I have full sim rig. 3 screens and load cell pedals legit. I don’t think it handles like my kart (I race lo206 senior). Kart craft i drove was X30. I was a Iracing sim racer before I got into karting. Iracing does not handle like a kart. Going into kart was not a big jump from iracing because I feel it teaches race line, race kraft and reaction time. Can this help you out with kart racing (Yes). Will it replace the karting itch (No), but I’m not looking for that anyways. It is a good tool to use during the off season to keep reaction time and race kraft polished. I tested the sim on my sim rig and prefer iracing over it at this time. The graphics are very good with kart Kraft. The physics are not there yet. I will not give up on it. It has just now release and will evolve over time with the right support behind it. Iracing had it’s issues and is still a work in progress as well. They just have a better start as of now. Hope this helps…
Setting up wheel was a little hard to find but no problem once bindings were found. FYI.
I will also say that if you think about it, it is next to impossible to sim a kart. Chassis dynamics in a real kart can change depending on lean, pushing on steering wheel, and pushing on foot rest. I don’t see how you can sim that exactly. I will repeat this again you can become better by practicing in a sim race rig just like any Nascar / Forumla one drivers do. There will always be something that can not be duplicated.
Obviously sims can’t replicate every on-track force and help you feel the grip which is super important in a kart (unless you have a motion rig), but they can for sure help with consistency, reaction time, focus, and race craft.
Since it snows or is freezing half the year here, sims are a great off-season training tool to keep some of those skills razor sharp.
Forgive my lack of research prior to asking, can I find tracks that would be local to my region or that I at least would likely visit in the US?
I have a sim rig setup for iRacing but the main reason I use it is for learning a new track. Took me 2 solid months to really get the Nurburgring down but when I got there I was comfortable within 2 laps. Same with VIR and Watkins Glen though it was obviously much quicker to learn them.
The biggest benefit is if you can find a car that’s similar pace to what you drive in real life as you will develop the rythem for the lap and fall right into it when you finally visit the track.
Not at this point… Basically KK is in early release right now and not quite a 1.0. They do have a roadmap for 1.0 which I’ve added to the top post.
For all of the complaints some people have, it looks enjoyable at least.
I think this is where people get caught up and miss out on the value of sim racing (and indoor karting) too. They look for direct realism, feel and setup behavior compared to RL.
Sim racing allows you to practice and hone your high level skills. These will cascade down to any/all kinds of racing you do. This is the real value to sim racing IMO.
- Looking ahead/focus.
- Process of improving your performance through experimentation. Specifically making changes in setup and or driving (even if they don’t make “sense”) noting the results and working towards
- Wheel to wheel racing/situational awareness.
- Thought processing speed… and you touched on this. The idea of putting yourself in a vehicle that forces your brain to work harder… as a result it will start to “slow things down”
In short, it’s a great way to fine tune the skills mentioned in Ross Bentley’s inner speed secrets:
If you look at my full post you can see I do see the benefit.
Doing both is OK, just with the sim being a low priority. It is just about resource allocation. How much time, money, floor space etc. do you want to devote to an activity that may not deliver? I’d say driving a car sim could be of benefit as well. Where I live winter is a good time to physically train and then play the sim in the AC during heat of the summer would probably make more sense. Besides location, I see where we are at individually in our karting career progression as a factor. In every sport I have done I have used some some of sim or alternate activity to supplement RW, so don’t think I don’t get it.
I think a developer needs to decide if it will be a game, sim or training tool. If it were a training tool, then some things could be done to optimize it as a training tool and we would get the most benefit. It would basically be a sim with some specific added capability.
Update:
After an incredible and sleep deprived first week after the launch of KartKraft which saw us hit #1 on the Early Access charts, we thought we’d take a moment to reach out with a quick update.
Firstly thank you to all our players who have devoted their time to helping us track down bugs, search for fixes and try out new patches all the while helping other players too. The KartKraft community is an incredible group of players, all willing to help out just like those who lend you a hand or the chain lube at the track!
Our sole focus remains on fixing the crashes and loading issues a lot of you have experienced, which should see a new hotfix released in the coming days. We’ve also been working hard to add additional input presets and add the core features you’ve let us know were missing. Please keep the constructive criticism and suggestions coming, it really is what helps KartKraft become the game you want it to be. The more detailed the critique, the easier it makes our job.
We’re also working on a handling/physics update which should see the FFB also improve dramatically. We’ve identified the problem causing the kart’s current handling characteristics and have our heads down solving it as we speak. More updates on this to come.
Finally, we thought we’d give you a sneak preview of the upcoming AI update which will see you race head to head against drivers including Bas Lammers, Bart Price, Dave Sera, Remo Luciani, Anthony Abbasse and more. With a more detailed preview coming, I’ll leave you with this:
I would like to add there is an official subreddit for KartKraft where you guys can ask questions and whatnot
https://www.reddit.com/r/KartKraftGame/
Also, official Discord server with the devs
Is it official? I didn’t see much from Zach or the team there.
Technically it is, he just doesn’t do much on it. Hopefully they’ll have more updates coming now that they have some actual product
Well it seems a bit of a trend in some places. 
One thing that’s been bothering me is the plethora of reviews from people who:
A.) Have no idea how to set up their wheel
B.) Have never driven a kart in real-life before
C.) Are comparing the handling/feel to that of CAR simsObviously karting is going to be an entirely different driving style to any car sim, so the game is going to feel totally foreign to anyone who isn’t familiar with karts. I’ve seen a few videos of guys who say “the karts oversteer too badly, they’re undriveable” as they pour on full-lock into every corner.
Exactly. That’s why I’m waiting for a fair review from one of you guys. 
picked up an nvidia 1060 graphics card today… lets goooo!
/edit
Noooooo
I got about 50mins on it today…
Took quite a bit of tweaking on graphics to get it to run smooth. Not really the game’s fault, but something to be mindful of. The back section of PFI was particularly tough and caused the screen to freeze frequently until I experimented with detail settings.
The brake/rear axle assembly intertia modeling “feels” very natural and controllable. It’s very nice with a broad envelope to control.
Turn in feels a bit strange… it starts off as you would expect, then there’s a momentary dart for a short period of time then it goes back to normal response. It makes it a little difficult to manage. This might be related to how the jacking/rear end is modeled or maybe over zealous slip angle simulation, my wheel (G29 I think), or just shitty driving in my part 
I tried various settings for the wheel and it helped some.
The driving line in challenge mode is interesting as it shows the line incl braking points of your opponent. Ultimately though it’s distracting AF. My vote is turn it off.
It has elements of forza/GT4 with points to buy things like canopys and stuff like that. I get their purpose, but I could care less, I just want to drive something that feels like a kart.
I say this with some reservation because I think it could be my wheel… but the rear end handling on exit is very strange. What you would expect to be minor correction turns into a debacle. It almost feels like 80lbs (laterally, not in the sense that it dumps the inside wheel) gets added to the rear end once it starts. It feels like the inertia changes.
Now having said all this, there’s folks running seconds a lap faster than me at this point. So clearly folks are able to drive around the issues I experienced.
I didn’t find any options to change the setup of the kart chassis.
Overall, I still say pay $19 just to give the team some funds to develop it further. It’s fun and gives a decently immersive feel.
I’m “CrazedCarter” if you’re looking for me.
James, three days later, do you still feel the same way about KartKraft? Are you able to drive (or setup) around the issues or are you still experiencing the 80lbs lateral load?
I got my sim rig built and set up last night, so I downloaded KK. The graphics and detail are beautiful. Truly well done. Right down to the caster and camber, the tie-rods moving, and the ride height washers… Literally everything on the kart in real life is there in-game.
Wish I could comment on the handling but only just realized I lost the cable for my wheel/pedals so I can hook it up just yet…