Sim racing

Also the game runs, for me, a LOT better than '22, which I was getting through EA whatever.

Was WRC Generations any good?

I’m not really a rally fan per se, but found.. what was it 9? 10? A little boring because it had maybe two cars in it. A Toyota Yaris and a Hyundai something. I just wanted to drive around in the classic cars I remember from Sega Rally. Generations had those, right?

If EA have ballsed up the spiritual successor to Dirt Rally 2.0 I’ll….I dunno, probably play something else. But I’ll be cross.

I wanted to like the one that came out the same time as the Series X/PS5 but something about the handling felt off. After a while I found myself just loading up Dirt Rally instead

I am still plugging away with iRacing, but I wholeheartedly agree with the way iRacing is diluting the player base. More and more content means less and less participation, especially for the lower powered open wheels I prefer, apart from the destruction derby that is F4, and fuck that series.

I agree, GT cars can do one as well

A load of new previews went up for this over the last few days and it looks pretty good. YouTubers seems to be really impressed with it. Fingers crossed. Hopefully it plays well with the pad.

As for sim racing. My play seat and wheel have been both packed away for a few months. Just a pain in the arse to have around. Despite being able to fold up the play seat it still quite a big thing to have lying around. Can’t complain I got a lot of use out of it for a good while with GT sport and GT7. Think I put in 130 hours into the latter alone with it. So got my monies worth. The GT games play so well with a pad it’s easier just to sit there and use that instead.

Mind sharing a photo of what you mean?

My iracing has been off for a year nearly, wasn't using it enough so let the sub lapse last black friday. Tempted to get it back on and just do skippies and not care about rank etc.

Since Forza MS is fucked, I bought and downloaded ACC last night. Fuck me it's brutal. I was also going to get iracing because the internet seems super split on which is better, but I'm really confused by its business model. There's a subscription but doesn't seem to be a purchase price?

www.iracing.com/blackfriday/


With the sorry state of Forza and WRC I am tempted even more to put this back on for a year.

The most wife friendly ones are those that can stow away and fold up like below, bit of a custom deck chair

www.logitechg.com/en-gb/products/gaming-furniture/playseat-challenge-x-sim-racing-seat.challenge-x-g-edition.html

I used an earlier model for a while when I was starting out and it was fine when using a belt driven wheel at the time, though the 8Nm is not too dissimilar.

Quick scan on Amazon, and this looks like good value, can't speak towards the general sturdiness though, but if everything is included in that picture its good value

www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Racing-Cockpit-Thrustmaster-Playstation/dp/B09SHNHHMG/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=racing+simulator+cockpit&qid=1701352051&sr=8-4

I wouldn't commit too much cash to it cause you never know if it is one of those hideous things that gather dust in the corner of a room that the wife is always judging you on, at least with the first one you can hide your shame 

I upgraded a few bits of my rig recently, all mounted on my Playseat Challenge which folds up behind my sofa nicely.

I got some T-LCMs a while ago but put the rig away almost straight after for 18 months. They reviewed well and are a solid pair of load cell pedals, but even using both red (strongest) springs I found they weren’t what I was expecting. There was still loads of travel in the pedals so they felt a bit like potentiometers with more resistance rather than true load cell. I bought a £10 mod on eBay this month to replace the bottom spring with a elastomer. It’s massively improved them, it feels like what I was expecting now, very little brake travel and it’s all about the force I use. Would recommend doing this for such a cheap price, worth trying at that price!

I also just upgraded from a basic T150 I’ve been using for 8 years to a Thrustmaster T-GT 2, which is a top of the line belt-driven base. I only play on PS5, and mostly GT 7 but would like to get into ACC. People are pretty snotty about this as for the same price you can get the entry level direct drive wheels. But, if you’re already into the Thrustmaster ecosystem it is actually a lot more money to swap, nearly double the price. There is also a bunch of reviews saying the two wheels (Fanatec DD) are pretty similar actually and the T-GT 2 is under rated and a solid premium wheel option, so went with it.

I’m pretty disappointed with it on the whole. Though I think this is generally just what a mid-level wheel can do rather than due to it being a TGT. Coming from a T150 I was expecting a huge upgrade, but while there is more force I’m not getting a massive amount more feel and info through the wheel. I’ve spent hours looking at settings & upgrading firmware etc so think it’s all set up right. It is a bit more engaging, and on ACC you do get more info than GT7, but it’s not the game changing experience a bunch of reviews suggested. Given my old wheel was 8 years old and this is definitely better I’m keeping it, but surprised it wasn’t more of a jump.

Having said all that, I am getting gold times in time trials on GT 7 with more ease and it feels a lot more engaging with the combination of good load cell and more force. And all the extra buttons are great, I don’t think ACC is playable on PS5 without having a lot more buttons All works perfectly fine in my Playseat Challenge as well.

Here they are, £15 actually, well worth it.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353811776221?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=QxKQlOpSSJi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=CS9ySPvjSHu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Been really enjoying racing in VR to the extent that my triple screens have been dismantled and are going on eBay.

I don't have the free time to justify iracing fees unfortunately so AMS2 has been the sim of choice but I have been missing the multiplayer element.

Just tried www.racecraft.online which adds an iRacing-esque multiplayer platform for free.

Obviously it's not as popular as iRacing but they fill the grids with AI. My first race was with a couple of randoms at Cadwell Park in the formula fords. All worked pretty smoothly and two of us were closely matched and had a race long clean battle. It was great!

Needs more people so spreading the word.