iRacing
Unrivalled online-only sim; pitched as training tool for professional drivers - and lives up to the promise!
About iRacing
By far the most realistic simulation available to buy - this is an online-only subscription based racing service. It differs from other simes in a number of ways best described through the medium of bullet points...
- Laser-scanned tracks - All the circuits featured have been mapped with lasers by a dedicated team from iRacing. So they're ultra-realistic. All other sims feel 'flat' in comparison.
- Licensed cars - though manufacturer partnership - All the cards are accurately modelled in partnership with their respective manufacturer - and by 'accurately modelled' I mean they took real cars to bits and weighed all the components just to get the weight distribution right. The physics model to accompany this is also...awesome!
- Licenses/matchmaking - All 'play' is online and against other people. This happens through 12 week competition seasons, with fixed time races. The mechanics are such that it doesn't necessarily favour you to run 136 races each week - just a Sunday afternoon is enough to get good results. You get an 'iRating' and the service attempts to match you with people of a similar skill so there's always a good, close fight.
- Safety Rating - Wrecking is discouraged through a score based on the distance (actually number of corners) you've driven versus how many incidents you have; like going off track, spinning, hitting walls or other cars, etc. High safety ratings are required to progress up to faster cars.
The only negative at the moment is that there aren't many cars or tracks - the only European one is Silverstone. More is being added all the time though. Also, iRacing is the only sim we're aware of that includes a version of the Silverstone Southern circuit - everyone else leaves it out!
In short, its bloody excellent. Go and register now.
