Tend to avoid simulators like F1, Gran Turismo, Dirt Rally and other unfun games. I got a real car for that shit.
Those are still simcade gamepad-first games.
I looked up the games you guys mentioned and most of them are old / not on steam. What are everyone's recommendations to play those? I've seen the modern racing sims on steam and Wreckfest is on my wishlist for when it gets properly discounted but is there a universally accepted good racing game?
I did a post 2 years ago where I went over the sim titles, not much has changed, except two sequels. I've only really spent much time in AC and ACC out of these. All these games have their detractors and fanboys. While they can be played with a gamepad they're all basically wheel-first games.
- Assetto Corsa is still a go to due to mods which means you can drive most anything on most any track or open roads, and graphics mods/shader packs can make the game look great. (get Content Manager)
- Assetto Corsa Competizione cam out last year, still getting updates and (very competitively priced) DLC, but is only GT3 (soon GT4) cars. Usually agreed to be the closest simulation of these types of cars available. Most public players available (aside from iRacing), since it's all one series and not split like other games.
- rFactor 2 is starting to get a little long in the tooth, but still quite active.
- Automobilista stands out in that its base content is to a large extent South American. Small player base, but an outsize number of people swear it has the best force feedback of anything they've played.
- Automobilista 2 is still in early access, now on the Project Cars 2 engine, first impressions a few months ago were mediocre but they've done a number of updates since I bothered to check in on it.
- RaceRoom Racing Experience is F2P, plus DLC.
- iRacing has caught some flak recently over its tire model (a 9 year saga so far). Still the gold standard for multiplayer - in the other games multiplayer mostly means public lobbies or private community leagues, while iRacing has leagues, seasons, and ratings built in. Subscription + DLC means iRacing quickly becomes the most expensive racing sim, by far.