Not to break up the typical uninformed speculation and narcissistic jacking off going on in the comments so far (I've been a slashdot reader long enough to be familiar with the status quo here), I figured a few people might find it interesting to have some actual information on the sim and its quality. I was fortunate to be given an opportunity to subscribe to the service several months prior to release, in May to be precise, so hopefully my opinions may be useful to someone.
In terms of what the product actually is, I'd say it's an online racing service first and foremost, which just happens to come bundled with the best proprietary simulation software available. The $20/month or $156/year is similar to the costs of participating in most of the top-level simracing leagues that have been around for years, so for many of the people who will be interested in this the cost really isn't going to be a big deal. Inevitably people are going to constantly compare iRacing to WOW or EverQuest or whichever MMO their ADD-addled brains are currently obsessed with, but really the way the service operates is closer to a virtual sanctioning system...SCCA, NASA, USAC, whatever.
The cars and tracks, which range from $10-25 a piece (aside from the 2 cars and 7 tracks you start with) seem a bit pricey, but the justification for the cost is down to the development expenses. Each asset in the sim is laser-scanned down to millimeter accuracy. The cars are modelled using real engineering data provided by iRacing's partners, each component is measured and weighed, the tire model is highly detailed (modelling things like sidewall flex, multiple contact patches, etc - stuff that most sims which use a simple Pacejka slip-based approach don't take into account), the force feedback is based purely around the forces being transmitted to the steering column via the car's tires and suspension (i.e. exactly what you'd feel in a car that isn't fly-by-wire), and the tracks, being modelled to millimeter accuracy, feature the most detailed bump-mapping that has ever been achieved in a consumer-grade simulation.
The sanctioning body (which is called FIRST), is run in a manner that is similar to real racing with a full rulebook, protest system, and so forth. Progression in the sim requires you to drive safely, as there is an automated system which keeps track of your incident points (things like hitting other cars or stationary objects, spinning, or leaving the track surface) and calculates a safety rating based on your performance, heavily weighted towards your most recent performance. There is also something known as an iRating (among the tons of stats the system automatically tracks for you) which rewards you for finishing well in races and is used to match you with drivers of similar ability in races.
Blah blah blah, so what's the point, right? Well, the simulator, which is constantly evolving, is easily the best thing you're going to find without visiting a top Formula One team. It's not perfect, and it's constantly in development, but the pure driving experience and the skills required to be successful in the sim are closer to real driving and racing as you're going to find anywhere else. The safety rating system, which may seem weird to people who haven't experienced it, essentially replaces the "fear" and/or "maybe I shouldn't do something stupid here and destroy my car" aspects that are missing from simulated racing, which means that a vast majority of the time your races will be clean and courteous. Once you've gotten some experience under your belt, you're able to drive more powerful cars against more skilled drivers on more difficult circuits.
The overall feel of the sim/service is like SCCA-style club racing. The service is very professional, the simulator is of the highest quality, and the community is...well...it's a nice mix of the best and most helpful simracers in the world, a bunch of really nice people who enjoy racing their nuts off against people who quickly become familiar faces,
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Not to break up the typical uninformed speculation and narcissistic jacking off going on in the comments so far (I've been a slashdot reader long enough to be familiar with the status quo here), I figured a few people might find it interesting to have some actual information on the sim and its quality. I was fortunate to be given an opportunity to subscribe to the service several months prior to release, in May to be precise, so hopefully my opinions may be useful to someone.
In terms of what the product actually is, I'd say it's an online racing service first and foremost, which just happens to come bundled with the best proprietary simulation software available. The $20/month or $156/year is similar to the costs of participating in most of the top-level simracing leagues that have been around for years, so for many of the people who will be interested in this the cost really isn't going to be a big deal. Inevitably people are going to constantly compare iRacing to WOW or EverQuest or whichever MMO their ADD-addled brains are currently obsessed with, but really the way the service operates is closer to a virtual sanctioning system...SCCA, NASA, USAC, whatever.
The cars and tracks, which range from $10-25 a piece (aside from the 2 cars and 7 tracks you start with) seem a bit pricey, but the justification for the cost is down to the development expenses. Each asset in the sim is laser-scanned down to millimeter accuracy. The cars are modelled using real engineering data provided by iRacing's partners, each component is measured and weighed, the tire model is highly detailed (modelling things like sidewall flex, multiple contact patches, etc - stuff that most sims which use a simple Pacejka slip-based approach don't take into account), the force feedback is based purely around the forces being transmitted to the steering column via the car's tires and suspension (i.e. exactly what you'd feel in a car that isn't fly-by-wire), and the tracks, being modelled to millimeter accuracy, feature the most detailed bump-mapping that has ever been achieved in a consumer-grade simulation.
The sanctioning body (which is called FIRST), is run in a manner that is similar to real racing with a full rulebook, protest system, and so forth. Progression in the sim requires you to drive safely, as there is an automated system which keeps track of your incident points (things like hitting other cars or stationary objects, spinning, or leaving the track surface) and calculates a safety rating based on your performance, heavily weighted towards your most recent performance. There is also something known as an iRating (among the tons of stats the system automatically tracks for you) which rewards you for finishing well in races and is used to match you with drivers of similar ability in races.
Blah blah blah, so what's the point, right? Well, the simulator, which is constantly evolving, is easily the best thing you're going to find without visiting a top Formula One team. It's not perfect, and it's constantly in development, but the pure driving experience and the skills required to be successful in the sim are closer to real driving and racing as you're going to find anywhere else. The safety rating system, which may seem weird to people who haven't experienced it, essentially replaces the "fear" and/or "maybe I shouldn't do something stupid here and destroy my car" aspects that are missing from simulated racing, which means that a vast majority of the time your races will be clean and courteous. Once you've gotten some experience under your belt, you're able to drive more powerful cars against more skilled drivers on more difficult circuits.
The overall feel of the sim/service is like SCCA-style club racing. The service is very professional, the simulator is of the highest quality, and the community is...well...it's a nice mix of the best and most helpful simracers in the world, a bunch of really nice people who enjoy racing their nuts off against people who quickly become familiar faces,