Does Raceroom being 'free' work against it on Steam?

[Mekonrider]

From a reviews point of view I think it allows Need for Speed type idiots to leave bad write-ups after putting 30 minutes into it.

 

[Lars Hansen]

Possibly, but in the case of racing-sims, the market is already so niche that word-of-mouth counts for more.
Most people who get into more serious sims do so because they watch their streamer of choice, and follow what they say. And I can't think of a single major streamer who has said anything overly critical of R3E.

 

[UMC 22]

I agree with Lars, and I would add that the fact that base R3E is free probably means it is actually less affected by Steam reviews than other games. If someone has to pay an upfront fee before they can try a product out, then they're going to look at those reviews more closely. But if they have the opportunity to try the product themselves for free, and for as long as they like, they're more likely to see for themselves rather than relying on the opinions of others because they have nothing to lose.