Most underrated racing sim on Steam! If you are just curious, download this game and try it out! You will end up like me, spending a little money on various things, but they are not required!
** I am NOT a VR player ** .. so this review will not include any VR. If this is important to you, then this review will not help you.
For a background of where I'm coming from, I have most of the other sims that everyone else has, going back to GTR2, NR2003, Live For Speed, rfactor, iRacing, F1-20XX, AC, AMS, AMS2,.. all great sims.
I was curious about this as I thought that it would be interesting to try a game that is published as mostly an online game (less expensive version of iRacing I guess) and since it says it's free I figured I would try it.
I am mostly an offline single player, and like to play my own championship seasons. I will dabble in online play occasionally but for me this is not what I'm interested in.
With that said, I wanted to give this a try.. what surprised me was how good the offline play was against AI..
So, first let me say, just get this.. it is free to start. Yes you will find eventually that you need to start spending a little money (not really too bad) you CAN play this without spending a dime and you can have some really fun races offline or online. The free cars included are enough to get you going and you could run a championship with these.
So let's start with the CONS as this way I can get that out of the way.
CONS:
No day/night transition or real weather (I'm really not sure if this is a CON for many people but I had to list it).
If you purchase a car (we're talking a few bucks lol), you "might" be required to pay a little more for a livery.. some hate this but it's literally like 0.57 dollars lol.. anyway I needed to put that in there.. I have no issue with it as I don't want to run EVERY livery.. just the ones I might like.
Online racing. Ironically, what the game sells itself as is an online experience. If you are NOT from Europe, you will find it hard to get enough players to fill a race once you've gone past the rookie or beginner ratings..
..so saying that.. lol... I have to switch to PROS...and it's related to the CONs.. (I am really weird I know)...

PROS:
IF, however, you are willing to adjust your schedule to a more European time (for example, wake up early on a Saturday morning if you're in the US like me) you will find plenty of opponents and races. Also, there are events happening all the time. You can run time trials to get "accepted", or just join races.
Online rankings are pretty cool. You have a TON of statistics about you, similar to iRacing.. but so far it's FREEEEEEE...until you start buying cars and tracks.

PRICE: Compared to something like iRacing, the cost to add cars/tracks is TINY!!! There are packages available with huge discounts, but, for example, I did not want everything, so I paid for the few cars and tracks that I wanted.. some are a few US dollars, some are less than one US dollar.. it depends.. but it's not that bad.

SOUNDS: .. just... wow!!.. The sounds of the engines, ambient car, brakes, tires, transmission, .. all of it.. will pull you in to this game.. they are amazing and better than ANY of the games above.. try it and prove me wrong.

CAR FEEL or physics: I really feel like the "feel" of the car is better than any of the sims above.. how do I explain this.. it is not the force feedback.. it's the sounds it makes and the way it rolls when you are cornering, for example.. you can sense when the car is going to let go.. or not.. you "feel" it roll into/out of a corner.. unlike any of the other games. I don't know HOW they do this.. but you somehow, through visual and/or sound.. can "feel" this in RaceRoom better than any other game. Take a small car out.. front wheel drive, rear wheel drive..the handling is very realistic.. take a large car out, more power... WAY more difficult to handle... but you just have that sense..like when you've pushed it just to the edge.. again I'm not sure how to explain this.. just try it out and you'll see. In other sims you sort of learn when you've pushed too far and you keep yourself within the speed limits.. here you "feel" it..

OFFLINE RACING.. Here is where this game surprised the HECK out of me and really shines. I don't know why this isn't touted more but offline racing against AI, and the custom championship mode.. these are just as good if not better than ANY OTHER SIM OUT THERE.

The AI: (to me) is quite amazing actually. This is where the game shines!! Please read through this part!
In other sims (AMS2 for example) the AI is VERY GOOD.. indeed.. they will race you.. and if you get them set up correctly, they are fun!..
In RaceRoom.. the AI really, I mean REALLY race you.. example... you know how in most games.. as you're approaching a corner, you can sort of dive bomb the AI.. you learn what they'll do.. so you head for the corner apex with a late brake as you KNOW you'll reach it before the AI.. in older crappy AI games (LFS, GTR2) the AI will just keep their line and smash you.. so you hope you get through first because they are continuing on their line.. In "good" AI games (AMS2, AC) the AI will back off a bit and let you through.. but they will hold their line and end up behind you. You sort of learn how to pass AI by doing this..
Now, in RaceRoom (I've never used adaptive AI and I set them around 95-100)... if you dive bomb the corner, the AI is smart enough to let you have it.. briefly lol... because if you dive bomb you KNOW you will be taking a wider apex... so the AI ADJUSTS!!... and it will modify its line (it had to slow down because of you, remember?)... to a tighter line.. and you will find yourself (after passing the AI) with the AI taking the INSIDE of the corner.. and there they are right next to you... sometimes passing you right back as they exit the corner and you feel stupid lol...
The AI will also not just give up.. Once you have a strength set for a particular track/car, if you are in the middle of race and pass a few.. they don't just sit back, they WILL come back and try to get their positions back.
I can't say enough about the AI here. very underrated compared to all of the other sims.
TIRE WEAR AND EQUIPMENT WEAR: Another hidden gem here! If you only race short races (30 min or less) you will not see this effect, but if you race endurance races (anything greater than 30 minutes) you WILL see the effects of tire wear.. you can't just hot lap around.. I've done this.. gotten WAY out ahead thinking I'm going to crush the AI when I start to feel my tires go away... and I have to back off each turn more and more.. then here they come.. they haven't forgotten... now you're struggling to keep from dropping to the back as the AI slowly passes you.. you hope for the next pit stop to get new tires.. it is really well done.
ENGINE/ SUSPENSION WEAR AND TEAR. Again, not really modeled that great in other sims unless you hit the wall.. here you can't just keep hopping the same curb over and over.. it WILL wear out your suspension eventually.. pieces of the car wear out.. you really have to pay attention to how you drive!! You only see things things happening in longer races but it really makes you have to plan ahead..
WARNINGS.... I like the fact that you get warnings if you cut a track, but there is some tolerance built in (not a set number that if you exceed it, you are black flagged). I don't know how they do it, but there seems to be some allowance for making a few mistakes, then if you do it again.. warning.. perhaps they are looking at how many consecutive times you do it.. I'm not sure..to me this is better than simply a counter of how many times you cut the track.
CHAMPIONSHIP MODE. Again, HUGELY hidden and underrated in this game. On par with AMS2
I'm out of allowed words so I will just say GIVE THIS A TRY! You will NOT be disappointed!
9.5 out of 10 for me.

Most underrated racing sim on Steam! If you are just curious, download this game and try it out! You will end up like me, spending a little money on various things, but they are not required! ** I am NOT a VR player ** .. so this review will not include any VR. If this is important to you, then this review will not help you. For a background of where I'm coming from, I have most of the other sims that everyone else has, going back to GTR2, NR2003, Live For Speed, rfactor, iRacing, F1-20XX, AC, AMS, AMS2,.. all great sims. I was curious about this as I thought that it would be interesting to try a game that is published as mostly an online game (less expensive version of iRacing I guess) and since it says it's free I figured I would try it. I am mostly an offline single player, and like to play my own championship seasons. I will dabble in online play occasionally but for me this is not what I'm interested in. With that said, I wanted to give this a try.. what surprised me was how good the offline play was against AI.. So, first let me say, just get this.. it is free to start. Yes you will find eventually that you need to start spending a little money (not really too bad) you CAN play this without spending a dime and you can have some really fun races offline or online. The free cars included are enough to get you going and you could run a championship with these. So let's start with the CONS as this way I can get that out of the way. CONS: No day/night transition or real weather (I'm really not sure if this is a CON for many people but I had to list it). If you purchase a car (we're talking a few bucks lol), you "might" be required to pay a little more for a livery.. some hate this but it's literally like 0.57 dollars lol.. anyway I needed to put that in there.. I have no issue with it as I don't want to run EVERY livery.. just the ones I might like. Online racing. Ironically, what the game sells itself as is an online experience. If you are NOT from Europe, you will find it hard to get enough players to fill a race once you've gone past the rookie or beginner ratings.. ..so saying that.. lol... I have to switch to PROS...and it's related to the CONs.. (I am really weird I know)... PROS: IF, however, you are willing to adjust your schedule to a more European time (for example, wake up early on a Saturday morning if you're in the US like me) you will find plenty of opponents and races. Also, there are events happening all the time. You can run time trials to get "accepted", or just join races. Online rankings are pretty cool. You have a TON of statistics about you, similar to iRacing.. but so far it's FREEEEEEE...until you start buying cars and tracks. PRICE: Compared to something like iRacing, the cost to add cars/tracks is TINY!!! There are packages available with huge discounts, but, for example, I did not want everything, so I paid for the few cars and tracks that I wanted.. some are a few US dollars, some are less than one US dollar.. it depends.. but it's not that bad. SOUNDS: .. just... wow!!.. The sounds of the engines, ambient car, brakes, tires, transmission, .. all of it.. will pull you in to this game.. they are amazing and better than ANY of the games above.. try it and prove me wrong. CAR FEEL or physics: I really feel like the "feel" of the car is better than any of the sims above.. how do I explain this.. it is not the force feedback.. it's the sounds it makes and the way it rolls when you are cornering, for example.. you can sense when the car is going to let go.. or not.. you "feel" it roll into/out of a corner.. unlike any of the other games. I don't know HOW they do this.. but you somehow, through visual and/or sound.. can "feel" this in RaceRoom better than any other game. Take a small car out.. front wheel drive, rear wheel drive..the handling is very realistic.. take a large car out, more power... WAY more difficult to handle... but you just have that sense..like when you've pushed it just to the edge.. again I'm not sure how to explain this.. just try it out and you'll see. In other sims you sort of learn when you've pushed too far and you keep yourself within the speed limits.. here you "feel" it.. OFFLINE RACING.. Here is where this game surprised the HECK out of me and really shines. I don't know why this isn't touted more but offline racing against AI, and the custom championship mode.. these are just as good if not better than ANY OTHER SIM OUT THERE. The AI: (to me) is quite amazing actually. This is where the game shines!! Please read through this part! In other sims (AMS2 for example) the AI is VERY GOOD.. indeed.. they will race you.. and if you get them set up correctly, they are fun!.. In RaceRoom.. the AI really, I mean REALLY race you.. example... you know how in most games.. as you're approaching a corner, you can sort of dive bomb the AI.. you learn what they'll do.. so you head for the corner apex with a late brake as you KNOW you'll reach it before the AI.. in older crappy AI games (LFS, GTR2) the AI will just keep their line and smash you.. so you hope you get through first because they are continuing on their line.. In "good" AI games (AMS2, AC) the AI will back off a bit and let you through.. but they will hold their line and end up behind you. You sort of learn how to pass AI by doing this.. Now, in RaceRoom (I've never used adaptive AI and I set them around 95-100)... if you dive bomb the corner, the AI is smart enough to let you have it.. briefly lol... because if you dive bomb you KNOW you will be taking a wider apex... so the AI ADJUSTS!!... and it will modify its line (it had to slow down because of you, remember?)... to a tighter line.. and you will find yourself (after passing the AI) with the AI taking the INSIDE of the corner.. and there they are right next to you... sometimes passing you right back as they exit the corner and you feel stupid lol... The AI will also not just give up.. Once you have a strength set for a particular track/car, if you are in the middle of race and pass a few.. they don't just sit back, they WILL come back and try to get their positions back. I can't say enough about the AI here. very underrated compared to all of the other sims. TIRE WEAR AND EQUIPMENT WEAR: Another hidden gem here! If you only race short races (30 min or less) you will not see this effect, but if you race endurance races (anything greater than 30 minutes) you WILL see the effects of tire wear.. you can't just hot lap around.. I've done this.. gotten WAY out ahead thinking I'm going to crush the AI when I start to feel my tires go away... and I have to back off each turn more and more.. then here they come.. they haven't forgotten... now you're struggling to keep from dropping to the back as the AI slowly passes you.. you hope for the next pit stop to get new tires.. it is really well done. ENGINE/ SUSPENSION WEAR AND TEAR. Again, not really modeled that great in other sims unless you hit the wall.. here you can't just keep hopping the same curb over and over.. it WILL wear out your suspension eventually.. pieces of the car wear out.. you really have to pay attention to how you drive!! You only see things things happening in longer races but it really makes you have to plan ahead.. WARNINGS.... I like the fact that you get warnings if you cut a track, but there is some tolerance built in (not a set number that if you exceed it, you are black flagged). I don't know how they do it, but there seems to be some allowance for making a few mistakes, then if you do it again.. warning.. perhaps they are looking at how many consecutive times you do it.. I'm not sure..to me this is better than simply a counter of how many times you cut the track. CHAMPIONSHIP MODE. Again, HUGELY hidden and underrated in this game. On par with AMS2 I'm out of allowed words so I will just say GIVE THIS A TRY! You will NOT be disappointed! 9.5 out of 10 for me.