Which console + racing sim?

Okay, I'm not much of a gamer. Never have been. Never even beat Mario Bros. But my wife enjoys games and has expressed some interest in driving simulators. We currently have a Wii, which sucks.

If I were going to have an excuse to buy a new console system and a racing/driving simulator game - what should I get? GT6? Forza New Horizons 2? XBox? PS3?

I want something that's fairly realistic for driving but not impossible to master. I've never had luck with older sims I've tried because it just never responded like a car should in my experience.

Also, a good selection of shooting games would be nice - the missus likes to blast stuff but doesn't care much for storylines and complicated mission type crap.

I know there's a big GT6 fanbase here - is that the best thing going?

The GT6 group has been running continuously since late 2010. It has been a series of 10 race championships ever since. If you ever read the thread you'll notice that a lot of tutoring goes on there. These guys know what they're talking about and they can really help you get up to speed quickly.

I have Both GT6 and Forza. Although Forza has a lot going for it I vastly prefer GT. A lot of the Forza guys pationately prefer Forza. I just think that GT feels more fluid and real than Forza. If you think that this is something you might want to relate to long term I strongly recommend getting GT.

1,2,3 I'm braced for a Forza rebuttal.

Whatever you do, a wheel and pedal setup makes a 10000x difference.

In reply to ultraclyde:

I guess it depends on what you and the wife want. If she just wants to use a controller and race around cars off and on arcade style then there are many games our there to satisfy that. The experience of wheel and pedals with Force Feedback in a good wheel controller will make any game more a simulation. But that adds a few hundred dollars to the effort.

I would suggest a PS3 and GT6. However, if you want to wait a few months to a year the GT7 game will be out on PS4.

I would suggest getting a PS4 as Xbox 360 and PS3 will soon die off, leaving you with no choice but to replace them if you want to buy newer games. I would stay away from Xbox, because you have to buy their crappy accessories and PS3/4 Allows you to use Logitech G27, which I think is the best combo. You can also use the G27 on your PC so it is a duel use wheel/pedal combo.

Forza 4 and an XBox 360. Don't bother with Horizons, unless you just want an arcadish hoonigan game experience. Forza 5 is even better, with some GREAT tracks, but the XBox 1 is still an expensive proposition right now.

The tuning in the Forza series is what makes the difference for me. I'm able to change the bump or rebound settings and FEEL the change in handling in Forza. In all my years of Gran Turismo, the best handling came from maxing out the rebound and going full soft on the bump. Nothing else seemed to matter besides that and gearing.

Also, if you don't want to buy a $400 wheel set-up, having a controller with analog triggers for gas and brake more than do the job. I'm well inside the top 500 in the world on Forza 4 with a controller.

The ps3 is cheep and very good. I also recommend a Sony 1080p tv to go with it and you must use hdmi cables. This combo is what I put together for my 2nd system and it is the best bang for the buck

I am bias towards gt6 it is a great. To echo what others have said a g27 wheel really makes it. It transforms it from a game to a SIM. Lastly who you race with is as important as anything else. The group here is great fun.

I feel like Forza is the better game, but I'm a Gran Turismo whore at heart- I grew up on their physics. Call it personal preference. You really can't lose either way IMO.

Good stuff so far. I think the wife probably wants more of the arcade experience, I'm noncommittal. If I go PS3 and get GT6 for my sim enjoyment, what's the best arcade driving title? something that's not Clowny's Bumper Cars but doesn't require league competition?

Arcade driving, there's a LOT of good ones out there. PS3..... let's see, we're going back a ways. Split second was really good, and it's relatively unknown so it's cheap. Burnout anything is phenomenal- and they were REALLY polished by the time they got to the last gen consoles. For me, the Need For Speed series died after Pro/Street (though strangely, I didn't hate that one). I advise against NFS on the PS3 personally because at some point EA got it through their thick skulls that using the thumb stick was the way to steer. It's a great way to ruin your hand. Carbon was good, Most Wanted (the original one) was REALLY good. the DIRT series is pretty excellent for offroad arcadey, as well as MotorStorm (there's 3-4 of those out now, I forget all of what I own.... I'm staring at part of my collection right now trying to remember). GRiD was the on road version of DiRT, and was prert neat as well. If you can find MX vs. ATV something or another, those are actually pretty fun as far as dirt bike games go- I wasted a lot of time in free mode trying to huck ridiculous jumps.

if you are wanting a serious SIM as I understand it iracing is about as serious as it gets... but it requires a decent PC

on the cheap side the ps3 or xbox360 options are where you want to look

You should be able to grab a used 360 and a copy of Forza 4 for around $100. I grew up with Gran Turismo but made the jump to the (IMO) vastly superior Forza series with Forza 2. Damage, engine swaps, and custom paint jobs are all huge advantages Forza has over GT. The Gran Turismo series isn't bad but doesn't seem to have made any real improvements aside from graphics since GT2.

dean1484 wrote: To echo what others have said a g27 wheel really makes it. It transforms it from a game to a SIM. Lastly who you race with is as important as anything else. The group here is great fun.

Side benefit to the PS3 route, is that the Logitech wheel and pedal sets can also be used with PCs if you go that route later on.

(Saying that as an Xbox 360 owner.)

A good wheel + pedal then whatever floats your boat. You will not enjoy any of them with a controller or a crappy wheel.

I personally have gone back to iracing on/off. It's not as pretty as the consoles but it's much more serious and it "mostly" acts like you expect a car to act. The consoles - all of them - are cartoons. I'm not saying they are not fun... but they are not sims.

If your wife also likes to kill zombies, assassinate historical figures or beat a hooker to death to get her money back then go console ALL THE WAY. If you/she just want to go racing with some intensity buy a solid PC and sign up for iracing. They are giving that E36 M3 away on introductory offers.

I guess Fanatec wheels and pedals are cheap toys that only work on the 360 according to PlayStation guys.

My Fanatec CSR force-feedback wheel and pedal set-up are incredible, and they work on PS, XBox, and PC.

For all those that are saying that gt is not that good and lacks reality I am wondering if you all have tried gt6 or are you basing this on earlier versions. GT6 is a quantum leap forward. also re forenza if painting your car and how you look is important to you than this is the game for you. Gt6 is alot less about the bling and more about the driving. To date Gt6 is the most realistic console game I have tried. The new driving physics are dam good.

dean1484 wrote: also re forenza if painting your car and how you look is important to you than this is the game for you.

Let's be fair to Forza though, it has way better car sounds and less GT-R versions.

Xbox is the devil.

I grew up on Turbo and Outrun. Several years later I got a Playstation and GT1, then GT2 the month it was released. Fast forward 10 years, I got an Xbox 360 and Forza 4. I've played GT6, but like the sounds and physics of Forza 4 better. Another thing is the variety of games. Playstation seems to have a better overall offering of genre's than Xbox unless you also get Kinect.

dean1484 wrote: For all those that are saying that gt is not that good and lacks reality I am wondering if you all have tried gt6 or are you basing this on earlier versions. GT6 is a quantum leap forward. also re forenza if painting your car and how you look is important to you than this is the game for you. Gt6 is alot less about the bling and more about the driving. To date Gt6 is the most realistic console game I have tried. The new driving physics are dam good.

I picked up GT6 and put a few hours in, then promptly sold it to gamestop and bought Forza 3. IMO the car roster made up of 60 Skylines, 30 NSX's, etc is annoying and I don't care for the way the ai plays bumper cars (without damage collisions are weird). I also don't like how 90% of the cars have the less detailed graphics models.

Different strokes for different folks, I'm officially sold on Forza. I like the bling.

That said, as far as racing games go GT is still miles ahead of most everything else. I also prefer the PS3 games lineup over the 360. For not a lot of money you can snag a PS3, GT6, the Uncharted series, and The Last of Us and stay glued to your tv for months.