Telemetry is only useful if it is still there when you need it. The lap you want to compare against is rarely yesterday's: it is the one from the last time this series visited this track, or the personal best you set before a wheel change. Several sim racing tools put a limit on how much of that history a free account keeps, and the limits take two different shapes: a time window after which data ages out, or a cap on how many laps are stored per car and track combination. Here is what each tool's own pricing page states, as recorded in our verified comparison, and what the paid tier changes.
The storage limits each tool states
| Tool | Free tier storage | What a paid tier changes |
|---|---|---|
| VRS Virtual Racing School | Personal telemetry with 3-month retention | Dedicated is $4.99/mo (or $4.16/mo yearly); recorded tiers do not state a retention figure for paid plans |
| Garage 61 | One year of data storage, everything else free during alpha | Pro at €5/mo (about $6) when subscribing yearly unlocks unlimited data storage, advanced lap-search filters and custom display units |
| Popometer | 3 laps stored per combo | Pro at €5/mo or €50/yr raises it to 10 laps per combo and adds team and group sharing |
| Sim Racing Telemetry (SRT) | Limited parameters and limited stored sessions | Per-game DLC unlocks at $1.99 to $9.99 each |
Time limits and lap-count limits are different problems
VRS puts a clock on your data. The free tier gives you personal telemetry, free datapacks and 3-month retention, which comfortably covers a single iRacing season but not the return of a track a year later. Garage 61 uses the same shape with a longer window: the free plan stores one year of data, and the Pro plan makes storage unlimited. If your goal is tracking improvement across seasons, a time window is the limit that bites, because it removes your oldest and often most instructive comparison laps first.
Popometer caps by count instead. Its free tier stores 3 laps per combo, and Pro raises that to 10 per combo. A count cap does not care how old a lap is, only how many you keep for each car and track pairing, so a driver who runs one series all year is barely affected while someone rotating through many combos fills each slot quickly. Sim Racing Telemetry is the least specific of the four: its free base app has limited parameters and limited stored sessions, with the per-game DLC lifting the limits for each title you buy. It also records only complete timed laps, so an aborted lap is never stored in the first place.
What it costs to stop worrying about it
The price of unlimited or expanded storage sits in a narrow band. Garage 61 Pro is €5/mo on a yearly subscription for unlimited storage. Popometer Pro is €5/mo or €50/yr for the 10-lap cap. VRS Dedicated is $4.99/mo, or $4.16/mo billed yearly. Two caveats come straight from the data. Garage 61's site says everything is free during alpha and answers 'Will it stay free?' with 'Not all of it', so the free plan's one-year figure may not be the final shape. And our recorded VRS tiers describe the retention of the free plan only, so if a longer window matters to you, confirm it on vrs.racing before paying.
Tools whose recorded tiers state no storage cap
- TakeP1 (P1 Race Engineer): the free plan includes session reports, and the entry lists no storage limit. Disclosure: TakeP1 is operated by the team behind PickMerit
- TrackPro by Sim Coaches: session recording is in the free forever tier, with no cap stated
- RS Dash ASR: offers cloud session history in its base app, with no limit stated
- iSpeed: a shared datamart of thousands of uploaded lap files, free as donationware
- Trophi.ai, Track Titan and Coach Dave Delta: their recorded pricing tiers describe coaching features, not storage limits