iRacing is a RIP-OFF?!

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Video contents:
00:00 - What's the hype?
00:33 - So, I tried it
01:08 - Competitive multiplayer and how it works
02:48 - Netcode & Servers
03:47 - Blinking
04:57 - AI racing
05:24 - Practice & helpful tools
06:25 - Other good things
08:26 - Dated visuals
09:27 - Performance
10:24 - Physics & Force Feedback
12:41 - Some other issues
15:18 - The pricing model
18:59 - The good, the bad and the costly
21:36 - How I think it could be better
23:28 - Do I recommend it, and will I keep playing?
26:28 - Bald, miserable, but entertained!

Music used:

Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

[GamerMuscleVideos]

"I RACING IS THE MOST ADVANCED RACING SIMULATOR IN THE WORLD ... ITS ALSO THE MOST REALISTIC"

[bean]

All roads lead to iRacing until the road runs out and your wallet is in a deep hole.

[Haulinbassracing]

I lile iracing at 1-4am mountain time in north america with the aussies for the hillarious shit talking

[dinkidink]

I've been on iRacing since 2008, I would never argue that it's cheap but the price is honestly a non issue for me, every few years I pay a couple hundred bucks on black friday for a 2yr membership and then buy the occasional car or track. It's true that I've built up a fair bit of content over time and that is why I only need the occasional content purchase. However the amount I've spent on hardware over the years would dwarf the software cost.
I'm not trying to convince anyone but honestly the cost is not something I think about. If you're in it long term it really doesn't cost that much but if you're just testing the waters then be very selective on what you buy, ask on the forum and you'll get lots of advice on how to make the most of your money.

Anyway your video was pretty fair imo.

[I_Like__bananas]

Been on iRacing for a few years and it feels more like a hobby than just a game I hop into.
Except maybe LFM the chances of finding a race with people of the same skill level is so hard in other sims. You get close fights every race with people on your level.
Endurance racing with a mate or with a team is so fun and exciting.
Yeah it's expensive, but everything is laser scanned by themselfes and so much work goes into it.
The servers are rock solid, never had an issue with them even on 24h races.
My rig wouldnt have been worth it if it wasnt for iRacing

[UncleNewy]

The worst part about iRacing is that you can't access ANY of the content you have paid for, unless you pay the subscription.
I get it that the servers cost money and the online race options are second to none, but simply restrict access to the servers without the whole content.

[SLENDAMANN]

Ah, a story as old as time; someone who thought AI racing was pretty good tries out iRacing, and now all the other circuit racing sims are permanently ruined.

On a more serious note; iRacing is probably everything I wanted from a racing game when I was a kid. It'll be interesting to see what happens in this space when a competitor eventually catches up and can math iRacing in scope and service value (I thought Rennsport was gonna do that, but they dropped the ball soooo hard. ACC and Le Mans Ultimate are good at very specific things but their scope is tiny. AMS2 could've been a hit but who knows whether LFM in AMS2 will be a hit or not - it's many years too late I think)

[VanSimRacing]

about the watermark, it's in the TOS that if you are streaming or using iracing content, the watermark is to be displayed to keep from copyright, it's in the TOS to keep us from copyright strikes and gives us rights to use our races in streams productions and broadcasts of races

[egj]

Really nice work, good commentary, love the Mr. Bean in the mirror and very informative video. Hope this covers a decent pizza

[jenscee]

As a member of the 40 club (if you know you know) it can be expensive. However, engaging your brain a little can make it not ridiculously expensive (though even the biggest fan would agree it’s not cheap). Buy subs in their Black Friday deals and the sub is only £6 a month, or less if you sub two years. Be selective in what you buy and get participation money each season. It’s quite easy to get $40 a year towards your Black Friday sub. I’d say never buy new cars or tracks until you see how many splits etc there are longer term. There is also a list of tracks used most to save a lot of money. Let’s face it, if you’ve spent thousands on rigs, wheels and pedals, this is a drop in the ocean. Other good sims are available so it’s not mandatory, but the online is simply great. Join a team, do the huge 12 hour and 24 races and it’s the best.

[Injektil_o]

I think the concern over iracing being a rip off would be alleviated immensely if: 1. They allow trials of unowned cars/tracks in test drive mode at any point in time. 2. If you lapse your subscription after a 12-month non-consecutive subscription, you can always use owned cars/tracks in AI races or test drive mode.

The issue at the end of the day is that maintaining servers is expensive and they do have a stewarding review process (whatever you might think of its quality), so a subscription model is the only one that is commercially viable.

[lebroncarter]

Yeah I don't really care how good a game is I would never pay a monthly subscription to have to play a game on top of that having to still buy in game content even though I'm paying a monthly subscription the greed of this is absolutely absurd

On top of that forcing internet connection I do understand that the main focus is multiplayer but you can still play against ai I'll just play everything else but if iRacing ever stopped forcing monthly fees and forcing internet connections I would 100% get it but I know for a fact is never going to happen

Btw this is a nice video very thorough and well paced not saying anything negative about your perspective i was purely talking about the game

[Erowens]

As a broke college student, formerly broke high-school student. The price has always been the barrier of I-racing for me. Especially given that its a double dipping model (sub and purchase) so the cost is never ending

AC and ACC lfm still gives me decent racing and arguably better physics, and because it costs so much less, and ive been able to save enough money for some half decent equipment with the money i didnt spend on i-racing.

[DLP_Racing_]

I used to think iracing was dumb but when I started working on my driving technique and got a better grip on real life racing by competing in autocross events and spirted driving. I used to never truly push my car until I got used to pushing cars on the limit and a little over the limit. If I never took iracing seriously I truly believe I wouldn’t be as good of a driver

[brownalman]

As a german it makes me furious to not being able to drive my paid content offline without a subscribtion! Currently I'm on the one year for 10$ + F4 car deal but im hesitating to invest real money into tracks & cars because I won't be able to use them without an active subscribtion, which can't be paused because of money. This and the utterly outdated Tracks (Hello Nordschleife), Graphics, Hud and the FFB are a real bummer in the Iracing universe, at least for me. Ah and the reporting system in LFM is waaaay better then Iracings: "yeah, we will tell him to stop crashing into people", they reply in an email, but they won't do shit about it, because of money they might lose.. people are as reckless as in every other sim. In LFM you can get banned for days, weeks, months if you repeat the offense. I like the ingame voice chat very much though. Super funny to hear some foreign insults being thrown around. Great video!

[drdaman]

4:46 Cars launching into the moon is ridiculous, but so is the face in the mirror.
Great video. I don't have the time or the money for iracing, so i'll stick to dirt rally and watching your videos.

[RicHSAD]

I'd have no problems with iRacing if the quality of the product matched the price. The game looks dated, sounds dated and it has been shown many times now how some aspects of its car physics are flawed and unrealistic. Frankly, it is shameful that the game has fallen behind in terms of realism and overall quality, especially considering it is both the most popular and most expensive racing sim. They need to get their shit together.

[Landonracing]

their expensive model is the only reason dirt oval racing is available at all on pc. Our community is way smaller, so this model is basically the only way dirt racing would get a game at all. But the road side def gets crazy expensive, especially when acc and le mans ultimate have pretty compelling physics as well.

[omgitsbees]

iRacing is a sim I am always wanting to come back to, but I just never am wanting to play against others. I just like practice, so what I ended up doing was downloading most of the tracks from iRacing that have been ported to Assetto Corsa. I also play Automobilista 2. What I would like is for all of those cars and tracks I purchased, to be available offline without a sub, and I am just locked out of the community features and multiplayer.

[DerGeraet]

About 21:05, the people who unironically defend the payment model by saying it keeps the dickheads away, are themselves the proof that it doesn't keept all the dickheads away, only the poor ones. But really enjoyed listening to your opinions and reflections, great video!