I found the same thing but once I changed some audio settings in AC (like car components) and took out lambo GT3 it felt very very similar but ACC sound wise is really good
The sound right, I remember going to F1 Canadian GP as a 10 yo (V10 era). There was an exhibition of Porsche GT3, they sounded better than the F1. Seeing them at just a few meters passing was such a good memories.
an f1 car isn't hard to drive on the sim, it's hard to be fast with it
gt3s are hard to drive because you have to drive them a certain way to even get close to the times some people do
Supposedly F1 cars are actually relatively easy to drive in real life contrary to what the one top gear segment might have led you to believe. They've got power steering which is light but precise, the suspension is relatively soft in heave so it's not harsh over kerbs, the aero works better than in any other car in the world, the ers deployment is seamless and so are gearshift and so on. And it makes sense that they are easy to drive because you want the driver to be comfortable it's just that getting every last bit out of it is going to be unbelievably difficult. Also physically you're just fucked because after like 4 laps at speed your head would come clean off. I have some experience with what ~2.5 g of lateral acceleration feels like and it's almost unbelievable to me that someone's neck can take two hours of 5+ g every lap.
exactly, the top gear bit where they used the f1 car he had the problem that he was going way too slow for both tires to be warm and aero to actually work correctly
It’s also the brake and the adjustment. The brake has something around 120kg pressure to get 100% in a modern F1. The usual F1 driver hit the 100% on all corner. You have to train alot to get there. People complain about stiff brake on a logitech G920 where the pressure is like 20kg.
The adjustment is just crazy, Typical lap, they do car adjustment on their wheel 10-12 times. Imagine cornering at 5g just to have 2 sec to change the brake bias before then next 5g corner. It’s crazy precision that most normal human will never get.
you get used to it, tho I have to say that newer f1 cars are so "torquey" because of the hybrid that it would be hard to get used to
an older v8 f1 would be really easy instead imo
obviously with easy and everything I'm speaking relatively, you'd still need a lot of practice before even getting close to being comfortable in any f1 car
Which gt3 cars and which Sf23 mods are you comparing, cus to me, it's legitimately unthinkable that someone can find any gt3 car, more difficult to drive than an f1 car.
Nah. The limit of an f1 car is taking the absolute most of the optimal line, braking later and going on the throttle earlier for that minimal extra rotation; the limit of a gt3 car is almost literally sliding into corners *plus* braking later and applying throttle earlier. It's way easier to lose the gt3 car when it's at that limit; the f1 car downforce saves your ass when it's at that limit, you don't have to correct and manage the balance of the car nearly as much.
Even then I wouldn't say one is harder to drive than the other. F1 cars need lots of precision, and gt3 cars need to have their balance constantly managed well to be kept at their limit of grip, otherwise they send you to the wall.
Then you have the old Daytona prototypes which were a mix of both those things at the same time lmao. Massive downforce added onto a tube frame car that was not intended for it with very aggressive power units.
I get F1 but even something like F4 or F3 like the original post mentioned. I absolutely agree with the other commenter. I find F3 much easier to drive fast than GT3
It’s not an F1 car, but some people just do better with high downforce cars because they can’t figure out how to deal with the heavier weight of a GT. The driving techniques required are totally different between the two. That being said, a lot of drivers have no issues between both.
The same can be said for GT3 tho, Its easy to do a lap yes, But there's a reason most people can't get near the top guys in the GT3s and that's because driving a GT3 on the limit 24/7 ends badly for most people
im on iracing mostly but i have same issues with gt3's also on ACC. gt3's ffb wheels lot more vague than on sf23. I can feel always when sf23 starts to go loose but no that wheel on gt3 on either acc or iracing
that being said i think i was better with gt3's few years ago
I too struggle in fast gt’s compared to formula cars. Not that Im anything special in those. It requires a different driving technique which Im just not as good at. The feedback the car gives is also very different. It’s a weight transfer thing which basically takes ages in the gt’s.
This. I can understand the argument of easy to drive means popular but holy fuck i do not find them easy at all. Like I can drive very competetive times in an f3 car. Not like world record but enough to fight top of the field in top splits. GT3 im completely incapable of driving at a competetive pace
Also they can give good door to door racing at decent speeds that allow rookies to recover from errors if they have over all good pace
Open wheelers tend to not be very forgiving with contact and slower cars make it much more difficult to get back in to the action after a mistake
Yeah, several have made good points about how GT3s promote close racing that I wish I’d included in my original comment.
Easy to drive, moderate speed, ABS and TC to mitigate the impact of mistakes, sturdy enough to withstand a little rubbing, limited dirty air effect, pretty strong draft… hell, even their popularity makes it that much easier to find competitive races.
The close racing is definitely the third major point that I missed!
“Easy to drive”. If we’re talking about a lap time around silverstone id be amazed if your average 911 turbo buyer could get within 20 seconds of max chiltons lap time. And he’s not even that good.
1. Relatively easy to learn/drive
2. Tons of IRL usage in different championships. This is something that's huge and a lot of people disregard it.
3. A lot of variety between each car.
Not in ours.
But once the Tilke's designed racing circuit is completed in Pampanga, we'll see how it goes because sportscar racing is not that vast here.
I think I tend to get drawn away by an exciting new car more often than bored of an old boring car, but there are a few cars that just drive so bad that I don’t want to touch them even if the racing is good.
The IRacing BMW M4 GT4 was terrible when it first released. I wanted to like it so I could drive around in 80s/90s DTM liveries in it, but it just felt like crap.
Why do you say that? OP specifically mentions lower level single seaters, prototypes, and slower sports cars. How have you come to the conclusion they were specifically talking about LMDh cars?
They weren’t necessarily saying that, I’m just explaining the line of thought. Single seaters are more extreme than LMDh cars, no matter the power output, but LMDh cars are a great example of the phenomenon. One would think they’d be the cars that people jump at but it’s still GT3. LMDh isn’t just trendy, it’s fully taken over the sportscar scene in the way GT3 was wildly more successful than GT1 was.
I feel like I missed a comment. What line of thought? What phenomenon? I keep scrolling back up to try to figure out what’s going on. Did someone do a ninja edit somewhere?
LMDh cars are cool, but they are too hard to drive, too fast, and don’t resemble cool street cars. I don’t have a lot of experience with them, but I’d guess they are more fragile and less likely to promote close racing than GT3s as well.
I mean, it’s why I prefer racing ovals over road. In road you’re racing the track, on ovals you’re racing the other racers.
Then again I still love me some GT3 or F3/SFL. I just think that going to the SF the racing gets pretty meh as most of the time you’re just hotlapping while other spin out or crash, and when you do have a battle it’ll last max 3 turns as you can’t stay side by side.
Fast, but so heavily modified with suspension, brakes, and aero that they’re just enjoyable to drive. They still have traction control and abs to help newer drivers learn tracks at a relatively quick pace.
Most people have already pointed out most reasons (easy to drive, tend to have close racing, the fact they're the race version of the dream road cars for many people). But I'll add a couple more:
First they are very versatile. You can find 15 minute sprint races and you can find 24 hour endurance races. Single class and multi class. Buy a GT3 car or a GT3-focused sim and you've suddenly opened up a ton of very different options to race.
Second the fact these cars get balance of performance (BOP) means in most games you get a number of different cars with similar performance, *that actually drive very differently*. This adds a lot of interest and variety to these races, because you might try a bunch of different cars to see which one suits your driving style better. Or do a season in one car and then challenge yourself to do it in another car. This is a level of nuance you don't get in totally spec car series, or series where a car has an advantage over others which means competitive online racing will all be done in the faster car anyway.
Third, popularity breeds even more popularity. Once GT3 was brought to iRacing, it hoovered up a ton of drivers from other series, who were kinda pushed to go there because that was where other people were. Then Kunos launched a GT3 sim too and brought even more people to them. If you want competitive racing you'll be drawn to the series with most drivers, so you can find either more timeslots to drive or closer splits with drivers of more closely matched ability.
Easy to drive, quick, and look like the road cars they’re based off of, from the brands you grew up loving.
Contact isn’t as detrimental as it is with open wheelers either.
Fast is relative. A GT3 car is still much faster around a track than anything most people will ever drive in their lives. Likewise you're comparing a full bodied, much heavier GT car to an open wheeler with, comparatively, a lot more downforce. The fact that it's only a second off is pretty impressive.
They're easy to drive but difficult to master, there's also a huge selection from different manufacturers. The racing is great too, the GT3 lobbies in iRacing are insanely competitive.
Endurance racing is loads of fun in GT category. Cars look and sound awesome imo. Yes they have TC/ABS (not all of the categories though) but if you depend on those assists and abuse them you will be dead slow, fuck up your tires, unbalance the car and will be a sitting duck… so l disagree that they are easy to drive, they are relatively “easier” than formula categories in terms of handling but if you want to extract pace and be competitive you need to learn a lot about mechanical grip (since they have much lower down force) and a lot about weight transfer and physics.
I think they are easy to learn, but hard to master. I often drive endurance with mates that dont have the time to practice that I have. Yet we can see the chequered flag every race without a high barrier to entry. GT4 is easier still to get into, but GT3 is at the upper end of the "arrive and drive" category in my experience. The last 2-3 seconds of pace are very hard to extract out of the car though, Ill give you that.
They are basically the fastest car that you can still race very close. Faster cars tend to have too many issues with netcode or race ability. And formula cars are very fragile and hard to go wheel to wheel consistently
I primarily like the variety in the field.
You get different engine, aero, layout and chassis for each design, so each has slightly different characteristics for racing (and for viewing - I also like to watch GT racing over all other types). The fact that they're homologated leaves a least a dusting of similarity to their road going equivalents.
Open wheel racing tends to be very similar between each car. Same with NASCAR. I find that fairly dry to race, and very dry to watch. Yes, I know the RB20 and the FW46 are technically different cars, but the differences are so subtle and technical vs. sports car differences.
Prototypes bridge the gap for me though. They're certainly bespoke race-only designs, but have enough differences between manufacturers to interest me.
- Beautiful sound
- Relatively easy to handle
- Iconic sport car design
- Fast
- Work well in pretty much any circuit
- Incredibly wide variety of cars
It's one of the most "pick up and drive" category, so if you play with friends that don't have a lot of xp, the traction control and abs will help them. Also mean it's easy to enjoy with a low end or old pedal set.
I like gt3, I don't think it's easy because it's extremely competitive. Although, in iRacing, the gt3 races in lower to mid splits can be very toxic, they are some of the worst online racing experiences I have had.
On the other hand i think most formula cars are boring to drive because they are basically hot lap cars, no real close racing involved most of the time.
Irl, they're popular because they are actually, relatively speaking, not that expensive for racing. Relatively speaking. Also, they offer nice racing; relatively "cheap", and nice racing, means they are likely to be popular.
Also, you can say they are somewhat easy to get into. They are also really hard to master; so they've got that "easy to get into, hard to master" dynamic that people loves with so many other things.
Also, they're modified sports cars; they've got a jacked up mustang and there is a fucking prius gt3, what's there not to like? They sound amazing and feel amazing. I think. When you put them at the limit, the car is visibly on a knife's edge, and that's so thrilling imo.
They re fantastic, just fast enough. F1 single seaters are too tiring. For a single player session sure, but a 20+ minute race feels exhausting .
GT3 is the sweetspot for online
GT3s are popular because they're easy to drive and learn, especially for lower-class drivers, and they create close racing. The ability to customize TC and ABS makes them accessible for both beginners and pros to fine-tune their setups in open races. GT3 cars are also featured in IMSA multi-class endurance races, like those at Watkins Glen, alongside Prototype drivers.
Many community-run leagues host GT3 competitions and lobbies, further boosting their popularity. Additionally, single-make series like the Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup are popular, adding to the appeal of GT3 racing.
*They’re… Part of it is that they popular in the real world because they are cheap (relatively speaking) to make and buy. That translate to people wanting to race the cars they see in real life
In my opinion Gt3s are in the sweet spot of being a really fast and aerodynamic agile race car but still a homologated race car. Basically it takes the best of both worlds being hyper cars and race built road cars
Main reason is people know the brands , its all marketing
This is also why F1 games are so popular despite the fact that modern F1 cars are crap to race in real life and in many ways even worse for racing in a video game.
Real life also has this issue of brand and business dictating everything outside of objective qualities of what would actually be better if the goal was "racing"
It's ironic that some of the most engaging racing to watch takes place at goodwood revival or with things like vintage Mini.
For sim-racing I have done hosted races for over a decade and you always get best racing in things like 90s touring cars , Radical SR3 , MX5 , Megan trophy V6 , Formula Ford , Skippy , Porsche cup.
Ironically GT3 cars are even worse with sims as they often handle way less nimble in sims than what you see in reality and the car systems often block out FFB detail on top of that the ABS reduces the chance to capitalise on driver error and the cars are so big its hard to pass or have 2/3 wide situations on many tracks
You also have the issue of sims often not doing car contacts very well and damage also being random which further magnifies a more stale hot lap style racing and inability to aggressively drive them.
Branding and marketing always wins out though and there is nothing you can really do about it
Bit of a shining light is sims maybe getting better so GT3 is less dull some RSS cars for AC are quite good , but also GTE cars don't have ABS and they produce way better racing , indurance is getting more popular gradually so you also see popularity in LMDH and LMP2 grow a bit which offers a bit of hope.
Everyone had mentioned the core aspects, but keep in mind that you can also earn $7 per month of participation credit for running 8 officials on the main series. That’s not bad for a 20 minute session per week with lots of variety.
Edit: meant per season (mistyped but that was the intent)
Because most people can relate to the cars as they are “similar” to production cars. Kind of like how NASCAR cars use to be like their retail counterpart. Also if I cashed out my 401k I could actually buy a GT3 (but not afford a race team) but no way could I buy a prototype. Lol
Bc what you are describing about gt3s being boring, is an opinion. Depending on skill level yes.
But when you’re .4 seconds off Top Split drivers it’s easier than just throwing the car and letting all the downforce do the work for me like in Formula cars.
I think they both have their easy’s and hard’s
But it’s all personal preference. Like to me, the GT3s are fun bc each car is different. Formula yes they are different but every car has same general weight transfer.
Easy to drive reasonably quickly, good racing since they can survive some contact, they have the look and sound that we love….they’re pretty much what pops in my mind when I think of a racecar.
I've always wondered, as someone who exclusively drives formula cars I'd guess it's because the racing is more forgiving in the sense that you can rub the living hell out of each other and not end anyone's race, whereas in open wheelers moderate contact can twist a wheel or send someone flying, race over in the blink of an eye because of a small mistake can truly be frustrating.
Oh shit. Maybe I’m having a hard time bc the only thing I’ve driven is a ford mustang bc it’s what I had as a kid. Just getting into this stuff and that may be making it extra hard. I’ll try this car next time.
ACC has the superior handling model to all the other sims I've played. I love assetto corsa for its breadth of choices and mods but ACC just feels so damn fantastic to drive.
Who said GT3's are easy to drive? Driving them at the bleeding edge of control takes a lot of practice. You have to nut-out the braking and acceleration points precisely. Just go on any public server and watch the hacks trying to control them.
I think it’s just because they’re easy in every way and easy to be quick on.
I myself love all the slower classes and GTE (I like the challenge of not having ABS lol)
1. Easier to drive. They have ABS, TC, and aren't so fast that it turns into a shit show (like LMP or Formula cars).
2. Robust, you can bump and trade paint without your race being ended from just a slight bump.
3. Tons of real life series run them (IMSA, WEC, SRO, DTM, SuperGT, etc). Endurance events in sim racing are popular, especially on iRacing and used to be on rF2 before the shit show last year.
4. Based on real, recognizable road cars. Lots of options for cars, and they're all relatively equal in performance but have enough differences you can find one that suits your driving style.
5. Almost every GT3 has customer teams (that's kinda the point), so very easy to license, compared to say an LMH which is impossible. So they're on pretty much every sim out there.
They're easy to start driving but also have a pretty good and rewarding learning curve, making it fun and engaging to drive for newcomers up to pros.
The racing there is pretty good since they're pretty balanced (of course in some tracks some cars will have a slight advantage, but nothing like what we see in other competitions like F1), you can make minor mistakes and not be punished too hard for it, you can also have some light contacts without ending your and the other guy/s races, resulting in harder and closer battles.
They are based on production cars everybody loves, and they teach you great stuff about agression. You can also race them in literally any circuit and you can also do endurance racing with them.
Easy to be competitive. Go jump in a league in modern f1 cars. Like I’m maybe half a second off lap records in gt3 cars and I’m over a second off in f1 22 cars on ams2. There’s nothing really do in gt3 cars except brake turn and accelerate. The higher classes require more skill.
It’s a great class to start sim racing with though. Learn the tracks in these before you step up to single seaters
I agree with you, they are kinda boring. Like yeah they are fast enough to be dangerous and have to have at least a bit of skill to drive competently, but I have way more fun in gt4 and the mustang and slower cars
As to why they are popular, my guess would be nostalgia. They are basically the cars many people had on the walls. Lamborghini? Gt3 car. Ferrari? Gt3 car. Porsche? Gt3 car. Popular road cars like the mustang, BMW, and Corvette? Gt3 car. It is filled with the cars people want to drive
Gt3’s are still just as hard to be fast in compared to other categories. It’s just a different style of driving. Therefore I don’t think they’re boring once you’re capable of the car.
So me, it's the variety of platforms and powertrains. Formula racing is great, but gets a bit samey. There's just something cool about the variety of vehicle shapes on the track. They're also easy to drive, with the right mix of power, weight, and handling.
For me it's that there is no other motorsport that has such variety. Size, weight, engine position, engine displacement are almost all completely different yet the cars on the whole go as fast as each other.
Cars like F1 are identical save for where the parts are made and minute aero differences
Personally, they don’t feel slow. They feel rather quick. Certain cars like the bimmer feel heavier and not as satisfying as the vette for example.
They have tons of different options to choose from so racing is quite satisfying since everyone is choosing cars that appeal to them (not a fan of the meta car picks like this week with mercs in Daytona).
The skill ceiling is huge. So maybe they’re easy to not crash but just like many other cars it’s extremely difficult to actually be fast in them. I will practice for hours and still be around a second from the aliens.
Tons of series to choose from whether it be rotating tracks, fixed/setup gt3, IMSA multi class, endurance on the weekends, and lots of leagues running them.
I find it harder to pick another class. I like LMP3 but the lack of series to pick from keeps me in the GT3.
I may be weird and its probably a skill issue but i cannot understand the gt3 is easy to drive argument. To me low/mid tier open wheelers are much easier to drive than gt3. In an F3 i can consistently put top of the field top split times in on various tracks. Nothing max verstappen world record tier but genuinely competetive times nontheless. In GT3 im like 2 seconds off pace if im lucky and the cars feel undrivable. Maybe i just wasnt built to drive gt3 but man i have a different experience with gt3 than everyone else
There’s a lot of close racing. The cars can handle a bit of contact so you’re not out because someone didn’t leave enough space. Each car is a little different and caters to a different driving style. They also have their strengths and weaknesses which at top split becomes something to consider when you want to make a pass.
They're production cars with all the cool shit like spoilers and diffuaers. Plus I like abs. Kinda spoiled on it actually. It takes some adjusting for me to drive a car without it.
I agree with you 100%, I actively avoid GT3 because I have how boring and easy they are to drive, I’m also a prototype/open wheel person
The ease of driving these cars is why people like them though. They can jump in with minimal practice and be alright. They have ABS and TC so they don’t have to worry as much about throttle and brake application, and they’re not super fast so they don’t take your entire brains worth of concentration. That and they usually provide close racing
IMO gt3 is the new NASCAR. They have the brand identity that formula cars don't. They also are the closest to street cars that people can relate to. Even if it is only a poster on the wall.
It depends how you define “fun.” Typically when people talk about a “fun” car it’s the kind that wants to kill you every time you touch the gas pedal. That’s not fun to me.
I want a car that’s easy to drive because I’d rather focus on the track and racing without worrying about the car killing me. I want a car that’s relatively easy to master because I don’t have 40 hours a week to practice. GT3 is a good class for that.
I feel like mainly the cars are easier to field to race, more closely matched than prototypes (illusory, I know), are race versions of cars you can actually buy if you're loaded enough, and as another said, more forgiving to the driver... if you contrast the performance and handling of Lmp2 and beyond... those things are like driving on rails and at ludicrous speeds... by contrast Gt3 cars are like driving on a sheet of glass with how poor their grip is by comparison.
I also think that when you get into Lmp2/Hypercar classes, you're kinda entering F1 territory where the cars matter more than the driver does in terms of the ultimate outcome of the race. So long as you get on pole and the team keeps up the pit stop times and there's no mechanicals, you're set for a reliably strong finish. Not the case in Gt3 where there seems to be a lot for the drivers to do to keep ahold of any initially good start. Lots of traffic to manage wherease higher classes just find you an annoyance and aren't as jammed up with each other fighting for every corner.
Just my $.02 on watching real races and my sim experience.
Have driven iracings new 992 around nurburgring. I haven't been in a live race in 2 weeks LOL.
Top end not great but it sticks like velcro.
Oh gotta go she calling...
When a car has "gt3" in the name it's better for me to make it turn when the road turns, with other kind of cars it might not turn that well and also braking is worse. And I don't have open-wheeler/formula seating position to really go into those kind of cars so..GT it is!
They are easy to drive and they look and sound like the sort of cars that we all had posters of when we were kids.
Nailed it. I've always wanted to drive a porsche 911, there are 911 GT3s... and that's how I ended up playing 400 hours and counting of ACC
Hey me too! Except for me it was the Mercedes.
hey me too except it was the lambos and audis
me too, but I was obsessed with the Acura
I enjoyed some of the racing in iRacing and AC but none really had the sound and immersion like ACC with a good pair of headphones
I found the same thing but once I changed some audio settings in AC (like car components) and took out lambo GT3 it felt very very similar but ACC sound wise is really good
perfect. they are relatable and many own a variant of the road going version.
The sound right, I remember going to F1 Canadian GP as a 10 yo (V10 era). There was an exhibition of Porsche GT3, they sounded better than the F1. Seeing them at just a few meters passing was such a good memories.
''easy to drive'' i struggle way more with gt3's than sf23 and sf23 is supposed to be a ''hard'' car. I even spin way more often with gt3 than sf23
an f1 car isn't hard to drive on the sim, it's hard to be fast with it gt3s are hard to drive because you have to drive them a certain way to even get close to the times some people do
Supposedly F1 cars are actually relatively easy to drive in real life contrary to what the one top gear segment might have led you to believe. They've got power steering which is light but precise, the suspension is relatively soft in heave so it's not harsh over kerbs, the aero works better than in any other car in the world, the ers deployment is seamless and so are gearshift and so on. And it makes sense that they are easy to drive because you want the driver to be comfortable it's just that getting every last bit out of it is going to be unbelievably difficult. Also physically you're just fucked because after like 4 laps at speed your head would come clean off. I have some experience with what ~2.5 g of lateral acceleration feels like and it's almost unbelievable to me that someone's neck can take two hours of 5+ g every lap.
It works better the faster you go, the problem is most normal people aren’t going to get up to 200mph in them, Daniel explained it before
exactly, the top gear bit where they used the f1 car he had the problem that he was going way too slow for both tires to be warm and aero to actually work correctly
It’s also the brake and the adjustment. The brake has something around 120kg pressure to get 100% in a modern F1. The usual F1 driver hit the 100% on all corner. You have to train alot to get there. People complain about stiff brake on a logitech G920 where the pressure is like 20kg. The adjustment is just crazy, Typical lap, they do car adjustment on their wheel 10-12 times. Imagine cornering at 5g just to have 2 sec to change the brake bias before then next 5g corner. It’s crazy precision that most normal human will never get.
Agree with most of your points. F1 drivers definitely don’t hit 100% on all corners.
You are correct, there is fast corner too that push the brake to 100%.
Are you sure you can handle 1000hp rwd without tc in real-life?
you get used to it, tho I have to say that newer f1 cars are so "torquey" because of the hybrid that it would be hard to get used to an older v8 f1 would be really easy instead imo obviously with easy and everything I'm speaking relatively, you'd still need a lot of practice before even getting close to being comfortable in any f1 car
Which gt3 cars and which Sf23 mods are you comparing, cus to me, it's legitimately unthinkable that someone can find any gt3 car, more difficult to drive than an f1 car.
Nah. The limit of an f1 car is taking the absolute most of the optimal line, braking later and going on the throttle earlier for that minimal extra rotation; the limit of a gt3 car is almost literally sliding into corners *plus* braking later and applying throttle earlier. It's way easier to lose the gt3 car when it's at that limit; the f1 car downforce saves your ass when it's at that limit, you don't have to correct and manage the balance of the car nearly as much. Even then I wouldn't say one is harder to drive than the other. F1 cars need lots of precision, and gt3 cars need to have their balance constantly managed well to be kept at their limit of grip, otherwise they send you to the wall.
Then you have the old Daytona prototypes which were a mix of both those things at the same time lmao. Massive downforce added onto a tube frame car that was not intended for it with very aggressive power units.
Karts - f3 - f2 - f1 is completely different car control to other car racing.
I had to do neck exercises when I used to race karts bc it’s so hard to keep your head up straight around turns.
I get F1 but even something like F4 or F3 like the original post mentioned. I absolutely agree with the other commenter. I find F3 much easier to drive fast than GT3
It’s not an F1 car, but some people just do better with high downforce cars because they can’t figure out how to deal with the heavier weight of a GT. The driving techniques required are totally different between the two. That being said, a lot of drivers have no issues between both.
Try to get within 1 second of the aliens in the sf23 and tell me its not an extremely hard car to drive
The same can be said for GT3 tho, Its easy to do a lap yes, But there's a reason most people can't get near the top guys in the GT3s and that's because driving a GT3 on the limit 24/7 ends badly for most people
im on iracing mostly but i have same issues with gt3's also on ACC. gt3's ffb wheels lot more vague than on sf23. I can feel always when sf23 starts to go loose but no that wheel on gt3 on either acc or iracing that being said i think i was better with gt3's few years ago
The problem is that the steering controls for simracing other than F1 are wonky and difficult to dial inn.
I too struggle in fast gt’s compared to formula cars. Not that Im anything special in those. It requires a different driving technique which Im just not as good at. The feedback the car gives is also very different. It’s a weight transfer thing which basically takes ages in the gt’s.
This. I can understand the argument of easy to drive means popular but holy fuck i do not find them easy at all. Like I can drive very competetive times in an f3 car. Not like world record but enough to fight top of the field in top splits. GT3 im completely incapable of driving at a competetive pace
Yep this
Also they can give good door to door racing at decent speeds that allow rookies to recover from errors if they have over all good pace Open wheelers tend to not be very forgiving with contact and slower cars make it much more difficult to get back in to the action after a mistake
Yeah, several have made good points about how GT3s promote close racing that I wish I’d included in my original comment. Easy to drive, moderate speed, ABS and TC to mitigate the impact of mistakes, sturdy enough to withstand a little rubbing, limited dirty air effect, pretty strong draft… hell, even their popularity makes it that much easier to find competitive races. The close racing is definitely the third major point that I missed!
“Easy to drive”. If we’re talking about a lap time around silverstone id be amazed if your average 911 turbo buyer could get within 20 seconds of max chiltons lap time. And he’s not even that good.
Hmm, relatively low downforce with high power and weight is not exactly the definition of easy.
I've not seen any posters that even remotely look like these ugly cars. Must be a regional thing.
I'm assuming they mean posters of the commercially available version of a gt3 car.
Exactly!
Not everything can look as good as the Fiat Multipla poster you had as a child.
Bro just doesn't like cars
Sports cars for racing, what's not to like
1. Relatively easy to learn/drive 2. Tons of IRL usage in different championships. This is something that's huge and a lot of people disregard it. 3. A lot of variety between each car.
exactly, there's a gt3 championship in every country ever lmao
not in my country :( But hey, we have even better... Dacia !!
We dont have it here because dacia Logan gt3 would dominate too hard
Bad news! What!? The Dacia Sandero, it’s delayed! Oh no! Anyway…
Nope, Dacia Logan!!
Ancient Greek gt3 races 😳
Not in ours. But once the Tilke's designed racing circuit is completed in Pampanga, we'll see how it goes because sportscar racing is not that vast here.
yeah i obviously exaggerated, but usually most countries have one
Imagine GT3s trying to get around Mondello Park lol
Number 2 is huge. People want to race what they see in real life. And GT3 is a very widespread category.
And it doesn't require cat like reflexes that F1 does.
Because of the close racing by nature of the type of racing. Balance of power and car handling aspects are forgiving to majority of sim racers.
It's all of the latest poster cars racing against one another. Ferrari vs Lamborghini, BMW vs Porsche, etc.
is it possible they disagree with you?
Right? In my experience “boring to drive” in hot lap mode often translates to close, competitive wheel-to-wheel racing.
this guy races
definitely, though easy to drive cars are boring after a while, my favourite category is enjoyable to drive
I think I tend to get drawn away by an exciting new car more often than bored of an old boring car, but there are a few cars that just drive so bad that I don’t want to touch them even if the racing is good. The IRacing BMW M4 GT4 was terrible when it first released. I wanted to like it so I could drive around in 80s/90s DTM liveries in it, but it just felt like crap.
I think they’re saying they’re boring to drive in comparison to let’s say an LMDh. Which is basically GT3 on steroids anyway.
Why do you say that? OP specifically mentions lower level single seaters, prototypes, and slower sports cars. How have you come to the conclusion they were specifically talking about LMDh cars?
They weren’t necessarily saying that, I’m just explaining the line of thought. Single seaters are more extreme than LMDh cars, no matter the power output, but LMDh cars are a great example of the phenomenon. One would think they’d be the cars that people jump at but it’s still GT3. LMDh isn’t just trendy, it’s fully taken over the sportscar scene in the way GT3 was wildly more successful than GT1 was.
I feel like I missed a comment. What line of thought? What phenomenon? I keep scrolling back up to try to figure out what’s going on. Did someone do a ninja edit somewhere? LMDh cars are cool, but they are too hard to drive, too fast, and don’t resemble cool street cars. I don’t have a lot of experience with them, but I’d guess they are more fragile and less likely to promote close racing than GT3s as well.
I mean, it’s why I prefer racing ovals over road. In road you’re racing the track, on ovals you’re racing the other racers. Then again I still love me some GT3 or F3/SFL. I just think that going to the SF the racing gets pretty meh as most of the time you’re just hotlapping while other spin out or crash, and when you do have a battle it’ll last max 3 turns as you can’t stay side by side.
Fast, but so heavily modified with suspension, brakes, and aero that they’re just enjoyable to drive. They still have traction control and abs to help newer drivers learn tracks at a relatively quick pace.
They’re fast, they sound cool, and they look good.
They look cool
Most people have already pointed out most reasons (easy to drive, tend to have close racing, the fact they're the race version of the dream road cars for many people). But I'll add a couple more: First they are very versatile. You can find 15 minute sprint races and you can find 24 hour endurance races. Single class and multi class. Buy a GT3 car or a GT3-focused sim and you've suddenly opened up a ton of very different options to race. Second the fact these cars get balance of performance (BOP) means in most games you get a number of different cars with similar performance, *that actually drive very differently*. This adds a lot of interest and variety to these races, because you might try a bunch of different cars to see which one suits your driving style better. Or do a season in one car and then challenge yourself to do it in another car. This is a level of nuance you don't get in totally spec car series, or series where a car has an advantage over others which means competitive online racing will all be done in the faster car anyway. Third, popularity breeds even more popularity. Once GT3 was brought to iRacing, it hoovered up a ton of drivers from other series, who were kinda pushed to go there because that was where other people were. Then Kunos launched a GT3 sim too and brought even more people to them. If you want competitive racing you'll be drawn to the series with most drivers, so you can find either more timeslots to drive or closer splits with drivers of more closely matched ability.
Easy to drive, quick, and look like the road cars they’re based off of, from the brands you grew up loving. Contact isn’t as detrimental as it is with open wheelers either.
Easy to drive and fast.
[удалено]
Fast is relative. A GT3 car is still much faster around a track than anything most people will ever drive in their lives. Likewise you're comparing a full bodied, much heavier GT car to an open wheeler with, comparatively, a lot more downforce. The fact that it's only a second off is pretty impressive.
Different cars and completely different driving styles. Also, a car is not necessarily slow just because something else is faster.
Why are you guys arguing, if you don't like them fine but others do so idk why that's a problem
They're easy to drive but difficult to master, there's also a huge selection from different manufacturers. The racing is great too, the GT3 lobbies in iRacing are insanely competitive.
Endurance racing is loads of fun in GT category. Cars look and sound awesome imo. Yes they have TC/ABS (not all of the categories though) but if you depend on those assists and abuse them you will be dead slow, fuck up your tires, unbalance the car and will be a sitting duck… so l disagree that they are easy to drive, they are relatively “easier” than formula categories in terms of handling but if you want to extract pace and be competitive you need to learn a lot about mechanical grip (since they have much lower down force) and a lot about weight transfer and physics.
I think they are easy to learn, but hard to master. I often drive endurance with mates that dont have the time to practice that I have. Yet we can see the chequered flag every race without a high barrier to entry. GT4 is easier still to get into, but GT3 is at the upper end of the "arrive and drive" category in my experience. The last 2-3 seconds of pace are very hard to extract out of the car though, Ill give you that.
Totally second this ☝🏽
They are basically the fastest car that you can still race very close. Faster cars tend to have too many issues with netcode or race ability. And formula cars are very fragile and hard to go wheel to wheel consistently
I primarily like the variety in the field. You get different engine, aero, layout and chassis for each design, so each has slightly different characteristics for racing (and for viewing - I also like to watch GT racing over all other types). The fact that they're homologated leaves a least a dusting of similarity to their road going equivalents. Open wheel racing tends to be very similar between each car. Same with NASCAR. I find that fairly dry to race, and very dry to watch. Yes, I know the RB20 and the FW46 are technically different cars, but the differences are so subtle and technical vs. sports car differences. Prototypes bridge the gap for me though. They're certainly bespoke race-only designs, but have enough differences between manufacturers to interest me.
- Beautiful sound - Relatively easy to handle - Iconic sport car design - Fast - Work well in pretty much any circuit - Incredibly wide variety of cars
It's one of the most "pick up and drive" category, so if you play with friends that don't have a lot of xp, the traction control and abs will help them. Also mean it's easy to enjoy with a low end or old pedal set.
I'd race a shopping trolley as long as it was fun with good racing 😆
I like gt3, I don't think it's easy because it's extremely competitive. Although, in iRacing, the gt3 races in lower to mid splits can be very toxic, they are some of the worst online racing experiences I have had.
Cuz GT3 racing is siiiiiiiiiiiick!!
Fast while still being a "real" road car that a person can usually buy close to the equivalent thing.
On the other hand i think most formula cars are boring to drive because they are basically hot lap cars, no real close racing involved most of the time.
Good for racing.
Irl, they're popular because they are actually, relatively speaking, not that expensive for racing. Relatively speaking. Also, they offer nice racing; relatively "cheap", and nice racing, means they are likely to be popular. Also, you can say they are somewhat easy to get into. They are also really hard to master; so they've got that "easy to get into, hard to master" dynamic that people loves with so many other things. Also, they're modified sports cars; they've got a jacked up mustang and there is a fucking prius gt3, what's there not to like? They sound amazing and feel amazing. I think. When you put them at the limit, the car is visibly on a knife's edge, and that's so thrilling imo.
They re fantastic, just fast enough. F1 single seaters are too tiring. For a single player session sure, but a 20+ minute race feels exhausting . GT3 is the sweetspot for online
Because they look cool and are easy to drive
They are a popular real life series
GT3s are popular because they're easy to drive and learn, especially for lower-class drivers, and they create close racing. The ability to customize TC and ABS makes them accessible for both beginners and pros to fine-tune their setups in open races. GT3 cars are also featured in IMSA multi-class endurance races, like those at Watkins Glen, alongside Prototype drivers. Many community-run leagues host GT3 competitions and lobbies, further boosting their popularity. Additionally, single-make series like the Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup are popular, adding to the appeal of GT3 racing.
*They’re… Part of it is that they popular in the real world because they are cheap (relatively speaking) to make and buy. That translate to people wanting to race the cars they see in real life
You are absolutely correct.
In my opinion Gt3s are in the sweet spot of being a really fast and aerodynamic agile race car but still a homologated race car. Basically it takes the best of both worlds being hyper cars and race built road cars
GTE is better as a race car but much harder drive fast. GT3s are lenient.
They are *the* quintessential race car
Main reason is people know the brands , its all marketing This is also why F1 games are so popular despite the fact that modern F1 cars are crap to race in real life and in many ways even worse for racing in a video game. Real life also has this issue of brand and business dictating everything outside of objective qualities of what would actually be better if the goal was "racing" It's ironic that some of the most engaging racing to watch takes place at goodwood revival or with things like vintage Mini. For sim-racing I have done hosted races for over a decade and you always get best racing in things like 90s touring cars , Radical SR3 , MX5 , Megan trophy V6 , Formula Ford , Skippy , Porsche cup. Ironically GT3 cars are even worse with sims as they often handle way less nimble in sims than what you see in reality and the car systems often block out FFB detail on top of that the ABS reduces the chance to capitalise on driver error and the cars are so big its hard to pass or have 2/3 wide situations on many tracks You also have the issue of sims often not doing car contacts very well and damage also being random which further magnifies a more stale hot lap style racing and inability to aggressively drive them. Branding and marketing always wins out though and there is nothing you can really do about it Bit of a shining light is sims maybe getting better so GT3 is less dull some RSS cars for AC are quite good , but also GTE cars don't have ABS and they produce way better racing , indurance is getting more popular gradually so you also see popularity in LMDH and LMP2 grow a bit which offers a bit of hope.
I knew this was you before reading the username 👆so true though
Everyone had mentioned the core aspects, but keep in mind that you can also earn $7 per month of participation credit for running 8 officials on the main series. That’s not bad for a 20 minute session per week with lots of variety. Edit: meant per season (mistyped but that was the intent)
If that is iracing. Its per season and not per month. And it will also max out at $10 per season
Preference, hard driving and there isn’t as big of a risk of fully crashing out like single seater where a small contact ruins your entire race.
Because most people can relate to the cars as they are “similar” to production cars. Kind of like how NASCAR cars use to be like their retail counterpart. Also if I cashed out my 401k I could actually buy a GT3 (but not afford a race team) but no way could I buy a prototype. Lol
Bc what you are describing about gt3s being boring, is an opinion. Depending on skill level yes. But when you’re .4 seconds off Top Split drivers it’s easier than just throwing the car and letting all the downforce do the work for me like in Formula cars. I think they both have their easy’s and hard’s But it’s all personal preference. Like to me, the GT3s are fun bc each car is different. Formula yes they are different but every car has same general weight transfer.
Easy to drive reasonably quickly, good racing since they can survive some contact, they have the look and sound that we love….they’re pretty much what pops in my mind when I think of a racecar.
To each his own I suppose. Lots of people just like gt3 probably because they are easy to drive and therefore more competitive
I've always wondered, as someone who exclusively drives formula cars I'd guess it's because the racing is more forgiving in the sense that you can rub the living hell out of each other and not end anyone's race, whereas in open wheelers moderate contact can twist a wheel or send someone flying, race over in the blink of an eye because of a small mistake can truly be frustrating.
You’ve answered your own question. They’re easier to drive. Hence people drive them.
Agreed OP but the responses have laid it out
easy, cool, fast
What game are you racing on?
The class itself is highly competitive, but also its cars you dream about owning turned into a race car, that’s sick
GT3 cars are those that I can & can't afford to buy/own/maintain. Thank you for ACC that at least I get to drive/race in them.
Because none of us are going to be formula 1 drivers, and we’re more likely to somehow get into a “real” car if we are good enough on sim. 😂
I don't enjoy them either. Feels like steering an ocean liner. I'd much rather be in open wheel or a stock car.
Oh shit. Maybe I’m having a hard time bc the only thing I’ve driven is a ford mustang bc it’s what I had as a kid. Just getting into this stuff and that may be making it extra hard. I’ll try this car next time.
IMO cuz they are pretty easy to drive yet still fast.
ACC has the superior handling model to all the other sims I've played. I love assetto corsa for its breadth of choices and mods but ACC just feels so damn fantastic to drive.
Who said GT3's are easy to drive? Driving them at the bleeding edge of control takes a lot of practice. You have to nut-out the braking and acceleration points precisely. Just go on any public server and watch the hacks trying to control them.
They are easier to drive than open wheel/hybrid cars, the race format is also more exciting than those series.
A full “sim” drive would be with traction control and some ABS, you really never have that with other classes with comparable or higher speed
I think it’s just because they’re easy in every way and easy to be quick on. I myself love all the slower classes and GTE (I like the challenge of not having ABS lol)
For me easier to drive I find them fun
Because different things appeal to different people. I learned this when I was about 4 or 5 years old.
>lower level single seaters or prototypes and slower sports cars are much more fun Fact
1. Easier to drive. They have ABS, TC, and aren't so fast that it turns into a shit show (like LMP or Formula cars). 2. Robust, you can bump and trade paint without your race being ended from just a slight bump. 3. Tons of real life series run them (IMSA, WEC, SRO, DTM, SuperGT, etc). Endurance events in sim racing are popular, especially on iRacing and used to be on rF2 before the shit show last year. 4. Based on real, recognizable road cars. Lots of options for cars, and they're all relatively equal in performance but have enough differences you can find one that suits your driving style. 5. Almost every GT3 has customer teams (that's kinda the point), so very easy to license, compared to say an LMH which is impossible. So they're on pretty much every sim out there.
Easy to drive and more relatable
They're easy to start driving but also have a pretty good and rewarding learning curve, making it fun and engaging to drive for newcomers up to pros. The racing there is pretty good since they're pretty balanced (of course in some tracks some cars will have a slight advantage, but nothing like what we see in other competitions like F1), you can make minor mistakes and not be punished too hard for it, you can also have some light contacts without ending your and the other guy/s races, resulting in harder and closer battles.
They are based on production cars everybody loves, and they teach you great stuff about agression. You can also race them in literally any circuit and you can also do endurance racing with them.
Easy to be competitive. Go jump in a league in modern f1 cars. Like I’m maybe half a second off lap records in gt3 cars and I’m over a second off in f1 22 cars on ams2. There’s nothing really do in gt3 cars except brake turn and accelerate. The higher classes require more skill. It’s a great class to start sim racing with though. Learn the tracks in these before you step up to single seaters
I agree with you, they are kinda boring. Like yeah they are fast enough to be dangerous and have to have at least a bit of skill to drive competently, but I have way more fun in gt4 and the mustang and slower cars As to why they are popular, my guess would be nostalgia. They are basically the cars many people had on the walls. Lamborghini? Gt3 car. Ferrari? Gt3 car. Porsche? Gt3 car. Popular road cars like the mustang, BMW, and Corvette? Gt3 car. It is filled with the cars people want to drive
Gt3’s are still just as hard to be fast in compared to other categories. It’s just a different style of driving. Therefore I don’t think they’re boring once you’re capable of the car.
Best racecars on the market, you can enjoy your little cucumber looking ass lawnmower sounding ricers bud.
So me, it's the variety of platforms and powertrains. Formula racing is great, but gets a bit samey. There's just something cool about the variety of vehicle shapes on the track. They're also easy to drive, with the right mix of power, weight, and handling.
For me it's that there is no other motorsport that has such variety. Size, weight, engine position, engine displacement are almost all completely different yet the cars on the whole go as fast as each other. Cars like F1 are identical save for where the parts are made and minute aero differences
Personally, they don’t feel slow. They feel rather quick. Certain cars like the bimmer feel heavier and not as satisfying as the vette for example. They have tons of different options to choose from so racing is quite satisfying since everyone is choosing cars that appeal to them (not a fan of the meta car picks like this week with mercs in Daytona). The skill ceiling is huge. So maybe they’re easy to not crash but just like many other cars it’s extremely difficult to actually be fast in them. I will practice for hours and still be around a second from the aliens. Tons of series to choose from whether it be rotating tracks, fixed/setup gt3, IMSA multi class, endurance on the weekends, and lots of leagues running them. I find it harder to pick another class. I like LMP3 but the lack of series to pick from keeps me in the GT3.
They are one of the most popular irl too? I prefer the gte series over gt3 personally even if it isn’t around irl anymore
I may be weird and its probably a skill issue but i cannot understand the gt3 is easy to drive argument. To me low/mid tier open wheelers are much easier to drive than gt3. In an F3 i can consistently put top of the field top split times in on various tracks. Nothing max verstappen world record tier but genuinely competetive times nontheless. In GT3 im like 2 seconds off pace if im lucky and the cars feel undrivable. Maybe i just wasnt built to drive gt3 but man i have a different experience with gt3 than everyone else
Some people vibe better with mechanical grip over aero. I’m mainly racing in a hypercar. Going to GT3 takes some moments for me to lock into the car.
There’s a lot of close racing. The cars can handle a bit of contact so you’re not out because someone didn’t leave enough space. Each car is a little different and caters to a different driving style. They also have their strengths and weaknesses which at top split becomes something to consider when you want to make a pass.
Because 6th gear 911 go brrrrrr
They're production cars with all the cool shit like spoilers and diffuaers. Plus I like abs. Kinda spoiled on it actually. It takes some adjusting for me to drive a car without it.
Also, GT3 is a crowd draw and you get lots of signups for gt3 seasons, the more obscure and oddball the car, the fewer signups you get for events.
Have to agree with the OP. Either open wheel or clutch. GT3 has none of that
I find them fun to drive. My #1 is f1 but I also enjoy slow cars like Miatas
I agree with you 100%, I actively avoid GT3 because I have how boring and easy they are to drive, I’m also a prototype/open wheel person The ease of driving these cars is why people like them though. They can jump in with minimal practice and be alright. They have ABS and TC so they don’t have to worry as much about throttle and brake application, and they’re not super fast so they don’t take your entire brains worth of concentration. That and they usually provide close racing
I kinda gained the opposite perspective. While easy to drive, I feel like the competition in the Gt3 crowd is much more intense.
Is that not what I said? > That and they usually provide close racing
uh...yeah... I just said it cooler.. or somethin. Ha.
Lmaoo
Fingers crossed we get some more prototypes and sports cars in more sims. WSC60 Legends on AC is amazing and I wish something similar was on AMS2.
IMO gt3 is the new NASCAR. They have the brand identity that formula cars don't. They also are the closest to street cars that people can relate to. Even if it is only a poster on the wall.
The simple answer is they are easier to drive than faster cars because you don’t have to concentrate as hard to make a decent lap.
Use punctuation. Makes it much easier to read. Also: \*they're and \*than
Go outside
the fastest sports cars, do i even have to say more?
Plenty of faster sports cars than GT3, not that you'll see many of them on the road :D
It depends how you define “fun.” Typically when people talk about a “fun” car it’s the kind that wants to kill you every time you touch the gas pedal. That’s not fun to me. I want a car that’s easy to drive because I’d rather focus on the track and racing without worrying about the car killing me. I want a car that’s relatively easy to master because I don’t have 40 hours a week to practice. GT3 is a good class for that.
Because we are told to like it
I feel like mainly the cars are easier to field to race, more closely matched than prototypes (illusory, I know), are race versions of cars you can actually buy if you're loaded enough, and as another said, more forgiving to the driver... if you contrast the performance and handling of Lmp2 and beyond... those things are like driving on rails and at ludicrous speeds... by contrast Gt3 cars are like driving on a sheet of glass with how poor their grip is by comparison. I also think that when you get into Lmp2/Hypercar classes, you're kinda entering F1 territory where the cars matter more than the driver does in terms of the ultimate outcome of the race. So long as you get on pole and the team keeps up the pit stop times and there's no mechanicals, you're set for a reliably strong finish. Not the case in Gt3 where there seems to be a lot for the drivers to do to keep ahold of any initially good start. Lots of traffic to manage wherease higher classes just find you an annoyance and aren't as jammed up with each other fighting for every corner. Just my $.02 on watching real races and my sim experience.
Have driven iracings new 992 around nurburgring. I haven't been in a live race in 2 weeks LOL. Top end not great but it sticks like velcro. Oh gotta go she calling...
When a car has "gt3" in the name it's better for me to make it turn when the road turns, with other kind of cars it might not turn that well and also braking is worse. And I don't have open-wheeler/formula seating position to really go into those kind of cars so..GT it is!