Christmas Gift Ideas for the Simracers (2019)

It's less 'rude', so to speak, and more elegant
I guess it's the thought that counts, but technically speaking it's turning good money into useless paper that only means anything to one company and has a time limit on it. It's like giving a banana skin to someone.
 
Thanks for the tip on Ultimate Racing 2D - picked it up for $5 on Steam and it's a lot of fun for that price point. I have a lot of fond memories of playing Indy Heat and Super Off Road in the arcades as a kid and Ultimate Racing is a nice throwback to those. Physics in Ultimate Racing is like slightly dumbed down GeneRally (which isn't a bad thing...GeneRally physics are almost too good at times!). Cars all feel pretty much the same to me in UR, but the real world tracks are really the magic touch - really well done!
 
I was gifted a new 27" gsync screen. Wonderful surprise and I'm loving it so far.


Why? I'm looking forward to trying one.

My personal experience/opinion on "drive experiences" = your mileage may (i.e. almost certainly will) vary.

From the supply side, there is an incredible variety of "drive experiences" available out there. Different cars, different tracks, different price points, different amounts of track time, etc, etc. On the demand side, there is even a wider range of expectations. Everything from "try this out to see if I'd like my own race/track car" to "once in a lifetime experience just to see what it's like". In my opinion, a blanket statement of "pure waste of money" is really not fair.

I did one this last summer...parts of it were awesome, other parts were disappointing. I got a really good deal on the package so, for my current budget constraints, I would rate it as an OK value (had better, but had much worse). Enumerating out the awesome and disappointing bits I don't think would be overly helpful because my entire premise here is it's going to vary wildly based on what particular "experience" you are going in for and your expectations.

I think my own attempt at giving a blanket statement would be this: if you've done research and found one that looks legit/interesting and meets your budget constraints and you feel like it's something you'd like to try, you should go for it.

I've done a few track days...they have pros and cons, too. And they aren't cheap (especially in your road car and you're factoring in wear & tear, track day insurance, etc). I'm also in the process of getting into Formula Vee racing. It's the cheapest form of racing I'm aware of but, relative to the vast majority of non-motorsport hobbies, it's "takes your breath away" grade expensive and your actual track time relative to how much time/effort/money you put into the car is still incredibly low. That's a long winded way of saying if motorsports is a true passion of yours to the point where you'd like to get real life track time, there is going to be some non-driving BS you have to put up with to get your reward.

That's why sim racing is so awesome...what are our complaints? "DLC is expensive!" "Windows 10 takes forever to boot!" Ha! Give me a break...take the steps to get out on a real track - whether that be "drive experience", a track day, or real wheel to wheel racing - and then get back to me with your sim racing complaints! They come into focus real fast... ;)
 

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