In Sim Racing, one question reigns supreme: What is the most realistic racing simulator? This inquiry has sparked heated debates, fueled by passionate simracers scouring Twitter, Reddit and other forums, devouring YouTube videos, and dissecting dedicated websites.
But amidst the fervor lies a darker side – a toxic undercurrent that threatens to undermine the joy of Sim racing
The Toxicity Surrounding the Debate
The pursuit of realism in racing simulators often descends into a battleground of egos and aggression.
In the quest to crown the ultimate simulator, simracers engage in heated arguments, hurling insults and belittling opposing viewpoints.
This toxic behavior not only detracts from the enjoyment of Sim racing but also drives a wedge between simracers.
Instead of fostering a supportive environment for simracers to share their passion for racing, it creates an atmosphere of hostility and animosity.
Novice Sim racers are discouraged from participating in discussions, fearing ridicule and scorn from more experienced members.
As a result, the community suffers, losing out on valuable insights and perspectives.
By fostering an environment of mutual respect and open-mindedness, we can encourage healthy debates and exchange of ideas without resorting to toxicity and aggression.
The Endless Search for Realism
Many rookies find themselves trapped in a perpetual cycle of searching for the holy grail of realism in racing simulations.
From the moment they dip their toes into the virtual racing world, they are bombarded with conflicting opinions and recommendations on which simulator offers the most authentic experience.
This relentless pursuit of realism comes at a cost. Simracers become fixated on minutiae, obsessing over tire models, braking feel, and physics engines, while overlooking other aspects of simulation gaming such as user-friendliness and graphics quality.
In their quest for perfection, they lose sight of the primary goal – to have fun.
In reality, realism is subjective and varies from person to person. What one individual may deem as realistic, another may dismiss as inaccurate.
As such, the quest for the most realistic racing simulator is inherently flawed, as it fails to account for the diversity of perspectives within the community.
Sim Racing, Racing and Sim Racing Again!
It is important to recognize that perfection is elusive in the world of simulation gaming.
Until a simulator can flawlessly replicate every nuance of real-world racing, debates over realism will continue to rage on.
Rather than fixating on the quest for the ultimate simulator, we should embrace the diversity of perspectives within the community and celebrate the myriad ways in which enthusiasts derive enjoyment from Sim racing.
Let us cast aside the shackles of toxicity and obsession and instead focus on what truly matters – the joy of racing.
See you on the track!
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What?? Crazy fabricated premise….
Fabricated premise? On this website, you can simply find hundreds of comments criticizing each simulator, receiving aggressive comments as if companies pay us for every article.
Imagine on Reddit, iRacing, YouTube, and Assetto Corsa forums…
We are dedicated to having fun with today’s options and racing everything on the virtual tracks, all in the effort to grow our community of simracers.
Obviously, your article is right on the money and the first commentor, “Bretware” hit the ground running and proved your point, straight away. I have been sim racing since the first sim racing games were invented and the only forum that’s more toxic than iracing and acc etc is the forums in Planet F1. It really ruins the fun a person is trying to have and runs people away from the platform because we just don’t care to put up with the nonsense and vitriol that gets spewed online. Great article Alberto.
Thank you very much for your comment Michael!.
I’m glad to know that there is still a little light in a simracing world where we only seek to connect the steering wheel and have fun.
Much appreciated! 🙂
Lmao, you literally just proved Albertos point.
This article is getting a fair amount of hate on the iRacing forum right now. LOL
Completely agree. Have been on most simulators. iRacing since 2010. Most people simply forget the whole reason they joined was to have fun. They get swept up in this pointless futile argument over which simulator is most realistic instead of just enjoying what they have and are using. I have recently just sold my entire rig. Over the years I would have invested close to $20,000 in the hobby. In the early years it was fun and a lot of communities and groups and I made a lot of friends but as it grew the anonymity and toxicity came as well. It was awful. I feel sorry for the ones joining now. I feel they have missed what was once a really exciting hobby. People take themselves waaaaay to seriously as well and forget that it about having fun. Lol
This is pretty much my experience as well. I often wonder if all of the toxicity stems from the brutally harsh penalty system that iracing uses. It’s almost as if the powers that be at iracing management have planned for iracing to be a toxic environment, maybe to fuel ludicrous levels of competition.
Sadly this is true and not just of sum racing, most of “social media” is pretty anti-social in reality. It extends beyond the simulators themselves too, with equipment being similarly discussed and people’s views ridiculed.
It isn’t all bad of course, but it could definitely be better.
Also agree with the comment around f1 forums! Omg they are something else….
Great article, Alberto. You’re exactly right – the level of toxicity surrounding online gaming and racing sims is just too much. Additionally, the level of toxicity in-game needs to be dealt with by sim developers now that player counts have exploded.
Totally agree!
I’ve been sim racing for 13 yrs all on IRacing. I’ve met great people on there. We have been to each other’s homes, and spent weekends at races together. The great thing about it is there is a mute button. Use it that way you don’t have to listen to all the other b.s..
that is fair but that if I have to mute it to enjoy it doesnt this kinda prove the point. A big part of why I raced was to hae fun and a sense of friendship and community is a big part of that. Just muting all of that takes away alot of the enjoyment. Understand not everyone feels the same way and just driving on mute is ok for some. But it is alo the forums as well. I do agree that this is just a greater symptom of society as a whole where there is very little tolerance for each other anymore…
Best tip ever! 🙂
Thank you for commenting!
Your article is accurate, but it doesn’t really go deep enough.
Sim Racing at it’s inception, was exactly as you described on how it should be. It’s what has built the industry to what it is, racers feedback, and a fury of great equipment to choose from are a direct result of community based participation.
However over the last few years, the attraction of Sim Racing, began to see the “gamer community” and brought the likes of the FPS shooter to the ranks. Their ingrained “restart” attitudes, lack of patience and overall disrespect of their fellow game enthusiasts has made this, as many other online titles in the past, something that will ultimately eat itself.
Go into any public lobby (any title here) or any online forum and read or listen…..that’s all you need to do.
There are 100’s of ways that sim titles can fix this, but the continued chase to protect current revenue streams, outweighs the long term preservation of the industry.
The first company, that comes out with something similar to iRacing, that caters to wheelbase only, forced FOV, forced comms, and finds a way to penalize bad actors with a real time steward program, with the “no fault” user being penalize…holds it’s customers to QOL standards as well as a minimum equipment requirements, will take market share.
Rubbing is racing, accidents happen, but they should be the exception, not the rule. Today, there are more “idiots of the week videos” than there are clean race videos. That right there, says it all.
Completely agree, I hope to be able to write an article about it 🙂
I, for one, look forward to that article, Alberto.
Well said. Unfortunately I don’t think the business model you propose is attractive to investors wanting to make a profit. If I’m not wrong though that was similar the original vision/ mission is iRacing when it started and what set it apart over the years.
I have done a lot of track days and motorkhana and tbh lately I actually prefer doing racing in Sim lately because I’m not in a financial position to race door to door with other cars and pay for a dedicated race car at the moment so just turning out laps doesn’t really cut it for me anymore.
The excitement of being in a close Sim series and having close competition is real and I have kind of gotten used to that rush now instead of turning solo laps in real life.
Probably time to get a dedicated track car and join a real life series but I can just see the cost of that and it puts me off.
In my experience, when I first got into sim racing (iRacing) it was very enjoyable in 2015. I feel like things took a turn south in 2020. It only got worse as time went on. By the fall of 2022, I was over it all. Decided to give it another try this week, and quickly noticed nothing had changed. For the time being, I will stick to running iRacing AI races and not have to deal with the toxic environment.
I agree with toxicity ruining the sim racing experience. For me, sim racing is about how good I can be as a driver. While for others, it seems it’s about winning at all cost with absolute disregard for others or tactics.
Sim racing is used way to broadly as a term.
Any game that has brake assist, helicopter view, and/or a painted line on the track showing the “optimal” route is not a sim.
Sim racing should be reserved for those that have taken the time to practice and move past those training wheels; while racing from the cockpit view. The fact that esports allows drivers to race from a view outside of the car is a pathetic joke.
The drivers view is the single biggest factor that is ruining true sim racing experiences.
100% agree!