[carmad]

I have been a member of iracing for about 6 weeks, it is the most realistic of the sims I have tried, including GTR2, GTL, rFactor.
You have to work your way through the ranks, rookie, D,C,B,A, licence levels, needing to accrue safety rating of above 4.0, and a minimal participation in TT and races to progress to the next licence level, which can be in road or oval racig, or both.
Safety rating helps to weed out the dive bombers and rewards consistent driving.
The tracks and cars are excellent, and I have had no real problems with lag or latency, and average about 50 to 80 fps at most tracks.
I have done about 13 races mainly in the Solstice, and while not the fastest guy, I am consistent, leave racing room and try to make good judgement calls. I have had some excellent races. The racing is a REAL adrenaline rush and feels exactly like my karting days, and much better than racing the AI, as in GTR2.
Just got my D licence, so will be racing Skip Barber, which is the first step in open wheel, once I get my setup as a nice stable platform.
This sim is as real as it gets, except for the g forces, however, if you have a good wheel and pedal setup, it adds to the immersion. I have a cockpit, I built myself with modded G25 wheel and pedals, 5 speed or sequential shifter, realistic brake pedal, Recaro race seat, 22'' monitor.
This thing is a blast, downside, you have to subsscibe, but for the amount of good racing and enjoyment I get, its worth the price of admission.

This isn't my rig, but very similar.
img]http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads14/sim41225902296.jpg[/img]