After years of maintaining, coding, and updating, I have made the difficult decision to take down the Sim Racing Vault website.
When I started this project, my goal was simple: create a place where console racers could share and find setups for free. I wanted to break down the paywalls and help everyone get faster. But times change, and so does the sim racing landscape.
Why I’m pulling the plug
Several factors led to this decision:
- Time: I simply have less time to dedicate to the maintenance the site requires.
- The State of the Games: The hype around ACC has faded, and most people seem to have moved on to LMU or other sims. Meanwhile, Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC) is slowly dying as a platform.
- The Community Shift: The spirit of sharing setups for free has diminished. Fewer people are contributing, and the library isn’t growing like it used to.
The Reality of “Free”
In all honesty, the lack of interaction has been the most frustrating part. The numbers showed that people were using the site, downloading data and using the tools I built. Yet, in all these years, I never received a single “thank you” or even a cup of coffee donation.
The only time users reached out was a few years back when a bug appeared. Suddenly, my inbox was full of requests to fix it. I did fix it, of course. But afterwards? Silence again. No thanks, no appreciation. It felt like visitors were just there to consume data without being part of a community.
What I Learned
Despite the frustrating end, I don’t regret building it. I learned a massive amount during this journey. It sharpened my coding skills, introduced me to “AI vibe coding,” and forced me to solve complex problems like the cross-platform setup converter.
The End of the Road
The site will officially cease to exist on January 1, 2026.
The domain name will be up for sale after that date.
Thank you to the silent majority for using the tools, and for now, it is time to say goodbye.