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Sim Racing Software Pricing
It maybe just my impression but it seems to me sim racers are prepared
to pay quite significant sums for hardware but are penny pinchers when it comes to software! Wheels and pedals, gear changers, cockpits plus the inevitable PC hardware upgrades in terms of cpus, graphics cards, memory and screens are typical products a sim racing enthusiast is looking at. Unlike other genres there is not a steady flow of titles being released. A typical console gamer will fill up a shelf in months that a sim racer takes many years to fill. 2006 has seen only NetkarPro and the Hudson rFactor add ons that I can think of. Both of which have been at the receiving end of certain sim racers vitriol for ripping us off. Now we all know that NKPro was hardly a model of release management, yet I was surprised how many on RSC took a view that it wasn't just the lack of communication that was the issue but that they had been conned (and getting very vocal about it). I have made some bad gaming choices over the years with other genres to take a view that sim racing software is very good value such that if the investment in NKPro doesn't pay off then so be it. Hopefully though it will bear fruit in the future, then we will feel we played our part. As for Hudson Kerr's updates, my view is here is a guy who is looking to bring professional updates in addition to the hobby groups. Quite frankly I don't think he is going to get mega rich at our expense. Yet if he can turn his day job into working on sim racing updates then it has to be to our benefit in terms of quality and speed of production and we can then choose if we think it is of sufficient value. On the basis rFactor is now a year old, sprucing it up with some excellent updates whilst we wait for a new version seems a reasonable approach. Of course there is also some excellent free stuff for rFactor, but I can vouch for Hudson's work as being at the absolute top end of anything that has been produced, so you know where you stand if you are looking for the best. If you have upgraded to a mid or top end graphics card to improve the visuals by being able to increase resolution, AA or in game detail then it is a relatively small cost. My concern is that if we don't support new ventures like NKPro or Hudson's updates then the already niche group of suppliers of our products will become even more niche and it will limit our options. The same goes for ISI and Simbin. Their approach is continual evolution of their products. They will not seem like quantum leaps yet they need a steady income stream to survive, which require our continual investment. Having experienced the drought of products when Papyrus stopped producing open wheel sims due to financial pressures we should be aware of the consequences. Cheers Tony |
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