Late 2017 Sim summary? Catch me up.

I have a PS3 and GT5, which I haven't used much since the bout of attempted track-learning before I visited the Nordschleife in 2011. Recently, there's been enough talk around sims as training (not to mention Spoolpigeon's real-world success, which has been spoken of in concert with talk of his GT6 prowess). Basically, it's all come together to make me think I need to get a sim setup working again.

I've got, IIRC, a GT-branded, probably-Logitech wheel of modest lock-to-lock rotation. Not sure how much things have progressed there (though I'm certainly curious about the pedals that acutally work more on force than travel).

Need to build a better location; last time I had a rickety fold-up table I built, just big enough to hold the wheel, and a lawn chair, so it could all be set up in front of the TV then tucked away. I think a dedicated location is in order.

But what I really want to know is what's needed to get something which could be called "training" (with a straight face) in. Is the PS3/GT5 thing significantly different in driving physics/feedback from current stuff? What's the most accurate/useful these days? Another thread makes it sound like Project Cars has leapfrogged GT in some areas. How about iRacing? I get the latter has some annoyances in subscription model and race organization/ranking.

Getting back to the topic title, what I could really use is a summary of sims as of October 2017.

I have similar questions to those posed by the one  refered to as Ransom.  I am anxiously awaiting bathing in the wisdom of the whorde.  I also wish to subscribe to this posts newsletter.  

IMO after several updates throughout the run GT6 was loads better and bounds above GT5 as far as driving feel. However I lost all my data and haven't been able to play for a while. I'm not able to afford the step up to a PS4 and upgrade the wheel as well. Ultimately for me a gaming computer setup would be the ultimate if I could afford it.

In regards to PS4, It is a tiny bit early to answer that question in regards to GT Sport and PC2.  GT Sport is just about to be released and PC2 is early in it's release and likely will get an update.  It's looking like PC2 will have a more sim approach to the driving, but that does not necessarily means it will make for better racing or better driver training.

It's pretty clear in GT that sim driving and real driving prowess go hand in hand.  Yes, I did teach Spool all he knows about racing online before he became a AutoX champion... OK... that's totally untrue.  Seriously though, Spool had kicked our butts around the sim tracks for a long time. He created a real problem trying to handicap races to make them even since Spool is such an outlier.  I am pretty sure he was a good driver before he got to GT but it certainly did not hurt his real word driving.

GT Academy is another example of the fact that a good sim driver can become a good real word driver.

We will likely have both GT Sport and PC2 leagues up and running at some point and we will probably find they are good at slightly different things.  If nothing else, they have different track lists.  Both however are almost entirely race / track cars.

No Sim or Game is going to give you the real world experience of a car.  It just isn't.  So, it depends on what you expect from "driver training" and then what you want to do with it.  Just about anything (short of Mario Kart) can help to teach race craft and driving lines, etc.

If you are looking to pick up and learn a track with minimal investment, then GT, Forza, DriveClub, Shift... any of those will be fine.

If you are wanting to learn very specific tracks, then you are probably looking at an AC or rFactor2 for PC (where you can mod and add new content).

If you are wanting to learn more real world tracks, setup techniques, car control-ish things, then you'll want an AC or Project Cars type game.

I don't think it is a GT vs. PC debate.  I think it is being realistic about your expectations and then finding the right tool for the job.

That said, don't pick iRacing, and come race with us.  

Thanks!

There's no doubt that it's not the same as an actual car, but your listing gives me a good idea of the breakdown under "best possible"...

Sounds like Assetto Corsa (I'm guessing that's what you meant by 'AC'?) or Project Cars is the direction I should be looking. At some point I will probably break and find a PS4, after which trying both isn't too bad.

I think a lot of my confusion is just my unfamiliarity with all these other names; I've never been much of a gamer, and for a long time I thought it was basically Gran Turismo as pretty darn good for a video game, and then everything else downhill toward GTA and Mario Kart, with iRacing being about the only other thing I'd heard of to shake up that order. Clearly I've been badly out of the loop.

Now, is it hours, days, or months before I crack? The Real, Actual cars could use some time and attention.

Ransom said:

Sounds like Assetto Corsa (I'm guessing that's what you meant by 'AC'?) or Project Cars is the direction I should be looking. At some point I will probably break and find a PS4, after which trying both isn't too bad.

Yes.  If you are looking for add-on tracks, I would say Assetto Corsa on a computer is where it is at.  A quick search has 300+ in the mod community: http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/categories/ac-tracks.8/?order=download_count

AC gets a knock for the "racing" or career side of things, but the physics and driving are consider one of the top.

If you are going to end up on a PS4, then Project Cars 2 is probably the best choice for the sheer number of tracks and variants it includes.

Assetto Corsa on PC is fantastic and there is massive amounts of user made cars and tracks. Your challenge would be finding a group of people to race with regularly as I don't think many here on GRM have made a jump to PC.  And yes there is AC on consoles but I understand it is still a few updates behind the PC version, and generally not as well received on console. 

I found myself a few facebook groups to follow that post up about servers being hosted and discord chat groups, etc... I am sure if one asked around it would not be too hard to find a league that races pretty regularly. 

Probably not. You can spend the time watching iRacing's how-to and basic training videos and the popular Surviving Rookies videos on YouTube.