iRacing

OSiriS

I don't know how many of you have been following iRacing recently, but it seems finally about to hit the public. For those that do't know, it is a subscription based sim racer from many of those responsible for GPL and NASCAR 2003. It is trying to model itself after real world racing, in that you start small, prove yourself in the slower cars before gaining access to faster machines.

At the moment they cater for oval and road racing, but they plan on introducing go-karting, motorbike racing, and off-road. While no official announcements have been made, they seem to have hinted that they may be aiming for the likes of GT and Formula 1 styles series in the future as more content is added.

You'll find great information in the FAQ on RSC: http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=314586

The initial roll-out will be invitation only, they have about 1000 beta testers, and each of them were giving 10 invitations. Those 10,000 will probably get invitations of their own at a later stage, until the developers feel it the sim is ready for open applications. I managed to secure my own invitation, and if you keep an eye on this thread on RSC, you might get lucky yourselves.

It remains to be seen if the subscription model will work, but initial reports are that this blows all current sims out of the water.

You can find a decent preview done by Inside Sim Racing here: http://www.insidesimracing.tv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148&Itemid=206

You can also see some videos the beta testers have put on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=iRacing&search_type=

And Redline Racing are starting to put some up on their forum here: http://www.teamredline.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=118

SouperComputer

hmmm, not sure sure on this one.....This climb the ranks thing is a bit silly IMO. Most people have been simming for sometine, not to mention those that have RL experience, I dont see it a selling point and I doubt many others do.

The point system for loss of control, going offroad or whatnot is another pointless system. I think if you spin out and damage your car/loose places that thats punishment enough. Its good enough for real life. IMO you cant call it a sim with a silly system like this.

We'll see I guess. Maybe it will be a huge success, im sceptical ATM though.

SouperComputer

This however impessed me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlyArct33g8&feature=related

The idea of being able to run on a low spec machine is a good one, assuming that its planned to be part of production.

I know quite a few people who have naff computers that would like to get back into simming. This could work.

OSiriS

I don't know the specifics, but there apparently is the facility for good drivers to move through the classes very quickly if they prefer to do so. I'm interested to see some proper reviews from experienced sim racers. I want to get an overall impression of how it compares to the competition.

SouperComputer

OSiriS wrote: »

I don't know the specifics, but there apparently is the facility for good drivers to move through the classes very quickly if they prefer to do so. I'm interested to see some proper reviews from experienced sim racers. I want to get an overall impression of how it compares to the competition.

Did you get an invite yet? Fingers crossed here......

Looking at the vids, im very impressed with the inertia and general physics behaviour. Looks promising.

Niall09

It'll cost trillions!

OSiriS

I did, yes

OSiriS

Sim HQ have a preview up here :

http://www.simhq.com/_motorsports4/motorsports_121a.html

c0rn

OSiriS... man thanks for the links... I got my self a invite now.

WAY COOL!

Dcully

Ive been hooked on MMOs and havent ben watching the simracing world but OMG Papyrus are back, this is just a must have.
The kings of sims are back

Hmm after researching a bit more into it and im not sure about paying for extra content like cars and tracks on top of the monthly subs.
Im sure this will be a Godlike sim if papy have anything to do with it but i think its a bit of a pistake having to pay $15 for a car and $20-$25 for a track.

I love the whole concept it seems amazing but at this rate ill be paying 2-3 grand if i want cars and tracks like i have in other sims.

SouperComputer

Dcully wrote: »

I love the whole concept it seems amazing but at this rate ill be paying 2-3 grand if i want cars and tracks like i have in other sims.

This is great IMO, the problem with the mods and tracks around is that it has diluted things. I dont plan buying all cars or tracks, ill be sticking to whatever is the most compeitive.

Leagues are great, but pickup racing is what will work for me with a babeh on the way and it looks like this will be a good way to get into a competitive race, without muppets/wreckers in a matter of minutes.

Now if iracing start messing about and indirectly forcing people to buy more tracks cars thats another thing. Ill be reading the EULA closely in case I decide to terminate my contract.

Dcully

Yeah fair point, this looks like the game to bring me back to simracing prperly

Dcully

Its close but fair racing like this that im confident this sim will be all about with clean racers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XOh5M6jlc0

nikimere

Anyone know where i can get a invitation? I'm really excited about this one!

OSiriS

People of have posting invites on RSC here.

Dcully

Yeah its pretty easy to pick up invites,i think they all had to be submitted by today however 13th june?

OSiriS

Yup the deadline is today.

nikimere

Some guy on RSC has confirmed he added me to a list.... He said wait to hear from iracing.com. What happens next?
Have many people had the chance to actually play it yet?

Dcully

All i know is a guy on RSC has added me to his 10 invites.
Thats all i know,i assume the next step is to wait for an email from iracing and details of links to dowload and register an account.
I was chatting to Tim Wheatley [ex RSC staff and webmaster] via pm lastnight and he swears by this sim and that its gonna be huge, thats good enough for me
Cant wait at this stage.

SouperComputer

I think these invites ae for the first group of people to buy it. iRacing put the system in place to control how many people sign up.

Dcully

Yeah its only for the first wave of people who can actually purchase,its not a beta invite.

nikimere

anyone here heard anything from iracing yet?

SouperComputer

nikimere wrote: »

anyone here heard anything from iracing yet?

Nothing yet, PM I got said: "I would think they would roll out the week of June 16th. If iRacing shares more information with me over the next few days, I will happily share it with you."

So I guess its going to be anytime this week.

In the meantime, you can mull over the iRacing "green book"

OSiriS

Word is that over 1000 invitations will go out this week.

Dcully

Im living on iracing.com and RSC iracing forums hitiing my F5 key

OSiriS

I'm not paying as much attention to RSC anymore, only about 1% of the new posts provide any interesting information, the rest is idle speculation, posts about what people want added, or whines about what iRacing doesn't have. I downloaded Lime Rock and Laguna Seca for GTR2 and I've been trying to improve my close, safe racing in the Elise. It is surprisingly fun trying to keep within three tenths of a second of a car, but not try to overtake or bump. I still get wheels off the circuit far too often. I've been hearing the safety rating system is very strict about that kind of thing.

Dcully

I'm not paying as much attention to RSC anymore, only about 1% of the new posts provide any interesting information, the rest is idle speculation, posts about what people want added, or whines about what iRacing doesn't have.

Agreed but one things for sure,news of iracing going live will be faster on RSC than pretty much anywhere else

nikimere

the wait is killing me!

Dcully

the wait is killing me!

Likewise!

Its the clean racing that will make this worth subscribing to i feel.
We know from Papyrus past that the physics will be ultra real but the clean racing and the whole structure of events etc is what i hope will make me subscribe on a yearly basis.

LFS and a few more are excellent sims they really are,especially LFS online play but they have far too many wreckers and drivers taking chances with little in the way of a penalty to discourage them.
I really think iRacing will offer what us simracers have wanted for years that being good honest clean racing.

Yes when you run in leagues you more often than not get clean racing but its the time in between your league events when you want to do some racing on public servers that are so frustrating.

nikimere

From what i have read on the iracing.com website there will be support for private leagues.
Who is up for organising an National Irish Championship in a few months time?

OSiriS

The deadline for invites closed a week ago. After all of them have been sent out, the next round will be to those registered for updates on the iRacing site, so I would recommmend doing that, if you haven't already.