A World of MINI Cooper Lovers

iRacing League?

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Hi all, I was just reading about a new online racing experience and I thought I'd let you all know about it since there's the potential to set up a racing league for ourselves.

First off, from what I'm reading...this is NOT a game. It's a pure simulation meant to improve driving abilities. Supposedly pros use the sim to learn and practice on the tracks since they're laser scanned and true to life. An article I read spoke about the writer being passed by none other than Dale Earnhardt, Jr!

http://www.iracing.com/membership/subscriptions.php

The problem I see is that it's kind of expensive and may be more serious than most of us want. Then extra tracks and cars cost even more.....

If anyone has tried this, please fill us in. I'm wondering if the tracks are indeed true to life and I'm wondering about the car physics.

In any case, I'm excited to see that the base package included Summit Point with the option to buy and drive tracks that we've either done (VIR) or will do in the future (Watkins Glen).

MrMY

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Permalink Reply by Blockhead on November 17, 2008 at 12:18pm: Well, I'm scouring some racing forums to see what people are saying. The naysayers are claiming it's way to expensive and it's hard to get into a true race. The people in favor are saying it's totally worth it and that it's a true "amateur" track experience.

This quote is typical: Well, I took the plunge last night. $20 for a month subscription and $15 for the Skip Barber trainer. I spent perhaps an hour and 1/2 at Lime Rock in the Solstice and Skippy trying to get a feel for the interface, tracks, and simulation. Using TrackIR I could get a fairly good POV, but the sim feels totally different than anything else I've tried. It's hard to describe, but I did found myself looking into turns more often than with rF. I thought the fps on my old system was pretty good given the level of track detail, having opted for the auto-config of graphic settings.

Probably at least half of the sim's appeal will be the way everything is well organized and managed, with the focus on maintaining a quality driving experience. Like most, I enjoy the simplicity and accessibility of a console type sim from time to time, such as GT5P on my PS3 (which has a pretty good physics model IMO). However, there are other times when I want to have a fuller experience, I.E. one that is closer to actually being a race driver, and that is where iRacing sits, at the other end of the spectrum.

And here's the real cost of the addons:

$20 One Month Trial

$156 annual subscription (at $13 per month; this also includes $60 in iRacing dollars for buying other cars and tracks)
-- $90 for 6-month subsciption (at $15/month)
-- $17 per month w/o a longer subscription (this would be $204 a year)

Cars Included - with Rookie and Advanced versions

Legends Ford '34 Coupe
SCCA Showroom stock B-Class Pontiac Solstice Z0K Club Sport

Tracks Included

Lime Rock (2 layouts)
Laguna Seca
Summit Point (3 layouts)
South Boston
Lanier
Oxford Plains
Lowe's Motor Speedway (4 layouts)
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Additional Cars

$15 - Formula Mazda
$15 - Late Model
$15 - Radical SR8
$15 - USAC Silver Crown
$15 - SK Modified
$15 - Skip Barber Formula RT2000

$90 total for all additional cars
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Additional Tracks

$20 - Atlanta
$15 - Concord
$25 - Daytona
$20 - Homestead
$25 - Infineon
$15 - Stafford
$15 - Martinsville
$15 - Richmond
$25 - Road America
$15 - Irwindale
$15 - USA Intl
$20 - VIR

$225 total for all additional tracks; ▶ Reply to This