As one of the first game genres to embrace VR, sim racing has successfully transitioned from the ‘very early adopter’ stage (using Oculus development kits) to the ‘early adopter’ stage (the first-generation consumer headsets). Now that the majority of PC racing sims support VR, there are several compelling options to try. Update (10/6/17): Following the recent launch of Project CARS 2, this top 5 list has been overhauled. Every title has been re-evaluated based on its current VR features and performance. From mid-2014 until early 2016, when the Rift DK2 was essentially the only hardware option, software support in racing simulators was a nightmare. Since then, the situation has improved, but each software solution featured here can still be considered a work-in-progress. The HTC Vive launched on April 5th 2016, a week after the consumer Oculus Rift. The headsets shared similar specifications and, for seated games like racing sims, should have delivered a very similar experience. However, that was definitely not the case. In terms of getting development kits into the wild, Oculus had more than a two-year head start, the effects of which are still apparent today; at launch, the Vive was poorly supported by racing sims, and in some cases remained totally unsupported for months. Assetto Corsa (2014), for example, was functional on the Rift DK1 in Early Access in 2013 and had solid consumer Rift support by May 2016, but only received Vive support in March 2017. The situation continues to improve; with the exception of Automobilista (2016), every PC racing sim (in active development) now has some form of VR support for the Vive and Rift. Below are our top five recommendations - please note, the list is weighted towards the VR implementation, not the ‘simulation value’. The truth is, depending on your sensitivity to particular contributing factors, one could justify listing these titles in almost any order, as they all feature a functional, competent VR mode - many of their differences are nuanced. [irp posts="46094" name="4 Wheel Recommendations for Newcomers to VR Sim Racing"] 5. RaceRoom Racing Experience [caption id="attachment_62655" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo courtesy Sector3 Studios[/caption] RaceRoom Racing Experience (2013) is the only ‘free-to-play’ sim on the list (most content requires purchasing). After the studio endured a challenging transition from SimBin to Sector3 in 2014, the game began to improve significantly, with a clearer direction towards realism. Today, the presentation is becoming more consistent, with many impressive track environments and detailed cars, representing the DTM series particularly well. Unlike the others on this list, the game offers three different physics models - ‘Novice’, ‘Amateur’, and ‘Get Real’, which are effectively driving assist presets. Even on the most ‘hardcore’ setting, handling is on the forgiving side, but it is a very enjoyable drive, thanks to its powerful audio design and impressive AI. VR support in RaceRoom landed for Rift and Vive in January, and despite using a relatively old graphics engine, Sector3 delivered a solid implementation. Performance is strong on both headsets, the menus and HUD work well, and it supports supersampling and world scale adjustment. [caption id="attachment_62654" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo courtesy Sector3 Studios[/caption] However, due to an outdated, 180-degree steering animation, along with an incomplete, poorly-proportioned driver model (with no torso), RaceRoom’s VR experience has suffered. iRacing (2008) also used 180-degree rotation for years, but has since reworked the animations across most of its cars. Sector3 has been improving in this area - every new car they release has an animation that does well beyond 180, and features a complete, more-realistic driver model. But the old steering and driver model still feature in many of the cars, including the popular DTM and GT3 series. The cars with the old animations also seem to be the most inconsistent in their default head position, but the game does allow for cockpit camera/seat adjustment. There are other signs that this title wasn’t originally built with VR in mind - the cockpit mirrors appear distorted and aren’t very usable (but there is a ‘virtual mirror’ option for the HUD), and there are jarring transitions during loading, and the opening panning camera shots before each race can feel uncomfortable in VR. RaceRoom’s widely praised audio doesn’t come across as well as it could in VR either, as it doesn’t support surround or spatial audio. [button color="black" size="large" type="3d" target="" link="http://game.raceroom.com/"]RaceRoom[/button] 4. Assetto Corsa [caption id="attachment_62657" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo courtesy Kunos Simulazioni[/caption] Assetto Corsa is a very popular sim, recognised for its intuitive physics and attractive visuals. Unlike most PC racing sims, it gives a significant amount of attention to road cars, giving the title a more mainstream appeal. Many prestigious brands are represented, including a vast collection of Ferrari and Porsche race and road cars. It also supports ‘mods’, and is now the go-to sim for user-created cars and tracks. Sometimes criticised for being a ‘hot-lap sim’ due to its basic career mode features, Assetto Corsa doesn’t offer the best single player experience - although its AI has improved. However, the game’s public multiplayer lobbies are very popular, making this the best choice for those looking for a quick race against human opponents. The combination of slick visuals and sublime handling meant that even in the Oculus DK2 era—where no in-game menu system meant a limiting and painful setup process—Assetto Corsa was still worth trying. Since May 2016 however, the Rift has enjoyed much-improved support, and now Vive owners don’t have to mess with unofficial hacks for support as the game now natively supports OpenVR. An ‘IPD slider’ in the sim’s OpenVR app offers a solution to world scaling on Vive, and there is quick access to a cockpit camera adjustment. Today’s VR experience on Assetto Corsa is fairly painless. Unfortunately Kunos aren’t planning to implement a proper VR menu system, so you still need to launch the sim from a desktop view (although it is possible to operate this from a virtual desktop app). Once you’ve loaded a track, Assetto Corsa is stunning in VR, with smooth performance even on large grids, and excellent steering animations across all cars. The motion-to-photon latency is typically very low, improving your connection to the car and delivering a highly immersive experience. If your priority for VR immersion is low latency combined with high-quality visuals, Assetto Corsa strikes the best balance on this list. Unfortunately, it’s not perfect. The curved HUD and in-sim menu system isn’t the most elegant or intuitive, and the mirrors are inaccurate, rendering a single FOV across all cockpit mirrors. The basic ‘surround’ audio implemented on the Rift is welcome, but it still doesn’t work when using the Vive, and it can’t match the spatial audio system of Project CARS 2. [button color="black" size="large" type="3d" target="" link="http://www.assettocorsa.net/en/"]Assetto Corsa[/button] 3. Live for Speed By far the oldest product on the list (first seen in 2002), Live for Speed’s evolution has been painfully slow at times. In stark contrast, its VR updates across the last couple of years have been remarkably rapid—often industry-leading—implementing Rift and Vive support before either consumer hardware had even launched. The sim remains an impressive example of uncompromising driving physics, but visually it struggles to compete against the more recent titles, particularly with its ageing selection of (mostly) fantasy car models. Live for Speed is an ongoing project; 15 years of development updates have resulted in a unique, feature-laden simulation. The core driving experience is excellent, combining intuitive handling with strong force feedback. Despite its dated visuals and fictional vehicles, Live for Speed remains a very interesting sim as a VR showcase. Its system requirements are very low, delivering 90Hz performance on sub-minimum spec machines, with a streamlined setup and comprehensive options to fiddle with. There are considerations for VR users not found in other sims, like a HUD-based keyboard (combined with a gaze-based pointer) for entering text, and a dedicated ‘walk’ mode intended to improve the experience of exploring the track environments in VR ‘on foot’. Since version 0.6Q in September 2016, Live for Speed has featured stereoscopic mirrors, an effect first seen in Codemasters’ experimental VR support for GRID Autosport (2014). Live for Speed remains ahead of the competition here – it is the only racing sim on the list with the feature. Interior and side mirrors in all other sims essentially appear like digital screens rather than reflections. iRacing and Project CARS 2 manage to move the mirror view relative to head position, but they’re still not stereoscopic. It might seem like an insignificant feature, but the effect of depth in mirrors has a remarkable impact for a number of reasons. Firstly, it helps to mitigate the low resolution of current VR hardware; it’s hard enough to see distant objects in the main environment, and certainly troublesome to see detail in mirrors (many VR users opt to use a larger ‘virtual mirror’ as part of the HUD). Stereoscopic depth allows the eyes to resolve detail more easily. Secondly, there is the natural sensation of looking in a mirror—we expect them to work in a certain way, and it’s jarring when they don’t. Due to the close proximity of the mirror itself, your eye’s convergence reflex is in full effect; when the virtual reflection is faked and appears as a ‘screen’, you’re having to look at the details as a close object, messing with your focal distance in an unnatural way. In Live for Speed, you look ‘through’ the mirrors as in reality, and focus on distant objects in the reflection in the same way as looking straight ahead. The effect is so convincing that I genuinely feel a heightened sense of presence, particularly when leaning up to the rear view mirror and seeing my own reflection (wearing a helmet) making exactly the same movement. All VR racing simulators should have this feature; unfortunately a mirror is one of the most performance-sapping elements to render. But once they do, ‘virtual mirrors’ on the HUD will likely be a thing of the past as they become completely unnecessary when the ‘real’ mirrors are so good. With huge performance headroom, Live for Speed always feels responsive in VR. Thanks to minimal latency on inputs and the 1:1 head movement in the stereoscopic reflections, LFS achieves a level of body presence that is a step above all other driving sims, despite the fact that the driver model is presented in very low detail by modern standards. It ticks almost every box for VR sim racing nirvana - perfect tracking, low latency, surround audio, 1:1 steering animation, and stereoscopic mirrors all contribute to powerful immersion, but it is let down by its dated visuals and a choppy world movement relative to head position – apparently due to the sim’s 100Hz physics update rate not matching the 90Hz rendering. [button color="black" size="large" type="3d" target="" link="https://www.lfs.net/"]Live for Speed[/button] Continue Reading on Page 2... 2. iRacing Laser-scanned cars and tracks was once a major selling point, but most other sims use similar data-acquisition techniques today. The quality of track and car creation is still arguably the best in the business, but iRacing comfortably retains its place as the premier PC racing simulation due to its multiplayer-only approach. The subscription service and content purchases make it by far the most expensive way to go sim racing (although it is cheap - and often free - to try), but the quality of racing it delivers as a result of its driver rating systems and server infrastructure make it the most reliable. If you can dedicate the time and money, iRacing will likely reward you with the most consistent, competitive racing available. Even ignoring its inherent advantage in delivering realistic track action due to its online-only service, iRacing’s VR implementation is capable of delivering a remarkably immersive sense of real racing. Its visuals can’t match Project CARS 2 (despite being similarly demanding on hardware), but it does maintain a very crisp image quality that lends itself well to serious racing over extended sessions. While supporting supersampling and MSAA, it also features a well-judged, post-process sharpening effect that overcomes some of the resolution limitations of the first generation of VR headsets. [caption id="attachment_62650" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo courtesy iRacing[/caption] Dirt oval racing was recently introduced to the subscription service, to wide acclaim. As much of dirt oval driving involves an oversteer slide, you end up looking sideways as much as you look forward, so VR is ideal. Plus, mud starts to build up on your visor, which can be cleared with a 'tear-off' button, a convincing effect in VR. The ease of use doesn’t match Project CARS 2, as the new UI is still a work in progress and the in-engine menu system isn’t newcomer-friendly, but it is fully-featured. The in-depth camera controls combined with the best-in-class replay system mean that iRacing is a joy to use in VR even when you’re not driving. In the car, the cockpits (at least the more recent cars) are incredibly detailed, the driver model is convincing, with some of the most natural steering animation available. The mirrors render correct 3D views (including the reflection of your body and car) and react to positional tracking, but sadly aren’t stereoscopic. iRacing’s surround audio system is functional in VR, but it is a basic implementation at this point, beaten by the more advanced spatial audio in Project CARS 2. However, iRacing has more accurate audio samples overall, and more convincing audio responses to drivetrain simulation. [button color="black" size="large" type="3d" target="" link="http://www.iracing.com/"]iRacing[/button] 1. Project CARS 2 [caption id="attachment_68771" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Slightly Mad Studios[/caption] Project CARS 2 is an ambitious racing sim, attempting to represent 29 motorsport series across 9 racing disciplines. Renowned for its stunning graphics, Project CARS 2 is capable of delivering some of the most realistic visuals in sim racing, with dramatic changes in atmosphere through its dynamic weather and 24-hour lighting cycle. With huge improvements to the physics, Project CARS 2 has firmly established its place in the list of realistic simulations, but it remains one of the more accessible titles, with forgiving handling characteristics at the limit. Unfortunately, Slightly Mad Studios’ second attempt at a cutting-edge racing sim is far from perfect, with plenty of bugs and some frustrating AI. As a VR showcase, it’s almost entirely good news. Image quality problems of Project CARS (2015) have been addressed, with a more effective approach to supersampling and anti-aliasing, and overall performance is more consistent. Most significantly, the game no longer struggles to hold frame rate during wet conditions, and the low resolution alpha effects of water spray have been resolved. Project CARS 2 received several other notable VR improvements over the original - the driver model is more realistic - probably the most photorealistic model on the list - and the excessively elaborate over-arm steering animation has been fixed. Now the driver maintains grip on the wheel at ‘9 and 3’ beyond 90 degrees each way, making it consistent with the animations in iRacing, Assetto Corsa and Live For Speed. Mirrors have been greatly improved, being adjustable and connected to head tracking - but they are not stereoscopic. Essentially, they function like higher quality versions of iRacing’s mirrors, although they don’t show the reflection of your own car. While the audio quality doesn’t match iRacing’s samples, the spatial audio system is commendable - it’s the only sim on the list where you can hear your engine sound coming from the correct point in virtual space. With the ability to operate the entire game in VR, including all the menus, its numerous considerations to accommodate the VR user (e.g. quick access VR-specific menu options), along with an overall stunning presentation, it is arguably the most ‘complete’ VR experience on this list, and certainly the slickest. Issues with HUD customisation and HUD depth ‘clipping’ and the limited options for replay/broadcast camera angles are really the only significant oversights. It obviously can't compete with iRacing's multiplayer experience, but it could still improve in this area with further optimisation - the framerate hitches when users enter or leave a session needs to be resolved. The demanding renderer means that motion-to-photon latency (when holding 90fps) is likely to be the highest on this list, so depending on your sensitivity to such things, this may reduce immersion. However, the spectacular visuals tend to overcome the issue to some degree. You need a very powerful machine to enjoy this sim at its best, but it scales very well, retaining impressive visuals at low settings. [button color="black" size="large" type="3d" target="" link="https://www.projectcarsgame.com/info.html"]Project CARS 2[/button] Honorable Mentions Dirt Rally DiRT Rally (2015) was Codemasters’ first attempt at creating a realistic rally simulation. While being somewhat less-accessible than the earlier DiRT titles, having more in common with the renowned rally sim Richard Burns Rally (2004), it is still forgiving at the limit, making it fun rather than frustrating to play. On the Rift, Codemasters delivered a spectacular experience, and one that translated well over to PSVR, yet it still lacks official support for the Vive. The Revive injector offers an unofficial solution, but it highlights the game’s performance issues. In addition, the steering animation problems were sadly never fully addressed, which is an immersion-breaker for some. DiRT Rally is tough to compare against these track-based racers, and it ultimately depends on what aspect of the experience you value the most. Its sensation of speed and large world movement (due to the closeness of obstacles and undulating terrain) make for a thrilling roller coaster ride that can’t be achieved with smooth circuit racing. But if you value the sense of ‘body presence’ and visual steering feedback, then their animation system totally spoils the party. Not only does the steering animation only go to 180 degrees, but it also fails to represent the actual position of your steering wheel, both in terms of rotation angle and direct response, unlike every other sim here. Even if you disable the arms (which removes the virtual body entirely) to allow the wheel rotation to move beyond 180 degrees, the rotation is still inaccurate, animating at a lower framerate than the rest of the scene and using some unnecessary elasticity, vibrating and bouncing all over the place, rather than being a direct representation of the wheel you’re holding. Much like RaceRoom, DiRT Rally’s audio is often cited as its best feature. It is certainly impressive, but it hasn’t been optimised for VR, with no surround or spatial simulation (relative to head position). The rendering performance of DiRT Rally is also disappointing when compared to the likes of Assetto Corsa or Project CARS 2 - it is an unusually demanding game, considering its dated visuals. With DiRT 4 (2017) sadly not receiving any VR support, it seems unlikely that DiRT Rally will ever see any future improvements to its VR implementation. rFactor 2 rFactor 2 (2013) is highly regarded by enthusiasts, using a physics engine that evolved over a period of almost two decades. Its advanced tyre model, high-speed multibody chassis system, dynamic weather, dynamic track surface, full 24-hour lighting, and probably the most human-like racing AI in existence, combine to make rFactor 2 one of the most detailed, enjoyable racing experiences available. But its visual presentation and pace of development compared unfavourably to Assetto Corsa, another mod-friendly title, and over the past few years rFactor 2 struggled to generate enthusiasm from the wider sim racing community. But since developer Image Space Incorporated handed the reigns to Studio 397 in September 2016, things have begun to look up. In May, DX11 arrived in an open beta, aiming to improve general performance, enable more advanced visual effects and introduce VR support. It is getting the basics of VR right, supporting OpenVR, meaning that Vive, Rift and any other OpenVR headset will work, and the existing steering animations, cockpit layouts and mirrors are already effective. Unfortunately, the sim continues to suffer from performance problems. The situation is slowly improving (I can now drive with many other cars on track instead of just one or two), but it is still far from an acceptable VR experience at this point, struggling to hold 90Hz even on lowest settings. Currently, it feels like the most unfinished VR racing sim, but if you are lucky enough to get it running smoothly, the core simulation’s many positives should immediately elevate the experience to a very high level. With a confusing range of optimised and unoptimised content, and further DX11 improvements and a new UI around the corner, rFactor 2 is still difficult to recommend for VR right now, but the future is bright.