I-Racing? Forza? What are we doing these days?

I used to have an I-Racing subscription probably ten years ago. I really liked the realism and real tracks they used, but some of the things about it annoyed me (having to buy every car and track, the wildly unpredictable 'safety rating', letting series die on the vine).

One of my co-workers is trying to talk me into getting an X-box and racing on Forza. I've never even seen Forza. Only thing I know about it is they have a lot of cool cars to choose from.

For a once-racer guy who likes realism, what is the preferred sim these days? I'm wholly out of the loop. And, will have to buy all new equipment to participate in anything.

I hated sim forza enough that I deleted it from my Xbox. 

Forza Horizon is good at its core but they berkeleyed it up bad enough that after 5 I'm not buying another one. 

Gran Turismo... I think it's 7? We're on now? Whatever the ps5 one- was pretty good. A little light on the solo content which is my preferred but was a good game. Playstation though. 

I *think* Assetto Corsa is where most of the sim racers around here are at. 

Yeah, we have a Wednesday night Assetto Corsa race. It always starts around 9pm EST (the actual race) but you can practice anytime on the server (it's usually up all week). This is the 2nd week of the single car series featuring the Fiero. We usually do a single car series of races then a multi car series, but if someone has a good idea for a series, it's always considered. There were some other events going on but I couldn't tell you anything about those. It's a blast. There are a bunch of regulars that show up and a few people that show up now and again. I've seen races as small as 7 people and as large as 18. It's typically 10 to 12. There are some fast people at the pointy end. They are usually about 5 seconds a lap faster than me, if I practice quite a bit, and 80 to 90% of them are from the forums here.

I have a Playstation. I think it's a 3.  I was never wowed by the car dynamics of Gran Turismo. I'm sure it's improved since then, but...

Assetto Corsa Competizione is a really good alternative to iRacing if you don't want to do the a la cart thing. 

Assetto Corsa just keeps chugging along. It is cheap and if you own a pc already is will most likely run just fine on it. The game is ten years old now.  There are so many cars and tracks available you can find just about anything to race.  We use it here for the Wednesday night series for all the above reasons and because it allows hosting of events on a local server. You are not dependent on the game makers servers so you and you friend could host your own server and race with friends.  There are also hundreds if not thousands of servers around the world to race on but it can be the Wild West out there. There are no rankings or big brother watching to enforce "rules".  Kind of like the good old days of the early internet. 
 

I would highly recommend giving it a try if you have a pc already. The game is often under $10 on steam and full price is under $20. Your only other expense would be a wheel and just get one that has compadability with pc and what ever console you are considering. 

I think iRacing is still the choice for most realistic, but Assetto Corsa is a great option if you want realism and the flexibility to just have fun. I enjoyed the open nordschleife servers where I could drive my dream cars that aren't race cars around. Also as mentioned there's a GRM group

iRacing is competitive and good for race cars only.

I also enjoy farting around in forza horizon 5. Whenever I just want to unwind I load that up and just enjoy the scenery, throw some rally tires on a koenigsegg and throw it in the dunes

Not sure if this helps, but here's my 2 cents:

Aside from Gran Turismo 4 when I was a kid, I've mostly been playing Forza titles, hopping back and forth between the Horizon titles and the Motorsport titles when I get bored of one or the other. Both can be equally enjoyable if I'm looking to shut off my brain for a few.

I also got Assetto Corsa for free (or maybe it was nearly-free) for my Xbox One. Definitely more realistic than Forza, but I still found it somewhat approachable–even without a dedicated steering wheel. 

If you just want to go for a drive the Targa Florio track in Assetto Corsa  is so much fun.  Grab a Mini or an old 911 and pretend you are in the late 60s or early 70's bombing around the country roads of Italy.  Or grab a modern Miata or GR86 and you could be on an Italian holiday.  Just so much fun.  

Hoppps said:

I think iRacing is still the choice for most realistic, but Assetto Corsa is a great option if you want realism and the flexibility to just have fun. I enjoyed the open nordschleife servers where I could drive my dream cars that aren't race cars around. Also as mentioned there's a GRM group

iRacing is competitive and good for race cars only.

I also enjoy farting around in forza horizon 5. Whenever I just want to unwind I load that up and just enjoy the scenery, throw some rally tires on a koenigsegg and throw it in the dunes

So what you are saying it is ACC run by the SCCA.