Where do I begin?

Ultimately, do I recommend this game? Of course! But there are some issues that I have. But let's start on a positive note.

iRacing, in my opinion, is the greatest racing simulator available, and nothing compares to it. The amount of series to race, the cars, the tracks, the consistent updates, the lively community, it's all amazing. For me, I race NASCAR, I absolutely love it. Because of iRacing, it allowed me and a childhood best friend to bond over a sport that we both love despite now living in separate states.

The laser-scanned tracks, the realistic feel of getting caught in dirty air trying to draft an opponent in order to make a run for the win, the adrenaline of fighting for first place, or trying to fend off second and third place coming to the checkered flag. It's heart pumping adrenaline that is so fun, yet also so frustrating if you can't pull off the win, or get wrecked out early, or wrecked at the end, whether intentionally or by some idiot who doesn't care what he causes. There are so many moments that I can reflect on in my measly 156 hours of racing that I will always reflect on with a smile because of how awesome they were.

Moving onto a slight positive, which ultimately turns into the negatives... Going up in Class (Rookie to A class)

Now you might be wondering, how on earth is a license system of starting from the bottom and grinding your way to the top become a negative? What becomes negative isn't the actual progression of your classes, it's the consumer practice of what you have to pay for. But we'll get into that. I think the licensing feature is awesome. You choose what series you want to start in (For me, it was Oval) and then the better you race, the more safe you are, the easier it is to progress. You either get your safety rating up to a 4.0 for an automatic promotion into the next class mid season, or you must obtain a 3.0 and at the end of the season, if you have a 3.0 or higher, you'll progress into the next class. It also works the opposite way, if you drop below a 2.0, at the end of the season, you'll be "demoted" and go down a license. Or if you drop below 1.0 mid season, it's an instant demotion in the middle of the season. I think it's a fair system as it encourages racing safely and deters (for the most part) people from coming in and simply wrecking everybody on purpose. Because they'll keep going down in licenses, or can get banned from constant reports on them. But this is where we take a shift into the negative.

The money required to consistently play this game is at times, ridiculous.

"Well CapnCrunch17, it's a simulator. They have laser-scanned tracks, realistic physics, blah blah blah, those can't be cheap!"

I get that, and I get that a business wants to profit and continually make money. First you purchase the game, okay, it's what, $9? Not breaking the bank, no problem. It's an MMO, okay, so there's a subscription. No problem, with the features they have, it deters trolls and cheaters, I enjoy it enough, I'll pay $12 a month. But then it doesn't stop there.

So in every class (Road, Oval, Dirt, etc.) They give you a few free vehicles to start with including free tracks (most of which are Legacy tracks that are the old versions). I'd say that's generous. It gives you the ability to get started in the game, test out what you like, and then to determine if it's right for you personally and financially. But after that, it can get a bit ridiculous. You have to buy the tracks for your series, you have to buy the car for the class that you're in, and this really adds up. Especially if you enjoy racing multiple series. For me, I love NASCAR and race oval and that's what I stick to. So I had to purchase a vehicle from I believe it was C class, B class, and A class (I can't remember if the D class ARCA cars were free). So tracks and cars are typically like $14 a pop before tax. That stuff adds up quickly. I haven't sat down to add up how much money I've spent on this game (that's not including the racing wheel and pedals that are essential to have to play this), but it's definitely a pretty penny or two. Like I mentioned before, I understand business' are here to make money, and with what they provide here, I am totally fine with paying for the game, paying for a subscription, and maybe having to purchase a couple things here and there. But if you want to race other series', that's just burning a hole in anybody's wallet and it's like a game with a gazillion microtransactions that comes across as incredibly anti-consumer. But what bugs me the most if you cancel your subscription or whatever, you cannot access anything you have bought. You're telling me I've spent probably over 1k for this game and let's say I forget to renew my subscription one day, I can't even race offline to practice while I wait for my subscription to process and renew again? I don't know, to me that's annoying.

Ultimately, the game, the simulator, or whatever you decide to call it is absolutely amazing. It's adrenaline pumping fun where people with similar interests can come together to "race" without having to drop thousands of dollars to race in real life. There's no serious repercussions for wrecking, it's simply back out, and find another race to join. I've met a lot of cool people, and I've met a lot of people I hope to never see or hear their voice ever again. But at the end of the day, with the money required for the game, nothing compares to the feeling of getting your first win in a tightly contested race. I'll be playing iRacing for years to come and will keep sinking money into it because I'm a sucker who can't get away from it.

If you have the money and passion for auto-racing, get this game. You won't regret it.