Can sim racing be experienced on a game console?

Yes, you can experience sim racing on a game console. Many popular sim racing games are available on consoles such as the PlayStation and Xbox, and there are also several sim racing wheel and pedal sets designed specifically for use with consoles.

Some popular sim racing games available on consoles include Project Cars, Assetto Corsa, and Assetto Corsa: Competizione. These games offer a range of different cars, tracks, and game modes, as well as varying levels of realism and difficulty.

To experience sim racing on a game console, you will need a racing wheel and pedal set that is compatible with your console. Many popular sim racing wheel manufacturers, such as Thrustmaster, Logitech, and Fanatec, offer console-compatible wheel and pedal sets that can provide a more immersive and realistic driving experience.

Overall, sim racing on a game console can be a great way to experience the excitement and challenge of virtual racing, especially if you don't have access to a dedicated PC setup.

All that said, racing on console is a very limited experience compared to using simulator software on a PC so I will do my best to breakdown several reasons why saving up for a PC is worth it.

iRacing.
This is a big one and this simulator is exclusive to PC.
iRacing is the premier simulator for online sim racing and nothing comes remotely close. First released in 2008, iRacing has been the home of professional eSports racing for over 10 years, with over 175,000 active racers, including over 100 laser scanned tracks, and over 100 licensed cars. As a subscription service, it receives constant updates to graphics and physics, along with the addition of new cars and tracks. As players partake in races they gain a Safety Rating (SR) and an iRating (iR) which helps to ensure that they are racing against people of a similar skill level. Because of this intricate system, iRacing has the most competitive and thrilling online racing experience which is why a lot of pros use it at home.

Other PC exclusive sim racing titles include rFactor 2, Automobolista 2, KartKraft, and Raceroom Racing Experience. In the interest of saving time I’ve excluded many PC exclusive sim racing titles that have been released throughout the years but it is worth mentioning that even older titles such as GTR2, Richard Burns Rally, GT Legends, and Live for Speed all still work on Windows 10/11.

Like iRacing, rFactor 2 has had a long development career and while it’s multiplayer and netcode leaves a lot to be desired, rFactor 2 offers the most physically accurate and most believable sim racing experience available today. When it comes to running hotlaps, few things spikes my adrenaline harder than racing the 911RSR at Sebring.

Modern consoles have 0 exclusive racing simulators.
Unfortunately, as much as I grew up loving the series, Gran Turismo is not a racing simulator but it does make for a terrific stepping stone into the world of sim racing, just like the Forza Motorsport series does. Some may get upset to hear me call Gran Turismo a “sim-cade” title, but please bear in mind that both Gran Turismo and Forza were intentionally designed so that everyday people could enjoy them with little to no understanding of any complex mechanics beyond accelerating, braking, and steering. There are several reasons why they are not qualified to be called racing simulators but this is not the place for it —that list would be far too long. Instead, it’s worth mentioning that the only available modern racing simulator on the current generation of consoles is Assetto Corsa: Competizione (2020*) and even that title was available on last gen consoles. It’s a phenomenal simulator, I won’t discredit that, but it’s hardly worth such a large investment into a closed ecosystem especially when it’s content release schedule is lagging so far behind the PC version. While it might seem unfair to exclude Assetto Corsa (2016**), Dirt Rally 2.0 (2019), and Project C.A.R.S. 2 (2017), they are all last generation titles and they don’t support mods on consoles. Now, if you’re just in it for fun and maybe you want to race NPCs or run hotlaps, any of those titles would suit you just fine. You can even add Wreckfest (2019) to that list since supports racing wheels, but no matter the title, racing online will require an online subscription service with your console provider and they are not cross compatible with previous generation consoles and their servers are separate from competing platforms. That might seem like a long list of negatives but there is a glimmer of hope as the in-dev sim racing title GTR Revival, the spritiual successor to GTR2, is planning to release on consoles (and PC). The in-dev sim racing title Rennsport is also planned for consoles but it won’t be available until after the PC release slated for December of 2023.

*Console release date. Assetto Corsa: Competizione was released 13 months earlier on PC.
**Console release date. Assetto Corsa was released 20 months earlier on PC. The title supports mods on PC only.

Modding.
This is another really big one and it remains exclusive to PC.
Some people will say, “I don’t want to deal with mods and that’s why I like consoles” but I would caution to say that it’s a really weak defense considering how important mods are to the sim racing community, especially with how healthy Assetto Corsa is on PC as a result of mods. First released in 2014, it has a content management tool that quickly allow users to install any number of new cars and tracks, all for free, and start driving them within seconds. Assetto Corsa even has graphics shaders that take less than 5 minutes to install and provide graphics as breath taking as Gran Turismo —impressive for a title nearing it’s 10th year. A quick look over at Racedepartment.com and I can see that Assetto Corsa has over 500 cars and 2000 tracks available for download. While not all them could be considered AAA, some have been prepared by dedicated teams that have painstakingly crafted their favorite cars and tracks using real world data that was so accurate that it became official content, like the Mazda 787b. Modding is so important to the longevity of sim racing that it’s solely responsible for keeping titles like Richard Burns Rally, a title released in 2004, relevant and receiving regular updates long after the developer had abandoned the title. I could write an entire book on modding but for the sake of this article, let’s just say sim racing wouldn’t be the same without the modding community and I couldn’t imagine using a platform that didn’t support them.

Hardware.
Both the Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X require that peripheral manufacturers include a proprietary security chip in the hardware that they sell for each console. This means that when you purchase a racing wheel, you are limited to buying only products that have been made exclusive to your console of choice. Manufacturers like Fanatec have found clever ways to get around this by creating platform agnostic wheelbases and then including the security chip in the steering wheels that you attach to them, but this is something that you have to be aware of when making your purchase. There are only 3 major wheel base manufacturers that provide sim racing hardware to consoles, Logitech, Fanatec, and Thrustmaster, and you will be restricted to using their limited ecosystem of accessories. The dearth of available sim racing accessories on consoles is most likely due to the fact that consoles are affordable alternatives to a PC, so it wouldn’t make much sense for the manufacturers to try and sell peripheral hardware that is 3x the cost of the console itself, with such a small handful of racing titles that support them. As a result, most of the available sim racing hardware for consoles tends to be more budget oriented. You might say, “Hey, that sounds great, good to hear, I love saving money!”, but in sim racing it’s not all about being thrifty. The more affordable a wheel is, the more it will feel like a toy.

Now before I continue, I want to expand on what I mean when I say budget oriented because I don’t like how negative that can sound and I want to be clear that the hobby of sim racing is not entirely Pay to Win, I’ll talk more on that subject later. As long as you have a wheel, pedals, and the ability to shift a car, you can output the same lap times as you would sitting in a $10,000+ cockpit. Why is this? Why should you spend any more if you won’t be any faster? I mentioned that affordable wheels feel more like a toy and that’s because of the mechanical differences that occur as you step up in price. The more affordable wheels use weaker motors and plastic cogs. You can still feel the communication from the car but the feedback that they will deliver is weak and the plastic cogs lead to a loud grinding experience called “chatter” that isn’t very pleasant or smooth to use. Step up from those wheels and you will find brushless motors that typically provide a smoother belt driven experience. This will be slightly stronger, smoother, and a lot more quiet to use, but it’s worth mentioning that the belts will absorb some of the details and will loosen up over time. Stepping up again, right around the $600 mark, and you start to reach entry level DirectDrive territory and this is ultimately where you want to start if you can comfortably afford to do so. Most everyone that starts with an affordable racing wheel eventually invests into a DirectDrive wheel so it may be worth your consideration in order to save money in the long run. Direct drive wheels can last a lifetime and they provide the most true to life driving sensations. They are strong, they are smooth, they are quiet, they provide instant feedback for the smallest of details, and they can be quite compact. Finally we reach the point that I wanted to make with such a long winded section. On Playstation, the most powerful direct drive bundle offers only 8nm of torque for $850 while the Xbox has access to a 25nm capable bundle for $2,500. The difference that torque can make is in the way that force feedback is delivered to emulate a proper driving experience from one car to the next. It also determines how well that wheel can “jump” to emulate road forces such as bumps. A consumer car needs about 5nm of torque, GT3 cars require about 8-12nm of force, Indycars need 22nm, GoKarts around 24nm, V8 Supercars around 25nm. Keep in mind that all of this excludes the difference that a good set of pedals can make.

Accesories and software.
Bass shakers, Seatbelt tensioners, Buttkickers, Button boxes, Dashboard displays, Eye trackers, Gear indicators, Handbrakes, H-Pattern shifters, Motion platforms, Shift lights, Wind simulators, the list goes on! When it comes to PC and the number of USB devices that can be supported by software and drivers, the console experience remains extremely limited. Through the use of software, all of the devices mentioned above can be adjusted or tuned to meet your exacting specifications for each car and simulator.

Ultrawide, Triplescreens, and VR.
In 2023, PlayStationVR2 owners expressed how mind blowing it was to experience GranTurismo in VR proclaiming that it was an absolute game changer for VR. Words cannot describe how happy I am for the future of racing titles on PlayStation, because it’s honestly a huge step forward for a console, something that sim racers on PC have been enjoying since 2016. I could go down the rabbit hole to discuss why locomotion in VR works best for racing titles but trust me when I say that the level of immersion remains unmatched. When we look through our own eyes, we have an incredible 170-180 degree field of view yet consoles have been restricted to using a single 16:9 aspect ratio display for far too long —like looking at the world through a cardboard box. Having access to a VR headset smashes those barriers but unfortunately it still leaves our Xbox owners stuck in the past. Meanwhile, the PC supports different aspect ratios and multiple monitors so most sim racers on PC are capable of using a single 32:9 aspect ratio display (49” Ultrawide) or multiple 21:9 aspect ratio displays (3x curved, 63:9) to closer emulate the experience of sitting in a cockpit. You might be asking why does this really matter but when you’re sitting in a car, going over 100 mph, diving into a corner, its extremely important (and safe!) to check your mirrors for other drivers. When the all mirrors are cut off by limitations of your display, you’ve unintentionally put yourself at a major disadvantage. It’s not just the mirrors either, they also provide a greater sense of immersion where you can feel the world rushing by. Buying 3 curved gaming panels can be a pretty costly affair so most people opt for a single 49” or they opt for VR but no matter how you slice it, it’s nice to have options.

3rd party tools.
Consoles excel at what they are capable of doing because they are extremely resource efficient. However, this means that various processes cannot run in the background or it could hamper the user’s experience. PC’s are naturally inefficient with resources management but it affords us the ability to run several hundreds of processes simultaneously. For example, on my sim rig, I have Fanalab, Crewcheif, and Simhub running the background when I am racing. I use these three programs to improve my experience when sim racing and I honestly couldn’t do without them. Fanalab tunes the force feedback that’s being delivered to my wheel with subtle nuances that I appreciate more than the simulator is capable of delivering by default. Crewcheif emulates the experience of having my very own Crewcheif who relays valuable information throughout the race that might otherwise go unnoticed and it helps a lot with immersion, and safety! Sim hub is used for multiple things but I mainly use it to accurately deliver tactile responses to the 8x bass shakers that I have affixed to my sim rig in order to accurately emulate engine vibrations, road vibrations, shift clunks, and feedback from the in-game suspension. I also use Sim Hub to deliver a proper racing hud to my cellphone over the wi-fi network because when the display of the wheel is turned off in the simulator (you don’t want to see two steering wheels, one real and one virtual), you often lose access to some valuable information that it displays. Most console users wouldn’t know what they are missing out on but I supposed that’s why they call it blissful ignorance.

Support.
There is a massive sim racing community on PC to gather support from in the event that you have any questions.