@ Andy

Gonna have to join up (ARCA) and see what its like to race with the likes of all those famous guys you've mentioned ! I see Rens has included D jr. in the + column ( @_ racing ). But still needs to add you and the gang to the + column @ R2P.... :)

@ Doug;
If you take advantage of the promotions I-Racing offers, it’s much cheaper than you state. I have nearly all the cars & tracks and have spent around $280. When I go golfing, I spend about $60 per round and that last less than 5 hours. So it’s a deal for me at I-Racing.

@ David; Didn’t I just see a promotion here to get RF2 free with a 3 month premium membership? I don’t want RF2 or a premium membership.

I agree with Coner. This is a waste of time to compare the two services. What one person may like may be different in what another person likes. Some guys prefer blonds and others prefer brunettes. (But at my age I’ll take anything I can get)! I like both services and will take from each what they offer and I’m very happy with both. Like what the 15 minute of fame Rodney King once said; “Can we all just get along”?

Doing the math I spend over 500$ around to play at R2P Owning 5 Sims, 4 chapters, a membership, sponsoring R2P Series and all the mods plus tracks includes hundreds and thousands of them

iRacing I would have to spend 1000$ and only have 1 Sim, 50 tracks and 50 cars. This is just the first year :/

The other thing at iRacing is the Race Wreckers. I sit and watch a few events and I have seen many members drive straight across a grass area just to crash into someone for fun? Or a road rage thing because of a punt which was intended in the first place. Reminds me of the days when GTR2 first came out when I was playing on Public Novice servers.

I agree there are great races at iRacing but so far I only see it in the organized events put on by iRacing, and you have to be a Pro to enter them or a Racing Celebrity

Can we stop this R2P vs iRacing bullshit once and for all? It's been going on for years and no conclusions can be extracted from it. This topic is the epitome of beating the dead horse.

It's really not that expensive David, a few hundred dollars at most which is less than most any other hobby I have. Race there a lot with a planned membership and it is a fraction of R2Ps premium membership per month as well.
The downside as many have said is the community and its structure but no where else can you race daily at 11pm pst with 15 drivers in say the Miatas. Ohh and tracks in iracing are freaking beautiful!! Iracing just really needs team championships and driver swaps which have been promised for months now..
The physics I cannot argue as there are/were some odd driving styles with the old tire model. Improved with the new revisions though and I do like it better.

R2P is hands down the king of community but for competition iracing takes the cake by far. They both offer something unique and each has its own place.

Here we go again...

http://race2play.com/homepage/show_posts/15568?page=8

iRacing is a fraud in so many ways. They decided they wanted to create a very expensive sim/service where they charge for each car and track, as well as an online racing service. They then came up with a bu****it, "work your way up from the bottom" system as a justification for all the unwanted products you have to purchase, and wasted months (you also have to pay for), in this system.

How much money would I have to spend on cars and tracks I don't want, and even more importantly, how much time would I have to waste, in order to be finaly able to race the F1's against similar skill level drivers?? Complete waste of time and money.

As for the simulation itself, it's just a warmed over N2003. Form day 1, they marketed it as the most realistic simulator ever created. So accurate that real drivers can train with it. Predictably (at least for non-fanboys), that was proven to be nonsense as soon as the first updates started, and these cars that were so amazingly accurate suddenly handled differently. More updates, and more changes in handling. New flawed tire model, and again more changes in handling. It's laughable, unless you've invested a lot of money in it. Those people have to now live in complete denial, or suffer with a horrible case of buyers remorse. I don't give people money who lie to me. Unlike iRacing, I have never felt for a second that ISI or R2P have ever tried to bs me into spending money on their products/service. They tell me exacly what to expect, and they deliver. It will be a real pleasure for me to watch what rF2 will do to iRacing.

Tristan hit the nail in the head in my opinion.

iRacing is a GREAT simulation.

I feel the road surface and the forces generated. There's a good match system (not perfect) that puts you racing with drivers with simular skills. There is an "incentive" to race clean otherwise, your security rating could drop, preventing you to participate in higher level security licence series (far from perfect either).

The community aspect here (screenshots, blogs, etc) is R2P greatest asset. Even the way the various series are designed is much better. At least i still haven't figured it out how the championships in iRacing work...

I enjoy both iRacing and R2P

@Doug: The vast selection here is not free, as you have to own the software to use it. So likewise in iR.

Because of this thread I went and bought a 3 month membership at iRacing. I have been pondering over about wasting some money so I did. LOL

iRacing is different and there are lots of Bells & Whistles. Reminds me of something Electronic Arts would do with NFS. Not that they haven't tried. Instead of the type of game EA did put up online 'NFS World', Shift Series would have been a better bet.

I will play out my member ship there at iRacing but I am not into that type of MMO gaming. I'll hang out here at Race2Play for a long time to come with all the tracks and cars. You'll never will get bored of the selection available here for FREE!.

For the amount you can spend here for starters as little as 30$ you can start a decent series and a league of your own .You are in control of what you want to race legally, you have all the stats for your events, a forum, and more.

And no wreckers or impoliteness

I came over here from iRacing because I was having connection issues, starting in October 2011, which neither my ISP or iRacing could resolve. I had been on iRacing nearly 3 years.

I agree with the other posts re: R2P and, if I could say one more thing to convince you, after being on R2P for a couple of weeks, I don't miss iRacing!

In addition, it costs less and I equal if not more enjoyment out of it due to the various sims and the friendlier atmosphere.

I also like the Teams and Chapters aspect of R2P, which iRacing does not really have, or that I noticed.

Lastly, in iRacing I became so tired of the dingbats and the kids knocking me off track or wrecking me during races, I began to race only in hosted League races.

Cost for some sims like rF; GTR2 (if you can find it); Race 07 and add ons in particular; ARCA (there's your oval racing as well as VHR mod in rF) are quite cheap at the moment. Plenty of cars to choose from there without the extra cost.

Personally I enjoy the sim racing regardless of the result, and indeed joining back in 2008 I was not so very good!!! But enjoying those sims and learning them gets you quicker and more consistent.

The community aspect at R2P I find second to none. I have no experience of iRacing, so can only comment on R2P.

By the way, who needs to race agains Dale Jr in stock cars when you have the likes of Tom Moseley, Luis Almeida, Tom Malanga, Joe DiPino etc etc etc racing here at R2P - LOL:)

Having now tried both I have to say I prefer R2P's service. Don't get me wrong, iRacing is a great interface and reasonably good customer service but I personally find it a little awkward compared to R2P.

The iRacing software itself is actually brilliant and has many features that make it very unique and interesting to use. However, to me it feels too anonymous and lacking in community. There are hundreds of members regularly racing at R2P and I have become friendly with dozens of them. I've gotta say as well that I'd rather get my ass handed to me on a regular basis by guys like Tristan, Heinz et al than race only against those with similar ability to myself. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but I enjoy the learning aspect of sim racing as much if not more than the competitive aspect.

GTR 3 is on the way, Charlie....and you can count on me. It's almost impossible to buy GTR 2 and I think that accounts for a drop off in that title.

Thanks gents for all the opinions. Indeed, why not enjoy both services? Well there is a cost aspect of course. And I have limited available time. So when I race, I want to get the most out of it. I like close racing. I agree with you Charlie, I am a 1140 irating driver, middle to low splits, but I am always driving with guys with the same skills and I like that a lot.

Anyway, trying both worlds won't hurt! All your reactions show your commitment to this service and that's great.

@R2P official,

Are there more races planned for rFactor 2? Now there are only the welcome series if I am not mistaken?

I do both, but what I find best about I-Racing, is that they have so many racers there, that I can race against guys in my ever so low talent level with the splits they have. I actually am battling for a podium finish most of the time! But what I find best about R2P is the family feel it has. There are some very nice guys that hang out in these halls here. I just wish these nice guys here raced GTR2 more often.