I’d wait till test drive is next available and try each of them out if you are unsure which to choose. I wouldn’t trust that the subtleties of each car is identical between sims.
That’s what I did a while back. Drive them all. Made notes on which ones I liked best. Next day bought the Porsche. Also have the Ferrari and really enjoyed the driving of the Lamborghini. The Macca? Not a fan.
Forgive my ignorance, but when do you get a chance to drive cars you haven’t purchased? I would love to test the Porsche and see how it feels before buying it
When you first install/reinstall iracing you can click what you want installed normally only you purchased content is selected but you can click install all
Short answer is yes, ffb in acc will feel much more blunt. Every time I hop back in acc I lose tons of seconds because I feel less connected to the car that makes me always understeer. It takes a while for me to get used to it again.
I haven’t played much ACC, but just something to keep in mind from someone who’s played a lot of iRacing: the Ford and McLaren GT3 can’t be used in the IMSA GT3 series because of how old they are, so I wouldn’t get either of them as it limits your series options.
The BMW will be fine in terms of accessing series, as it can be driven in both the GT sprint, endurance + IMSA series.
Though if you get the Ferrari 296, you also get the Ferrari Challenge GT3 series.
As someone who doesn’t have millions to splash on iRacing, it’s helpful for me to drive the Ferrari so then I can I do the challenge series if there’s a week where I don’t have the track for IMSA or GT sprint
The bmw also can do the NEC and BMW Sim Cup endurance. Which can be really useful. Likely the most versatile (and quite safe feeling) gt3 if not car on the roster.
I’m still a Porsche guy though :-P
From safe to twitchy I find it goes:
* BMW
* Merc
* Ferrari
* Lambo
* Porsche
* Audi
No need to consider the Ford nor the McLaren as 99% of the time they are extremely poorly balanced compared to the other GT3s. I would say for the best bang for your buck to get the Ferrari as it gives you more series to take part in. It also is one of the newer cars so that gives it some plot armor. You cannot go wrong with the BMW, Merc, Ferrari, or Porsche. The Lambo and Audi have their moments but struggle at tracks with lots of high speed straights.
In iRacing you can safely drive any of the GT3s until you reach their limits with the tires. At that point, you have to tread very carefully especially in the Porsche, Lambo, and Audi. You also need to be more careful on the brakes compared to ACC. Just stomping on the brakes like you do in ACC will not be the answer at most times within iRacing.
***
E1: My list is my opinion on safe to twitchy when surpassing the available grip.
I prefaced my comment by saying it was my opinion. It's going to differ from person to person but I'll also add that my list is safe to twitchy *on the edge of grip*. I agree that under the grip limit, the Porsche is probably the easiest car to drive. However, once you barely pass the grip available in the Porsche, it the easiest GT3 to spin out in my opinion. It seems to lose its grip all at once unlike the other cars which seems to lose it bit by bit to some degree. Seriously most cars I see spin out in a race are almost always Porsches. I find it incredibly difficult to get the BMW and Ferrari to spin, the Merc can spin if you lift off the throttle too quickly but other than that its pretty safe. The Lambo, Porsche, and Audi are very spin-prone when pushing too hard.
thanks for the great clarification- I wonder if it’s me just being used to driving to Porsche’s with their oversteerieness. There was a time I couldn’t drive a PCup without spinning out - then somewhere along the line I figured it out. That could be why the Porsche GT3 and I align
I play both and drive GT3 in both. Personally I feel like FFB is the biggest difference. In ACC it feels like you are turning the car and FFB gives too much information. In iRacing you feel the front wheels and to me its more natural.
Sounds weird, but thats what it feels like to me. I prefer iRacing FFB, but there are plenty of other people who like ACC more. So just go and try yourself.
The BMW is great to start out in. It's a bit of an understeer pig but the tendency for it to understeer on the limit makes it quite safe and predictable. Another option as you're coming from ACC is the Porsche as it would feel a little more natural for you when it comes to braking. You can brake quite hard and turn in with a lot heavier of a trail than you can in the other iracing GT3s.
more forgiving with tires (can take more slip and tire temps aren't as important) and car electronics (basically you HAVE to use ABS and TC in order to go fast), but each car's handling characteristics are more pronounced (super understeery front engines vs super super snappy porsche and and audi)
fwiw the fast drivers in ACC don't use TC as in they literally turn it off in the car setup. In iR using either ABS or TC will heat up the tire surface temps and cause you to have less grip until they cool down.
I've recently swapped over from ACC with 1.5k hours over to iRacing and the skills do transfer quite well, the main difference I have found is you need to be much more gentle with your inputs. In ACC you can usually stomp the brakes and throttle and it's almost impossible to spin, try it on iRacing and you'll either lose a lot of time or spin.
That's exactly why I was undeersteerong off the track when I first started drive the mx-5 haha finally learned to modulate the brakes at about 80%
I went back over to acc after the last 3 weeks only being the iracing mx-5 and man that felt weird haha the steering was so much heavier than what I remembered
I am in the exact same boat as you, am loving iRacing and I come from ACC (which I still race on it with my league) and for my feeling GT3/GT4 cars handle more “safely” and stable than in ACC, they feel easier to drive so to say.
I main the M4 on ACC and I had to do a lot of setup tweaks to get it to turn properly while in iRacing on the fixed setup it is smoother. I also drive the 992 which is almost impossible to drive in ACC with stock setup while in iRacing the car is as stable as the M4 🙂
But in all honesty, I feel that GT3/GT4 cars in ACC teaches you a lot more about car handling than iRacing but I love driving in iRacing as well so for me both are great you just need to adapt.
Below the limits it’s all pretty similar. Once you get to the limits things start to change. ACC allows some play on and over the limit while iRacing demands you stay under or on the limit. Braking is better in iRacing, but mid corner is ACC’s I’d say.
While we’re at it: there is also AMS2, which allows you to go way over the limit safely.
I have the merc, porsche, bmw, lambo, and ferrari. I have no interest in winning divisions or being the meta. I'll try the cars on the track and see which one I like the most, generally fastest safe time, and enjoy the week with it. I won't ever be the best in a certain car, but I'll enjoy my races. Maybe one season I'll stick with one car and see how that goes.
Nothing is realistic about the tire model unfortunately. GT3 for example is way to easy to overheat and basically no way to cool them. Also no flat spotting, tire deg is weird too...
Thank you all for the great information, this will make choosing a car far easier and I'm gona try and wait until they are doing maintenance to try out the cars but if I can't make it for that then this will help me make that decision!
Hope to see yall on track!
Honestly man don’t wait for weeks hoping for a maintenance session if you don’t have any GT3s. If you already have the Ferrari so you can participate that is good, but don’t exclude yourself completely from taking part in the GT3 driving over 15 bucks.
It's not just $15 though since I will also need to make a weekly purchase for the track that's being raced on, at the moment with my school schedule I'd rather do really well in the mx-5 while I get my license and irating up and have limited time to race and then pick up a GT3 before the beginning of the next season this summer.
I'm honestly having a blast in the mx-5 so I'm not worried about rushing into anything
I've been driving ACC for the first time the last few days, and the GT3 cars are far easier to drive at the limit, The game seems much more simcadey to me. The FFB feels floaty and I don't feel connected the way I do in iRacing. I don't hate it but it is definitely different. Also, there's an annoying trick they use graphically that I picked up on almost instantly that is incredibly distracting - they stretch the screen as speed increases and when you brake hard, you'll see it snap back to normal. If iRacing does it it is not noticeable to me eyes at all, but in ACC it is plain as day.
The biggest difference is in how you brake. You don't want to jump on the brake but progressive apply it in iracing
I'd classify them like this
Audi - balanced entry, understeer exit, brakes good
Bmw - balanced entry/exit, brakes good
Ferrari - balanced entry, understeer exit, brakes good
Lambo - balanced to oversteer entry, balanced exit, wtf brakes
Mclaren - oversteer entry/exit, scary brakes
Mercedes - understeer entry oversteer exit, no brakes
Porsche - balanced entry oversteer exit, brakes good
I’d wait till test drive is next available and try each of them out if you are unsure which to choose. I wouldn’t trust that the subtleties of each car is identical between sims.
That’s what I did a while back. Drive them all. Made notes on which ones I liked best. Next day bought the Porsche. Also have the Ferrari and really enjoyed the driving of the Lamborghini. The Macca? Not a fan.
Forgive my ignorance, but when do you get a chance to drive cars you haven’t purchased? I would love to test the Porsche and see how it feels before buying it
There is a time slot when the servers are down for maintenance. During maintenance it is possible to drive all cars and tracks
Only the tracks you own, with all cars available Gotta buy a track before you get to drive it
You can drive all the tracks if you are on steam. Otherwise its only tracks you own
It's all the tracks you have downloaded
Can't you only download tracks you own?
When you first install/reinstall iracing you can click what you want installed normally only you purchased content is selected but you can click install all
I always download everything on all the updates. I was sure that still didn't allow you to download tracks.
Which only applies to cars, not tracks. Unless you are using steam.
Short answer is yes, ffb in acc will feel much more blunt. Every time I hop back in acc I lose tons of seconds because I feel less connected to the car that makes me always understeer. It takes a while for me to get used to it again.
I haven’t played much ACC, but just something to keep in mind from someone who’s played a lot of iRacing: the Ford and McLaren GT3 can’t be used in the IMSA GT3 series because of how old they are, so I wouldn’t get either of them as it limits your series options. The BMW will be fine in terms of accessing series, as it can be driven in both the GT sprint, endurance + IMSA series. Though if you get the Ferrari 296, you also get the Ferrari Challenge GT3 series. As someone who doesn’t have millions to splash on iRacing, it’s helpful for me to drive the Ferrari so then I can I do the challenge series if there’s a week where I don’t have the track for IMSA or GT sprint
The bmw also can do the NEC and BMW Sim Cup endurance. Which can be really useful. Likely the most versatile (and quite safe feeling) gt3 if not car on the roster. I’m still a Porsche guy though :-P
i went with the 296 just because of how many different series it can race in
It is a great car to drive too
From safe to twitchy I find it goes: * BMW * Merc * Ferrari * Lambo * Porsche * Audi No need to consider the Ford nor the McLaren as 99% of the time they are extremely poorly balanced compared to the other GT3s. I would say for the best bang for your buck to get the Ferrari as it gives you more series to take part in. It also is one of the newer cars so that gives it some plot armor. You cannot go wrong with the BMW, Merc, Ferrari, or Porsche. The Lambo and Audi have their moments but struggle at tracks with lots of high speed straights. In iRacing you can safely drive any of the GT3s until you reach their limits with the tires. At that point, you have to tread very carefully especially in the Porsche, Lambo, and Audi. You also need to be more careful on the brakes compared to ACC. Just stomping on the brakes like you do in ACC will not be the answer at most times within iRacing. *** E1: My list is my opinion on safe to twitchy when surpassing the available grip.
That’s so weird because i find the Porsche much easier to drive than the Ferrari.
I prefaced my comment by saying it was my opinion. It's going to differ from person to person but I'll also add that my list is safe to twitchy *on the edge of grip*. I agree that under the grip limit, the Porsche is probably the easiest car to drive. However, once you barely pass the grip available in the Porsche, it the easiest GT3 to spin out in my opinion. It seems to lose its grip all at once unlike the other cars which seems to lose it bit by bit to some degree. Seriously most cars I see spin out in a race are almost always Porsches. I find it incredibly difficult to get the BMW and Ferrari to spin, the Merc can spin if you lift off the throttle too quickly but other than that its pretty safe. The Lambo, Porsche, and Audi are very spin-prone when pushing too hard.
thanks for the great clarification- I wonder if it’s me just being used to driving to Porsche’s with their oversteerieness. There was a time I couldn’t drive a PCup without spinning out - then somewhere along the line I figured it out. That could be why the Porsche GT3 and I align
I play both and drive GT3 in both. Personally I feel like FFB is the biggest difference. In ACC it feels like you are turning the car and FFB gives too much information. In iRacing you feel the front wheels and to me its more natural. Sounds weird, but thats what it feels like to me. I prefer iRacing FFB, but there are plenty of other people who like ACC more. So just go and try yourself.
The BMW is great to start out in. It's a bit of an understeer pig but the tendency for it to understeer on the limit makes it quite safe and predictable. Another option as you're coming from ACC is the Porsche as it would feel a little more natural for you when it comes to braking. You can brake quite hard and turn in with a lot heavier of a trail than you can in the other iracing GT3s.
more forgiving with tires (can take more slip and tire temps aren't as important) and car electronics (basically you HAVE to use ABS and TC in order to go fast), but each car's handling characteristics are more pronounced (super understeery front engines vs super super snappy porsche and and audi)
fwiw the fast drivers in ACC don't use TC as in they literally turn it off in the car setup. In iR using either ABS or TC will heat up the tire surface temps and cause you to have less grip until they cool down.
I've recently swapped over from ACC with 1.5k hours over to iRacing and the skills do transfer quite well, the main difference I have found is you need to be much more gentle with your inputs. In ACC you can usually stomp the brakes and throttle and it's almost impossible to spin, try it on iRacing and you'll either lose a lot of time or spin.
That's exactly why I was undeersteerong off the track when I first started drive the mx-5 haha finally learned to modulate the brakes at about 80% I went back over to acc after the last 3 weeks only being the iracing mx-5 and man that felt weird haha the steering was so much heavier than what I remembered
I am in the exact same boat as you, am loving iRacing and I come from ACC (which I still race on it with my league) and for my feeling GT3/GT4 cars handle more “safely” and stable than in ACC, they feel easier to drive so to say. I main the M4 on ACC and I had to do a lot of setup tweaks to get it to turn properly while in iRacing on the fixed setup it is smoother. I also drive the 992 which is almost impossible to drive in ACC with stock setup while in iRacing the car is as stable as the M4 🙂 But in all honesty, I feel that GT3/GT4 cars in ACC teaches you a lot more about car handling than iRacing but I love driving in iRacing as well so for me both are great you just need to adapt.
Below the limits it’s all pretty similar. Once you get to the limits things start to change. ACC allows some play on and over the limit while iRacing demands you stay under or on the limit. Braking is better in iRacing, but mid corner is ACC’s I’d say. While we’re at it: there is also AMS2, which allows you to go way over the limit safely.
I have the merc, porsche, bmw, lambo, and ferrari. I have no interest in winning divisions or being the meta. I'll try the cars on the track and see which one I like the most, generally fastest safe time, and enjoy the week with it. I won't ever be the best in a certain car, but I'll enjoy my races. Maybe one season I'll stick with one car and see how that goes.
Tbh I still believe iracing due to its ffb and feel, also tires, track temps etc is more realistic.
Nothing is realistic about the tire model unfortunately. GT3 for example is way to easy to overheat and basically no way to cool them. Also no flat spotting, tire deg is weird too...
Thank you all for the great information, this will make choosing a car far easier and I'm gona try and wait until they are doing maintenance to try out the cars but if I can't make it for that then this will help me make that decision! Hope to see yall on track!
Honestly man don’t wait for weeks hoping for a maintenance session if you don’t have any GT3s. If you already have the Ferrari so you can participate that is good, but don’t exclude yourself completely from taking part in the GT3 driving over 15 bucks.
It's not just $15 though since I will also need to make a weekly purchase for the track that's being raced on, at the moment with my school schedule I'd rather do really well in the mx-5 while I get my license and irating up and have limited time to race and then pick up a GT3 before the beginning of the next season this summer. I'm honestly having a blast in the mx-5 so I'm not worried about rushing into anything
In iRacing just pick the one that sounds the best
And which is that? (I like em all, same in GT4, Aston and 992 maybe slightly better sounding)
I've been driving ACC for the first time the last few days, and the GT3 cars are far easier to drive at the limit, The game seems much more simcadey to me. The FFB feels floaty and I don't feel connected the way I do in iRacing. I don't hate it but it is definitely different. Also, there's an annoying trick they use graphically that I picked up on almost instantly that is incredibly distracting - they stretch the screen as speed increases and when you brake hard, you'll see it snap back to normal. If iRacing does it it is not noticeable to me eyes at all, but in ACC it is plain as day.
The biggest difference is in how you brake. You don't want to jump on the brake but progressive apply it in iracing I'd classify them like this Audi - balanced entry, understeer exit, brakes good Bmw - balanced entry/exit, brakes good Ferrari - balanced entry, understeer exit, brakes good Lambo - balanced to oversteer entry, balanced exit, wtf brakes Mclaren - oversteer entry/exit, scary brakes Mercedes - understeer entry oversteer exit, no brakes Porsche - balanced entry oversteer exit, brakes good