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.

 

[The Jackal]

You got it wrong Wojciech, the best sim racers are all on iracing

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

You got it wrong Wojciech, the best sim racers are all on iracing

That's absolute nonsense. There are indeed some in iRacing, but there are a lot of top teams and drivers in rF2, SCE and AC as well. And guess what: there are also drivers that are in all games

 

[Hor-hay]

Shouldn't the most expensive racing sim have the best physics, FFB etc

 

[muscimol]

That's absolute nonsense. There are indeed some in iRacing, but there are a lot of top teams and drivers in rF2, SCE and AC as well. And guess what: there are also drivers that are in all games

There are some really fast drivers in other titles but in iRacing there are literally hundreds of them in all series and iWCGPS is without a doubt a most competitive simracing series that exists.

Actually, Assetto Corsa offers 53 cars (not including step versions) and 20 laser scanned tracks.
All that for about $60 is far better value than iRacing, even with iRacing's superior MP system.

You're right about 53 cars, but I can count only 9 laser scanned tracks in AC:
1. Imola
2. Nürburgring GP
3. Nordschleife
4. Magione
5. Monza
6. Mugello
7. Silverstone
8. Spa Francorchamps
9. Vallelunga
I'm not counting Drag strip, Drift circuit, Monza historic, Trento Bondone because I believe they're not laser scanned. Can you tell me what the other 11 are?

 

[Andre Marques]

I'm new to iracing and got 3 months for new memberships for free.
Starting to like the Multiplayer races, even at rookie level i played 2 races yesterday and i was the only rookie at the session. Even at rookie level, the multiplayer respect is better than other sims, iracing costs keeps the idiots away for sure, but paying extra for cars and tracks is overpriced at my point of view.

The subscription price is justified at the multiplayer races, but 15U$ for some cars and tracks is too much, especially for me, because i live in Brazil. For now i'm enjoying iRacing...

 

[Dietmar]

Overpriced ... expensive... don't use it, if it is. You don't like the physics / FFB / color of the trees, don't use it.

I renewed my membership after being away for roughly a year, because I also thought not worth it. Especially because I also did not like the behavior of the cars (spin outs a low speeds mainly).

The reason I gave it another chance, I can only race at times where other clubs (incl. RD) unfortunately have no races available. And within the year of my absence my biggest gripes handling wise got fixes. So I guess I will stick with it.

Are there other Sims which I would prefer to race? Yes, but what does it help if I do not want to race the AI only?

So it is a personal decision for everybody whether it is worth it or not.

 

[MG]

I have about 75% of the iRacing content and have been using iRacing on and off for over 4 years, yes it is expensive but you only pay once for the car/tracks that you want. The part that gets under my skin is the membership fees BUT you get heaps of free content when you first signup. The fees are expensive but it is what it is, dont pay for it if you feel that its not worth the money.
They still have alot of work to do at iRacing to get it to where it should be, i mean atm you cant make track bar adjustments during a race when using the Trucks, Nationwide or Sprint Cup cars which is utterly stupid , this and other stuff needs to be addressed. Communication with other drivers on the server is also another part of iRacing which is miles ahead of other sims.
Apparently in the next upcoming update iRacing is supposedly getting "live track" in which you can see the rubber being laid down and the racing lines built up just like real life . Iam not sure what else is in the patch (hopefully a weather changing update with rain effects for road courses) but i was told by a reliable source that this patch comes out in mid July (for the American summer), i only hope they fix all the little things that they have overlooked. Mainly they are just small details but where they have got it over other sims is THE MAIN COMPONENTS in car, tyre physics, fuel usage, graphics detail, multiplayer netcode and Trading Paints, which has to be the easist way to pick a car skin and race with it with no hassles of d/loading it and puting it in a folder, its all done for you . I think that AC has the better GT3 physics but there is not much between them and once AC gets the weather and MP netcode and some other details sorted then hopefully it will be able to challenge iRacing.
The iRacing DW12 has to be THE BEST OPEN WHEEL SIM EVER MADE...for ovals, absolutely incredible, the immersion factor is off the charts, the physics are incomparable, the car sound is incredible, it handles fantastically well even with the fixed setup but if you get within a car length of the car in front you do get quite a big aero push which is exactly what happens to the car in real life. The tyres wear is ok, the fuel usage is pretty much perfect and so is the graphics of the sim.
If they could keep the first lap heroes away and up the licence from Class C to Class A for this series it would keep the idiots off the servers .
Iam waiting for the next update before i renew but it would be fantastic if we could get an Australian DW12 oval series going here at RD, now that would be awesome and make the cost of iRacing worth it for more people here at RD IMHO. iRacing in multiplayer makes the cost worth it, to hire a server costs $2, we could run a 10 race series at a cost of $20 plus whatever tracks people would need. That is where iRacing is miles ahead of every other sim out there, their netcode is almost faultless (almost), but there are a few small bugs that i hope will be repaired soon that need to be, like ghost contact in open wheel races etc etc .
I really hope that the Australian guys in RD can put together a DW12 series using iRacing as its platform soon. Iam willing to help if its needed.
To finish up my opinion, iRacing have spent a alot of time and money building this sim into what it is today and apart from the problems i mentioned above IMHO it is worth the money if you use it everyday or are involved with a club like RD or any other club for that matter, that has leagues to race in regulary.

 

[St3fan]

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.

 

[Karl de-Boorder]

I'm just going to chime in as well, yeah, in this day and age it's far too expensive. It's pricing is a relic, personally I'd love to see their growth over the last 5 years and if they have had any at all.

If they were to dramatically review the cost of content I'd genuinely consider getting back in. But as someone who enjoys playing other genres, not just sim racing, I feel it puts pressure on me to get the most value out of the content I paid for. That's not how I play my games, I don't want to have to play a game because I've had to dump £70 for a full set of new tracks. If AC can offer laser scanned tracks and cars at a fraction of your price, it really begs the question why is your content so expensive?

Edit: I'll say I have no problem with the cost monthly, it's pricey to run a server farm. It's only fair those costs are re-cooped via a sub.

 

[Dietmar]

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 think that question can only be answered by yourself, depends on your budget and expectations.

Why don't you invest 5$ and go for one of the trial offers. One of the cars in the base package is the Spec Racer, a quiet popular series with wide spread fields in terms iRating (speed). You can wait for a track out of the base package.

 

[Jason Palmer]

I do 2 to 4 offical races a week depending on work and family commitments and then get involved in at least 1 hosted or league event as well.

On top of that I spend 3 to 5 hours running practice laps and then a qualifying session as well.

After getting a years subscription half price, always keep an eye for their Black Friday deal, and then with credits for racing regular and the volume discounts I am more than happy with what it costs when spread over all the sessions I run in on a weekly basis.

But that's just me your mileage and value may vary.

Jason.

 

[Decenten]

For me when I play iRacing I will choose a couple of series that I like for that week that is running at tracks I like/own. I will then jump in on the one that has the race that is closest to my time then and see how it plays out. I will practice for the Grand Prix series which I consistently run in though

 

[xnorb]

Subscription isn't the problem. 12$ for 3 months (promotion at the moment) plus just now 5$ for first 3 months for new members ... that's nothing...

But AC offers Nordschleife and 6 cars for 15€ (DLC)
pCARS offers 5 cars for 2€ (DLC)
R3E offers 6 cars and 8 tracks for 25€ (GT Masters pack)

Like i said in the other thread - sell us packages like R3E does (which are considered expensive already) and i think iRacing would be viewed at way better.

There's no competition for iRacing, that's the only reason why they can still ask for the prices.
If for example Kunos or Sector3 establish hosted servers + ratings iRacing will have to start drop prices significantly.

But if you want clean racing around the clock, iRacing is the only option you have.

 

[Luke Chard-Maple]

It would be interesting to see how they could drop the charges for content ever now, as I am just one customer who would be pretty annoyed if everything I had payed for suddenly became free. iracing is not the type of game you can just pickup and select any car and track and compete, for me that helps to give it longevity. You need to plan your purchases carefully to get the most out of them but as a result you learn the content deeply which for me increases the appeal of it. Of course I would not object to lower pricing at all but I feel I get value out of it and feel it is the best sim for my needs!

 

[xnorb]

* All MMORPGs going F2P
* EA giving all Titanfall DLCs away for free

Sure, there's always a short outburst of frustration, but people overcome it.
And i don't suggest to make all content free, but just switch to reasonable pricing.

 

[Karl de-Boorder]

Sure, there's always a short outburst of frustration, but people overcome it.
And i don't suggest to make all content free, but just switch to reasonable pricing.

If they allowed me to pick up a car and a full set of tracks for a season. For the price of a £35 game I'd be on board the next day.

 

[Nael]

honnestly guys i understand and agree with some of the over priced arguments... however the online racing on iracing is the best i have seen anywhere... the best cleanest experience and most fun

 

[xnorb]

honnestly guys i understand and agree with some of the over priced arguments... however the online racing on iracing is the best i have seen anywhere... the best cleanest experience and most fun

Nobody doubts that and every sane person will understand that this service costs money to keep alive. But this still doesn't justify prices for single cars and tracks as we see from other games that licensing and creating those assets is actually not that pricey.

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

 

[Dietmar]

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

In the end, they are running a business and I am pretty sure that they have done market analysis comparing prices with prediction of customer grows. The art is to find the balance to keep the employees, investors and customers happy.

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? Milka chocolate is also more expensive than the one from the discounter. Is it better? Does it taste better? Your personal taste and you need to decide whether you want to pay for the 'premium brand'. And maybe you just select it because your like to create a wallpaper from the blue wrapping, all your choice.

As long as they see enough growth with the current prices, why should they lower them? They will only see a hit in growth when a platform emerges that can compete or provide, for what ever reason, a comparable or even better service.

 

[xnorb]

Well, that's also EA's standpoint, yet consumer satisfaction is only granted until a certain point.
But ya, with a monopoly you can do whatever you please and once a competitor shows up i'm 100% sure iRacing will alter their pricing model.

I just again check out R3E's store:

7 GT3 cars (GT Masters 2013), 3 DTM cars (DTM 2013), 5 WTC cars (WTC 2013) and 12 tracks (from those packs combined) sets you back 34.25€
That's not even 3 cars/tracks in iRacing, which is such an insane gap, there's simply no arguing about it. iRacing is horribly overpriced when it comes to content they offer.
(Just to repeat that once again: Their subscription pricing model is more than fair)

And as long as people keep asuring iRacing that the prices are okay, they will never change.
Just like EA would have gone way further with their chash grabbing if there weren't consumer outbursts in the past.