iRacing is overpriced

[Hor-hay]

Coming up to the end of my 3 month sub and I've enjoyed my iRacing time. But got to say it's way overpriced. Yes they provide a good service but compared to other online games it's a rip. I'd be happy to pay a sub but the extra cost for tracks and cars is ridicules. I think at the very least all tracks should be free.

I just hope they get some competition to force them to lower there prices.

 

[Karl de-Boorder]

They regard themselves as the pinnacle of online racing (used to be one of their slogans, not sure whether it still is), whether they are or not, everybody has his/her personal view. But assuming they are, would that not justify a higher price compared to others?

Well... No. The food comparison falls over when you if you are comparing software. Especially since there isn't a change in quality of product. They are both laser scanned, both recreated to a loving detail but one is going to be considerably cheaper than the other.

iRacing do have a unique position of being the only developer to have a communal back end and server system in place to provide solid, quality racing. Being in this unique position they can also enjoy the ability to charge what ever they like. As it was said before: I honestly don't expect the prices to come down till someone is able to compete, foot to foot, with them. I laughed out loud when I saw they are charging full price for the old layout of Silverstone.

 

[Nael]

Also: Lowering content costs to industry standards would for sure bring more customers to the service.

You are right... But i guess i just see it as me investing in this..for them to make it better and better... imagine graphics like project carss with the physics and clean driving and leagues of iracing i guess that would be ideal

 

[muscimol]

Well... No. The food comparison falls over when you if you are comparing software. Especially since there isn't a change in quality of product. They are both laser scanned, both recreated to a loving detail but one is going to be considerably cheaper than the other.

Attention to details is much higher on iRacing side considering tracks (look at Monza in iR and AC screenshots below) and cars (look at the setup options - in iRacing every car is created from the ground to maintain it's unique construction while in AC it is rather built from predefined segments), so higher price in iRacing is somehow reasonable, simply because they sacrifice more time to put all the details together.

 

[St3fan]

Attention to details is much higher on iRacing side considering tracks (look at Monza in iR and AC screenshots below) and cars (look at the setup options - in iRacing every car is created from the ground to maintain it's unique construction while in AC it is rather built from predefined segments), so higher price in iRacing is somehow reasonable, simply because they sacrifice more time to put all the details together.

I must defend AC here because how much area they model is not directly related to "how serious they are/how much work they've done". It's more related to optimization/performance concerns.

There is a mp map Killhouse in COD4, which models lots of stuff outside the killhouse map, but as a result you get horrible framerate compared with other maps.

 

[Ricardo Rossi]

What if some company/group creates a league based in the iRacing structure using a different sim as plataform (such as rf2, AC or even pcars)... That's would be really interesting and I don't think it's much harder to do... You just need a solid server and website plataform and a few punishiment/rules tools. "How hard can it be?"

What makes me feel bad about iRacing is that I can buy a lot of content, and if I give up on keeping the service I will loose access to all expensive content, even offline. So... I'm paying to rent the service, thats ok. But paying also to BUY the content that is useless without the service access.

 

[Slalom823]

What if some company/group creates a league based in the iRacing structure using a different sim as plataform (such as rf2, AC or even pcars)... That's would be really interesting and I don't think it's much harder to do... You just need a solid server and website plataform and a few punishiment/rules tools. "How hard can it be?"

Like some sort of group that runs the other sims and organizes clean racing and maybe hosts regular racing in addition to leagues and special events, that does sound good. To run their own servers it would probably require a small yearly or monthly fee. I wonder if there is any sort of group or maybe website that does this sort of thing.

In all seriousness while Race Department doesn't have a safety rating system, the races I have done here both in league and club events have been as clean as the iracing races I have done. (A little cleaner actually)

 

[St3fan]

What if some company/group creates a league based in the iRacing structure using a different sim as plataform (such as rf2, AC or even pcars)... That's would be really interesting and I don't think it's much harder to do... You just need a solid server and website plataform and a few punishiment/rules tools. "How hard can it be?"

What makes me feel bad about iRacing is that I can buy a lot of content, and if I give up on keeping the service I will loose access to all expensive content, even offline. So... I'm paying to rent the service, thats ok. But paying also to BUY the content that is useless without the service access.

Here is a service for Assetto Corsa in testing called raceme.io: https://raceme.io/beta
I haven't looked deep into that, but I think they are trying to implement a rating system similar to iracing's. It looks interesting.

 

[Hor-hay]

Here is a service for Assetto Corsa in testing called raceme.io: https://raceme.io/beta
I haven't looked deep into that, but I think they are trying to implement a rating system similar to iracing's. It looks interesting.

Great, this is going to be interesting; competition is healthy for business.

 

[xnorb]

In all seriousness while Race Department doesn't have a safety rating system, the races I have done here both in league and club events have been as clean as the iracing races I have done. (A little cleaner actually)

You don't need a safety rating if everybody signing up is coming to have a clean race.
You need a safety rating when you're running pub races all the time.

In Payday you can set a minimum player level in your lobby, so you could assume that whoever joins knows what he's doing.
Should be incredibly easy to put that in the dedicated server settings....

For rating:
a) No, when i'm going too fast and drift off track, then it's NOT cutting.
I can't even compute how stupid AC and pCars are in that regard.
Still of course that would be "leaving track".
b) Just copy iRacing's point system, but without the auto-kick feature.
c) Have the server keep the data of everybody (even if they disconnect) and have it submit to a main server. With .... 1000 (?) servers up that's about no traffic at all.

And boom!
Clean pub racing or carnage racing - how you want your server to be - in any racing sim out there for about no development time and cost.

 

[Patrick Moore]

post up at iracing (i can't get online now to post link) showing total cost of 100% content at ~$1250USD without any discounts applied. I am guessing I own about 55-60% of content (I own almost all road cars and tracks but do not buy oval cars and tracks) and it is well worth my money.


edit....For those who want to know, the current cost of joining the 100% club from scratch is $888.71. That's with the 30% 100% Club discount of $376.59.

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3371571.page

 

[James Nance]

I think of it as I once used to buy nothing but console games, every new one that came out. But since I got into iR a long time ago, I think ive spent the same amount I would of on content as I would have on games and have more time invested in iR, I have no regrets. Still I will always understand other peoples point of view, its not for everyone.

 

[Robert Tinsey]

I've had iRacing for about 4 years now and I can say (to me) it is worth every single penny. I've been sim-racing for about 10 years and no one can touch iRacing in regards to online fun/competition. It probably doesn't have the best physics or driving model but it is fun. What I enjoy is that it isn't easy to drive and there is always room for improvement. Having a steep learning curb mixed with people being responsible for their actions is why it is the best online experience out there. If somehow all the content in my iRacing account got deleted, I would gladly buy it all over again (well not gladly but you get my point).

 

[Ghoults]

Who the hell spends 90$ per month for starbucks coffees!

May I ask how often do you think one needs to race / how serious one needs to be in order for iRacing to be really good value? I don't think I can race like 2 hours every day, and I think I'll be like play a little bit here and then. I'm just wondering if I should just stick to the sims I have now.

I don't think iracing can be the sim choise if you are absolutely looking to maximize your bang for buck. If that is your goal then I'd go buy something like rfactor for 5€ when it is in sale on steam/gog wherever. But just because iracing can't compete with other sims with its pricing doesn't mean iracing can not be worth the cost for some people. For someone else 200€ per year or so may not be too high price considering how they value what they are getting for the price. Even if they are doing just 2 hours per week.

I'd guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no answer to your question (how serious one needs to be in order for iRacing to be really good value). What is good value for one may not be good value for someone else. I would never spend hundreds of euros into raceroom for example. But for someone else the pricing model works.

In the end whatever you are paying for whatever sim you are playing doesn't matter. What matters is if it is worth it to you. If you think you are not getting your monies worth then obviously you are playing something that is not a good deal for you. Applies to every sim really. Why buy DLCs for pcars, ac or lfs or why spend hundreds of dollars into raceroom or iracing if it is a bad deal for you?

As for me personally I don't see iracing as a good value for money. Not because of their price but simply because the physics (ffb and cars) are not very good. Their tracks are absolutely sublime and way above anything else. Their scheduled races don't really work for me. The car selection is very off putting. For me the best road car in that sim is the late model which does not have its own road series.

For me rf2 has the best physics followed by ac before 1.3 patch. After 1.3 I've been kinda disappointed with it. Still bought the DLCs. But even then I'm not buying the rf2 online pass because I don't see any value in it. The online looks pretty dead plus the car selection is not very interesting for me. Similarly I'm not going to spend any money into raceroom or pcars. Not good value for me.

And someone else may have entirely different opinion about everything I just said. But when it comes to you neither of us can really tell you what is good value for money for you. If you want to know if it is good deal for you then try it. If you can't justify spending that much money then don't. Beware of the sunk cost fallacy though. No matter how much money you have spent it is always cheaper to stop playing that to keep playing .

 

[SnappyDEe]

Join us here on Sundays"
http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/iracing-hosted-gt3-club-races-sundays-9-00am-est.115129/

 

[Robert Tinsey]

I respect your opinion Ghoults. As for iRacing's pricing, as others have said they do offer discounts. Twice a year they do half off year memberships and you can buy up to 4 years in advance when they have the sale. So for $196 USD, you can have iRacing for 4 years or just a single year for $49.
While rFactor is great in its own right, unless you race in private leagues that are very active, I wouldn't use it just for hotlapping. I personally crave online interaction when racing and don't care much for AI, so from that front, I just haven't yet found a better online experience than iRacing, even though it has it's flaws.

 

[Decenten]

Just think about it. In participation credits you get $40 a year. And then for the anniversary you get $5 or $10. So at christmas you can buy a year sub for free or $5

 

[Robert Tinsey]

Just think about it. In participation credits you get $40 a year. And then for the anniversary you get $5 or $10. So at christmas you can buy a year sub for free or $5

Very true. It really depends on how much you use the service. The more you use it the more it rewards, that's for sure. And then you start getting discounts on the content when you own a certain amount.

 

[snyperal]

You don't even have to use the service that much. Just 2 official races in 8 out 12weeks.

Not a lot to get your $$$

 

[Hor-hay]

Picked up AC and I've got to say the FFB and physics feel better then iRacing. So I've just upgraded my acc to try the racing here, a lot cheaper...

 

[Average iRacer]

Like has been said before, the more you use iRacing, the cheaper it becomes as you get rewards for completing seasons and you can always find a years subscription for half price. Add to that the rewards you get throughout the year, the subscription is very cheap. As for buying tracks and cars, not many buy all the tracks and cars. Most buy what they need for a couple of different series and stick to them series of racing for a while and work their way up the ranks in that league. It's definately not the type of game to play where you collect a garage full of cars to keep swapping about with and keep jumping in and out of different race types. It's more for people that like to stick to a league and concentrate their racing against others in that league.
I get that it seems expensive though but I believe it creates better races as people concentrate their racing and get good at a certain league.