2012 is a huge year for PC sim racing with no less than 12 major titles in development.
SimHQ Motorsports Editors Darren Blythe and Jens "McGonigle" Lindblad update on the latest info.

http://simhq.com/_motorsports5/motorsports_164a.html

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Their original report from January is here:

http://simhq.com/_motorsports5/motorsports_163a.html

Nice article Darren and Jens!

I agree with a lot of what you guys have said, so far almost half way through 2012, it still looks like this may turn out to be one of the best simracing years for us.

However, for me the limited progress of rF2 content, and pCARS poor physics and FFB, has me a bit worried and on the disappointed side, taking into account that both are paid betas... still I know I jumped into a beta and am glad to support the developers of quality sims with my paid beta funding and feedback on their forums, but I just hope they don't mess up the good faith opportunity they have and the good support of the community who is paying them ahead of time for delivery of a quality product, if they mess it up, the community will likely have a long memory.

Assetto Corsa is also looking amazing and I have faith that the physics and FFB on that one is certain to be great like nKpro, and thankfully while I wait for all these to make progress I'm lucky that iRacing still continues to fill my simracing needs really well, and gets even better with each regular update.

Here's hoping when you guys do your next update, that some of the 2012 titles have delivered on the promising features they only show us a glimmer of right now.

Can I say that the day of good single player racing sims has ended? If I understand correctly, none of those new sims (save GTR3..for now) have even a decent AI opponents, let alone one with GTR2 or NR2003 quality. I wonder if I'm the only one left who still thinks that racing against 29 to 42 good AIs offline beats racing against 4 to 9 human drivers online anytime?

You are certainly not the only one left magicalflyer. That's what we try to hint at in the article.

OK, some people prefer mp, but there has to be good single-player capabilities, as in decent AI. And it is currently taking a backseat in new sims and being left by the wayside.

Considering that pCARS doesn't even have MP yet, it's a bit early to claim that - it only has single player!

The AI is admittedly a bit rough in the alpha version, but provides some fun and I'm sure will improve. Worth a look.

To add insult to injury, the modders 'market' has almost dried up. I remember the times when if you visited sites like rfactorcentral or nogrip once a week you usually had 10 incremenatally new mods (either cars, series or tracks) to check out. And usually at least once a month we were given an absolute gem. Now all we see on those sites are announcments of mods, WIPs, and previews.

I tried out iRacing, and while I was certainly impressed, I can't commit the time to justify the monthly cost. So I got off of simracing for a year or so. Just set up my rig again to try out rFactor2 and walked away with the same mixed feelings everyone else has had. It has promise but the fact that my favorite track in rF2 was the third-party Mid-Ohio made me wonder if ISI has 'got it'. Haven't messed with pCars as I'm not convinced of their sincerity.

So I went through my backlog of older games, updated a bunch of them and what do I find I really like? RBR 2012 and netKar Pro 1.3 demo. I'm drooling over Assetto Corsa so I figured I'd support them by purchasing a copy of netKar and am now enjoying a polished, if limited, product that just feels good.

Oldies but goodies I guess.

Great article. I appreciate all the work you've put into it. Unfortunately these articles are not as easy to find as some of the other SimHQ content, which may be why there's so little feedback.

You are obvious fans of rFactor and the length of the section on rFactor 2 indicates your interest and hopes. As a beta tester and user -- not modder! -- of rF2, I find it to already be one of my favorite sims while I'm behind the wheel. The sense of immersion is better than anything else I'm playing at the moment. Granted I spend most of my time with the Classic F3 cars. They are very fun, and the online code seems pretty stable.

The car and track selection scheme for rF2 is very different from rF1, and installing new cars and tracks is not nearly as simple as in rF1. The developers are clearly trying to avoid issues with "cheats" but may have erred (so far) on the side of content control, as opposed to ease of use, especially for the modders. For users, going on line is much easier because you can download and install content from the server selection screen: 1) Select the server; 2) Click to download; 3) Join.

Keep up the good work and try to find a way to get these articles more up front.

Thanks for the feedback jimagn and I'm really pleased you enjoyed the article. Both Jens and I are passionate about our hobby so we try to bring a little of that into what we write. Unfortunately the turnover of articles here at SimHQ is pretty high so our time in the limelight is always somewhat limited lol.

rF2 is as frustrating as it is brilliant at the moment. The infuriating mod system really needs to be worked out. I'm a fairly experienced modder but have neither the time or the motivation to go near it in it's current state - at least not without a bottle of whisky and headache pills!

Hopefully Jens and I will be back with more stuff pretty soon. In the meantime there's a fairly extensive review of Fanatecs new Clubsport Wheel and V2 pedalset in the pipeline. That will be published as soon as the embargo is lifted.

Thanks again. Nice to know someone reads this stuff!