hi all
can you help me please,friends of mine are fed up with to much change in shoot up games,paying for maps,what the top car sim games guys we like a change and have fun
thanks pete

PC gamers yeah?

right for racing games, lets have a look we have a variety of which we play here at SimHQ, the majority of us being on rFactor 1.

rFactor 1 - Fully customisable, hundreds of mods out there, hundreds of tracks, developer tools to make your own stuff, it is completely open source. However, there is a catch, you all (whoever you play with) would need the exact mods and tracks that peoples servers run, like here at SimHQ we have a Skoda touring car series, anyone wishing to play around on server would need to have the exact unique mod and tracks to be able to log onto it, and it is like that for every server, if you get a mis match it boots you/or you wont be able to take to track. Not much can be done about that so there isn't really a "casual" boot up and play style system like shoot em ups.

GTR/GTR2 - few of us here play these aswell, though your best bet would be a second hand copy now of these or if possible see if it is still able to be brought from the official websites, because you will need a code to activate the online capabilities, but alas have no fear there is a website that freely provides you a code even if 2nd hand. im not sure what the servers etc are like with these as i rarely play these these days.

Race 07 - a newer sim, made by the same guys who made GTR and GTR2, however this has sort of gone down the DLC route paying for extra's etc, like their Swedish Touring Car add on etc, still very much enjoyable though.


i've mostly listed "simulations" because they are just alot better than say the codemasters f1 games etc that are out there and their other ones, i mean you guys should come and join us here, we would love new members to come and join in, over in our Skoda Touring Car series we had 20 or so guys competing at the last event and it isn't hugely serious either it is great fun, the cars you can throw them about and rescue slides that should be impossible to save, amazing fun.

We also have out endurance series the SCES, a bit more serious and focused, 2 hour races around some of the best tracks ever made for rFactor

I dont really play the casual racing games, so i will leave that for someone else to come in with info on, but for simulations you can't go wrong, and with rFactor you can pretty much race ANY series you want to race, there is even a Reliant Robin mod aswell!

There's a couple more games out there that Mr Hill neglected to mention, Most are still in development and some are catered for here as well...

iRacing,
lazer scanned tracks, some of the best cars around and realistic physics and FFB, some say the best around. The drawbacks are the high price of subscription and paying for each track in comparison to other titles. But it is the most complete game out there, although it's not perfect either. SimHQ do run races for iRacing, but not as often as rFactor 1.

Then there's the in development titles.

rFactor 2,
which is still in the BETA stage, so it's far from perfect, but there's plenty of promise and there's races held on it here at SimHQ. A big step up from rF1 and has the potential to be the market leader, a more intricate mod developing, with a mod manager this time around. The community has been waiting for this title, and although there is bugs in the BETA there's a lot of fun to be had.



Simraceway,
A free to join and start up mostly online game that also has much promise, but on more of a dedicated server front rather than a hosted server, so the online functions very similar to the shoot em ups, where rather than racing against a community of players that you get to know, a lot of the time you are racing against randoms. Their pricing model is interesting, you can either pound around the track in a Evo and get the high mileage to buy the next car, or you could just pay less than $5 to buy the car of your choice. The tracks are free, but their website isn't the most stable so getting those tracks has been a task at times. On the physics front it's definitely got potential but it's running off of the rF1 engine so it won't surpass other titles still in development on that front, it's potential lies elsewhere within the game structure.

pCARS,
Possibly the most stunning graphically and has real potential as most of the cars seem pretty well glued to the track, but is in the pre-alpha stage and does have a lot of bugs and a lot of missing pieces to the puzzle, but the general feel is very good and there's many different level of payment to get to be part of the alpha testing program. The downside is no online racing yet other than hotlap leaderboards, and possible direction changes depending on how the pre-alpha stages go...

GTR3,
no open BETA as of yet, but with the awesome GTR2 still being a treasured favourite to many, there's a lot of hype around this one...

Assetto Corsa,
Another promising title made by Kunos, no open BETA as of yet either.



Of course reading through this will mean nothing to you if you are a console only player... As Unfortunately as far as I'm aware only pCARS is slated for a multi-platform release.

But as a PC sim racer 2012 and 2013 are big years of new releases all of which have their own little niches for which they are aiming for. So there's no better time to get your feet wet. And from my experience this community is one of the best around, especially for a newcomer as there's lots of people willing to help and a range of driver abilities.

My suggestion would be to get on to rFactor 1 and join in a few of the races here at SimHQ, there's a bit of a learning curve as far as mod management and getting yourself set up and ready to race, but there's plenty of people here to help with that and fun is our main goal. And even though it's a old game about to spawn a sequel, there's lots of offline fun to be had with mods that are rarely touched by server hosts, and plenty of servers to try your hand on aside from here if you wish to do so. But the best part of rF1 is the free community content which has made the game last well past it's use by date.

Im a big fan of Live For Speed

Alot of fun can be had for free, with the demo.

If he's tired of paying for maps, he probably won't want anything to do with iRacing. That's a financial commitment, not only to the monthly MMO fee, but buying tracks and cars.
That said, if you want sim plus a simulated racing career online (it's MP only, other than practice), that's the top of the heap.

Otherwise, I'd second Race 07/GTR Evo and the Retro pack.

On the lighter side, as in no pit stops, NFS: Shift 1 and Shift 2 if you've got a more serious rig--take a lot to get good framerate on that one. Mod these and they can be borderline sims.

The F1 2010 or 2011 games are pretty good if you like the open wheel racing.

You might enjoy Simraceway, but last I checked it was still limited. Basically rFactor and fee-based.

To me you sound like a shooter type gamer who is growing old and wants to race.? Try the new NFS Run and then maybe F1 2011 and once you are hooked (soon) try out the big boy race games mentioned by the pro's above.

Race 07 and GTR are damn fine games but the textures are not 2012 but the fun is I simply felt it best to try and hook ya with an arcade flavor then once your in move on get the wheel seat and and and ..... you get the idea.



Good Luck
Mr Wags

If you're "coming over" from paying-for-map FPS's (COD or BF?), ignore iRacing, rFactor, GTR2 and Race07. These are fine sims, but they are difficult and have many quirks, such as looking very old or require tweaking/modding. You'll feel totally frustrated before anything useful happens.

I would recommend, for different disciplines
Rally: Dirt2/3
F1: F1 2011
Track racing: Grid, Shift 1/2
Open road: NFS The Run

These games you can have much success with gamepads, are polished and modern. They don't need downloading mods and tweaks and fees and investing in a steering wheel. They would just WORK.

ok raw your right im 51 years old and me and my buddies loaded race o7,we can be bothered with car set up just have fun we want,right i use a game pad or keys are these a waist of time or you racers out there.i think its the throttle that i have not control on,will i need to get a cheap stear and peds to have a good race.is that why i spinround in circle guys when i hit the trottle button.give me some hints please

ps ICE if you read this you bloody race as well as flying.

Well sir you are in luck. I have a Logitech Momo Wheel that has been in my closet forever and a day BUT it needs a power supply. I would be more than willing to send it across the pond as long as you promise to use it.

My mini me asks all the time why I'm so good at all these games and I simply say Honey daddy's been playing them ever since they were invented.

Now understand I'm serious about this. All you gotta do is pm me a good address and i will send it and if any of you in here have a power supply for a Logitech MoMo wheel could you please follow my lead and help get another racer in the garage?


Be Well
Mr Wags

This is why I love this place. ^