Community Question | Do You Still Regularly Play 'Old' Sims?

Paul Jeffrey · Jul 4, 2020

Sim Racing has been around for a while, and a few golden oldies really captured the imagination 10+ years ago - but do any of them still enjoy regular play time in your day-to-day sim racing?

I'm sure if you were around at the time, many of you reading this article have enjoyed some lappery in classics like F1 Legends, GTL, GTR2, Race 07 and the like - but great as they were at the time, are you still giving any of these regular play time in 2020?

I'll admit it's been a while since I last fired up any of these classics, but as you can see in the video above, the last time I did, it was a surprisingly enjoyable experience indeed.

So my question to you all is - do the various golden oldies still enjoy some play time on your modern rigs, and if so, which ones and why?

Leave your opinions in the comments section below.

Ian Navarro · Jul 4, 2020

AMS 1 without doubt... In my opinion there is no sim in the market that achieves the level of exigence that Automobilista 1 does. It is so demanding when trying to push to the limit...not even rFactor 2, makes me enjoy as much, though it is my favourite sim since AMS 1 has not player database already, such a shame

Sigmar Bomar · Jul 4, 2020

No, why should I? There is literally nothing that old racing games can offer to me compared to new ones.

muzikant · Jul 4, 2020

I want to play GPL again.. but there is no DD suport I think??

UMC 22 · Jul 4, 2020

I still played Race 07 and GT Legends regularly right up to the point when I got VR about three years ago. For me there is no going back to pancake racing after VR, so sadly it was time to retire those golden oldies. (Had to retire AMS 1 too, which was still "current" at the time.) If there was some way to hack VR into them then I'd happily give them another go!

Dfx_Voodoo · Jul 4, 2020

sometimes run such an old race like Race07, GT Legends and Jarrett & Labonte Stock Car Racing (PlayStation emulator). I regularly visit Live for Speed. Have S3 license, but I usually visit demo servers

Jimlaad43 · Jul 4, 2020

rFactor has tracks that no other games have. It has some of the best fantasy tracks available in racing games (Mills, Groningen Airport, VITUS GP), and pretty much any real racing circuit can be found in one form or another in rFactor, and it hasn't been ported to new ones yet.

If I could get my old copy of Total Immersion Racing working, I'd also play that too.

sKeno · Jul 4, 2020

Sigmar Bomar said:
No, why should I? There is literally nothing that old racing games can offer to me compared to new ones.

what about car and track selections? newer sims focus on the newest content while older sims featured racing series, cars and tracks that are not used anymore today.

race07 has pau and macau, gtr2 had anderstorp and enna pergusa for example. toca 2 had the full btcc from 1998. are those games not worth replaying?

new does not always mean better.

Kevin Troschinski · Jul 4, 2020

The answer is NO. But 2 years ago i have driven a "season" Race07. Few weeks ago i tried again the power and glory mod for gtr2 but i unistalled after 10 minutes. The visuals were already too bad

Modern graphics are definetly not the most important thing while simracing, but.....
I have no problem with raceroom but don`t fire up much older games anymore

balage06 · Jul 4, 2020

I made the terrible mistake of purchasing a VR headset. I literally cannot drive on a flat screen anymore (trust me, I'm trying

)

Marcelo Ozorio · Jul 4, 2020

I would anwser with ams 1(which uses rfactor engine), f1 2012 and rfactor.

Sigmar Bomar · Jul 4, 2020

sKeno said:
what about car and track selections? newer sims focus on the newest content while older sims featured racing series, cars and tracks that are not used anymore today.

race07 has pau and macau, gtr2 had anderstorp and enna pergua for example. toca 2 had the full btcc from 1998. are those games not worth replaying?

new does not always mean better.

I have played almost all of these and TOCA 2 was my favourite. But realistically in today's terms they are soo outdated. VR/online/graphics/physics/ controllers (think DD wheels) are miles ahead now compared to these old titles. Even now me and brother talk how great TOCA 2 was at that time which is fine but realistically I'm not gonna play it anymore. Don't want to ruin my childhood memories lol.
And those are my thoughts, your may differ. But new games are WAY ahead except yes, some tracks and cars missing.

chargenick1563 · Jul 4, 2020

I almost exclusively race old sims. The newest one I enjoy is Assetto Corsa, but NR2003, GTR2, and Race 07 I still fire up the most.

Philip Antonia · Jul 4, 2020

I rarely have time to enjoy my newer sims theses days, so sadly not. If I did, GTR2 and Race07/STCC etc would probably get some love and I did install GT Legends a while back, but didn't fire it up!

Cote Dazur · Jul 4, 2020

No VR, no play.

Nick Hill · Jul 4, 2020

As a few others have said, VR has put an end to me dabbling with other sims. Once you've had a taste of VR, 2D sims just don't seem the same.

I wouldn't go as far to say "never", but it's extremely rare for me to fire up an old sim anymore. If I'm feeling that nostalgic, I'll more often than not just head to YouTube.

Maxell · Jul 4, 2020

I do, because my old PC can't handle anything new. Tho I think I'd still play them even if I had new games, simply because they don't feature cars and tracks I like to race in those older titles.

ShredatorFIN · Jul 4, 2020

AMS1, Assetto 1. Not older than that

Honestly while I love AMS2, I still prefer the overall FFB and some cars in AMS1. Also it has mod tracks

rober00002 · Jul 4, 2020

Goffik said:
I still played Race 07 and GT Legends regularly right up to the point when I got VR about three years ago. For me there is no going back to pancake racing after VR, so sadly it was time to retire those golden oldies. (Had to retire AMS 1 too, which was still "current" at the time.) If there was some way to hack VR into them then I'd happily give them another go!

I agree

Austin Ogonoski · Jul 4, 2020

Before each race weekend IRL I usually find a track similar to the one I'm racing at in NR2003 (almost every oval in North America has been made at this point), and do a full 100 lap "mock race" against a similar sized field of cars and my own custom AI path. People really do not understand just how close NASCAR 03 is to the real thing in terms of tire behavior and vehicle inertia. Few seasons back I had never driven on slicks before (our series uses grooved slicks to prevent guys from blowing $$$ on massive motors) and warmed up on NR03 using some track in Wisconsin as a placeholder. Went out and set the track record in qualifying. Pedal and wheel inputs were basically 1:1. Our baseline setup also works in the game.

IndyCar Racing 2 I recently got up and running on DOSBox. With a wheel set to the correct rotation it's quite fun both on road courses and ovals and it's the only IndyCar game I've played where races generally play out like a proper indycar race - draft battles on the ovals, lots of space between cars, AI with noticeably different skill levels between drivers, that sort of thing. I think what makes the experience is that with such simplistic AI, there's less chances for bizarre stuff to happen like you see in the isi/Madness engine games where cars divebomb the daylights out of you, drive on the grass, etc.

NHRA 2 and NHRA 2007 also get regular playtime, mostly because nobody's made any sort of drag racing game at all over the past decade. The team who made both games were massive NHRA nerds and most sim racers would not be prepared for how meticulous the engine adjustments are. The game is uncompromisingly difficult on max difficulty and both games have a proper career mode. Usually once a year my buddy and I will order pizza and just blitz through a few seasons, trading off every event.

Lastly, it doesn't count as a sim, but GeneRally. One of the best racing games ever made and it's a shame it never received an online component. The library of content for this game is staggering and it plays like a sequel to Danny Sullivan's IndyHeat.