What Is the Best Sim Racing Game for a Beginner?

Andrew_WOT said:

I was referring to FM7 which is by no means purely arcade racer, that would be Horizon.
It's been a while since I raced FM7 but from memory driving physics was quite good, AMS2 should not be ashamed by this comparison.

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"It's been a while since I raced FM7 but from memory".
Your memory is not accurate then. FM7 is imo an arcade racer. And do you maybe confuse AMS2 with PC3?

AMS2 is close to ACC/RF2/AC in terms of handling/driving physics but not close at all to FM7.
If AMS2 is close to FM7 then also these others sims are pretty close to FM7.

FM7 is more like GRID and also a bit like GT Sports maybe if you want to compare it with something, that's what it's the closest to but it's nothing like AMS2. Those 2 are simply not comparable in terms of driving physics.

I actually consider the F1 series quite difficult. The cars are fast and twitchy and the FFB is quite minimalist. I personally would not send a beginner there because I think a heaping dose of driver aids would be necessary to make it driveable, whereas I think AC and R3E are quite approachable for beginners w/no driving aids necessary.

And when I say "driver aids", I mean assists that aren't native to the real world car - things the beginner would need to wean themselves off of as they progressed into moar srs sims.

Just my 2 cents.

TurboT said:

"It's been a while since I raced FM7 but from memory".
Your memory is not accurate then. FM7 is imo an arcade racer. And do you maybe confuse AMS2 with PC3?

AMS2 is close to ACC/RF2/AC in terms of handling/driving physics but not close at all to FM7.
If AMS2 is close to FM7 then also these others sims are pretty close to FM7.

FM7 is more like GRID and also a bit like GT Sports maybe if you want to compare it with something, that's what it's the closest to but it's nothing like AMS2. Those 2 are simply not comparable in terms of driving physics.

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That's how it drives after recent update, what can I do if to me it's as forgiving as it gets, feels good but hardly challenging.

Andrew_WOT said:

That's how it drives after recent update, what can I do if for me it's as forgiving as it gets, feels good but hardly challenging.

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"That's how it drives after recent update"

You're the first that thinks that AMS2 became an full arcade racer(forgiving as it gets=arcade) after the last 1.3 update. Practically everyone agrees that the game is improved since the last update. Some think that it is where it should be already now, and some think that it just improved a little bit but that it's not good enough: but Andrew has to have an original opinion, after the update it drives like FM7. Right.

FWIW historically sims have had far too punishing steady state and transient slip behavior, and if they model heat, usually it's either not there, or when it is then it kills you from any small slide.

It's not like becoming easier to drive is less realistic, or that more challenging is more realistic. Although I do think the limit is a tad too defined in all sims (maybe just due to less kinesthetic stuff going on and confusing the driver) so in that way perhaps if you make the physical outputs realistic, it'll be "too easy".

TurboT said:

You're the first that thinks that AMS2 became an full arcade racer(forgiving as it gets=arcade) after the last 1.3 update. Practically everyone agrees that the game is improved since the last update.

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It is improved on FFB overall feeling (still not as good as some custom profiles) but physics is weird, and if you are not selective on which posts you read you'll find plenty of feedback on super grip and easy through the turns 4 wheel drift. It's just feel weird and arcadey to me.
Anyway, we deviate from the subject of this topic. Feel free to continue in AMS2 section.

The first for any beginner is the choise of equipment. Do you have a steering wheel and pedals? If yes then all sims will work just fine. If you drive with gamepad or keyboard then you have fewer choises as some games don't really have good settings for pad and keyboard. I can't comment on this aspect any more because I drive with a wheel. All I can say is that if you really like car games, racing and racing sims then buying a wheel is a great purchase. Don't need to get direct drive wheel as your first option. Just get one of those entry level logitech or thrustmaster wheel and pedal combos and you have a package there good enough to win any race or championship you can enter. More money equipment feels nicer and lasts longer and looks cooler. And can make it more fun.

Next question is to ask what kind of cars are you looking for? If you want to drive f1 cars then chances are the latest codie game is a good option. If you want ovals or dirt ovals your only choise is iracing. Lemans is iracing. If you like gt3 cars then that doesn't really narrow it down because every game has them. At that point it becomes a question what do you want to do with the gt3s. Do you want to race against other people in very structured manner (iracing), or little less structured manner with no championships and no official rulesets (acc, raceroom, ac srs).

Do you want a gt3 offline experience with random races against ai (acc, ac, raceroom). Rf2 and ams2 also have gt3 cars but the first one is difficult and time consuming to setup with in-depth knowledge needed about the game to get it to do what you want. You may end up spending hours to learn the answer is no. Ams2 is also fun but gt3 game it doesn't really shine. If you want road cars you can not miss ac. If you want something different you can also try ams2 and live for speed.

If you just want to drive nordschleife and do trackdays, do cruising in normal traffic in various real life-esque locations then ac can do that too. There are also lots of nordschleife trackday online servers if you like that. That being said if you just want nordschleife basically all sims have at this point.

All that being said you can try raceroom and lfs for free. Raceroom allows you to test drive all cars for free. In steam you can also try rf2, ams2, ac, acc, f1 2021, beamng drive, automation for limited amount of time and get a refund if you don't like it. Iracing is non-refundable but one month is like 10€ loss if you don't buy any content. Lfs doesn't do refunds I think.

If you don't really know what kind of content you want to drive then assetto corsa is hard to beat. It has everything. Any car or track you may think of then ac will likely have it. Another strength for ac is its simple business model. You can get the game for 5 euros with all dlc when it is on sale. No monthly fees or insane pricing models. If your budget is limited you can't beat ac. Some other games are very expensive. Iracing is 10€ a month and goes little down if you subscribe for a longer period. A year is like 90€. That is without any tracks or cars which can easily double or triple that.

Mind you that while I don't want to talk about physics I'll say that if you drive iracing or raceroom first then you may find the games unforgiving to drive. Don't lose hope at that point and try other games. Different games drive differently and it is a lot harder to catch slide in iracing and raceroom than it is in rf2, acc, acc or ams2. If you are constantly drustrated it could be the sim, not you.

Next is pricing models. Iracing requires active subscription. You can not use it offline. Apart from iracing all other games are one time purchase only with additional dlc sold on top. Or with raceroom and lfs, free demo that can be upgraded with dlc content later on with real money.

The way you buy dlc also matters. In racing and raceroom you don't need to own all cars that you see on track. You just need to own the track and the car YOU are driving. In acc, ac, rf2, lfs you need to own every car that is available on that server. In other words you need to own the dlc content others are driving. Which means in rf2 for example you may need to buy 5 more cars in addition to the track and the car you are driving just to enter the server. Read: €€€. Ac dlc is dirt cheap so that that doesn't matter anymore. In acc the gt4 car side of online racing is totally dead because of this dlc requirement. So don't get acc if you want gt4s. With ams2 I am not sure how that content owning works. I think you don't need to own all cars on server but I'm not 100% sure.

Next thing is your progress level as a driver. If you have very little experience then you may want something that works out of box and also gives you a sense of progression and educates you ass your skills improve. Iracing does that well. It puts you into slower cars at first and if you want to drive an f1 car or the top level nascar car then you have to drive those slower cars first to advance to the top level cars. Which can also be a curse. If you really want to drive top level nascar or f1 car then you most likely don't want to drive street stocks, legends, skippys and mazda mx5s. That being said that progression will help you become more safe and consistent driver when crashing out comes with negative consquences just like finishing is rewarded. No other game offers this. If you are more expereinced then you may also find that progression a bit grindy. You also need to spend some real money to get the cars and some tracks to get through that.

If you have more simracing expereince then ac, raceroom and acc offer some form of online ranked gameplay as well. They don't really offer any kind of progression. Raceroom has some but it not really. Acc has minimum limits for safety but those can be grinded out quickly as well. Without learning much I'd add. The racing is also generally as good as in iracing on ranked servers but it varies. It won't be good every time like it isn't in iracing either. Generally open entry public racing is a lot more chaotic with bigger skill differences than iracing. Rf2 also has ranked racing but I think the servers are pretty empty and the game is pretty difficult to work with.

Next is if you want to make mods. Or want to download mods. Probably the easiest modding platform is live for speed. With relatively limited skills you can make your own content with the editors provided with the game. Using mods is also totally super easy. So if modding is your interest but you have not done any modding previously then lfs is a good place to start. You can also look into beamng and automation combo. That is 2 separate games that work together where you can create your car and then drive it. If you want to go deeper into modding then ac is the best bet. It has extremely good official documentation and tools that get you going. It is easy to learn and generally there is no reverse engineering and pain involved.

The next step is your knowledge level. For example if you have done modding in lots of other games and have experience extracting zip files to correct locations and editing text files and reading documentation then all games and sims will be fine. Some games have steep and unrewarding frustration/rewards curve but if you have an idea how things in general work then you'll figure it out eventually. But if not or just don't have time then I'd look at iracing, acc and raceroom. Ac is fine as well and while it does have huge modding potential you don't need to do any editing manually if you don't want to. That being said it can grow with you if you want to add cars and tracks later. Ams2 also works out of box fine, as does ams1. If you want something that just works then live for speed is hard to beat. Even with modding it is super easy to use.

Sorry granturismo and F1 2021 are not simulators, if you think this is a simulator, you can put Need For Speed, Test Drive Unlimited, Forza Horizon, Drive Club, all these would be easy to introduce...

ricardokilbr said:

Sorry granturismo and F1 2021 are not simulators, if you think this is a simulator, you can put Need For Speed, Test Drive Unlimited, Forza Horizon, Drive Club, all these would be easy to introduce...

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What about Outrun?

ricardokilbr said:

Sorry granturismo and F1 2021 are not simulators, if you think this is a simulator, you can put Need For Speed, Test Drive Unlimited, Forza Horizon, Drive Club, all these would be easy to introduce...

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They are not advanced simulators but they are. A beginner, depending on his motivation and knowledge, may prefer this games. And they are good racing simulators, with goals and immersion. Not the case with more advanced simulators (for example, I really enjoy AC but the racing is not simulated enough).

Most advanced physics can lead some beginners to heavy frustration.

I recommend F1 2019 though, not 2021 or 2020, there are a lot more classic cars and they are really fun to drive (much more than the 2019 ones).

For more adv1nced physics, I would have recommended pcars2, as it is often really cheap and easy to use, with a great package, including rallycross, if the ffb wasn't so hard to set up. With a controller, I assume it is fine.

The one that the newbie can afford and has the cars he is wishing to drive. We must be realistic if we can leave the snobism aside. Nowadays the simracing world is similar to the photo cameras one: no matter what you purchase you can't have a awfull bad experience anymore, and the decission is just a matter of personal taste, and therefore totally subjective.

All that matters is that the user can have a fun experience learning how to race and driving his dreamed cars. If he end un enjoying driving cars on that sim it's only a matter of time that he try all the other main simulators and choose the one that cater more to his personal taste.

After that he will have time to discover that this hobby is about, and he will learn about trashing any other sim different form the one he likes and telling on forums how others have wronged him on a crash that invariably he is never at fault.

If you're European and/or you only own a controller, go with Raceroom. It just works nicely, plays nicely and you can enjoy both singleplayer and multiplayer.

But really, there aren't any outright bad options on the market.

roadyroad said:

They are not advanced simulators but they are. A beginner, depending on his motivation and knowledge, may prefer this games. And they are good racing simulators, with goals and immersion. Not the case with more advanced simulators (for example, I really enjoy AC but the racing is not simulated enough).

Most advanced physics can lead some beginners to heavy frustration.

I recommend F1 2019 though, not 2021 or 2020, there are a lot more classic cars and they are really fun to drive (much more than the 2019 ones).

For more adv1nced physics, I would have recommended pcars2, as it is often really cheap and easy to use, with a great package, including rallycross, if the ffb wasn't so hard to set up. With a controller, I assume it is fine.

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I respect your opinion but I completely disagree, F1 codemasters is more an arcade game than a mixed one, and hey I have them all because if I want to play something official, I have to swallow Codemasters F1s, I wish Kunos, Reiza, Sector3, Studio 397 had them. the opportunity to have the license and yes make an F1 simulator.
Have you tried an F1 on AMS1 with mods? on Rfactor2? oh friend you would see what simulation is and what is arcade, and so much AMS1
and Rfactor2 are cheap and have free mods and all the help for beginners already Pcars2...simulation? I will respectfully summarize what I think of F1 Codemaster and Pcars as "simulators"

ricardokilbr said:

I respect your opinion but I completely disagree, F1 codemasters is more an arcade game than a mixed one, and hey I have them all because if I want to play something official, I have to swallow Codemasters F1s, I wish Kunos, Reiza, Sector3, Studio 397 had them. the opportunity to have the license and yes make an F1 simulator.
Have you tried an F1 on AMS1 with mods? on Rfactor2? oh friend you would see what simulation is and what is arcade, and so much AMS1
and Rfactor2 are cheap and have free mods and all the help for beginners already Pcars2...simulation? I will respectfully summarize what I think of F1 Codemaster and Pcars as "simulators"

https://i.gifer.com/mx.gif

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Yes I've been trying many sims for more than 20 years, I know what it feels to race F1 on proper sims. And I would never recommend rfactor2 to a beginner, I would not like him to quit simracing after one hour of setting and loading times.

As I said, easiness to use, fast loading times, nice presentation, immersion, the feeling of being in a race are keys to get involved into simracing. Codies' F1 are immersive, for sure the physics are not as detailed as in "pure" simulators but they became better with time (and I insist, the classic cars feel way better than the current "boaty" ones). The issue I have is the awful default understeery setups. Wich can be frustrating. I would not recommend such rapid cars to a beginner though.

I mentionned pcars2 because of its low price tag and the amazing content it presents, and its features no other simulator has achieved. It has its flaws, but for a beginner, it's a great package (cars, classic, modern, dirt, and tracks, classic, moderns) that costs almost nothing. Any beginner, or not beginner, will find something he likes in there. Driving a group C car in long beach under heavy rain conditions, beautifully rendered, right from the package, within one minute after having launched the game, is something unique.

Well, you can do something similar in AMS2, which I could recommend to a beginner, but with its higher price tag and its obscure tracks (I personally enjoy these tracks) and series (that I enjoy too!), not sure it's a better choice for a beginner, and currently there is no dirt series.

Assetto Corsa, costing nothing too, vould be an option, but it is more complex to set up (the controller parameters) and much less immersive and impressive. I would say it's a good choice after being sure to enjoy virtual racing.

Nascar heat 4 or 5 is not a bad choice to discover oval racing and dirt. They cost nothing, as Codies F1, no advanced physics, but they are enough to be convincing and it's fun. For an oval beginner simracer, there's not a lot of options : the goold old Nascar racing 2003, but its graphics are not impressive, the great but unrecommended rfactor2, and pcars2. In the same vein Tony Stewart All American Racing or the last one I haven't tried yet, SRX the game.

For sure, if someone ask for something strong and do not care about the complexity of the simulator and its presentation, there are better choices, AMS2, raceroom, rfactor2, AC, ACC, still pcars2, dirt rally 1&2, RBR, nascar racing 2003, GTR2 (still amazing and now with VR!)... but one's have to be ready to struggke with less plug and play feature and less immersion.

@roadyroad

If i would suggest a game i would pick LFS.
sure, it's old but.....
It has decent free cars and tracks.
you can use controller , steering wheel , VR , even Mouse !!
It's low spec pc friendly.
The physics were ahead of it's time , even for some new simcade games today .
It's fun to learn the cars a bit and to drift them , and if you'd buy the game the other cars are way more fun.

Kurtjuh said:

@roadyroad

If i would suggest a game i would pick LFS.
sure, it's old but.....
It has decent free cars and tracks.
you can use controller , steering wheel , VR , even Mouse !!
It's low spec pc friendly.
The physics were ahead of it's time , even for some new simcade games today .
It's fun to learn the cars a bit and to drift them , and if you'd buy the game the other cars are way more fun.

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I haven't used LFS a lot, because at that time I did not like fictional cars, I wanted to race on complete real series (so many time spent to download cars, skins and tracks for F1 Challenfe ans GTR2 to recreate real championships, that was insanity!).

But I remember there was something really natural, something I felt immediatly the first time I tried LFS. The physics, the ffb, were just logically making sense. It may be the cars I drove or it may be the sim in itself. You're right, it could be a very good choice. And I should consider rediscovering this title. I'm pretty sure I've teied only the first iteration of the game, a lot have been added since then.

EDIT : I've just watched this :
What a piece of news! Mods for LFS with a dedicated page with approved mods and non approved, which is exactly what I've been expecting in rfactor2 since years!!!
No modded tracks though...

Oh will you please stop talking about Live for Speed here ?
I understand the fact that it's maybe your favorite sim (I used to love it too) but look at the topic title for gods sake.
To me, recommending LFS to a beginner is in the same category with those who jokers "recommending" Grand Prix Legends and Richard Burns Rally both amazing games but... c'mon.... really.
you want to people left sim racing or what ? don't scare them away back to their Genshin Impacts or something like that. be nice

Automobilista 1 hands down. Has a great total package. Is finished. MP is a bit dead, but has leagues. SP, AI, the cars and the tracks are topnotch. Not forgetting the amazing physics and the force feedback. It also has lots of mods.

gamer19 said:

Oh will you please stop talking about Live for Speed here ?
I understand the fact that it's maybe your favorite sim (I used to love it too) but look at the topic title for gods sake.
To me, recommending LFS to a beginner is in the same category with those who jokers "recommending" Grand Prix Legends and Richard Burns Rally both amazing games but... c'mon.... really.
you want to people left sim racing or what ? don't scare them away back to their Genshin Impacts or something like that. be nice

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I don't remember LFS being a hard sim, on the contrary, as I said it felt really natural and connected. I may be wrong, I don't know how it feels nowaday, but according to the video I've mentionned, it seems it still feels that way which imo is the right way to discover the sim racing genre.

And in the same video, the look at the setups menu is really interesting. It's a visual setup, that's a really good idea and helpful for a beginner. Having only values makes the process much harder. It reminds menof the strange values of codies F1 games, I think it was the camber that has reverse values (you have to go positive to go negative). A visual help would have helped to understand that immediatly instead of ruining the fun and searching the solution on the internet .

LFS is, in terms of graphics and sounds, outdated though, it may be not appealing for a beginner. That's why I stated that pcars2 was a good first game to enter the genre.

roadyroad said:

Sim, eu tenho tentado muitos sims por mais de 20 anos, eu sei o que é correr F1 em sims adequados. E eu nunca recomendaria o rfactor2 para um iniciante, eu não gostaria que ele parasse de simracing após uma hora de configuração e tempo de carregamento.

Como eu disse, facilidade de uso, carregamento rápido, boa apresentação, imersão, a sensação de estar em uma corrida são as chaves para se envolver no simracing. Os F1 de Codies são imersivos, com certeza a física não é tão detalhada quanto em simuladores "puros", mas eles se tornaram melhores com o tempo (e eu insisto, os carros clássicos parecem muito melhores do que os atuais "náuticos"). O problema que tenho são as horríveis configurações de subviragem padrão. O que pode ser frustrante. Eu não recomendaria carros tão rápidos para um iniciante.

Mencionei o pcars2 por causa de seu baixo preço e do incrível conteúdo que apresenta, além de suas características que nenhum outro simulador alcançou. Ele tem suas falhas, mas para um iniciante, é um ótimo pacote (carros, clássico, moderno, sujeira e pistas, clássico, moderno) que custa quase nada. Qualquer iniciante, ou não iniciante, encontrará algo que goste lá. Dirigir um carro do grupo C em uma praia longa sob condições de chuva forte, lindamente renderizado, desde a embalagem, dentro de um minuto após ter lançado o jogo, é algo único.

Bem, você pode fazer algo semelhante no AMS2, que eu poderia recomendar a um iniciante, mas com seu preço mais alto e suas faixas obscuras (eu pessoalmente gosto dessas faixas) e séries (que eu também gosto!), Não tenho certeza se é melhor escolha para um iniciante, e atualmente não há nenhuma série de sujeira.

O Assetto Corsa, também sem custos, poderia ser uma opção, mas é mais complexo de configurar (os parâmetros do controlador) e muito menos envolvente e impressionante. Eu diria que é uma boa escolha depois de ter certeza de que gosta de corridas virtuais.

As baterias 4 ou 5 da Nascar não são uma escolha ruim para descobrir corridas ovais e sujeira. Eles não custam nada, como o Codies F1, nenhuma física avançada, mas são o suficiente para serem convincentes e são divertidos. Para um simracer oval iniciante, não há muitas opções: o velho Nascar de corrida 2003, mas seus gráficos não são impressionantes, o ótimo, mas não recomendado, rfactor2 e pcars2. Na mesma linha de Tony Stewart All American Racing ou o último que ainda não experimentei, SRX the game.

Com certeza, se alguém pedir algo forte e não se importar com a complexidade do simulador e sua apresentação, existem escolhas melhores, AMS2, raceroom, rfactor2, AC, ACC, still pcars2, Rally 1 & 2, RBR, corrida nascar 2003 , GTR2 (ainda incrível e agora com VR!) ... mas é preciso estar pronto para lutar com menos recurso plug and play e menos imersão.

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Existe AMS1 que custa muito barato é melhor que Pcars e F1, os mods são gratuitos e muito bons e têm toda a ajuda que um iniciante precisa, Rfacto2 também tem toda a ajuda possível, ótimos mods gratuitos e se você tiver problemas para configurar existem vários vídeos ensinados.
Estou dizendo simuladores, que na minha opinião, Pcars, codemasters de F1 não cabem, são mais arcade do que simulação, não estou aqui para mudar a opinião de ninguém, se você acha que esses jogos são simuladores, então seja feliz