[RugbyBro]

I just got into it for the purposes of improving my driving IRL. The first thing you need to accept is it is not a replacement for actual seat time and G force. You can build the craziest rig ever but it’ll never be like being in-car. Also, sim times do not translate directly to IRL times - been seein dudes post their fantastic sim times but be a mile off IRL. Given all that, I find sim very fun and useful.

I am using it as a tool to improve my driving because the physics of the cars in AC are mechanically the same as real life, so I can go out on my local track in SIM and play with lines, oversteer and understeer correction in specific corners, etc. This is really going to depend on finding a track map and car mod that are as close to your real life track and car as possible. You can really dial in the mechanics of your driving in sim to start building that muscle memory and learn visual cues.

I also use it to get the layout of new tracks that I haven’t driven prior to driving them - this is where VR is super helpful, you get a much better perception of elevation in VR than on a screen.

I play in VR which I highly recommend for immersion. I would caution you tho on spending lots of money on a rig - you drive a street car on track which is nothing like a race car. While i highly recommend a DD wheel and decent pedals, I find that the cheapest fanatec CSL bundle is perfect - you don’t need high torque bases or load cell pedals since street cars feel nothing like that. I actually turn my torque down to 3nm and the damper to 0 to better replicate EPS.

Pic of my budget rig: