my thoughts on Iracing 2010........... great product, user friendly software, better realism then rfactor, or most games out there except n2003. With that said I have my opinions and facts that form or weave a story or my spin. Personally everything you can love and be disappointed with in life. You can love your country, town,or state and still have issues that would make you sound like you don't love it. Or become a outcast that looks at things in a realistic manner while those that look at everything is rainbows and perfect candy ice cream cones.
Personally I don't hate Iracing, but I really don't like people or organizations that think it's there duty to control a industry. That is dangerous and counter productive and history has shown it doesn't work.
I ran a NASCAR league with Papyrus games for 5 years.
I did not get harassed by iracing or at the time 1st racing. But I know people that were threatened to remove downloads that they had on there web sites.
1st things 1st here, no pun intended,
some facts - Project wildfire used the n2003 community as guinea pigs. The mods made by project wildfire were craftsman truck series, trans am series, Busch national series. They also had some tracks. My guess is they had no permission for ANY OF THE TRACKS OR CARS they made.
Project wildfire illegally used music from John Cash in there advertisement ...there song was a personal favorite of John Henry. Song was called ''Ring of Fire'' .
The only permission they had my bet is the permission of John Henry's wallet.
It amazes me how many people I heard cry about iracing shutting down mom and pop n2003 communities like raceservers.net by bulling them with attorney letters. Ill never join iracing was the battle cry, well I can count at least 20 crybaby's that joined iracing and now iracing fan-boys.
At the time I did not really care either way I just wanted to race. If someone else could do all the hassle bs of organizing tracks downloads and stats I was for it.
At the time I said Project wildfire was clearly a test of something coming and I had a bad feeling about them but was willing to keep a open mind. People laughed at my comments. But I am really good at seeing things ahead of time by using basic logic.
Being very vocal on Iracing about what you do and don't like on iracing seems to sting there company, even if constructive criticism given professional and courteous it still taken poorly. Criticizing Iracing on iracing forums is similar to being a captolist trying to explain economics at the kremlin 70 years ago, does not go over big and then they eventually remove you.
Ya, I was removed from there forums and still banned over 2 years now. Still never getting a reason. I told them I wanted a full refund for breach of contract and if not I would take them to small claims court for 660$ plus damages and I would call every newspaper , radio station, and tv station about how a little guy was taking on a billionaire. Don't think for a second I would not do it. Principle is a big thing to me. Rich people think they have a license to screw the little guy or the poor out of there rights.
One guy can be the fact of hundreds, and one disgruntled customers opinions can cost a company a lot of money.
I will go over some of the ridiculous crap that I went threw trying to race at iracing. There race Moderators completely incompetent. How SOME of the staff under trained and not customer friendly, and I have a email of there President admitting that there staff needed to improve and learn business aspect of the company. Oh yes I have so many emails and fraps coverage I could make a Micheal Moore type documentary.'' I racing and me'', i can see it now, well most likely now one would now what the hell i was talking about because while Iracing advertises 25,000 members that is total members ever to race there and any time of day there generally is no more then 2200 people on and that includes the forum jockeys.
more to come...
some stuff I found oj the web, I did not know the race2play was an idea prior to the ''involvement of courts''. Personally either way for good or bad this all had a big effect on what sim racing is today. Progression of the papyrus series or non progression serious stunted the growth of online racing and almost a entire decade of experienced racers lost in the shuffle. Is iracing a excellent product now after years of patches and work. Yes I believe it is good, but not much better then nascar 2003 as far as rings and bells go. Where iracing shines is the file system, easy one click downloads, solid league system, excellent stats and record keeping. All of which far superior the any other race sim as far as those features go.
link found from thread at pits
http://www.thepits.us/board/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15174
iRacing v. Robinson (Federal District Court, Massachusetts)
iRacing Motorsport Simulations, LLC retained us to protect its copyrights in the code base for NASCAR® 2003 computer game. After Tim Robinson, a self-proclaimed simulated racing enthusiast: (1) distributed customized applications over the Internet that automatically modified the NASCAR® 2003 game to appear to run different cars; and (2) by-passed the embedded system designed to require an original disc to be inserted in the end user’s computer while running the program, we filed suit in Federal District Court in Massachusetts seeking a temporary restraining order and expedited discovery, which was granted. iRacing Motorsport Simulations, LLC v. Robinson, No. 05-11639 NG (D. Mass. Aug. 26, 2005). Thereafter, the Court denied Robinson’s motion to dismiss (or alternatively to transfer venue), even though the end user license agreement vested exclusive jurisdiction in the Los Angeles courts, given evidence that Robinson knew that iRacing was headquartered in Massachusetts and that his alleged violation of iRacing’s copyrights would cause injury in Massachusetts. iRacing Motorsport Simulations, LLC v. Robinson, No. 05-11639 NG (D. Mass. May 1, 2006). The Court thereafter granted summary judgment for iRacing on its Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim and found that iRacing had established: (1) all of the requisite elements of its copyright infringement claim; and (2) three of the four factors of Robinson's fair use defense in iRacing's favor. iRacing Motorsport Simulations, LLC v. Robinson, No. 05-11639 NG (D. Mass. May 25, 2007). The Court later found that Robinson had also breached the end user license agreement. iRacing Motorsport Simulations, LLC v. Robinson, No. 05-11639 NG (D. Mass. Sept. 24, 2007).
A bench trial was conducted to determine damages - and to consider the fourth factor of Robinson's fair use defense - in February 2009. On May 28, 2009, the Court entered an Order against Robinson finding him liable on all counts, including copyright infringement, violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, breach of a confidentiality agreement, and breach of an end user license agreement. The court entered judgment against Robinson for over $25,000. Robinson, No. 05-11639 NG (D. Mass. May 28, 2009). See also First Racing LLC v. McArthur, No. 05-10544 JLT (D. Mass. May 10, 2005) (settled favorably for copyright holder following the entry of a temporary restraining order against further Internet distribution of applications infringing on NASCAR® 2003 copyrights).
this is a must read
https://sites.google.com/site/myvracelog/manuals-for-race-games/TRO_Schwartz_Affidavit.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1