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!

 

[Greg Latty]

Hmm. I might give it a **** onw of these days. My issue is im still using a g27 at a computer desk. I want to vuikd my dedicated sim rig before i try and compete at that level

 

[kamackeris]

Except once you try it, it's hard to stop as the online experience is second to none. I haven't felt the tension and excitement playing other sims online as I often do on Iracing.

They often have 3 month free trials running where you get a couple free cars and tracks, so you might just change your mind once you try that. I've sunk about $200 into buying the cars and tracks I want and am now basically free of charge, as the race participation credits you get + black friday 1/2 price subscription deal means I only pay $5 a year from now on. Not bad!

i just can't get into it...i tried the mazda cup that you get for free and i just cannot get a feel of it at all. it just feels off to me

 

[Jim Liak]

OMG, i drove yesterday the Saleen.
Playing this one instead http://www.andkon.com/arcade/racing/hovercraftrace/ , should be more fun though...

 

[Jim Liak]

If that genuinely is your opinion I would suggest the problem lies with your hearing and/or audio equipment.

Do following test :

Hear this

Then load Raceroom and then AC and hear the same car.
If your memory is not good , you can try record it and hear them again.

Now tell me which one is closest to real one.

You will realize that raceroom is not even close.
Then repeat test for different cars.

You will realize that raceroom has indeed impressive sounds BUT they lack fidelity , they share the SAME samples across ALL cars for whining , gear changing, turbo etc .

I know that people will be get impressed by raceroom's sounds because that was their main goal, to impress.

Personally i prefer to hear sounds, closest to reality. Raceroom fails on this big time (actually fails in all areas, physics and FFB are laughable, AI too, graphics are old and sounds....already said ).

 

[Jim Liak]

People pressing "funny" on a post with facts are to say the least, funny.

 

[Ville-Samuli Mutanen]

It's kind of sweet how people likes to listen closely for GoPro videos and to think that is how cars should sound like..

People should buy one action cam and do some sound recording experiments with this 'brilliant' mic.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

Do following test :

Hear this

Then load Raceroom and then AC and hear the same car.
If your memory is not good , you can try record it and hear them again.

Now tell me which one is closest to real one.

You will realize that raceroom is not even close.
Then repeat test for different cars.

You will realize that raceroom has indeed impressive sounds BUT they lack fidelity , they share the SAME samples across ALL cars for whining , gear changing, turbo etc .

I know that people will be get impressed by raceroom's sounds because that was their main goal, to impress.

Personally i prefer to hear sounds, closest to reality. Raceroom fails on this big time (actually fails in all areas, physics and FFB are laughable, AI too, graphics are old and sounds....already said ).

I started thinking about doing this, then looking for youtube vids about it instead (as I'm at work atm), but I quickly realised that it's an utter waste of time. If you don't like it, don't play it, there's no reason or benefits for you to be here and try convince those who enjoy R3E that it's no good. Opinions are like you know what

 

[Kenny Paton]

I started thinking about doing this, then looking for youtube vids about it instead (as I'm at work atm), but I quickly realised that it's an utter waste of time. If you don't like it, don't play it, there's no reason or benefits for you to be here and try convince those who enjoy R3E that it's no good. Opinions are like you know what

Kjell, while I agree with you regarding people who appear on threads only to disparage a game they don't like and presumably don't play, I suppose when a thread has this title it is only to be expected. But he does seem to have went to a lot of effort and I'm sure knows better than the RL drivers who help with the game.

 

[Jim Liak]

I started thinking about doing this, then looking for youtube vids about it instead (as I'm at work atm), but I quickly realised that it's an utter waste of time. If you don't like it, don't play it, there's no reason or benefits for you to be here and try convince those who enjoy R3E that it's no good. Opinions are like you know what

So keep yourself cheated. I prefer not to.

Kjell, while I agree with you regarding people who appear on threads only to disparage a game they don't like and presumably don't play, I suppose when a thread has this title it is only to be expected. But he does seem to have went to a lot of effort and I'm sure knows better than the RL drivers who help with the game.

There are RL drivers that helps this game?They have much work to do then.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

So keep yourself cheated. I prefer not to.

Oh I will, I use a single measuring stick for my sims, the grin they put on my face, and R3E puts a huge one on mine so I could not care less whether you think it's unrealistic or bad.

 

[Jim Liak]

Oh I will, I use a single measuring stick for my sims, the grin they put on my face, and R3E puts a huge one on mine so I could not care less whether you think it's unrealistic or bad.

Can't argue with this. Personal taste. Mine is different. Enjoy.

 

[Greg Latty]

Can't argue with this. Personal taste. Mine is different. Enjoy.

IF you dislike the game so much....... Why are you in the forum? One might mistake you for a troll .. Just sayin. Im not an Iracing or Forza fan so I dont even bother to click on the forum. Not trying to be a dik. just curious as to what your motive is.

 

[Jim Liak]

IF you dislike the game so much....... Why are you in the forum? One might mistake you for a troll .. Just sayin. Im not an Iracing or Forza fan so I dont even bother to click on the forum. Not trying to be a dik. just curious as to what your motive is.

Because i own the game and there is vote which i answered and now telling why.
So i am on topic.
Are you?
If you are so curious about my motivation, why you asked me in public with this off topic post?

Who is the troll now?

 

[Brandon Wright]

Because i own the game and there is vote which i answered and now telling why.
So i am on topic.
Are you?
If you are so curious about my motivation, why you asked me in public with this off topic post?

Who is the troll now?

A non-troll response would have been something civilized like "I bought the game, but don't care for the physics or the AI or the sounds, so I don't play it and that's why I voted 'I have reasons for not playing the game'".

A troll response would have been "OMGZ, physics are the suck! OMGZ, sounds are the suck because they don't sound like a GoPro! OMGZ, AI is the suck! OMGZ, hovercraft racer is more fun! OMGZ, real world drivers obviously don't know what their own cars drive/sound like! People who like this game are the suck!"

Which category did your responses fall into?

 

[Jim Liak]

Of-course 1st one. Don't translate the words to your brain as you like. Just read them carefully and objectively.
Also i have posted a test for you. Still waiting for results.

Also you are still way off-topic. You are talking about me, while this thread is for the game.

 

[AndrewBo]

Please all stay ON-TOPIC ( Why Cost is Not a Reason Not to Play R3E) .
OFF-TOPIC posts will be deleted from now on. Thank you.

 

[Lorenzo Bonder]

From now ON, mr. @Andrew.

JUST SAYING,

and backing up what he said.

Stay in topic s'il vous plait.

Also drawing comparisons from GoPro cams to in-game sound? Please. For real now?

Second, if you nothing constructive to say other than mockery or troll-like negativity, then please don't post.

If you can prove it, tell me if any other sim gets the DTM feel as right as the DTM Experience 2015 does? I've tested PCars and not, it's doesn't match it and the URD T5 today is good but not as good the DTM Experience does.

Daniel Juncadella's feedback on this game was spot on

 

[Jim Liak]

Please all stay ON-TOPIC ( Why Cost is Not a Reason Not to Play R3E) .
OFF-TOPIC posts will be deleted from now on. Thank you.

Thank you, i was attacked on a personal level.

To summarize , i vote "I have other reasons not to play the game":
Because :

1. FFB : still is lacking. AC and rF2 are way better. There is zero information of what front tyres. You turn the wheel and you try to guess by looking and not feeling , if there is grip available.
Also there is some floating feeling. Updated cars have less, but there is still in some degree.
I can't understand why they fail so much in this area. Even Dirt or Pcars manage better. Mentioning RL drivers helping , makes thing that they have a lot of work to improve.
2. Physics : lacking big time. AC and rF2 are way better. They are really simplified to almost simcade levels.
3. Tyre model : lacking big time. AC and rF2 are way better. There is zero tyre management. Also no tyre flat spotting etc
4. Graphics : decent for directX9 but this is 2015. Better than rF2 but last one has to draw dynamic weather / tarmac / tyre flex etc. AC or PCars way better.
5. Sounds : everyone like them. I like some samples when in pits but as i said earlier, i believe that the goal is to impress and not to simulate real ones.
6. Price model : ridiculous. With my friends try to solve quantum mathematics to find a combination to play with.
7. Content : strong area. Although no laserscanned tracks, no road cars and the simplified physics makes me wonder , if what i drive has anything to do with real one.
8.AI : laughable
9. Online : huge problems. Always someone is lagging / disconnecting. Few options. Every time i see that i can't alter fuel makes me say WTF?

9 reasons why i am not playing this mediocre game and play Assetto Corsa which is way better on all those areas or rF2 which lacks in graphics /content but is way better on everything else.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

Guess I'm lucky, as I can enjoy all three of them

 

[Alx^]

A much more constructive post, nice one Jim I sort of agree with some points, and disagree with others, but that's personal taste I guess. As Kjell said, we're lucky to be able to play them all.

Couple of things, I think they need a minimum force slider in R3E. I'm sure that's causing some ffb issues for people. Also, people having the floaty feeling... putting the in-game damper slider to 13% with a little bit of spring, say 10-15%, seemed to solve it for me. Obviously my settings might be different to what others need, but it's worth playing with those anyway to see if they make any difference.