I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

[Rules]

I'm new to online PC racing. Can we get up a discussion about both of these sim racers?

I know Rfactor 2 is coming soon and they just released I-racing 2.0. I love Nascar and F1 racing in general and I am just trying to get a handle on which one has the more realistic handling, damage, pitstops, ect.

I have watched a ton of videos but I have to be honest it is a little confusing as there is so much info to go thru. Can some of our more experienced guys step in and break down each including what Rfactor 2 might bring to the table? Looking at costs, realism and overall pure enjoyment.

[Rules]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

Can anyone tell me about the pitstops in I-racing? Pit road speeding, fuel, tire changing, various pit times, any control over the pit crew?

I'm leaning more in this direction as I have been doing some reading the last few days.

[RunN1st]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

This is a fresh debate for me and here's my $.02.

The way to best describe the differences between a sim made with the gMotor 2 engine such as rFactor and sim like iRacing is simple, "don't". It would be like comparing a wooden roller coaster to a modern steel coaster. rFactor runs on a six year old engine that has been tweaked by the community since it's release. iRacing is a modern marvel that continues to improve via a tremendously talented in-house team. It blows away the competition in some areas and falls short in others such as no weather effects and no single player.

Having said that, with iRacing you get what you pay for. The basic membership (1 month trial) will get you some beginner cars and a handful of tracks. (That's the route I originally took.) If you are really going to give iRacing a shot, be ready to invest a good amount of money on the car pack you enjoy along with the tracks. But you will get outstanding visuals, sounds, tire model (2.0) and a very good multiplayer. IMO, there is no better NASCAR experience out there, period. This sim is the cream of the crop when it comes to ovals.

A: Pitting has zero collisions, no pit crew, but you can make in race adjustments prior to pitting that affect how the car will drive.

My take on rFactor is a mixed bag. It has a ton of available mods at popular sites such as rFactorcentral.net and nogripracing.com. (The mods are fairly straight forward to install.) But here's the big catch, most of the mods out there for free download are mediocre at best. You have to go by reputation and really do some homework to hit on mods with good quality. Not only that, each mod has it's own little tweak (plug-in install, .dll, .ini and .plr files changes) it recommends you make so that you get a full experience. This requires some level of knowledge of opening game files to make game code edits. Also, some big problems can be encountered when you mod your game. Game crashes when loading modded tracks and cars are common. And finding compatibile online hosted sessions can quickly become a challenge due lack of mod version control.

I can't really speak for rFactor 2 since the game detail and release date has yet to be announced. But if you are just now hopping into the PC sim racing world and want a simple install and fire up experience then go with iRacing. If tinkering and modding is what you are looking for then go with the lite version of rFactor.

Another route you should consider is the Race '07 series which is pretty vanilla from the get go and requires 0 modding to enjoy.

And just recently the Reiza team released their own game (Game Stock Car) which uses the rFactor engine. The Reiza team is comprised of renowned rFactor modders and the quality of their game is top notch. They pretty much incorporated some of the best rFactor mods/components into their product. I would highly recommend it since they've done all of the tweaking/magic in background for you to enjoy it fully out of the box, or download in their case.

Welcome to PC racing and good luck finding a sim that satisfies your craving. It's pretty much a sim racing buffet out there.

[Rules]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

Just found a few videos of pitstops to answer my questions.

I'm going I-racing from what I have been reading.

[Rules]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

Thanks for responding. PM me your i-racing email address so that I can credit you for the referral. You get $10 in credit.

[RunN1st]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

Just replied... That's a very kind gesture, Rules. Thank you!

BTW: I expect you will join us during our weekly OS racing every Friday?

[Rules]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

Just replied... That's a very kind gesture, Rules. Thank you!

BTW: I expect you will join us during our weekly OS racing every Friday?

You know it.

[Chaos81]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

You know it.

Great to hear. See you on the track.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

Congrats Rules......looking forward to seeing on the track on Fridays. What name are you using in iRacing, so I can add you bro??

[Rules]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

I will add it to your I-racing thread. Can't wait to mess around with this when I get some time this week.

[Rules]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

What tracks is everyone using so that I can pick up some more tracks?

[RunN1st]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

We have been running a been running ovals the last couple weeks. I think the guys want to try Iowa next weekend.

[Rules]

Re: I-racing vs Rfactor Discussion

Ok I just picked up 8 Nascar Sprint Cup tracks plus the preorder of Iowa.

I also added both Sprint Cup / Nationwide cars.