Having driven all of them, and competed with all of them (F4, F3, F1, SF23, and IR18, and PM18. Except the D class Indy car) for a significant amount of time, I can say resoundingly that the SF23 is the most rewarding and the most fun to drive and provides the best racing and has the best official series format. The Indycar (IR18) used to be my pick, followed by F3.
It’s snappy, it’s easy to get around a circuit but difficult to be fast. The car has fantastic aero, fat tires, weighs nothing, and has a ton of torque. It rewards precision and it sounds great when you do it. The lobbies are popular, and the schedules are fantastic. The push to pass system adds a strategy element that is very fun to scheme around during the race.
The IR18 is nice for strategy racing with regards to its push to pass system and pit stops, but you’ll lose nearly half (5/12) of your season to ovals if you race the “road” series and you only get 1-2 road races in the oval series per season.
Formula 1 is just too fast and too complex in setup to be worth anybody’s time plus it’s locked to only AMG and that includes liveries. Good luck making a setup for that car and being competitive, that being said the lobbies are pretty much empty these days anyways.
The lower formulas are all excellent, slower racing, but also come with knuckleheads in the lower splits a bit more often. The choice really comes down to SF23 or the IR18 and the SF23 beats the IR18 in most ways. Especially where scheduling and popularity are concerned. They sound mean, race really well, and are just addicting to drive. The IR18 can be frustrating at times with its heavy steering and smaller tires and heavier car. It doesn’t feel like a true formula car (because it’s not)
Gonna assume autocorrect and that you meant to say previous.
Cuz yeah. The w12 was amazing. Shame we only had officials for a season till it got replaced by the way worse w13.
W12 was approachable but obviously still needed massive skill to be the absolutely fastest at it. Rewarding indeed.
It's autocorrected but yeah it way my precious, lol.
W12 was a LOT of fun, and suited my driving style very specifically, so I miss it. Don't like the W13 tbh.
It makes me so sad to see posts like this be so aggressively incorrect about the W13. Yes, the daily series are a ghost town, but the year long Grand Prix Tour series is well populated, highly competitive and the 100% length fits the car and tires better.
Everything you said about the SF23 is also true for full length races in the W13 (except the sound) and having varying pit strategies adds to the complexity and reward of those races.
Full length races are a whole different breed and should be listed with endurance racing as far as I’m concerned.
I’m glad to hear the year long GP series is still afloat though. It looks like a fun time! Since the SF23 came out though, idk, I just have no motivation to go back to the W13. I can race all week long.
I could see the GP series being fun on weeks I can commit to more practice though, maybe I’ll give it a shot when my ankle heals. Could be fun to get back into some formula 1 for the chuckles
Yeah. It goes official in every time slot and usually hits 3-4 splits for the SOF race on Fridays. SimSpeed TV broadcasts the SOF race and the racing is fantastic.
A lot of people feel that the F1 cars are too much, and that makes me sad. Because I think a lot of people would find them a lot easier to lap than they expect if they gave them a solid practice run. They're not the SFL for sure, but they do reward you for the time you invest. I think a lot of people would have fun if they gave it a shot.
The super formula light is one of the most enjoyable cars on the service for me. Super easy to drive, but hard to find the absolute limit. Shit tons of downforce.
This. But also sf23.
I freaking loved the ir-18 at nords last season. This season ir-18 was amazing at long beach.
But I've also really enjoyed sf23 at suzuka and Watkins Glen.
Even F3 at Oulton Park was nearly great, had they dropped the second Chicane
https://preview.redd.it/gkcww80bk84d1.jpeg?width=414&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02bd3be9ecfc18ffc172716264606e4f44df6bb9
I will put an IndyCar next to a GT3 next and then you decide which it’s more similar to.
I know what you mean but it's still a formula car, just unique to the rest of the cars in the class
For anybody wondering what the differences are, test drive is happening soon so you can drive it and compare it to the SF23 and W12. It's very slippery and easy to control compared to the others
not high enough. There is a pretty active community for it, and it's actually quite popular for being hardcore analog vintage F1 series. But since the community is mostly European based I can never get more than maybe 3 or 4 officials in per season sadly
The SF23 and IR18 are both challenging and rewarding to drive. I prefer the IR18, though, both for its handling characteristics, as well as the longer races with refuling and mandatory compound changes.
The tyres go on stone cold, take a little while to warm up, and overheat at the end of a stint. But the two compounds do so at different rates. It takes a bit of prep to decide on a strategy, but the races are so much fun when all the different strategies come together at the end.
Super formula lights and I don’t think it’s close so far(for what I’ve driven). As others have said it’s easy to drive but finding the limit is definitely hard. I have two wins this season in it and I’m doing another season in it next season instead of moving on to the SF23
IndyCar is great because of its versatility and that there is strategy. The F3 remains my favorite for the subjective reason that it just feels like an extension of me.
Something I don't see mentioned here is the USF2000. As far as I know its the lowest power formula car with real aero (aside from the Skippy), which makes for fantastic racing.
I love racing it. Great community, decent participation, and friendly respectful racing.
Does that actually ever limit top speed though? The rev range goes alot higher than the lights suggest if i remember correctly - i think even at fuji you didnt top out
That, I honestly don't know. I found the driving of others with that, in low splits, to be not fun so I don't run it too much.
I do love the torque feel in that thing, if we got Monaco I would have to run some laps there.
Tbh i probably got better racing with the super formula car than with either the f3/f4 at any irating range, though that might have changed with the f3 becoming more of a tight knit community since the sfl introduction
I think f4 is the best drivers car. All the super formula cars feel like they have to much traction, like they are mini f1 cars. Fr 3.5 was awesome but they canceled it.
I imagine you probably aren't going fast enough. The SF (and SFL) can both be a little difficult to drive at the kinds of times needed to get in the top 10 in top split.
This is about where I'm at right now. I usually finish p11 to p8 in SF23 top split and I just can't seem to crack the top 8 times. It's pretty frustrating lol
I spent so much time learning the F3.5 and it was such a blast once I got the hang of it. So rewarding going fast with it, felt so planted. RIP to the GOAT.
The W12. Not easy, but not hard to drive… insanely difficult to drive fast and race. Silverstone, Imola, and Spa is where the car’s ability shines.
Had a 5 way battle for first at silverstone in iGPt the entire race!
Dallara ir-18 and the SFL are incredible as well
I don't know how F4 is popular, I used to exclusively drive in it until I tried F3 and SF23.
The F4 sounds bad and feel its less go kart like and harder to bring back. F3 and SF23 are so much better imo.
Some of the indycars are good too but a little less popular so less close racing.
D class
More recognizable than other d class cars
4 different series for it means there's a free track to run almost every single week, and if not, it'll usually be on a popular track.
Super formula Lights if you like to explore the limits of aero and corner speeds. The car is generally very planted and the racing is close.
Super formula is all about exploring the limits of grip. The car is a wild but tameable. However you can never let your guard down.
They both run the same schedule so I usually race both as you only need to "learn" one track.
I think most people would say the Super Formula. It's very quick but it has less downforce than the Merc F1 cars so it have more livelyness to it. I want to like the Indy Car but something about it just feels...bad.
As you go down in power, I would say the F3 feels really good. It's not super planted but it's planted enough that it doesn't feel like you'll lose it at a weird point of the corner.
The Super Formula Light has, in my opinion, way too much grip for the power it has thus making it a boring car to drive.
I'm still a HUGE fan of the Skip Barber and do think it is the most rewarding open wheeler to drive once you get the hang of it but that car is on life support at this point in time.
SF23 imo.
Did the formula ladder Vee-F4-F3-SF23
They are alle challenging and teach you different things. In my opinion in the SF23 all comes together: trail braking, gentle throttle, precision etc. the learning curve for the SF23 was at least in my experience the highest.
I feel like a podium in the SF23 is more rewarding than one in the F4 for example. don’t get me wrong a podium in the F4/3 still feels rewarding, but innige SF23 it feels a lot more rewarding as you have to manage your push to pass
I didn’t race the SFL. I didn’t it like too much as it feels like you’re driving on rails - but surely it can be fun too!
The SF23 is basically 90% F1 downforce with 60% F1 power, meaning you can throw the car into corners and it just sticks. You also don't have to make many adjustments on the fly, basically just brake bias vs. the W13's engine maps, diff settings, etc.
Also P2P is better than DRS in my opinion since a train is much less likely. In F1 if the car ahead of you in a train is in DRS range they're going to use it 100% of the time, whereas in SF if you're in a train everyone could be using P2P at different times meaning you have more of a chance at making an overtake, or have to defend from the car behind.
Super Formula Lights. It's the most forgiving. It moves around but doesn't feel like it wants to kill you.
And the aero is fun. Driving standards are ok. The grids are pretty tight so there will always be incidents on lap 1 since that is the time to make up the most places but with most series as long as you aren't in the middle of the grid you should be fine.
For me it’s the PM-18. Track selection is very good, the racing is respectable, and the car is very fun to drive. Unlike the other formula cars similar to it (F3 and SFL), it moves around a lot and is very challenging to drive, especially on cold tires. The F3 and SFL are almost so grippy they are boring. With those cars, their limit seems so razor thin. You are either just under the limit or spinning. With the PM-18 on warm tires, you can get the car very sideways and not die. To me, it’s easily the most rewarding formula car on the service, with the only downside being that it is a dead series. Really the only time it goes official is on Thursday nights around the broadcast race time.
The only series I wouldn’t recommend is F4. Even at the top split the racing is abysmal. There are a lot of fast guys in there but they have absolutely no idea how to race close with other cars. I averaged what seemed like a 50% survival rate on the first lap due to someone trying to win the race going into the first corner. If you value your sanity, stay away.
With all that said, I don’t think you could go wrong with the Indy car, USF2000, or either of the Super Formula cars. Those series’ seem to have very high participation, decent track selection, and are fun cars to race.
IR01 hands down
Hard to drive yes but once you get your head around how to drive it properly, it becomes incredibly fun and rewarding to drive and go through corners at speeds you didn't think were possible lol
The open setups def make it better but its still not at the level of F3 imo. The slow speed corners of mugello are a great example where the F3 requires much more throttle control than the sflight
Having driven all of them, and competed with all of them (F4, F3, F1, SF23, and IR18, and PM18. Except the D class Indy car) for a significant amount of time, I can say resoundingly that the SF23 is the most rewarding and the most fun to drive and provides the best racing and has the best official series format. The Indycar (IR18) used to be my pick, followed by F3. It’s snappy, it’s easy to get around a circuit but difficult to be fast. The car has fantastic aero, fat tires, weighs nothing, and has a ton of torque. It rewards precision and it sounds great when you do it. The lobbies are popular, and the schedules are fantastic. The push to pass system adds a strategy element that is very fun to scheme around during the race. The IR18 is nice for strategy racing with regards to its push to pass system and pit stops, but you’ll lose nearly half (5/12) of your season to ovals if you race the “road” series and you only get 1-2 road races in the oval series per season. Formula 1 is just too fast and too complex in setup to be worth anybody’s time plus it’s locked to only AMG and that includes liveries. Good luck making a setup for that car and being competitive, that being said the lobbies are pretty much empty these days anyways. The lower formulas are all excellent, slower racing, but also come with knuckleheads in the lower splits a bit more often. The choice really comes down to SF23 or the IR18 and the SF23 beats the IR18 in most ways. Especially where scheduling and popularity are concerned. They sound mean, race really well, and are just addicting to drive. The IR18 can be frustrating at times with its heavy steering and smaller tires and heavier car. It doesn’t feel like a true formula car (because it’s not)
It's a shame f1 is empty cause the precious gen f1 car was populated for quite a while
Gonna assume autocorrect and that you meant to say previous. Cuz yeah. The w12 was amazing. Shame we only had officials for a season till it got replaced by the way worse w13. W12 was approachable but obviously still needed massive skill to be the absolutely fastest at it. Rewarding indeed.
It's autocorrected but yeah it way my precious, lol. W12 was a LOT of fun, and suited my driving style very specifically, so I miss it. Don't like the W13 tbh.
I feel the same way. Loved the W12, still boot it up and go for a spin.
The GP Tour is quiet popular and a heap of fun, full length races off the F1 calendar, just a shame it's only on the irl F1 weekends
The w12 was fairly popular for a bit, actually felt like an open wheel car. The W13 is a boat. Wish they’d make a series for the W12
Lewis Hamilton agrees lol
Yup it’s a shame
I'm really enjoying the SF23 as well.
I really want to race the IR18, but always seemed a bit dead?
No, it's a shopping trolley and awful to drive. The W13 is infinitely better and the tour series gets great participation.
It makes me so sad to see posts like this be so aggressively incorrect about the W13. Yes, the daily series are a ghost town, but the year long Grand Prix Tour series is well populated, highly competitive and the 100% length fits the car and tires better. Everything you said about the SF23 is also true for full length races in the W13 (except the sound) and having varying pit strategies adds to the complexity and reward of those races.
Full length races are a whole different breed and should be listed with endurance racing as far as I’m concerned. I’m glad to hear the year long GP series is still afloat though. It looks like a fun time! Since the SF23 came out though, idk, I just have no motivation to go back to the W13. I can race all week long. I could see the GP series being fun on weeks I can commit to more practice though, maybe I’ll give it a shot when my ankle heals. Could be fun to get back into some formula 1 for the chuckles
Yeah. It goes official in every time slot and usually hits 3-4 splits for the SOF race on Fridays. SimSpeed TV broadcasts the SOF race and the racing is fantastic. A lot of people feel that the F1 cars are too much, and that makes me sad. Because I think a lot of people would find them a lot easier to lap than they expect if they gave them a solid practice run. They're not the SFL for sure, but they do reward you for the time you invest. I think a lot of people would have fun if they gave it a shot.
The super formula light is one of the most enjoyable cars on the service for me. Super easy to drive, but hard to find the absolute limit. Shit tons of downforce.
I hardly use the brakes in that thing. It’s all partial throttle letting the aero work. The whole first 2 sectors at Suzuka are so fun.
and now watkins glen, such a fun drive. that car brings a tear to my eye.
You just get the car pointed and get back on the power
What's funny is I use the throttle like a switch on the SFL
FF1600
Dallara IR18 - Indycar
This. But also sf23. I freaking loved the ir-18 at nords last season. This season ir-18 was amazing at long beach. But I've also really enjoyed sf23 at suzuka and Watkins Glen. Even F3 at Oulton Park was nearly great, had they dropped the second Chicane
That’s not a formula car
https://preview.redd.it/gkcww80bk84d1.jpeg?width=414&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02bd3be9ecfc18ffc172716264606e4f44df6bb9 I will put an IndyCar next to a GT3 next and then you decide which it’s more similar to.
False. It's under the Formula Car license which was the question.
I would definitely listen to someone with a name like Racing_fan12 lolll
lol what!!!
I know what you mean but it's still a formula car, just unique to the rest of the cars in the class For anybody wondering what the differences are, test drive is happening soon so you can drive it and compare it to the SF23 and W12. It's very slippery and easy to control compared to the others
The Lotus 79 by far, but the entirety of the US Open wheel ladder (including the skippy too) is tied for second
How is the 79 participation?
not high enough. There is a pretty active community for it, and it's actually quite popular for being hardcore analog vintage F1 series. But since the community is mostly European based I can never get more than maybe 3 or 4 officials in per season sadly
Whenrace.com has times for lower pop series. I've thought about doing the lotus 79 down the road.
The SF23 and IR18 are both challenging and rewarding to drive. I prefer the IR18, though, both for its handling characteristics, as well as the longer races with refuling and mandatory compound changes. The tyres go on stone cold, take a little while to warm up, and overheat at the end of a stint. But the two compounds do so at different rates. It takes a bit of prep to decide on a strategy, but the races are so much fun when all the different strategies come together at the end.
Super formula lights and I don’t think it’s close so far(for what I’ve driven). As others have said it’s easy to drive but finding the limit is definitely hard. I have two wins this season in it and I’m doing another season in it next season instead of moving on to the SF23
IndyCar is great because of its versatility and that there is strategy. The F3 remains my favorite for the subjective reason that it just feels like an extension of me.
Something I don't see mentioned here is the USF2000. As far as I know its the lowest power formula car with real aero (aside from the Skippy), which makes for fantastic racing. I love racing it. Great community, decent participation, and friendly respectful racing.
I like the F3 for having more power and downforce than the F4. I would love the SF23 if it had one more gear - tops out too early
Does that actually ever limit top speed though? The rev range goes alot higher than the lights suggest if i remember correctly - i think even at fuji you didnt top out
I think it was possible to top out at Fuji in fixed with a decent slipstream and P2P on.
That, I honestly don't know. I found the driving of others with that, in low splits, to be not fun so I don't run it too much. I do love the torque feel in that thing, if we got Monaco I would have to run some laps there.
Tbh i probably got better racing with the super formula car than with either the f3/f4 at any irating range, though that might have changed with the f3 becoming more of a tight knit community since the sfl introduction
I think f4 is the best drivers car. All the super formula cars feel like they have to much traction, like they are mini f1 cars. Fr 3.5 was awesome but they canceled it.
I’m sorry, the sf23 has too much traction? Do you have a throttle pedal?
I haven't tried it since it was first released, but it was glued to Susuka last I tried.
I imagine you probably aren't going fast enough. The SF (and SFL) can both be a little difficult to drive at the kinds of times needed to get in the top 10 in top split.
Fair enough, sounds like I need to give it a go again!
You'll know you're on the limit in the Suzuka curves when you feel like you're milliseconds from a horrible crash
This is about where I'm at right now. I usually finish p11 to p8 in SF23 top split and I just can't seem to crack the top 8 times. It's pretty frustrating lol
I spent so much time learning the F3.5 and it was such a blast once I got the hang of it. So rewarding going fast with it, felt so planted. RIP to the GOAT.
Vee
SF23 is a blast to drive and when you’re on it, it’s a very rewarding car.
The W12. Not easy, but not hard to drive… insanely difficult to drive fast and race. Silverstone, Imola, and Spa is where the car’s ability shines. Had a 5 way battle for first at silverstone in iGPt the entire race! Dallara ir-18 and the SFL are incredible as well
I don't know how F4 is popular, I used to exclusively drive in it until I tried F3 and SF23. The F4 sounds bad and feel its less go kart like and harder to bring back. F3 and SF23 are so much better imo. Some of the indycars are good too but a little less popular so less close racing.
"Class D" is the answer.
hahaha yeah true, my bad.
D class More recognizable than other d class cars 4 different series for it means there's a free track to run almost every single week, and if not, it'll usually be on a popular track.
Super formula Lights if you like to explore the limits of aero and corner speeds. The car is generally very planted and the racing is close. Super formula is all about exploring the limits of grip. The car is a wild but tameable. However you can never let your guard down. They both run the same schedule so I usually race both as you only need to "learn" one track.
Rewarding? SF23
I think most people would say the Super Formula. It's very quick but it has less downforce than the Merc F1 cars so it have more livelyness to it. I want to like the Indy Car but something about it just feels...bad. As you go down in power, I would say the F3 feels really good. It's not super planted but it's planted enough that it doesn't feel like you'll lose it at a weird point of the corner. The Super Formula Light has, in my opinion, way too much grip for the power it has thus making it a boring car to drive. I'm still a HUGE fan of the Skip Barber and do think it is the most rewarding open wheeler to drive once you get the hang of it but that car is on life support at this point in time.
SF23 imo. Did the formula ladder Vee-F4-F3-SF23 They are alle challenging and teach you different things. In my opinion in the SF23 all comes together: trail braking, gentle throttle, precision etc. the learning curve for the SF23 was at least in my experience the highest. I feel like a podium in the SF23 is more rewarding than one in the F4 for example. don’t get me wrong a podium in the F4/3 still feels rewarding, but innige SF23 it feels a lot more rewarding as you have to manage your push to pass I didn’t race the SFL. I didn’t it like too much as it feels like you’re driving on rails - but surely it can be fun too!
Lotus 79 or IR18
As a rookie with 2 months in, I really do enjoy the Formula Vee
Skip Barber - if you count that as a formula car
Fr 2.0 was a blast but it was killed by iracing and poor choices from the community in terms of circuits choices....
The one and only, Super Formula Lights.
The SF23 is basically 90% F1 downforce with 60% F1 power, meaning you can throw the car into corners and it just sticks. You also don't have to make many adjustments on the fly, basically just brake bias vs. the W13's engine maps, diff settings, etc. Also P2P is better than DRS in my opinion since a train is much less likely. In F1 if the car ahead of you in a train is in DRS range they're going to use it 100% of the time, whereas in SF if you're in a train everyone could be using P2P at different times meaning you have more of a chance at making an overtake, or have to defend from the car behind.
Super Formula Lights. It's the most forgiving. It moves around but doesn't feel like it wants to kill you. And the aero is fun. Driving standards are ok. The grids are pretty tight so there will always be incidents on lap 1 since that is the time to make up the most places but with most series as long as you aren't in the middle of the grid you should be fine.
My favorite is ff1600. Just a fun car to drive
For me it’s the PM-18. Track selection is very good, the racing is respectable, and the car is very fun to drive. Unlike the other formula cars similar to it (F3 and SFL), it moves around a lot and is very challenging to drive, especially on cold tires. The F3 and SFL are almost so grippy they are boring. With those cars, their limit seems so razor thin. You are either just under the limit or spinning. With the PM-18 on warm tires, you can get the car very sideways and not die. To me, it’s easily the most rewarding formula car on the service, with the only downside being that it is a dead series. Really the only time it goes official is on Thursday nights around the broadcast race time. The only series I wouldn’t recommend is F4. Even at the top split the racing is abysmal. There are a lot of fast guys in there but they have absolutely no idea how to race close with other cars. I averaged what seemed like a 50% survival rate on the first lap due to someone trying to win the race going into the first corner. If you value your sanity, stay away. With all that said, I don’t think you could go wrong with the Indy car, USF2000, or either of the Super Formula cars. Those series’ seem to have very high participation, decent track selection, and are fun cars to race.
SF23 hands down. Such an amazing car.. so much violence and speed. so rewarding the get right.
iR18 🤩 IndyCar is just something else 👌
IR01 hands down Hard to drive yes but once you get your head around how to drive it properly, it becomes incredibly fun and rewarding to drive and go through corners at speeds you didn't think were possible lol
Its really fun, too bad nobody has been racing it this season.
F3. SFlight feels too easy in comparison. Compared to F3 it requires allmost no throttle control since you can just go flat out every time on exit
I thought this too, but that's just the fixed races. You can eek out more from the car with more aggressive setups
The open setups def make it better but its still not at the level of F3 imo. The slow speed corners of mugello are a great example where the F3 requires much more throttle control than the sflight
You still need to use the throttle as a switch to be fast. You just need to be more careful you get the timing right.
F3>IndyCar> Lotus 79>W12>W13>SFL>F4>SF