I saw those two sale posts last night soon after you guys posted, and checked them both but rFactor still showed full price for me (regional sales?). This morning though I saw it was marked down a bit. I was off to work though so didn't grab it. rFactor's not my focus just yet. I have to be careful not to take a shotgun approach, but more laser focus on one or two of them until I have a solid base from which to work.

All of this is new to me and I need to set up a pit, work out wheel and sim settings, map controls and basically start over with sim racing. So I think it's best I keep the narrow focus to see some rapid improvement. I'll pick up rFactor 2 at some point. Thanks for the heads up fellas!

I can certainly do Saturday nights. The one critical part I need to do is buy ACC and RF 2. I currently don't have either of those games.

It looks like ACC will see some action here so I think it's a good choice, but maybe the focus doesn't trip your trigger. The thing is all of these sims have strengths and weaknesses, something they do best and something they do the worst, it seems. Someone that races exclusively in VR for example will pick this over that, or some might prioritize force feedback feel, or AI racing, affinity to, or dislike of, certain classes or whatever. If this ever gets going I suspect we'll have events in several of these sims.

Years ago when I was an active sim racer, racing online with the gang, we did a lot of GTR and GTR 2. GT cars are just a great class for online racing I think. I loved it, throwing my 575 around Donington or Brand's Hatch you know? I settled on ACC for a number of reasons.

-- GT cars. I already know from the previous experience that this is a great racing class (to me). A wide variety of marques to add diversity. GT3 and GT4 classes add more. Of course for some, having just two classes is a weakness. But as a veteran GPL, GTR and F1 driver this is not an issue for me!
-- I love Ferraris and can race them here.
-- Classic tracks. Both Donnngton and Brand's Hatch are in. Spa, Zandvoort, Imola, Laguna Seca. Kyalami!
-- Good AI racing. I've watched videos and the AI is very well behaved in ACC.
-- Good endurance racing, day night cycle, weather, dynamic track temps and tyre models.
-- As a newer sim compared to some others it looks great. Graphics are more up to date than some of the competition. rFactor is a great sim too, but looks a lot older. Graphics aren't the main thing, but must be listed as a strength for ACC. Car interiors/dashes are especially nice.
-- Offline racing. The reasonable AI and championships modes are a big plus for me. I plan to run online, but the majority will still be offline. I'm a bit of a hotlapper at heart, but I still want to be able to run a championship season against the AI.

With all the discussion about ACC here I reinstalled it today.
Totally forgot about the sim after purchasing it shortly after the release in 2019 and not being too impressed with it back then.

But what a completely different experience it is nowadays!
Worked right out of the box with my old G29 and the rest of my system without any further tweaking required to get it running smoothly with a decent AI grid.

The driving experience is so much fun that I also got the complete DLC package for it which adds quite a few iconic tracks and some more cars.
Can´t wait to try the online aspect of ACC with you!

Excellent news and a lofty endorsement indeed. I trust Frank's opinion on this stuff. I'll be there in a few days, once the rig arrives and I get it all set up. As long as it is possible, once I'm up and running I intend to run regular practice servers while learn the tracks and the sim. Well, the tracks I know already, aside from maybe Oulton Park which I don't recall running before. Most of these tracks were in GPL and/or GTR, even Snetterton as a GPL add-on track.

As long as it is possible, I'll announce the practice servers here with a password. If possible I'd like to avoid making the password public, so anyone that thinks they want to join send me a PM and I'll PM the password when it's up and running.

I plan to get the DLC too

How comfortable were you Frank from the start? Any other impressions you care to offer would be of interest, but no obligation of course. Which car/track combo were you running?

Derek, I tried a few of the non GT3 cars on tracks like Oulton Park or Zandvoort.

The BMW M2 for example is a really forgiving car to learn a new track layout. Especially for someone getting into the sim racing hobby.

Started a new career which puts you into a Lambo for a few try out test runs at Monza to get you into a GT3 team depending on your perfomance.

Went with Team Bentley and our first outing was a double race event at Zolder.
Promptly smashed my car into the barriers during the first race but luckily could limp back to the pits and finish the race second to last.
The second one went better starting from pole and winning.

That Bentley is a handful but the sound....

Now off to some wet weather tests at Brands before the next race over there.

So I have been looking Into the other sims I have and this Is what I found worth mentioning.

Neither ACC or rFactor 2 for that matter have a create server option In there main menu. They both have dedicated servers or user created servers which I will explain now. On the other hand, AMS 1 & 2 have the option to create your own server from the main game menu as done In other games, or how It was done typically In the past.

So for ACC the story goes like this...


The other way...


And for rFactor 2...


Or...


And for RaceRoom...

Thanks. I wish setting up a private server was easier, but the most important thing is it can be done.

I also found this, a GUI to make the ACC server process easier

https://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?threads/acc-server-manager-ita-eng.68918/

Umm....?


So it's been nearly a month since we began talking about some racing action here in earnest. In the mean time I went from F1 2021 and FH5 with a controller to full race rig and all the latest sims. Just about every day since the rig was built I've been online hoping for some folks here to step forward and join.

But how else can you say it? It's dead. It would be one thing if we just weren't connecting, due to schedules or time zones or whatever. But I have not had anyone make any attempt to arrange any action, aside from NimRud who can always be counted on to show up for some racing. And he is half a world away!

We started a private SimHQ ACC server to help get things going, and have had one player request the password. One!

So that's what made me think we could help to bridge the gap with the hotlap challenge. A way for folks to 'compete' with others here at SimHQ but without needing to get together. A few took up the challenge, which is great, but I expected more participation. The hotlap challenge was an idea to get the fence sitters involved and hopefully when that proved fun the next step could be taken and we'd be meeting up online.

It's still early days, and many here are just getting new gear, new sims. I get it. But the question is, what will it take to get you guys to turn out? Is it down to the time? The class, the sim, the track? Post up, say what's on your mind, if anything. How do we move forward from here and see some participation?

What is holding you back?

For me, if you had picked RF2, AMS2 or Raceroom, I'd likely have been there many times late afternoon and early evening EST. All of these are solid, proven sims with great ffb feel with good or great vr support and multiple disciplines. I voted against ACC as it has terrible VR optimization and is limited to one discipline. I own the sim, but I enjoy the others much more so I've been sticking to Raceroom's online multiplayer to get my daily races in, though lately I've been setting up new hardware. (Almost done!)

It also seems there was some focus on single player and AI in ACC which is sort of irrelevant to getting a group going.

Right now, this is a very small community due to this forum being nuked years ago. I suggest a regular poll for titles and race times and follow the majority, though I have a feeling we may need more active members to reach some measure of critical mass.

We haven't picked anything really. All sims are open.

I've not read of any talk to join races except for ACC, so it seemed so.

Oh yes you have, you did from the beginning (ACC), and geared most to your liking. So "once biten, twice shy" as they say, and that´s were we stand now.

@360maniac_com seems to agree with me, so again, one does need to have a 25 year experience to have there own criteria even If there new to the sim racing world. Specially If one has ALREADY tried these sims beforehand! Now that you have the rest of the "modern" sims you say your open to anything, sorry say but that´s not nice play...

Well we had to start somewhere

.

But evidently one needs this much experience in order to put up a server here at SimHQ? If everyone's hoping something happens that they like without actually getting involved to make it happen then yeah, this is the result. You say you've been waiting in the wings for stuff you like?

I'm trying to get some folks together here to enjoy racing, but replies like these its apparent we seek different things. Nothing ventured and all. It's great you've found an ally Red, you are on the same page and maybe you will move this forward in the sims you are waiting to race. If you do, let the rest of us in on it.

No I am not looking for an allied, but you have, again from the beginning. Frases like "let the rest of us In on It" show this, aside from other actions shown here. You don´t need 25 years of experience to set up a server, there´s plenty of videos out there (I posted some), you just need to spend some time to do so, kids do this everyday.

"We had to start somewhere", sure thing, and you started were you wanted for the most part, and as a veteran In SimHQ you are the one some will believe In. So when you talk about ally's, try not to discredit others who are not SimHQ veterans, or that haven´t played GPL, or other simcade sims In the past. Again, your ally's.

Trying to get folks to enjoy racing, yes, but what you like again. I also have been trying to get people to enjoy this hobby, but without Imposing my believes or status (which I don´t have) In the process, so again quit putting/saying things like "I am seeking different things". I don´t even think I have to proof this as It´s quite evident In my threads.

But like I said, once biten, twice shy. I am not going to waist effort to be later stepped on because I am not a SimHQ veteran, haven´t played the golden era of GPL, or any other kids play. I am actually quite tired of this attitude, and some really stand out In this. So speaking of replies, yeah quite disappointed but not surprised at my age.

Yes, that seems like the best course to take.

I can only speak for myself, but I don`t believe anyone has imposed any believes or status to me. (confused).

Whether it is you red2112, or DBond or anybody else that have resources, knowledge or experience I for my part am grateful that you exist.
That`s the spirit of this forum, isn`t it. To stimulate and motivate members to enjoy gaming, on-line or not.
If you have 25 or 5 years in the forum doesn`t really matter to me if you manage to spark my interest .

Just look at your MSFS add-ons thread Red2112. 43.231 views! And growing.
Threads like that and members like you are what keeps this site alive.

Right now I am really happy that SimHQ Re-activated the SimHQ Motorsports forum.
Made me get into a genre I knew existed, but never really have tried. And I have fun doing it because of what I read here.
I don`t feel any pressure with which sim I buy.
Usually I use several sources to make me decide which game I want. That`s still valid.
It makes me happy when I read threads where forum members are excited about games they play. Also if someone make a discussion why they don`t.

I see a ACC server, and a Hotlap challenge for ACC. Now there might be some speculation as to drift to another sim because "someone" likes It because he has finally tried It. Really, there´s ways In doing and attitude. Sure we can´t have ALL the sims represented here, that would be just to much, but as It Is now, It´s ACC weather one likes It or not. If that´s not imposing then I am wrong.

I really don´t care anymore, and I have been shown the door out In a polite manner. So that´s what I will do, and I am sorry for those few that though I was encouraging here In SimHQ.

C'mon Red, you have put quite a bit of input to this forum with advice and videos etc and it is appreciated... don't dissappear.