Community Question | How Long Have You Been A Sim Racer?

[simon nicholson]

For me it all started with Revs on the BBC Micro model b back in 1984 The first Crammond developed sim racing game i do believe.

 

[butcher85]

I said 15+ years but with a few caveats, chief among which being that I never raced much and preferred practise sessions and hot-lapping

I remember playing NFS games and Nascar Racing as early as the late 90s and then buying a cheapo $80 non-FFB wheel and pedals, you know the type that recenter like it's on rubber bands, in maybe 2002 to play RaceDriver

In the mid 00's I got stuck into F1 99-02, Rfactor 1 and GTR 2 with a Logitech Momo Racing wheel and had a crack at pretty much any realistic or semi-realistic racing game since

I've been rocking my Fanatec CSR wheel and Elite pedals for maybe 7 years now but I've only had my RD Premium membership a few weeks

 

[ScrewCaptain27]

I guess I have been ever since I started playing games at the age of three or four. First game I remember playing was Grand Prix 3 on PC, sitting on my mum's lap so I could reach the keyboard and see the screen well. Later my parents got me a little steering wheel and pedal set, think it was a Logitech. I still play GP3 to this day.

 

[Cosimo]

Nobody was calling Indy 500 Simracing back then though ... I think Indy 500 and Formula One Grand Prix on the Amiga (1989-1990) were the first games where you could distinctly perceive a depth that arcade games did not have.

 

[MetalMania]

Well, it wasn't "sim" but the first car racing/driving game I remember putting a lot of time into was "Turbo" on ColecoVision! Got it for Christmas, I remember it came with a steering wheel and gas pedal, and you put the regular controller into a socket on the wheelbase for a gearshift. I had to be maybe 8 or 9 years old, I remember my grandfather laughing because my foot started spasming from standing on the gas for so long. That was early 80's!

But, skipping ahead a decade the first one I got into that felt like it was trying to be a "sim" was Indianapolis 500, and that was right around when I started becoming a racing fan. Then I got hooked on the Papyrus IndyCar and Nascar sims (I don't know how they'd be classified now, but at that time those seemed pretty serious to me). From there I had some of the ISI F1 titles - but I recall getting them more for some of the mods that were available than the core game/sim itself. That led into GTR2>Race 07/GTR Evo>RF2>Assetto Corsa>today.

 

[nyrmetros]

Papyrus IndyCar Racing 2 and Grand Prix Legends.

 

[carlsenth]

Just after the release of gran turismo sport. I have always enjoyed driving games, but more in the lines of the need for speed series. Gave GT Sport a go on a PS4 at work, and got very annoyed that i could not slide through every corner, A couple of additional weeks of GT Sport at work later, i really enjoyed getting it right, and simulation caught my interest. Decided to buy assetto corsa around that time, and got VERY annoyed by the fact that my xbox 360 controller wasn't the best solution to play it with.

However, it was clear that this was above and beyond GT sport even further in the direction i got interested in, and ordered my first wheel, the Thrustmaster T150. Now, simracing is my main hobby. I can't stand GT sport when i go back to it, but I'm thankful that it lead me to all the proper sims on PC.

 

[Makkie64]

I know that I played test drive a lot on a 4 color vga monitor. I think the first wow of car physics and handling was with grand prix 3 and I think also that time I played toca. 'm not sure if i played that with a crappy microsoft wheel or a bit later with an amazing red logitech momo and that made sim racing really fun. Later I played a lot Race07 for many years. Then I didn't play for a long time but hrowed out my girlfriend out or ex girlfriend now. I'm starting to pick it up again. Now I;m still playing with a G25 which I bought in 2008 and with the RasmusP's LUT Guide for G27/29 its amazing how this wheel still performs even whem it is a little loud. Assetto corsa is so fun to play again, I come home from work and happy as a kid jump with a salto in my playseat and only want to drive drive and drive. Didn't play online yet as I like to improve my consitency as you need to be focused all the time. Big thanks for giving me so much fun.

 

[azaralamouri]

6 out of 10 of racing players are grown up/ old men.

4 of 10 are boys, or (again) grown up/ old men who just found out about gaming.


Good job new generations!
Terrible job my generation!

 

[François Strat]

So far, the kids are probably still in bed (also they tend to use Discord etc)

Though being serious for second, it time and not age the vote. You are making an assumption based on only one bit of data. If we did an age survey would be interesting to see that.

As with other things in life, as people get older they tend to have more money.

I like your way of thinking

And in the same path, I'll say that the youngest started sims at 10 (really young...) So they would be 25 today with 15 years of sim behind them.

This is for the youngest case possible... Most likely, the average driver would be 30-35 (maybe more ?) !
In the gamer world, 30 is quit old

So, I'll stick to my conclusion

Love

 

[Slapped]

For me it all started with Revs on the BBC Micro model b back in 1984 The first Crammond developed sim racing game i do believe.

Same here with Revs, but I got it on the C64 - it was ported, very well I might add, I think in '85.

But to say I've been a sim racer since '85 wouldn't be true really as I've taken a lot of long breaks along the way - this thing called life happened

Edit: now that I'm thinking about it Chequered Flag on the ZX Spectrum would have been my first "driving sim" back in '83

 

[Nitro McClean]

My first racegame: Test Drive on a DOS PC in the 80's. Years later, in 2008, DTM Racedriver 3 and Codemasters Grid (which was a disaster). Then rFactor, rFactor 2, Kart Racer Pro, RaceRoom, Automobilista, Assetto Corsa and Codemasters F1 2016 ... 2019. And now I'm thinking of KartKraft.

 

[stenovitz]

Don't remember the name of the game, but was not my own game, it was my little sisters friends game in 1979; a console with gaming wheel, gear plug and simple graphics.
My first own sim game was in 1985 Speed King for C64, played with the Arcade joystick, by that time perfect for MC simracing.

But I still regard Geoff Crammonds "Grand Prix 2" as the first "real" simracing game and played it immensely and the online result-submit Little Formula Racing Series - widely known just as "LFRS" by then in 1996. And my first personal skin build and homepage for my personal one-person sim-team. Took some time out of my master thesis for my M.Sc engineer student projects by then
Feels like ancient times now, but those were the days

 

[Juggsta]

Indy 500 i remember playing on the Amiga 500 and Stunt Car Racer.
But it wasn't until Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix that i got well and truely hooked! then Gp2 / 3 / 4, GPL, GTR, GT legends! Then went on hiatus from 2004 ( wheel broke for the 4th time and couldn't afford another ) and got drawn back in force with Assetto Corsa at the end off last year!

 

[dumberdog]

Started around 91/92, distinctly remember racing a lot of Indianapolis 500 The Simulation from Papyrus when I should have been studying for my GCSE's. Been an escape for me ever since.

I've got my first PC(a Schneider Euro SX) around the end of 1991 and played Accolade's Grand Prix Circuit and Papyrus Indy 500 a lot...Great memories

 

[dumberdog]

View attachment 385489

My first racegame: Test Drive on a DOS PC in the 80's. Years later, in 2008, DTM Racedriver 3 and Codemasters Grid (which was a disaster). Then rFactor, rFactor 2, Kart Racer Pro, RaceRoom, Automobilista, Assetto Corsa and Codemasters F1 2016 ... 2019. And now I'm thinking of KartKraft.

Do you remember in both TD1 and TD2 when you shifted down without slowing down, the windshield cracked? That was real fun!

 

[Toonces]

That's the image that's brought it back to me! That game on the Amiga had so much detail built in. Fuel usage, tyre wear (I think included blow outs if tyres over used?), pit stops, long races to really get into the groove, slowly chipping away at gaps, lap after lap of the oval, each corner with a different feel and speed, risk taking to get maximum speed / lap time.

I also remember upgrading to an Amiga 1200 which improved the frame rate a lot.

Many hours spent

That image was actually from the PC version. I ran 13 full-length 500-mile races and won 12 of them (as to the 13th, I thought I was going to win right up to the end, but I came up short and finished 3rd).

 

[clemencaman]

F1GP1 by Geoff Crammond.

 

[Smokin.wheatley]

Since around 1985 on Atari 800xl and the STe. Onto Saga Saturn and Sega Rally. Geoff Crammonds GP series when it kicked properly with all the modding you could do even back then late 90s early 2000's.

 

[Smokin.wheatley]

Oh mustnt forget early days of GTR and GTR2!!