I started my PC Sim racing journey in 2020 after switching from the PlayStation console in search of that next level of immersion and depth offered in sim racing that you get on PC, compared to what’s on offer for the console communities. Since the change I had only ever stuck to one sim, that being Assetto Corsa Competizione.

After two years on the title, my mind wondered what else is out there and what else have I been missing so I went to find out. Now whilst I dabbled in Rfactor2 briefly for the Sim Grids launch event in 2021, I cannot give an overview of this title yet because I feel I have not spent enough time on this sim, especially since all the new updated features and UI, that review will come later. 

First thoughts

Most sim titles tend to lean in one direction that they excel at, ACC Graphically and true to the real GT3 feeling, iRacing for its braking and brake feel, RF2 for its industry leading FFB. What I am finding in RaceRoom is that it may not be the industry leader in any one specific department, but it scores pretty highly across the board in all areas and its hard to find fault in the sim when they have made all aspects to a very high level.

I absolutely love the contact physics here, because it does allow you to have a little knock with a competitor without any real consequences, cue the expression ‘rubbing is racing, son‘ and to me, this is a key factor to keep racing on RaceRoom. There have been many a time on ‘ACC’ where I’ve spent all week practising to get hit on lap 1 and accrue 56 seconds of damage and then my race has already been ruined. With RR it’s more forgiving, which some of you may say is not as realistic, but it certainly is more enjoyable being able to continue on in the race.

I’ve now had 4 weeks’ worth of sim racing on RaceRoom and I am thoroughly impressed by this sim title. But I very rarely hear it come up in conversations and now I am left wondering why because Race Room is bloody fantastic. This sim title is definitely going under the radar for many. You should try it out for yourself if you don’t believe me.

Cost 

Race Room is essentially a free to play sim to start with, you never have to spend a penny if you didn’t want to and you can get out of the rookie rooms quite easily like this, but RaceRoom like many Sim titles comes with ‘DLC’ pack options to choose from. I am going to skip through all the nonsense of these and tell you that once you’ve trialed the free content, just buy the premium pack and thank me later. It will be the best $70USD you spend. You’ll save a lot of money (up to 35%) through purchasing RR’s 10,000VRP points which you then trade-in to get the premium pack, which is a massive discount compared to buying things individually, plus you will then hit the ground running with the entire content and catalogue of Race Room including 50+ tracks and 190+ cars. No other sim brings outstanding value like this, none.

Tracks

A major draw for me is the vast array of tracks to race on compared to ACC. Assetto Corsa Competizione was released in September 2018 and the lack of extra content and tracks is such a shame when SRO is so well connected around the world, they could have doubled the tracklist easily by now. Not only can you access 12 of the tracks featured in ACC but when you have iconic tracks in Race Room like Macau, Nordschleife, Norisring, Hockenheim, Watkins Glen, Daytona, Indianapolis, Portimao…the list goes on and on, it’s no wonder it has kept me racing on Race Room for the last 4 weeks without me feeling like I am missing ACC. As mentioned 50+ circuits are available to race on to satisfy and keep your tyre squealing, engine purring and turbo whistling fantasies in check.

Cars 

Cars, cars and then more cars. The selection on offer is just glorious to say the least and you’ll never have a boring day in Race Room. Instead of me just sticking to the same old 3 manufacturers in ACC, here you get a substantial offering from DTM, WTCR, WTCC, F1, F2, F3, F4, IndyCar, Hillclimb, GT3, GT4, P1s, P2s and more. Not only do you get this selection and more but this selection takes you through the ages, so you can drive some of the classics from 20 years ago, or you have the option to go right through the years of a particular series, an example of this is DTM seasons 2013-2021. 

Of course, RaceRoom is home to the ADAC GT Masters Esports series which focuses on the GT3 counterparts which are very popular and very similar to ACC and RaceRoom are the industry leaders for DTMs, which I am finding out for myself right now. What I have found during my time in the rookie rooms is that the Taatus Formula 4 is the people’s choice, these are so so popular and create fantastically close racing, they also teach you the art of braking all over again because too much pressure in these pocket rockets and you are locking and loading those front wheels and smoking them to oblivion. 

Immersion

A factor for many with sim racing is immersion and whilst Race Room is no ACC in terms of graphics, it still holds its own for a sim that is now almost 10 years old. Just turn everything up to high/max because it is not a very taxing sim on your CPU or GPU and you are good to go. I must say the sound of this sim is the best I have ever experienced. This sim has nailed the immersion of sound beautifully. All the intricate little details of tyre sounds, cockpit sound, engine sound, turbo whine and gear-shifting, Race Room has it all. Get your headphones on, turn your volume up to max, head to the Nordschleife and then tell me you’re not smiling.   

FFB is a sensitive subject in the sim racing community and everyone has their favourites. Many say RF2 has the greatest FFB when setting up right. All I will say on this matter regarding Race Room is they have just had another major overhaul of its FFB and it feels pretty damn good from where I am sitting in my rig, admittedly I’ve spent a lot of time these last 4 weeks in either GT3 or DTM and I must say they have nailed the weight of the wheel superbly, whilst it lacks ever so slightly behind ACC in terms of overall detail, I feel it is properly weighted to give you a greater sense of the car beneath you. Couple this with the extra settings behind the FFB including gearshift jolting, bump amplifications and engine vibrations and it’s pretty close to greatness. Especially when they have to cater for 190+ cars now.

Ranked Multiplayer 

Ranked multiplayer mode in Race Room is a way of racing online against drivers of similar skill and ratings, for you to gain points to progress through your licences in a very similar way to how iRacing works. You have a ‘rating’ and a ‘reputation’ that fluctuate race by race.

‘Reputation’ rating takes into account the safety of your driving and your ability to race clean and avoid collisions or incidents. You then have the ‘rating’ rating which considers your racing results against the field you are racing against. Have a good result against faster opponents and this will rocket up fast, have poor results against weaker opponents and you’ll be stuck in a rut for a while. 

Either way, every night I’ve been on Race Room I’ve seen stacked ranked multiplayer lobbies in all types of categories of car. I can easily count 300+ drivers from a quick glance right now who are participating in ranked lobbies, which is way higher than the amount of drivers you see in public lobbies on ACC. This is the best online multiplayer platform I have ever tried. 

Almost ready to race

There are just a few more tweaks and extras you will need to get yourself fully set up on RaceRoom racing experience and one of those things is an external hub application called OttoHud, this feature will transform your overlay game and it is pretty much essential because RR for some reason does not come with built in radars and such to help you out whilst racing.

You should then go into your in-game settings and ensure you have the sim set to ‘windowed’. To do this hit settings -> video -> display mode -> windowed. What this essentially does for you is allow you to access your main PC screens still, without this enabled your windows keys will not work and you can only access the rest of your PC when you shut RR down. Not ideal if you are a streamer or need to access discord etc but this solves it.

Now you are ready to race!