In racing games when given a choice, what damage setting do you prefer?

Cosmetic. It looks rad but I don't want to deal with my tires going out of alignment or what have you.

Cosmetic for me. I like seeing my car all banged up but I don't like it when it makes handling the car more difficult.

Simulation - I like the idea of fucking up my car to the point I need to have a new one delivered, ala Sleeping Dogs/Saint's Row.

I like in between cosmetic and simulation. I want at least some chance, even if unrealistic, to drag my car to the pits and get fixed up. Race ending mistakes can become annoying in long races.

Simulation, but it really depends on the game, especially since racing games range from i-racing to mario kart to the upcoming next car game (which is entirely based around damage).

Simulation for me. If I mess up, I want to see my wheels flying off and my engine going up in smoke.

I like banging cars up but I don't like losing the ability to drive. Cosmetic all the way. I'll take damage that affects performance if its something ludicrous like driving on 2 wheels in flatout 2. Realstic though? No thanks.

Depends on the game but, if you're only going for cosmetic, why even bother with damage in the first place? I loved it in the first Forza when you lost a rear wing or something and your car would wander over to the side. Correcting that and still winning? Awesome.

I prefer simulation, but it's really contingent on the game. For track-based racing games, I want to play the mental game of gauging tire wear and fuel levels. I want to calculate--or estimate on the fly--how much more race I have left before making a strategic resource stop.

For Forza Horizon 2, and most open world driving games, I begin to lean for more cosmetic damage. Sometimes, especially in Forza Horizon 2, damage comes to your car in ways that are completely outside of your control. And the AI and a majority of the other racers you play against don't elect to suffer the same consequences you might, if you've chosen a simulation setting. So when your car begins to exhibit a pulling to one side or general engine failure after a series of relatively minor collisons (or even after a couple of hard-hitting bumps in the road), you might be the only one hampered by such a thing.

I will agree that it usually depends on the game, and in the context of the example you've given, you give a strong argument for cosmetic. However, in that case I would just turn the damage off entirely because I would rather look at my car in a pristine condition than beat up from hitting a hard bump.

I'd appreciate more opinions.

For Forza I'll lean more towards simulation because the penalty for failure is removed thanks to flashbacks.

I voted Simulation, but I guess it depends on the type of game or something. Not having damage doesn't necessarily bother me. I'd argue that the goal of a sim-oriented racing game is not to crash into stuff and if you are racing properly then you shouldn't really be running into that issue very often.

If you are going to do "Sim" damage though, do it right or do nothing at all.

I don't know. Best I can do is make a couple general personal statements:

• I do not care if Gran Turismo has damage or not. I'd rather they not waste time/money trying to do it if it means getting other features into the game. I grew up with the series, it never had it, it doesn't need it.
• I play sim racing games on the most "Sim" setting. Like when Forza has all the difficulty options, I set everything to get the most XP and feel the most accurate. Except ABS stays on.
• The only really good damage systems are on PC games like Next Car Game or BeamNG. And even then, those are just a visual/physics thing. I haven't seen a game or program that accounts for actual specific mechanical failures (not just a general Mechanical Failure = car slowing down) or brake fade etc.

Playing with a wheel - simulation. Controller - cosmetic.

Probably because, to me, playing with a controller means I'm in an arcade racer which probably doesn't have many damage options. Taking the time to set my wheel up means it's a full-on sim.

Simulation offline, Cosmetic online, if the options are available.

Most folks online have a bad case of road rage and usually cause 10 car piles ups within 5 seconds into the race. Sucks that my tire and fender are half way down the track because user name "youonlyliveonce" thinks going down the track at 200 in reverse is fun.

Gotta go all out. To quote G.W.Hunting:

Will: I used to go with the wrench.

Sean: Why the wrench?

Will: Cause fuck him, that's why.

Simulation, it makes racing a lot tenser. But I generally prefer sim style racers. In non-sim racers I'm okay with it not impacting stuff but I think it's cool when it's done in impressive ways (GTA having really nice deformation that would actually impact performance was cool, and only happened if you really nailed your car). The feeling of cutting close to another car or a wall is way more intense when you could screw up your car's performance or handling if it goes wrong. And the feeling of winning a race while you're hampered by various issues with the car is pretty great as well. It's just more interesting to race with all those extra factors.

I like having consequence in games. If that means failing to finish a race (or finishing really poorly) because I slammed into a car or wall, so be it. This is strictly for sim racing games though. I totally agree with just cosmetic in arcade styles.