I’m into flightsimming from the start that I noticed the first computer in the window of a local store when I was 12 years old.. we are talking about the early 80’s, a ZX81 with some graphics that should resemble a horizon and some instruments.. after that I went all the way from a Commodore 64, Amiga and a regular PC upgrade. I’ve seen a lot of great flightsims and racing sims. The flightsim always was my kind of sim.. Although I did try racing and had fun with some of them like Grand prix legends,netKar pro and F1 2010, racing could never get me like the flightsims do. Maybe because I’m really bad at it or didn’t had the proper hardware for it.

A few weeks ago I noticed the SimHQ iRacing banner with the 3 month special offer and had a try.. Woow.. what’s happening here.. I’m still a bad driver and lap times are at least 3sec slower than the fast drivers (driving the mx-5 and Jetta) but this sim is really addictive! Why is it? What makes iRacing so addictive? Is the sim this good or is it the way the racers are organized? The community around it and the idea that you really racing in an organized competition with the Safety an iratings?

It caught my attention, I just wanted to test it out for the 3 months and then move on. Nope that didn't happen, I'm addicted. However I'm taking this season off for other obligations.

If you're only 3 seconds off in the MX5 that's not bad. Just remember that the mx5 roadster is a little faster than the coupe. So don't judge your time if you're driving the slower car.

I think its a combination of things

- Its accomplishment based with a ladder type system (i.e. license levels and needing to progress to bigger and better challenges)

- There is accountability (SR system) which does a fair (not perfect) job of keeping it fun and keeping childish behavior to a minimum

- There is the human factor.....there are no programmed cars, every car, every corner is subject to human error from other drivers and yourself

- The community is small enough to get to know lots of people and still have variety from race to race

- Competitiveness....there is way to compare yourself somewhat directly to some of the best drivers in the world (irating)

Brett is again making some very good points here, I agree with all.

I would also add the simulation physics and force feedback make for an awesome "driving" experience. When I catch that slide out of a difficult corner, it puts a big smile on my face and this is a feeling I don't get with other racing simulations, or at least not to this extent. And that makes me want to come back for more.
But yeah, this "offline" experience in itself would not be enough and this definitely is the online/multiplayer aspect that seals the addiction.

You have more of a flight sim background, me too, so why is it that we don't get addicted to flight sims as much? You can also play that online.
For me it's for a couple of reasons:
- flight sims are more complicated to learn, as in you have to learn all the systems, etc. (think DCS series), and it is more difficult to maintain this knowledge.
- even for less complicated sims like Rise of Flight where you don't have to deal with CDU, TGP or other weird acronyms, I get shot down within seconds of joining any multiplayer server because I'm a bad pilot.
I'm a bad pilot in iRacing, but I can still run the race at my own pace and enjoy it without having to respawn every couple of seconds. And in the more popular series with more drivers, I actually still have a chance to compete with people that have the same skill level and still have a chance to win a race.

The way they keep track of everything you do makes it very addicting, I think. Plus the sim itself is quite beautiful, it's challenging to drive and the physics are as close as they can get them.

iRacing!! Straight to the vein, man, straight. to. the. vein.


I think as a drug the iRacing addiction varies from person to person. I am too busy with real-life(tm) to join a racing club/group so for me it is the clean racing, regularly scheduled, more-or-less frequent race events, and game physics that makes iRacing so addictive. In my first month of iRacing I had more clean races than in 3 or 4 years of GT5 and GTR2.
(full disclosure - I am also a very very very slow pilot)

Have you given more thought since your OP as to why you find iRacing addictive?

Here's the dark side though...

get into a race with a bunch of rookies, get knocked off the track, quit in disgust, lose 15 points off your SR.

There should be a large red flag flying over the cars of those who have fewer than 20 races or an SR lower than 2.5

Correct me if I'm wrong but you can see by the number a driver gets in a race what his experience is compared to the other drivers.
That could be the (little)red flag you're looking for.

Here's a red flag. If she's driving a pink car and her name is Michelle, start from the pit.

Two points:
1. Don't make personal assertions on the iRacing forums; the post will be yanked and your forum access might as well. Save those replays and log protests. Not every protest goes the way you want it to, but they're worth doing. My experience as a protester is that there's lots of leniency for rookies and dumb mistakes, but repeated dweeb driving gets noticed and obviously intentional wrecking gets fast action.

2. Bad things can happen anywhere, not just with newbies. My first FW31 "A" race consisted of someone rear-ending the car in front of him, coming to a dead stop, and I clipped him ruining my front left wheel -- total race time 12s. A 4x is one thing; a 4x in "A" license with a total of one corner completed is a big SR hit. These things happen even in real F1 racing.

Personally I find the structure's what's so addictive. Every corner counts; unlike even a good sim league, my iR and SR accumulate over my racing career from season to season. The precision laser-scanned tracks help; when watching races on TV you'll not only know the corner, but you'll remember a distinctive bump and recognize when a car gets loose going over it. Lastly, the regular improvements make the sim; unlike a box sim, iRacing's existing content keeps getting better from season to season.