Just read through that ISI interview on Race Department. My god. All I can say is...all hail Sector3! (...and Reiza, Kunos, etc...)
Despite it's old age I would have to say: GTR2. And for many reasons: - physics, ffb and AI are all pretty decent, and can be further tweaked to your liking by editing the various .ini files - graphics may be a bit outdated judging by current standards, but still look pretty good with everything maxxed out - the sounds ain't too shabby either - up to 24 hour mixed class endurance racing - which leads me to the possibility of day and night racing, with convincing day-to-night transitions - wet races, just a shame it has no working windscreen wipers - the availability of some great mods: Japan SuperGT ! North American GP's ALMS mod ! FIA GT 2010-2011 ! - a rich selection of amazing add-on tracks, the work of VirtuaLM springs to mind here - Ferraris and Porsches ... One can only wonder what a real GTR3 would have been like, possibly the greatest sim that never was I also fire up AC from time to time (mainly to hotlap the Ring in the F40, the only reason I bougth it really...) and I do like it's physics and graphics, but think ffb could have been a bit better (or I just haven't managed to set it up right yet). And then a bit of PCars occasionally, just for the fancy graphics though I never really got to grips with rFactor (don't have rF2) although I can't put my finger on the reason why, but it's the same reason why I'm not really into GSCE or AMS...I just don't seem to "click" with those. And then there's Grand Prix Legends: aaahh, GPL...what can I say: even with it's flaws and even though I don't play it anymore, it will always hold a special place in my sim-loving heart
Automobilista than iracing Automobilista has really captured my attention, I really enjoy the F3 cars and the feel/feedback you get from the cars. Rich
Since You actualy asked asked .... So what is your favourite sim? Well in that case second after R3E it is TheHunter (hunting sim) or ETS2 och ATS (Euro Truck Sim - American Truck sim) This take up alooot of time for me But if you refere to Race sim, well that is tricky but I guess I say rFactor tight followed by pCars or maby the other way around.. Not that I think any of them actually are as good as R3E but they have their charm in some way.. and I accidently end up in either of them for a hour or so to finally get bored on them and hurry back to R3E
When I answered the vote first time it definitely was GSCE, but lately I've been doing a lot laps in rF2. It is simply stunning with all the features it has. For example, dynamic track is really dynamic unlike the canned stuff in Automobilista. I'm currently driving 6 hours in Bahrain endurance race with URD EGT cars against around 35 AI cars. It just Works like a clock work with the flags and all. AI handles the long race and pit stops enormously well, no hitches there and lapped cars give way when overtaking. I started the race in 2pm and now the sun is setting and shadows are getting long. Track has improved with all the rubber and its cooling down and my car is definitely handling now better, although I'm battling in the middle of the pack lap down to the leaders. And the best feature is that I don't need to run that monster race all in once: just continue the race from replay when ever I want to! Other option would be to let the AI handle the driving while having a rest (cake and beer). Absolutely stunning sim and you can't do this with any other sim, at least not this well. I've always claimed that Reiza stuff is the underrated one, but it definitely is rF2. By the way, I today bought the URD T5 payware mod for rF2. It is essentially 2012/13 DTM. It is fun thing to notice that the handling is very similar to R3E DTMs. rF2 FFB has somewhat more finesse, but otherwise it feels much like home at the start.
For me its a pretty short list 1.) GTR2 2.) Nascar Racing 2003 season 3.) Not really racing sims but American Truck and Euro Truck Simulator
I'm still a huge fan of rFactor 1. The mods keep the game fresh and I still feel rF1 has the best FFB for me.
IRacing - tracks look really great today (the best IMO) and physic is ok. It would be first if it was not so expensiv. RF2 - physic is ok, probably more forgiving then R3E and IRacing, tracks look meh. AMS - sounds really great, tracks look meh, physic is like RF2. Asseto Corsa - didn't play it much so... Project Cars - flying carpet physic unfortunatly. My 2cts.