rFactor 2 is the tortured artist of sim racing. It’s brilliant, moody, unreliable, and occasionally infuriating. It will never be the mainstream king. It will never have the polish of Gran Turismo or the matchmaking of iRacing.

Let’s get this out of the way immediately. No other consumer sim—not iRacing, not Assetto Corsa Competizione, not even the new LMU—handles tire flex and surface detail quite like rF2.