The essential Sim Game
When it comes to Sim racing in VR, we honestly have an embarrassment of riches to choose from. We have at least 6 solid sims to choose from with more coming right around the corner. Much like our options for headsets, each sim has their strengths and weaknesses. Sadly there is no perfect one. Your best bet is to sample them all yourself and decide which best works for you.
At this point, I cannot point to any one being the best. I can, however, tell you where to start. You need to start with the most essential sim and most beginner friendly sim know as Assetto Corsa. Firstly, it's cheap. It goes on sale routinely. I suggest waiting for the next sale and buying the ultimate edition. If you're too impatient, that's fine. The base game at $20 will still net you some killer 'bang for the buck' return.
Not only is it just a solid sim, but the modding community has made this game a motorsports playground. Any type of racing you could dream of trying is here. You have circuit racing right out the box. Zero mods needed for that. Just tab over to online and pick your favorite track/car combo.
Be aware you're going to be limited to only a handful of tracks being raced online. There are about 4 real world circuit tracks that are ever populated. And turn 1, it's always going to be a mess.
You will get caught up in the wreckage or find your way safely through. Either way, once through turn 1 you'll be treated to that sweet wheel to wheel that has us all hooked and coming back for more over and over again.
Your next order of business is to grab Content Manager. Content Manager - alternative launcher for Assetto Corsa The base game UI is pretty trash and everyone considers this a mandatory mod.
As far as mods go, they make this game. Rally routes, real world circuits, drift tracks, real road ways, made up road ways, Lego tracks, Mario like tracks. All this on top of the already fairly large selection of real world tracks offered in the base game. Whatever you want to race, it's here. I just saw a freaking aircraft carrier you can race on. Take it online, and your options drop dramatically. Set up a private server for you and your friends though, and it can be an evening of great times!
The selection of cars is insane! Old, new, real, fake, never released. It's just all here. The image to the left is showing the cars between the H's (a Honda Odyssey no less, makes for some silly fun racing actually) and L's. Just a quick estimation gives me over 300 cars and that's only the ones I've bothered to download.
Just found this page that lists over 3,000 cars!! What the hell man, these guys are crazy!
I've always got my mods through RaceDepartment, probably more out of habit than safety. Even there you have a dizzying number of mods. From a 1923 Rolland-Pilain A22 classic race car to this year's model of many cars, it's just mind blowing how much content is here.
Now since the mods are made by the community, be aware the quality of the end product is going to vary quite a bit. Some are simply a modders' first attempt at a reskin, others are made from scratch from pros who have been doing this for years.
I don't think we can end without talking about my latest obsession. It's the Shutoko Rivial Project with traffic. I understand it to be a recreation of an expressway in Tokyo. It's miles of express way to roam around in through cities and more rural sections. The scale and detail is quite impressive. Now they have added traffic. You can do that thing you always think about during your morning commute when you see gaps between cars you can fit your car into. It's weaving through traffic as fast as you dare. Sometimes it's so dense you have to slow and wait for an opening. Or just plow into the cars, who cares, no insurance claims to worry about here.
Add to that you can do this with other online drivers. It's makes for a seriously entertaining time.
This game will run on most systems. It's a respected simulation. The shear amount of mods let you do nearly anything you could want with a car. That's why I'm calling this The essential sim racing game. It really has it in a cheap package. You're going to spend some time adding mods and tweaking settings. Once it's all set up, you're set for some fun times.