Assetto Corsa on PC is by far the best value for money. Content manager makes modding it very easy for beginners. However, getting into iracing has been asdictive. Still have only the base content, but I absolutely love it
It's also the best one for the simple pleasure of driving, I think. Can't remember other sim that lets you just chill in a night drive as you'd do in real life.
Agree with this, although these days I don't play AC anymore, I enjoyed my time a lot on AC. Had all the content and plenty of modder packs as well (RSS mostly), all at full price as I got it from release. Would still recommend it to this day! I don't do driving about in road cars in games anymore hence I moved to iracing. Nothing beats iracing for a full on ''racing experience'' as close as possible, and it's only getting better. I get asked about the cost quite often as well but I keep liking it back to 2 things: 1) Arcades you used to go to as a child/teen etc. To play on some of those machines, it would be €2 for a quick go...the amount of money I spend on the F355 Challenge simulator alone I could've bought my own one! And 2)...actual arcade racing titles. Look at all those people buying say F1 codemasters series every year? that's 60-80 euros a pop, for essentially the same game reskinned, and every now and then they add a feature (and now have run out so you get a sofa you can customize). With iRacing, you don't really need all content. I don't drive ovals, so that's a lot of money saved on cars and tracks. Same goes for dirt. I've got almost all road tracks and a fair amount of cars, I'm going to guess I spend maybe 400, 500 on content? Plus 100 a year for subscription. Put that up against Codemasters and suddenly it's not so bad anymore. Seeing as I don't even know how much I actually spend on iRacing and just how often I use it, I say money well spend and 1000% worth it.
@@Wall562 You might want to check out Albuzz Targa Florio. It's Patreon (the free version is heavily outdated) and it's stunning. Recently they even laserscanned the whole track and are working on implementing that now.
This is going to sound extremely weird but discovering Dirt Rally 2.0 and getting absorbed in it was extremely important to me during a very low time in my life and potentially saved my life. Trying to get better at that game and master those tracks was my rock during that time. Sorry for the cringe but it’s true.
Same, I started with iracing with a controller and found it easier than PS4. Although it’s not ideal with a controller it’s a start, my pc has a i5 9400f and had gtx1070 and that was enough
PC2 has some of the best variety in racing games(at least before you include modding). Too bad THEY DON'T FLIPPIN' SELL IT ANYMORE. I'm still annoyed about that.
ACC is so perfect in so many aspects, best FFB, most realism (for gt3), best graphics, best sound design, good AI (although a bit slow), etc. But it has a few problems like you said with variety and VR performance. If AC2 is anywhere as good as ACC and just has more variety, it would easily take the crown for a long time. I am very hyped for AC2 and I just can't wait for it since Kunos made such a good game in ACC.
@@liviu543 Imo it has the best, but maybe only surpassed by dirt rally 2.0, otherwise acc has the most realistic sounds (barr the low end which doesn't sound as loud as it should) and small details (sound bouncing off walls, sounds of gravel hitting the undercarriage, etc.) Though I might be recency biased since I've really only played ACC, Iracing, and AC most of the time and haven't touched the other sims in a while.
@@LaVaZ000 I'm playing asseto Corsa on my series X,and it looks and runs very nicely Thankyou,only thing I wish is it had mods like pc version,I also own ACC and that looks and runs nice but I like asseto Corsa handling more than ACC,it just feels better
ACC seems to be more of a game and less of a Simulation. Too many assholes on keyboard/mouse, or controller divebombing every corner and driving unrealistic, non predictable lines at unpredictable speeds ruin the “Sim” experience
i have to say, my favorite sim-adjacent title is beamNG, it’s wheel support has gotten leagues better and the devs are constantly working on the game. the online and modding spaces are also very active, giving you whatever content you could want for a flat fee of $25 on steam.
BeamNG is a gift from car enthusiasts to motorist fans. The only Simulator where your vehicle gets thrown in water and you can't open the door due to pressure. The only Simulator where you play a radio (depending on mod), hop out, walk a couple meters away from the vehicle and listen to how the sound dissipates into thin air. Walk back and the music is blasting. The only Simulator with fully functional buttons in the cockpit that allows for raising sunroofs, extending/retracting panoroofs, opening bonnet/trunk/doors, windows, headlights, range box, hazard lights, drive mode, ignition, differentials, transfer case and so on. The only game I can raise or lower my air suspension. Not enough words to explain the parts and tuning menu that allows for a variety of modifications due to the freedom it provides. The best game to modify a car I've ever seen. The most goated driving Simulator to ever exist.
Got BeamNG a few weeks ago after the last update and i saw all the praise, but after a day or two i just dropped it. The driving is fine but the wheel support is really overhyped in my opinion. The newest trophy truck doesn't even have the right rotation simulated and they didn't know when that would be fixed. Fun to goof around in, but that is about it.
@@XCougar85X Nobody ever hyped wheel support on BeamNG. It's been one persistent complaint with the game asides tyres. It used to be worse before 0.24 update and I can say it has come a long way. Maybe it has to do with your wheel or just not enough support for now. All asides it'll take time before most of these issues get fixed as the game is currently in Alpha O.27. Still years away to even be a Beta product. They're usually brainstorming to enhance their physics engine as much as possible given that's the entire aim of the software. Things have changed since 2013 and there's still time for more to be enacted. You need patience since this is an indie studio. They don't have the budget and size as big publishers do.
@@kak8895 BeamNG is a cool tech demo and all but its really just an alpha and it shows, there's only so much repetitive scenarios and free roam on bland maps one can make out fun of. Hopefully they plan on making it a real racing game, would be number one.
@@LaVaZ000 Offcourse it's an alpha game and there's nothing wrong with it. Who would have thought an alpha game will be more popular and sell more copies than every Simulator on PC combined? Truth is the few that understands this software knows that it'll remain an alpha game for a long time. Not because it's being developed by an indie studio with a small team and less the budget, but because this game is far too ambitious to just have a full release at one go like the other boring half-bred games on the market that release every 3 to 4 years. This software is on par with games like Star Citizen and Digital Combat Simulator. They'll remain in development for a long time because consumer grade hardware hasn't caught up yet to reach their full potential. They're not even done with the physics engine not to talk about the career mode. Still has years away from from full release.
It's also brilliantly optimised, so you don't have to spend a lot of money on hardware to run it at a decent frame rate. I'm currently running it on my backup desktop machine that I built in 2011, and it runs very decently. To the point that I forgot how badly I needed to upgrade that machine because it never had an issue with it.
One of my all time favorites is Live For Speed, which deserves a lot more love and attention than it gets. Sadly, it's been years since it's gotten any new content so it falls behind quite a bit considering how much the competition has improved since Assetto Corsa kicked everyone's butt. :)
According to LFS website, they still work on updates. And after many years they gave up and provided mods support. Also, I think, it's the most polished driving simulator ever. It's so clean and stable! Tracks are work of art, cars are perfectly balanced. The only bad thing is netcode of 20-years-old game engine. This simulator taught me how to corner and drift 20 years ago.
The developers released built-in mod support to LFS around a year ago. They are also currently working on a total visual overhaul and a day-to-night transition system. Sadly there is just two guys making it (afaik) so the updates are rather scarce. Still worth picking up!
Assetto Corsa is also the only sim so far (maybe next to LFS) where you can do sim-drifting well. Thanks to mods there are tons of real drift circuits, touges and cars from low hp streetstyles up to high hp competition ones. It's a shame really there isnt a more up to date game that gets drifting right.
This is a big thing and I completely agree. It's the only game with the right physics AND content to make proper drifting happen and it blows all the alternatives out of the water once you have mastered the basics. On gamepad you have Forza and CarX, if you use a wheel it's Assetto corsa hands down.
@@ThaJay tbf i found forza horizon 4 on gamepad pretty good. i could do all the drift techniques and the car behaved like it should. its pretty realstic for an arcade. also tons of cars and tunes, and good roads too. carx i didnt like because it felt too arcadey
@@grunerkaktus I agree Forza feels more detailed but the reason I mention CarX is because it's super easy to jump online and get tandems. It's a pretty simple game but because of the ease and quality of the tandems in the right online rooms made me come back to it many times.
rF2 gets drifting totally right. Granted there are less mods and tracks for drifting though. The R34 Skyline drift car is very good car for drifting in rF2.
I know you don't have experience with Grand Prix Legends but i think it deserved a shoutout along with RBR as it's the same situation: Old game, great community, still alive, unforgiving and massively enjoyable
I love AC - my introduction to it was watching your laps around old Monaco and the Nordschleife, and it's that *very* singular single-player experience that I love most about it. The game has something for everyone, including people like me, who like the occasional race but otherwise just drive around somewhere, anywhere they fancy, in whichever car they want to take for a spin. I don't think it's any coincidence that my finding AC (through you) happened at the same time as I started making real progress in my mental health recovery. It's that therapeutic. It asks no questions; it makes no demands. Sometimes, I just stick the rain on, set the time to 7am, and sit there with the engine ticking over and the wipers going. Healing, somehow. I couldn't explain how, or why, I just know that's how it makes me feel.
That's awesome. One of the things I love to do in AC is to take a low powered car on a full lap of Fujimi Kaido. It's an old map from Forza Motorsport 4 and it's a huge mountain pass, about as long as the Nordschleife. It's a nostalgic place but also just nice to drive around with no pressure, just enjoy the feeling.
Just bought the GTR SimBin Mega Bundle off Steam. Looking forward to getting stuck into it. Agree, Assetto Corsa as my main Sim on PC, GT7 and F1 2022 on PS5 for a chilled back play when needed. Dirt 2.0 for my Rally fix. We are blessed at the moment with sims!
Are we ever! Too many good ones to list once we really start getting into the grit of it all. Games that've been out for 20+ years getting updates included (RBR, GPL)!
@@AgentZ7 Agreed. The mods keep everything fresh. I have been giving WRC Generations some time recently. It is a bit of Groundhog Day on the previous versions, but actually really quite enjoying it so far. It’s quite unforgiving, but some of the physics need to be improved. Having never driven through water in anger in a rally car, I cant really comment, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t feel like it does in WRC.
I have iRacing but spend the majority of time racing in ACC on the LFM (Low Fuel Motorsport) series leagues. Getting a licence requires 7 consecutive clean laps, within 107% of the lap record, on the selected track, so that filters out the crazy drivers 😝Start in Rookies then you can progress to 25min sprint races or 45, 60, 3 hours races in the Endurance category. It’s all well managed and doesn’t cost any money 👍🏻
In what way does a certain lap time requirement filter out crazy drivers? It filters out slower drivers, it’s not the same. I’ve seen some horrendous driving on LFM, and according to others the driving standards are not the best.
AMS2 and F1 22 are how I got my friends into racing, if you're trying to race with people who've never played racing games before and don't want to put in the effort of modding AC those two are really good entry ways
perfect timing, just bought the Moza R9 bundle as my first ever wheel/pedals setup. Had no idea which games to jump in first, very helpful video, thanks
The problem is, he doesn't know all the hardware and getting enough experience with every decent option out there in all price classes isn't an easy job. It's probably even hard for some one with this kind of rig, to go back to a basic logitech wheel and be fair in judgment. When ever I upgrade something it's really hard to go back, even tho I was perfectly content with my old stuff before. But yeah, if it would be possible, I'd like to know Jimmers opinions on all matters sim racing related...
As a offline but very passionate player if I could leave suggestion to myself when I started with sim racing I'd say: If you want to RACE buy AMS 1 with all the content and go to the championships learning progressively. After you feel comfortable with the variety of cars there look for some good quality mods and keep going. If you want to chill go for AC. I used to play AC a lot but after I discovered a wrong setting on my ffb I am just in love with AMS. I wish you had mentioned it here. But nice video! Love your content Jimmer!
RaceRoom got me in to sim racing. I was wondering if it was for me and since the basic game is free to play I borrowed a wheel and pedals from someone to try it out. Ended up buying my own wheel and pedals and bought a few cars and tracks I liked You can test drive cars before you buy them by the way, I think that is a great plus too. And even though it's not as pretty as some other sims, it's still nice to look at and has some good options for beginners and advanced users in terms of set up and the like.
If my memory isn't failing me spectacularly, I recall the career mode of WRC 2 or 3 (from the early 2010s, not the ones from the early 2000s) as being very good. It wasn't a straightforward "do a season in Junior WRC and repeat for higher categories" career, rather you really had to prove your worth by buying cars, managing expenses, participating in isolated events to be considered for Junior WRC and then for the higher categories. It really felt like a genuine "up-and-coming rally driver" experience and you really felt like having to painfully put in the effort to realise your dreams. I wished they brought it back for newer rally games.
Multiplayer for both ACC and RF2 is helped massively with LFM. So there is online ranked racing for both those sims that work very well. It is third party though
The only two pc sims anyone needs to have are the original rFactor & IL2 1946. With either of those & a group of like minded individuals, the possibilities are VAST.
Personally I love GT7, because meanwhile it's not obviously the most REALISTIC and most VERSATILE game out there, I still enjoy it because of its sim style physics, multiplayer races, and mind blowing graphics, all for a console-based game. And also because I've been a fan since the golden days, which is why the franchise has a special place in my heart. I do have Assetto Corsa though but no wheel as of yet, although hopefully I would get one soon as I'd really like to take the next step after all these years of playing on controller. Would like to try out the wheel on GT7 first, then get myself going on AC.
Yeah, GT7 left everyone in the dust when the PSVR2 came out and doesn’t require you wasting your time and money building a non optimized computer. Just plug and play.
The two I use the most are iRacing and ACC. The GT3 stuff in ACC is top notch and for someone like me that's all I need. iRacing I use for Oval racing because turning left is really fun.
i think live for speed definitely deserves an honorable mention. im fairly new and it was super easy to set up and hosting your own server is effortless. also... will run on potato. (streaming this game in discord takes more resources than running the game itself)
One addition to this list I'd recommend for anyone looking for VR sim racing is Project Cars 2. By far the best VR interface and visuals of any sim racing game I've tried in VR. There's lots of little details that I feel other sims skip on, like sun glare, water pooling, interior shadows, etc that are included which really help boost VR immersion. This is also the only VR title I've ever tried where you don't need to leave VR to set up a race, which means you don't need a keyboard/mouse near your rig to navigate the menus. The physics are not as good as iRacing or ACC, but are still realistic and enjoyable, not much in the way of online options, but pretty good single player ai if you tune their aggression settings. Lots of great cars and tracks to choose from with really high detail all included in the base game. There's also some dlc available. Hands down the most immersive sim for dedicated VR users.
AC2 could really end up being the perfect if they don't screw it up. If they just combine the strengths of both, and add a solid multiplayer system with ratings similar to iRacing, it would be pretty much the perfect racing sim.
Automobilista 2 is the best around package now. Iam an offline racer mainly because i haven't got enough confidence to race online. The A.i is unmatched in my opinion and the newest content is amazing. Great video jimmy 👍
Project Cars 2 & AMS 2 look great tons of tracks right out of the box,I have a lot of fun offline with them.I had to mess with the ffb on project cars 2 but with custom ffb it feels pretty good.Its all about fun and relaxation for me,Ive also got RF2,AC,ACC and Raceroom,i think they all have good points.
For RaceRoom, it's always better to try and buy the in-game currency, and then use THAT to purchase all the DLC. I got the entire game catalogue for half price that way.
The difference in price is not that big. The biggest discount you get on vRP is 35%, but if you pay through Steam you also get a discount. Starts at 5 Euro and maxes out after 50 Euro where you get 18% discount.
A good starter kit imo, thrustmaster t150 and tlcm pedals. You can simply take a slat of wood like you find supporting your mattress,cut a hole to fit one wheel of your office chair and drill small holes for the pedals mount on the other end. Works pretty well.
when i get the wheel i didnt know about that, i was panick because i dont have the drill lucky there a near carpenter, i picked up my table there, also i spend the whole noon sawing the table 😅
Jimmy put his good boy cap on when talking about AMS2. Never have I heard him say anything good about that game other than its immersion value. Well done :)
I really wish he mentioned the sheer amount of historical content because that's a huge selling point for me. It goes beyond "trucks and f1 cars" I mean you can simulate just about any year in F1 (outside of pre 60s and 2003-2008) and is one of the few sims that actually simulates part failures. I feel like those are major selling points especially considering his audience is mostly f1 fans longing for the days of GP4.
I stopped doing iRacing and sold my expensive stuff because it it stopped being fun. Now, I have a G29 (or whatever the PS5/4 version is called) and race casually offline on AC, AMS2, and DiRT. But I recently got the PSVR2 and it has made GT7 my favorite game to play. It changed the game 100% to me.
You forgot about GTR2! How dare you turn your back on one of the game you loved so much. I mean it is a little outdated and AI are a bit sketchy at times, but there are quite a bit of mods for the game (Not as much as AC) and the force feedback in the wheel is amazing, it's just like modern sims.
I started simracing with Assetto Corsa.After playing AC for about 3 months I realized that I really want to do some online racing with GT cars, so I gave ACC a try. However just as jimmy said, ACC's ranked racing is not great, you really need join a league like LFM to have "proper race". ACC+LFM is probably the cheapest way to get proper racing experience imo. Finally, I tried iRacing and I'm just addicted to it and stop switching to other games (except rallys). I actually tried rFactor2 and AMS2 and tried to compare them with iRacing, but I just found that iRacing has the best online match-making system which is the most important part for online racing. Thanks to iRacing's MM system, I had a lot of fun and learnt a lot about race craft in iRacing even when I was slow af. Anyway, I toally agree with jimmy that you should try Assetto Corsa first if you just started simracing, then you will find the next game you wanna play by yourself (Or just stick to AC like many people do).
I will never understand, how people prefer the online system instead of the driving experience. Iracing has mediocre physics. A bad FFB. Bad graphics. A mediocre netcode. It's hilariously expensive. But the Multiplayer is good. - and I think, you can find similar online experiences in other sims. To me, iracing is a total ripoff.
@@ScholliUlz I've found the FFB to be perfectly fine even on my G29 and frankly people's complaints about its graphics mystify me. It's honestly the most 'natural-looking' game visually to me, stuff like ACC is generally harder on the eyes and runs worse.
If you go into iracing not just as a simracing game but a hobby that you are going to do long term it's a bit less painful. Absolutely that first year buy in is brutal. You start with the subscription and you have a bare minimum of content and then you need to start buying cars and tracks. 6 years in iracing I have All the road tracks and almost all the dirt oval and paved tracks. I found my Road series I love and can basically just run that with no issues. Every 3 months I might need to buy a new track but with the 20% discount and the up to $10 participation credits I get each season It's again not too bad. ACC and Raceroom are the kind of sim I will load up pick a car and do a few races but then not touch for months. iRacing on the other hand I'm on it every week doing at least one race.
My sim racing journey started with Stunt Car Racer, the Amiga version being especially choice! Never played Geoff Crammond's earlier title Revs (based on British F3) because I didn't have a BBC Micro, I did however play his next game after SCR which was Grand Prix, based on the 1991 F1 World Championship with all the cars and circuits lovingly recreated in flat shaded 3D polygon glory, which my 486 could handle very well, never really played GP2 as I never had a PC capable in period though I did play a lot of Indycar Racing. The next one I got into after building a new PC in late 1998 was Grand Prix Legends which remains supported to this day almost 25 years later! Of the current crop I have rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa installed, running them on my decidedly middling PC with a trusty old Logitech G25 clamped to my desk as back in my day a dedicated sim rig was the wildest dream of a madman!
For I first time sim racer I would recommend Automobilista 2 over Assetto Corsa as Assetto requires a bit more setup before it feels how you want it to which is fine if you have experience and know what you are doing but is more of a struggle for someone playing for the first time. AMS2 solves this as Jimmy said by being more of a plug and play sim where it is easy to get it feeling ok and just requires the extra effort to make it feel refined. Assetto is by no means impossible to set up so is still decent to start with if you are willing to put in a bit more effort.
I think Jimmy's closing comments on iRacing are spot on; I've probably spent $400+ (maybe more considering the subscription fee) in iRacing since I started which was only about three years ago and I only do a couple of races a week on average, but I have an absolute blast. Easily the most fun online experience and to be honest probably the most fun gaming experience I've ever had. In my opinion no other sim gives you that nervous excitement when you're sitting on the grid and you're about to go racing; I imagine it's the same feeling you get in a real race car just probably magnified many times over. But, I would also say, when I first started sim racing I began with Assetto Corsa and DR2.0 and I was totally terrible at both of them, and it took a long time gradually getting better with those before I worked up the courage to get into iRacing and even then I probably did about a month of offline practice before I ventured into a 'real' race. I think if I'd started with iRacing straight away I would have quickly gotten frustrated and probably felt like I'd wasted my money, and that might have put me off simracing altogether.
@@kolysion164 Each to their own, I've never been able to get into ACC, I can definitely see why it's popular but it doesn't appeal to me personally so much.
I think Gran Turismo 7 deserved a more of a shout. Easy to learn but hard to master, robust career and online modes, laser-scanned tracks, cars look and sound amazing, and the GT community is among the best in sim(cade) racing.
People always seem to put the word of sim cade without getting the concept of it… just because they believe isn’t up to the standard of their so call pc title, without even knowing the physics of a real racing car or the concept of an Arcade physics just because the belief of pc vs console ( popularity)
Rallying is why I got into sim racing. I have played Dirt Rally 1 for the last 10 years. Just finally started playing Dirt Rally 2.0 recently when I upgraded my setup.
I struggled to race online consistently for various problems with different sims, then I tried iRacing and I'm hooked up ever since. The user experience and online racing is just a level above the other sims if you really care for simracing as a hobby and have the money to spare. For a new user the price will be around $550 for first two years and probably 250-300 for every two following which considering the price of setups including a computer is actually not atrocius.
I'm with you there. I try and race daily on iracing, I feel really do get money's worth. Plus I race formula one, so there isn't really much choice elsewhere. F1 = simcade. Rfactor and am2 have f1 cars but lack the online reliability and shear volume of racers that iracing has. If I was GT racer things might be different. Looking forward to Rennsport and what their formula offerings in the future might look like.
You can get something very similar for free with ACC (and RF2) though. Look up LFM. BUt agreed that kind of structure is very hard to beat.Beyond me not more of the serious sims haven't adapted it. If Ac2 isn't going that way i'll be very sad
@@XCougar85X My problem with ACC is much lower population in the official races. Raced there in 2020 for a couple of months and there were people I raced and had incidents with regularly. Also the connection and online structure as a whole is quite bad (lost my first official podium in 90 min race as 5 mins from the end every other car suddenly disappeared). Also I'm not a fan of official races changing daily. There are many leagues that work well but I'm European and usually race in the morning/afternoon which isn't a great timeslot for league racing. I agree the return you get for your money is amazing. Never raced online in rF2, once I've seen there is a 2hr video on how to get into an online session I refused to do that 😅
@@vojtechnovacek7776 If you race EU timezone, you should have no problem finding races at all. I race both on pub servers in the build in lobby but mostly using LFM wich is external. I think most people who used to drive the official races migrated to the LFM tool which is alot better and has 1 track for a week. Go check it out, it is a fantastic tool since the normal lobby and server system is quite crap indeed.
I think a lot of people don't realise unless you are absolutely mad, you won't be buying all the content. I only race Oval so I don't need all the tracks like Spa etc. I know people want to try lots of different series but if you know what you want out of it, iRacing isn't too costly.
Not always expensive. I already had PS4, GT7 can be purchased on sale, G29 goes on a good sale and is good enough, already have desk.... Very basic, but works.
I would say that the free content in iRacing these days is actually pretty expansive, and there are a number of series that use purely the "free" content. So from a certain perspective, it's actually one of the cheaper options to get into and try, especially with the common free starter deals
And honestly, with the buy as needed model, that also feels very cheap. Before you know it, all you are spending is the monthly. I am sure the $1,500 is adding up every track and every car of all series. So, if you are running IMSA or open wheel...way way cheaper. There is also the discount that stacks. You get larger discounts with more content you own. I have a permanent 40% off due to how large my library is. I haven't had to buy anything in like a year with the BMW LMDh not being counted. Been running GTE and LMP2 for years.
@@supra1jzed agreed. I've concentrated on a formula career on iracing, so skip barber, vee, formula 2.5, f3, f1 so that's not that many cars. Yes I had to buy a fair few tracks but I own them now so running costs now are minimal. Plus I get $7 a season for race participation so I get the track they might decide to add for next season nearly for free. I guess iracing gets costly when you haven't got a set idea on what you want to race long term.
@@brettgrieves absolutely. My assessment is also trying to assume no real world experience. The real world with something as "cheap" as a Spec E-46... looking at roughly 2k a weekend for just HPDE stuff. Worse with races if you plan to run stickers for each race
Its not the getting into that cost its the pay as you go model, and you really dont own anything for that money. Spending 100 dollars once is much better than spending $1500 over time. I know people have to justify their expenses to themselves, because who would spend $1500 on something they can't say they enjoy as much as something for 100 dollars.
My favourites 1) ACC for realism, awesome sound and racing experience(SP/MP with LFM) 2) AMS2 for historic racing, variety of content cars/tracks, AI and graphics 3) iRacing for best MP experience (ranking system to match me with same slow drivers :)) 4) AC for nostalgia, easy UI (CM), replay watching and photo making
The bad part about jumping into Sim Racing in this current age is trying NOT to purchase them all for their own individual reasons. Perhaps if I could afford more than 1 sim I would probably fasted for a day and drink water to do buy more 😆. Good vid Jimmer
As someone who has recently fallen into the financial melting pot that is iRacing it feels like it rewards the serious sim racers more than the common player. The experience for rookies (free content) is an absolute shitshow 90% of the time but once you get your D license it's like your third eye gets opened and you can finally have fun with the game. I have B licenses in both road and oval disciplines and it feels like the deeper I go the more fun it gets, and I can say the experiences I've had up to this point has made the cost worth it.
Man, rookies is something. Finally got out of it with oval and hoping it becomes more fun. Road racing is a blast though with the B license. I'm not too fast, but I'm clean and it's nice that iRacing rewards that
After a couple of years with AC, ACC, and AMS2, I decided to try iracing properly and bought the discounted 1 year sub. I'm about three weeks in and loving it in the Radical SR10 and GT3. Whether or not I'll keep up with the track purchases remains to be seen. Like AMS2, iracing is awesome in VR.
I drove Grand Prix Legends from 1998 until almost 2008. The mod community and physics of the game were light years ahead of the rest of the field for a long time. Then switched to Race 07 because it had the Nordscheife. A game has to have this track in order for me to even consider it. I got out of sims for quite a while and then came back with Assetto Corsa about three or so years ago. Also because of the modding community that surrounded it. I have seen no need to try anything else when I am having a ball driving Nords in so many wonderful mods.
I had I racing for 3 months and I love it, but having subscription and pay content it is form of scum, If you pay monthly you should have access to all content.
I don't think iracing is that special it deserves a subscription let alone paying extra for content after that. But there are enough people paying double for it, so if they get away with it they would be mad not to do it. Probably a few whales ( as usual) make it really profitable.
Just another confirmation that yep, I started with AC a year ago, tried a few of the others, and now spend my days in iRacing with small diversions to Dirt 2.0. Don't be scared of the iR cost. You can do a full season (3 months' subscription) of Global MX-5 or Formula Vee (free content) and you'll now know exactly where sim racing can take you. Keep track of your championship points and standing in the rookie division. As your rating increases, you'll race against better people and be awarded more points for beating them. For me and many others, nothing else replicates the sheer competitive joy of iRacing's system.
I play lots of wrc generations and once you have decent controller settings you can be quite fast on there. I used to play dirt rally 2.0 when I had a ps4 and I used to love driving Colin McRaes title winning Subaru Impreza on the Scottish stages👌 I hope the new wrc game by codemasters lives up to expectations.
I have tried all except iRacing and I can't recommend AMS2 enough. It's so good, and it keeps getting better with each update. Still can't get over how good it looks/works in VR.
I finally started off ACC with a bang by joining a league without having ever played to game before. Had some hours in AC, LFS and iRacing before, but none of them really clicked with me (iRacing seemed really fun but boi it's too expensive) Now that i've had a clear goal to work towards rather than driving around slowly in random cars, i've really gotten into it. The hours just keep piling Definitely recommended for anyone who wishes to race competitively for fairly cheap and doesn't mind just (mainly) GT3 cars
New to sims and here I am watching this. It's been invaluable. Got interested after an afternoon in a full motion vr ACC for a work do. I have rally adjacent experience in competition so I was terrible at it, but I had a great time.
I am from India and here people don't actually prefer spending money on "video games" but when you see the price of assetto corsa here it's just a steal for what It offers. Literally endless possibilities for you to enjoy sim racing. On sale it goes for about ₹105 which converted into American dollar is less than even 2 bucks. I love assetto corsa!
The worst thing is Simulators lack in single player content. When I say F1 has the best single player content, you know we are in the darkest timeline.
I’m a rally enthusiastic and rally till I die , so i will always choose Assetto corsa , dirt rally 1 and 2 , Richard burns rally and wrc. But we still need more for rallying imo. It’s fairly cheap for these games and the mods and dlc aren’t too bad for rally games but we still need more
While the series itself has gone fairly down hill since then, the very original grid, from 2008, had the best career progression out of any race game I have played since then. The creation of your own team, picking your co-driver, hunting for used cars on ebay to help save some money to get into the higher classes, the fact that significant wrecks had an actual impact on the cars for races to come, it was all so amazingly well done.
I came back to racing games with Project Cars 2 with all DLC's for under 10 euros, quite an amazing deal with tons of cars and tracks and a decent driving experience for a casual player.
Automobilista 2 is by far the best experience when it comes to immersion, graphics and ffb. Reize put so much love into the game the past year and I hope they are continuing.
I agree I’ve put in 906 hr on that game & got better at driving manual, I’ve nvr driven manual before & when I drove my brother bmw f80 I was driving like I’ve been driving stick all my life it was easy for me now I want a manual car 😂
I think you definitely hit the nail on the head with iRacing. If you’re going to use it a lot and get your moneys worth it works out ok. When I tried I was only managing one race a week (due to work) it wasn’t working out for me so I stoped, otherwise I’d be just throwing money at the thing. Modern sim racing games are odd in one way. I’m old enough to remember GTR2 and other games, before server/multiplayer races. The AI (compared to modern titles) was just insanely good. You also had proper race weekend and career modes. You could save during a race weekend! Lol. Sometimes you miss the simple additions that these titles had 😂
My guess is the older AI did not really follow physics, which made it easier to get working. If the AI is actually follow the sim rules, having good AI requires the makers to mostly figure out autonomous driving, so that ain't happening. And with online being so prevalent they probably make the decision that spending the time on good AI isn't worth it.
@@someonespotatohmm9513 There may be some simplification involved as well, but in general a lot of the complexity of autonomous driving goes away when you have a perfect map of the environment at all times. I think it's indeed mostly a case of devs relying on online play rather than spending time really fine tuning the AI, much like they don't want to build deep career modes.
@@someonespotatohmm9513 That's true, but Iracing updates their AI a lot and there simply is no other sim which this good AI. Yesterday did a 30 minute race at Sonoma and I was battling with the same car for almost the whole race. Absolutely incredible.
I'm not convinced it'll be in by the end of the year (certainly not in a finished state). They're doing a great job developing the game though - they've recently added oval racing and a rallycross DLC is planned for this year.
the great thing about sim racing though, is that a more expensive setup doesn't equal 'more fun'.. it might make you more consistent. but you can still have all the fun you would want by making some cuts on wheel, screen and rig, or look at the second hand market.. decent pedals is nice to have.
rf2 is so far still the only sim that combines great physics with a substantial modding community. assetto corsa has mods but outdated physics. if acc had mods it'd be on top, but it's only gt3 cars & tracks. love dirt2.0 - great with VR
Not sure why so many ppl are recommending Assetto Corsa This game has no elements of racing at all -The AI sucks -Doesnt have rolling start -The damage model sucks -No mechincal failures -No stage racing -No safety car and therefore no features such as lucky dog and green-white-checker A hillclimb simulator at best imo
One thing that's worth mentioning that doesn't get highlighted in these videos often: iRacing does at least have relatively decent introductory deals (3 months for $5 or similar) which should be plenty of time for people to figure out if it's the right choice for them.
Simpsons Hit & Run is the real answer
😂
Assetto Corsa on PC is by far the best value for money. Content manager makes modding it very easy for beginners. However, getting into iracing has been asdictive. Still have only the base content, but I absolutely love it
It's also the best one for the simple pleasure of driving, I think.
Can't remember other sim that lets you just chill in a night drive as you'd do in real life.
@@GabrielRodrigues-fg6ex Agree. The Simtraxx Targa Florio is just perfect for that.
Agree with this, although these days I don't play AC anymore, I enjoyed my time a lot on AC. Had all the content and plenty of modder packs as well (RSS mostly), all at full price as I got it from release. Would still recommend it to this day!
I don't do driving about in road cars in games anymore hence I moved to iracing. Nothing beats iracing for a full on ''racing experience'' as close as possible, and it's only getting better. I get asked about the cost quite often as well but I keep liking it back to 2 things: 1) Arcades you used to go to as a child/teen etc. To play on some of those machines, it would be €2 for a quick go...the amount of money I spend on the F355 Challenge simulator alone I could've bought my own one! And 2)...actual arcade racing titles. Look at all those people buying say F1 codemasters series every year? that's 60-80 euros a pop, for essentially the same game reskinned, and every now and then they add a feature (and now have run out so you get a sofa you can customize). With iRacing, you don't really need all content. I don't drive ovals, so that's a lot of money saved on cars and tracks. Same goes for dirt. I've got almost all road tracks and a fair amount of cars, I'm going to guess I spend maybe 400, 500 on content? Plus 100 a year for subscription. Put that up against Codemasters and suddenly it's not so bad anymore.
Seeing as I don't even know how much I actually spend on iRacing and just how often I use it, I say money well spend and 1000% worth it.
@@Wall562 You might want to check out Albuzz Targa Florio. It's Patreon (the free version is heavily outdated) and it's stunning. Recently they even laserscanned the whole track and are working on implementing that now.
@@GabrielRodrigues-fg6ex Best game for driving is BeamNG.
"Bring back TOCA Race Driver"- Wisest words were never spoken. Great childhood memories from that game.
With this codemaster? Good luck, now that they're owned by Ea
@@SPProduction02 No it'll happen, it's just nothing like what it should be :') ... oh and 70€ + ultimate edition which includes nothing remarkable
I joined my first online league with that game on Playstation 2. 6 drivers per race. :)
Great times. Or was it Toca 2?
This brought back some memories, I loved that game
now we call it Grid XD
This is going to sound extremely weird but discovering Dirt Rally 2.0 and getting absorbed in it was extremely important to me during a very low time in my life and potentially saved my life. Trying to get better at that game and master those tracks was my rock during that time. Sorry for the cringe but it’s true.
It's not cringe, it's fucking great! Hope you're doing better now :)
Not cringe at all i’m going through that phase right now with gt7
It isn't cringe it's great that it's helping you
And they say videogames are a waste of time lol, I'm glad it helped you man
Not weird at all, I went through discovering dirt rally 1 and it helped me out during a hard time in my life! Cheers!
Ive seen this kinda video 1000 times and I love every single one. I already have almost all of these but i love watching people talk about it lol
whats ur fav sim then?
Same, I started with iracing with a controller and found it easier than PS4. Although it’s not ideal with a controller it’s a start, my pc has a i5 9400f and had gtx1070 and that was enough
@@ryanlequesne8992 iRacing with a controller?
Youuuu menace. 😂😂👏🏼👏🏼
@@chubz01 safety rating of C 😂 I think my driver rating was around 1200, not bad for a casual Gran Turismo player
@@ryanlequesne8992 ayyy.. respect,dude.
Would go for Pyonyang Racing imo
Ah yes, 실제 운전 시뮬레이터 (the real driving simulator)
@@AliceC993 👍
I still think to this day that PC2 had the best career system.
Project cars 2 should’ve been on this list at least for console tbh
PC2 has some of the best variety in racing games(at least before you include modding).
Too bad THEY DON'T FLIPPIN' SELL IT ANYMORE.
I'm still annoyed about that.
It's not really a career mode tho'. Just qualifying to unlock the next level.
@@g3arjammer837 I don['t think you can buy it any more
@@tabs1913 no sadly not but if you can find a disk version you can get it still
ACC is so perfect in so many aspects, best FFB, most realism (for gt3), best graphics, best sound design, good AI (although a bit slow), etc. But it has a few problems like you said with variety and VR performance. If AC2 is anywhere as good as ACC and just has more variety, it would easily take the crown for a long time. I am very hyped for AC2 and I just can't wait for it since Kunos made such a good game in ACC.
The sound design isn't great, IMO it's decent at best
@@liviu543 Imo it has the best, but maybe only surpassed by dirt rally 2.0, otherwise acc has the most realistic sounds (barr the low end which doesn't sound as loud as it should) and small details (sound bouncing off walls, sounds of gravel hitting the undercarriage, etc.) Though I might be recency biased since I've really only played ACC, Iracing, and AC most of the time and haven't touched the other sims in a while.
Assetto Corsa has better visuals, unless you play it on console lol, but I guess out of all of these ACC has the best vanilla visuals.
@@LaVaZ000 I'm playing asseto Corsa on my series X,and it looks and runs very nicely Thankyou,only thing I wish is it had mods like pc version,I also own ACC and that looks and runs nice but I like asseto Corsa handling more than ACC,it just feels better
ACC seems to be more of a game and less of a Simulation. Too many assholes on keyboard/mouse, or controller divebombing every corner and driving unrealistic, non predictable lines at unpredictable speeds ruin the “Sim” experience
i have to say, my favorite sim-adjacent title is beamNG, it’s wheel support has gotten leagues better and the devs are constantly working on the game. the online and modding spaces are also very active, giving you whatever content you could want for a flat fee of $25 on steam.
BeamNG is a gift from car enthusiasts to motorist fans. The only Simulator where your vehicle gets thrown in water and you can't open the door due to pressure.
The only Simulator where you play a radio (depending on mod), hop out, walk a couple meters away from the vehicle and listen to how the sound dissipates into thin air. Walk back and the music is blasting.
The only Simulator with fully functional buttons in the cockpit that allows for raising sunroofs, extending/retracting panoroofs, opening bonnet/trunk/doors, windows, headlights, range box, hazard lights, drive mode, ignition, differentials, transfer case and so on.
The only game I can raise or lower my air suspension. Not enough words to explain the parts and tuning menu that allows for a variety of modifications due to the freedom it provides. The best game to modify a car I've ever seen. The most goated driving Simulator to ever exist.
Got BeamNG a few weeks ago after the last update and i saw all the praise, but after a day or two i just dropped it. The driving is fine but the wheel support is really overhyped in my opinion. The newest trophy truck doesn't even have the right rotation simulated and they didn't know when that would be fixed.
Fun to goof around in, but that is about it.
@@XCougar85X Nobody ever hyped wheel support on BeamNG. It's been one persistent complaint with the game asides tyres. It used to be worse before 0.24 update and I can say it has come a long way. Maybe it has to do with your wheel or just not enough support for now.
All asides it'll take time before most of these issues get fixed as the game is currently in Alpha O.27. Still years away to even be a Beta product. They're usually brainstorming to enhance their physics engine as much as possible given that's the entire aim of the software. Things have changed since 2013 and there's still time for more to be enacted. You need patience since this is an indie studio. They don't have the budget and size as big publishers do.
@@kak8895 BeamNG is a cool tech demo and all but its really just an alpha and it shows, there's only so much repetitive scenarios and free roam on bland maps one can make out fun of. Hopefully they plan on making it a real racing game, would be number one.
@@LaVaZ000
Offcourse it's an alpha game and there's nothing wrong with it. Who would have thought an alpha game will be more popular and sell more copies than every Simulator on PC combined?
Truth is the few that understands this software knows that it'll remain an alpha game for a long time. Not because it's being developed by an indie studio with a small team and less the budget, but because this game is far too ambitious to just have a full release at one go like the other boring half-bred games on the market that release every 3 to 4 years. This software is on par with games like Star Citizen and Digital Combat Simulator. They'll remain in development for a long time because consumer grade hardware hasn't caught up yet to reach their full potential.
They're not even done with the physics engine not to talk about the career mode. Still has years away from from full release.
Assetto Corsa. Hands down the best bang for your buck.
exactly
It's also brilliantly optimised, so you don't have to spend a lot of money on hardware to run it at a decent frame rate. I'm currently running it on my backup desktop machine that I built in 2011, and it runs very decently. To the point that I forgot how badly I needed to upgrade that machine because it never had an issue with it.
@@durrell246 Very true, I had no trouble running AC on my old shitbox PC. Ran like a charm, even with Sol. Such a fantastic game, a real gem!
@@durrell246 It's not, though x4fab et al improved it considerably
Ive spent countless hours in that game, driven essentially every type of car and track. Without ever having payed a single penny.
One of my all time favorites is Live For Speed, which deserves a lot more love and attention than it gets. Sadly, it's been years since it's gotten any new content so it falls behind quite a bit considering how much the competition has improved since Assetto Corsa kicked everyone's butt. :)
According to LFS website, they still work on updates. And after many years they gave up and provided mods support.
Also, I think, it's the most polished driving simulator ever. It's so clean and stable! Tracks are work of art, cars are perfectly balanced. The only bad thing is netcode of 20-years-old game engine.
This simulator taught me how to corner and drift 20 years ago.
@@EJ205T Also one thing that (please do correct me) but Live For Speed is the only sim racer that I know that has an *object editor*
The developers released built-in mod support to LFS around a year ago. They are also currently working on a total visual overhaul and a day-to-night transition system. Sadly there is just two guys making it (afaik) so the updates are rather scarce. Still worth picking up!
Lfs is the best shit. No other sim feels so grounded than it.
Live for Speed? More like Drift for Speed
Assetto Corsa is also the only sim so far (maybe next to LFS) where you can do sim-drifting well. Thanks to mods there are tons of real drift circuits, touges and cars from low hp streetstyles up to high hp competition ones. It's a shame really there isnt a more up to date game that gets drifting right.
This is a big thing and I completely agree. It's the only game with the right physics AND content to make proper drifting happen and it blows all the alternatives out of the water once you have mastered the basics. On gamepad you have Forza and CarX, if you use a wheel it's Assetto corsa hands down.
@@ThaJay tbf i found forza horizon 4 on gamepad pretty good. i could do all the drift techniques and the car behaved like it should. its pretty realstic for an arcade. also tons of cars and tunes, and good roads too. carx i didnt like because it felt too arcadey
@@grunerkaktus I agree Forza feels more detailed but the reason I mention CarX is because it's super easy to jump online and get tandems. It's a pretty simple game but because of the ease and quality of the tandems in the right online rooms made me come back to it many times.
rF2 gets drifting totally right. Granted there are less mods and tracks for drifting though. The R34 Skyline drift car is very good car for drifting in rF2.
Beamng is good for drifting once finally dial in settings
I know you don't have experience with Grand Prix Legends but i think it deserved a shoutout along with RBR as it's the same situation: Old game, great community, still alive, unforgiving and massively enjoyable
Also nr2003
If I managed a race on GPL without binning it, I’d achieved something, just like on RBR. They were and still are, hardcore.
Spent hundreds of hours in the early 2000s playing GPL and downloading all the amazing tracks. What a community!
I love AC - my introduction to it was watching your laps around old Monaco and the Nordschleife, and it's that *very* singular single-player experience that I love most about it. The game has something for everyone, including people like me, who like the occasional race but otherwise just drive around somewhere, anywhere they fancy, in whichever car they want to take for a spin. I don't think it's any coincidence that my finding AC (through you) happened at the same time as I started making real progress in my mental health recovery. It's that therapeutic. It asks no questions; it makes no demands. Sometimes, I just stick the rain on, set the time to 7am, and sit there with the engine ticking over and the wipers going. Healing, somehow. I couldn't explain how, or why, I just know that's how it makes me feel.
That's awesome. One of the things I love to do in AC is to take a low powered car on a full lap of Fujimi Kaido. It's an old map from Forza Motorsport 4 and it's a huge mountain pass, about as long as the Nordschleife. It's a nostalgic place but also just nice to drive around with no pressure, just enjoy the feeling.
Just bought the GTR SimBin Mega Bundle off Steam. Looking forward to getting stuck into it. Agree, Assetto Corsa as my main Sim on PC, GT7 and F1 2022 on PS5 for a chilled back play when needed. Dirt 2.0 for my Rally fix. We are blessed at the moment with sims!
Are we ever! Too many good ones to list once we really start getting into the grit of it all. Games that've been out for 20+ years getting updates included (RBR, GPL)!
@@AgentZ7 Agreed. The mods keep everything fresh. I have been giving WRC Generations some time recently. It is a bit of Groundhog Day on the previous versions, but actually really quite enjoying it so far. It’s quite unforgiving, but some of the physics need to be improved. Having never driven through water in anger in a rally car, I cant really comment, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t feel like it does in WRC.
I have iRacing but spend the majority of time racing in ACC on the LFM (Low Fuel Motorsport) series leagues. Getting a licence requires 7 consecutive clean laps, within 107% of the lap record, on the selected track, so that filters out the crazy drivers 😝Start in Rookies then you can progress to 25min sprint races or 45, 60, 3 hours races in the Endurance category. It’s all well managed and doesn’t cost any money 👍🏻
In what way does a certain lap time requirement filter out crazy drivers? It filters out slower drivers, it’s not the same. I’ve seen some horrendous driving on LFM, and according to others the driving standards are not the best.
AMS2 and F1 22 are how I got my friends into racing, if you're trying to race with people who've never played racing games before and don't want to put in the effort of modding AC those two are really good entry ways
perfect timing, just bought the Moza R9 bundle as my first ever wheel/pedals setup. Had no idea which games to jump in first, very helpful video, thanks
I’d love a hardware version of this video
There's lots of those out there.
@@jzyyz but not from jimjam :)
I second this
The problem is, he doesn't know all the hardware and getting enough experience with every decent option out there in all price classes isn't an easy job. It's probably even hard for some one with this kind of rig, to go back to a basic logitech wheel and be fair in judgment. When ever I upgrade something it's really hard to go back, even tho I was perfectly content with my old stuff before.
But yeah, if it would be possible, I'd like to know Jimmers opinions on all matters sim racing related...
I'm curious how many people are still using a G27 like me lol
one thing to add on ams2: it is the best VR experience i've had in a sim
Been watching for years, still haven't got myself a sim rig. Life got in the way. I'm more than happy to live my life vicariously through you.
As a offline but very passionate player if I could leave suggestion to myself when I started with sim racing I'd say: If you want to RACE buy AMS 1 with all the content and go to the championships learning progressively. After you feel comfortable with the variety of cars there look for some good quality mods and keep going.
If you want to chill go for AC.
I used to play AC a lot but after I discovered a wrong setting on my ffb I am just in love with AMS. I wish you had mentioned it here. But nice video! Love your content Jimmer!
RaceRoom got me in to sim racing. I was wondering if it was for me and since the basic game is free to play I borrowed a wheel and pedals from someone to try it out.
Ended up buying my own wheel and pedals and bought a few cars and tracks I liked
You can test drive cars before you buy them by the way, I think that is a great plus too.
And even though it's not as pretty as some other sims, it's still nice to look at and has some good options for beginners and advanced users in terms of set up and the like.
I have most of these, including GT7 which I just bought to play in VR this week!
If my memory isn't failing me spectacularly, I recall the career mode of WRC 2 or 3 (from the early 2010s, not the ones from the early 2000s) as being very good. It wasn't a straightforward "do a season in Junior WRC and repeat for higher categories" career, rather you really had to prove your worth by buying cars, managing expenses, participating in isolated events to be considered for Junior WRC and then for the higher categories. It really felt like a genuine "up-and-coming rally driver" experience and you really felt like having to painfully put in the effort to realise your dreams. I wished they brought it back for newer rally games.
Multiplayer for both ACC and RF2 is helped massively with LFM. So there is online ranked racing for both those sims that work very well. It is third party though
LFM is great and I ditched iRacing for RF2 on LFM. I just think Jimmy doesn't mention them since he has a stake in SGP
@@Popkorn28 SGP is great too. LFM is more open daily races like a mini iRacing. SGP is more for communities. Both have a place.
The only two pc sims anyone needs to have are the original rFactor & IL2 1946. With either of those & a group of like minded individuals, the possibilities are VAST.
I’m very happy that RBR was mentioned in this video. Thank you, good sir. 🎉
Personally I love GT7, because meanwhile it's not obviously the most REALISTIC and most VERSATILE game out there, I still enjoy it because of its sim style physics, multiplayer races, and mind blowing graphics, all for a console-based game. And also because I've been a fan since the golden days, which is why the franchise has a special place in my heart. I do have Assetto Corsa though but no wheel as of yet, although hopefully I would get one soon as I'd really like to take the next step after all these years of playing on controller. Would like to try out the wheel on GT7 first, then get myself going on AC.
A big added bonus is its full PSVR2 support, coupled with exquisitely modelled interiors on many road and race cars
Gran turismo 7 with psvr2 is the ultimate racing game experience
I have a wheel and psvr2 and it's incredible
Yeah, GT7 left everyone in the dust when the PSVR2 came out and doesn’t require you wasting your time and money building a non optimized computer. Just plug and play.
The two I use the most are iRacing and ACC. The GT3 stuff in ACC is top notch and for someone like me that's all I need. iRacing I use for Oval racing because turning left is really fun.
i think live for speed definitely deserves an honorable mention. im fairly new and it was super easy to set up and hosting your own server is effortless. also... will run on potato. (streaming this game in discord takes more resources than running the game itself)
And LFS runs in VR
cheers Jimmer. literally building my rig next weekend, and this is a good primer for me.
One addition to this list I'd recommend for anyone looking for VR sim racing is Project Cars 2. By far the best VR interface and visuals of any sim racing game I've tried in VR. There's lots of little details that I feel other sims skip on, like sun glare, water pooling, interior shadows, etc that are included which really help boost VR immersion. This is also the only VR title I've ever tried where you don't need to leave VR to set up a race, which means you don't need a keyboard/mouse near your rig to navigate the menus. The physics are not as good as iRacing or ACC, but are still realistic and enjoyable, not much in the way of online options, but pretty good single player ai if you tune their aggression settings. Lots of great cars and tracks to choose from with really high detail all included in the base game. There's also some dlc available. Hands down the most immersive sim for dedicated VR users.
As a Brazilian myself, love the AMS2 section.
For me, asseto corsa, and asseto corsa competizione provides everything a sim racer needs. (On PC only though)
AC2 could really end up being the perfect if they don't screw it up. If they just combine the strengths of both, and add a solid multiplayer system with ratings similar to iRacing, it would be pretty much the perfect racing sim.
@@e2rqey it's unclear what features are priority for Kunos in AC2
Automobilista 2 is the best around package now. Iam an offline racer mainly because i haven't got enough confidence to race online. The A.i is unmatched in my opinion and the newest content is amazing. Great video jimmy 👍
What is the newest content? I just bought Automobilista 2
Project Cars 2 & AMS 2 look great tons of tracks right out of the box,I have a lot of fun offline with them.I had to mess with the ffb on project cars 2 but with custom ffb it feels pretty good.Its all about fun and relaxation for me,Ive also got RF2,AC,ACC and Raceroom,i think they all have good points.
For RaceRoom, it's always better to try and buy the in-game currency, and then use THAT to purchase all the DLC. I got the entire game catalogue for half price that way.
The difference in price is not that big. The biggest discount you get on vRP is 35%, but if you pay through Steam you also get a discount. Starts at 5 Euro and maxes out after 50 Euro where you get 18% discount.
A good starter kit imo, thrustmaster t150 and tlcm pedals. You can simply take a slat of wood like you find supporting your mattress,cut a hole to fit one wheel of your office chair and drill small holes for the pedals mount on the other end. Works pretty well.
T3PM pedals are also great if you want to go even cheaper.
@@rihopytsep yea actually those look quite nice at the price point
Also grab a Wheel Stand Pro and you gold.
when i get the wheel i didnt know about that, i was panick because i dont have the drill
lucky there a near carpenter, i picked up my table there, also i spend the whole noon sawing the table 😅
That's not a starter kit. At least not on this planet
Jimmy put his good boy cap on when talking about AMS2. Never have I heard him say anything good about that game other than its immersion value. Well done :)
I really wish he mentioned the sheer amount of historical content because that's a huge selling point for me. It goes beyond "trucks and f1 cars" I mean you can simulate just about any year in F1 (outside of pre 60s and 2003-2008) and is one of the few sims that actually simulates part failures. I feel like those are major selling points especially considering his audience is mostly f1 fans longing for the days of GP4.
@@cbj4sc1 taking one of these bad boys around old Hockenheim, that's the stuff dreams are made of :)
I stopped doing iRacing and sold my expensive stuff because it it stopped being fun. Now, I have a G29 (or whatever the PS5/4 version is called) and race casually offline on AC, AMS2, and DiRT. But I recently got the PSVR2 and it has made GT7 my favorite game to play. It changed the game 100% to me.
Toca Touring cars is where its at, wish there was a BTCC game mabey too small a market but combine BTCC and WTCC could be amazing
You forgot about GTR2! How dare you turn your back on one of the game you loved so much. I mean it is a little outdated and AI are a bit sketchy at times, but there are quite a bit of mods for the game (Not as much as AC) and the force feedback in the wheel is amazing, it's just like modern sims.
FFB in GTR2 is even better from some modern sims.
I started simracing with Assetto Corsa.After playing AC for about 3 months I realized that I really want to do some online racing with GT cars, so I gave ACC a try. However just as jimmy said, ACC's ranked racing is not great, you really need join a league like LFM to have "proper race". ACC+LFM is probably the cheapest way to get proper racing experience imo.
Finally, I tried iRacing and I'm just addicted to it and stop switching to other games (except rallys). I actually tried rFactor2 and AMS2 and tried to compare them with iRacing, but I just found that iRacing has the best online match-making system which is the most important part for online racing. Thanks to iRacing's MM system, I had a lot of fun and learnt a lot about race craft in iRacing even when I was slow af.
Anyway, I toally agree with jimmy that you should try Assetto Corsa first if you just started simracing, then you will find the next game you wanna play by yourself (Or just stick to AC like many people do).
I will never understand, how people prefer the online system instead of the driving experience.
Iracing has mediocre physics. A bad FFB. Bad graphics. A mediocre netcode. It's hilariously expensive. But the Multiplayer is good. - and I think, you can find similar online experiences in other sims.
To me, iracing is a total ripoff.
What is lfm?
@@ScholliUlz I've found the FFB to be perfectly fine even on my G29 and frankly people's complaints about its graphics mystify me. It's honestly the most 'natural-looking' game visually to me, stuff like ACC is generally harder on the eyes and runs worse.
TIME STAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:50 Assetto Corsa
02:32 Automobilista 2
03:45 R Factor 2
05:39 Richard Burns Rally
06:56 Dirt Rally 2
08:21 Raceroom
09:23 Assetto Corsa Competizione
11:27 iRacing
14:25 Honourable Mentions/Console
Ty mate, added that in :)
I've always been just an offline with AI guy, AMS2 and NR2003 are my go to's
You should try GTR2 with the 16th Anniversary Mod, it rivals NR2003, imo.
If you go into iracing not just as a simracing game but a hobby that you are going to do long term it's a bit less painful. Absolutely that first year buy in is brutal. You start with the subscription and you have a bare minimum of content and then you need to start buying cars and tracks. 6 years in iracing I have All the road tracks and almost all the dirt oval and paved tracks. I found my Road series I love and can basically just run that with no issues. Every 3 months I might need to buy a new track but with the 20% discount and the up to $10 participation credits I get each season It's again not too bad.
ACC and Raceroom are the kind of sim I will load up pick a car and do a few races but then not touch for months. iRacing on the other hand I'm on it every week doing at least one race.
@Littleblueneon And how much have you spent on this game all together if you don't mind me asking. And also what sim gear are you using to drive with?
My sim racing journey started with Stunt Car Racer, the Amiga version being especially choice! Never played Geoff Crammond's earlier title Revs (based on British F3) because I didn't have a BBC Micro, I did however play his next game after SCR which was Grand Prix, based on the 1991 F1 World Championship with all the cars and circuits lovingly recreated in flat shaded 3D polygon glory, which my 486 could handle very well, never really played GP2 as I never had a PC capable in period though I did play a lot of Indycar Racing. The next one I got into after building a new PC in late 1998 was Grand Prix Legends which remains supported to this day almost 25 years later! Of the current crop I have rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa installed, running them on my decidedly middling PC with a trusty old Logitech G25 clamped to my desk as back in my day a dedicated sim rig was the wildest dream of a madman!
It’s actually including Raceroom 😊
For I first time sim racer I would recommend Automobilista 2 over Assetto Corsa as Assetto requires a bit more setup before it feels how you want it to which is fine if you have experience and know what you are doing but is more of a struggle for someone playing for the first time. AMS2 solves this as Jimmy said by being more of a plug and play sim where it is easy to get it feeling ok and just requires the extra effort to make it feel refined. Assetto is by no means impossible to set up so is still decent to start with if you are willing to put in a bit more effort.
No mention of Live For Speed? I am shock
That’s not a sim racing game it’s a arcade game
@@LGrocks You take that back!
@@BongoBaggins sorry man I can’t take it back if it’s true
LFS is very realistic, you must have mistaken it for NFS.
@@lopakker4362 ohhhh yea your right my bad
I think Jimmy's closing comments on iRacing are spot on; I've probably spent $400+ (maybe more considering the subscription fee) in iRacing since I started which was only about three years ago and I only do a couple of races a week on average, but I have an absolute blast. Easily the most fun online experience and to be honest probably the most fun gaming experience I've ever had. In my opinion no other sim gives you that nervous excitement when you're sitting on the grid and you're about to go racing; I imagine it's the same feeling you get in a real race car just probably magnified many times over. But, I would also say, when I first started sim racing I began with Assetto Corsa and DR2.0 and I was totally terrible at both of them, and it took a long time gradually getting better with those before I worked up the courage to get into iRacing and even then I probably did about a month of offline practice before I ventured into a 'real' race. I think if I'd started with iRacing straight away I would have quickly gotten frustrated and probably felt like I'd wasted my money, and that might have put me off simracing altogether.
woow with 30$ in ACC I have so much more fun than in iRacing, I regret my dollars spent in iRacing
@@kolysion164 Each to their own, I've never been able to get into ACC, I can definitely see why it's popular but it doesn't appeal to me personally so much.
Funny, I absolutely went from RBR to Dirt Rally 2.0 and I love them both
uh huh. enjoy your playstation
Assetto Corsa for drifting / Assetto Corsa Competizione for Racing with LFM / Richard Burns Rally for Rally and Horizon 4 for cruzing and 4 seasons
I think Gran Turismo 7 deserved a more of a shout. Easy to learn but hard to master, robust career and online modes, laser-scanned tracks, cars look and sound amazing, and the GT community is among the best in sim(cade) racing.
key word = sim racing
@@pascalrichard8337 to say GT7 is not a sim racer is very disingenuous
@@reecerox2 It's really not, sorry. (but it's a great game also is Forza !)
People always seem to put the word of sim cade without getting the concept of it… just because they believe isn’t up to the standard of their so call pc title, without even knowing the physics of a real racing car or the concept of an Arcade physics just because the belief of pc vs console ( popularity)
Rallying is why I got into sim racing. I have played Dirt Rally 1 for the last 10 years. Just finally started playing Dirt Rally 2.0 recently when I upgraded my setup.
I struggled to race online consistently for various problems with different sims, then I tried iRacing and I'm hooked up ever since. The user experience and online racing is just a level above the other sims if you really care for simracing as a hobby and have the money to spare.
For a new user the price will be around $550 for first two years and probably 250-300 for every two following which considering the price of setups including a computer is actually not atrocius.
I'm with you there. I try and race daily on iracing, I feel really do get money's worth. Plus I race formula one, so there isn't really much choice elsewhere. F1 = simcade. Rfactor and am2 have f1 cars but lack the online reliability and shear volume of racers that iracing has. If I was GT racer things might be different. Looking forward to Rennsport and what their formula offerings in the future might look like.
You can get something very similar for free with ACC (and RF2) though. Look up LFM. BUt agreed that kind of structure is very hard to beat.Beyond me not more of the serious sims haven't adapted it. If Ac2 isn't going that way i'll be very sad
@@XCougar85X My problem with ACC is much lower population in the official races. Raced there in 2020 for a couple of months and there were people I raced and had incidents with regularly. Also the connection and online structure as a whole is quite bad (lost my first official podium in 90 min race as 5 mins from the end every other car suddenly disappeared). Also I'm not a fan of official races changing daily. There are many leagues that work well but I'm European and usually race in the morning/afternoon which isn't a great timeslot for league racing.
I agree the return you get for your money is amazing.
Never raced online in rF2, once I've seen there is a 2hr video on how to get into an online session I refused to do that 😅
@@vojtechnovacek7776 If you race EU timezone, you should have no problem finding races at all. I race both on pub servers in the build in lobby but mostly using LFM wich is external. I think most people who used to drive the official races migrated to the LFM tool which is alot better and has 1 track for a week. Go check it out, it is a fantastic tool since the normal lobby and server system is quite crap indeed.
I think a lot of people don't realise unless you are absolutely mad, you won't be buying all the content. I only race Oval so I don't need all the tracks like Spa etc. I know people want to try lots of different series but if you know what you want out of it, iRacing isn't too costly.
Not always expensive.
I already had PS4, GT7 can be purchased on sale, G29 goes on a good sale and is good enough, already have desk....
Very basic, but works.
I would say that the free content in iRacing these days is actually pretty expansive, and there are a number of series that use purely the "free" content. So from a certain perspective, it's actually one of the cheaper options to get into and try, especially with the common free starter deals
And honestly, with the buy as needed model, that also feels very cheap. Before you know it, all you are spending is the monthly. I am sure the $1,500 is adding up every track and every car of all series. So, if you are running IMSA or open wheel...way way cheaper. There is also the discount that stacks. You get larger discounts with more content you own. I have a permanent 40% off due to how large my library is. I haven't had to buy anything in like a year with the BMW LMDh not being counted. Been running GTE and LMP2 for years.
@@supra1jzed agreed. I've concentrated on a formula career on iracing, so skip barber, vee, formula 2.5, f3, f1 so that's not that many cars. Yes I had to buy a fair few tracks but I own them now so running costs now are minimal. Plus I get $7 a season for race participation so I get the track they might decide to add for next season nearly for free. I guess iracing gets costly when you haven't got a set idea on what you want to race long term.
@@brettgrieves absolutely. My assessment is also trying to assume no real world experience. The real world with something as "cheap" as a Spec E-46... looking at roughly 2k a weekend for just HPDE stuff. Worse with races if you plan to run stickers for each race
Its not the getting into that cost its the pay as you go model, and you really dont own anything for that money. Spending 100 dollars once is much better than spending $1500 over time. I know people have to justify their expenses to themselves, because who would spend $1500 on something they can't say they enjoy as much as something for 100 dollars.
if you really want to drive simracing, you have to drive rf2, best tire model, best laser scan tracks etc
ACC last update is better than rF2, I have compared same car with same track (ferrari GT3 Brands Hatch), and ACC gives SO MUCH MORE FEEDBACK !
My favourites
1) ACC for realism, awesome sound and racing experience(SP/MP with LFM)
2) AMS2 for historic racing, variety of content cars/tracks, AI and graphics
3) iRacing for best MP experience (ranking system to match me with same slow drivers :))
4) AC for nostalgia, easy UI (CM), replay watching and photo making
0:13s yes sir that's my wheel
The bad part about jumping into Sim Racing in this current age is trying NOT to purchase them all for their own individual reasons. Perhaps if I could afford more than 1 sim I would probably fasted for a day and drink water to do buy more 😆. Good vid Jimmer
It's about time to do another one
As someone who has recently fallen into the financial melting pot that is iRacing it feels like it rewards the serious sim racers more than the common player. The experience for rookies (free content) is an absolute shitshow 90% of the time but once you get your D license it's like your third eye gets opened and you can finally have fun with the game. I have B licenses in both road and oval disciplines and it feels like the deeper I go the more fun it gets, and I can say the experiences I've had up to this point has made the cost worth it.
Man, rookies is something. Finally got out of it with oval and hoping it becomes more fun. Road racing is a blast though with the B license. I'm not too fast, but I'm clean and it's nice that iRacing rewards that
@@shaunreddy9571 meaning that you not that good of a racer, so even tho you finish last, you do it cleanly. Salute to you
@OS DegreeZ There are cheaper alternatives with better experiences. It is not just a money pit, it is a scam for real.
Raceroom Experience has big sales fairly often, where you can grab the whole library of content for about 40 euro.
After a couple of years with AC, ACC, and AMS2, I decided to try iracing properly and bought the discounted 1 year sub. I'm about three weeks in and loving it in the Radical SR10 and GT3. Whether or not I'll keep up with the track purchases remains to be seen. Like AMS2, iracing is awesome in VR.
I drove Grand Prix Legends from 1998 until almost 2008. The mod community and physics of the game were light years ahead of the rest of the field for a long time. Then switched to Race 07 because it had the Nordscheife. A game has to have this track in order for me to even consider it. I got out of sims for quite a while and then came back with Assetto Corsa about three or so years ago. Also because of the modding community that surrounded it. I have seen no need to try anything else when I am having a ball driving Nords in so many wonderful mods.
I had I racing for 3 months and I love it, but having subscription and pay content it is form of scum, If you pay monthly you should have access to all content.
I don't think iracing is that special it deserves a subscription let alone paying extra for content after that.
But there are enough people paying double for it, so if they get away with it they would be mad not to do it. Probably a few whales ( as usual) make it really profitable.
Just another confirmation that yep, I started with AC a year ago, tried a few of the others, and now spend my days in iRacing with small diversions to Dirt 2.0. Don't be scared of the iR cost. You can do a full season (3 months' subscription) of Global MX-5 or Formula Vee (free content) and you'll now know exactly where sim racing can take you. Keep track of your championship points and standing in the rookie division. As your rating increases, you'll race against better people and be awarded more points for beating them. For me and many others, nothing else replicates the sheer competitive joy of iRacing's system.
Assetto corsa hands down. the game itself is almost free and the modding community is insanely good
the FFB and physics are mmmeeeeeh, and there is far better for a pure driving feeling
I play lots of wrc generations and once you have decent controller settings you can be quite fast on there. I used to play dirt rally 2.0 when I had a ps4 and I used to love driving Colin McRaes title winning Subaru Impreza on the Scottish stages👌 I hope the new wrc game by codemasters lives up to expectations.
1st - rFactor 2
2nd - Assetto Corsa Competizione
3rd - Assetto Corsa
4th - AMS 2
5th - iRacing
I have tried all except iRacing and I can't recommend AMS2 enough. It's so good, and it keeps getting better with each update.
Still can't get over how good it looks/works in VR.
I finally started off ACC with a bang by joining a league without having ever played to game before.
Had some hours in AC, LFS and iRacing before, but none of them really clicked with me (iRacing seemed really fun but boi it's too expensive)
Now that i've had a clear goal to work towards rather than driving around slowly in random cars, i've really gotten into it. The hours just keep piling
Definitely recommended for anyone who wishes to race competitively for fairly cheap and doesn't mind just (mainly) GT3 cars
BeamNG is the future of racing sim. No other sim has body torsional bending.
it's good with gamepad ?
New to sims and here I am watching this. It's been invaluable. Got interested after an afternoon in a full motion vr ACC for a work do. I have rally adjacent experience in competition so I was terrible at it, but I had a great time.
The short answer: Assetto Corsa PC
I am from India and here people don't actually prefer spending money on "video games" but when you see the price of assetto corsa here it's just a steal for what It offers. Literally endless possibilities for you to enjoy sim racing. On sale it goes for about ₹105 which converted into American dollar is less than even 2 bucks. I love assetto corsa!
The worst thing is Simulators lack in single player content.
When I say F1 has the best single player content, you know we are in the darkest timeline.
In terms of wheel use my top 3 are:
3: ACC
2: F1 2020
1: Euro Truck Simulator
I wish you would have mentioned NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Dedicated modding community with decent force feedback.
Was just about to mention NR03, free also!
I’m a rally enthusiastic and rally till I die , so i will always choose Assetto corsa , dirt rally 1 and 2 , Richard burns rally and wrc. But we still need more for rallying imo. It’s fairly cheap for these games and the mods and dlc aren’t too bad for rally games but we still need more
While the series itself has gone fairly down hill since then, the very original grid, from 2008, had the best career progression out of any race game I have played since then. The creation of your own team, picking your co-driver, hunting for used cars on ebay to help save some money to get into the higher classes, the fact that significant wrecks had an actual impact on the cars for races to come, it was all so amazingly well done.
I came back to racing games with Project Cars 2 with all DLC's for under 10 euros, quite an amazing deal with tons of cars and tracks and a decent driving experience for a casual player.
RF2 with LFM is next level. AC is my next bet due to the road cars and no-hesi servers.
8:50 there are also free access periods
Love this! Thank you so much!! Could you make one of these for VR??
They all have their strengths and weaknesses, it all comes down to what you find most appealing to your gaming style and what you want out of a sim
Automobilista 2 is by far the best experience when it comes to immersion, graphics and ffb. Reize put so much love into the game the past year and I hope they are continuing.
I bought a wheel and pedals just to try it on GT7, and have ended up spending way more time on Dirt Rally 2.0. That game is such a blast on a wheel.
I agree I’ve put in 906 hr on that game & got better at driving manual, I’ve nvr driven manual before & when I drove my brother bmw f80 I was driving like I’ve been driving stick all my life it was easy for me now I want a manual car 😂
Assetto Corsa , Really its the best if you are on a budget and need a cheap best option
Assetto Corsa is the game for the poor, the majority ! Me and the rich with 4090 13900K we play ACC rF2 or AMS2 at ultra triple 1440p
TOCA was the ish!!! Loved that game and wish they'd put it in console
I think you definitely hit the nail on the head with iRacing. If you’re going to use it a lot and get your moneys worth it works out ok. When I tried I was only managing one race a week (due to work) it wasn’t working out for me so I stoped, otherwise I’d be just throwing money at the thing. Modern sim racing games are odd in one way. I’m old enough to remember GTR2 and other games, before server/multiplayer races. The AI (compared to modern titles) was just insanely good. You also had proper race weekend and career modes. You could save during a race weekend! Lol. Sometimes you miss the simple additions that these titles had 😂
My guess is the older AI did not really follow physics, which made it easier to get working. If the AI is actually follow the sim rules, having good AI requires the makers to mostly figure out autonomous driving, so that ain't happening. And with online being so prevalent they probably make the decision that spending the time on good AI isn't worth it.
@@someonespotatohmm9513 There may be some simplification involved as well, but in general a lot of the complexity of autonomous driving goes away when you have a perfect map of the environment at all times. I think it's indeed mostly a case of devs relying on online play rather than spending time really fine tuning the AI, much like they don't want to build deep career modes.
@@someonespotatohmm9513 That's true, but Iracing updates their AI a lot and there simply is no other sim which this good AI. Yesterday did a 30 minute race at Sonoma and I was battling with the same car for almost the whole race. Absolutely incredible.
@@ozzyp97 A lot of them, except having to deal with unpredictable humans. Which is usually what the AI fails at.
Best for me is RF2 has been for yrs, yes its complicated to set up, but leaves other sims way behind in most areas.
AMS2 is getting a career mode eventually. At the end of this year is what they are aiming for, they said.
I'm not convinced it'll be in by the end of the year (certainly not in a finished state). They're doing a great job developing the game though - they've recently added oval racing and a rallycross DLC is planned for this year.
@@PeteBaldwin Yeah I think it'll be more of a early 2024 release. But updates have been great so far.
the great thing about sim racing though, is that a more expensive setup doesn't equal 'more fun'.. it might make you more consistent. but you can still have all the fun you would want by making some cuts on wheel, screen and rig, or look at the second hand market.. decent pedals is nice to have.
rf2 is so far still the only sim that combines great physics with a substantial modding community. assetto corsa has mods but outdated physics. if acc had mods it'd be on top, but it's only gt3 cars & tracks. love dirt2.0 - great with VR
there are like 10 classes in ACC...GT3, GT4, BMW m2 CS, 992 cup car, Ferrari challenge......omg I Stop I'm tired.
Not sure why so many ppl are recommending Assetto Corsa
This game has no elements of racing at all
-The AI sucks
-Doesnt have rolling start
-The damage model sucks
-No mechincal failures
-No stage racing
-No safety car and therefore no features such as lucky dog and green-white-checker
A hillclimb simulator at best imo
One thing that's worth mentioning that doesn't get highlighted in these videos often: iRacing does at least have relatively decent introductory deals (3 months for $5 or similar) which should be plenty of time for people to figure out if it's the right choice for them.