A bit of info required

[jnl.42]

I've done a bit of reading around, and right now I'm seriously considering biting the bullet and switching to iRacing. I should be able to afford at least a short test, but there are a few things I'd like to know.

First up, I've well and truly heard how good the game is, but what are all the worst parts and annoyances with it?

Second, what's up with skinning? Can you make your own skins in Photoshop like you can with gMotor games?

Third, around how much am I going to spend on tracks and cars if I were to race 1 class per license until I get to B grade, if I were to race every track in the championship?

And finally, what's the base pack I keep hearing about? Is it a freebie for when you first subscribe or do you have to buy that too?

Thanks to anyone who helps out, I'm sick to death of the frustrations other games are giving me, I'm really liking the looks of the whole iRacing deal, I've just been a little put off by the price so far. Karting is expensive enough.

 

[Marc Good]

I've done a bit of reading around, and right now I'm seriously considering biting the bullet and switching to iRacing. I should be able to afford at least a short test, but there are a few things I'd like to know.

Hey Nathan, glad to hear you might wanna try it. I'll try to give some answers to your questions by best of my knowledge.

First up, I've well and truly heard how good the game is, but what are all the worst parts and annoyances with it?

• Worst part for me is that you start out as Rookie no matter how good you might be. (Well, it's actually the best part as well if you consider that many people are indeed new to sim racing)
  I personally haven't dabbled in the rookie races since I made the move to the higher licenses. But there are many complaints about the quality in the races.. mainly because most people are racing way over their capabilities etc.
• Content still too US-centric. Most of the content is based on US series due to iRacing being an American company. At first always everything was US content but they're expanding quite a bit in recent times. Such as releasing European and Australian content with some Japanese tracks and cars following soon.
• The sim is still missing basic features, such as:
  • No real transmission modelling
    You can drive any car with paddles and without using a clutch.
  • Static track conditions, no features like temperature changes, rain, marble..
  • Tire model requires some updates, but it's constantly getting optimized.
  • Damage model is very basic. No real aero damage model even on open wheelers.
• Not all series have races being official all the time.
  The schedule has already been thinned out due to the many series being run at the same time but there are still some series with too few participants. So it might be that you want to join a race at a certain time but it won't go official due to lack of other racers.
  Sometimes you'll almost be forced to race on a certain timeslot once a week or change the series due to participation numbers.
• Certain lack of atmosphere
  The tracks and cars themselves look great but it all feels somewhat lifeless because there is almost nothing moving besides the cars. There's no pit crew, only some basic crowd etc. If you're looking for some eyecandy you might be disappointed due to this.
• It's always soon-o-clock

Second, what's up with skinning? Can you make your own skins in Photoshop like you can with gMotor games?

You can skin your own skins in Photoshop. But you'll have to distribute them yourself because there's no skin sharing integrated in the service.
Some members have created such platforms though in the meantime which work great.

Third, around how much am I going to spend on tracks and cars if I were to race 1 class per license until I get to B grade, if I were to race every track in the championship?

James created a very detailed buyers guide, you might want to check it out: http://www.racedepartment.com/iracing/31227-iracing-buyers-guide.html

And finally, what's the base pack I keep hearing about? Is it a freebie for when you first subscribe or do you have to buy that too?

Every member has the content of the base pack, it's included in the base membership. No matter for how long you've signed up. It contains:

• Legends Ford (Oval Rookie Car)
• Pontiac Solstice (Road Rookie Car)
• Ford Spec Racer
• Tracks
  • Charlotte Motor Speedway
  • South Boston
  • Oxford Plains
  • Lanier National Speedway
  • Laguna Seca
  • Summit Point
  • Lime Rock Park

More details can be found on the official iRacing site at http://www.iracing.com/membership/#Promo

Make sure if you want to try out iRacing to take advantage of the current promotions; unfortunately I don't have the codes at the moment but you should be able to find some interesting offers containing additional Cars/Tracks or a reduced subscription price.

 

[Dietmar]

The Solstice is awful and a series constist of 3 or 4 races. I was furtune enough to join during week 13, where you can drive anything you own (if I remember correctly). Since I got my SR above 3.0 I race in the Spec Racer Series, which is fun, I think. Threre is only one track missing from the base package. I did not buy that one.

 

[jnl.42]

Wow guys thanks for all that, definitely helps and I now know everything I was hoping to find out. Looks like I'll be trying out that $5 promotion. Just need to con my mother into it, it is my birthday today after all!

 

[Marc Good]

Wow guys thanks for all that, definitely helps and I now know everything I was hoping to find out. Looks like I'll be trying out that $5 promotion. Just need to con my mother into it, it is my birthday today after all!

Heya, Happy Birthday to ya and all the best! arty:

..and have fun with your 'trial' period, I guess you're gonna find out quickly if it's something for you.
And make sure you check out the member forums, it's a fundamental part of the overall iRacing experience imo. Cheers

 

[Mark A Warmington]

• Yep - the Soltics sucks! It is probably as close as we are going to get to running the reasonably priced Lacetti in Top Gear.
• You pick up contact points if someone else hits you (but that's like real life, where you get stuck with the repair bill for someone else hitting you).
• Can't always guarantee the official race, due to the numbers of drivers entered (I think this is due to there now being to many choices available: people jump to the new toy).
• No rain, yet (but I don't mind if they nail dry conditions with changeable wind, live track conditions etc: wind was in Papy's N2K3, so I can't see it not appearing in iRacing).
• The absolute worst thing for me is that you get addicted and can't leave the damned sim alone!
• The second worst thing is that you get spoilt (physics-wise) and other sims feel like crap when you go back to them.
• Having to own content you might not drive if you want to run in multi-class series (races): not the biggest issue in the world.
• Week 13! Having experienced my first week 13 I now understand why some people hate it. New subscribers join in huge volumes (some who have no track manners) resulting in races where you can take a safety rating hammering by being on the wrong track at the wrong time: I will think very carefully about whether I need to improve my SR to get promoted in week 13. Because, if i don't - I won't be venturing on track in any of the Rookie classes .

 

[jnl.42]

I'm convinced I wanna give it a good go, but my mother isn't. I just wanna get out and do some fun competitive laps, something I so far haven't been able to do in rF or GTR Evo. Something always seems to **** up for me. I'll be getting a subscription soon, one way or another.

 

[jnl.42]

Finally convinced my mum to get me the 2 for 1 month deal. Who wants a free referral?

 

[Scott Mitchell]

Yes please