iRacing vs Assetto Corsa vs Project Cars. For learning

Benny144

Benny144

Benny144

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So I'm interested in a comparison between iRacing, Assetto Corsa and Project Cars.

I've just purchased a G29 (reduced price) and Playseat challenge.

I'm on my universities karting team and one thing thats keeps coming up is that a couple of the fast guys practice on simulators when not at the track.

So I'm specifically interested in how these games improve driving and therefore their physics engine, rather than paint/how good the crowd looks etc.

If anyone has used more than one of these titles and also does any track driving/racing I'd be interested in your opinion. The guy on our team who practices a lot on sims recommended iracing, live for speed or assetto corsa but had never had a go on project cars. I'd like some more opinions so here's the thread!

Thanks in advance
 
I drive Assetto Corsa, and have some friends that drive AC and iRacing. I just can't get on with pCars for the feel. For me, it's more like the console driving titles than a simulator - I was one of the people who donated when it started up so I wanted it to be better.
 
I Racing is fantastic but it is subscription based.

Assetto Corsa handles brilliant, ffb is very good, the racing is good but the depth of the game is pretty poor.

Project Cars has the best visuals and sound, and also feels more of a game, there's much more to do, single player career and lots of different classes. But as a racing game, it's worse than the other two, the handling is a bit meh.
 
Sounds AC or iracing may be for me then. The subscription of iracing just looks killer in terms of price so I think I'll start with AC.

I've got F6 on the Xbox one for when I want career etc. (New wheel isn't compatible though)
 
Ended up getting myself AC from steam, pretty impressive. I tried with TC and ABS turned off and it made it unnecessarily hard so changed to the same as "pro" and set them both to factory. Not sure if thats good or bad, my mate is soon to get the game too so be interested to what he runs.

Also got PCars from G2A because i wouldnt pay full price for just a game to occasionally relax to whilst still driving (i'm coming from Forza).

Looked at rally games but dirt rally is still pretty pricey and i dont have a handbrake setup at all.
 
It all depends on what you want. If you want hotlapping and don't mind dumb AI and pickup lobbies of questionable quality, then AC. If you want top quality online competiton and don't mind paying for content (initially) then iRacing. Ignore PCars, it's cack.

*edit*
Ah, seems I was a bit too late :)
 
Spunkey said:
It all depends on what you want. If you want hotlapping and don't mind dumb AI and pickup lobbies of questionable quality, then AC. If you want top quality online competiton and don't mind paying for content (initially) then iRacing. Ignore PCars, it's cack.

*edit*
Ah, seems I was a bit too late :)
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Yeh I got AC, trying to get as much on it as I can but can be a bit of a chore (the car sounds being poor take away a lot of excitement)

What's the problem with PCars?
 
Pcars lacks decent road feel/ffb/physics a lot of the time and can be a pain to to set up your wheel to get it feeling halfway decent. Looks pretty though.

As the TC settings in Assetto, set it to factory (as you have done) and try using ctrl+T to cycle through the different levels in cars that allow it until you find a good compromise.

If you want to drive with a friendly group that don't mind sharing tips with things like setups and driving techniques etc to help get you up to speed, then click the sig below :)
We accommodate all levels, not just the aliens :D

It shouldn't take you long if you're on a karting team.
As a matter of fact, we have a couple of very fast guys who do track stuff in real life, and their skills translate directly into the game. One is actually a track instructor, and he's stupidly fast.
 
Best two in my opinion is Assetto Corsa and rFactor 2. rFactor doesn't have the polish AC does, but there's a lot more content out there. It looks dated, but I don't find anything more enjoyable than it for Nascar and V8 Supercars.
 
The Karts in Project Cars themselves are actually very, very good when it comes to realism and feel through a FFB Wheel, it also has a much better feeling of immersion with the graphics and effects giving a sense of speed and G-Forces than other Racing Games, Assetto Corsa is particularly sterile in that area, it never gives me any sense of 'speed' which makes quite a big difference to the 'realism' factor.
 
I've tried them all and found iRacing is the closest simulation (including a steep learning curve for beginners!). Also the online is fantastically competitive and no AI I've seen has really got anywhere near that.

Next best would be Assetto Corsa I think...
 
You can always save a few pennies and go back to the older pappy games. The model that iracing was built on is present in nascar 2003.

No need for subs and buy in's.

Install the touring car mods, and few of the road tracks available, and you've got a learner as good as any.
 
I see the OP has already purchased AC and Project CARS but if a further purchase is to be made, and as others have mentioned, I would thoroughly recommend rFactor2 (or possibly rFactor1 - lots of mods available and also Reiza's 'Game Stock Car Extreme' which has a 125cc Kart). Simply for the physics. Yes, the graphics aren't on a par with the others and I haven't personally tried any of the karting mods or the ISI kart in rFactor2 but these are the sims I have most faith in and give me, personally, the best 'experience' of racing.

I own or have tried pretty much all of the other racing games and as has been the case in this thread, others will have different opinions. However, there's a trial available for each I believe, so you can give them a go for yourself before deciding...
 
Uncle Petey said:
As the TC settings in Assetto, set it to factory ...
If you want to drive with a friendly group ... click the sig below :)
It shouldn't take you long if you're on a karting team...
Click to expand...

TC is a hard one for me as obviously karts dont have any, but at the same time some cars are just silly to drive without it. I'm trying ABS on factory (probably a bad idea) and TCS off at the moment.

I'm looking at your sig link right now!

I'm actually slowest on my team which is why I really want to practice, one of our race winners last week was a rookie until this year, he spent a lot of tiem improving on simulators (he used iracing) so i thought i'd try it out.

alex24 said:
I've tried them all and found iRacing is the closest simulation...
Click to expand...
I just can't justify the racing price, its crazy money with the subscription then buying tracks and cars! I couldn't afford to race in real life if i bought that.

doofer said:
The Karts in Project Cars themselves are actually very, very good ... Assetto Corsa is particularly sterile in that area, it never gives me any sense of 'speed' which makes quite a big difference to the 'realism' factor.
Click to expand...

I had a little go on the karts on pcars last night and found it much more immersive, i get a real sense of speed which im struggling with AC. Someone suggested my lack of immersion/judging speed may be my FOV setting, I think with my setup i may be too far from the screen
Here's my setup, I think because I'm sat so low/ stretched out, the screen is then too far away?



mikeym said:
... there's a trial available for each I believe, so you can give them a go for yourself before deciding...
Click to expand...

Thansk for the reply, I'll take a look into rfactor when i'm feeling bored of AC/PCars. I was surprised how few (none i could find) of the driving games i was looking at had trials/demos.
 
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