Thinking of getting iRacing, need advice.

[JamesU]

Hey guys,

As everyone seems to say iRacing is the best sim out there, i was thinking of grabbing it.

I like to get everything through Steam, and this game is £8.00 p/month on there - but i have stumbled across this:

http://www.g2play.net/category/5623/iracing-com-3-month-membership-with-gen-6-ford-car/

Now, the problem i have is i'm not sure how this works and how to sign up... Would i just create a new account on their site and not use steam, then enter the code and away i go?

Thanks fellas


EDIT: I think i got confused, is the G2Play code just for use with one single car?

 

[Troy Eddy]

Depends on where you are. Not sure about the UK, but here in the US, it is actually less expensive to get iRacing directly from the iRacing.com website and then link it to your Steam account.

Whether you get it through Steam or directly from iRacing, it will work the same way. It looks to me like the G2Play code gives you the Gen 6 Ford car free in addition to all the other included content.

iRacing is a great sim if it is what you are looking for. There is no ai (computer controlled cars). You can only race with other real people. You can either race in official races, hosted sessions, or join leagues. You can drive alone on any track/car combination you own. For the official racing series, you can practice with other drivers.

There is a bit of startup costs. The subscription is almost free if you renew for half price and race enough to get the participation credits. But you do have to buy all the cars and tracks which you want to race. This can add up, but once you have them, they are yours as long as you have the account.

If you have any other questions, please let me know, I have had iRacing for 2 1/2 years now and have over 1100 official races and many other hosted and league races.

 

[JamesU]

Ah brilliant, such a detailed reply too - so thank you!

I think, although it's not the perfect sim, i'll stick with pCars for a little while - i'll be transforming a spare bedroom into an office soon so i think once all that is set up and i'm more committed to racing to a schedule i'll look into iRacing properly again.

Thanks again dude!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

since people keep coming back to the money one spends on iRacing i repost this text the third time now, lol: "figure it out this way: i pay 45 euros for a year (because i always use the black friday two years for one offer) and get sth. like 17 euros worth of stuff every three months, so about 70 euros more. my total expenditure per year is thus 115 euros, however i get 8 euros every three months for having been active (completed two series or more), i get 4 euros every year for still being around and from time to time i can stockpile some cash and get a little bonus (usually another 2x4 euros each year). this adds up to about 45 euros in bonusses (which of course is rubbish since iRacing is a monopolist, but it makes me feel good to view it this way ). so i end up with 70 euros each year for having 24 hours of service each day. let's say i play 300 days a year, i end up paying 2.5 eurocents for every day i play iRacing. not really expensive.
however, the first year certainly works out more expensive, but once you have a solid base of often used tracks and some cars more than base content, you should be fine, try going back to AI in three months and you will truly appreciate their model."
also when considering iRacing pricing: pCARS sold in excess of 1 million copies in some weeks (or so I've read on this forum) while iRacing has about 100,000 to 120,000 customers after five years (?) now, of which about 50,000 are currently active. economies of scale tell us that they need to do the pricing they do just to keep afloat. the market for a purely non-ai game does not seem to be very much larger.

 

[Spinelli]

As everyone seems to say iRacing is the best sim out there, i was thinking of grabbing it.

If you're talking about the driving itself (physics and FFB) then I hardly see anyone who spends time with Stock Car Extreme, and especially rFactor 2, say that about iRacing. In-terms of the online structure and system, heck yes! iRacing is easily #1. I wouldn't say it's number one in driving/handling/behavior physics though, and even further from the best when it comes to FFB where rFactor 2 generall blows iRacing's socks off.

 

[Spinelli]

Can't edit my post anymore, just wanted to say that you should also look into those sims (Stock Car Extreme and rFactor 2) as I feel they are quite superior in-terms of vehicle dynamics as-well as force feedback. The "pure driving experience" in those two titles is the best in the industry in my opinion. Again though, iRacing's online system is absolutely fantastic.

My two-cents.

 

[xnorb]

iRacing is your choice #1 if you're looking for clean racing without being forced to join private racing like the RD races which might not even fit your schedule.
The safety rating forces you to drive extremely clean, even for just leaving the rookie class you need to avoid contact and loss of control at any cost, else you'll never get out of the rookie class.
And you also have constantly races going on.

So this fixes all your problems with MP that you're used to in all other sims for just a few bucks per month - what a great deal!

If you want to race the Spec Racer or the Mazda till the end of time - get it. Best deal ever.

But when it comes to pricing of content, it's a real gamebreaker for me.
12-15$ per car and track is just massively over the top.
You want to drive the new DBR9 on Interlagos? 27$ please. Thanks.

Let's check out the content i'd be interested in:
Monza: 15$
Interlagus: 15$
Montreal: 15$
Zandvoort: 15$
Zolder: 15$
Spa: 15$
Donington: 15$
Sebring: 15$
Silverstone: 15$
Suzuka: 15$

DBR9: 12$
BMW Z4 GT3: 12$
MP4-12C: 12$
Skip Barber: 12$

(You'd need to calculate more tracks in if i'd want to race in series)

So that would set me back 150$ on tracks and 48$ on cars. That's 175€.
For that money i could by rFactor 2 (44€), AC (31.50€), Reiza Bundle (37€), pCars (37.50)
and i would still have money left, but as it's Steam Summer Sale atm, i just leave that as
buffer for what one would have to pay without sale.

How anybody can defend iRacing's price policy is far beyond my understanding.
Regarding it's monthly fee and it's online service: Respect for that, nothing wrong there, absolute awesome service.

 

[JamesU]

Thanks for that reply xnorb,

I'll probably give it a miss for now, i'd like to have a fair amount of tracks too, so i think that would be a bit of a deal breaker.

Maybe in the future, still!

 

[xnorb]

Sure - or just grab one of the 3 month test periods.
Like i said: The online service is next to none, iRacing wrecks every game and sim out there when it comes to the multiplayer part and the physics feel pretty solid to me.

You know what?
Although i'm so much against the pricing model for content, i'm still thinking about grabbing that -50% on a yearly supscription, just because the multiplayer is so frustrating in all other games out there that i choose a clean Spec Racer or Mazda MX5 race over your standard fail-race in the other games even if they offer the Touring car / GT races i prefer.

 

[Spinelli]

Why don't they make all the content free but charge for the subscription, or, the other way around - charge for all the content but make the game free to all. It should be either one or the other, NOT BOTH.

You want to play R3E? Sure, it's free but you have to pay for content. You want to play Planetside 2? Sure, it's free but you have to pay for content. You want to play Hawken? Sure, it's free but you have to pay for content. Get the point?

Or...

Make the content (cars and tracks) all free but charge for a subscription in order to play.


One or the other like almost all other pay-games out there, not both.

 

[xnorb]

I'm a complete defender of paying people for their work.
Subscription is there because of their upkeep costs.
Cars and tracks need to be made, and they should be paid for that too.

But ask for fair prices - like for example R3E does in it's packs.

 

[muscimol]

Let's check out the content i'd be interested in:
Monza: 15$
Interlagus: 15$
Montreal: 15$
Zandvoort: 15$
Zolder: 15$
Spa: 15$
Donington: 15$
Sebring: 15$
Silverstone: 15$
Suzuka: 15$

DBR9: 12$
BMW Z4 GT3: 12$
MP4-12C: 12$
Skip Barber: 12$

So that would set me back 150$ on tracks and 48$ on cars. That's 175€.

Your calculation is wrong.

If you order at least 6 items you got automatically 20% discount, so it makes $158.

Additionally from time to time there is a promotion where you can buy bonus iR$, iR$100 for $75 and iR$25 for $20 and if you would buy both of them all the above mentioned cars and tracks would cost you $128 instead of $198. It's still a lot, nevertheless significantly less .

 

[xnorb]

You know, reading of the discount i was like ... "okay, let's see how this turns out" ...
Then i realized, 3 cars alone set me back 36$, and those 20% are basically nothing

 

[Yannick Van Broeck]

I agree that iRacing costs a whole lot of money but you have to consider they provide you with the most active multiplayer around.

 

[Slalom823]

I can see both sides on this one. If you compare the cost of content to pretty much any other sim it is extremely high. However it does seem to offer something that no other sim does on its own right now. So while it may cost 5x to 10x more (or more) than other sims I wouldn't say it isn't worth it for the right people. Me personally I run sims because I can't do the real thing. (Like most of us). I do multiple real life driving events each year, but I don't have the money or time to do as much or the types that I would like to. I do several autocross events per year (in the US different than the rally type autocross overseas) as well as trying to do a track day, and several days of rental karts perhaps. Anyways my point is that if you aren't comparing to other games but to real world racing this is a middle ground both in pricing and features. So I could easily see how if this is a hobby for someone that is doing it instead of racing or in addition, that they find the cost well worth it. It cost less than tires would for a real race weekend. The big solution for me is racedepartment. I pay about $23 a year and have the club races available on SCE as well as AC. Right now I am trying an iracing trial, and there are some things I really like about it. I may pick up a year membership, but I don't really foresee myself getting more than 1 car and the additional tracks to complete a series. I haven't ruled it out, but I am quite hesitant. I recently did the vsccs3 here and that was fantastic. What iracing may be used for by me is just for casual drop in races when I have time. I could pick up a year membership for $50 and just use base content and keep the price reasonable. Anyways just my thoughts on it.

 

[Steve O'Malley]

Why don't they make all the content free but charge for the subscription, or, the other way around - charge for all the content but make the game free to all. It should be either one or the other, NOT BOTH.

They employ people. They have expenses and presumably need to make a profit so there is a certain amount of revenue they need to achieve. If they scrapped monthly subs they would have to charge more for content and vice versa.
I sometimes think they make it too easy to drive the faster cars but then they need to make them accessible to the majority or they wouldn't sell as many. A good example is the new GT1 series which requires a lower license to drive than the GT3.
You can also get credits for participation so if you run enough events in a season your monthly subs are subsidised, but this of course means you have to buy more tracks to complete a season. Its quite a clever business model.

For anyone not sure you can sign up and run the Mazda MX5 series and see if you want to progress any further if you like it.

 

[Spinelli]

I understand they employ people and have expenses, so do a ton of other video games that are based on either a subscription charge or a content charge (one or the other, not both).

 

[Niel Hekkens]

You can't compare mainstream games to racing sims. Sim racing is a very niche market, where games like Call of Duty sell millions of copies each year.

Creating a track, the way iRacing does it, costa a number with five zero's. This includes the license, scanning and producing the track.

To me it's simple: if you don't like their business model, don't play it.
Yes, iRacing is more expensive than other racing sims, but in my opinion it's worth each penny. Never I had as much fun as I do now in iRacing and it increased my passion for motorsport itself.

 

[CCL71]

You can't compare mainstream games to racing sims. Sim racing is a very niche market, where games like Call of Duty sell millions of copies each year.

Creating a track, the way iRacing does it, costa a number with five zero's. This includes the license, scanning and producing the track.

To me it's simple: if you don't like their business model, don't play it.
Yes, iRacing is more expensive than other racing sims, but in my opinion it's worth each penny. Never I had as much fun as I do now in iRacing and it increased my passion for motorsport itself.

I agree with Niel in that Iracing is not for everyone. I hear people complain about the costs all the time but what always comes to mind is what hobby is cheap? To me, the pricing, saftey ratings and penalties help to ensure that the competitors in Iracing will take the experience serious. I'm not a very fast driver and to be honest, I do more practice sessions than actual races but in that, I have been able to make to a B license. Knowing that if I spin, I could possibly take out other drivers and ruin their races, helps to keep me in check from making moves that I might make with running against the AI in other sims.

As others have mentioned, ther are certainly other sims that have better ffb and physics and for those sims, I tend to play them more in single player instances when I just want to race anything. But in doing so, I have to deal with iratic AI that may cause me to reset my race numerous times because they constantly run me off the road. So in there lies the trade off....If you want to run with like minded people and improve your racecraft, Iracing is a no brainer. If you want better ffb and physics but don't mind the frustrations that come along with playng the AI or if cost is a concern, then yeah, stick to single player sims. OR, sign up for multiplayer races in the sims you have, but I can almost promise you that the racing won't be as clean because there are no real consequences for bad driving.
Just my 2 cents from an admittedly average sim racer that loves racing in different sims.

 

[CCL71]

You can't compare mainstream games to racing sims. Sim racing is a very niche market, where games like Call of Duty sell millions of copies each year.

Creating a track, the way iRacing does it, costa a number with five zero's. This includes the license, scanning and producing the track.

To me it's simple: if you don't like their business model, don't play it.
Yes, iRacing is more expensive than other racing sims, but in my opinion it's worth each penny. Never I had as much fun as I do now in iRacing and it increased my passion for motorsport itself.

I agree with Niel in that Iracing is not for everyone. I hear people complain about the costs all the time but what always comes to mind is what hobby is cheap? To me, the pricing, saftey ratings and penalties help to ensure that the competitors in Iracing will take the experience serious. I'm not a very fast driver and to be honest, I do more practice sessions than actual races but in that, I have been able to make it to a B license. Knowing that if I spin, I could possibly take out other drivers and ruin their races, helps to keep me in check from making moves that I might make with running against the AI in other sims.

As others have mentioned, ther are certainly other sims that have better ffb and physics and for those sims, I tend to play them more in single player instances when I just want to race anything quickly. But in doing so, I have to deal with erratic AI that may cause me to reset my race numerous times because they constantly run me off the road. So in there lies the trade off....If you want to run with like minded people and improve your racecraft, Iracing is a no brainer. If you want better ffb and physics but don't mind the frustrations that come along with playng the AI or if cost is a concern, then yeah, stick to single player sims. OR, sign up for multiplayer races in the sims you have, but I can almost promise you that the racing won't be as clean because there are no real consequences for bad driving.
Just my 2 cents from an admittedly average sim racer that loves racing in different sims.