A few years ago, when I first got into simracing, I quickly realized that having a good wheel wasn’t enough. To truly get the full experience, you need something more—a PC that performs like an F1 car in qualifying. Since then, every new GPU launch has felt like the start of a new season: you hope for more power, better graphics, and a good reason to upgrade.
This week, that “new season” arrived with NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB. Unfortunately, instead of excitement, it left a bitter taste—especially for those of us in simracing looking for the best balance between price, performance, and stability for our setups.
The big news? The 16 GB model hit the market with a lukewarm reception. Despite its larger VRAM buffer, reviews show only about a 15% performance boost compared to the 4060 Ti. For titles like Assetto Corsa Competizione or iRacing—where optimization already pushes your system hard—that kind of bump just doesn’t justify the $430+ price tag.
Worse still, NVIDIA didn’t send out samples of the 8 GB version to reviewers, even though that’s the one most people will actually buy. So if you’re searching for benchmarks of the more affordable model, you’re likely to find 16 GB results, which are not representative. It seems like a deliberate move to hide just how much performance suffers on the lower-VRAM card—especially in DLSS and frame generation, two features NVIDIA loves to promote.
And let’s be honest—in simracing, we need smoothness, resolution, and detail. When you’re racing through Spa at night in the rain, performance isn’t optional. Sure, the 5060 Ti 16 GB can handle well-optimized sims decently, but paying this much for such a small generational leap—while other cards offer better value—is a hard sell.
Meanwhile, AMD might be gearing up to make a move. A rumored RX 9060 XT, possibly launching in June, could offer 8 or 16 GB of VRAM, a 128-bit memory bus, and a price under $300. It’s not confirmed, but for anyone building a dedicated simracing PC on a budget, that’s a glimmer of hope.
All the while, NVIDIA continues to throw flashy slides at us (really, “50x performance” over the previous gen?), but we’re not buying it. At least, not yet.
So if you’re thinking of upgrading your GPU to take your simracing to the next level, it might be wise to hold off a little longer. The real breakthroughs are coming—but today isn’t the day.
Because in simracing, just like on the track, knowing when to brake is just as important as knowing when to hit the throttle.
Happy Racing!
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