This sunday, the Monaco Grand Prix will be running for the 74th time. Together with the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, this will be a great weekend for every cosmopolitan open wheel racing fan.

But how do you race in Monaco if you’re an iRacer for example? Monaco won’t be in iRacing for quite some time to come; too bad.

The problem is solved for the Indy 500, all major titles have an implementation thereof. So this is a list of iRacing alternatives that do contain the Monte Carlo Track.

What is the best Monaco Grand Prix Simulation?

I am typically not so much into posting arrays of YouTube videos, but I think in this case, a video is worth a thousand pictures.

Formula 1 ’97 (PlayStation)

Wtf you may ask. But yes, this title, while not a simracer, still brings a lot of fun. You’d expect a really slow-running game, feeling tardy. But to everyone’s surprise, it’s pretty dynamic, fast-paced, and funny. Personally, I always loved racing in the rain, because a) the AI was not good at it, and b) the dark gray on screen made for a cozy feeling on the couch.

Has anyone of you tried to coax a Fanatec, Thrustmaster or Logitech onto Formula 1 ’97? I know that the Logitech G27 is usable on a PS2, but unfortunately no longer own it.

Alternatively, you try Formula 1, which, as far as I remeber, covers the 1994 season. In that year, young Michael Schumacher won his first title.

Here’s a neat video by GTRufus:

But before we go all arcade. What are some current options for racing the Monaco GP in simulation fashion?

Project Cars – Azure Circuit

Project Cars, the 2015 crowdfunded racing simulation, offers a version of Monaco which they badged “Azure Circuit” for licensing reasons.

As for a discussion about the realism of Project Cars, have a look here.

 

rFactor 2

I have a love/hate relationship with rFactor 2. I find the car setup more difficult than in iRacing, and I really, really miss the four-slider-setup from rFactor 1. That slider was an absolute killer feature for me in order to just hop in and do a few laps.

However, if you are dedicated and invest some time in your setup, or find a good setup online, go for it.

The only other gripe I have with rFactor 2 is graphics. Even with the current version, I am unable to tweak the gfx settings in way that makes the sim look good. I guess I just need an up-to-date graphics card.

Unfortunately, rFactor 2 only comes with Monaco 1966, which is awesome, but not what we want in this review. We want a halfway up-to-date version thereof. In turn, we need a good mod, et voila:

Generally, rFactor is know to be mod-friendly, and rFactor without mods is not rFactor, be it rFactor 1 or 2.

A really nice version of Monaco can be found at here. Thanks for the info Dino DinoDino.

Assetto Corsa

Assetto Corsa is a Kunos Simulazioni sim racing game for Windows, Xbox One and PS4. Like rFactor, it does not have a builtin, modern version of Monaco, but you can get the track mod here.

Gran Turismo 6 – Cote D’Azur

Personally, I think that Assetto Corsa’s and rFactor 2’s mods look better than this included track. And like the rest of the Simracing community, I don’t consider Gran Turismo a “Real Driving Simulator”, as it proclaims itself; it’s more a “simcade”, as some coin it.

However, if you need Monaco right now, it might be a viable option.

Meh. That track implementation looks really flat.

Conclusion

Apart from rFactor and Project Cars and Assetto Corsa I am pretty much out of options, apart from above mentions (and the one honorable mention of Formula 1 ’97).

Which Monaco simulation would you recommend? Leave a comment!