Sim racing is the collective term for racing games that attempt to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings.[4] To be competitive in sim racing, a driver must understand all aspects of car handling that make real-world racing so difficult,[5] such as threshold braking, how to maintain control of a car as the tires lose traction, and how properly to enter and exit a turn without sacrificing speed. It is this level of difficulty that distinguishes sim racing from arcade racing-style driving games where real-world variables are taken out of the equation and the principal objective is to create a sense of speed as opposed to a sense of realism like the Need for Speed series.[6]
Due to the complexity and demands of mimicking real-life driving, racing sims require faster computers to run effectively, as well as a steering wheel and pedals for the throttle and brakes for the immersion.[14] While using a gamepad or even a mouse and keyboard, may suffice for most arcade-style driving games on home systems, it would not provide the same level of immersion and realism as using a racing wheel and pedals. In recent years, many sim racing experiences have been developed for consoles, such as the PlayStation and Xbox.[15][16] While these games can be played with a controller, it is recommended that players invest in a racing wheel and pedals. With the development of online racing, the ability to drive against human opponents and computer AI offline is the closest many would come to driving cars on a real track.[17][18][19] Even those who race in real-world competition use simulations for practice or for entertainment.[20] With continued development of the physics engine software that forms the basis of these sims, as well as improved hardware (providing tactile feedback), the experience has become more realistic.
Prior to the division between arcade-style racing and sim racing, the earliest attempts at providing driving simulation experiences were arcade racing video games, dating back to Pole Position,[25] a 1982 arcade game developed by Namco, which the game's publisher Atari publicized for its "unbelievable driving realism" in providing a Formula 1 experience behind a racing wheel at the time. It featured other AI cars to race against, crashes caused by collisions with other vehicles and roadside signs, and introduced a qualifying lap concept where the player needs to complete a time trial before they can compete in Grand Prix races.[26] It also pioneered the third-person rear-view perspective used in most racing games since then, with the track's vanishing point swaying side to side as the player approaches corners, accurately simulating forward movement into the distance.[27] In a 2007 retrospective review, Eurogamer called it "a simulation down to the core: those dedicated will eventually reap success but most will be deterred by the difficulty".[28]
Many cars are digitally recreated for sim racing like this BMW Z4 GT3 from Assetto Corsa.
Pole Position II was released in 1983 and featured several improvements like giving the player the choice of different race courses.[30]TX-1, developed by Tatsumi in 1983,[31] was licensed to Namco,[32] who in turn licensed it to Atari in America,[32] thus the game is considered a successor to Pole Position II.[32]TX-1, however, placed a greater emphasis on realism, with details such as forcing players to brake or downshift the gear during corners to avoid the risk of losing control, and let go of the accelerator when going into a skid in order to regain control of the steering. It also used force feedback technology, which caused the steering wheel to vibrate, and the game also featured a unique three-screen arcade display for a more three-dimensional perspective of the track. It also introduced nonlinear gameplay by allowing players to choose which path to drive through after each checkpoint, eventually leading to one of eight possible final destinations.[32]
Since the mid-1980s, it became a trend for arcade racing games to use hydraulic motion simulatorarcade cabinets.[33][34] The trend was sparked by Sega's "taikan" games, with "taikan" meaning "body sensation" in Japanese.[34] The "taikan" trend began when Yu Suzuki's team at Sega (later known as Sega AM2) developed Hang-On (1985), a racing video game where the player sits on and moves a motorbike replica to control the in-game actions.[35]Hang-On was a popular Grand Prix style rear-view motorbike racer,[36] was considered the first full-body-experience video game,[37] and was regarded as the first motorbike simulator for its realism at the time, in both the handling of the player's motorbike and the AI of the computer-controlled motorcyclists.[36] It used force feedback technology and was also one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's "Super Scaler" technology that allowed pseudo-3Dsprite-scaling at high frame rates.[38] Suzuki's team at Sega followed it with hydraulic motion simulator cabinets for later racing games, such as Out Run in 1986.[33]
In 1986, Konami released WEC Le Mans, an early car driving simulator based on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It attempted to realistically simulate car driving, with the car jumping up and down, turning back and forth, and spinning up to 180 degrees, with an emphasis on acceleration, braking, and gear shifting, along with the need for counter-steering to avoid spin-outs. It also featured a day-night cycle, accurately simulated courses approved by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, and force feedback to simulate road vibration in the form of a vibrating steering wheel that reacts to the driver's acceleration and off-road bumps.[39] The first racing game with simulation pretensions on a home system is believed to have been Chequered Flag, released by Psion on the 8-bit ZX Spectrum in 1983. REVS, followed in 1986. REVS was a Formula 3 sim that delivered a semi-realistic driving experience by Geoff Crammond that ran on the Commodore 64 and BBC. REVS had a big fan base in England, but not so much in the United States.[40]
3D polygon graphics appeared in arcade racing simulators with Namco's Winning Run (1988) and Atari's Hard Drivin' (1989),[41] the latter also becoming a staple on home computers, where it was one of the most widely played simulators up to that point. During the late 1980s to early 1990s, arcade racing games such as Out Run and Virtua Racing (1992) had increasingly elaborate, hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets,[33] with arcade racers such as Virtua Racing and Daytona USA (1993) increasingly focused on simulating the speed and thrills of racing.[41] At the same time, arcade racing games gradually moved away from the more difficult simulation style of Pole Position.[28] By the early 1990s, arcade racing games had less emphasis on realistic handling or physics, and more emphasis on fast-paced action, speed and thrills.
Emergence of sim racing genre (1989–1997)
Sim racing is generally acknowledged to have really taken off in 1989 with the introduction of Papyrus Design Group's Indianapolis 500: The Simulation, designed by David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari on 16-bit computer hardware. The game is often generally regarded as the personal computer's first true auto racing simulation. Unlike most other racing games at the time, Indianapolis 500 attempted to simulate realistic physics and telemetry, such as its portrayal of the relationship between the four contact patches and the pavement, as well as the loss of grip when making a high-speed turn, forcing the player to adopt a proper racing line and believable throttle-to-brake interaction. It also featured a garage facility to allow players to enact modifications to their vehicle, including adjustments to the tires, shocks and wings.[40] With Indy 500, players could race the full 500 miles (800km), where even a blowout after 450 miles (720km) would take the player out of the competition. The simulation sold over 200,000 copies. It was around this time that sim racing began distinguishing itself from arcade-style racing. Consoles saw the release of Human Entertainment's Fastest 1 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991. It was considered the most realistic Formula 1 racing simulation up until that time.[42]
In 1991, Namco released the arcade game Mitsubishi Driving Simulator, co-developed with Mitsubishi. It was a serious educational street driving simulator that used 3D polygon technology and a sit-down arcade cabinet to simulate realistic driving, including basics such as ensuring the car is in neutral or parking position, starting the engine, placing the car into gear, releasing the hand-brake, and then driving. The player can choose from three routes while following instructions, avoiding collisions with other vehicles or pedestrians, and waiting at traffic lights; the brakes are accurately simulated, with the car creeping forward after taking the foot off the brake until the hand-brake is applied. Leisure Line magazine considered it the "hit of the show" upon its debut at the 1991 JAMMA show. It was designed for use by Japanese driving schools, with a very expensive cost of AU$150,000 or US$117,000(equivalent to $282,000 in 2024) per unit.[43]
The next major milestone was the 1992 release of Formula One Grand Prix (AKA World Circuit in some markets) by MicroProse, also developed by Geoff Crammond. This moved the genre along significantly. Multiplayer was made possible by allowing different drivers to take turns, and racers could also hook up their machines for racing via a null modem cable. This only allowed two drivers to race. Leagues emerged where drivers would submit records of their single player races to compare with other drivers. LFRS (Little Formula Racing Series) included 22 two teams consisting of drivers from around the world racing various classes of sim racing in open and restricted setups. Drivers were required to download event specific setup files for each class, to monitor frame rates and apply a checksum to prevent tampering. Drivers saved their race and uploaded to the LFRS server where race results determined overall positions.This is the first sim in which drafting/slip streaming was possible.
Papyrus followed up Indy 500 with IndyCar Racing in 1993 and F1GP was surpassed in all areas. Papyrus later released more tracks and a final expansion included the Indianapolis track plus a paintkit. Now drivers could easily customize their cars. IndyCar Racing sold around 300,000 copies. The first variant of Papyrus' NASCAR Racing series was launched in 1994. In SVGA (640×480) it pushed the PCs of the time to the limit. Suddenly a resolution of 320×200 seemed a poor option and NASCAR Racing was the race sim of choice for anyone with a capable PC, particularly in North America. It was the first sim where cars no longer looked like boxes. It keyed in on sophisticated physics modeling. NASCAR Racing sold over one million units. Moreover, the first real online racing started with NASCAR Racing using the "Hawaii" dial-in servers and it was not uncommon for these early sim racers to have $300 to $1500 phone bills. Online racing had seen its first true realization, and to many, this was the dawn of "real" sim racing.[44]
1995 saw the release of IndyCar Racing II, updating the first version with the new NASCAR graphics engine. A year later, MicroProse released the successor to F1GP, Grand Prix 2, to much anticipation. GP2 became successful not just because of its detailed and thorough simulation of the 1994 Formula 1 season, but also because it was customizable; this was achievable by way of the online community. Players could change everything about the game: drivers, teams, graphics, physics, car shapes, and eventually even the racetracks. Offline leagues reached their peak with GP2 in 1998.
In 1996, NASCAR Racing 2 was released, further improving the original, and the number of sim racers exploded. The TEN multiplayer hosting service was introduced and went live in November 1997 with the backing of NASCAR and the online sim racing community grew. In 1997, Gran Turismo was released for the PlayStation. It was considered the most realistic racing simulation for consoles at the time, featuring a wealth of meticulous tuning options and an open-endedcareer mode where players had to undertake driving tests to acquire driving licenses, earn their way into races and choose their own career path.[45] It introduced the racing simulation genre to home consoles,[45][46] becoming the basis for all modern racing simulations on video game consoles.[46]
Gameplay from the first Gran Turismo featuring a Mitsubishi FTO GPX
Graphics accelerator era (1997–2002)
Graphics accelerator cards brought a new level of realism to the graphics and physics of sim racing games. These new graphics processing units provided texture mapping, antialiasing, particle effects (i.e. fog, rain and snow), HDR and the capability to perform polygonal calculations faster, while taking the load off of the main processor. F1 Racing Simulation by Ubisoft, was among the first to utilize the new technology in 1997.
After years of development, Microprose released Grand Prix 3, which used a more modern graphics engine and featured the same customizable structure of GP2. However, GP3 was not as well received as its predecessor due to a lack of full online multiplayer and the fact it was based on the same, outdated graphics engine as GP2. However, because of the graphical and physical similarities between the two games, the game was popular with modders who were able to port mod tracks and cars directly into GP3.
Another milestone in sim racing came in 1998 with the release of Papyrus’ Grand Prix Legends, which was based on the 1967 F1 season. It was hailed as outstanding in all areas, especially in its physics and sound design. For many players, their first real experience of sim racing was through GPL or one of its many derivatives, such as NASCAR Racing 2003. The release of a groundbreaking third-party add-on for GPL, VROC (Virtual Racers Online Connection), allowed players to join online and race in leagues.
Despite its age, GPL has remained a common benchmark for racing simulators even in the modern era, thanks to a strong community that continues to create new content for the game to this very day. Modding teams even managed to further improve on the game's physics and create third-party expansions for the following seasons, such as the 1969 season.
Wired magazine wrote an in-depth article about racing sims called 'Hard Drive' in their February 1997 issue.[47] In 1997, TORCS was released. Uniquely for racing sims, it was open source, making it even easier for modding teams to add new features and even create whole new games (such as the TORCS-based Speed Dreams).
Sega AM2's 1999 arcade game Ferrari F355 Challenge, later ported to the Dreamcast in 2000, was considered the most accurate simulation of the Ferrari F355 possible up until that time; its focus on realism was considered unusual for an arcade game at the time.[48]
A complex simulation of the tire model became a key area of focus for developers. Games such as Live for Speed developed by Scawen Roberts, Eric Bailey, and Victor van Vlaardingen in 2003, Image Space Incorporated's rFactor in 2005, and Kunos Simulazioni's netKar Pro in 2006 each explored an implementation of a complex tire simulation, including other areas of vehicle and physics modelling.
Live for Speed was one of the earliest games in the genre to feature online multiplayer in 2003. Its combination of online features and its tire model implementation made for a popular release game.[50] Over the course of over 20 years of development, numerous updates to the game's physics engine have since been introduced, including a deeper simulation of tire wear, dynamic dirt, flat spots, hot spots and tire wall deformation, suspension, aerodynamics, drivetrain, several gearbox types, clutch overheating, car body damage, and engine damage.[51][52]
rFactor was notable for its initial download-only distribution model, and was originally released in 2005 with fictional cars and tracks. In 2012, they launched the open beta of its sequel, rFactor2. It left beta in 2013, mostly unfinished, which was met with backlash from players. In 2016, however, Dutch developer Studio 397 took over development, intending to revamp the title, making huge efforts to rejuvenate the series with extensive customisation and detailed physics.[53]
Rally fans received the first true rally simulation in 2004 with Richard Burns Rally. 2001 FIA World Rally Champion and namesake Richard Burns was involved in the development, giving feedback on handling dynamics in particular.[54] It initially received mixed reviews upon release, but the game is now recognised by the community as the best rally simulation available, thanks to its complex physics engine and realistic portrayals of real-life courses.[55] Much like most sims from the graphic accelerator and modern era, it is highly modifiable and has many third-party mods that introduce anything from new cars to new physics.
Modding community SimBin evolved into SimBin Studios and released GTR 2 (itself a sequel to GTR – FIA GT Racing Game) in 2006, a sports car racing simulator developed with input from the actual teams which took part in the FIA GT Championship's 2003 and 2004 seasons. It received widespread acclaim and has been noted for its high levels of technical and driving realism with regard to sports car racing.[56]
David Kaemmer, co-founder of the now-defunct Papyrus Design Group,[57] released iRacing in 2008, a multiplayer-oriented simulator run on a subscription model. The game retained the multi-body physics system of NR2003, as well as some of the track presentation and multi-user packet code, but everything else had been changed, or was made completely new, like the tire model and graphics engine.[58]iRacing is one of the longest supported racing games in the genre, and the game continually receives regular updates between 12-week competition seasons.[59] Continuous improvements to the game's driving model have earned it recognition as the most realistic racing simulation on the market from both critics and players.[60] In 2023, iRacing introduced the "Tempest" dynamic weather system.[61]
Kunos Simulazioni began development on Assetto Corsa in 2010, a sim built on experience gained from netKar Pro and Ferrari Virtual Academy but with an entirely new engine. It was released on Windows through Steam's early access program in November 2013, with the full version released in December 2014.[62] The new engine was designed to provide extensive and detailed tools for modding, allowing players to create highly detailed content with minimal effort. The engine's flexible modding capabilities have kept the game widely played for years beyond its lifespan,[63] with one such third-party example known as "Custom Shaders Patch", adding modern graphical upgrades, dynamic weather systems, and expanded functionality. In May 2019, Kunos Simulazioni launched Assetto Corsa Competizione, the spiritual successor to Assetto Corsa, which used the official license of the GT World Challenge and aimed to provide an accurate simulation of Group GT3 racing, using the Unreal Engine 4 game engine.[64]
In 2015, Slightly Mad Studios, launched Project CARS for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It was unique in that it was a crowdfunded effort, CARS standing for Community Assisted Racing Simulator. The game used an improved version of the Madness engine from the Need for Speed: Shift titles.[67] By taking advantage of newer hardware, Project CARS introduced a dynamic tire model named "SETA", replacing the steady-state model based on lookup tables seen in previous generation simulations.[68] Slightly Mad Studios' Project CARS 2 sequel in 2017 saw improvements based on community feedback.[69]
The isiMotor2 and Madness engines saw use in Reiza Studios' Automobilista and Automobilista 2 games, featuring Fórmula Truck, rallycross, and some lesser-known Brazilian racing classes among others.
Sim racing experienced an exponential rise in exposure in 2020, following the suspension of global racing series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[70] With no live races available, racing organisations, teams, and broadcasters turned to virtual competitions to maintain fan engagement. Livestreams of sim racing games from official racing series drew as many as 400,000 viewers.[70]Formula One's Virtual Grands Prix drew 30 million viewers across multiple platforms. iRacing saw a 50% increase in its subscription base in the first few months of 2020, reaching 160,000 subscribers in April of that year.[71]
In recent years, as international interest has grown, so has the online community and underground racing circuit. These communities act as a focal point for users around the world to engage with one another, coordinate racing schedules, exchange modded cars, tracks, discuss hardware configurations and facilitate other communications. With the rising levels of competition in sim racing, esports is also an ever-growing topic in the community.
In his free time, four-time Formula OneWorld Drivers' ChampionMax Verstappen competes in sim racing. Having taken part in many sim racing competitions, Verstappen stated that it helps him with his real life racing, keeping him "ready to go".[83] Verstappen is a member of Team Redline; a multinational sim racing team,[84] and has won several marquee iRacing events with the team since 2019. Verstappen's activities in sim racing have gained notoriety from critics for clashing with Grand Prix weekends in some cases, most notably in the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, where he criticised Red Bull Racing's strategy calls and the handling and pace of the RB20 over team radio. Verstappen had taken part in an iRacing sim racing event prior to the Grand Prix, racing until 3:00 a.m.[85][86]
Some racing games have introduced a multiplayer driver ranking system for organizing online racing. There are usually two orthogonal types of driver rankings, one which ranks drivers according to how safe they are on track and with respect to other drivers in avoiding incidents, and one according to how fast they are. For the driver speed rating, an Elo rating system is typically used, as a form of matchmaking to group together drivers of similar skills. The safety rating instead is typically used as a form of licence which is required to access some classes of races.[90]
The ranked games and sims also include an esports division that shows off the high caliber drivers in each sim. Some sims have both special events and championships series that put those drivers on the big stage.
In 2023, German esports organizer ESL announced a new sim racing competition in collaboration with the new sim racing platform Rennsport. The championship, consisting of 2 separate seasons in 2023, offers a total prize money of €500,000.[98]
F1 Sim Racing
F1 Esports, renamed to F1 Sim Racing in 2023, was founded in 2017 and is annually hosted on F1's official games during several shows in the late year. They have a current prize fund of $750,000 and all ten teams from the real-life Formula One championship select three drivers to represent them, with two of those drivers participating in select races. Brendon Leigh won the first two championships, while current champion Frederik Rasmussen holds the record for the most wins and poles in the series.
1 2 "Motor Sport". Returning for 2023, Gran Turismo is a worldwide leading race-simulation game. Once again Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Polyphony Inc. will give drivers a chance to compete in the Olympic Esports Series and take home the trophy!
1 2 Williams, Andrew (16 March 2017). History of Digital Games: Developments in Art, Design and Interaction. CRC Press. pp.175–6. ISBN978-1-317-50381-1.
↑ Denton, Jon (August 2008). "The Masters of Mass". AutoSimSport. 4 (4): 21–34. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
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