representation of the track on their platform, sure I'd see that as a very valuable tool. I guess it helps if you have limited practice time, change or weather, etc. But nothing beats driving on the track in a real car.

To me that looks better than any unedited LFS shot I've ever seen, I did pick up on the tire textures not looking right but I didn't even notice things like the floating heads until someone pointed them out, TBH I'd rather have the odd graphical flaw if it means I can get far better visuals out of my highly limited PC and still barely actually notice anything wrong, for me GPL with the best high res textures can cut it with the current crop of sims, I have no issue with using 2D objects if you are only going to see them from one angle they make sense.

Quote from bbman :

Only if you look at it with your eyes closed... And for something I apparently would have to pay a good amount of money every month or so, I have to say I'm not impressed, I even expect way more than that...

AFAIK there has never been any official word on the pricing strategy or distribution method, all the monthly subscription rumours originated from (a very anti-First/iRacing) RSC.

I thought it said right on the iRacing website that they were charging per month?

The FAQ has no details on pricing other than that it will be exclusively available (presumably in download form) from the iRacing site and a hint that the pricing is being aimed at sim racers as well as professionals.

Quote :

06. How expensive will this be?
Pricing has not been set, but it is our goal that no one with real interest in simracing will be excluded.

Man I've got a bad memory. LOL