iRacing - Costs, Setup, Recommendation etc

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adstomko

adstomko

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adstomko
Hi all,

I am thinking about becoming a simulation racer, due to financial difficulties through karting. Karting is a sport that gets more expensive each year, which allows the rich to gain an advantage and some of the naturally-talented drivers to suffer.
Although iRacing is pretty expensive too, I'm sure it's cheaper than karting. My questions are:
- Is it worth the money? And how much would it cost on average?
-What PCs/specs are recommended etc, incl. the typical price of a recommended PC
-Are there any other sims that are perhaps better, perhaps to start off with etc?
-Is there currently a lot more drivers that tend to go the American route (Nascar, Indy & their tracks)
- Is a Driving Force GT wheel good enough?
- Is there a strong sense of realism, if so how realistic?
- Is there a significant difference between itself and GT5/F1?

I would like to take this seriously, instead of playing the likes of GT5 and F1 2012
Kinds regards,
adstomko
 
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adstomko
Hi all,

I am thinking about becoming a simulation racer, due to financial difficulties through karting. Karting is a sport that gets more expensive each year, which allows the rich to gain an advantage and some of the naturally-talented drivers to suffer.
Although iRacing is pretty expensive too, I'm sure it's cheaper than karting. My questions are:
- Is it worth the money? And how much would it cost on average?
-What PCs/specs are recommended etc, incl. the typical price of a recommended PC
-Are there any other sims that are perhaps better, perhaps to start off with etc?
-Is there currently a lot more drivers that tend to go the American route (Nascar, Indy & their tracks)
- Is a Driving Force GT wheel good enough?
- Is there a strong sense of realism, if so how realistic?
- Is there a significant difference between itself and GT5/F1?

I would like to take this seriously, instead of playing the likes of GT5 and F1 2012
Kinds regards,
adstomko
Click to expand...

iRacing is the only real alternative imo to actual racing ... obviously I would rather do real racing as well if I could afford it.

I'm sure some people here will give you a more detailed analysis of computer specs....but roughly 800 for a computer ... then whatever you want to pay for a HDTV or monitor... and that varies alot depending on whether you want 1 screen or 3.... I would start with one personally but if your talking a crazy setup like that it could easily parallel the cost of karting ... a high end Kart is what? $3000? .... get a high end vidcard, 3 screens, a playsteat or similar and you could easily approach that if you kept going with high end stuff like clubsport pedals and wheels and specialty shifters etc.

is any of that needed? ... not really

the best NASCAR driver in iRacing Ray Alfalla uses a DFGT.. he's won the $10,000 championship last 2 years in a row using it so I'd say its good enough as a wheel - the pedals however ARE NOT, I would replace them with fanatec pedals which are I think $150 - $250 but the cheaper are probly enough

and the cost of iRacing is also expensive but you get alot more variety, Make sure you wait for a promotion like 3 months for the price of 1 .. or 2 years for the price of 1... these are quite frequent as they are always trying to hook new players - I would imagine with Karting you are limited to only a few local tracks whereas iRacing would offer tons of world-tracks


all in all its really more about what you 'want' to spend than anything.
 
Thanks for your information Wedge. Yeah a top of the range kart costs between £2,500-5000 here in the UK, and I'll probably receive between 1500-2000 for selling the chassis, engine, racegear etc. Engine prices depend on the class you race in.
iRacing has attracted me through the MMO aspect, however I'm not a guy that particularly likes to change a load of things to the car, but that's what sim racing is a lot about.
I currently have 1 HD screen and an old Playseat, which I'm happy with, but I require a new PC.
And yes I don't race at many tracks as the class I race in is declining in numbers due to financial problems, exchanges of classes, or some can even step up to single-seaters and cars.
 
seems like thats a major problem with Karting... I was seriously looking into it last year, but to run a full season the cost would be staggering. I see a lot of classified ads for used karts and tools because people are always getting out of it after a year or 2 ....

You don't really have to change the car that much in iRacing.... depending on the car, for the majority of road cars you can run a whole season without changing much of anything... a few cars require you to change gear ratios for acceleration but thats only a few that allow that. Some of the better players actually recommend you don't keep making changes because your constantly having to adapt.... other players feel the exact opposite and have special sets for every track - if your hung-up about your setup not being adequate you can usually barrow sets from other people who are generous

for Oval racing its more important to have a good setup - but fixed racing is far more popular anyways, that's where iRacing just provides a setup and everyone is running the same thing anyway.
 
The problem with karting is that it just keeps becoming more of a problem. As soon as one firm decides to raise the price of a part/entry fee etc,the rest do too.
That sounds intereesting, as I would rather drive something pretty similar to the rest of the field. If I buy IRacing. I'll probably buy it for 1 year, and and other 6 months before I head off to university. I can't see myself buying the PS4 once it releases. Console racing games will get further and further behind the simulation market.
 
You won't regret going into iracing. Remember you don't have to buy all the content straight away. Buy it as you need it of that's how you can afford it. I myself an buying 3 NASCAR tracks a month as the iracing NASCAR season gets to them. I.e you won't need the F1 car while your in rookie.

I use a DFGT also, it is an adequate wheel but after a while you will want to progress as you get more into iracing. I'm certainly planning getting a CSW from fanatec.
 
I recently made the switch from Karting (due to financial reasons) to iRacing.

For a PC decent enough to run iRacing, you're probably looking at £500-£600 for a basic build, £800-£900 for one with all the bells and whistles.

I got the 3 months free deal through Cadillac (see the discount codes post on here) as a no hassle demo run of the service. I absolutely love it so I've gone and purchased a couple of cars and a few Nascar Ovals to practice on to get me ready for the move through the licenses.

It's well worth the transfer and once you're past the initial expense, is far cheaper than any other form of racing.
 
- Is it worth the money? And how much would it cost on average? It is by far the best money I have ever spent on a game/simulator. It really depends on the subscription you buy as to how much it costs on average, and then of course you have to remember you only start with the basic content so you then have to purchase the other cars and tracks as you move up through the license classes. Additional cars are $11.95 each and additional tracks are $14.95 each.

-What PCs/specs are recommended etc, incl. the typical price of a recommended PC? I'm sure iRacing has a recommended/minimum specs list somewhere but you can use pretty much a basic PC/laptop with some RAM and a Graphics Card. I just purchased a $1000+ PC that is being sent back due to a faulty hardware device so at the moment I am running my $~300 laptop, and iRacing does work, the quality and graphics aren't great, but it is definitely driveable.

-Are there any other sims that are perhaps better, perhaps to start off with etc? The simple answer is No. No other Simulator that I know of puts so much work into the tracks and cars, for example every track on iRacing is correct to the nearest couple of mm's, that means every bump and every surface change is mm perfect. Sure it has its faults sometimes, but doesn't everything?

-Is there currently a lot more drivers that tend to go the American route? (Nascar, Indy & their tracks) Yes, there is a lot of drivers in the different Nascar series, however, I wouldn't say the Road series is far behind, especially in series like GT Challenge.

- Is a Driving Force GT wheel good enough? Definitely.

- Is there a strong sense of realism, if so how realistic? Yes, there is the realism factor with the perfection of the tracks and cars like I said further up this list, but I should also add that due to iRacing being quite an expensive subscription simulator, the racing in the higher license classes is very professional and fair. I think the subscription cost keeps a lot of the idiots away, but don't get me wrong, it still has some especially in the Rookie Series'.

- Is there a significant difference between itself and GT5/F1? Yes, the simple answer to this is GT5 and F1 games are games and iRacing is a simulator, so there is a massive difference as iRacing doesn't feel arcadey. Also you can race an win easily in GT5 and F1 without even having a setup, while in the open setup iRacing series' you will find that a lot more work needs to be put into the setups.

Just another side note, if you do decide to get it, I would recommend that you try and get out of the Rookie series and License class as soon as possible, the racing is far better and cleaner in the higher series'.

Hope this helped. :)
 
I say try iRacing on a trial basis, don't buy any content, just give yourself a few months of messing with the rookie cars in both road and oval racing. I know most people here are road racing enthusiasts, so am I, but you are missing out if you don't at least try the free oval content you get with a subscription. I hate watching oval racing, so figured I would hate racing it too, boy was I wrong. Now my stats are almost dead even for total road and oval races.

If after those few months of messing around with it, if you decide you like both oval and road racing, I suggest just buying 100% content right away if you can afford it. If not, at least buy 6 items at a time, this will give you a 20% discount. Buying everything at once gives you the max 25% discount.

If you break down the pricing, you can save quite a bit of money.

Let's say you want to buy 6 tracks at 14.95 each.

1 at a time: $89.70
3 at a time: $76.25
6 at a time: $71.76

So by buying 6 pieces of content at a time, you are essentially getting one for free and a small discount on the other.

Like I said, in the long run, if you are a racer that likes a wide variety, just buy all of it, you'll save in the long run. But I understand not everyone can afford that so at least buy 6 items at a time if you can.


Another way to go is to concentrate on one or two series at a time. If you run at least 8 weeks in a non-rookies series season you can earn credits to go towards future purchases (max $10 per season).

Also watch for credit sales, many times they will run specials where if you buy $20 in credits you get $25 in return for example. They also do membership fee sales a couple times a year too, like $49 for one year or $99 for two years.

If you play it right, after the initial investment, iRacing doesn't have to be expensive. I think for my last 10 or so cars and tracks, I haven't paid more than a couple dollars each due to the 25% discount and participation credits.
 
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Thanks very much for the advice guys, much appreciated.
My only worry is I know pretty much nothing when it comes to PCs (i.e. changing the specs, best processors for iRacing)
- Do you have to pay to enter leagues also? Or normal race, free-practice etc?
- Are there any current promo codes available?

Plus, I'm even more interested in buying the sim as they will be scanning more British tracks and using the Honda Civic from the BTCC, as announced last year.
 
Many guys here can help with pc specs. Heck drop me a message and I cn give you an outline based on my system.

Some leagues are mostly free to join. Some do have entry fees but usually they carry prize funds as well.

Normal practise qualifying and races are free to enter. The subscription covers all that.
 
If you are running a single screen, you can get iRacing running very well on a PC that will cost you $500-600 no problem. But if you want to run triple screens, you will want something higher end, in the $900-1000+ range.
 
adstomko
- Is it worth the money? And how much would it cost on average?
Click to expand...

Cost you say?

images


This is an expensive game between the subscription, paying for cars and tracks that all cost $10 or more. Ive invested a lot of dough into it myself and i still cant join races when i want to because i dont have enough tracks. You sound like you have the right approach though, you have to take this game seriously otherwise you're just burning a big hole in your pocket.
 
If it hasn't been mentioned I'm pretty sure this 3 month free promo still works: https://cadillaccupracing.com/ (edit: y2rich: Mentioned it ;))
I signed up with it and received a code for a years renewal at only 50$. It also includes an extra car and 3 extra tracks making it the absolute best way to start in iRacing that I'm aware of.

I build my own computers and it really isn't much more difficult than a big Lego kit at this point and can potentially save you hundreds of $$- in fact Lego can be much harder :lol:
As superbike mentioned, a computer that costs ~500 us$ can easily run iRacing very well with superb graphics. My not so awesome laptop can even get by with reduced graphics settings. Go for a decent computer though so the game looks as great as it drives 👍
 
Cheers guys. PC prices are my main worry, as I really only want to spend £600 if not cheaper on a PC that provides the sim with great graphics. I can go slightly dearer, but not towards the £1000 barrier. I'll probably need to do a lot of research and request advice regarding it. Furthermore, does it take a long period of time for the typical driver to get to a high level, such as racing the Williams F1?
 
adstomko
Cheers guys. PC prices are my main worry, as I really only want to spend £600 if not cheaper on a PC that provides the sim with great graphics. I can go slightly dearer, but not towards the £1000 barrier. I'll probably need to do a lot of research and request advice regarding it. Furthermore, does it take a long period of time for the typical driver to get to a high level, such as racing the Williams F1?
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Well I drive it.

Getting there doesn't take too long if you fast track. But if you do you'll find you won't have much pace so it is best to run a season in the Star Mazda to get used to the feeling of iRacings aero, tyre and handling models on the car. Even after this it will take a season or two or even three for you to get used to the car and get up to pace with the top split guys on track.

My suggestion would be don't rush the feeder series, the more experience you get in those the better. :)
 
Thanks for the cadillaccupracing link guys, I was looking at trying iRacing some time ago, but this is a great way to test it out :cheers:
 
JoostBaksteen
Thanks for the cadillaccupracing link guys, I was looking at trying iRacing some time ago, but this is a great way to test it out :cheers:
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But you're a GTP online admin - you are supposed to be racing.... oh wait... nevermind :lol:
Hopefully we'll meet up on track, it's been a while 👍
 
I wish I bought all the content in one go while I could. Not living with my parents now so it's tough to get it all. 3 tracks a month now.
 
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Whats your budget fella? As no doubt everyone will tell you, it's far cheaper to build your own and not that difficult. Your only issue with a self build is dealing with faulty parts/troubleshooting issues during the build which can be pretty daunting to a beginner.
 
I can't trust myself to build one aha, looking for a price around 600 if not cheaper, but I don't want to go towards £1000 if possible.
And cheers for the info, skidmarx!
 
I second that you should NOT buy any additional content upfront... in fact buy nothing for awhile and then be careful what you spend on by asking questions in the forum and looking to see what series those cars run and how popular they are (how often its raced as well) I have so much content I don't have time for... so many cars I can't drive because I don't have enough time to run more than a few in the run of an average week.

the racing doesn't actually get better because you buy more cars, you get different cars that go faster....and in theory the drivers get better as your class improves so this helps slightly your chances of being with less people who will wreck you by accident - but realistically the racing and mixing it up with other drivers doesn't really get better or worse from car to car - its just a different car and you can't drive them all anyways its just too time consuming. I've had some of my best races in the faster splits as a rookie and that was over 2 years ago.
 
Buy content as you see it needed and don't always buy it because your license runs it. I hardly ever drive the A class car in oval because I don't really like it as much, I love trucks and would only drive that but don't own all the tracks so I switch off when they run where I don't have a track.
 
I bought almost everything. I have 3 oval tracks that I didn't purchase yet but any day now I will.

I only road race as of now, just about have 2 years in the service. I love jumping into the Gen 6 car and fly around the track, getting a great rhythm for 30 minutes or so. One day I just might join a practice or even a race. :)

I say buy all the content and enjoy it. Even if it means hot lapping a car once every 6 months or so. I say enjoy the show. If perhaps you are on a tight budget, then just wait for a sunnier day. :)
 

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