a passion for motorsports
Disclaimer: this review is made by someone who only plays single-player. I have played more or less every PC racing sim on the market. I have also played most console sims. The only racing sim of note I have not played is iRacing, since it's multiplayer only.
RaceRoomRacingExperience, or R3E, is predominantly aimed at people who watch motorsports on TV, and by that I don't mean just Formula 1. Instead I refer events like DTM, WTCC, Blancpain and so on. If you are not a fan motorsports there's a risk you won't appreciate the value of the content in RaceRoom, since it's intimately tied to real-world racing. Although that could be said for most racing sims, I feel it is more applicable to certain games such as RaceRoom.
Let's start off with the negatives: the big issue for me is the aggressiveness of the AI. I would describe the AI as 'medium' aggressive ... but often really dumb. At times it feels authentic to what I see on TV, at other times it feels like I'm playing a Grid or Forza game. It would be great if you could adjust the AI's aggression yourself, which you can in certain other racing sims, such as Automobilista and Project Cars 2. Having a clean race is a rare event. I'm a clean racer myself, I enjoy that extra challenge, but it's frustrating when the AI "machinery" does not make the same effort, it feels cheap when the AI simply rams into you.
When the game was initially launched the AI was much more professional, it was easy to get a clean race out of the game. A few years ago though, the developers decided to make the AI more "alive", and that's where things went wrong (a situation similar to the Forza and Gran Turismo series). This is the main area the game could improve upon, and is largely fixed by adding an AI aggression slider, so that people who wan't a clean race can be confident enough in getting that, and those who want a Grid/Forza experience can have that. Let the consumer choose.
A minor issue is getting the AI skills to a suitable level. It has an adaptive AI feature, that should in theory adapt to your driving skills, but I find this inconsistent at best. For example you might do poorly in qualifying but win by a unrealistic margin in the actual race, and vice versa. It's a rollercoaster.
However, you can also set the AI skill-level by using a slider, you don't have to use the adaptive AI. It can be cumbersome to find an AI level that matches your own skills, but it's something you have to do in all racing sims.
The other negatives are more like nitpicks: too many menues to jump between, duplicated AI driver names when the game tries to fill the field.
Moving on to the positives:
The attention to detail that Sector 3 applies to every single car and track impresses me with every new release. I usually alternate between the 1st-person and 3rd-person views, in order to fully enjoy the car and track designs. The detail lies both in the visual design and in the audio; not only does it sound authentic, it sounds great. A good sound design should leave you feeling absorbed with your vehicle, and this game achieves that. Graphically the game looks beautiful, I especially like the lighting effects.
RaceRoom aims for scope; anyone with a medium PC should be able to play this game. My GTX 960 card worked really well with it, as did my older AMD card. It's a philosophy it shares with games like Automobilista and rFactor 2. It is something that sets RaceRoom apart from bigger titles like Project Cars and F1 2017, that are more exclusive to high-end users.
Another unique aspect, is that the game features a large number of tracks that you will not find elsewhere, in any other racing sim (apart from older Simbin games). For example, it has accumulated a respectable number of Swedish tracks, and a large number of German tracks. This is something I wish more sim game developers would do; offer tracks that are more unique and rare.
Yet another unique characteristic of the game, is that the developers offer discounts to fans depending on how much they already have invested in the game. It's not something I've seen other developers do, whether in racing games or in other genres.
The game has three levels of technical difficulty: arcade, sim-arcade and simulation. This affects the realism of tyre wear, damage, fuel usage and similar. It also sets the assists for the car, as either strong or weak/absent. So you don't have to be a racing game prodigee to enjoy this game, you only need a passion for motorsports. I have played the game on all levels of technical difficulty, and think they are designed really well. Even the arcade mode can be quite challenging, as key characterics are kept intact and the behaviour different between each and every vehicle. On simulation setting the game works best with some kind of wheel, as there's a lot of inputs from the car to try and manage.
While the game offers event packages like DTM and WTCC, you have to design the Championships yourself, pick the tracks you want. The custom Championship works in the same way, you race against vehicles that are in the same class or grouping as yourself. You can adjust everything; time, laps, pit stops, number of AI, time of day, and so on. This customization interface is done really well in the game, and is easy to use.
I've played the game using a wheel, a regular gamepad and one of those gamepads with a mini-wheel attached. The game plays really well with all of them. I mainly use a G920 set with pedals and shifter, the game recognized my set and it was easy to adjust things to my liking.
To conclude, RaceRoom has over the years become my go-to racing sim on PC, replacing Race 07. It has run perfectly on all my different systems over the years, I enjoy the unique content it offers, and the way it sounds and looks is highly inviting.