What Can Steam Chart's January Figures Tell Us About PC Racing Games?

[David Wright]

Right now there is 3245 iRacers Online according iRacing web site.

AC was 2894 so it would seem they are in the same ballpark but Racing is ahead.

 

[David Wright]

how com its over 1000 peaple that have driven the competition on raceroome in januari? is the number in steeam the number peaple play the game at the same time maby?

Yes its the average number playing the game at any one time. There are 658 playing RR now. 3 hours earlier there were 354 - almost certainly completely different people. 3 hours earlier it was 220 - again probably completely different people - and so on.

 

[Sharpy Bonfire]

My guess is that iRacing want us to think this number does display active online racers

Well every iRacer knows there is about 5-10 of those actually doing some practice before racing, 1200 are waiting two hours to go so the race they are waiting to start, 999 of those are cursing that the race that they were waiting did not have enough participants so it would go official, 217 are actually racing and rest of them are posting funny gifs to iRacing forums.

 

[Case_]

how com its over 1000 peaple that have driven the competition on raceroome in januari? is the number in steeam the number peaple play the game at the same time maby?

While the data indeed shows concurrent players, not overall, it has to be said that this kind of data is notoriously unreliable and the smaller the number of players a game has, the more unreliable it is. And people often forget this, especially people who are keen to prove some kind of point (likely their own). With the amount of concurrent players we're talking about here, it's pretty much useless to look at the absolute numbers as the real numbers might be significantly different. The only thing that can be somewhat(!) representative here is the number of players ratios between various sims.

 

[Deleted member 113561]

[...]

It doesn't matter what you wish to be true, fact is, the definition is about how much is simulated not how realistic - anyways you can't make the determination how realistic Project CARS 2 is compared to other Simulations, pretty much only professional race car drivers that setup their software properly can and even then they have different opinion.

You don't mention Project CARS 2, is that because you simply don't know how much they simulate, at least what they claim is insane, even though I think it is not perfectly balanced.
https://www.slightlymadstudios.com/madness/ >>> sadly I can't find the link anymore which went more into the details, but this should be sufficient to show you that Project CARS 2 is simulating more than any other Sim currently out there, that is released (which excludes ACC, because I don't know yet what exactly they simulate).

P.s. Afaik rFactor 2 has it not implemented yet but the tech is there and they plan to get hydroplaning etc. to work. Such a shame ISI basically never finished rF2 and I think it would have been better for Studio397 to make rFactor 3 out of it ...

I don't get whats up about iracing falling out of category.

If the term would be defined like you wish it would be: It has a really unrealistic tire model, this has been confirmed by many many people, it has even the nick name iceRacing. But don't take my word, take Nicki Thiims word for it, v=9-W6fA7bumQ. Personally I put it on the level of F1 2018.
But as the definition is not about how realistic you perceive it, but about how much it simulates, it still counts as a Simulation.

[...]

Look at the link above and get rekt

 

[mantasisg]

^^^^
"You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself"

iCube

I don't mention PC2 when talking about rain because I don't accept your philosophy of denying authinticity/realism. It has a lot on paper indeed, but in practice all those features are not impressive as the foundation is weak, physics are all over the place. For example, I remember I had quite a lot of fun with Mclaren F1 road car in wet Sugo, but it wasn't impressive or immersive to me.

The fact that you put iRacing by a side of F1 20xx is really weird, iRacing has great physics, but it just fails at some bits, and it is debatable how much, perhaps they overdone (they probably really overdone something) something less than others has underdone, who knows.

The drivers ? Very arguable. Even if a driver is very good, and very good not only at controlling a car, but also understanding its dynamics and various phenomenons. A drivers opinion is more valuable than usual opinion. But not all drivers are good test drivers.

 

[Hisoka]

Automobilista is a fantastic game, but since I have VR I only play RF2... I tried a lot of times to go back to AMS but I can't play on a screen anymore... I'm waiting for Dirt Rally 2.0 and I think I'll have the same problem... Dirt Rally is incredible in VR too...For sure no VR support has an impact on the number of players.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Well every iRacer knows there is about 5-10 of those actually doing some practice before racing, 1200 are waiting two hours to go so the race they are waiting to start, 999 of those are cursing that the race that they were waiting did not have enough participants so it would go official, 217 are actually racing and rest of them are posting funny gifs to iRacing forums.

Haha good one.
But actually there were lots of days I just logged in to either watch a race (possible) or just to be overthrown in one of the ongoing discussions in the forum.
So in such a rather normal day I probably was counted as an active online racer.
And I have allways presumed that I was not alone with this kind of online participation

 

[Slowdive]

Also I'm slightly worried for ACC - while I understand all that Early-Access and WIP, but having such a low number right now might not help in the future, but here's hoping I'm wrong about this.
(also sorry for the wall of text)

Your comments are pretty spot on. I wouldn't worry about ACC. I bought it, tried it for a couple of hours and shelved it until release. I suspect a lot of people are doing that. Having said that, I can't see it ever being as popular as AC, simply because of the narrow focus.

 

[snyperal]

So for all the laser scanning, physics and tyre modeling, they should've just all gone truck racing with scanias?

 

[magzire]

https://steamcharts.com/cmp/244210,378860,365960,211500#7d

says here that AC peeks 4k daily

 

[Michel Bélisle]

I don't know if most sim racers remember but, there is a certain barrier to entry for sim racing. You first have to invest in a rig and after, you realize that, with a real sim, it is just plain hard keeping the car on the track at first. Compare that with gamepad friendly games like GTA or RocketLeague and then the whole thing becomes self-explanatory. Part of the issue is economics. The other part is convenience. Sim racing requires a commitment on the part of the player.

 

[Deleted member 113561]

"You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself"

I don't see any validation on your side for that statement! At all.

It has a lot on paper indeed, but in practice all those features are not impressive as the foundation is weak, physics are all over the place.

You have any facts to support that rather vague claim?

iRacing has great physics, but it just fails at some bits, and it is debatable how much, perhaps they overdone (they probably really overdone something) something less than others has underdone, who knows.

Watch the video, the tire model is really bad as per Nicki Thiim and he must know it, realism on the level of F1 2018 imo. Hell there is a 20 year old bug in iRacing where the physics go nuts under breaking. Or remember the time where symmetrical cars turning right resulted into oversteer and turning left into understeer (idk if this ever was fixed!)? And that all for 14$ per month + additionally 13-17$ for each track and car.
"Fails at some bits" - LEL - fails in its cores. And everytime they release a new tire model they praise it is even more realistic and the most realistic out there. PR bullshit.

 

[Andy_J]

If sim racing on PC is such a small thing (and it is)............then VR sim racers are smaller than a small thing from the planet micro dot 0.2 in the Vega system.

 

[roadyroad]

For me most interesting figures are % of owners playing but we no longer have this data.

Absolutely. Manies are making wrong statements with these figures. They may give an idea of how a game is played but not with such low values.

The point is that a game with organized leagues will get many players at the same time on these occasions, making the average increase, even if you can hardly find a race at other times. Another sim with a lower average could in fact have more players at the same time regularly.

Another question is what these players are doing? I'm'pretty sure sims like AC and pcars2, with all the cars available, have many players at the same time just trying new cars, not racing online or offline. Is a game played regularly by few people (a solid player base and dedicated community)? Or rarely launched my many different players (a versatile player base)? yhese figures are by no way a player base.

These average figures are more interesting for a pure multiplayer game like battlefield, they give an idea of being able to find games with lots of players, which is required to enjoy the game. On a sim, 10 competitors are enough to experience a good race. And when not in a league, the offline experience is usually more enjoyable than the online one. So having many players playing at the same time is not the most important.

Sim racing system for AC is a good tool to bring players to race at the same time. On other games SRS is more difficult to install (creating a new profile...). So it doesn't surprise me AC get a higher figure, though I've rarely manage to find an interesting online race outside of SRS.

The average on Race is really low, and it is a good example of how hard it is difficult to make conclusions. It can have several meanings :
1. you can always find a 20 players race, and they must be old time users, they must be high quality races
2. No one using the game during the week, a huge pic during the weekends with 140 players all the time, maybe leagues, so still quality races but more organized so you need to enlist in a league.
3. 20 players are playing offline. You wont' find anyone.
4. 5. 6... All the situations mixing these cases.
In the first situation, the game is much more enjoyable than most of the games with higher figures.

The danger with these figures, we've seen that on other topics, is that they bring missunderstandings and wrong interpretations. They give an idea of something, but at this low levels, it's a nonsense to make conclusions. Many crucial information are missing, the variance being the first one (remember when the teacher at school was telling maths & stats were crucial for your future?). It will be more interesting to know the same average butnonly between 6pm and 10pm for your geographical zone defined with with 3 hours difference maximum. Or an average for each day with a variance...

Other example : if a game's target is Europe, the player base will be there. So only players during the evening, bad average. As a Nascar game target is the US players. This means, as being in the target, you may be able to find sufficient players to play with although the average seems low. Any need for another example?

 

[DriveClubMaster]

Its not surprise, people like to play fun games, thats how we all started gaming. I play few sims but also many many arcade/simcade racers cause they are just about fun, you spend more time just racing. Like i couldnt say the same for rF2 in which you spend lots of time testing and configuring (not including work on AI setups for each track as well as your own) especially if you are more single player focused. You know some tracks have good AIW others dont and even tho game is very playable with a controller for a more casual fan who likes mods its still too much hassle. I think rF2 development studio should be making best tracks they can, get licenses and sell track packs as dlc. Like i had 400 hours in Rf2 but how much of that was not actually playing it

Simulation is a niche market we know that but its good. I just dont like the part of this very small niche community always dumps on any racing game thats not a sim, not everything needs to be, I still blast DriveClub on regular basis haha, fantastic racer.

The other thing, for a niche market maybe we have few too many sims that split already small community. Haha imagine if some studios worked together on one sim. Studio 397 and rF2 engine physics, Kunos with graphics/gadgets, Reiza single player side of things, they do good racing series in single player. Make modding and installing mods and such easiest you can, new ways to make AIW files (tried rF2 way, its so hard and twitchy)

 

[Boby Kim]

All it says is that the PC simulation side of gaming is slowly dying and the console arcade games are growing.

 

[Mr Deap]

All it says is that the PC simulation side of gaming is slowly dying and the console arcade games are growing.

This is not true at all. The definitive fact is that pure arcade are dying & people are more into simcade.

The problem with advertised racing simulator is the crazy amount of useless value that many don't care. That's why it stay niche. Too many act like car setup is secretive when in reality, car construction(Forza PI system) is but setup shouldn't be. Some are blatantly playing the wrong videogame title.

 

[Olivier Mandavy]

2019 really needs 2 or 3 AAA VR titles. Don't care if it is racing or something else.

If sim racing on PC is such a small thing (and it is)............then VR sim racers are smaller than a small thing from the planet micro dot 0.2 in the Vega system.

 

[apex11]

Automobilista is a fantastic game, but since I have VR I only play RF2... I tried a lot of times to go back to AMS but I can't play on a screen anymore... I'm waiting for Dirt Rally 2.0 and I think I'll have the same problem... Dirt Rally is incredible in VR too...For sure no VR support has an impact on the number of players.

It really really doesn't....
Like full race set ups, wheels, seat etc... VR in simracing is a niche of a niche.