Driving/Racing Games

bigdunc

bigdunc

bigdunc

Associate
Joined
30 May 2004
Posts
669
Location
Uk
Having never really played any racing game I have an urge to get into some. Not really bothered if it's a sim/arcade or whatever just as long as it's fun and must be playable on the pc in my sig. Also will be playing on a pad to begin with but might get a wheel in the future.

Suggestions please?
 
Flat Out is arcadey with some realism (damage albeit far from real life) Then you've got Colin Mcrae Dirt and GRID.

Steering wheel & pedal is a must. Use a Logitech G25 myself.
 
SKILL said:
iRacing.
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Sure, if you like spending money each month on a sim that isn't even nearly complete yet....no weather, no day/night transition, unable to stall the car, no dynamic 'marble' build-up over a race....stuff that even GTR-2 has.
 
JRS said:
Sure, if you like spending money each month on a sim that isn't even nearly complete yet....no weather, no day/night transition, unable to stall the car, no dynamic 'marble' build-up over a race....stuff that even GTR-2 has.
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Have you tried it?

iRacing is an ongoing development. Eventually it will be the most complete sim there is. And it won't then be ditched for the next years version, it will continue to improve and be supported.

If they had waited till it was 'finished' to a level that everyone wanted (which is subjective) then it could have been two more years before we got to try it. As it stands there are thousands of members who are happy to pay each month for what is easily the best driving model to hit a PC.

The safety rating system and iratings which place you with comparably skilled drivers is great and creates clean highly competitive races. If hardcore sim racing appeals then it's at least worth the one month trial to try it out.
 
banja said:
Have you tried it?
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Yep. And I was impressed by it. But it's not quite the quantum leap in racing sims that the iRacing fanboy brigade would have you believe just yet. In time, it could be. And to be lacking something as basic as stalling the car....you can tell the Papyrus genes, anyway. I suspect there's rather more of the NASCAR 2003 code in there than they'll admit to - they claim the replay system and the netcode are very much based on N2k3, but everything else is all new. I'm not so sure.

The laser scanned tracks are great (although LRP became outdated just a few months after they scanned it, since it's been resurfaced!), and the handling is top notch - as you'd expect for a Dave Kaemmer sim. But it's missing a lot right now, it's online only, and you have to race quite a bit to make the investment worth it. Work and Real Life Stuff™ make that a problem for me :)
 
Live For Speed.

http://www.lfs.net

By far the best 'feel' of any driving game I've ever played, and nice and cheap too. The online community is absolutely second to none, and it runs beautifully on any PC made in the last 5 years or so.
Drawbacks are the lack of real tracks and cars (although I've been playing it that long, they may as well be real to me..), and the graphics could look better, but that's about it. New content is being added regularly too as the whole game is kind of a work in progress, with physics tweaks, new tracks and new cars (a VW Scirocco is coming in the next few months).
Its also a nice, small download - the whole game is around 130MB and acts as a feature complete demo, limited to one track and 3 cars. Once yout buy an unlock key the rest are available to use.
 
JRS said:
and you have to race quite a bit to make the investment worth it. Work and Real Life Stuff™ make that a problem for me :)
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That was pretty much my opinion too. If you're a casual sim racer it's hard to justify. They've always said though that it won't be for everyone.

I think though that if the cost is not a problem for you, then even if you get out of practice, the iRating system should still put you in fields of similarly skilled drivers, so you always have a chance of a competitive race. I did a month but have been unable to renew - I guess if / when I give it another go, the iRating I achieved will still put me in races where I'm competitive.
 
I agree it's not a quantum leap ahead of other sims, but imo it is ahead, the handling is awesome, online only isn't a problem as my computer is always online anyway (as are most people's I'd imagine...)

But yes, it could do with more content, and cheaper content at that, and things like replay saving, weather/day & night,

But with it's failings it is still, imo, better than anything else out there, I own rFactor, LFS, GPL and have played the demo's of GTR (1 and 2), GTL, Race '07 and i've got GTR: Evolution coming.

But none of those, have got me hooked as much as iRacing has, GPL came the closest but other than the OcUK league aeons ago I just did hotlapping in that.

To be fair though, for this thread iRacing/GPL probably aren't the best suggestions anyway, he wants a game that's enjoyable and decent with the pad, whilst I find both those enjoyable the learning curve isn't exactly friendly to new racing game drivers...

Guessing something like GTR2/GTL/Race '07/GTR: Evolution would be best...
 
I haven't tried many of the realism racers but the best i've dabbled in was Live for Speed, GTR2 was quite good too but didn't feel as 'right'.

For a wheel may i recommend the Driving Force Pro, it's the model below the G25 so you get some of the features nearly as good as those that make the G25 fantastic but without breaking the bank. It also works with a Playstation2/3 if you own/decide to get one.
 
Another vote for GRID here, it's very good! The online is fun as well, if occasionally annoying with people parking in the way.

One question actually; on the PS3 Demo version the online has touring cars and a really nice track, i can't seem to find that on the PC online version? i've unlocked "global" so far, is it just a matter of playing more until i've unlocked the relevant bit?

B@Th*nG
 
Install the latest patch, this allows you to play the touring cars on the demo track.. cant remember its name... begins with J?
 
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