"jeffareid" > wrote in message
...
> My guess is about 3 years, although it could go longer if the
> money guys are willing to keep plowing money into the program.
>
> Once the newness wears off, some players will lose interest, just
> as with any game or activity. I think it will be sometime late
> this year or early next year before a trend is truly recognizable.
>
> For some older, long time racing players, iRacing may turn out
> to be the last "fling" with spending a lot of time online.
>
> If iRacing were to cease being a subscription service and converted
> into a purchaseable game, what would players be willing to pay for
> it?
>
> The only previous subscription racing game I can recall was EA's
> Motor City Online, which lasted almost 3 years (October 2001 to
> August 2004). It was never released as an offline game.
>
> Another failed subscription game was URU Live, part of the Myst
> series. The online content of the time and some stuff in the
> works was eventually released as two games.
>
>

Subscription has nothing to do with it. There is a constamt influx of
youth into the world and also older people who consider sim racing for the
first time later in their life. When either group check out what's
available, they will simply migrate to the best sim that offers what they're
looking for.

It's just that simple.

What so many of you are failing to understand also, is that iRacing is
not just a sim - it's a service that offers MUCH more than any sim in a box
ever will. It has been my view for donkeys years that what iRacing is doing
right now is what sim racing has always needed - organised and officially
sactioned sim racing as a sport. They have taken it a step further by making
it a proper training tool for real life racers.