Is iRacing worth it?

[William Moody]

I have rfactor 2 and AC i am thinking of getting iracing just for the open wheelers is it worth it just for that?
If so how much would it be for 1 year membership and the open wheelers?

 

[Bakkster]

if a sim is well built, then it follows RL processes. In this case, the tire model is (should be) independent of the other physics aspects (chassis and aerodynamics and also suspensions). If it is well built, then it is (as DK claims) modular, which means you can take out the OTM and put in the NTM.

I can understand rolling out the NTM in phases (the initial release was more of a marketing necessity, especially considering they didn't have the people to a roll out across the board), which is why you have to maintain two entirely different TMs in the same engine (what a mess that can be).

Problem is: what if the NTM is not exactly legacy-code free? That is the only way to force the coexistence of two entirely different pieces of systems of physics algorithms. Which means, the NTM holds inside the OTM, which can be switched on or off depending on the roll out map.

My understanding is that some cars had kludges to make the OTM work. So that was the first change, find and remove the kludges to put the NTM on. With each iteration if the NTM adds parameters, then the tire for each car may need to be mostly rebuild from scratch. It's modular, but that doesn't make designing the tire any faster, just implementing it on the car.

 

[Chronus]

What you're describing is not modular at all.

And as far as I know, the OTM was and is still there. No kludges involved, or at least not as you describe.

Tire design and the modularity of the tire model itself are two different things. If the physics engine is modular and well refined, then designing the tires is a matter of finding the proper data for it and input it. The problem, I bet, is finding the "proper data" that fits a "physically" oriented TM, which would require entirely different batches of tests (if the data is based on tests controlled by iR).

This obviously is a discussion for another time and level. Things get rather complex from here.

 

[Bakkster]

I believe the Mustang at least had some spring rates that needed to be corrected because the OTM didn't work when the correct values were used. I'd call that a kludge

And yes, of course the issue is the side of finding the proper data for the tires. If they got that it would probably be the biggest difference in the model since they started work on it.

 

[Chronus]

Wasn't referring to that, but rather to removing kludges related to the OTM when in fact the OTM is still there. It has to be, otherwise there wouldn't be cars still using it. And the calibration kludges - wow, I wasn't expecting you'd be referring to THAT, but rather something in-code, hence what I said.

Makes me wonder, what the heck is still happening in the OTM vs NTM "fight".

 

[Holtech]

Which cars are you referring to Michael?

I was racing aussie legend cars mate , that is exactly what they feel like on the track, power to weight is totally insane to drive, it's a must to hav throttle control, to eliminate wheel spin....