For hardcore racing simulation fans, iRacing is a no-brainer.
You can be a fan of oval or road racing, because both classes are supported in iRacing, from legendary oval tracks like Daytona International Speedway (purchase required) to legendary road tracks like Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (already provided with a subscription). Your virtual career can advance with whatever you like best, even both if you'd like. All of the tracks are stunningly recreated from vast amounts of data including laser-scans to map out every bump and elevation difference of the track and hundreds of photos taken from many angles to help visually recreate every aspect. There are absolutely no flaws.
The cars themselves are spectacularly recreated visual-wise and physics-wise, so the cars both look and feel just like they would in real life.You advance in your career by completing a set amount of races and time trials and by achieving a set Safety Rating. The licenses are as follows:
Rookie
Class D
Class C
Class B
Class A
Pro
Your Safety Rating is just as it sounds- it judges your overall safety and responsibility on the track. For example, two wheels off the track will take away a very minute amount of points whereas colliding with a fellow driver will demand a much greater penalty. Sometimes crashes might be the fault of others, but they pay the price along with you. This can be aggravating at times but is overall understandable. Clean driving and your finishing position attribute to gaining points, and, if you're careful and competitive, the reward will be worth the trouble.
There are many different Seasons which accompany players ranked from Rookie to Pro, with some fixed seasons requiring a track/car purchase. With every season there are time trials, qualification rounds, races, and practice sessions. Gaining Safety Rating points is fairly easy if you're dedicated.
The feel is the meat of the sim in iRacing. You can feel and respond accurately to minute details on the road which can mean the difference between winning and losing. The physics are simply the best out of all of the simulators I have tried (rFactor, GTR 2 and Evolution, Race On, Forza 3, GT5, et cetera). The damage effects are phenomenal as well as the crash physics, and almost never have I thought, "That couldn't have happened!!!" It's always your fault if you spin out or crash, with the exception of the very few jerks out there. Speaking of that...
Jerks who love to ruin your race are not allowed to progress in iRacing. You can report any unruly behavior to the iRacing support team, and they can terminate the account for good. Even unruly attitudes and vulgar languange can be reported. Any of these can lead to account termination, so iRacing's community is one of the best out there.
This is no "game," as some people might call it. It's a pure-bred simulator, and to get the full simulation effect, you must have a decent racing setup such as a force-feedback racing wheel. I myself have a Logitech G27, which I highly recommend if you need a wheel. For other games it's not so great with semi-major dead zone with the force feedback, but all of those troubles disappear when coupled with iRacing. In my opinion, it's the best most affordable wheel you'll get. Up to three computer monitors are supported with iRacing, and it is also 3D compatible for you techies out there.
Along with a slightly pricey wheel, you'll need a slightly pricey subscription. And actually the majority of your money spent will be focused on new cars and tracks. Cars average around $11.99 each and tracks average around $14.99 each; but when you consider all of the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to recreate these, it's a very small price to pay.
I must stress that you will need to put a decent amount of time to master car and track variations. Just like in real life, you cannot simply jump into a car and break lap records.
Now on to the graphics. All I can say is WOW. The textures are great and there is a very high polygon count for such a hardcore simulator. And the SHADOWS! My, my, the shadows are excellent. They are brilliantly and realistically cast and blended with other shadows, so much so that I'd say they're better than anything I've seen so far in a simulator (sorry, just needed to show my nerd side for a second there...). It's not the clarity that gets me, however; it's the simplicity of the graphics. There really aren't any flashy aspects anywhere. And in this case, it's very good. And the graphics don't require insane high-specification graphics cards, either; but you want to keep the framerate around 60 FPS because otherwise your reactions will be slower due to slow visual feedback.
I shall now list the Pros and Cons, hoping I haven't missed anything:
Pros
-Amazing immersion and realism
-Spectacularly detailed cars and tracks
-Graphics are great and do not require high-end specifications
-Fair reward/penalty system
-Great and friendly (with some exceptions) online community
-The initial value is great
Cons:
-Pricey cars
-Pricey tracks
-Sound effects aren't the best
-Sometimes you'll be penalized for another person's mistake
All in all, if you have some extra money and you're contemplating trying iRacing, just go ahead and subscribe. With a decent force feedback wheel, you won't regret it. I'm fairly certain that the subscription fee is only a one-time payment, though I'm not completely sure. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.iracing.com/membership/
The subscription prices are as follows:
1 Month: $12.00
$12.00/Month
3 Months: $30.00
$10.00/Month
1 Year: $99.00
$8.25/Month
2 Years: $179.00
$7.46/Month