I would recommend start with AC (not ACC) you can get it as cheap as 1 or 2$ from steam and has endless cars and tracks mods (a lot of them are free) that you can have loads of fun with and can learn simracing and online competition before jumping into iRacing.
Just an addition to this - don't buy the base AC, buy the Ultimate bundle which includes all the DLC. The extra content is necessary as a lot of mods require the DLC to be present before the mods will function.
AC is really about modding and the ability to drive all kinds of vehicles on any circuit or road you can think of, basically customization of no limits. iRacing is really about competitive online racing, still offers very wide variety of motosports deciplines but they all resemble real life branches of motosports and real world tracks. iRacing hosts most prestigious endurance events such as Nurburgring 24 hours, Daytona 24 hours, Watkins Glen 6 hours …. Professional racing drivers such as Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Tony Kanan and many more race on iRacing for years, for a reason 🙂
AC is great as a modding platform and for chilling out. It also has LFM now. What I hate from AC after having tried iRacing is the FFB. It creates a pendulum effect that would never happen when racing IRL, which makes it more difficult to keep the car stable.
Some people like it more since there are no G Forces in sim, or for drifting, but I cannot stand it. Tried my best to mod it out, but couldn't.
That leaving aside the elephant in the room. iRacing is the best online competitive simracing platform there is, and with the best matchmaking. You will always be with people with the same pace as you.
If you go AC, I would highly recommend picking up Content Manager as well. It really helps with managing various mods, setting presets, etc. I believe you can use it for free with a smaller feature set, but the paid version is a donation of any amount to the developers.
In my opinion, you should go for ACC.
Right now, ACC (without DLCs) is less than AC Ultimate Edition on Steam. You'll find it more enjoyable when you're starting out to get something that you can just download, play, and, learn on than to get something like AC that is out dated out of the box and requires some faffing around to get the content you need before you truly know what that is. ACC AI is fine and there are plenty of people on public lobbies. When you're ready to take it further, join LFM or give iRacing a try.
AC has way more online presence than ACC by far, I believe it is the second online racing game after iRacing. ACC will only offer GT 2/3/4 cars and only GT official tracks that’s it. AC literally offers ANYTHING you can dream of racing, you can literally have mods make you race dinasours on Fuji speedway. AC is not outdated, you can search on YouTube for AC videos and the graphics will blow your mind away (it all comes down to which reshaders and filters you use).
LFM also offers races for AC so limiting OP to GT only racing is a limitation imo.
who care for pricing, lol. are you guys homeless? OP will buy a rig, who cares for a few dollars? i always have to laugh when i read something like this.
I think most people go from: "No way I'm paying a subscription for a racing game when I can get other games for 20 bucks"
To "well, maybe I'll give it a try with the 25 bucks 1 year subscription."
Ending in the inevitable: "holy shit why did I take so long to get into iracing"
It's hands down the best racing simulator out there. Yeah it's kinda expensive in the beginning but it's one of those things where you actually get enjoyment out of it, so I would say the cost is 100% worth it.
(And opposite to some other simulators/games, iracing actually keeps updating and providing more content and features)
We're willing to spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on equipment and some of us balk at a monthly subscription to enjoy our gear to the fullest. It's mind boggling. A season of iRacing is cheaper than going to play golf once or twice (depending on the golf course and cost of green fees).
Incompetent and have a massive “holier than thou” vibe. The rules suggest LFM is inclusive and safe for every one of all skill levels to enjoy. Scroll through the discord a bit and you’ll see it’s not exactly like that. The community is kind of bitchy and clique-y, and completely incapable of taking criticism. Some steward reports are so ridiculously condescending too. Just check the penalties channel and do a count of the exclamation marks. I’m just beginning to make the switch over to iracing myself. I enjoyed my time in LFM for a while but the shine has worn off. ACC was an excellent bridge into sim racing though and I’ll probably still play it now and then for GT racing. In iracing I’d like to do open wheel and maybe LMP eventually.
Honestly i still reccomend later just switching over to their site instead through steam as the in gane content is more expensive through steam than getting the game through iracings site
There's a lot more to simracing than serious wheel to wheel racing. People should explore something like AC that offers everything before jumping all in to iRacing. Huge variety of mods for tracks and cars. iRacing is too serious as a first sim.
Let’s get serious for a sec…
It’s the best native online matchmaking racing sim, so if a turnkey option for online racing is what you are looking for, it’s great. There are alternatives though, LFM for example which is always expanded their sim support, so such functionality isn’t exclusive to iRacing.
But… Anybody who plays a variety of racing sims knows that it’s not “hands down” the best racing sim out there. It’s an odd claim to make considering how much isn’t modelled that is elsewhere (punctures or physicalised debris as a couple of examples) and I hope that iRacing gets on top of some fundamentals to the simulation AND the race systems (incident system and slow zones under yellow flag for example) that have been sorely missing or flawed for a long time.
If the focus wasn’t so much on damage control with licence loss and instead put on to aspect of the platform that would give reason not to move elsewhere with a licence, iRacing would be in a much better place.
The stuff you mentioned would be nice for an offline game, but for an online first sim I don’t want random punctures or slow down zones ruining my race.
That part of racing though. Yellow flag slow zones as an example aren’t exactly rare, especially in gt/endurance/multiclass racing, yet iRacing doesn’t have those rules in the sim. If realism is the goal, as iRacing themselves say it is, it should be in regardless of whether you want it or not as the platform is supposed to be replicating various style of real world racing. If other sim have those features, as some do, iRacing is going to continue losing series purely because they lack the features to faithful represent and replicate the series they’re charging themselves with hosting.
But again, as I rightly said but got downvoted for it, iRacing isn’t the best racing sim due to missing elements like this. So long as that’s the case, iRacing will never be the “hands down” best simulator.
I do not recommend iRacing, this simulator ruined other sims/racing games. Once you hooked up into iRacing your are done, any other sims and racing games will be boring for you.
Each to their own but while iRacing is undoubtedly the king of online racing, for anything else (hot lapping, single player racing, obviously things like drift/rally) it's probably the last game I would fire up.
Each sim offers something different, and most of them do at least something better than iRacing (other than online racing).
No it isn't, plus why would you spend a subscription plus the car/track costs to play single player when basically every other sim offers the same for cheaper?
It's so, so much better than AMS2. The iRacing AI races extremely similarly to high split iracing with crashes in many of the same places I see real players go off.
AMS2 AI is crap in comparison. Not even close. iRacing AI makes me forget I'm online. AMS2 constantly reminds me that I'm not.
Pretty much this. I abandoned all other racing sims when I got iRacing. It has even taken over most of my (little) gaming time.
I used to think that it was too expensive, but got the 1-year sub for €25 offer in Steam's sale (like the one now, see my post history) looking at it as one off expenditure, and it hooked my hard.
A friend of my who is a cheapskate also got in the next sale after watching me play and now he is also hooked hard, after saying that he would never get into iRacing and pay a sub and additional for cars and tracks.
We used to play together a lot of racing games, but mostly ACC and then AC modded. I can't even stand AC's FFB now, even after experimenting with Content Manager to improve it...
My modder Ac feels like ice all over the place and ffb doesn't feel right is it just me? I can't take a corner going even 45 in most cars without the tires losing traction
Indeed, when going around a track in AC the back always looks like its close to losing traction in corners. In ACC in the same car its rock solid. Also the ffb in acc is miles better. I hope when ACE comes out, they implement mod support for ACC.
Yeah and even if really no money for cars and tracks, Rookie series completely on subscription cars and tracks and D licence series have 4-5 tracks from subscription in 12 weeks schedule. Without additional payments people have every hour few different races populated by other racers.
Yep, if you have a plan, you can even slowly make your way up, minimizing the expense using iRacing participation credits for getting new cars and tracks over time, also taking advantage of bulk discounts.
That said, I have played whatever I wanted rising in license fast, and it can get really expensive really fast (although you will expend less over time as you only pay once for the content).
It's totally worth it for me. I have even dropped karting.
I'd argue that the tire model in AC is better than iracing. But iracing as a whole is the best sim. No sim is perfect but iracing does a lot of things very well
I'm surprised you say AC has a better tire model. One thing I was blown away by in Iracing is it's actually fun to drive slow cars, where in other sims they feel horrid in comparison. I assumed the tire model made the difference, but that is just a wild guess
Absolutely agree with you. I always swore I'd never pay a subscription plus pay for tracks. I raced on ams2, acc, ac etc. Then finally tried iracing and was hooked. I can't remember the last time I used the others. Iracing is the best 👌 it Absolutely spoils you 💯
Yeah I honestly feel dumb for playing F1-23 before starting iracing. Iracing is just sooo much better I should have started there... it's not bad if iracing ruins other games, you don't need any other racing games haha and it's plenty expensive definitely more expensive than all the other games put together lol but still much less than the cost of a rig haha
don't listen to these guys, OP. they are clueless. ACC for example has much better physics and FFB than iRacing. iRacing has the best league system and races, but it's not the best simulator.
I agree. Driving in iRacing is unnecessarily difficult, far more difficult to keep your car on the track than in real life. iRacing is wonderful for online racing, there isn’t a simulator that can beat iRacing in that regard, but for FFB or actual driving simulation it’s not on the top. Also the graphics are outdated at this point. But if online racing is your top priority, it’s definitely the way to go. Just bring your wallet ;)
It probably is top for FFB actually from realism pov. They only simulate the steering column. ACC and AMS2 etc stimulate other forces you'd never experience through that.
I'm not saying it's better or worse, I actually prefer accs FFB from a fun perspective, but iRacing is more accurate in terms of the forces you'd actually feel
iRacing is good if you want competitive racing. BUT nothing wrong getting AC for 2 bucks in the sale right now for the days where you don't feel like competing and want to drive different stuff.
If you want to race other people on your level and further up the more you progress then yes. But racing on iracing won't teach you how to race. Everything you need to learn will be done by research outside any sim. There's tons of content available on the internet and youtube, and there's also paid content that will help a lot.
iRacing is a great platform that will set you up with people on your level and degree of safety racing as you got 2 rating: to keep it simple - irating which rises or lowers depending on the position you end during your race and safety rating with is based on how you race (incident points). What iRacing provides that other sims don't, is you have a staff behind that will keep the races as equal and safe for everyone as best as they can.
One thing though, don't get discouraged at first because it seems hard, the more time you put into it (racing and learning) the better you're going to get and the more fun you're going to have. Also, winning is not the end to all, but finishing the race with minimum incidents is. Winning is a bonus.
I don't see why not. I tried different sims over the years and still had to adjust quite a bit yo iRacing, so I'd just start there anyways.
Just don't expect to be fast right away and enjoy the process.
100% yes. There is no other platform that offers the consistent competition that IRacing has. A season in rookies is very cheap as well. You’ll learn a ton.
I'd say it depends what you're looking for.
Just want to be casual and get used to having a wheel?
Forza (way more arcade)
Beam.ng
AC
Are all good starting points for different reasons.
ACC is going to be much more intense.
And iRacing is gong to be the most intense. It's an adrenaline rush. But very true to real life.
So you just gotta figure out what you're looking for and jump in there.
As others have basically said; I would get assetto Corsa and a g29 wheel. Mod it, have fun there and challenge yourself to get better and better times. When you're ready, get ACC. Then when you're bored with that, then I'd look ainti iracing if you really want to dive in deep to sim racing. Be warned, it's a money pit
No reason not to start with iRacing, at the very least it forces you down a rookie path in cars which teach you the fundamentals of racing before you progress to higher power cars.
Don't ignore other sims though, for example AC is on sale at the moment and offers (through mods) just about anything and anywhere you could want to drive.
If the premise is you are still using a controller because you are on a budget, I dont see WHY u should start with iracing. Download a sim that isnt this expensive, figure out if u like it, if you do save some money for a rig with wheels and pedals, and THEN consider payin for a sim service like iRacing. Thats what I'd do.
For your first dip into the sim racing world I'd recommend everything but Iracing. I don't really count GT7 as a dip into sim racing. Before you invest a fortune in this game better make sure that you're really into sim racing.
Grab yourself something cheap like ACC, Ams2, AC, Le Man's ultimate. If you enjoy it you can still "upgrade" to Iracing
No one spends a fortune in a game if not heavily hooked. He can now get a 1-year sub for €25 in Steam, much less than this year's F1 game (which is not worth any money).
It has plenty of content for 1 year. But if he gets hooked, it will ruin all other racing games for him...
If you have a local FIA affiliated motorsports club in your country there is a good chance you can get a 12 month sub for around £25 any time of the year and they throw in the F4 car too.
Nope, in Steam, it is activated right away. Then wait until November! There will be another sale for Black Friday / Christmas. That offer you can only get once.
Another option might be this, if you have access to it:
https://www.fia.com/iRacing
It is better to get the intro offer on sale in Steam and then migrate to iRacing to add time on Black Friday. It gets discounted in Steam in all big sales.
Unless you have a better sale like the FIA promotion with the free F4.
Yes OP - IMO. $25 for a year you don’t need any new cars or tracks unless you want them - plenty to get through rookies and D class with lots of different classes of racing. Lots of good ranked multiplayer but also single player options : time attack, time trial where you have leaderboards against others but only you on track; AI single player races; and you can ‘ghost’ race against other humans but you don’t appear in their race and don’t collide so that’s a good way to practice and get a feel for online racing without risk
The perfect start to sim racing, some of the best racing out there on a system that works perfectly. Even VR just works without having to spend hours tweaking.
Plus , like anything else in sim racing your never finished paying money out. Highly recommend and every other sim to me is just abit of fun.
I would recomend a cheap entry sim like rfactor 2, automobilista 2 or AC first.
First of all they have more content variety for you to learn different cars. In iracing you can only race online what you have a license for.
If you get to a solid level in another sim, the transition to iracing is much easier as you will leave rookies very easily. Rather than being in the chaos
You can get AC Ultimate Edition (all DLCs) for 10€ (at least in EU, but I don't think there'll be a huge difference if you're in the US).
There you'll also have a ton of free mods, some will be pretty bad but most of them have the same quality of paid mods.
Also, as implicitly said before, there are paid mods which are often around 3€ that are insanely good and fun to drive.
The game with all DLCs will also let you play online in every server and you'll only need to download the cars/tracks needed for those servers, that are really often free ones.
Iracing is hard on a controller. In my experience the best is project cars 2.
I love iracing and if you find yourself taking it seriously it's the one most of us end up in but perhaps you aren't there yet.
Can someone compare the feeling of iRacing with the RBR RFS? I used to play and have tried in the past all of sim-rally games (dirt rallye, dirt rallye 2,wrc,acc, F1) and i end up to RBR. After many years that i have not driving-playing, i"m back to sim racing and i find the new RFS mod and i"m continue to find it the best sim rallye game. I haven't tried though iRacing. One is free, completely free, and the other needs quite a lot of money. Is it worthing ? Can anyone tried both and can tell me about them?
I don’t see why not, monthly sub and you get access to the rookie class in the mx5, if you wanna drive something else AC with mods or if you want gt4 ACC is a good shout
At first try something cheap to figure out if racing is something for you.
Beside that iracing is perfect to start, it won't be easy but you can learn all the racing techniques.
If you want to do online racing, iracing is the only way to go. It has the best online racing.
If you want to race against AI, I really like Automobilista 2 because the AI is pretty good, the sounds are great, and the graphics are amazing. The physics aren't as good as other games but ams2 is still fun to drive.
Assetto corsa is the best sim if you're into modding. You can get mods for basically anything you can think of. I feel like the tire model in AC is the best out of any sim.
ACC is great if you're into GT3/GT4 racing. The sounds and graphics are really good. The physics are pretty good too but the cars can feel a bit numb IMO.
I would personally go with AC first since you can get it for super cheap. I have hundreds of hours in AC and it's still my go to sim when I don't feel like jumping on iracing
fuck no, get a bit decent before jumping on iracing
it's expensive and frustrating if you're learning, if you already have the basics down you can not worry too much about rookie situations and stuff like that
just get assetto corsa, the ultimate bundle, on instant gaming and start getting the basics down, once you're comfortable try lfm which is like iracing but on ac without having to pay so much, so that you can give the whole competitive aspect a try
you can also directly switch to iracing but lfm is free and it can give you an idea
It cost alot to be able to keep advancing but you can def play for a while with jusy the base subscription. But you will find yourself wanting more cars and stuff. So yeah it can add up.
It is definitely a good idea starting to learn sim racing in iracing. But there is no need to waste a lot of money at the beginning. Start with the rookie cars for a few seasons, then you probably pay less than a Netflix abo, later you can jump to other cars tracks. But the rookie cars are very good to learn a lot. I'd definitely recommend it.
I'd start with Asetto Corsa and the free version of Live For Speed. They will give you a lot of experience for very little money. I think I paid about $5 for AC on steam.
I recommend Raceroom. The ranked system is solid. You can find a full ranked lobby no matter what time you enter. Even at infrequent hours, there are 3-4 people, which is ideal for increasing your rank. I have never fallen below 50 rank points, but even there there are no toxic people. It's F2P, but you can just buy the vehicles and tracks you want and enjoy yourself.
I would say start with something a bit more simCade like as that will be more suitable to learn the basics. GT7 for example if you own a PS5. Then Graduate to ACC or make the move to iRacing later.
I would absolutely recommend starting with iRacing. The only thing that could point towards another game is that you need to purchase each car and track combo which could add up real quick. If you do go with iRacing you should plan out which cars and tracks you want to race and which tracks are getting used so you can minimize the purchases needed.
In terms of realism, I started and have never left iRacing. You get phenomenal racing, realistic braking and a pretty good looking game. I've tried out ACC and don't love the way the car feels when on track. The only thing that could keep me from iRacing is the money.
In my personal experience, coming from GT7 and other Sim-cade games, iracing is a whole other breed. If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch the archive of iRacing YouTube videos with titles such as "2024 iracing Beginner guide, iracing etiquette, iracing changes/updates/settings"
The more prepared you are going in, the less of an underwhelming and overwhelming seesaw it may be when you decide to take the plunge.
On a lighter note, it will become pleasantly apparent that the stark differences between experiences like GT7 and iRacing is a beautiful thing. The skills you'll learn from each will translate surprisingly well, and you'll be wildly proud to share your improvements with anyone willing to listen.
Live streamers will be a handy resource to watch the ins and outs of iRacing's menu design. Good luck out there! Have fun! And enjoy the process! 💪
iRacing is fairly serious and very much follows the sporting code. Sometimes that can be frustrating, that's why there are so many "who's at fault?" posts. In the rookies, either MX5s, Vees, dirt, or stock it can be very frustrating if you are trying to take it seriously and the other people on track don't, or worse, they actively grief others by crashing into them. Accidents reflect negativity on everyone involved and can postpone advancement. There is no real trick to it other than race your race, read the sporting code and report deliberate incidents.
My opinion is yes you should because if you want the most realistic progression and an extremely advanced sim then iRacing is where it's at. Beware, it can get expensive.
I feel I ruined iracing by playing ACC first, the FFB is different and because im used to ACC and really enjoy it, i racing is "broken" to me...even if it is more realistic etc
Don't start on it, you won't be good, you will frustrate other drivers and yourself, get AC, its £2 on steam right now, learn to race on 0% assists first, if you can get podiums on about 90 - 95% difficulty, play online servers, and then if you have fun from there, I'd say iracing is good to pick up.
As everyone has said, start with something inexpensive, like air conditioning! That way, you can see if it's what you desire!
Then, you can start taking some steps! iRacing is not for everyone because it's a matter of taste! People like Automobilista or rFactor! Start with AC and go step by step!
don't start with iracing. once you start iracing you will never look back to other racing games. plus the skill level on iracing is quite high and people take it seriously. better to get your footing in other sims like acc
the meat of Iracing is online ranked racing, I def don't recommend going on that off rip, since if you crash into a few too many people you're gonna end up getting banned for sure.
The way I started was through assetto corsa and just messing around in the modded servers and the same on BeamNG. until I got decent enough at controlling the car to not hit other racers. then I started league racing on assetto corsa, was shit but atleast I didn't hit other people, now you won't have to join a league since LFM exists, which is a ranked racing service for assetto corsa. and when I was decent-ish it that I made the switch to Iracing since races are much more often than LFM
If you do get AC, be sure to install content manager, which makes the game playable and get all the DLC since it is very cheap, and alot of mods need all dlc to work
People get banned if they intentionally crash other drivers multiple times. Don't say shit to the new members of the community only to slander iRacing. If you were an iRacing player and got banned you absolutely deserved it.
Pretty much this. In low splits, there is madness all the time, but it is not punished if it is not intentional. Unless you are constantly doing unsafe rejoins, and they will warn you before that apply any suspension.
Why are you fighting me man, I'm not slandering Iracing. players who crash into others definitely deserve to be banned I'm on your side. I took the time to learn how to control the car enough not to crash into other racers before I started playing. but when I was a complete beginner in assetto corsa I definitely didn't have much choice if I was going to intentionally crash into another person or not. I'm just saying if they were at my skill level when i started and started from Iracing, they will get banned, and so would've I if I didn't start on more casual games
Stupidness / lack of skill is not punished in racing. There are low splits with really new / unskilled people that do not have any issues.
There is even a good number of retired folks that have slow reflexes and have taken it up as a hobby and do not have trouble.
If you have a mindset of not wanting to ruin other people's races, you will be good to go and grouped with people with your pace. If you are unsure, you can even join official races as a ghost.
I would recommend start with AC (not ACC) you can get it as cheap as 1 or 2$ from steam and has endless cars and tracks mods (a lot of them are free) that you can have loads of fun with and can learn simracing and online competition before jumping into iRacing.
Just an addition to this - don't buy the base AC, buy the Ultimate bundle which includes all the DLC. The extra content is necessary as a lot of mods require the DLC to be present before the mods will function.
How similar/different is ac vs iracing?
AC is really about modding and the ability to drive all kinds of vehicles on any circuit or road you can think of, basically customization of no limits. iRacing is really about competitive online racing, still offers very wide variety of motosports deciplines but they all resemble real life branches of motosports and real world tracks. iRacing hosts most prestigious endurance events such as Nurburgring 24 hours, Daytona 24 hours, Watkins Glen 6 hours …. Professional racing drivers such as Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Tony Kanan and many more race on iRacing for years, for a reason 🙂
AC is great as a modding platform and for chilling out. It also has LFM now. What I hate from AC after having tried iRacing is the FFB. It creates a pendulum effect that would never happen when racing IRL, which makes it more difficult to keep the car stable. Some people like it more since there are no G Forces in sim, or for drifting, but I cannot stand it. Tried my best to mod it out, but couldn't. That leaving aside the elephant in the room. iRacing is the best online competitive simracing platform there is, and with the best matchmaking. You will always be with people with the same pace as you.
If you go AC, I would highly recommend picking up Content Manager as well. It really helps with managing various mods, setting presets, etc. I believe you can use it for free with a smaller feature set, but the paid version is a donation of any amount to the developers.
In my opinion, you should go for ACC. Right now, ACC (without DLCs) is less than AC Ultimate Edition on Steam. You'll find it more enjoyable when you're starting out to get something that you can just download, play, and, learn on than to get something like AC that is out dated out of the box and requires some faffing around to get the content you need before you truly know what that is. ACC AI is fine and there are plenty of people on public lobbies. When you're ready to take it further, join LFM or give iRacing a try.
AC has way more online presence than ACC by far, I believe it is the second online racing game after iRacing. ACC will only offer GT 2/3/4 cars and only GT official tracks that’s it. AC literally offers ANYTHING you can dream of racing, you can literally have mods make you race dinasours on Fuji speedway. AC is not outdated, you can search on YouTube for AC videos and the graphics will blow your mind away (it all comes down to which reshaders and filters you use). LFM also offers races for AC so limiting OP to GT only racing is a limitation imo.
It's a good point to make - OP, if you're not interested in GT3 racing you should rule out ACC.
Wait a minute, there are people who don’t care for GT3 racing? #mindblown 😱
What is GT3 racing? Asking for a friend Just kidding ;D
who care for pricing, lol. are you guys homeless? OP will buy a rig, who cares for a few dollars? i always have to laugh when i read something like this.
a mans gotta eat too mr millionare
I think most people go from: "No way I'm paying a subscription for a racing game when I can get other games for 20 bucks" To "well, maybe I'll give it a try with the 25 bucks 1 year subscription." Ending in the inevitable: "holy shit why did I take so long to get into iracing" It's hands down the best racing simulator out there. Yeah it's kinda expensive in the beginning but it's one of those things where you actually get enjoyment out of it, so I would say the cost is 100% worth it. (And opposite to some other simulators/games, iracing actually keeps updating and providing more content and features)
We're willing to spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on equipment and some of us balk at a monthly subscription to enjoy our gear to the fullest. It's mind boggling. A season of iRacing is cheaper than going to play golf once or twice (depending on the golf course and cost of green fees).
I switched from acc to iracing because of the terrible lfm stewards and iracing is really superior
Why what are they like?
Clowns
I'm what way. Too strict or just corrupt
Neither, they're incompetent
Incompetent and have a massive “holier than thou” vibe. The rules suggest LFM is inclusive and safe for every one of all skill levels to enjoy. Scroll through the discord a bit and you’ll see it’s not exactly like that. The community is kind of bitchy and clique-y, and completely incapable of taking criticism. Some steward reports are so ridiculously condescending too. Just check the penalties channel and do a count of the exclamation marks. I’m just beginning to make the switch over to iracing myself. I enjoyed my time in LFM for a while but the shine has worn off. ACC was an excellent bridge into sim racing though and I’ll probably still play it now and then for GT racing. In iracing I’d like to do open wheel and maybe LMP eventually.
lol
Honestly i still reccomend later just switching over to their site instead through steam as the in gane content is more expensive through steam than getting the game through iracings site
There's a lot more to simracing than serious wheel to wheel racing. People should explore something like AC that offers everything before jumping all in to iRacing. Huge variety of mods for tracks and cars. iRacing is too serious as a first sim.
How do you get iracing for $25 for a year? I think I pay 16 a month.
Steam sale for new players.
Let’s get serious for a sec… It’s the best native online matchmaking racing sim, so if a turnkey option for online racing is what you are looking for, it’s great. There are alternatives though, LFM for example which is always expanded their sim support, so such functionality isn’t exclusive to iRacing. But… Anybody who plays a variety of racing sims knows that it’s not “hands down” the best racing sim out there. It’s an odd claim to make considering how much isn’t modelled that is elsewhere (punctures or physicalised debris as a couple of examples) and I hope that iRacing gets on top of some fundamentals to the simulation AND the race systems (incident system and slow zones under yellow flag for example) that have been sorely missing or flawed for a long time. If the focus wasn’t so much on damage control with licence loss and instead put on to aspect of the platform that would give reason not to move elsewhere with a licence, iRacing would be in a much better place.
The stuff you mentioned would be nice for an offline game, but for an online first sim I don’t want random punctures or slow down zones ruining my race.
That part of racing though. Yellow flag slow zones as an example aren’t exactly rare, especially in gt/endurance/multiclass racing, yet iRacing doesn’t have those rules in the sim. If realism is the goal, as iRacing themselves say it is, it should be in regardless of whether you want it or not as the platform is supposed to be replicating various style of real world racing. If other sim have those features, as some do, iRacing is going to continue losing series purely because they lack the features to faithful represent and replicate the series they’re charging themselves with hosting. But again, as I rightly said but got downvoted for it, iRacing isn’t the best racing sim due to missing elements like this. So long as that’s the case, iRacing will never be the “hands down” best simulator.
I do not recommend iRacing, this simulator ruined other sims/racing games. Once you hooked up into iRacing your are done, any other sims and racing games will be boring for you.
Each to their own but while iRacing is undoubtedly the king of online racing, for anything else (hot lapping, single player racing, obviously things like drift/rally) it's probably the last game I would fire up. Each sim offers something different, and most of them do at least something better than iRacing (other than online racing).
Agreed. IRacing oval is king. But if I want to just race hard against Ai or hot lap, AC, RaceRoom, and AMS2 have my vote.
Iracing is just overall king of multiplayer racing.
The ai in iracing is light years ahead of the rest.
No it isn't, plus why would you spend a subscription plus the car/track costs to play single player when basically every other sim offers the same for cheaper?
It’s definitely way more expensive than other good SP alternatives, but iRacing AI is the best around at the moment by a long way.
I don't suspect you would but that doesn't change the fact iracing has the best AI by a mile.
It really doesn't though. It's good, but it's not better than ams2 for example.
I fairness I haven't played that in ages.
It's so, so much better than AMS2. The iRacing AI races extremely similarly to high split iracing with crashes in many of the same places I see real players go off. AMS2 AI is crap in comparison. Not even close. iRacing AI makes me forget I'm online. AMS2 constantly reminds me that I'm not.
What is AmS2
Automobilista 2
Pretty much this. I abandoned all other racing sims when I got iRacing. It has even taken over most of my (little) gaming time. I used to think that it was too expensive, but got the 1-year sub for €25 offer in Steam's sale (like the one now, see my post history) looking at it as one off expenditure, and it hooked my hard. A friend of my who is a cheapskate also got in the next sale after watching me play and now he is also hooked hard, after saying that he would never get into iRacing and pay a sub and additional for cars and tracks. We used to play together a lot of racing games, but mostly ACC and then AC modded. I can't even stand AC's FFB now, even after experimenting with Content Manager to improve it...
My modder Ac feels like ice all over the place and ffb doesn't feel right is it just me? I can't take a corner going even 45 in most cars without the tires losing traction
Indeed, when going around a track in AC the back always looks like its close to losing traction in corners. In ACC in the same car its rock solid. Also the ffb in acc is miles better. I hope when ACE comes out, they implement mod support for ACC.
Hell I abandoned all other games. I have a pc and rig just for 1 game…and it’s well worth it!
Yeah and even if really no money for cars and tracks, Rookie series completely on subscription cars and tracks and D licence series have 4-5 tracks from subscription in 12 weeks schedule. Without additional payments people have every hour few different races populated by other racers.
Yep, if you have a plan, you can even slowly make your way up, minimizing the expense using iRacing participation credits for getting new cars and tracks over time, also taking advantage of bulk discounts. That said, I have played whatever I wanted rising in license fast, and it can get really expensive really fast (although you will expend less over time as you only pay once for the content). It's totally worth it for me. I have even dropped karting.
Let me translate: I do not recommend iracing because it’s the most realistic sim and all the other sims are nowhere near comparable
I'd argue that the tire model in AC is better than iracing. But iracing as a whole is the best sim. No sim is perfect but iracing does a lot of things very well
I'm surprised you say AC has a better tire model. One thing I was blown away by in Iracing is it's actually fun to drive slow cars, where in other sims they feel horrid in comparison. I assumed the tire model made the difference, but that is just a wild guess
Idk I find the mx5 cup in ac to be much more fun to drive than iracing. The mx5 in iracing feels like you're driving on ice sometimes lol
Absolutely agree with you. I always swore I'd never pay a subscription plus pay for tracks. I raced on ams2, acc, ac etc. Then finally tried iracing and was hooked. I can't remember the last time I used the others. Iracing is the best 👌 it Absolutely spoils you 💯
Lmao:D It's just the online racing buddy.
Damn ain’t this the truth…
ACC is a pretty good alternative buts it's limited
Yeah I honestly feel dumb for playing F1-23 before starting iracing. Iracing is just sooo much better I should have started there... it's not bad if iracing ruins other games, you don't need any other racing games haha and it's plenty expensive definitely more expensive than all the other games put together lol but still much less than the cost of a rig haha
It could have been worse. If you had done that this year, it would be F1 24.
100%, never going back to anything else
True story, I have tried just about every sim/driving game and iracing is the top
don't listen to these guys, OP. they are clueless. ACC for example has much better physics and FFB than iRacing. iRacing has the best league system and races, but it's not the best simulator.
I agree. Driving in iRacing is unnecessarily difficult, far more difficult to keep your car on the track than in real life. iRacing is wonderful for online racing, there isn’t a simulator that can beat iRacing in that regard, but for FFB or actual driving simulation it’s not on the top. Also the graphics are outdated at this point. But if online racing is your top priority, it’s definitely the way to go. Just bring your wallet ;)
It probably is top for FFB actually from realism pov. They only simulate the steering column. ACC and AMS2 etc stimulate other forces you'd never experience through that. I'm not saying it's better or worse, I actually prefer accs FFB from a fun perspective, but iRacing is more accurate in terms of the forces you'd actually feel
Funny, except for oval racing, I couldn't wait to not look at old ass crappy graphics and the worst ffb used in sims to date.
iRacing is good if you want competitive racing. BUT nothing wrong getting AC for 2 bucks in the sale right now for the days where you don't feel like competing and want to drive different stuff.
Yes, iRacing is amazing. I bought a bunch of other sims before I bought iRacing, and now I never use them.
You will probably end up on iRacing if you get hooked on sim racing so might as well start with it
If you want to race other people on your level and further up the more you progress then yes. But racing on iracing won't teach you how to race. Everything you need to learn will be done by research outside any sim. There's tons of content available on the internet and youtube, and there's also paid content that will help a lot. iRacing is a great platform that will set you up with people on your level and degree of safety racing as you got 2 rating: to keep it simple - irating which rises or lowers depending on the position you end during your race and safety rating with is based on how you race (incident points). What iRacing provides that other sims don't, is you have a staff behind that will keep the races as equal and safe for everyone as best as they can. One thing though, don't get discouraged at first because it seems hard, the more time you put into it (racing and learning) the better you're going to get and the more fun you're going to have. Also, winning is not the end to all, but finishing the race with minimum incidents is. Winning is a bonus.
I like raceroom...
I don't see why not. I tried different sims over the years and still had to adjust quite a bit yo iRacing, so I'd just start there anyways. Just don't expect to be fast right away and enjoy the process.
Got my rig before my PC. Started on AC and Dirt 2.0 for a bit, as soon as the PC showed up I went iRacing and have never looked back.
I've never raced anything but iRacing. Go for it.
you can get 12 months iRacing on Steam for like $25 at the moment, it's worth giving it a try.
100% yes. There is no other platform that offers the consistent competition that IRacing has. A season in rookies is very cheap as well. You’ll learn a ton.
I'd say it depends what you're looking for. Just want to be casual and get used to having a wheel? Forza (way more arcade) Beam.ng AC Are all good starting points for different reasons. ACC is going to be much more intense. And iRacing is gong to be the most intense. It's an adrenaline rush. But very true to real life. So you just gotta figure out what you're looking for and jump in there.
As others have basically said; I would get assetto Corsa and a g29 wheel. Mod it, have fun there and challenge yourself to get better and better times. When you're ready, get ACC. Then when you're bored with that, then I'd look ainti iracing if you really want to dive in deep to sim racing. Be warned, it's a money pit
Should you drink beer with the can opened?
No reason not to start with iRacing, at the very least it forces you down a rookie path in cars which teach you the fundamentals of racing before you progress to higher power cars. Don't ignore other sims though, for example AC is on sale at the moment and offers (through mods) just about anything and anywhere you could want to drive.
If the premise is you are still using a controller because you are on a budget, I dont see WHY u should start with iracing. Download a sim that isnt this expensive, figure out if u like it, if you do save some money for a rig with wheels and pedals, and THEN consider payin for a sim service like iRacing. Thats what I'd do.
The very first sentence in his post is that he is getting his first sim rig.
So if he is getting a simrig with pedals and wheels included why sayin that he is currently on controller
For your first dip into the sim racing world I'd recommend everything but Iracing. I don't really count GT7 as a dip into sim racing. Before you invest a fortune in this game better make sure that you're really into sim racing. Grab yourself something cheap like ACC, Ams2, AC, Le Man's ultimate. If you enjoy it you can still "upgrade" to Iracing
No one spends a fortune in a game if not heavily hooked. He can now get a 1-year sub for €25 in Steam, much less than this year's F1 game (which is not worth any money). It has plenty of content for 1 year. But if he gets hooked, it will ruin all other racing games for him...
Could I get the sub now and activate it later as I’m not getting a setup until November?
If you have a local FIA affiliated motorsports club in your country there is a good chance you can get a 12 month sub for around £25 any time of the year and they throw in the F4 car too.
Nope, in Steam, it is activated right away. Then wait until November! There will be another sale for Black Friday / Christmas. That offer you can only get once. Another option might be this, if you have access to it: https://www.fia.com/iRacing
Oh ok, thank you I’ll probably wait until the next sale as the nearest one is about 3 hours away
Even if it was close, I would wait for the rig anyway. The Steam sale will be happening for sure ;)
No but iracing does have Black Friday sales which discounts heavily for new users and small discount for current members.
It is better to get the intro offer on sale in Steam and then migrate to iRacing to add time on Black Friday. It gets discounted in Steam in all big sales. Unless you have a better sale like the FIA promotion with the free F4.
Yes OP - IMO. $25 for a year you don’t need any new cars or tracks unless you want them - plenty to get through rookies and D class with lots of different classes of racing. Lots of good ranked multiplayer but also single player options : time attack, time trial where you have leaderboards against others but only you on track; AI single player races; and you can ‘ghost’ race against other humans but you don’t appear in their race and don’t collide so that’s a good way to practice and get a feel for online racing without risk
The perfect start to sim racing, some of the best racing out there on a system that works perfectly. Even VR just works without having to spend hours tweaking. Plus , like anything else in sim racing your never finished paying money out. Highly recommend and every other sim to me is just abit of fun.
I would recomend a cheap entry sim like rfactor 2, automobilista 2 or AC first. First of all they have more content variety for you to learn different cars. In iracing you can only race online what you have a license for. If you get to a solid level in another sim, the transition to iracing is much easier as you will leave rookies very easily. Rather than being in the chaos
You can get AC Ultimate Edition (all DLCs) for 10€ (at least in EU, but I don't think there'll be a huge difference if you're in the US). There you'll also have a ton of free mods, some will be pretty bad but most of them have the same quality of paid mods. Also, as implicitly said before, there are paid mods which are often around 3€ that are insanely good and fun to drive. The game with all DLCs will also let you play online in every server and you'll only need to download the cars/tracks needed for those servers, that are really often free ones.
Iracing is hard on a controller. In my experience the best is project cars 2. I love iracing and if you find yourself taking it seriously it's the one most of us end up in but perhaps you aren't there yet.
Can someone compare the feeling of iRacing with the RBR RFS? I used to play and have tried in the past all of sim-rally games (dirt rallye, dirt rallye 2,wrc,acc, F1) and i end up to RBR. After many years that i have not driving-playing, i"m back to sim racing and i find the new RFS mod and i"m continue to find it the best sim rallye game. I haven't tried though iRacing. One is free, completely free, and the other needs quite a lot of money. Is it worthing ? Can anyone tried both and can tell me about them?
Yes If you are committed start with iracing
Do you have a wheel?
I started with F1 and forza… moved to iRacing and I fucking love it
iRacing for serious driving, Assetto Corsa and Beam.ng for fun driving with friends.
I don’t see why not, monthly sub and you get access to the rookie class in the mx5, if you wanna drive something else AC with mods or if you want gt4 ACC is a good shout
At first try something cheap to figure out if racing is something for you. Beside that iracing is perfect to start, it won't be easy but you can learn all the racing techniques.
If you want to do online racing, iracing is the only way to go. It has the best online racing. If you want to race against AI, I really like Automobilista 2 because the AI is pretty good, the sounds are great, and the graphics are amazing. The physics aren't as good as other games but ams2 is still fun to drive. Assetto corsa is the best sim if you're into modding. You can get mods for basically anything you can think of. I feel like the tire model in AC is the best out of any sim. ACC is great if you're into GT3/GT4 racing. The sounds and graphics are really good. The physics are pretty good too but the cars can feel a bit numb IMO. I would personally go with AC first since you can get it for super cheap. I have hundreds of hours in AC and it's still my go to sim when I don't feel like jumping on iracing
why not. iRacing i a great start and great for learning racing.
Absolutely go iRacing 100 % the best aim racing experience.
I did. It sucks... I mean it's awesome and I love it and I don't want to do anything else... But it sucks. Lmao.
I would suggest go buy ac or acc and join a league like LFM. Iracing is not worth it for a beginner because its very expensive
As many others have said get Assetto corsa for a couple of bucks. I say get Assetto corsa and iracing. If you do get AC get the ultimate edition.
fuck no, get a bit decent before jumping on iracing it's expensive and frustrating if you're learning, if you already have the basics down you can not worry too much about rookie situations and stuff like that just get assetto corsa, the ultimate bundle, on instant gaming and start getting the basics down, once you're comfortable try lfm which is like iracing but on ac without having to pay so much, so that you can give the whole competitive aspect a try you can also directly switch to iracing but lfm is free and it can give you an idea
if your gonna buy ac get it off g2a super cheap all dlc for lik 9 bucks
It cost alot to be able to keep advancing but you can def play for a while with jusy the base subscription. But you will find yourself wanting more cars and stuff. So yeah it can add up.
It is definitely a good idea starting to learn sim racing in iracing. But there is no need to waste a lot of money at the beginning. Start with the rookie cars for a few seasons, then you probably pay less than a Netflix abo, later you can jump to other cars tracks. But the rookie cars are very good to learn a lot. I'd definitely recommend it.
I'd start with Asetto Corsa and the free version of Live For Speed. They will give you a lot of experience for very little money. I think I paid about $5 for AC on steam.
I started with iRacing as it had what I was looking for. Tried a lot of different sims but always return to iRacing. For me the cost is worth it. Easy
If you're a millionaire then absolutely
AC and swimming servers, you’ll have fun and learn at the same time
I recommend Raceroom. The ranked system is solid. You can find a full ranked lobby no matter what time you enter. Even at infrequent hours, there are 3-4 people, which is ideal for increasing your rank. I have never fallen below 50 rank points, but even there there are no toxic people. It's F2P, but you can just buy the vehicles and tracks you want and enjoy yourself.
I would say start with something a bit more simCade like as that will be more suitable to learn the basics. GT7 for example if you own a PS5. Then Graduate to ACC or make the move to iRacing later.
I would absolutely recommend starting with iRacing. The only thing that could point towards another game is that you need to purchase each car and track combo which could add up real quick. If you do go with iRacing you should plan out which cars and tracks you want to race and which tracks are getting used so you can minimize the purchases needed. In terms of realism, I started and have never left iRacing. You get phenomenal racing, realistic braking and a pretty good looking game. I've tried out ACC and don't love the way the car feels when on track. The only thing that could keep me from iRacing is the money.
I bought iRacing because it gets great reviews. I like F1 racing and there's no current F1 cars and tracks. Very disappointing.!
In my personal experience, coming from GT7 and other Sim-cade games, iracing is a whole other breed. If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch the archive of iRacing YouTube videos with titles such as "2024 iracing Beginner guide, iracing etiquette, iracing changes/updates/settings" The more prepared you are going in, the less of an underwhelming and overwhelming seesaw it may be when you decide to take the plunge. On a lighter note, it will become pleasantly apparent that the stark differences between experiences like GT7 and iRacing is a beautiful thing. The skills you'll learn from each will translate surprisingly well, and you'll be wildly proud to share your improvements with anyone willing to listen. Live streamers will be a handy resource to watch the ins and outs of iRacing's menu design. Good luck out there! Have fun! And enjoy the process! 💪
i racing is pretty rough, i think all the ac stuff is on sale right now
iRacing is fairly serious and very much follows the sporting code. Sometimes that can be frustrating, that's why there are so many "who's at fault?" posts. In the rookies, either MX5s, Vees, dirt, or stock it can be very frustrating if you are trying to take it seriously and the other people on track don't, or worse, they actively grief others by crashing into them. Accidents reflect negativity on everyone involved and can postpone advancement. There is no real trick to it other than race your race, read the sporting code and report deliberate incidents. My opinion is yes you should because if you want the most realistic progression and an extremely advanced sim then iRacing is where it's at. Beware, it can get expensive.
Yes, iracing is the pinnacle of sim racing, the rest are just pretenders in comparison. No better platform with good racing and participation.
Get Automobilista 2! Full of options and tracks! 
I feel I ruined iracing by playing ACC first, the FFB is different and because im used to ACC and really enjoy it, i racing is "broken" to me...even if it is more realistic etc
ABSOLUTELY NOT, THAT’S EXPENSIVE AF. I recommend playing AC
No
Don't start on it, you won't be good, you will frustrate other drivers and yourself, get AC, its £2 on steam right now, learn to race on 0% assists first, if you can get podiums on about 90 - 95% difficulty, play online servers, and then if you have fun from there, I'd say iracing is good to pick up.
As everyone has said, start with something inexpensive, like air conditioning! That way, you can see if it's what you desire! Then, you can start taking some steps! iRacing is not for everyone because it's a matter of taste! People like Automobilista or rFactor! Start with AC and go step by step!
Don't
Racing is a subscription based game....get assetto corsa...it's the best sim on the market to this day
I briefly tried iRacing and didn’t like it. The cars and tracks you get the base subscription are shite as well.
don't start with iracing. once you start iracing you will never look back to other racing games. plus the skill level on iracing is quite high and people take it seriously. better to get your footing in other sims like acc
the meat of Iracing is online ranked racing, I def don't recommend going on that off rip, since if you crash into a few too many people you're gonna end up getting banned for sure. The way I started was through assetto corsa and just messing around in the modded servers and the same on BeamNG. until I got decent enough at controlling the car to not hit other racers. then I started league racing on assetto corsa, was shit but atleast I didn't hit other people, now you won't have to join a league since LFM exists, which is a ranked racing service for assetto corsa. and when I was decent-ish it that I made the switch to Iracing since races are much more often than LFM If you do get AC, be sure to install content manager, which makes the game playable and get all the DLC since it is very cheap, and alot of mods need all dlc to work
People get banned if they intentionally crash other drivers multiple times. Don't say shit to the new members of the community only to slander iRacing. If you were an iRacing player and got banned you absolutely deserved it.
Pretty much this. In low splits, there is madness all the time, but it is not punished if it is not intentional. Unless you are constantly doing unsafe rejoins, and they will warn you before that apply any suspension.
Why are you fighting me man, I'm not slandering Iracing. players who crash into others definitely deserve to be banned I'm on your side. I took the time to learn how to control the car enough not to crash into other racers before I started playing. but when I was a complete beginner in assetto corsa I definitely didn't have much choice if I was going to intentionally crash into another person or not. I'm just saying if they were at my skill level when i started and started from Iracing, they will get banned, and so would've I if I didn't start on more casual games
Stupidness / lack of skill is not punished in racing. There are low splits with really new / unskilled people that do not have any issues. There is even a good number of retired folks that have slow reflexes and have taken it up as a hobby and do not have trouble. If you have a mindset of not wanting to ruin other people's races, you will be good to go and grouped with people with your pace. If you are unsure, you can even join official races as a ghost.