You won't get clean public racing anywhere else other than organised leagues which don't offer anywhere near the same level of online functionality and features as iracing. Calling iracing money grabbing scumbag is pretty amusing though given everyone who pays does so because they are happy to do so. for most people iracing is a hobby... A cheap one as well relative to other hobbies. If your mentality going into it is that it should be priced the same as a £40 game then you're delusional given the service they offer relative to their competitors.
Iracing is great value for money if you're serious about online sim racing.
I spend far more money on my other hobbies and I own 100% content.
Well, i cant speak for everyone, but i can tell you im not remotely happy about it! The problem is that everyone is hiding behind its paywall, its just not possible to find consistently honest-intention drivers elsewhere, because they're all hiding behind that paywall. You'll get clean races elsewhere, but you'll also get idiots with dishonest-intentions and terrible drivers in equal measure.
You can join leagues, but they dictate when you race, you cant just practice and think 'screw it, i'll race now' cos the race is scheduled for 3 days.
Thats the problem with the mainstream titles, you F1 series, AC, and pCARS when released, Steam makes them mainstream and the 'ooh looks like Forza/GT' crowd join in, bringing their console rules with them.
You could get away with it more in LFS and probably rFactor cos they were smaller titles without the marketing etc.
The only reason i use iRacing is because i can get a race if i fancy one. I can be sat in bed, watching TV, look at the time and figure screw it, lets book in for a race (typically a 3/5am race!).
It's not necessarily the cost I object to, but the model.
Subscription + Content + Drop subscription and lose access to all the content you have "licensed" is a stupid model, forcing content purchases to progress to a specific class.
The whole business model is to financially tie people into the sim. Which is why I'm looking for organised leagues for another sim.
Yeah, thats why i have a 4-5yr account, when i've only played it the last 14wks. I was happy elsewhere, LFS mainly , but even in pCARS or AC it was fun, but i would only 'race' (hotlapping mainly) with a mate, but what i really miss is the racing and while LFS you could easily find decent racing, and join the server mid-race if there was room. This whole lobby then load track and lock the doors, then reset everything when the race is over... is so poop.
If it was 1 payment model, not both, i'd have been playing it for much longer, but both is just greed, especially when it comes with their 'no refunds for the content we refuse to let you try beforehand' blag, is just insulting, and denies us our legal right to return something if we're not entirely satisfied with it. I'd imagine if you kick up a stink, they'd opt to close your account, and take the content you've paid for but 'dont own' with them.
