iRacing... help... must... resist!

Ok, so this invitation lands in my inbox. Now I've already said I dislike
the pricing model of iRacing intensely, and that I really object to
having to drive vehicles I have zero interest in, then pay -- when I'm
allowed -- to add decent vehicles & tracks.

So can someone explain to me why I've spent the last hour reading about
iRacing and watching youtube clips? Would it hurt to spend $20 and put a
toe in the water? Ok it'd be to drive a vehicle that looks & drives like
a tank, around tracks I've never driven before. And chances are I'd never
even go online with it... just do some offline circuits -- GPL demo style
-- to see what all the fuss is about.

My head says don't be stupid... you know you'll never enjoy paying out
regularly for a racing game when you already have 101 other distractions
in life. You'll never get your money's worth... and you were always a
lousy driver anyway. The best that can happen is that you get addicted
and spend the next few months watching your penalty points clock up,
dooming you to drive in an eternal limbo of newbie races while others
zoom up the rankings and witter on about how they were once in a race
with someone who got out of the way for a Real Race Driver(TM).
It's just not a product aimed at enthusiastic, but fundamentally
untalented racers like you! Stick to rFactor when you need a racing fix,
or LFS when you want to contribute to never-ending product development,
or GTR2 when you want to listen to amazing engine noises.

But my heart whispers 'GPL2', and it's very hypnotic. I think I'd better
delete that invite quickly!

Andrew McP... methinks he doth protest too much

(Andrew MacPherson) wrote in
ddress_disguised:

> My head says don't be stupid... you know you'll never enjoy paying out
> regularly for a racing game when you already have 101 other distractions
> in life.

You are absolutely correct so just use some self control and say no. I
won't even pay a monthyly fee for a game like WoW for the same reasojns you
state. If I was going to pay a monthyly fee for a game I think I would
rather fork out the dough for something like WoW rather than a racing sim.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:34 +0100 (BST), Andrew MacPherson wrote:

> But my heart whispers 'GPL2', and it's very hypnotic. I think I'd better
> delete that invite quickly!
>
> Andrew McP... methinks he doth protest too much

Hi Andy,

for now resist the urge to shell out money as iR just ain't GPL
(yet). I'm not saying it won't be in the not too distant future, but I
regretted shelling out 60 Euros for a six month subscription after
experiencing boredom and frustration again... in a skippy
race. Initially, I really liked the feel of these cars, but being
penalized when trying to catch up with somebody in a race for putting
a wheel a pubic hair's width over the kerbs, or being punted off the
track without any fault of your own (it still happens in skippy races,
though not as often as in the milk truck league) eventually led to the
"same old, same old" feeling I experienced too often for my tastes
during two years of beta testing.

Fascinating new stuff is at the horizon with iracing, but for now, I
can only recommend you try it for a month so your eventual loss won't
be too big.

One thing that only struck me later is that I won't be able to "sell"
iR if I find I don't like it. I'm entitled to race until xmas, but its
resale value is zero.

All the best, Uwe

--

Well I've gotta say....

I just watched a dozen videos on youtube of iRacing and to be honest
it looks pretty much exactly the same as rFactor to me except for 4 (four)
things that I noticed;

1) Realistic head movement / look to apex functionality (seems to be
missing?)
2) Tons of free mods - not available
3) Unlimited free online and offline racing - $$
4) Ability to race ANY car you want to race ANYTIME you want to race it

I just don't "get" what the fuss is about??
So I MUST be missing something.

And maybe
5) as Uwe mentioned if you ever decided you wanted to sell - the value =
ZERO

0-0-0-0-0




"Uwe Schürkamp" > wrote in message
e...
> On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:34 +0100 (BST), Andrew MacPherson wrote:
>
>> But my heart whispers 'GPL2', and it's very hypnotic. I think I'd better
>> delete that invite quickly!
>>
>> Andrew McP... methinks he doth protest too much
>
> Hi Andy,
>
> for now resist the urge to shell out money as iR just ain't GPL
> (yet). I'm not saying it won't be in the not too distant future, but I
> regretted shelling out 60 Euros for a six month subscription after
> experiencing boredom and frustration again... in a skippy
> race. Initially, I really liked the feel of these cars, but being
> penalized when trying to catch up with somebody in a race for putting
> a wheel a pubic hair's width over the kerbs, or being punted off the
> track without any fault of your own (it still happens in skippy races,
> though not as often as in the milk truck league) eventually led to the
> "same old, same old" feeling I experienced too often for my tastes
> during two years of beta testing.
>
> Fascinating new stuff is at the horizon with iracing, but for now, I
> can only recommend you try it for a month so your eventual loss won't
> be too big.
>
> One thing that only struck me later is that I won't be able to "sell"
> iR if I find I don't like it. I'm entitled to race until xmas, but its
> resale value is zero.
>
> All the best, Uwe
>
> --

"Jim Moore" > wrote in message
news:4Djdk.89088$gc5.88878@pd7urf2no...
> (Andrew MacPherson) wrote in
> ddress_disguised:
>
>> My head says don't be stupid... you know you'll never enjoy paying out
>> regularly for a racing game when you already have 101 other distractions
>> in life.
>
> You are absolutely correct so just use some self control and say no. I
> won't even pay a monthyly fee for a game like WoW for the same reasojns
> you
> state. If I was going to pay a monthyly fee for a game I think I would
> rather fork out the dough for something like WoW rather than a racing sim.

What the **** are you going in here then?

(Uwe Schürkamp) wrote:

> for now resist the urge to shell out money

Uwe, over the years I've generally found myself on the same wavelength as
you over many different matters, so your thoughts are very welcome...
especially when they tell me to do what my head's already telling me. :-)

> One thing that only struck me later is that I won't be able to
> "sell" iR if I find I don't like it.

Normally that doesn't worry me. I rarely re-sell games or books because
to do that dilutes the author's income, and I like to see creative people
rewarded well for their efforts.

The same goes for iRacing. A huge part of me *really* wants it to take
off and succeed, even if I personally can't (or won't!) justify the
overall and ongoing cost. But you could spend quite a lot of money buying
every bolt-on for the sim, and then find you haven't got the time to
commit to it for one reason or another.

I can absolutely understand the subscription for serious online racing,
but I really think they need to separate that from the cars & tracks
somehow. Sell me all the stuff to race offline (or on non-iRacing,
GPL-style servers) for $100-$150, with an ongoing $5 a month for access
to updates and I might be tempted. But...

But I'm in danger of going over old ground. This has been talked to death,
and I'm not adding anything useful to it! :-)

I still want to try iRacing, but I really do have to be sensible. The
basic package doesn't get me anything I want to drive, I'm not as
committed to sim racing as I was ten years ago, and this product is not
suited to someone like myself who maximises a relatively low monthly wage
by being very careful what he spends on a routine basis. I'm *great* at
saving for things I really want or need, but not very good at committing
to things which steadily syphon money from my account... especially when
it's something which I might not have time to get value out of every
month.

Having said all that about being careful with money, I just invested
£6.19 on a second hand copy of Ishmael at Amazon. You* recommended it to
me a looooong time ago, and talking to you has reminded me -- yet again!
-- that it's still on my 'must read' list.

Ok, time to shut up. ;-) Thanks again for the advice.

Andrew McP

*I'm sure it was you, apologies if my memory's playing tricks.

(0-0-0-0-0) wrote:

> I just watched a dozen videos on youtube of iRacing and
> to be honest it looks pretty much exactly the same as
> rFactor to me

I watched a couple of Solstice races (I think) which really got my juices
running. My main problem with most of them though is that I burst out
laughing whenever I see that Legends car. I guess it must mean something
historically to those in the USA, but I can't imagine how anyone ever
thought that was a good shape for a racing car! I'd feel embarrassed
sitting inside one, even online in front of complete strangers. :-)

To be completely fair though, the Solstice looks more entertaining and
almost like a proper racing car... even if it weighs almost as much as
the average moon. I might enjoy driving that for a while even though it's
the open-wheelers I'd want to get my hands on ASAP.

Andrew McP

"Andrew MacPherson" > wrote in message
ddress_disguised...
> Ok, so this invitation lands in my inbox. Now I've already said I dislike
> the pricing model of iRacing intensely, and that I really object to
> having to drive vehicles I have zero interest in, then pay -- when I'm
> allowed -- to add decent vehicles & tracks.
>
> So can someone explain to me why I've spent the last hour reading about
> iRacing and watching youtube clips? Would it hurt to spend $20 and put a
> toe in the water? Ok it'd be to drive a vehicle that looks & drives like
> a tank, around tracks I've never driven before. And chances are I'd never
> even go online with it... just do some offline circuits -- GPL demo style
> -- to see what all the fuss is about.
>
> My head says don't be stupid... you know you'll never enjoy paying out
> regularly for a racing game when you already have 101 other distractions
> in life. You'll never get your money's worth... and you were always a
> lousy driver anyway. The best that can happen is that you get addicted
> and spend the next few months watching your penalty points clock up,
> dooming you to drive in an eternal limbo of newbie races while others
> zoom up the rankings and witter on about how they were once in a race
> with someone who got out of the way for a Real Race Driver(TM).
> It's just not a product aimed at enthusiastic, but fundamentally
> untalented racers like you! Stick to rFactor when you need a racing fix,
> or LFS when you want to contribute to never-ending product development,
> or GTR2 when you want to listen to amazing engine noises.
>
> But my heart whispers 'GPL2', and it's very hypnotic. I think I'd better
> delete that invite quickly!
>
> Andrew McP... methinks he doth protest too much

I tried it for a month. But come renew time I don't think I'm going to
continue with it. I don't like the cost and everything is too "high-brow"
for me. There's too much of things like, "I got touched by another guy now
my rating is going to suffer!" And things are a bit too structured for my
tastes. If I'm going to spend so much a month, why is it that I can't get
some of my buds together, get on a server, and race without ratings and all
the rest of the stuff they have?

I'm paying a monthly fee but I'm being led about as if I were a dog on a
leash.

Boo-hoo.

I'll take rFactor, LFS, GTR2, etc., and race without having to pay a fee,
and leave all the elitists to do their own thing.

Alan

"David Fisher's Left Testicle" <dfg.myass@aol> wrote in message
...
>
> "Jim Moore" > wrote in message
> news:4Djdk.89088$gc5.88878@pd7urf2no...
>> (Andrew MacPherson) wrote in
>> ddress_disguised:
>>
>>> My head says don't be stupid... you know you'll never enjoy paying out
>>> regularly for a racing game when you already have 101 other distractions
>>> in life.
>>
>> You are absolutely correct so just use some self control and say no. I
>> won't even pay a monthyly fee for a game like WoW for the same reasojns
>> you
>> state. If I was going to pay a monthyly fee for a game I think I would
>> rather fork out the dough for something like WoW rather than a racing
>> sim.
>
> What the **** are you going in here then?

Okay-- are you going to start making some sense soon?


Alan

0-0-0-0-0 wrote:
> Well I've gotta say....
>
> I just watched a dozen videos on youtube of iRacing and to be honest
> it looks pretty much exactly the same as rFactor to me except for 4 (four)
> things that I noticed;
>
> 1) Realistic head movement / look to apex functionality (seems to be
> missing?)
> 2) Tons of free mods - not available
> 3) Unlimited free online and offline racing - $$
> 4) Ability to race ANY car you want to race ANYTIME you want to race it
>
> I just don't "get" what the fuss is about??
> So I MUST be missing something.

But... but... but you don't have to install lots of mods and patches and
****... it's so... easy... SCNR

l8er
ronny

>
> And maybe
> 5) as Uwe mentioned if you ever decided you wanted to sell - the value =
> ZERO
>
> 0-0-0-0-0
>
>
>
>
> "Uwe Schürkamp" > wrote in message
> e...
>> On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:34 +0100 (BST), Andrew MacPherson wrote:
>>
>>> But my heart whispers 'GPL2', and it's very hypnotic. I think I'd better
>>> delete that invite quickly!
>>>
>>> Andrew McP... methinks he doth protest too much
>> Hi Andy,
>>
>> for now resist the urge to shell out money as iR just ain't GPL
>> (yet). I'm not saying it won't be in the not too distant future, but I
>> regretted shelling out 60 Euros for a six month subscription after
>> experiencing boredom and frustration again... in a skippy
>> race. Initially, I really liked the feel of these cars, but being
>> penalized when trying to catch up with somebody in a race for putting
>> a wheel a pubic hair's width over the kerbs, or being punted off the
>> track without any fault of your own (it still happens in skippy races,
>> though not as often as in the milk truck league) eventually led to the
>> "same old, same old" feeling I experienced too often for my tastes
>> during two years of beta testing.
>>
>> Fascinating new stuff is at the horizon with iracing, but for now, I
>> can only recommend you try it for a month so your eventual loss won't
>> be too big.
>>
>> One thing that only struck me later is that I won't be able to "sell"
>> iR if I find I don't like it. I'm entitled to race until xmas, but its
>> resale value is zero.
>>
>> All the best, Uwe
>>
>> --
>
>