I really want to play more iRacing. What I have played has been excellent, but I don't understand the model. You pay a sub then you pay for cars and tracks too. How can they have a F2P model and then have a sub :/ .
I'm sure that has been complained about to death in other places.
I don't really understand your question there... there is no F2P model? Or were you comparing it to something like RaceRoom?
The way I see it is thus:
The iRacing model is hard to justify if you compare it to other racing games, because it's very expensive if you believe 'value' correlates with 'content'. However, iRacing's setup is unique, and I believe the 'value' is found in the quality of the racing and the organisation rather than the individual cars and tracks. The consistency of their servers, the reliability and smoothness of the connection of every player still amazes me each race, and I've been on the service for over a year now. And then there is the organisation of the events, the ranking system, safety system, etc. Once you've passed the lower ranks, you're almost guaranteed a great race every time you load it up (as long as you are in the right mindset), and I've never been able to say that about any other racing game. And because everyone is using their real name, you can treat it very much like a virtual racing career.
Subscription costs = paying to keep their servers running 24/7, plus it is your 'racing licence', in the same way you'd pay a subscription to a real racing club. They throw in a few cars and tracks, enough for competitive racing throughout the year. If you were part of a local racing club, chances are you'd race at the same track every month, in your only car, and it would cost you a lot more. I spent the best part of a year pretty much just racing the MX-5, switching between Lime Rock and Okayama, and it felt like good value, because the racing was close, smooth and (mostly) respectful.
If you want to progress your virtual career further, you need to pay to 'visit' extra tracks on the calendar. It makes sense to focus on one car, as you would in real life - there's no point in buying loads of cars just to build a virtual garage - this is not Gran Turismo. So if you want to go the open-wheel route like I did, invest in the Skip Barber car. And to get the best value, it would be wise to buy at least 6 pieces of content at once, to get the 20% discount. So you get the Skip, and maybe 5 additional tracks that are scheduled for the upcoming Skip series. They always seem to run the included tracks in this series, so buying 5 extra would mean you're covered for at least 8 weeks in the 12 week season. This important because a) season points totals are calculated based on your 8 best weeks and b) if you attend races during at least 8 weeks in a season, you get $4 in credits. If you do multiple series, you can earn up to $10 each season. I decided to do the full 12 weeks in the Skip last season, and with those tracks I was also covered to do 8 weeks in both the Spec Racer Ford series and the GT Challenge series. So I got $10 this week, woo!
I don't see it as being all that expensive if you participate a lot. A year's sub is usually $49 on Black Friday week, you can earn up to $40 in credits over the year if you can participate in enough series, and you get $5 for maintaining a year's subscription. So in theory, a year's subscription could cost $4... but of course, you have to invest in the relevant tracks that would allow you to meet the participation requirements, but you can do that pretty sensibly and buy in bulk when you can.
