What Else Do You Sim?

Favourite Simulator Games 01.jpg
Most of us come to RaceDepartment to discuss and learn about racing simulations and racing games, but we want to know what other simulators you play.

We are experiencing one of the best periods in the history of sim racing. Sim hardware quality is improving while software options are plentiful and growing. But even in this amazing time, we all need breaks from sim racing, and we turn to other avenues of virtual entertainment.

We want to hear from you in the comments below. Let us know what else you enjoy simulating. From flight sims to farming to bus driving, whatever it is that you love to play outside the world of racing, share it with us.

Microsoft’s latest edition of Flight Simulator is a popular option amongst many in the racing community, and even allows us to repurpose our racing rigs as cockpits. Many videos have even been shared on popular sim racing channels featuring fly-overs of major racing circuits from around the world.

Favourite Simulator Games 02.jpg

Another widely loved sim that many of you are enjoying is Farm Simulator. On the surface, farming seems like an uneventful pastime, but Farm Sim has managed to make virtual farming fun and engaging. So much so, in fact, that there are Farm Simulator eSports championships.

For those who can’t get enough of driving, there are many choices outside of racing. Euro and American Truck Sims are a great way to relax the mind and pass an afternoon. Taxis and buses are also well represented in the sim world, or you can patrol the streets as an officer of the law. The choices for simulations seem limitless.

Share your personal favourites below. Whether your other sim favourites have you repairing cars, long-haul trucking, boating, mowing grass or anything else, share it below.
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

On the PC:
  • Train Simulator 2021
  • SnowRunner
  • Euro Truck Simulator 2
  • American Truck Simulator
Edit: And art of rally :)
 
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I seem to remember info about a remake of the B17 games from Microprose a while ago......I wonder what happened to that? Would LOVE to see a modern remake of that game.
 
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I seem to remember info about a remake of the B17 games from Microprose a while ago......I wonder what happened to that? Would LOVE to see a modern remake of that game.
It's on its way, except it's called "The Mighty Eighth" this time around. No release date at the moment though.

 
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Carrier Command 2 was just released, and based on the stormworks engine - it's by the same developer. It's still early days and has a few rough edges, but it's shaping up to be good.

I decided to get this and you are right it does have a few rough edges, especially in VR. The devs have been very responsive and already fixed a few of the issues, but I have decided to play in pancake for now. It's certainly got the same feel of the original for me; I especially noticed that it had the same impression of timescale as the first release of the original, which personally I preferred as it always felt really artificial to suddenly get a speed boost when in deep water. I thought the install size was an error.... what game comes in around 500mb these days?
 
I used to love flight sim x. Don't have that copy anymore sadly and i'm too cheap to buy it on steam. I will one day though. Love the farm sim games. Car mechanic simulator is cool though I would love it to be far more realistic.
 
It's on its way, except it's called "The Mighty Eighth" this time around. No release date at the moment though.

It's still alive then! Excellent news!!
 
Cooking Simulator.Strike Fighters 2.
Strike fighters 2 seems great, especially as it covers interesting periods with amazing planes with no modern systems. I've read that it wasn't a great sim, lacking the trim management and the AI using unrealistic tactics. Is that true? I"ve tried wings over europe (a former title from the same developper), and I couldn"t find any trim feature. Everyrhing else seemed fine, the olanes looking and sounding good, although the flat terrain was also disappointing. I wonder whether it is the same in SF2.
 
Strike fighters 2 seems great, especially as it covers interesting periods with amazing planes with no modern systems. I've read that it wasn't a great sim, lacking the trim management and the AI using unrealistic tactics. Is that true? I"ve tried wings over europe (a former title from the same developper), and I couldn"t find any trim feature. Everyrhing else seemed fine, the olanes looking and sounding good, although the flat terrain was also disappointing. I wonder whether it is the same in SF2.
It wasn't meant to be a 100% simulator, and that's why the developers have added something like an autotrim function. The control surfaces basically self center, which can be disabled or reduced to whatever you like. Just open Default.INI found in C:\Users\XXXX\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Controls. Each axis has it's own SelfCenterRate.
As for the AI, i think it's pretty decent. Bit simplistic but decent. At least i haven't spotted any unrealistic tactics.
Whatever it's shortcomings are though, it's better than nothing. DCS isn't very good for Single Player and it stresses my system a bit too much. SF2 is lightweight, compact and simple.
 
I bought IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad recently and I've been strugling to hit anything playing with mouse and keyboard (it's almost impossible for me), but I'm still very impressed with this game, to the point where I'm thinking about buying some proper (but cheap) hardware to get myself into flight sims, particularly IL-2. Would the Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas 4 be a decent choice for the price? Thats the one I'm thinking of buying.

Also got Uboat recently, as I remember enjoying some very old submarine sims as a kid in the 90s and Uboat is a sub sim that I've been keeping my eye on for quite some time. It's still in Early Access so I'll wait a bit more before I dive (get it?) properly into it, but it looks very cool.

And if tactical FPS games like Ground Branch and Zero Hour count as sims then I play those too, in Coop or Solo, since I don't care about PvP in these type of slow paced tactical shooters.

But by far sim racing is what I spend most of my gaming time with. It's not even close.

Very coold topic of discussion this one. I see I'm not the only one looking foward for the new MicroProse stuff... I have pretty much everything they've announced on my wishlist :D
 
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I love using and flying in MSFS 2020. It has allowed my to visit, slowly and up close, places around the earth that I know I will never have either the time or money to visit in person. Doing so together with a friend in multiplayer online and chatting while doing so is also such great fun IMHO.
 
It wasn't meant to be a 100% simulator, and that's why the developers have added something like an autotrim function. The control surfaces basically self center, which can be disabled or reduced to whatever you like. Just open Default.INI found in C:\Users\XXXX\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Controls. Each axis has it's own SelfCenterRate.
As for the AI, i think it's pretty decent. Bit simplistic but decent. At least i haven't spotted any unrealistic tactics.
Whatever it's shortcomings are though, it's better than nothing. DCS isn't very good for Single Player and it stresses my system a bit too much. SF2 is lightweight, compact and simple.
Thanks for the information. If you lower the automatic centring, considering you're not able to manage any trim, I assume you have to adjust your trajectory all the time, no? I just search for Strike fighters 2, it is still sold 100$ after all these years, and the windows 10 version is still in development (is it really?), although windows 11 is coming. That's quiet a hard choice. It's better to play more of Wings over Europe to discover the strike fighters series before considering to invest in SF2.
 
I bought IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad recently and I've been strugling to hit anything playing with mouse and keyboard (it's almost impossible for me), but I'm still very impressed with this game, to the point where I'm thinking about buying some proper (but cheap) hardware to get myself into flight sims, particularly IL-2. Would the Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas 4 be a decent choice for the price? Thats the one I'm thinking of buying.

Also got Uboat recently, as I remember enjoying some very old submarine sims as a kid in the 90s and Uboat is a sub sim that I've been keeping my eye on for quite some time. It's still in Early Access so I'll wait a bit more before I dive (get it?) properly into it, but it looks very cool.

And if tactical FPS games like Ground Branch and Zero Hour count as sims then I play those too, in Coop or Solo, since I don't care about PvP in these type of slow paced tactical shooters.

But by far sim racing is what I spend most of my gaming time with. It's not even close.

Very coold topic of discussion this one. I see I'm not the only one looking foward for the new MicroProse stuff... I have pretty much everything they've announced on my wishlist :D
If you don't need the playstation compatibility of the Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas 4 , the good old Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas X should be less expensive. I used it on il2, it does the job, the rudder on the throttle is a good point, as the rudder on the stick with those planes is sometimes hard to manage (especially on the ground).

Considering the amount of complains about the reliability of the Thrustmaster higher range of sticks (not the throttles), I would consider another brand if you want a better model, with better mechanics, more buttons, but it will cost a lot more and you'll have to invest in rudder pedals.

To begin, the Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas X, or the 4 if you can't find an X at a lower price, is a the best option imo. I use also his little brother, the T flight X, which is the same without the big throttle, replaced by a slider, with the same amount of buttons. It's a good option too, taking less space, but having a throttle in your left is always more satisfying.
 
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Besides pretty much every relevant modern racing sim I have played the following sims: Hearts of Iron 4, Elite: Dangerous, Car mechanic sim 18, Kerbal Space Program, Motorsport Manager, SNOW and SimplePlanes. So pretty much a little bit of everything besides farming I guess, some of them are less serious about being a sim, but still realistic enough to be called a sim I guess (E:D not really as a space flight sim, but rather as a space/galaxy sim; KSP ofc not set in the real world, but based on real physics; SimplePlanes also not too realistic, but still based on real laws of physics)
 
I bought IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad recently and I've been strugling to hit anything playing with mouse and keyboard (it's almost impossible for me), but I'm still very impressed with this game, to the point where I'm thinking about buying some proper (but cheap) hardware to get myself into flight sims, particularly IL-2. Would the Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas 4 be a decent choice for the price? Thats the one I'm thinking of buying.

Also got Uboat recently, as I remember enjoying some very old submarine sims as a kid in the 90s and Uboat is a sub sim that I've been keeping my eye on for quite some time. It's still in Early Access so I'll wait a bit more before I dive (get it?) properly into it, but it looks very cool.

And if tactical FPS games like Ground Branch and Zero Hour count as sims then I play those too, in Coop or Solo, since I don't care about PvP in these type of slow paced tactical shooters.

But by far sim racing is what I spend most of my gaming time with. It's not even close.

Very coold topic of discussion this one. I see I'm not the only one looking foward for the new MicroProse stuff... I have pretty much everything they've announced on my wishlist :D
I've got a full Warthog HOTAS plus the TM pendular rudder pedals and I still can't bloody hit anything in that game, or land without bouncing off the end of the runway - though that probably says more about my inabilities than anything else.

Taildraggers are nasty horrible things - don't fly them, it'll only end in tears.
 
I've got a full Warthog HOTAS plus the TM pendular rudder pedals and I still can't bloody hit anything in that game, or land without bouncing off the end of the runway - though that probably says more about my inabilities than anything else.

Taildraggers are nasty horrible things - don't fly them, it'll only end in tears.
That made feel better :D

At least I can take of and land using the very cumbersome mouse + keyboard controls. I've also managed to shoot down a couple enemies on single player missions, but only when I can get close to them... and by close I mean almost within arms reach :redface:

Anything more than a few meters away and I'll end up spending all my bullets just to get a couple hits that will barely scratch their paint.

I remember playing the original IL-2 almost 20 years ago, and back then I had a crap joystick that would not stand straight and had a huge dead zone. Playing now with mouse and keyboard, although not ideal (it's temporary) is actually easier than I remember being with that piece of crap joystick :D
 
Well, take a look at what popped up in my Steam queue today.


What next, a washing up simulator? Well I guess people like it as it's "Mostly Positive" on Steam
 
I’m only gaming in VR, combat flysims/racegames and only the VR games that do have old content like WW1/WW2 for flysims and for racegames, open wheels before the spoilers appeared and for LM until the 917&T70.
I’m not a fan of all those modern F1 insects and those ugly brick shaped LM cars.
Flysims: Il2-battle of series, DCS-WW2.
Racesims: Rfc2, AC and now Automobilista1 seems to have an working VR mod, I’m considering buying that game.

For future gaming my dream is still a:
1). classic 1950-1978 TT Isle of Man or any other typical classic road race, motorcycle VR game.
2). Good well made, WW1 combat flysim thats based on history and immersive campaign mode, like “Wings over Flanders fields” only now in VR.
 
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