Been dealing with a couple of injuries over the last few months, which made me embark on a search for how to satisfy (sort of) the crave for speed and competition while I recover. Two questions for you PC gamers. Where are you getting your racing fix while out the track? And have you tried this diamond in the rough called GP Bikes? Closest thing to a real bike I've come to try outside of throwing a leg over one. It requires being a little tech savvy and it is in Beta form, so it comes with some frustration but once you get things setup and go past the learning curve, the experience is so rewarding. Let me know if you know of this simulator or if you play/race on some other platform outside of the norm 4 wheeled platforms (Racerroom, Iracing, Assetto, Etc)
Awesome, I am not able to do wheels at the moment as I just came out of shoulder surgery a couple of weeks ago. But just built a new PC ready for sim racing, I'm only doing controller right now which isn't as exciting as my wheel setup. And currently playing RaceRoom and PC2 which play nice with a controller . but looking forward to getting into iRacing later on when I come out of PT. If you enjoy iRacing's level of realism, maybe should give GP-Bikes a shot. The community are mostly adults, actual racers/riders, the developer is pretty much a one man band which is honestly impressive. I've been playing it for over 4 months now and it is so ridiculously addictive I've had my friends from RR try it and get hooked. The bikes and tracks are created by the community and they are pretty serious about making this thing as close to the real deal as possible. They organize championships, a lot of racers from EU seem to be into it. The graphics are not crazy, but the physics are incredible... Never tried anything like it before. The way the tire and tarmac feels, the wobbles, the wheelies, the power, the way the bike handles and shifts weight, the slides, it is honestly a feat to ride these bikes once you learn how to. Take a look at this battle between two of the people I usually race with: Some videos to appreciate the Physics: Check them out.
Looks like it's at http://www.gp-bikes.com/ Interestingly it's called "Beta" software but you have to pay for it. I wonder if this is some sort of attempt to bypass the necessity of getting licenses from Dorna and all the MotoGP franchises to use trademarked artwork. Is there some loophole such that as long as it isn't marketed as commercial software they can do this?
It could be, although it's constantly updated it's been in beta for ages! I guess being a one man band developer, it's gotta be tough to keep a beta at this level for free and continue long term development. The sim (or game if you will) has many little issues that need to be ironed out so I assume because of this he calls it a beta. I'm unaware about the licensing req or legalities for an org like Dorna. What I've gathered at this point is that the sim is provided as a standalone physics platform with almost no content at all (the 4 bikes the game comes with suck big time), the content that makes this sim worth buying is developed by the community for free. Again, a lot of little annoying issues with it still but once you get past them it is an extremely rewarding experience. I come from race car sims, and I am in love with this thing. After watching the SIM UK review I went ahead and paid the $30 something dollars for it and do not regret it one bit. I can't put a price to the amount of fun I've had on this thing. I've tried other console titles like MotoGP, Ride 2 but that is child's play next to GPB, there is nothing like it out there. It's like comparing Need For Speed to iRacing. Watch the Sim UK full review, you owe it to yourself. If you are passionate about motorcycles/racing and you are a gamer, you'll be glad you got into this thing. I'd love to see the US community side grow, mostly everyone I come in contact with in the game is from Europe. Sim UK Review is here: Other cool videos showing how sick this thing is:
Did not know about Zwift, pretty cool concept! I'm unsure about hoping on a bike as things are currently, this all started coming out after a track day with super tight suit around my knees followed by an unusual spike on cycling. So I'm not sure which to attribute it to. So as I was feeling better a couple of months after, I got on my bike just here right on my street, and when got off my knees were on fire, and I'm not talking about he feeling you get when you become out of shape from not practicing your sport, I'm talking about on fire because something isn't right with your knee function. Just a few laps up and down the street not even 10 mins. :\ Thanks for info.
