There’s something deeply human and maybe a bit masochistic about falling in love with something that doesn’t fully exist yet. And if you’re into simracing, you know this better than anyone.
I don’t know what this hobby does to us, but the moment we see a trailer with a shiny car under a pre-rendered sunrise, we completely lose our minds. Two corners, one drift, a “coming soon in early access” tag, and suddenly we’re opening our wallets like it’s a long-term investment.
And hey, no judgment here: I’ve fallen for it too. More than once. If there were a loyalty card for buying simracing early access titles, I’d already have enough points to redeem a hydraulic pedal set or a couple hours of therapy.
Early Access Was Brilliant… at First
When early access was born, back in the prehistoric days of Steam, it sounded almost romantic.
“A space where players and developers will build the future together.”
It was beautiful, like those relationships that begin with excitement, communication, promises… and end months later with both parties wondering where the spark went.
Simracing embraced early access with the same hope. It was salvation for small studios:
“We don’t have AAA money, but we have passion, advanced physics, and a laser-scanned Nürburgring that weighs more than the rest of the game combined.”
And we, noble and naïve, jumped aboard. Because who wouldn’t want to support a project promising the ultimate physics model, the most realistic audio ever, or multiplayer without lag? (Never mind that such multiplayer “without lag” needed servers priced like a Formula 4.)
Back then, early access felt magical. And for a while… it worked.
Cracks Begin to Show
The trouble began when early access stopped being a tool and became a business model on its own, one without regulation, guarantees, or consequences if the project collapsed midway.
On Steam, only 20% of early access games ever reach a full release. One in five.
What does that mean?
It means if you buy five early access titles… one will finish, three will drift into limbo, and the last will disappear faster than your motivation to practice when the weekly combo is “Zandvoort in the rain.”
In simracing, those odds aren’t much better. In fact, early access titles here often follow a predictable life cycle: hype, hope, silence, and then a long slow fade… like a lobby where nobody hits “ready.”
Why We Keep Falling for It
And this is where real examples come in, the ones many of us have lived firsthand.
Because deep down, we genuinely believe that this time will be different. This early access won’t die. This project will fulfill the promise. This one will become a gem.
Simracing has a strong emotional pull: we chase the perfect feeling, the perfect car behavior, the perfect immersion. When a new project claims it can elevate that experience, we sprint toward it like it’s the final lap and we’re 0.2 seconds behind.
There’s also something beautiful in supporting something unfinished. Unfinished things have potential. And potential is intoxicating.
An early access simracing title is like looking at a bare chassis: not pretty, not refined, not practical… but you can see what it might become. And that, my friends, is a powerful drug.
Nursery of Gems or Graveyard of Dreams?
The truth when we take the helmet off is that it’s both. The early access world of simracing is wild. Incredible visions are born there, and ambitious ideas also die there, sometimes quietly, sometimes spectacularly.
The point isn’t to worship it or condemn it, but to walk in with your eyes open:
- Not everything will be completed
- Not everything will be maintained
- Not everything will be the revolution it promised
And still, we’ll keep joining. We’ll keep supporting. We’ll keep dreaming.
Because simracing is also about this: chasing the perfect lap, even knowing we may never actually achieve it.
And sometimes just sometimes an early access title really does become that rare gem that changes the genre. And when it does, we say: “See? I knew buying this on day one wasn’t a bad idea.”
Even though, deep down, we know we just got lucky.
Happy Racing!
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