Why Cost is Not a Reason Not to Play R3E

[Paul Jeffrey]

I have recently been made aware of an interesting post from one of our members here on RaceDepartment which I thought would be interesting to share with all of you loyal readers. The post in question addresses RaceRoom Racing Experience and its potentially prohibitive pricing structure for those new to the simulation.

Speaking from first hand experience and as someone who used to run the R3E Racing Club here on RD, I personally think this sim is one of the most impressive overall packages available today for fans of virtual racing cars to enjoy, with wonderfully reproduced sounds and car / track models accompanied by a number of extremely interesting licences for various real world series, which is exclusive to the game.

Arguably one of the most complete all round 'packages' available on the market today, it always jars me somewhat to constantly see the same sort of comments on forums across the internet questioning the pricing model and costs of becoming involved in this sim as a newcomer to the game. Yes, the pricing model isn't ideal and yes it can be annoying, confusing or awkward to navigate to the best deals but this should not be something that puts off those new to the simulation. Having seen this excellent post by RD member Alx^ I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you his findings, in the hope that you too can find a suitable financial solution that helps you join in with one of the most underrated and enjoyable simulations available today.

edited post below:

".... if anyone's on the fence about it because of the way the store works etc, here is what I did... maybe someone could use it as a loose guide, obviously accounting for their own tastes when purchasing I don't know if it's the most optimal way, but it worked well for me. Bare in mind I only ever bought 1 pack at a time, and completed the purchase. That way, the system sees that you already own that content, and applies the relevant discounts to other packs it affects thereafter, as has been covered already at the start of this thread.

I got the 10k vRP voucher from the Raceroom shop. This is €64.99 which is a touch under £46 UKGBP (virtually the same as the AC+DLC 1+2 bundle on steam, fyi). You can find out your own currency conversion by searching in google with "€64.99 in GBP" or whatever your currency happens to be.

Then I bought, in roughly this order:

• ADAC GT Masters Experience 2014 (contains several tracks which discount other packs below)
• ADAC GT Masters 2013 (wanted the cars and liveries, cheaper as you already have the tracks)
• European Track Pack (cheaper than buying the missing tracks separately, cheaper due to ^
• DTM Experience 2015 (cheaper because you have the tracks ^)
• Hillclimb
• Group 5 (cheaper because you own a car already from Hillclimb)
• 1x car from WTCC 2014
• American Track Pack (already had 2 of these from a sale the first time I tried this, but it's cheap anyway)

And I have some vRP left. Buying the Hillclimb pack means you get the track, and also 2 of the cars which are included in the Touring Classics Pack, which I believe is often run alongside DTM 1992, so therefore you would have a choice of 2 cars to race in that. When it comes to completing a pack that you own part of, for example, I have 2 of the cars from the Touring Classics Pack now, it is slightly cheaper to get those missing cars on their own, with only 1 livery each, than it is to buy the now-discounted Pack which you already own part of. The extra cost of the pack seems to be in the multiple liveries you get with it. But it depends on whether you want a choice of livery or not.

I hope that's of use to someone somewhere. Not as expensive as I had thought it was in the past to be honest. It feels better than it did when I first tried it. Maybe that's just me, or maybe their patches have changed things for the better! Have to say, if and when the devs get a rating system into this, and maybe scheduling/calendar of some kind for events... in my opinion it really does have the potential to be an iRacing beater for online stuff. The online-ness of it, web integration, leaderboards and competitions, highlighting the pro's times on the competitions, it's very compelling, and the sound and ffb makes it very immersive..."

Once you have this substantial amount of content you are also more than likely to be able to pick up the missing items you may fancy on one of the many sales offered by RaceRoom, and of course you also have the opportunity to test any of the vehicles available in game for free to help you decide what additional content you may wish to pickup down the line.

To compliment your new purchase(s) RaceDepartment runs a popular online racing club for Premium members to enjoy, featuring various cars and tracks in a friendly environment for you to get your racing kicks alongside your offline play.

I hope this little article helps those of you who are still sat on the fence with R3E, it really is an outstanding sim and deserves to achieve the numbers of users of other more mainstream titles available on the market.

Please let us know in the comments section below if you found this information useful and share your experiences with R3E purchasing and of course enjoying the driving!

 

[xnorb]

The completely screwed up FFB / steering input (floating car) is the only reason to not play R3E.
Especially with the G27 and the Logitech profiler R3E can be a real pain.

Content-wise the packs offer good value for the money and it's great that they offer complete racing series instead of just single cars like for example AC does.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

The completely screwed up FFB / steering input (floating car) is the only reason to not play R3E.

Have you tried it with the new physics updates on the GTR3 and DTM 15 pack? Makes a big difference and with some very minor fine tweaking on your wheel settings the ffb becomes awesome!

 

[Yawama]

64.99 euros converts to 90 CAD, so yes for me it is entirely cost prohibitive.

It's still 10 bucks more than a new game release for me.

EDIT: If I bought all the DLC I wanted through Steam it comes to 100+ CAD.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Depends where you live.
For me in Brazil it is bloody expensive. Some packs should be put together and be sold as a reduced price because if they were stand alone games they would cost less.
Plus it's not modable(?), I'm not getting into anything that is not modable, maybe if it was a lot cheaper. But for this price, no way.
I only drive online (reason above stops me from getting into iRacing even if I had the money) and R3E online community does not seem more active than some other sims.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I only drive online

Hi Will, you have probably already tried the R3E Club here on RD but if not it is something I would highly advise. The number of participants is growing nicely now and the quality of the racing (across all skill levels) is very high.

With the online functionality being very young in R3E and with the improvements already in the pipeline, I really do think this sim could have a bright future indeed. Of course back to the pricing, you only need 1 car from the pack to be able to run online againts others who have different cars you dont already own. Hopefully this allows folks to still race with others without having to purchase all content (you obviously still need to own the track !).

Anyway, if you havent become a convert already, give the RD R3E Club a go... its great !

 

[Kenny Paton]

The completely screwed up FFB / steering input (floating car) is the only reason to not play R3E.
Especially with the G27 and the Logitech profiler R3E can be a real pain.

Content-wise the packs offer good value for the money and it's great that they offer complete racing series instead of just single cars like for example AC does.

I have a G 25 and have no problems since the latest update, mind you I didn't have many before it.
I deleted my old profile went back to the default, turned the canned effects of then mapped my buttons and was fine. Now I use the default steering setting for each car. I don't use the profiler and run 900.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Hi Will, you have probably already tried the R3E Club here on RD but if not it is something I would highly advise. The number of participants is growing nicely now and the quality of the racing (across all skill levels) is very high.

With the online functionality being very young in R3E and with the improvements already in the pipeline, I really do think this sim could have a bright future indeed. Of course back to the pricing, you only need 1 car from the pack to be able to run online againts others who have different cars you dont already own. Hopefully this allows folks to still race with others without having to purchase all content (you obviously still need to own the track !).

Anyway, if you havent become a convert already, give the RD R3E Club a go... its great !

Thanks man, but for now the forum I'm a member (EEC) is using SCE so I'll stick with it. Later then we'll either move to rF2 or next Reiza tittle but R3E was never a plan.
They should abandon the R3E model, put all DTM packs together, ADAC and WTCC in another pack and make stand alone games that are easily modable, bring back the pit crew animations like GTR2 and then we'd have some "GTR3" to play with, a few DLC here and there to keep them working, would be better for all of us IMO

 

[Óscar Melero]

I don't feel identificated with any of the 4 options in the poll. So I'll tell here the reasons who made me play it and the reasons who made me think twice about playing it (or not playing it), also known as PROS and CONS:
(It posted automatically, don't know why. I'm still writing this post and I will edit it.)

Pros:
1.- Look out there. Licensed titles at 50-60€ (F1, Nascar, WRC, etc). And you have DTM 2015 at 25€.
2.- Do you want more licensed titles? Are you looking for other thing? ADAC GT Masters (sort of GT3) at 23€, WTCC 2014 at 9€. DTM 1992 at 8€. Early DTM's at lower price than DTM 2015.
3.- The engine sounds. And not only the engine, as per the last major update. Believe me, you haven't listened to anything better than this. Ok, Metallica. But you haven't listened anything better than Metallica or R3E engine sounds.
4.- Graphics are pretty impresive for a f****ng DX9 engine. Visible example? rFactor runs on that. Yeah.
5.- Easy store, as iRacing. You want cars? Go to cars. Then find the class you want, then the car. Click on buy. Done. Looking for tracks? Same thing. It is not even necessary to buy vRP's, if you have money on your steam wallet, R3E Store will take the equivalent out of it. Easy and smooth.
6.- When you buy something, it won't download and steal you 30-40 min. to drive it. It is already in your HDD! When R3E updates it also downloads the content and it will unlock for your account once you buy it.
7.- Before, the free cars base was disgusting. Now it's pretty solid. Can drive all Canhards and all Prototypes (most popular cars on Multiplayer) and 2 circuits (most popular tracks on MP too).

Cons:
1.- It had the worst FFB in the history of Simracing (except mario kart), but since the new update is now... the same. Personally, I haven't found any difference.
2.- Raceroom Boating Experience should be a better title to this game. The cars feel like are floating like hoverboards.
3.- Store bugs sometimes and purchases don't transfer well sometimes.
4.- If you buy a single car and think "I only like this one, then I'll race the AI which will have all other cars!" it won't work. It works in MP, which is good, but not with AI. I tested it my self buying the most cheap GT3 car and it doesn't work.
5.- It is always online and it doesn't seem to change in the future. That means if S3 decides to go bankrupt again, boom: you lose every content. Unless S3 decides to give it as standalone as the did with Race07, which was good and logical.
6.- You can get a master at the Uni, then get married, then pay your children's master, then kick out this typical son who won't study and tell him to get a life and work, and see your other son get the same master as you did as a tear falls off your eye. You can do all that while it's loading a race. Ok, with the last major update not like that, but you can still get that master if you rush it really hard tho.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I've always been a fan of R3E and although I don't race on it as much as I would like (have to keep practising for the VTCC league at the mo) it's still one of the most enjoyable sims for me.

I spread my purchases out over a year (took advantage of the odd special offer too) and I only bought what appeals to me. Just purchased the DTM 2015 pack and enjoying that a great deal as well. Glad they've got the license for it as they do the cars justice (especially the soundtrack...)

Costs will always be a subject to argue over but the important thing to remember is the development team constantly make updates and are always adding new content as well to keep the game fresh and interesting. If they charged £50 for the game and THEN asked for more money for add-ons I wouldn't be too impressed. At least the game starts off as a free version.

As for mods @Will Mazeo I'm actually glad this sim doesn't have any. Why? Because they are a constant source or work. Updates tend to render mods unworkable. Every major update to Assetto Corsa seems to wreck all the mods I have so you tend to spend two weeks updating everything that's now decided to stop working, or end up deleting it as the poor creator has had enough of updating it every few months. Even GSCE (which is usually pretty kind to updates) has required a bit of work recently.

My only "mod" request (and this has been mentioned quite a bit already) is I would like to be able to do my own skins for the cars, even if you were limited to one per car, a custom DTM or Radical would be nice

The FFB issue I've never had but it's interesting I do have that "floaty" feeling in Rfactor 1. The only way I could rid of it was turning the FFB down until it disappeared, otherwise the cars always felt like a rowing boat on stormy water!

 

[xnorb]

Have you tried it with the new physics updates on the GTR3 and DTM 15 pack? Makes a big difference and with some very minor fine tweaking on your wheel settings the ffb becomes awesome!

If they don't bring physics / FFB improvments to their already existing content, then they don't deserve support as that's consumer-hostile money grabbing tactic.

So i wait for the updates to come to the content i already purchased before buying any new content and will then judge again. The biggest problem for me was the 180° steering lock with the G27 that seems to be connected to the Logitech profiler.

And coming from AC and GSCE i absolutely don't see it as my job to design great FFB.
I expect the sim to do that job for me.
Call me stubborn on that one, but that's how i see it.

 

[Tripokaridos]

I am on Raceroom From the first time ... I love the Simbin company and I also love the new Sector3 , all these years I am buying everything they have. Because I think they are really good on what they do.
So... about the cost of this game ,My problem isn't that I bought all the content far more expensive than all the other people also my problem is not the support that's amazing they always reply to my questions , and my problem is not the quality of the game, sounds are great , ffb now its amazing for my taste, and graphics maybe are not so good like Assetto or P.C. but they are light enough for old gen PCs , so that's a good think for some people with old GPUS.

The worst problem of all that makes me not play anymore even if I have ALL the content is my Friends. Its very annoying for me to try to play with them and Every one of them have a different content . deferent track different cars etch etch .
So we are 10 friends and there is no way to play with them without all of them have the same content as me . And they all told me why not We all buy Assetto corsa and play there ?
And you know what they are not wrong we just login on multi and play that's all.

On Raceroom we have to chat each other to find common track and car , every time , and lets say that we have 1 common car and track and play, the next time it would be boring .

All I want to say is , for me its not expensive ... but for some people is and that's make Online play really bad for me even If I have all the content . That's why I don't like it.

 

[kedy89]

Bought a lot of content during their summer sale, didn't pay attention to the one pack at time thingy for discounts at first and lost a bit. In the end it was still less than for AC+DLCs, for a similar amount of content. On top of that I have complete series with tracks, which is something I miss in AC.

Have to say I like their system, especially that you don't require all cars to be able to join a online race. Having said that I haven't actually played it that much yet, just a bit of ADAC offline.

 

[Tripokaridos]

About the FFB , for my taste its ok .... About Physics they feel a little bit different but they are better than P.C. for example.

Also I have a problem with my T300RS that's very annoying my Thrustmaste Profile has 900 Degrees of rotation on default and every time I play on Raceroom depending the car it keeps changing my degrees of rotation on THrustmaster profiler. For example I Use GT cars and every time get out of the game Profiler has 540 degrees.

 

[Martin Edmunds]

If they don't bring physics / FFB improvments to their already existing content, then they don't deserve support as that's consumer-hostile money grabbing tactic.

So i wait for the updates to come to the content i already purchased before buying any new content and will then judge again. The biggest problem for me was the 180° steering lock with the G27 that seems to be connected to the Logitech profiler.

And coming from AC and GSCE i absolutely don't see it as my job to design great FFB.
I expect the sim to do that job for me.
Call me stubborn on that one, but that's how i see it.

You are aware that when the new physic came to be they applied it to some of the free car right? That's right the cars you didn't spend a dime on. The pricing model thread is over done, it's becoming redundant.

I spent more on 3 f1 game by codemaster. I spent more on 2 NHL games ( Fifa or madden same) on my console. And I've been playing R3E for over 2 years now and still love it.

My only complaints about the pricing model? Is having to read the same tired comments, over and over and over and over and over .....
All we need now is the usual floaty comments from Msportdan and this thread been seen 100's of time before

 

[St3fan]

I wanted to buy something, but for example the ADAC GT Master 2013 costs around $19 at %70 off, which means the full price was $63 dollars, and this is scary.

The high price tag at full price means it is impossible for me to follow the game closely. I will have to wait and beg for a discount all the time, and I will keep playing contents 1 or 2 years old. Also this gives me a feeling that if I start buying content, I will be throwing lots of money into it constantly for new stuff, and I don't think I will have the game hours to make the purchase worthwhile.

 

[RichardHessels]

The completely screwed up FFB / steering input (floating car) is the only reason to not play R3E.
Especially with the G27 and the Logitech profiler R3E can be a real pain.

Content-wise the packs offer good value for the money and it's great that they offer complete racing series instead of just single cars like for example AC does.

Get rid of the damn logitech profiler.. modern sims don't need it anymore.
For me it did more harm than it did good.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Bought a lot of content during their summer sale, didn't pay attention to the one pack at time thingy for discounts at first and lost a bit. In the end it was still less than for AC+DLCs, for a similar amount of content. On top of that I have complete series with tracks, which is something I miss in AC.

Have to say I like their system, especially that you don't require all cars to be able to join a online race. Having said that I haven't actually played it that much yet, just a bit of ADAC offline.

Why not bite the bullet and jump in online at the raceclub, we are a friendly bunch and range in skills from me at the back to, well everybody else in front. Teamspeak's used but you are not required to talk, it's mainly for alerts as MP still hasn't got quickchat.

 

[PaulH]

I think its a very good Sim, the new updated physics on the GT3's and other's are a huge improvement for me. I've never had a problem with their pricing, I usually buy vRPs at discount then purchase what I want.
But, although I have alot of content, I've stopped buying more content at the moment, as much as I like the Sim, I would like to see much more features implemented, they say they are in the pipeline so to speak, but all I see is content, content, content, with a drip feed of features
And by features I mean Saving setups, tyre wear, fuel use, tyre temps, better pitstops, multi class racing(offline) off the top of my head. But I do like the way S3S devs are open & honest

 

[Alx^]

@xnorb G27's what I used and feels great (your mileage may vary of course). Both @Georg Ortner and @moritz1998 posted excellent settings over on their forum. The key was setting the spring effect strength and damper effect strength sliders in the logi profiler to 100% and enabling the game to change settings. Georg's are actually very close if not the same as the defaults for G27, so definitely try making a new profile (rename your old one first), coz you may like it now. Or not. Personal thing isn't it, ffb.