Driving sims are a very niche genre, hopefully i can convince one or two people on here to give them a go (and top up my frih points a little 
).
Live for Speed - www.liveforspeed.net
For the last ~2.5 years i have been an avid fan of the online racing sim Live for Speed. Before trying it i had never raced other people online in any driving game, and let me tell you, it can be more fun than any fps. The satisfaction at succeeding at a sim which aims to be as close to the real thing as possible is quite immense, especially since it is unlikely many of us will ever get the chance to race in a real GT or open wheeled car.
Live for Speed has the most generous demo i have ever encountered in any game! You get to drive 3 different cars on 4 different track configurations, online against other drivers, for as long as you want, for free. What's more the demo is only 130mb, go here: http://www.liveforspeed.net/?page=downloads to download it now!
I will warn you now though, if you like the sim and you decide to buy it (for all the faster cars/better tracks), you can kiss goodbye to your life!
The final cherry on the cake that is LFS, is the great community. www.lfsforum.net is the friendly place to linger when you aren't online racing, it is also the place where the devs of LFS themselves linger, and they actually care about what YOU have to say! It really is in a different league to all the unfriendly and immature FPS and RPG forums you may have encountered, check it out!
Although LFS is an online game there are NO monthly fees like you may encounter in an MMORPG.
Richard Burns Rally - www.richardburnsrally.com
I played the demo of this sim for the first time today and WOW! It isn't for the feint of hearted but it truely is immensely rewarding mainly because if it's tremendous difficulty and edge-of-the-seat ride.
The graphics and sounds in RBR are very nice indeed, and the physics are way ahead of any other Rally sim on the market. Grab the demo from www.gamershell.com you won't regret it.
Netkar Pro - www.netkar-pro.com
This one will be released in 4 days (10th April) and promises quite a feast for us racing-sim freaks. Like Live for Speed it is an online race sim and similarly to LFS there are no monthly fees.
The hype surrounding nKPro has been massive and has really reached fever pitch since the release date was announced in the last few weeks. The sim will follow a very simlilar philosophy to that of LFS, aiming for ultimate realism. With frequent updates and improvements coming from the develepors, who are a part of the community.
The initial release of nKPro will only include open wheeled cars, but there are plans to include various other forms of cars in the future. There will also be a dev-kit released in the coming months.
Summary
It amazes me how much more popular online FPS games are than online driving sims having played both a significant amount. The amount of fun and satisfaction to be had behind the wheel of a virtual car really can blow your socks off, although to fully immerse yourself you need a force feedback steering wheel and pedals. You can pick up a wheel for the cost of your next two FPS games, which will be gathering dust somewhere within a few weeks of you purchasing them. Also the longevity of a driving sim really does justify buying a wheel, because sims last you so much longer than the latest FPS game which is barely different to all the other ones out there.
Anyway, it tailed off a bit towards the end as i got tired and started ranting, check out LFS now (and race online)![/b]
).
Live for Speed - www.liveforspeed.net
For the last ~2.5 years i have been an avid fan of the online racing sim Live for Speed. Before trying it i had never raced other people online in any driving game, and let me tell you, it can be more fun than any fps. The satisfaction at succeeding at a sim which aims to be as close to the real thing as possible is quite immense, especially since it is unlikely many of us will ever get the chance to race in a real GT or open wheeled car.
Live for Speed has the most generous demo i have ever encountered in any game! You get to drive 3 different cars on 4 different track configurations, online against other drivers, for as long as you want, for free. What's more the demo is only 130mb, go here: http://www.liveforspeed.net/?page=downloads to download it now!
I will warn you now though, if you like the sim and you decide to buy it (for all the faster cars/better tracks), you can kiss goodbye to your life!
The final cherry on the cake that is LFS, is the great community. www.lfsforum.net is the friendly place to linger when you aren't online racing, it is also the place where the devs of LFS themselves linger, and they actually care about what YOU have to say! It really is in a different league to all the unfriendly and immature FPS and RPG forums you may have encountered, check it out!
Although LFS is an online game there are NO monthly fees like you may encounter in an MMORPG.
Richard Burns Rally - www.richardburnsrally.com
I played the demo of this sim for the first time today and WOW! It isn't for the feint of hearted but it truely is immensely rewarding mainly because if it's tremendous difficulty and edge-of-the-seat ride.
The graphics and sounds in RBR are very nice indeed, and the physics are way ahead of any other Rally sim on the market. Grab the demo from www.gamershell.com you won't regret it.
Netkar Pro - www.netkar-pro.com
This one will be released in 4 days (10th April) and promises quite a feast for us racing-sim freaks. Like Live for Speed it is an online race sim and similarly to LFS there are no monthly fees.
The hype surrounding nKPro has been massive and has really reached fever pitch since the release date was announced in the last few weeks. The sim will follow a very simlilar philosophy to that of LFS, aiming for ultimate realism. With frequent updates and improvements coming from the develepors, who are a part of the community.
The initial release of nKPro will only include open wheeled cars, but there are plans to include various other forms of cars in the future. There will also be a dev-kit released in the coming months.
Summary
It amazes me how much more popular online FPS games are than online driving sims having played both a significant amount. The amount of fun and satisfaction to be had behind the wheel of a virtual car really can blow your socks off, although to fully immerse yourself you need a force feedback steering wheel and pedals. You can pick up a wheel for the cost of your next two FPS games, which will be gathering dust somewhere within a few weeks of you purchasing them. Also the longevity of a driving sim really does justify buying a wheel, because sims last you so much longer than the latest FPS game which is barely different to all the other ones out there.
Anyway, it tailed off a bit towards the end as i got tired and started ranting, check out LFS now (and race online)![/b]
