Noobie to the world of wheels: Need advice on good PC racing Sims

[gradyhappyg]

Just ran across a Logitech MOMO Black force feedback PC racing wheel and pedals for and unbelievable low price of $5.00 bucks US at a second hand store.
Have no idea what kind of PC games to look for even after an hour of Googling.
Any advice or suggestions whould be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Ferry_vO]

Guess it depends if you want an arcade racer or a real sim?

[gradyhappyg]

I think real sim but being the racing noob not sure. I like racing in a structured enviroment where you have a career mode something like F1,Nascar,Off road Baha type more than street racing and running from virtual cops.
Any tips would be extremely helpful. Online play not so important.

[Ferry_vO]

The codemasters' games are a pretty good mix between sim and fun; I really like the DiRT series and both the Formula 1 (2010 & 2011) games.
rFactor is a good (But dated) sim with a huge freeware online community. Part 2 shouldn't be too far off though so you might want to wait for that.
The old Simbin series are still good too. GTR Evolution/Race On! should still be available. Plenty of downloads to be found for those series too. The old GTR2 is still the sim I use the most.

Good links:

rFactor: http://www.rfactorcentral.com/index.cfm and http://www.rfactor.net/

Most racing sims: http://www.nogripracing.com/

The Shift games (1 & 2) have a fanbase too, but personally I never really liked the first game. The second one looks like much more of the same.
C.a.r.s. looks good too (http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/cars/) but it's from the team behind Shift so I doubt I will get that one.

[gradyhappyg]

Thanks Ferry for the info and the links.:salute: So much to chose from so little mad money(at least that the wife doesn't know about).

[wombat666]

I agree with Ferry, Dirt2 is highly entertaining and if you drive at the top level inside the car with a manual shift it can be bloody difficult.
Again, I'd wait for rFactor 2, although you can pick up low priced copies of rFactor 1 which is a good starting point.
GTR2 is a bit dated but has a huge collections of free additions.
Skip the NFS for now, and I'd go as far as to say avoid the F-2010 and 2011 sims, unless you feel the need to OD on F1.
If you like off road then this is Dirt2 Rally........:kilroy:

52815

52816

[Ferry_vO]

Dirt3:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/DiRT3/dirt3_game2011-05-2721-34-41-66.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/DiRT3/dirt3_game2011-05-2619-21-29-67.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/DiRT3/dirt3_game2011-06-0720-32-19-65.jpg

Pro: Snow! Pikes peak cars, gymkhana (But without the Xgames culture BS from part 2), cheap for a new retail game.
Con: Add-on cars and tracks need to be bought through Windows marketplace, get repetitive after a while (DiRt2 is much the same), no add-ons.


Codemasters' F1 2010 & 2011:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/CMF12010/F1_2010_game2010-09-2421-29-10-47.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/CMF12010/F1_20112.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/CMF12010/F1_20112011-10-2820-48-23-32.jpg

Pro: Full formula 1 license, all tracks, cars and rules.
Con: Still not a full sim (Though 2011 is better than 2010), no add-ons.

[Ferry_vO]

GTR2:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/GTR2/GRAB_115.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/GTR2/GRAB_007.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/GTR2/Challenger_cup40.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/GTR2/DTM1994Merc_1.jpg

Pro: Cheap, More add-ons than you'll ever need, Real sim.
Con: Graphics getting dated, some lesser quality add-ons, availability?

rFactor:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/rFactor/Senna4.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/rFactor/Targa6.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/rFactor/rFactor2011-04-2321-13-13-79.jpg



http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/rFactor/rFactor2011-01-1520-55-46-44.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/rFactor/GRAB_004.jpg

Pro: Cheap, even more add-ons than GTR2/Evo, true sim.
Con: dated graphics, rFactor2 not far away.

[gradyhappyg]

Wow!!!!! Really nice screenies folks.
Looks like sim racing has come a long way since Test Drive and Nascar for PS1.
Still haven't decided but the field is getting narrower thanks to the input.