rFactor and it's mods a dogs breakfast. Where do I start ?

[Crash Dummy]

Hey guys.
I'm trying my best to get into rfactor a bit more now but i'm finding that when it comes to sorting through all the mods and variations it's a complete dogs breakfast. Trying to play with friends nobody seems to be able to manage to get the same stuff so we've always got mismatches and shit just doesn't work.

How can I go about making rfactor work for me and my friends so we can just get in there any have a race.
Redownloading everything from scratch probably isn't the best because most of us have fairly limited DL allowances.

I'm all ears and open to ideas and tips. This could be a pretty good definitive guide for the newbies too I reckon if there is good advice to be offered.

[StanDaam]

Heya Crash, my advice would be to do a fresh install, then install the Meganes (cause they are the most popular online, almost always get a 10 - 20 player online game goin). After that I would try to get the V8's goin cause they are pretty popular on aussie servers. After that its up to you what you want but thats what I would consider a basic install. Look out for all the patches for each mod as they are usually the culprits for mismatches.
I agree its a dogs breakfast as there are a massive amount of mods to chose from, rFactor central's hall of Fame is a good place to start. Also, because there are so many mods, its nearly worth having 2 installs of the game, one being the basic install like above where you put your favourite mods and another one for tryin out different mods without stuffing up your original install. gl