If I might hazard a suggestion here. rF1 is $6.24 on steam regular price, and honestly, most modern smart phones could probably run it just fine. The server setup is simple, and if you’re not doing driver swaps, pretty solid. There is a TON of excellent content from wild to mild. Even the base cars (rTrainers) are a great spec class to race. For less than a drink at Starbucks, and less hard drive space than a DCS manual we can be up and racing. Now it certainly does not have VR integration, and depending on the tracks and cars the graphics can be a little rough. The physics are decent, and honestly if you’re not on a FFB wheel, there’s not much to complain about in that department.
I’d recommend something quick and easy, like pickup races one night a week. Have the server up from say 7pm-10pm, 20 minute races, with 10 minute combined practice/quals. 50% (or less) damage, and pick cars and tracks that aren’t super technical. So for a 30 minute time investment people can actually run a real race. Show up at the exact wrong moment, and at most you’ve got to invest an hour to get a race in. This would allow for a quick cheap way to gauge participation, before we jump to something pricey’er.
I love everything you wrote except for the VR part. I have to admit I’m pretty addicted to it now and put my TrackIR away in a box a long time ago. I did enjoy driving rFactor 1 back when I first started doing some light racing at SimHQ.
PCars2 might work…I don’t know enough about it though (yet). I’m really weak at information about hosting and servers and all that stuff. Not my area of expertise.
LOL. Something like that. Accident when I was a kid. No big deal, but with no depth perception, it ruled out HS sports… VR headsets give me vertigo and migraines, so do 3D movies.
So, I didn’t really need an excuse to buy PCars2, but I’m using this thread as justification if my wife asks. It’s on sale on Steam if anyone’s interested.
I love this site. It’s a lot like the guys I usually hunt/target practice with.
Yeah PCars2 is gorgeous. I bought it during the Steam Winter sale a few months back. I haven’t explored it much though (always time constraints…sigh) so not sure on what kind of race community we can build around it…
I don’t drive with TrackIR even in iRacing. For that matter real world on the track, except in a big sedan sized car, my heads not moving around that much, it’s all in good mirrors. Circle track racing you do have your head on a swivel a little more I’ll admit. Most single cockpit cars, you can’t see anything further back than your shoulder which your mirrors and peripheral vision pickup already. Being able to look into the corner is a necessity, but rF1 offers a look ahead function already that does it for you quite nicely.
With that said, I have no idea if rF1 would work with VR or not, I just know it’s not native. Might try it out and see.
Ditto with TIR for me in racing, I tried it and gave up fast, just like Arma. I couldn’t get my entry to turns right, I was hitting cars I thought I’d clear, etc. No vertigo, just total loss of fine control.
A fixed forward view with a wide FOV and FFB wheel is the most realistic way of racing for me. It mirrors what I see in my car the most. I can tell exactly where my car is on the track.
It’s the same reason why in most sims I either turn off the cockpit or zoom it in so that I can’t see any of the instruments…when I’ve sat in real airplane cockpits, despite there being a giant console with instruments all over it, when I look out the windscreen I don’t see it! I get a view that is…well, a lot like my PC monitor’s. About 2x wider than tall.
If I was sitting in the 2nd row, then yeah I’d see the console and the window at the same time, but from the front seat you just don’t.
I probably could still use it for Strike Fighters 2 and EECH…but I’ve actually been using my HMDs by putting them on my head and using Open Track when I really need head tracking without VR. Once the resolution of the HMDs gets a smidge more, I can probably play in Virtual Desktop with a 2D wraparound using my HMD. The tracking on my Rift and O+ is just so much smoother and 1:1, which is why I really connect with it. I think I’m actually doing myself a favor and stretching some neck muscles I’ve never used before…haha…
Late to the thread, but we are running with Champion Motorsports (cmsracing.com) on Thursday nights for our leisure events. Short races, 2 hours in and out. Come over and take a look guys. It is very laid back and fun racing.
Not to raise a thread from the dead, but steam has Assetto Corsa on sale right now. Ultimate edition with all the DLC is less than $40. I picked it up, might be a decent platform to work off of that is modern.
I like almost everything about AC except 2 things–
The SP side feels like an afterthought, it’s just a disjointed series of races against AI. Codemasters still rules the roost when it comes to making a compelling SP side, from the old Race Driver games to Dirt and F1. Any individual race is great, but the incentive to proceed is perfunctory at best.
The MP doesn’t support AI like Project Cars, rfactor, and F1. So if you want to race against a full field, you need a LOT of humans who can show up at the same time. If it’s just you and a couple of friends, that track is mighty empty.
Aside from that, and especially if neither of those bother you, it’s very well done and I’m a big fan. I just have limited time in it because of those 2 things.
I have to admit I’m pretty addicted to it now and put my TrackIR away in a box a long time ago. 
I did enjoy driving rFactor 1 back when I first started doing some light racing at SimHQ.