How realistic is Sim Racing?

[Skybird]

Threadfin, you should try out Raceroom. It has gone a longer way than any other sim out there, maybe. After SimBin' collapse the sim wea spoicke dup and redone froms cratch by suriovivors of that desaster. I came to it when that happened, and I never regretted it.

The best sim for GT3 and GT4 class, is Competizione. In these domains, Competizione reigns, is second to none. Cockpit immersion is overwhelming, too (talking from VR perspective).

Assetto Corsa Classic is still a superb platform and has one overwhelming argument in its favour: modding, tracks. When they released their tech demonstrator with the Lotus Elise, I think, in 2013, I was hooked from day one on. It was lightyears ahead of any driving sim I had tried until then.


That both Raceroom's and Assetto Corsa's physics gurus both hold eal world racing licenses and have experience (Raceroom's Alex Hodgkinson logged his first training laps in courses together with a certain David Hamilton...), and also studied the physics and engineering aspect of the business, unites for both sims practical driving experience and mathematical background knowledge. And this shows. Better it does not get: theory meets practice, practice meets theory.

[Threadfin]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have Assetto Corsa, the original. It's good, but never quite lit my fire. I think the reason is I get the most enjoyment out of robust career modes, which a sim like F1 2021 does well.

I like sports cars, GT cars and that sort of thing fine. But having a compelling career mode is the most important thing for me, it's the same as flight sims or anything really.

Even a game like Combat Mission which is great, I only play campaigns, never single scenarios. This carries over through most of my simming. And unfortunately perhaps, some games get ignored as a result. DCS is a victim, as the devs never have understood how to give the player the proper playground for their amazing models. On the other hand I still fly Falcon 4 and maybe always will. I can easily wave aside fidelity issues in exchange for good career modes in all of these sims.

[Skybird]

You can define your very own seasons/time tables both in ASC and RR. Length of seaosn, circuits, cars, race lengths, pitting or not, all can be set by you. Or join a seaosn table when preferring online. For the latter dont ask me, i don't play online much. Competizione has a championship mode, too, but I never tasted it. But hey, Competizione is the official title for the Blancpain series, so... go figure.


I did complete season championships in Grand Prix 1 ( ), and years ago i did two DTM seasons in Raceroom.

[mapuc]

I've tried this Raceroom, playing it with the keyboard isn't fun.

On my wish list this Christmas is steering wheel and pedal.

Markus

[Skybird]

A G29 already gets you started. Quality pedals are priority, especially brake pedal, for the reasons explained in the video. Good wheel does not make you faster (but raises immersion and enjoyability), good brake pedal does.



It seems we had this conversation some months ago? Or was it somebody else?

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Skybird

A G29 already gets you started. Quality pedals are priority, especially brake pedal, for the reasons explained in the video. Good wheel does not make you faster (but raises immersion and enjoyability), good brake pedal does.



It seems we had this conversation some months ago? Or was it somebody else?

No it was you and me who had this discussion.

Since my mom and my sister ain't rich I can not wish for some expensive equipment.

Markus

[Threadfin]

Your mom and sister?


For many years I've been in to racing sims, as mentioned above. I have a good wheel and pedals set. Works great. But it's bulky, and in the way when I'm not actually racing. The pedals must displace my Crosswinds. Logistically, it's inconvenient (what a struggle eh?) So in a sense it's a bit of a pain in the rear to keep setting it up and putting it away when I'm done racing.

When I bought F1 2020 a year ago I thought I'd just see if I could get on with a controller. I didn't expect I'd like it. I watched a comparison video of a split screen between a driver using a wheel and one using a controller, and I could not tell which was which. I expected the wheel driver to be smooth, and the controller to reveal itself with hesitating movement as the driver makes constant adjustments with digital instead of analog input.

It took some time and number of laps to tweak the settings to find the right ones for me. And that was that. I've raced F1 2020/21 with a controller since. I know from experience it does not translate so seamlessly in all racing sims, but in this one it works marvelously well. I'm using a USB X Box controller that cost like $20. So, depending on the sim, you might find you don't need an expensive wheel/pedal setup to get started. YMMV.

It's really a comfortable way to go for me, not only avoiding the peripheral dance, but I also don't need to maintain any particular seating attitude, I never would have guessed I'd be racing a sim this way, but I do.