Popularity of iRacing vs GT5&Forza

[WedgeX]

anyone know the numbers?

seems like iRacing is growing but participation is just about always questionable in practices and day to day in just about every series

now i don't' want to give new players the impression you'll have trouble finding races... Its actually pretty good - I'm driving the mustang gt series which is NOT a very popular race series for instance and it often looks like nobody will come race, but a few mins before launch people come out of the woodwork last minute and I've been able to do just about every race I've desired so far this season... but at the same time, its often very lonely in Practices even in the more popular series... I know most people are too lazy to practice so its only a percentage of iRacers who even bother...but in GT5 tons of people play all the time and they are doing alot more than just racing.

but with only a few thousand people online at any time... 35 thousand members joined (supposedly) how does that compair to the millions of retail sales of GT5 and forza


I just think the problem with iRacing is the lack of players.. partly due to the PC just being very very far at the back of the pack as far as gaming platforms go and marketing .. there is no hype in the gaming community when a iRacing update comes out ... the thing isn't even sold on Steam yet... its almost invisible to average gamers and not even on the radar of most race game players... yet GT5/Forza are known by people who don't even like racing games.

what does everyone else think about this... am I the only one who is sad by the disparity in numbers between GT5 and iRacing... iRacing being what it is and GT5 being what its always been?... I mean, I'm not here to explain the shortcomings of GT5 as format for racing, there are plenty of GTPlanet people doing that since it came out - I just don't see all or any of those people complaining coming in droves to iRacing.

 

[Wilbur]

Your comparing apples to oranges and it will never be on steam. It wasn't built for that nor will they allow it.

Do I ever see numbers being close to GT5 or Forza, nope because those are causal games that are mass market for a huge market. Iracing could put more out there for themselves but you also have enough bad people there which just think how many bad apples will be if there were say 100,000 players or more.

 

[Eric.]

Compare the number of clean races per day between the two games.

 

[Mahnegold]

I never play GT5 online, but I had a lot of "dirty" races in iRacing so far. Maybe you have some figures on hand?

My only GT5 online experience was WRS here at GTP and that was clean and awesome. But I only did it once.

 

[WRP001]

I never play GT5 online, but I had a lot of "dirty" races in iRacing so far. Maybe you have some figures on hand?

My only GT5 online experience was WRS here at GTP and that was clean and awesome. But I only did it once.

You should come race with us (WRS Online) again!!! If your experience was clean and awesome come back for more.

 

[spinner]

Maybe the lack of numbers is a reflection on the general sim racing community. IMO , iracing is for serious sim racers. The cost of a subscription , cars and tracks and the hardware required PC , wheel , rig etc) narrows down the market for starters.

Those that want a casual race probably aren't going to invest that much money when they can just buy a console and game and go for it. They guys that just want to paint their wheels pink and go drifting are well catered for IMO.

At the risk of sounding elitist , I kinda like the result that has on iracing. More participation would be great of course but at least the active members are there because they really want to be. Its not just a case of jump in a random race , crash people out as there are no repurcussions and then quit because you screwed your own race as well and trot off to find another lobby. Iracers are there for serious racing .....and so am I. I don't want to be on track with the "pink wheel drifters / quit as soon as im coming last guys".

As far as practice goes , I only join a public session if I want to check others laptimes or run with others around the track. Any general setup and test time I do alone.

PS: I'm done with GT , I was involved with a great bunch of guys in weekly races but what drove the final nail in the coffin was the ridiculous amount of connection issues. In the end the game wouldn't even boot up in a one month old console. Starting up GT5 had become a disappointing and frustrating experience every time. And since joining iracing I don't think I could go back to a "lesser" sim. I love the detail and accuracy of iR , it may have ruined anything else forever ! haha.

 

[Mahnegold]

You should come race with us (WRS Online) again!!! If your experience was clean and awesome come back for more.

You are absolutely right :-)

It's a matter of time. Right now I am a bit more into iRacing and tired of GT5, so priority between both sims changes every now and then.

 

[BRP17]

I have not even turned on my PS3 since I started IRacing.
Only thing I like better about GT5 is the choice of cars and tracks.
IRacing turns you into a much better driver.

 

[Hydro]

You should come race with us (WRS Online) again!!! If your experience was clean and awesome come back for more.

And you should come race with us 👍
You don't know what you're missing.

 

[Nastradamus87]

I agree that comparing the total number of online racers for with iRacings is meaningless. The only number I care about is the amount of WELL PRACTICED players. In gt5 the only place you find this is in organized legues, and one out of one hundred pickup races. Even in gtplanets organized legues at their peak it was extremely rare to get ten or more people who were at the top of their game for a given race. As for practice, I recall only a handful of well attended ones even in the most popular legues.

iRacing on the other hand has been a godsend for me. Pretty much ever Saturday at peak time (11:00 - 1:00 MST) has at least five splits with the top split being full of lightning fast, clean drivers, leaving me no chance for a podium never mind a win. This is the way I like it.

I know not all series have this much participation, but there will always be a few popular series so I'll stick to those because good competition is more important to me than the particular car I'm racing.

 

[Silver-Sylph]

The only thing that keeps from iRacing is the sheer price. You have to pay for every damn thing its ridiculous. In my view physics doesn't make up for lack of variety. That and i hate the fact that you never truly "own" the game. Your forever borrowing it.

 

[Patrocles]

Compare the number of clean races per day between the two games.

This!

a few months ago iRacing announced they had reached the 35,000 membership mark. Compare that to what, 6,000,000 sales of GT5 (or is that the entire GT series?)!

 

[Mac K]

The only thing that keeps from iRacing is the sheer price. You have to pay for every damn thing its ridiculous. In my view physics doesn't make up for lack of variety. That and i hate the fact that you never truly "own" the game. Your forever borrowing it.

Laser scanning, modelling, physics, etc. That stuff isn't cheap..Sure it's expensive, can't argue that but the work and time they put into one single car or track kind of "justifies" that price a bit. I love GT5, and I'm not here to argue about it, but when it comes to serious, bang on realistic fun racing, iRacing all the way. You get a lot less idiots on iRacing too, I still come across them, but most people are great, and getting a win actually feels line an achievement, nothing even comes close in that sense.

 

[bevo]

The only thing that keeps from iRacing is the sheer price. You have to pay for every damn thing its ridiculous. In my view physics doesn't make up for lack of variety. That and i hate the fact that you never truly "own" the game. Your forever borrowing it.

It's not that bad unless you want a bunch if cars and tracks. And really with how good most of the drivers are in Iracing you're gonna have a hard time competing if you try and run to many different cars and tracks and tracks the time. Most of Iracing is practicing one car and track so that you know every line through every turn. I bet it was 4 or 5 months before I started buying very much content.
One car and a few tracks will easily last you an entire season. You could easily spend 100$ or less a year on Iracing and have all the content and subscription you need to run alot of races. One other thing to think about is that once you go to Iracing and if you like it you will probably never buy another racing game so you're saving that money also.
If you want to get the most out of Iracing you do it by running only one or 2 series's and focusing on those. At least that's how I have to do it. I run one oval and one road at a time and throw in some rookie races when I want something a little less intense.
And it's not just physics your paying for. Iracing is probably the best online competitive multiplayer game ever made. I like the pay to play concept of Iracing because it keeps only the devoted racers in the community. If it was cheap there would be alot more people who were not trying to get the most out of every single race.

 

[Maxitsu]

I have not even turned on my PS3 since I started IRacing.
Only thing I like better about GT5 is the choice of cars and tracks.
IRacing turns you into a much better driver.

me too, My Ps3 is only a expensive DVD player at the moment.


I find there are alot more drivers now in iracing for every league i race in, compared to last season.

 

[BRP17]

me too, My Ps3 is only a expensive DVD player at the moment.


I find there are alot more drivers now in iracing for every league i race in, compared to last season.

Yup, now all I need to do is figure out how to do 22s @ Charlotte

 

[Maxitsu]

Yup, now all I need to do is figure out how to do 22s @ Charlotte

thats not hard whit practice. Whit the baseline setup my fastest is 22.5.

Most time is won in corner 1/2/3/4 also make sure you have a good exit when you go on the oval and gear up to fifht after the last banking corner! when you reach 201/203 km/u when you shift to soon you intend to lose topspeed.

-Don't lock-up in corner 1 (taken it in third gear a good exit is importent)
-full speed inside the next corner.
-The doubble right corner try to get from outside to inside, you are allowed to go far inside. take both corners in third gear. 2nd gear will make you turn faster if neccesary.
-next corner lift a little.
-next uphill right corner stay at the inside. shift to 2nd in the middle of the corner.
-I lift the car in the next corner (3th gear).
-oval time

 

[BRP17]

thats not hard whit practise. Whit the baseline setup my fastest is 22.5.

Most time is won in corner 1/2/3/4 also make sure you have a good exit when you go on the oval and gear up to fifht after the last banking corner! when you reach 201/203 km/u when you shift to soon you intend to lose topspeed

I can do consistent low 24's. 23's in the draft.
I hold it in 4th until I hit 127mph, then shift.
My biggest problem is trying to keep it in 3rd without drifting wide
before entering the oval.

 

[Maxitsu]

I can do consistent low 24's. 23's in the draft.
I hold it in 4th until I hit 127mph, then shift.
My biggest problem is trying to keep it in 3rd without drifting wide
before entering the oval.

take the corner inside at the exit, don't go wide. stay at all times at the inside of the oval. If you feel a bump when going on the oval, its not good, try to get on gradually on the far exit.

 

[WRP001]

And you should come race with us 👍
You don't know what you're missing.

Are there big grids mid week at 8:30 PM Pacific? If yes, I'll come and get it. Otherwise I'll pass.

 

[Patrocles]

The only thing that keeps from iRacing is the sheer price. You have to pay for every damn thing its ridiculous. In my view physics doesn't make up for lack of variety. That and i hate the fact that you never truly "own" the game. Your forever borrowing it.

It sounds like iRacing is not for you at this time.

I had your same feeling towards iRacing. However, the two passions that I developed were for clean pickup racing and more realistic physics. After being constantly frustrated with GT5 and Forza3 and Forza4 I finally took the plunge and got into iRacing in summer 2011. iRacing was perfect for me at that time and now this game takes up 90% of my sim driving time.

Another benefit was finding out that consoles do not do racing/driving sims very well. The PC is the place to be for better physics (RBR, iRacing, GTR2, NKPro, AC coming soon, pCARS coming soon).

The PC world is not cheap compared to consoles but I am fortunate enough to be able to indulge myself. You should, too, if you can do it financially!

 

[Silver-Sylph]

It sounds like iRacing is not for you at this time.

I had your same feeling towards iRacing. However, the two passions that I developed were for clean pickup racing and more realistic physics. After being constantly frustrated with GT5 and Forza3 and Forza4 I finally took the plunge and got into iRacing in summer 2011. iRacing was perfect for me at that time and now this game takes up 90% of my sim driving time.

Another benefit was finding out that consoles do not do racing/driving sims very well. The PC is the place to be for better physics (RBR, iRacing, GTR2, NKPro, AC coming soon, pCARS coming soon).

The PC world is not cheap compared to consoles but I am fortunate enough to be able to indulge myself. You should, too, if you can do it financially!

I have GTR2 and i played the crap and modded the crap out of it. One of the best racing games ive played to date. The original install file is 4gb, mine was 11gb.

Im not willing to invest in a game though. $100 a year plus content adds up after awhile. Thats why i dont play those type of subscription style games.

 

[Eric.]

Here's the killer for why iRacing is better for racing - We don't have to schedule races.

 

[Maxitsu]

Im not willing to invest in a game though. $100 a year plus content adds up after awhile. Thats why i dont play those type of subscription style games.

I understand, i have the same thoughts about it. It got terrible wrong whit Iracing.

 

[left888]

Im not willing to invest in a game though. $100 a year plus content adds up after awhile. Thats why i dont play those type of subscription style games.

iRacing is the best online racing game bar none and it's still only $49.00 per year (Black Friday). Content is a tad pricey but you only pay for it once.

 

[Hydro]

Here's the killer for why iRacing is better for racing - We don't have to schedule races.

Agreed 100% - I'd go to 1000% if it would make sense
Here's a sobering stat:
GT5 - 1 year of 3D3 / WRS racing events (GTPlanet's official online races that I am proudly part of) allowed me to race 75 times in 1 year - with countless hours devoted to coming up with ideas, testing, google doc support, resolving network issues, changing physics, update problems, bug testing, pics, etc., etc...often with very small grids 👎
1+ month on iRacing and I've raced almost 40 times with zero admin work and tons of extras as stats / etc. goes. Additionally If I miss the race I wanted to join, I can just join another / switch to a different series, etc. If I miss a 3D3 race the next one is a week away.

iRacing is the best online racing game bar none and it's still only $49.00 per year (Black Friday). Content is a tad pricey but you only pay for it once.

👍 it most certainly is.

 

[Mac K]

iRacing is the best online racing game bar none and it's still only $49.00 per year (Black Friday). Content is a tad pricey but you only pay for it once.

Probably the best way of putting it.

 

[Wilbur]

I have GTR2 and i played the crap and modded the crap out of it. One of the best racing games ive played to date. The original install file is 4gb, mine was 11gb.

Im not willing to invest in a game though. $100 a year plus content adds up after awhile. Thats why i dont play those type of subscription style games.

Is Iracing alot if you add it up or buy at one time? YES but I usually pay month to month because that's what I can afford. I buy tracks randomly usually one at a time. I don't even have any full season of tracks for cars I race which is fine for me. $12 bucks a month is cheap as I could blow that on crap a month.

The thing is you can have a great time with basics and slowly add things. Just like how many games come out yearly that you buy at $60 bucks a piece? I don't mind renting the content either. I have a blast most races even if I'm back of the field!

 

[Patrocles]

I have GTR2 and i played the crap and modded the crap out of it. One of the best racing games ive played to date. The original install file is 4gb, mine was 11gb.

Im not willing to invest in a game though. $100 a year plus content adds up after awhile. Thats why i dont play those type of subscription style games.

yup, that is why i have to state again that iRacing is not for you.


Please enjoy GTR2! I still run GTR2 from time to time. imho, that game has the best AI!



edit....and with the discounts and deals you can get iRacing for <$50/year. iRacing gives you credits for racing that can be used towards your sub . And then they offer deals (Like now!!) where current members can get an additional year of iRacing for $49. Last year I resubbed for a year of iRacing and it only cost me ~$35.
So overall, the cost of iRacing is not as high as you imagine.

 

[Patrocles]

I have GTR2 and i played the crap and modded the crap out of it. One of the best racing games ive played to date. The original install file is 4gb, mine was 11gb.

Im not willing to invest in a game though. $100 a year plus content adds up after awhile. Thats why i dont play those type of subscription style games.

I saw a post at iRacing where I guy did the math on membership and earned iRacing credits. IIBC, you can earn $10 each 12 season for a total of $40 credits each year that you can apply this to the membership renewal.

If you take advantage of the yearly $49/year renewal offer you would have to pay $9/year out of pocket (if my fat, stubby fingers hit the write calc key) and that comes to $0.75/month!!


of course, the cars and tracks are a separate cost but you can also get discounts if you buy several at a time.