Graphics: 6/10
Some of the new shadow effects are nice, but a lot of the textures looks dated, some even look like they were nicked directly from NR2003! The grass in particular.

Physics: 9/10
Very good, but still not as groundbreaking as I expected it to be. I can tweak RACE 07 so it comes very close.

Sound: 7/10
Not much to say here. Dissapointed with most of it. The Silver Crown is the only one that really has some growl to it.

Gameplay: 6/10
ONLY online. They could have at least added a ghost car.

Value for money: 1/10
I can play other sims that give me similar experience, but at a fraction of the price.

Too. Bloody. Expensive.

This is supposed to be Racing Simulator, not a hole in my bank-account simulator.

Final Verdict:
I’m cancelling my subscription at the end of the month.
If I were a new potential customer, I would at least wait 6 months to a full year, to see where they are haeding with this.

Further to the point, iRacing is going to be severely constricted by licensing issues. Is the game able to be modified legally?
If not, the popular modding teams will continue to develop for Rfactor/GTR2/GTL etc, where their work is appreciated.

For the $13 a month I am paying,(if you include the $60 bonus credit, its really only $8/mth), it’s well worth it.

By saying that iRacing might go under is ludicrous.
I don’t see Billionaire John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and half owner of Roush Racing going broke anytime soon.

And those that do know him, also know that he is doing this for fun and not money, because he loves auto racing, no matter if it’s in the virtual world or the real one!

And if the world did stop spinning and iRacing’s died, at the very least, I’d have the memories and stories to tell about sim racing against some of the best real-life drivers in the world.

If you guys only knew who all races on iRacing…..

Wow, ive never seen such a backlash. Who cares if you will not pay for the service????? You dont HAVE to!

But, the way most semi-intelligent people would think about this is, hmmm, maybe i will try it, and if i dont like it, then i dont have to pay anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is shaping up to be a whole new world for sim racers, give it a chance! Or dont, i dont really care!!!

Subscriptions AND paying for cars and tracks ? I think thats taking the p…
The idea is great, the concept is promising and they they go and ruin it with a pricing scheme that is clearly either aimed at the more financially fortunate or they want to weed out the ‘rabble’ that get online and do it just to spoil races or dont take it seriously enough.

After watching SRT’s video I was interested. It sounded cool. Then… I saw the prices and like someone says, what if they go out of business ? (Hardly likely unless they spend all our money on Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s.)
But if they go down, what do you have to show for all you shelled out ? Zilch.

No subscription, no can use, no matter what you have previously paid!

This is just one of several reasons why I hope this “sim” fails.

While Rfactor/LFS/GTL/GPL/GTR2/RBR are starting to age graphically, it isn’t as if they are in dire need of replacing. While a new, polished sim would be fantastic, I cannot see Iracing being that sim. How are they possibly going to compete against open platforms (e.g. Rfactor/LFS) that offer top quality cars/tracks (Which are often aided in development by professional teams), and the most important aspect yet, they are free.

Sim-racing is about the driving and community feel, and a community that has to pay copious amounts of funding to have a trackday together doesn’t seem to fit in with the idealogies that we all know so well in our current niches.

WHY? Well if you can remember how Gran Turismo was on the PSX. You could NOT race the faster cars or the faster tracks until you passed some timetrials and won some races, which therefore “unlocked” them, and which also earned you a higher ranked “drivers” license. Allowing you to compete with the faster series.

iRacing is very similiar to the old GT, you start out on the bottom and race your way up. Most of iR’s racing season championships lasts around 12 weeks long, with a different race each week, which does require you to run a set minimum number of races during the whole 12 weeks season. More races and TT’s are required, the higher your license class becomes.

So to make a long story short, the most you would have to buy is a new car every 12 weeks, that’s if you earned a higher license, allowing you to compete with them. And maybe 1 or 2 tracks for each new series you run.

So if you pay for a one year sub, you only pay $13/mth. Plus you get $60 in iRacing money as a bonus, which can be used to buy the new car/series required to compete in the next higher “racing level” or 2 and/or 1 or 2 faster tracks (which most have atleast 2 different configurations) every 12 weeks.

So the most I see myself spending would be the extra 7 dollars a month I saved and thus owning the new cars/tracks and all the new updates as they come about, with my skill level as the only thing stopping me from reaching the top!

Check out this link for iRacing’s FAQ that grows everyday.
http://www.answers-script.com/iracing/index.php

You have access to your purchased cars and tracks, as long as you are paid up with your subscription fees…

To play a demo, traditionally a free thing to whet your appetite, you have to pay… More than a standard monthly fee!

Upto £25 (£13) for a single circuit with variations…

Who knows, maybe they will have enough takers at these steep prices to sustain the project and give them wages. Maybe they will all retire as multi-millionaires within a couple of years.

However, my hunch is that the current pricing scheme needs to at least half, in order for this project to thrive. Why limit your product to say 200 users at $200+, when you could have many more at a lower price, for not much more outgoings or effort?

iRacing seems to be attractive to an even smaller niche. Granted, since iRacing events are standardized and take place at set times with set classes, all subscribers will gather at once.

But how many subscribers do you think this game will attract out of the box? We’re all into PC sim racing, but this is very much a niche hobby as it is. And iRacing is “niching” it even further.

I’d be surprised if iRacing got 5,000 subscribers out of the box. Please correct me if I’m wrong and preorders have exceeded that total!

There’s nothing gradual or evolutionary about this pricing model. Online sim racing’s only expense has consisted of the initial purchase price. The only other expense has been the purchase of dedicated servers, which aren’t necessary.

Meanwhile, iRacing strolls in and initiates a subscription-based model that also charges for cars and tracks, resulting in a possible expense of hundreds of dollars per year.

That wouldn’t be a problem if a more gradual precedent had been set. But sim racing is essentially going from free to expensive, with little justification for that expense from iRacing other than prettier graphics, organized leagues and stat tracking. I’ve read nothing that indicates the physics are a quantum leap over other Kaemmer sims, especially if your computer or peripheral hardware aren’t cutting edge.

I see rFactor and other “free” sims as the equivalent of playing a round of golf at a world-class public course. Sure, some guys will get their rocks off by paying twice the greens fees to play a world-class private course, much like they will to play iRacing and achieve some sort of BS “hardcore sim racer” cred, but is it really worth it?

I have serious doubts.

Quite honestly I won’t miss any of the complainers and cheapskates, neither will iRacing.

The good stuff in life comes at a cost, so you deserve everything you are not paying for.

Freeloaders never amount to much anyway :twisted: