Popular Racing Sims Compared from an amateurs perspective

[sokrates020]

This post should give a guideline for beginners in sim racing. All is of course a personell opinion, which can a should be discussed.

​

My infrastructure (rig):​

compact PC, Windows 10 system

CPU: AMD Ryzen5 3600 (6 cores)
GPU: NVidia RTX 2060 (6GB)
Monitor: LG GN880 (WQHD 2560x1440, 144Hz)
Wheelbase: Fanatec CSW2.5 (belt drive)
Wheel: Fanatec McLaren GT3 v2
Controller: XBox wireless

Race Room Racing Experience (r3e)​

since 2013, successor of Simbins Race07 and GTR2
free to download and play
- no dynamic daylight and weather
- ingame shop for tracks, cars and packs
- no DLCs or mods
- sometimes pixeld shadows
- well suited for weak hardware or controller use
100s of Cars and dozens of tracks available
cheap at start but can be slightly expensive

Assetto Corsa (ac)​

since 2014
early days racing sim classic
with slightly outdated ui and graphics;
can and should be much improved by:
- Content Manager: new custom laucher, content, settings and result manager
- Custom Shaders Patch: improves lightning, adds dynamic daylight and physics optimisations
- SOL: adds dynamic weather system

- well suited for weak hardware or controller use
- diverse DLCs from Kunos
literally 100s of modded cars and tracks and addons
greatest diversity of modded cars and tracks ever
basic game and DLCs are inexpensive, many mods are free

Assetto Corsa Competitione (acc)​

since 2019
- limited to GT3 and GT4 cars
- limited to 10-14 tracks
- focus on online competitions
- uses Unreal graphics engine
- very gpu-hungry
preferred by many online sim racers, since established ratings and services
medium price including DLCs

Automobilista2 (ams2)​

since 2020
successor of Automobilista(1) and Project Cars2
- rich diversity of cars and tracks, karts, formula/open wheelers, race, stock and street cars
- many latin america special tracks
- few DLCs, no mods
- good graphics and ui
- fps rate can vary considerably
basic game includes dozens of classes, cars and tracks at fair pricing

further honorable mentions​

rFactor2 (rf2)​

since 2012
- improved but still weak laucher and ui
- ingame shop for cars and tracks
- rich mod diversity from steam workshop
- strong force feedback

workshop items can very a lot in quality
official cars and tracks can summarize very expensive

Project Cars2 (pCars2)​

since 2017
is a quite decent, somewhat arcadish racing game
- can be made more realistic with custom ffb-settings
moderate physics, but great graphics
and high diversity of cars, tracks and conditions
unfortunatly not available anymore (due to license limits)

Over a period of about 2+ years, I tuned my graphics setting for each game for a good compromise of performance (frames per second, fps) and visual quality. I ran all sims for comparison at the very nice track, Brands Hatch with a Porsche 911 RSR around 2017

My lap time results are about 1:33 without ambitions driving. They vary only in 10th of seconds.

My comparative results focus on visual/graphics quality as well as physics/force feedback perception on a scale from 1 (worst) to 20 (best)

sim/value	visQuality	avgFramerate	ffbPerception
r3e	15	143	15
ac	18	143	16
acc	16	68	16
ams2	19	110	17
rf2	13	120	16
pcars2	18	110	15

Conclusion:​

All 6 compared sims give a nice and enjoyable racing experience on a mediocre pc system.
For now, I cannot recommend Project Cars 2 and rFactor2. Project Cars 2 because of limited availability, rFactor2 because of quite high item prices at varying game quality.
The first 4 sims have all their individual strength and limits. It depends on the equipment and preferences of a sim racer, which sims to buy and try. All prices are moderate for a years lasting pleasure.

I am interested in (other, different) opinions as well as amendments for iRacing or F1.

Appendix:​

I am driving mostly offline against AI with a special setup:
Due to a personal handicap (no legs) I drive all cars with
max. steering angle of 60 degrees, use analogue wheel attached hand pedals for accelleration and brake and automatic transmission.

 

[jgf]

Thanks for the input.
This reminds me of an old thread here asking why so many people still played GTR2 when there were newer sims.
For me it is because GTR2 provides so much in one well balanced package:
-online or offline play
-single class or multi-class racing
-single races or full season championship
-full 24hr races with day/night cycle which can be run real time or scaled
-variable weather
-good FFB
-easily modded/tweaked
-good graphics and sound
-good physics
-system requirements aren't excessive (some mods or tracks may require more)

All newer sims have seemed to excel in some of these areas while being deficient or completely lacking in others (for example, great graphics and physics but no 24hr races or weather). People will gravitate to the features they prefer so all these sims are popular.

I do believe any new sim which is not easily modded will severely limit its market.

 

[Ruttman98]

This post should give a guideline for beginners in sim racing. All is of course a personell opinion, which can a should be discussed.

​

My infrastructure (rig):​

compact PC, Windows 10 system

CPU: AMD Ryzen5 3600 (6 cores)
GPU: NVidia RTX 2060 (6GB)
Monitor: LG GN880 (WQHD 2560x1440, 144Hz)
Wheelbase: Fanatec CSW2.5 (belt drive)
Wheel: Fanatec McLaren GT3 v2
Controller: XBox wireless

Race Room Racing Experience (r3e)​

since 2013, successor of Simbins Race07 and GTR2
free to download and play
- no dynamic daylight and weather
- ingame shop for tracks, cars and packs
- no DLCs or mods
- sometimes pixeld shadows
- well suited for weak hardware or controller use
100s of Cars and dozens of tracks available
cheap at start but can be slightly expensive

Assetto Corsa (ac)​

since 2014
early days racing sim classic
with slightly outdated ui and graphics;
can and should be much improved by:
- Content Manager: new custom laucher, content, settings and result manager
- Custom Shaders Patch: improves lightning, adds dynamic daylight and physics optimisations
- SOL: adds dynamic weather system

- well suited for weak hardware or controller use
- diverse DLCs from Kunos
literally 100s of modded cars and tracks and addons
greatest diversity of modded cars and tracks ever
basic game and DLCs are inexpensive, many mods are free

Assetto Corsa Competitione (acc)​

since 2019
- limited to GT3 and GT4 cars
- limited to 10-14 tracks
- focus on online competitions
- uses Unreal graphics engine
- very gpu-hungry
preferred by many online sim racers, since established ratings and services
medium price including DLCs

Automobilista2 (ams2)​

since 2020
successor of Automobilista(1) and Project Cars2
- rich diversity of cars and tracks, karts, formula/open wheelers, race, stock and street cars
- many latin america special tracks
- few DLCs, no mods
- good graphics and ui
- fps rate can vary considerably
basic game includes dozens of classes, cars and tracks at fair pricing

further honorable mentions​

rFactor2 (rf2)​

since 2012
- improved but still weak laucher and ui
- ingame shop for cars and tracks
- rich mod diversity from steam workshop
- strong force feedback

workshop items can very a lot in quality
official cars and tracks can summarize very expensive

Project Cars2 (pCars2)​

since 2017
is a quite decent, somewhat arcadish racing game
- can be made more realistic with custom ffb-settings
moderate physics, but great graphics
and high diversity of cars, tracks and conditions
unfortunatly not available anymore (due to license limits)

Over a period of about 2+ years, I tuned my graphics setting for each game for a good compromise of performance (frames per second, fps) and visual quality. I ran all sims for comparison at the very nice track, Brands Hatch with a Porsche 911 RSR around 2017

My lap time results are about 1:33 without ambitions driving. They vary only in 10th of seconds.

My comparative results focus on visual/graphics quality as well as physics/force feedback perception on a scale from 1 (worst) to 20 (best)

sim/value	visQuality	avgFramerate	ffbPerception
r3e	15	143	15
ac	18	143	16
acc	16	68	16
ams2	19	110	17
rf2	13	120	16
pcars2	18	110	15

Conclusion:​

All 6 compared sims give a nice and enjoyable racing experience on a mediocre pc system.
For now, I cannot recommend Project Cars 2 and rFactor2. Project Cars 2 because of limited availability, rFactor2 because of quite high item prices at varying game quality.
The first 4 sims have all their individual strength and limits. It depends on the equipment and preferences of a sim racer, which sims to buy and try. All prices are moderate for a years lasting pleasure.

I am interested in (other, different) opinions as well as amendments for iRacing or F1.

Appendix:​

I am driving mostly offline against AI with a special setup:
Due to a personal handicap (no legs) I drive all cars with
max. steering angle of 60 degrees, use analogue wheel attached hand pedals for accelleration and brake and automatic transmission.

Thank you for the perceptive, objective, and thoughtful assessment!

Godspeed!
Chris

 

[Danny kung]

I was going to make a thread but figure I post here instead, since this is a great thread.
My opinion on Assetto Corsa has changed over the years. I got assetto over half a decade ago now. I used to see fault with it everywhere, from the weird UI to the lack of cars, to the ping-pong online racing etc.
But now I see so much good about it, that I just gloss over the flaws. It's like that one sim racing game that shouldn't really exist. It's cheap, openly moddable, you don't really need any other sim once you have it. compared to the offerings on console etc, Assetto Corsa is amazing. Did I mention cheap? Sure there was a brief issue where the devs didn't take onboard valid physics criticisms from drifter Frderick solie (I forgot his name) and one pretty much got mad for a difference of opinion but I can see now how good Assetto is. Regardless of the aero model and the physics nitpicks that some have about it. It also paved the way for other sims like Automobilista 2, project cars and Rfactor 2 to thrive/exist.

On playstaion/Ps4 for example you're stuck with GT Sport, since other racers on the console are dead online. Just today I played GT Sport back to back after playing more Assetto, and it struck me how arcady GT Sport felt. THe cars were too fast and relied too much on steering over throttle due to the rudimentary tyre model, cars would also space out too far when racing and curbs were nothing. It was weird to me now. Whereas previously I was very comfortable to race in GT Sport and would get great times, often being tops in the leaderboards. But now, it seems the effort to get back to that level is not worth it, since just driving in Assetto is so much more rewarding once your car is setup for the track. Something that GT lacks on a wheel is that level of realism to the driving model and physics. I could go on but Imagine a sim racing world without the existence of Assetto Corsa, because to me that would look very different and filled with more subscription/microtransaction based sims for an already niche genre.