Hi all,

Although I'm a long time gamer, going back to the C64 days, and I'm an avid flight simmer, I've never gotten into sim racing. But being a motorsport enthusiast myself, I've decided to get myself a FFB wheel and get started.

Any suggestions on a decent sim that will run on a Q9550 (@3.4Ghz) with a GTX 760 and does not come with a monthly subscription would be most appreciated.

Hi Erik, welcome to KSR

We race using rFactor 2 here, which is available as a one-time purchase. There's currently one DLC pack, and it's possible there may be more in the future, but almost all user-made mods (cars and tracks) are free.

The other big no-sub sim would be Assetto Corsa, which is generally regarded as having superior graphics to rFactor 2 but slightly worse physics.

There's also Automobilista, which is based on the old rFactor 1 physics engine (but with improvements), which has a lot of very fun base content. The graphics are a bit outdated, but the FFB is terrific. This one has a bit of a smaller playerbase.

Im Not sure how well of AC's graphics will run on his PC.

But those are the three main ones

Thanks guys. I just downloaded the rFactor2 demo and that runs +60 FPS at 1080 on my PC so that is looking very good. I'm much prefer realism over eye candy but from my 5 minute spin around the demo track, I think rRactor2 is looking very nice actually. (Maybe I'm not used to much, after all I fly a lot of Falcon 4.0 BMS which is based on a 19 year old simulator.. go figure).

So now that all seems to check out, all I now need to do is actually buy a wheel (I'm eyeing one on trademe) and get rFactor2 I suppose and attend race school.. or put some big L-plates on my car.

RFactor2 has come a long way graphically after implementing the DX11 engine, and is continuously being updated.

We welcome all skill levels and always assist with new drivers so feel free to join us anytime :-)

Thanks for the welcome! Would something as entry-level as a Logitech Driving Force GT be good enough to race with you think? I'm afraid I'm operating at a very small budget here....

I raced for years on the DFGT - its a great entry level wheel.

You won't find any wheel faster than the other, much like VR etc - its more about getting a more immersive experience the more you spend.

I also had the DFGT as my first wheel. I'd highly recommend it. Plus it has a ton of buttons on it which is handy for pit stops, headlights, speed limiter, etc. The pedals on the wheel are pretty average, but serviceable. I think a lot of people put a stress ball or some such under the brake to get some more resistance.

I used to run AC with a GTX770 card and it ran OK. That was when the graphics would have been optimized as well.

I was more looking at his CPU as being the bottleneck, but yes his PC will run it, just won't be able to make use of all the extra graphics it has to offer

Got the Logitech Driving Force GT (can't complain for $50 in what seems to be pretty good state) and just cutting my teeth on the rFactor 2 demo. And boy do I suck. But that's okay, I like a challenge so I'm not giving up just yet.

The Humble Store is currently having a sale that includes Assetto Corsa at 12USD. That's a pretty good deal.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/racing-sale/

Also Dirt Rally for 15USD which might be worth picking up if you're inclined towards rally.

Thanks for pointing that out to me. I've just picked up rFactor 2 for 39 NZD from Steam after judging from the demo that it was running very well on my PC.

It's a bit unfortunately that AC doesn't have a demo so it's sort of going to be a gamble to see if it will even run well on my old rig. So I'll have to mull that one over.

I love rally and these are good offers (I'm familiar with Humble Bundle) but it's been an expensive month so far.. Hmm....


UPDATE: Ah screw it... bought both! LOL .. I just really don't have any money to buy AC add-ons though.

UPDATE 2: I installed AC, by default it went to 1920x1200 and max world detail, with some of the reflection options turned down (fine by me). I didn't change any options and ran the benchmark test which gave me an average of 98 FPS.
I think that's not too shabby for a 9 year old CPU?

From what I have heard AC isn't to bad in terms of minimum specs, By the 9 year old Cpu that must be true.

Seeing as you have got RF2 you should join in on Tuesday! Some bloody fun racing last night.

Thanks for the offer, I'll have to practice a LOT more though before I go online. I don't want to be hindrance to anyone

Don't worry about it, Just jump in there and give it a go, even just join for practice before the race. Do so laps with others, We can help you where you need it, jump on discord with us and have a good laugh.

Honestly you will learn more from one night of online social racing than you will from a week of offline practising. As long as you can make your car go forward and stop and turn you're plenty good enough to join in!

I'll join in as soon as I can get that Caterham around the track in a reasonable fashion - that is nose forward. It's a tricky little thing, I end up backwards on most corners so far!

Sounds like you are already in pretty much the same place as us!

It gets a lot easier if you open up the diff, its quite locked by default.

I have no idea how to do that but I went into Tuning and I was able to swap the standard diff for another one and that did make a bit of a difference though I still find that the rear end is very eager to take the lead. (I'm driving with everything off except for Auto Clutch given that my Logitech Driving Force GT doesn't have one.

So where onto next for some online practice?

Tuesday Night before our racing. People normally start jumping on around 8pm, Do you have discord? we can set you up with that, then we can help you get up to speed over that.

In the setup lower the Power, Coast and Preload settings as far to the left as possible (for some reason clicking left makes the number bigger) and that will open it right up. It will mean it will spin one wheel instead of the two but is a lot easier to control. You can then slowly tweak it back up as you see fit

I’ll be on around 3 today, happy to share my setup or talk you through any changes

I've got Discord now setup, I'll add the KSR channel (?) as well. I assume channel is the right word?

Thanks for the tip Bull, I've done as you said and I can now actually get around the track in a reasonable fashion. While I'm several seconds (cough) away from the AI, at least I can get around without throwing the car into a spin every other corner

Thanks for offer Yoda, unfortunately I was solo-parenting over the weekend so I really didn't have any time to get online during the day.