As Darren has said, to start with I was shit scared of the SR system, but now after a bit of playing, I am a huge fan. Once you learn how the car handles, and the bumps and wee "personalities" of each track, you really start to push it and can enjoy the sim as much as LFS/rFactor, or whatever floats your boat. I just jumped into a qualifying session at Laguna having not turned a lap there, started off slowly, lapping in the 1:57s, then as I got used to the car and track, managed to get down into the 1:51s in about ten laps. Was quite a rewarding way to do things, instead of the approach I used to take in other sims, which was, drive as fast as possible staraight away, collect a barrier, escape back to pits, try it again at a slower speed etc. The system works well in creating a more realistic approach to learning new circuits and cars, which at first I didnt particulary like it, but now, I think its almost the best thing since sliced bread.
the more I play it, the more I realize just how good this is. The money issue as stated previously is still my only gripe, however as people have pointed out, realistically when you look at it, its a dozen beers every now and then, it isn't a huge expense, and I'm starting to think that if this is the intial release, with more and more features to come, this sim can only get better and better, and the money is probably justified.
Edit: example of SR system not being a nasty scary monster, in that qualli session, I had one big spin, and a few wheels into the dirt that it recorded, yet my SR has still gone up 0.02 points, it really isnt as bad as so many people on other forums etc try to make it out to be.
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