I certainly enjoyed the Sim for the month I used it and those Spec Racer Fords look a whole lot of fun .

Sadly I doubt I’ll be able to afford it for a long time yet .

the.cosmic.pope:
FYI – iRacing does not “demand” £20 for every track. The most expensive piece of iRacing content is $25
Also need to get over this “demands” thing. Apple does not “demand” £300 for an iPhone. Microsoft does not “demand” £180 for an x-Box. Those are the prices of the items, just like $20 is the price of an iRacing item. Nobody demands anything and you don’t have to pay it.

Sorry should have been a dollar sign in my original post.

Again have to disagree. When you’re promoted after season end, something that was becoming quite easy to do you have to buy “atleast” 2 tracks and a car for the upcoming season. You “Cannot” race the next tiered season otherwise and are stuck in the current season you just raced. Sure you can stay put but most if not all race to get the next car up.
To jump from the Pontiacs to the skippy costs over £30 as well as the monthly charge.
It’s just to much for most. Spending hundreds of pounds over the coming year on a game.
All I’m saying is if they just halved the cost you would get alot more players trying out the game and old returning.
You make it sound like this would be a bad thing. I’d thought most if not all would be rallying for lower costs.

Tim Wheatley (iRacing): I understand what you’re saying. But, because I see this comparison a lot, I feel I must say…

…and fictional, requiring no research or complex development. I played EVE-Online for a while and it’s ships are obviously plug and play – you enter values of weight, cargo, speed, etc and it does it’s thing. The complex part is the model – which is also fictional and at the modellers disgression – rather than having to be an exact replication of a real object and work reasonably like one.
The physics in EVE are also ‘original’. Like I said, I played it myself for nearly two years, but it’s awfully easy to see how much awfully easier it would be to give away that type of content for free.

Good point, Tim. However, what about when compared to games like WWII Online which comes in at, if I remember correctly, $15/month? Realistic vehicles, damage modeling, constant physics improvements, community events, free game upgrades/updates, France modeled in just about it’s entirety, a ton of vehicles, ships, aircraft, infantry, day – night transitions, and extremely good developer to community contact. The development team also provides fairly quick updates.

Eve, like you stated, is “original”, and is all fantasy. Games like WWII Online are not. The idea is “original” with regards to it’s inception into MMOG, but what makes up the final product is all based on history.

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I am not “going after” iRacing at all. In fact, I am a year long subscriber and have purchased just about all the cars as well as the tracks. In addition, I find it to be the best driving simulation in existence and really enjoy the product. It is just hard to justify the current cost to others when there are products out there, albeit in different generes, that do much more for less. A product, like WWII Online, requires just as much research if not more since most of what is modeled based on what happened and what was used 50+ years ago. Not to mention the entire game world is based on the terrain from a different country (the development team is based in Texas).

I think what it really comes down to is what people look at with regards to value. In all actuality, and I hate using the comparison, I spend much less on iRacing than I ever did going to the bar/club/movies/etc.. Skipping the movies 1 time in a month saves me more money than I spend on iRacing’s subscription, and the movie lasts 2 hours. Personally, I have no problem putting $20/month towards iRacing because I feel like I get a lot more than $20 “worth” of fun back. Nobody “must buy” all of the tracks or all of the cars to enjoy iRacing. There is quite a bit of fun to be had for not all that much money (relatively speaking).

In the end, however, it really is to each his own.

The iRacing content varies between $15 (all cars and small tracks), $20 (medium tracks) and $25 (larger tracks). So if we take $20 as an average (despite that being a bit high for an average due to the cars bringing the average down) then iRacing charges (not demands) £13.50 for a piece of content.

Also need to get over this “demands” thing. Apple does not “demand” £300 for an iPhone. Microsoft does not “demand” £180 for an x-Box. Those are the prices of the items, just like $20 is the price of an iRacing item. Nobody demands anything and you don’t have to pay it.

Spaceman:

Now you tell me they why they CCP didn’t ask for any cash and yet the devs of iRacing demand £20 for a single track.

Because it is a niche product with less than 10,000 active subscribers. The current content prices don’t even cover the costs of developing the content. That is why. EVE Online probably has hundreds of thousands of subscribers, which means they can give content away for free.

And thanks for informing my ignorant ass on the climate situation. I guess I’m just lucky enough to live in a city where it seems like 95% of the people are lazy students, which leaves a ton of jobs for people like myself and my friends and family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansions_of_Eve_Online

Now you tell me they why they CCP didn’t ask for any cash and yet the devs of iRacing demand £20 for a single track. Almost the price of a new PC game. It makes you think doesn’t it.

I’m not saying iracing is poor but the pricing is far to optimistic for a simple pick up and drive game.
If you want to treat this as a MMO then you need to find ways to keep the money rolling in without players questioning is the game worth it each month.

Spaceman:
EVE Online is cheaper and all extra content is free.

…and fictional, requiring no research or complex development. I played EVE-Online for a while and it’s ships are obviously plug and play – you enter values of weight, cargo, speed, etc and it does it’s thing. The complex part is the model – which is also fictional and at the modellers disgression – rather than having to be an exact replication of a real object and work reasonably like one.

The physics in EVE are also ‘original’. Like I said, I played it myself for nearly two years, but it’s awfully easy to see how much awfully easier it would be to give away that type of content for free.

Last season probably did have more activity as iracing sent out welcome back e-mails with a reduction one off payment of $21 Even I was tempted to come back for 3 months at that price. Why they cannot do this all the time I don’t know.
At the time the Dollar to UK Pound was almost 1.1 Up until that point we were paying close to £20 ($38) Doubt many state side would pay that. It’s better now. Down around the £13.50 mark. Still to expensive. EVE Online is cheaper and all extra content is free.
We’ll see how busy the servers are next month when the offer ends.
I just hope rFactor 2 doesn’t try the same route.

Spaceman:
Fact is numbers are down in iracing as people begin to count costs.

Not true. Last season had more activity than any season before that. Confirmed by the staff and stats done by members.

stabiz:
Or optimistic.

drowsy:
I love it when people talk about “the current climate”. I honestly have no idea what it means, because I’m still earning and spending the exact same amount I was a year or two ago.

The “current climate” means that unless you work in medicine, the government sector or the legal field, your job is at risk more than at any time in this generation.

So the wise thing to do is to reduce unnecessary expenditures — such as iRacing — and put those dollars into a “rainy day” fund in case your business slumps or your job is trimmed.

If you’re in a business that isn’t affected by the recession, consider yourself lucky. If you’re not in one of those businesses and are not preparing for the worst, consider yourself stupid.

Anyway, the SRF is an amazing car to drive. I might just keep driving it and the Skippy for the next couple of months, the faster cars are fun but it’s generally race over if you make the slightest mistake with them. That’s realistic, but I really love battling for positions with these slower cars because a small slide on the first lap doesn’t mean that you have no chance to catch the drivers in front of you.

UncleChuckle:
Wow, they charge more per month than the biggest MMORPG in the world.
Ballsy!

The cheapest option costs the same as the cheapest WoW subscription.

Having said that I found iRacing to be THE best fun I’ve ever had with a racing sim to date. The online racing is hard but fair. The physics modelling sublime and most importantly how the cars feel through the input wheel feels spot on. Only game since maybe Grand Prix Legends were I feel totally in charge of the car and any mistakes are my mistakes.
If the sub and cost of cars and tracks was halved I would easily pay out for this each month.
I really miss it.

Ballsy!