Why Cost is Not a Reason Not to Play R3E

[Paul Jeffrey]

I have recently been made aware of an interesting post from one of our members here on RaceDepartment which I thought would be interesting to share with all of you loyal readers. The post in question addresses RaceRoom Racing Experience and its potentially prohibitive pricing structure for those new to the simulation.

Speaking from first hand experience and as someone who used to run the R3E Racing Club here on RD, I personally think this sim is one of the most impressive overall packages available today for fans of virtual racing cars to enjoy, with wonderfully reproduced sounds and car / track models accompanied by a number of extremely interesting licences for various real world series, which is exclusive to the game.

Arguably one of the most complete all round 'packages' available on the market today, it always jars me somewhat to constantly see the same sort of comments on forums across the internet questioning the pricing model and costs of becoming involved in this sim as a newcomer to the game. Yes, the pricing model isn't ideal and yes it can be annoying, confusing or awkward to navigate to the best deals but this should not be something that puts off those new to the simulation. Having seen this excellent post by RD member Alx^ I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you his findings, in the hope that you too can find a suitable financial solution that helps you join in with one of the most underrated and enjoyable simulations available today.

edited post below:

".... if anyone's on the fence about it because of the way the store works etc, here is what I did... maybe someone could use it as a loose guide, obviously accounting for their own tastes when purchasing I don't know if it's the most optimal way, but it worked well for me. Bare in mind I only ever bought 1 pack at a time, and completed the purchase. That way, the system sees that you already own that content, and applies the relevant discounts to other packs it affects thereafter, as has been covered already at the start of this thread.

I got the 10k vRP voucher from the Raceroom shop. This is €64.99 which is a touch under £46 UKGBP (virtually the same as the AC+DLC 1+2 bundle on steam, fyi). You can find out your own currency conversion by searching in google with "€64.99 in GBP" or whatever your currency happens to be.

Then I bought, in roughly this order:

• ADAC GT Masters Experience 2014 (contains several tracks which discount other packs below)
• ADAC GT Masters 2013 (wanted the cars and liveries, cheaper as you already have the tracks)
• European Track Pack (cheaper than buying the missing tracks separately, cheaper due to ^
• DTM Experience 2015 (cheaper because you have the tracks ^)
• Hillclimb
• Group 5 (cheaper because you own a car already from Hillclimb)
• 1x car from WTCC 2014
• American Track Pack (already had 2 of these from a sale the first time I tried this, but it's cheap anyway)

And I have some vRP left. Buying the Hillclimb pack means you get the track, and also 2 of the cars which are included in the Touring Classics Pack, which I believe is often run alongside DTM 1992, so therefore you would have a choice of 2 cars to race in that. When it comes to completing a pack that you own part of, for example, I have 2 of the cars from the Touring Classics Pack now, it is slightly cheaper to get those missing cars on their own, with only 1 livery each, than it is to buy the now-discounted Pack which you already own part of. The extra cost of the pack seems to be in the multiple liveries you get with it. But it depends on whether you want a choice of livery or not.

I hope that's of use to someone somewhere. Not as expensive as I had thought it was in the past to be honest. It feels better than it did when I first tried it. Maybe that's just me, or maybe their patches have changed things for the better! Have to say, if and when the devs get a rating system into this, and maybe scheduling/calendar of some kind for events... in my opinion it really does have the potential to be an iRacing beater for online stuff. The online-ness of it, web integration, leaderboards and competitions, highlighting the pro's times on the competitions, it's very compelling, and the sound and ffb makes it very immersive..."

Once you have this substantial amount of content you are also more than likely to be able to pick up the missing items you may fancy on one of the many sales offered by RaceRoom, and of course you also have the opportunity to test any of the vehicles available in game for free to help you decide what additional content you may wish to pickup down the line.

To compliment your new purchase(s) RaceDepartment runs a popular online racing club for Premium members to enjoy, featuring various cars and tracks in a friendly environment for you to get your racing kicks alongside your offline play.

I hope this little article helps those of you who are still sat on the fence with R3E, it really is an outstanding sim and deserves to achieve the numbers of users of other more mainstream titles available on the market.

Please let us know in the comments section below if you found this information useful and share your experiences with R3E purchasing and of course enjoying the driving!

 

[Enagee]

Its always been about ffb for me ....I've seen various bundles for sale..but base needs to feel right before i buy.
I've tried to like the game but ffb setup never felt good ...Always end up switching it of after 3 laps.

AC,Iracing,RF2,GSCE,Race 07,GT Legends,LFS,PCARS(Got there in the end) had ok base settings and not too complex too to get it right(apart from pcars).......
I've had R3E from day one never bought any content because i haven't been happy with how ffb feels...Not a lot shared settings about with R3E?

Anyone with current wheel settings for T500?

 

[Emery]

Buy the car/track package that you most want when it goes on sale at over 30%+ off list price. Don't buy through Steam unless you're getting some great Steam-only discount.

Run that content until the next sale and then pick up another tidbit. Concentrate on getting the tracks as the best track artists all work for Sector 3. Enjoy driving & racing your favorite content on those tracks... why bother getting car packs you're not likely interested in?

For myself, R3E is a nice filler when I need a break from rF2. I miss RealRoad, weather, and time of day. I also dislike the "Must run Steam" requirement, so Steam gets turned off as soon as I'm done with an R3E session.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Depends where you live.
For me in Brazil it is bloody expensive. Some packs should be put together and be sold as a reduced price because if they were stand alone games they would cost less.
Plus it's not modable(?), I'm not getting into anything that is not modable, maybe if it was a lot cheaper. But for this price, no way.
I only drive online (reason above stops me from getting into iRacing even if I had the money) and R3E online community does not seem more active than some other sims.

I can relate. Our local currency is tanking at the moment and watching games go up by 20-30% per year but salary staying nearly the same can be unrelenting on the pain sensors.

That said, I have DTM 2013, 2014 and 2015, which I bought mostly when they were on ridiculous specials dollar-wise(not Rand-wise so much, but much more than usual).

Anything else I think three times about, because just buying anything I like is not possible.

 

[Chris]

The fact R3E even needs an article about the cost pretty much says everything.

You can say the same thing about any game though. It doesn't make the article any less legitimate:

• "Why terrible graphics and even worse sounds are not a reason not to play GSCE."
• "Why crappy netcode and a lack of features are not a reason not to play Assetto Corsa."
• "Why cost is not a reason not to play iRacing" (iRacing is substantially more expensive than R3E and yet it's got one of the largest user bases on the market).
• "Why an online pass system is not a reason not to play rFactor 2."

Etc. etc.

 

[ears]

I didn't need a formula, process or procedure for buying AC or Project CARS. I just bought them in a half price Steam sale. I'll probably update my PCARs content in the next Steam sale. I bought rFactor 2 in their recent half price offer.

Nice and simple. This is what you get. This is what you pay. One transaction.

I like online. I'm not buying into something that most people avoid because of prohibitive, illegible pricing structures. There'll be nobody to race against.

The mere existence of these perpetual 'R3E isn't that bad if you approach it this way' posts underlines the problem - whether there's a cheaper way to acquire this or not, the perceived pricing model and odd currency make this title an unattractive prospect for the majority.

 

[ears]

the best track artists all work for Sector 3.

(iRacing is substantially more expensive than R3E and yet it's got one of the largest user bases on the market).
.

Any evidence to support this?

 

[Chris]

Any evidence to support this?

Additional cars, of which there are many, are each $11.95. Each additional track, of which there are many, is between $11.95 and $14.95 depending on the track.

Purchase enough of these to replicate the same amount of content that you'd receive in a $60 game, and you'll have spent several hundred dollars.

For example, a game like Assetto Corsa costs approximately $60 all up with the two DLC dreampacks. In total, the game features approximately 20 tracks and 50 cars. At iRacing's prices, that same number of cars and tracks (assuming each track is the minimum $11.95) equates to $836.50... Yes, you read that right: Eight hundred and thirty six dollars and fifty cents.

And that doesn't include the membership fee.

 

[Paulo Cezar Ramalho]

Mod edit: Racedepartment is an English speaking forum. When posting on public message boards please only use the English language. Thankyou.

 

[Austin Ogonoski]

Micro-transactions aren't so micro if literally everything in the game needs to be bought with funny money - a microtransaction itself. There was no reason not to go the Race 07 route and just sell a bunch of expansion packs.

Once you get past that garbage, at least the game is good.

 

[Ryan Ogurek]

Look at it this way, a game on your mobile phone which millions of people play and took a team of five programmers about 1 week to make often includes micro transactions which amounts to tens of millions of dollars in profit for the company. This is a small niche sim, played by tens of thousands of people and created by a team of around 30 people over hundreds - if not thousands - of hours, which amounts to a company which stuggled to make a profit being able to make a profit. Its a way to make progression of sim racing not only feasible but also profitable, which is fine by me.

The subscription system used by iracing is more of an exploitation, as it goes well beyond making sim racing profitable and into making it a money machine. They know people will pay it for the same reason they buy Armani suits, its expensive, so it must be good right?

 

[shedz]

You can say the same thing about any game though. It doesn't make the article any less legitimate:

• "Why terrible graphics and even worse sounds are not a reason not to play GSCE."
• "Why crappy netcode and a lack of features are not a reason not to play Assetto Corsa."
• "Why cost is not a reason not to play iRacing" (iRacing is substantially more expensive than R3E and yet it's got one of the largest user bases on the market).
• "Why an online pass system is not a reason not to play rFactor 2."

Etc. etc.

Your argument makes no sense, we can complain about anything, I personally hate marmite.
@Nox is saying R3E is expensive, that doesn't imply iRacing isn't expensive nor does it imply that the graphics in SCE are amazing.

R3E is expensive when compared to other racing games. Maybe not the most expensive (iRacing) but it's still expensive if you want all the content.

 

[Ryan Ogurek]

Your argument makes no sense, we can complain about anything, I personally hate marmite.
@Nox is saying R3E is expensive, that doesn't imply iRacing isn't expensive nor does it imply that the graphics in SCE are amazing.

R3E is expensive when compared to other racing games. Maybe not the most expensive (iRacing) but it's still expensive if you want all the content.

Maybe so, however it's also possible to play R3E on a budget of $5 or less (though you will be limited). Can't get AC RF2 or Iracing at all for $5 so in that regard it is actually a pretty cheap sim, it's diversity that is expensive.

To me the best part of this is that even if you can only afford to buy one car and one track, you can still race alongside all the cars you do not own, whereas with paid dlc style of marketing like AC uses you are stuck racing only against content you own.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Just showing how at this moment rF2 is the best new generation sim despite the online wall and colors that make it look dead ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*SCE graphics and sounds aren't bad to me. But then I'm not one of the spoiled "gamers" of nowadays.

 

[Birddogg66]

I understand there are people in different regions and countries where their currency has less value and level of wealth to be much less as well. I feel for these people trying to purchase at a much higher rate then the financial system in their homeland. I wish there were ways for you to get some sort of breaks. However for those in countries with a level of wealth that is comparable to those of the countries that represent the mainstream financial markets remember this is your hobby. I am aware it is up to you to decide what to put into it but in comparison our hobby is quite affordable when considering the entertainment value. R3E is no exception it is affordable due to the fact the purchase of each content is a one time transaction and that content is yours to use until the game become obsolete. It is not a subscription based platform where you get shut off if you don't pay up and the game offers great support.
Development costs continue to rise we cannot change that we just need to accept this and decide do we want to spend X amount of dollars to get the most out of our hobby?

 

[Hal Burns]

You can always get a radio controlled car for $10 at Cheap as Chips as run it around your driveway....thats thrifty racing!
Or mortgage your house and take up golf or skiing.........
These racing games are awesome, appeal to a very small segment and cost less than taking your kids to the movies (except iRacing, which is still cheaper than golf). I cant believe all the posts about this.

 

[tpw]

I don't think people are necessarily complaining that R3E is expensive in absolute terms, given the cost of the computer and the associated hardware, and of course there are always going to be more expensive hobbies. The complaints are the perceived expense relative to other similar titles, and the nature of the payment system itself.

For me as an SP player, R3E is a great game: it has the best audiovisuals and presentation of any ISImotor game by a mile, great driving feel and pretty good AI. It's nowhere near feature complete though - there are acknowledged aspects where it needs significant further work (collision/damage modelling, tyres, setups, pitstops etc). As seems to be the trend nowadays, it has been released as feature incomplete beta, but charged for as a finished product. And whether you personally agree or not, the general consensus seems to be that even as a beta it is more expensive to get a comparable roster of cars and tracks in R3E.

Personally speaking, my main problem is not the expense per se, it's the cryptic and intimidating vRP system, which makes new users jump through hoops to obtain content. Yes it's possible after a few hours of research to come to grips with vRP and determine the way to get the discounts and the need for only a single vehicle to race a class etc, but a new user simply shouldn't have to do it. R3E's model is the only one of all the current gen PC racing sims that puts new users through this experience. New users are precisely the people you don't want to alienate. With the current model there seem to be several potential outcomes:

1 - User can't abide with R3E's perceived expense and transaction model and does not bother with the game even though the free content is quite good.
2 - User can't come to grips with the non-obvious vRP and discount, pays over the odds through steam or the store, eventually gets a bad case of buyers remorse and does not persist with the game
3 - User works it out, persists with the game because it's actually a pretty decent game otherwise, but merely tolerates the payment model to support the developers, and because as a non-moddable platform how the hell else do you get content in?
4 - User embraces the whole model as a fantastic idea.

I'm in group 3, though came close to ending up in group 1. I know there are group 4 people, not sure if they comprise a majority though.

I can understand the need for internal currency for implementing MP and hotlapping prizes, but as a general content purchase system its current implementation is flawed and combined with the perceived expense issue I think it's keeping potential users from discovering an otherwise great game.

Disclaimer: these are my opinions, not cold hard facts.

 

[Emery]

Any evidence to support this?

You're not aware of Com8's and Feels3's work prior to their employment by Simbin? Have a look at their recent work(*) and compare to other sims:

(*) It's worth noting that R3E has an advantage of only needing their tracks to look good in three conditions: morning, midday, and evening. There's no dynamic lighting scenarios, so they're free to fine-tune for only the exact conditions they want.

 

[tpw]

Just showing how at this moment rF2 is the best new generation sim despite the online wall and colors that make it look dead ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*SCE graphics and sounds aren't bad to me. But then I'm not one of the spoiled "gamers" of nowadays.

I have a suspicion that rF2's recent release on Steam is eventually going to expose ISI to a whole new generation of gamers to whom graphical presentation is paramount, and who will waste no time handing out reviews focussing on that rather than the incredible physics, ffb, tyre and surface modelling, AI and general racing immersion. Who knows, maybe this will give ISI the prod to re-examine their (audio)visual priorities.

 

[Matej Lakota]

I am really suprised with survey up there, because I have never looked to RRRE as an expensive game. Don t get me wrong, if it is too expensive for someone, it is so, period, but you can buy only 5 cars of each popular racing series, 5 the most popular track and here we go, you get access to almost all populated online servers

 

[Metzger82]

And you can buy 1 per month which is not gonna hurt nobody's budget I guess.