My apologies in advance for the complete noob post, but . . .

where is one to start?

I play plenty of FPS and sim games on my PC, BF2, UT, IL2, SH4, etc. But I have yet to do much driving on it. So far, I've left racing games to the console, where the screen is bigger and the input device is easier to handle.

But I would love to start racing on my PC. And my complete noob questions are, well there is so much information posted in and around this board I don't know where to begin.

What kind of PC rig do I need to have, should have.
What kind of peripherals should I have, wheel, pedals, etc?

What games should I have in order to participate in some of this excellent online competition I keep reading about?

Again, I apologize for such a noob post, and I'll keep searching through the forum or someone please point me to where this info is. If there were a complete beginner's guide, it might bring more racers in.

thanks for reading,

Weed

A beginner's guide is a good idea. Maybe I'll write one. For now this post will do.

Any PC that can handle other types of simming should handle racing sims in a similar manner. A typical mid-range system these days has a fast processor (but not the latest and greatest), 1GB of RAM, and a dedicated video card that is at least in the mid-range performance bracket (i.e. nVidia 7600GT, nVidia 8600GT, ATI Radeon 3850).

To drive realistic sims you should have a wheel/pedal controller. The most popular and prolific PC wheels are made by Logitech. For about $65 there's the Logitech MOMO, which has a fixed 270-degree wheel with 6 buttons, sequential and paddle shifters, and 2 pedals. For closer to $100 there's the Logitech Driving Force Pro, which has a variable-rotation wheel with 900 degrees max. The DFP has 10 buttons, sequential and paddle shifters, and 2 pedals. The DFP is marketed for Playstation 2 but works great on PC. Finally there's the Logitech G25 for about $250, which is worlds above the other two controllers. The G25 has 2 buttons on the wheel, 12 on the shifter, has three pedals (all-metal construction), and comes with a 6-speed + Reverse gated shifter that can also be used in sequential mode.

All three wheels are force feedback, which helps immensely with car control in high-fidelity racing sims. The MOMO and the DFP have single force feedback motors, and the backlash as the motor changes direction can cause a bit of a jerky feeling around center. The G25 has two motors working in opposite directions to avoid this. If you're just starting out it doesn't make sense to spend the money on the G25.

Other manufacturers, most notably Saitek and Thurustmaster, make wheel controllers, but I have no experience with them and they seem quite rare at SimHQ.



If you are interested in participating in SimHQ's online races, our main sim is rFactor. rFactor is an open architecture simulation that allows for a very open modding environment, and as such there are hundreds of cars and tracks available. We pick the best ones and go racing for a set series, then switch to a new mod and do it all over again. In rFactor you can drive literally everything; there are mods for low- to high-powered open wheel cars (Formula BMW, Toyota Atlantics, Champ Cars, Indy Cars, Formula 1), Tin top cars (VW Lupo, Super Clio, Mini, Renault Megane, Porsche Cup, McLaren F1), Sports Car Prototypes (ALMS/LMS cars, Daytona Prototypes, Zonda), Off-road vehicles (CORR trucks, buggies, AWD sedans), and even crazy stuff like lawnmowers. It's a blast.

SimHQ sometimes runs races using GTR2, although for scheduling purposes we haven't done so in a while. GTR2 simulates FIA GT cars, although it is also open to modding. GTR2 has fantastic weather and lighting effects.

SimHQ is also planning a series using RACE07, which simulates the WTCC (World Touring Car Championship). These are spec tin-top cars that provide close racing.

A title every sim-racer should have is GPL (Grand Prix Legends). This simulates the 1967 Formula 1 season, a time where the cars had monstrous 3L engines but no aero downforce and skinny little tires to hold them to the road. There is a 2004 Demo of GPL that comes with the Watkins Glen track, and allows all of the almost 500 (!) addon tracks to be used. All you need for the real experience is the game CD (sold for about $5 these days) to import the other 8 tracks from the game into the demo. Every sim racer needs GPL.

Joe,

Thanks for the excellent reply.

My PC is right in that range. And further down the road this year I plan to upgrade anyway, so that should not be a problem.

It sounds like I need:

A medium price range wheel. I will start researching those you listed and choose one.

rFactor, GTR2, and GPL (add ons and mods can come after I have these up and running and have practiced a bit and get a feel for how they work)

My only concern about rFactor is the open architecture. Has cheating been a factor to deal with? With BF2 using Punkbuster, (or any game for that matter) the cheaters are still everywhere and just ruin the game when they show up. Just curious is all.

Again, thanks for the informative post. I now have some concrete objectives to accomplish to get under way. Thanks!

Edit - Just saw that Wikipedia has an excellent article on GPL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_Legends

You hear rumors of cheating in all online Sim's, but I have never seen it in my experience with league racing. There are exceptions to everything but the Sim racing community for the most part is a more mature crowd, so alot of the problems you see in shooters does not show up here.

The biggest complaint with rFactor is typically the vast amount of content thats available. It can be overwhelming to a new person. To get a good taste of whats available go to rFactorCentral.com and click the Hall of Fame link in their title banner. It will give you a rundown of cars, tracks, and game tools that are the best of the best.

There is always banter about which is the better sim, GTR2 or rFactor. They both have their own merits, for me I come down on the side of rFactor because its a better experience overall than GTR2, for me at least. GTR2 is really good for what it is, FIA GT cars. And if that is all a person wants to drive than it is probably the game for them. But with all the content available in rFactor I think a person would be limiting their experience to not try it.

As far as hardware, I have a very mid range system, 2.66ghz P4, nVidia FX5200 256MB video, 1GB RAM, and a Sound Blaster Audigy SE sound card. My system runs rFactor at around 60-70 FPS when I am on most tracks by myself, and around 45 - 50 fps with other cars. I use a Logitech DFP, upgraded to it from a Red Momo wheel. I love the DFP, for the money its the wheel I would recommend. Of course if a guy has the jack to spend then the G25 or other specialty wheels would be a great way to go.

I've never seen anyone cheating in rFactor. When you log onto a server the physics files of your car are checked against those loaded on the server. If they don't match you can't go on the track.

If you race on open servers online I suppose you might run into cheating problems, but then you also run into people who are impatient, rude, bad drivers, wreckers, etc. If you race with a group like SimHQ or if you race in a serious league, you won't see that kind of stuff.

I actually have a noob question to ask. Can you give us a little bit of definitions for some of the slang. I keep seeing Tin Tops and things like that and have no idea what they really mean. I did get my G-25 in and will be setting it up tonight or tomorrow night depending on time. I also bought a new headset for the teamspeak so I am going to try to join you guys online next weekend.

Right now terminology is looking like my biggest problem because when I see something like tin top or some of the other terms, I really don't know what to look for in the way of research.

Well I wont claim to be an authority on all the terms but here are the ones you asked about.

Tin Tops - Any car which has a roof on it. (GT, Touring, Stock Cars)
Open Wheel - Any car without fenders and open cockpit. (Think of your formula cars, F1, Champ Car, and so on.)
Prototypes - Cars that are theoretically used to develop new technologies, can be both open cockpit and closed. (Lots of different types of cars fall into this, Daytona Prototypes, Audi R10, and so on.)

Obviously all these terms encompass a whole bunch of cars.

I like this thread so much, I think I'll sticky it.

Great replies all.

Ok so when I see a tin top series, it doesn't matter which type of car you use or does it? How am I supposed to determine which car I need to run on the track online?

Well, you will hear a series being called a tin top only in forums and the like. Most of the time will we say something like "We are running a tin top series with the V8's and E21's". Thats the V8 Supercars mod and BMW 320 E21 mod.

To find out directly, if it isnt clearly mentioned in the forum, go to the Internet lobby in the game. Click the Game Name tab and it will sort the servers alphabetically, or click the Race Series tab and it will sort them alphabetically by mod that is running. Either way you do it is fine, but after doing that identify the server you want to join, and look at the Race Series that is running. The names are very descriptive so you should know for sure which mod you need at that point. If you dont have the mod, go back over to rFactorCentral.com and download it.

It does all get confusing, so do not hesitate to ask questions.