might be here in this forum somewhere, but not finding it... what is Sim Raceway... any good? hows it work?

reason I asked, got a offer to buy a 69 Mustang Boss this AM in my e-mail for them... and I love American muscle cars. So of course I was/am tempted to try... hidden charges?

thx

Basically it's the rFactor engine that has been tweaked and tied into an online portal. Almost like iracing for rfactor. Everything has to be purchased as micro-transactions but the quality of the content is pretty good. Last time i tried it, it was a little buggy and seemed quite expensive - especially as a lot of what you see will be very familiar for rFactor racers.

A brief explanation here:
http://simhq.com/_motorsports5/motorsports_163q.html

And further discussion about the game and controller.
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3437214/1.html

I was pretty harsh on it at the time, but I haven't tried it lately. No idea what things cost or if what you get "free" has changed.

Your best bet is to just try it out and see what you think. All it'll cost you is some time.

I've been very tempted by that Mustang myself... It'll be a far step up from the stock standard Evo you get lumbered with until you purchase another car...

Pros

Free to start racing
free tracks
great force feedback
improved graphics over rF1
fixed set up online events for which you compete for cash prizes
Some of the racing can be a blast, even in a Evo
Some great cars to buy, including the Dodge Viper and McLaren MP4-12C GT3

Cons
the ratio between miles and $$ to buy cars seems way off, but most cars are under the $5 mark, so it's no iRacing
their website can be very glitchy which makes it hard to get the free tracks
There can be a lot of crashers during the online events
last time I tried set ups are very non responsive, as in the changes don't really feel like they are made
the cash prizes are usually just enough to buy another car, and with the amount of other people taking part it makes it a hard win..


It's still very early days for the project... It's got a lot of promise, and in comparison to some of the other games out there it has stolen the march on a part of the market that could be made their own if they do things right...

I have had a small bash, mainly offline on Simraceway. AS said above it is iRacing but with rFactor engine and far, far less refinement. For me whilst it is cheaper everything about it is inferior to iRacing.

However, if you want to race online on a budget then it is an option.

Well thanks to their Tuesday free test day (which I think has just started being a weekly thing) I've just spent some time in Simracways version of the McLaren MP4/12C... And damn is it fun...

Since the last serious run I gave this game they've made many improvements.. From the HUD now giving you tyre temp and damage info, to the track detail and the general drive of the cars... I've still only got the Evo X in my garage as a permanent car, but I'm seriously considering buying some Simraceway cash and getting some more cars...

There's more tracks to choose from as well.... Most of the real ones are US based like the Indy Road course, Sonoma and Infineon, but Zandvoort and Bruno are also in the list... as well as some fanstasy tracks one of which is in a multi level car park...

Thanks for the heads up Pumbaa. After it's somewhat wobbly beginnings it sounds like they have made some progress. The slight floundering of rF2 and lack of concrete details around most of the other 2012 players has given them an opportunity to get their foot in the door. Good on them for taking the opportunity.

Maybe i'll take another look when i get the chance. That MP4/12C sure is tempting.

Useless fact of the day - the 3D engineering company that i contract for designed and modelled the lights on the real MP4/12

Well my FANATEC isn't fully support, when I asked them if they would support it they said not on their priority list... so I said NO THANKS.

Not supporting any game/sim I have to go through hoops to get my 700 dollar wheel and pedal system to work with. Life's to short.

Hahaha sweet!!!

And yeah they've taken to the niche that no one else really has yet... And if they keep improving the way they have been it could well be a little gem of a game... It's still missing some key elements, but just like a lot of the other games out there, it's still in developmental stages... I kinda wanna get the Indycar and a few other cars they've got sitting there just waiting for it...

Apparently the free test tuesday is a random car each week... One car that was getting discussed on the in game chat was none other than the Bugati Veyron...

Without wishing to anger an ex military man and current cop I am not really sure what the problem is Mag. I run an almost exact copy of your setup and the game works just fine with my wheel.

I just bash it on 270 degrees rotation and calibrate it in game and all is fine.. Sure you have to assign some buttons to vital functions but no more than iRacing.

What exactly in the setup is not supported?

comparing it to iRacing is an insult, lol... iRacing walks you through the calibration test and it works perfect for all different vehicles from the get go... how ALL racing sims should be done.

That said... it's just like rFactor 1 where you have to calibrate, and program everything your self... and then tweak it... I'm sure with time and patience you could get it working... but not everyone has the time or know how to trouble shoot all that crap... it there fore is NOT supported by the game... I even asked them if it was in an e-mail.. there reply was "the Fanatec line of wheels is not supported and not a priority".

So... I say good by... my time is important to me.

I would imagine the only wheel officially supported would be their own.
I messed with this about a year or so ago during the beta. Not many tracks at the time, just Zandvoort was available IIRC.
It was clearly based on rFactor, as mentioned, but felt a hell of a lot better, with far better FFB than even Reelfeel.
On iRacing, keep in mind that many people don't have the time to go through a lengthy career and licensing mode to get to the class of racing they want. Plus the lack of solo play options. iRacing is far from perfect, even without going into the cost factor.
It would be nice to see more next gen sims come out, nothing hits the sweet spot for me yet.

Yeah completely agree there dude... They have taken the rFactor base to another level now though... Although I don't see it touching CARS or rF2...



The cost model for iRacing means it has to be the best of the best, and with the amount of downsides it has it can't be called that, especially with what I've seen of the calibre of driving on it... And to pay that much for a game makes no sense to me, especially when it's soon to be out dated...

Plus like was stated, I'd rather spend 5-10 minutes getting the most out of my wheel set up (which on simraceway and rfactor is only a couple of button assignments) than spend hours going through a rookie class filled with crashers just to get to the next tier and race against decent competition...

The Boss 302 Mustang is this weeks free test day Tuesday car

I hear ya about the ease of setup in iRacing, but to be fair, while SRW uses a more dated configuration process it literally only takes one or two minutes to get going. What you have to do is change your rotation in the profiler and set four or five buttons in-game, it's an extremely quick and painless process. The stock FFB settings will do you fine, I haven't touched any of those.

In general though I'm really enjoying this sim, I think they have something amazing going while keeping in mind this is still beta. Great car selection, great FFB, and great physics. The way the online events are setup is pretty unique as well, you can earn actual cash to spend in game by placing in a race, they're also giving away their steering wheel as well. The content is also extremely cheap, I was able to grab about 7 or 8 cars for only $5 and all of the tracks come free. Amazing value.

The only downside is it's not very populated right now and the graphics are a little dated. But, from a pure driving and realism perspective I'd have to put this ahead of iRacing and right up there with the likes of NetKar. If they can add more features, bring in more players they should really become a strong contender.

Actually I take it back about the default settings, you'll want to make some tweaks for better FFB and realism. I followed this guide:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/race-marshal/logitech-and-srw-some-settings-to-test/266392733411888

and noticed huge improvements in the overall feel and realism.

This weeks free car is the BMW Z4 GT3

This weeks Tuesday test day car is the Maserati MC12

This weeks Tuesday test day car is the McLaren MP4/27

Yes that's right this years McLaren F1 car...