iRacing

iRacing is the sim the real drivers use: laser-scanned tracks, licence classes, and a safety rating that follows you around. It is subscription-based rather than a one-off purchase, which puts it in a different bracket from everything else on this list.

Because official races run to a fixed schedule, the value of a group is knowing who is entering what. A handful of people in the same series turns a solo queue into a race night.

The voice room is for practice sessions, setup talk and sitting together through a longer race.