iRacing News (Pricing)

Armitage · January 25, 2008, 12:04:54 AM

It all depends what they do to justify a monthly charge. WOW was/is a bargain, the provide massive servers, which they have to maintain, Game admins 24/7 to sort out any problems players may have and they are always working on new content. What are these guys going to do for there 10'er a month.

The Moose · January 25, 2008, 12:22:24 AM

The thing is, it's not just the monthly subscription but paying extra for each car and track.
I've been down this route with Flight Sim (Payware planes and scenery)minus the monthly subs, and before you know it you've spent many hundreds of pounds.
You buy the planes to try them but end up not flying 90% of them more than a few times. The same will happen with the cars in iRacing.

Don't get me wrong, i love the idea of the most hardcore sim, but it's going to have to be incredible for me to think of parting with that sort of cash. Especially now money is really tight.

Romus · January 25, 2008, 11:31:49 AM

Quote from: The Moose;220128The thing is, it's not just the monthly subscription but paying extra for each car and track.
I've been down this route with Flight Sim (Payware planes and scenery)minus the monthly subs, and before you know it you've spent many hundreds of pounds.
You buy the planes to try them but end up not flying 90% of them more than a few times. The same will happen with the cars in iRacing.

That sounds like a very propable path if starting with iRacing.

vobler · June 26, 2008, 10:16:10 AM

Anyone else got invited?

spudgun55 · June 26, 2008, 11:47:37 AM

i think 13 dollars a month (min) is way to much, i know that yes you get hours of play value and they do need huge servers but with non subscription games like LFS it's even harder to justify, it will have to be a really special game for that sort of monthly fee!!:g:

Aquilifer · June 26, 2008, 12:23:24 PM

Quote from: vobler;235465Anyone else got invited?

Invited? Do you have to be invited!? Is it some sort of an elitist private club? :sideways:

vobler · June 26, 2008, 12:35:14 PM

Quote from: Aquilifer;235506Invited? Do you have to be invited!? Is it some sort of an elitist private club? :sideways:

To get in now you have to be invited. I was lucky to know someone who knows a beta tester. :-)
After the summer it will be open for all.

I haven't tried much yet though.

OldBloke · June 26, 2008, 12:36:41 PM

Keep us informed Verner. :thumb:

Aquilifer · June 26, 2008, 12:43:00 PM

Quote from: vobler;235510To get in now you have to be invited. I was lucky to know someone who knows a beta tester. :-)
After the summer it will be open for all.

Oh yeah, makes sense then. I forgot it was still in beta. So remember to tell us then if it sucks or blows

Carr0t · June 26, 2008, 02:28:21 PM

Quote from: Armitage;220124It all depends what they do to justify a monthly charge. WOW was/is a bargain, the provide massive servers, which they have to maintain, Game admins 24/7 to sort out any problems players may have and they are always working on new content. What are these guys going to do for there 10'er a month.

Aye. When I first stated playing it WoW actually *saved* me money! How? Well your average FPS that I used to play most often cost me Â£30 in the shops, and I used to buy at least 1, often 2, per month. In those months where not may had come out i'd scrounge through bargain bins for RPGs or RTSes i'd missed, but I always ended up spending at least Â£30/month on games, often more. When I bought WoW it occupied all my gaming time, thus I didn't buy any other games, so the Â£7/month (when you pay in a batch like I do) effectively saved me at least Â£23 every month that I would have spent on other games. That went on for a good year or so, then I started playing WoW less and shifted to playing other games as well, but knowing I have WoW always there to pick up when I want I now wait for games to come down in price instead of getting them on day of release, and am more selective about what I buy, so I certainly don't think i'm any *worse* off than I was before.

But yeah, with their subscription model i'd be asking a lot of questions. Are they going to provide the servers for you to race on? Are you going to be able to customize the servers how *you* want if they provide them? Will they provide admins so you can get on with racing and not have to worry about cheaters? etc etc. As Armitage said, it's about what you get for your Â£10/month from a maintenance point of view, not just to play.

delanvital · June 27, 2008, 04:24:07 PM

Just read this

The goal of the iRacing.com experience is simple: to make each lap driven in simulation as valid as a lap driven on the real-world race circuit.

To achieve this exceptionally high level of realism, iRacing.com uses its pioneering, proprietary application of three-dimensional laser scanning technology to create two key features.

The first is a series of highly detailed sight-pictures. These images, like frames in a movie filmed from an in-car camera, are driver's-eye views that allow iRacing.com drivers to see specific points of a lap: braking points, turn-in points, or the apex of a corner, for example.

iRacing.com's sight-pictures are the most accurate and complete ever offered in a racing simulation. You see exactly where you are on the racetrack at any given millisecond, receiving the instantaneous, granular visual input racers require to refine their performance lap after lap.

In addition to its sight-picture visuals, iRacing.com replicates the precise physical features of each track's racing surface. Our laser scanning technology produces a mathematical 'bump map' of the track's camber, cracks, undulations, and patches - recording every millimeter of the surface. A series of "point clouds" capture the three-dimensional profile of the track surface and adjacent curbing.

Combine this mathematically-precise surface mapping with iRacing.com's hyper-accurate sight-pictures, and you have a powerful tool that allows even drivers at the highest levels of professional motorsport to use their virtual seat time to hone their skills and improve their real-world performance.

http://www.iracing.com/technology/track.php?lc=1

Please keep us informed!

Doorman · June 27, 2008, 05:23:37 PM

Quote from: Aquilifer;235506Invited? Do you have to be invited!? Is it some sort of an elitist private club? :sideways:

Take no notice of him, he's a communist.

Aquilifer · June 27, 2008, 05:38:50 PM

Quote from: Doorman;235770Take no notice of him, he's a communist.

What an insult! :taz:

vobler · January 27, 2009, 10:24:13 PM

I just want to remind people of the cost of iRacing.

There was just some talk about this in the iRacing forums.

Every time you get a years subscription you get back $60 in iRacing credit. You are free to use it on cars, tracks or even extending the subscription further.

You pay $156 for the full year, but you get back $60 in credit so that makes the total cost $96 dollars. Or $8 a month. (about the price I pay for a beer ... )
A superb deal! :yahoo:

Gnomie · January 27, 2009, 10:31:47 PM

I read an interesting discussion on the member forums about the pricing structure. Someone suggested that they changed it so that you'd pay for entering a season rather than paying for each car/track. So if you wanted to do the Mazda for a season you'd pay x $$ for a package containing the car and all the tracks you need. The tracks would then only be available to use with this particular car.

What do you think of that idea? I definitely see some strong points. From what I've read it seems that a lot of racers have to skip some races (particularly in the higher series) because they don't own all the tracks that are used. This problem would be eliminated. Furthermore it would be easier for the iRacing staff to change the track rotation from one season to the next because they would no longer be "tied down" to some tracks. (Like, Skip Barber on Infineon and VIR)

The downside of course is that you wouldn't be able to play these tracks with other cars. But apart from that I think it sounds like a good idea.

Thoughts?