Sim(bin)raceway.com

Here is the full press release that i found in my email inbox this morning

rFactorcentral.com to launch substantial feature
upgrade and become simraceway.com


Today rfactorcentral.com announced that its sim racing community recently hit a major milestone - 150,000,000 pages viewed, since its launch back in July 2006. In that time its community of sim racers has uploaded and shared 881 car and track mods, 5917 skins, 3002 videos, and argued commented and helped each other in over 50,767 posts .
The site also announced its intention to complete a substantial overhaul and feature upgrade, the details of which will be released at a later date. Whilst the feature upgrade will be significant, and some features will command a fee, all features and services that are currently free, will remain so.

It was also released that the name of the site will be changed to simraceway.com, to reflect support for a wider range of sim racing titles and activities.

This development of the site has been made possible by an acquisition and investment from Ignite Game Technologies.

Pete Walsh, Creator of rfactorcentral.com said of the news;
"It has been an awesomely rewarding experience building rfactorcentral.com but recently the site has gotten to the level where it was simply too large for one man to manage. So it's very exciting that a new team wants to not only join forces, but fund future development. Some of the ideas we've been discussing are really exciting and I look forward to dialoging with the sim community on them.”

Jonathan Haswell, Founder of Ignite said of the news:
Ever since we started looking at the sim racing space we have been blown away by not only the high fidelity physics games in the space but also the incredibly talented and creative modding community. What's even more remarkable about this rich productivity is how it's been achieved with such little resources. So we're very excited about being able to collaborate on this project and can't wait to see what the community does with the new tools and features we'll be providing.

About rFactorcentral.com
rFactorcentral.com is a leading community resource site for rfactor and sim racing enthusiasts. It was launched in July 2006 by Pete Walsh in response to an evident need for a location to share community resources for the game.

About Ignite Game Technologies
Ignite is a Silicon Valley based start up focused on game skill quantification and competitive gaming. It was founded in 2008 and is developing the world's first 100% accurate skill quantification and matching engine. The engine is potentially significant as it provides the key missing link technologies to power competitive video gaming, a sector in its infancy, that to date has been hampered by poor skill matching, player liquidity management challenges and un compelling competition dynamic
 
Yep that is how i read it as well.
I think this will certainly give simracing a more professional look with real gaming skill companies involved, good thing imo :thumb:
 
but once simracing gets a "professional" look everything will become insanely expensive just like real racing which isnt what we want because the whole point of sim racing is the fact its there for people who aren't insanely rich so therefore cant afford to go real racing.
 
It doesn't have to get insanely expensive at all :)

I think in a few years from now the whole simracing landscape will be changed where a few leagues and competitions will be officially sanctioned series with entree fees, paid drivers and paying sponsors. So just like in any other sport people with great skills will be able to make a living out of their hobby.

Only part that is missing at this point are decent media that cover simracing in a big way. Advertisers/sponsors will come when they can reach a big audience.

Edit: at this point simracing is insanely cheap, and far from expensive to be honest. If you see how many hours the average simracer is spending on his game the price of the game and the hardware he bought is a bargain.

A good night out (diner, movie and a visit to the local pub) of only a few hours cost significantly more. People buy $300 for a pair of sneakers that are worn out in a few weeks/months but when it comes to gaming they are always moaning about the costs. (mea culpa with regards to iracing, too expensive for me because i can't commit fully to it timewise)
 
but once simracing gets a "professional" look everything will become insanely expensive just like real racing which isnt what we want because the whole point of sim racing is the fact its there for people who aren't insanely rich so therefore cant afford to go real racing.
I think Rob has a point though. When Simracing does (hopefully) eventually become a sport, we might get thrown overboard by the iRacing train, companies looking to milk yet another market. Might not happen, but the way sponsors are involved, it could...
 
The cost of a baseball doesn't rise and fall with the popularity of the MLB, so why would you think a product which will continue to be marketed as a game, would rise in cost based solely on the existence of a professional league. It's absurd. It won't have any meaningful impact on the average simracer in regards to cost.

A true professional league would greatly help development of software and technologies in the simracing realm though.

With that being said, I am really curious to see the portal they are putting together. If Pete's excited, I am. :)
 
I think in a few years from now the whole simracing landscape will be changed where a few leagues and competitions will be officially sanctioned series with entree fees, paid drivers and paying sponsors. So just like in any other sport people with great skills will be able to make a living out of their hobby.
I would severely hope not because at the end of the day racing games are simply just games. Not designed to have a business created out of them, rather just to have fun.
 
There are gamers already making hundreds of thousands playing FPS games so I see why not.

Fatal1ty is the most well known pro gamers. He has endorsed a wide range of PC parts and equipment. He even started his own buisness Fatal1ty inc to sell his own stuff.

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal1ty[/ame]

His earnings are down the bottom of the page, Some wins netted him $40,000!!
 
Thats an impressive list, wow!

@Lewis: are normal sports invented to make money from? Football, Tennis, F1 etc? When something gets popular its inevitable that somebody is gonna setup paying competitions.

Heck, RD will too in the future I am pretty sure, when the right time is there.
 
There are gamers already making hundreds of thousands playing FPS games so I see why not.

Fatal1ty is the most well known pro gamers. He has endorsed a wide range of PC parts and equipment. He even started his own buisness Fatal1ty inc to sell his own stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal1ty

His earnings are down the bottom of the page, Some wins netted him $40,000!!
Aspiring to become the next Fatal1ty is a stupid idea though. You literally have to spend your entire life tuning your skills and sometimes the payouts only come after a very very long time of winning games. I don't think I would give my life up to take the chance. It's just like becoming a movie star or singer. Only the very few out of the thousands get some form of success. Even at that point, you are still in the crunch to not make the very top spot.
 

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