An iRacing movie... not just for iRacing enthusiasts

Andrew_McP

Andrew_McP

Andrew_McP

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Here's something I put together to take out my frustrations at being stuck in this lousy car all week, instead of the vehicle I'd much rather race.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=k4fs2PyqBgc&fmt=18

While iRacing isn't everyone's cup of tea (it's not mine much of the time!) hopefully the movie gives you an idea why the physics in this sim/game make it so satisfying to drive. Even in a car I dislike it's still possible to have some fun... though not online. You'd be kicked out for behaving like this. :-)

Andrew McP
 
Glad you enjoyed it. :-) iRacing continues to wind me up, and I started this project because in this 13th, 'fun' week, iRacing decided not to allow my favourite (Skip Barber) car to be raced. That meant using the Solstice... and I hate the Solstice. Hence the movie.

Unfortunately I started having fun, which somewhat spoiled my grumpy mood. :-) And the rest is history... well, and nearly a week's hard work! I would probably have been better spending that time practising for next week's race. Gawd only knows I need it!

Andrew McP
 
I just wanted to add that it's fascinating to see -- from the stats YouTube offers movie uploaders -- that this site is responsible, so far, for 46% of the hits on my movie. It goes to show just how popular these forums are. I always knew that was the case, but I wasn't sure how many people viewed this section regularly. Obviously it's rather a lot. Thanks for looking. :-)

Andrew McP
 
Nice video, how can you not like the Solstice though, t'is a great little car, especially around LRP :)
 
Superb! Slow mo bits were brilliant, well played :D

PS I love the idea of iRacing and I really would like to get into it at some point. Can I ask, why couldn't you use the skip barber? If I get into it I'm more than likely going to want to stick to that you see.

EDIT: Oh and how was all that not terminal?
 
Lyon85 said:
Can I ask, why couldn't you use the skip barber?
Click to expand...

The 'season' is 13 weeks long. 12 weeks of official racing (no relaxing!) and then a week of fun races. For some reason -- I suspect marketing, because a lot of people seem content with the Skip Barber -- iRacing decided not to offer any SB racing in this season's fun week.

The alternative, apart from the despicable Solstice which weighs several tons and acts like it! -- was to buy the next car up (Mazda) *and* an oval to race it on. While that looked like excellent fun (and apparently it was) I'd been looking for some fun in the SB, free from concerns about SR and raining on other people's parade. I objected to being dragged by the credit card into expense I wasn't planning... I blew this month's gaming budget on FC2 (and I regret that!)

I'm not a particularly good driver (relatively safe, but slow) and I don't need the distraction of another car... the SB is quite enough for me to concentrate on learning.

EDIT: Oh and how was all that not terminal?
Click to expand...

The crashes in the Solstice? Well, some of them were, sort of, where I ended up on the roof unable to recover. But engine damage wasn't implimented at that stage. It is now... causing me no end of grief in my shifts down from 4th to 1st for the hairpin at this week's SB race. I'm losing seconds now as I gingerly coast down from top speed to 2nd, rather than 1st.

But that's a separate issue! The bodywork/wheel damage really did have a big effect on the Solstice's handling. The scene towards the end with the split screen flips is part of the same sequence which created that damage, before the flips. The car was a beast to drive, as you can see from the weaving up the pit lane. All in all it felt very realistic to drive, ie the damage felt consistent with a damaged car, with the forces from the wonky wheels being realistically fed into the handling.

Not that I'd know what that really feels like, but after a decade or so in sims you sort of know when something feels 'right', and iRacing does virtually all the time. I'm a bit bothered that's it's increasingly oval-centric, but for all its flaws (and I think there are many, including the daft name) iRacing is unmatched in my experience. The handling just feels so right, and the force feedback -- when tweaked to suit you -- is superb.

I long for a more relaxed version, but until then we're stuck with either the status quo, or something like GTR Evo... and while I enjoy much of the alternatives to an extent, only Richard Burns Rally has ever managed to satisfy me when it comes to the actual driving. And that's the most important part!

This reply seems to have gone on a bit. I apologise. :-)

Andrew McP
 
Just to add there were also two 'unofficial' series during fun-week, one of which was the radical around sebring and laguna seca, which admittedly was a blatant ploy to get people to buy the radical and sebring (and muggins here did :p), but it was awesome anyway :p
 
Andrew_McP said:
The 'season' is 13 weeks long. 12 weeks of official racing (no relaxing!) and then a week of fun races. For some reason -- I suspect marketing, because a lot of people seem content with the Skip Barber -- iRacing decided not to offer any SB racing in this season's fun week.

The alternative, apart from the despicable Solstice which weighs several tons and acts like it! -- was to buy the next car up (Mazda) *and* an oval to race it on. While that looked like excellent fun (and apparently it was) I'd been looking for some fun in the SB, free from concerns about SR and raining on other people's parade. I objected to being dragged by the credit card into expense I wasn't planning... I blew this month's gaming budget on FC2 (and I regret that!)

I'm not a particularly good driver (relatively safe, but slow) and I don't need the distraction of another car... the SB is quite enough for me to concentrate on learning.



The crashes in the Solstice? Well, some of them were, sort of, where I ended up on the roof unable to recover. But engine damage wasn't implimented at that stage. It is now... causing me no end of grief in my shifts down from 4th to 1st for the hairpin at this week's SB race. I'm losing seconds now as I gingerly coast down from top speed to 2nd, rather than 1st.

But that's a separate issue! The bodywork/wheel damage really did have a big effect on the Solstice's handling. The scene towards the end with the split screen flips is part of the same sequence which created that damage, before the flips. The car was a beast to drive, as you can see from the weaving up the pit lane. All in all it felt very realistic to drive, ie the damage felt consistent with a damaged car, with the forces from the wonky wheels being realistically fed into the handling.

Not that I'd know what that really feels like, but after a decade or so in sims you sort of know when something feels 'right', and iRacing does virtually all the time. I'm a bit bothered that's it's increasingly oval-centric, but for all its flaws (and I think there are many, including the daft name) iRacing is unmatched in my experience. The handling just feels so right, and the force feedback -- when tweaked to suit you -- is superb.

I long for a more relaxed version, but until then we're stuck with either the status quo, or something like GTR Evo... and while I enjoy much of the alternatives to an extent, only Richard Burns Rally has ever managed to satisfy me when it comes to the actual driving. And that's the most important part!

This reply seems to have gone on a bit. I apologise. :-)

Andrew McP
Click to expand...
Take back that apology :)

Sounds great, I really am very tempted. Kinda want a G25 before I start though, had my eye on that wheel for ages now.

I'm not very fond of ovals though, I have virtually no knowledge of them, but that's because they just don't interest me, maybe that could change. The SB looks like great fun, as does the Mazda, they make the decision so much easier. Is that vintage F1 car inbound yet?

Thanks for the post.
 
Lyon85 said:
Kinda want a G25 before I start though, had my eye on that wheel for ages now.
Click to expand...

I have the old red Logitech Momo, which is managing to survive the battering it's getting these days. But I certainly wouldn't want to be driving on iRacing without decent kit. The G25 sounds like a good idea.

> I'm not very fond of ovals though, I have virtually no knowledge of them

That's why they're so popular with the Merkins... no knowledge required. If you can remember to turn left, you'll be fine! ;-)

Seriously, there is a real challenge to racing in packs at high speed. I've enjoyed it in the past, but the novelty soon wore off after a few ovals at iRacing. While racing in packs can be entertaining, all that going round in circles is definitely not a taste I've acquired over the years.

You never know though, you might find you enjoy it and never look back! :-) The good news is that you have a split personality on iRacing. You have a road racing score and an oval score, and the two aren;t linked. So you can choose to develop one side of your 'career' exclusively.

The SB looks like great fun
Click to expand...

The only thing wrong with the SB is its neutered 1st gear. You can't drop it out of neutral, whack your foot down, and spin the car, which is a bit frustrating. It's also very slow off the line, which makes for safe, but unsatisfying starts. Other than that thoug, it's a thoroughly rewarding drive.

> Is that vintage F1 car inbound yet?

No idea. The USA seems to be their core audience, so it's ovals & cars to drive on them which seem to get the priority at this stage. I'm not bothered though, because I already think there are twice as many cars on iRacing as makes sense with the 5500-6000 drivers they have at the moment... and not all of those are active by any means.

Andrew McP
 
No news on the schedule for the F1 car, I'd imagine that at least 1 new road car will be added in the next 4-6 weeks though as they'll need one for the A-Class series next season,

Ovals are actually more fun than I thought they'd be, I'd always thought they'd be very very easy, and whilst they're different from the challenge of road courses they are still a challenge, but more of concentration and ability to run with other cars very very closely, I'm actually further away from the aliens (in lap time percentage terms) on oval tracks than on road tracks.

Have you got a wheel now, the G25 is lovely but if you've already got a wheel, especially if that wheel has 900 degrees rotation then it's not really 'needed', I'm lazy so use the paddle shifters and don't bother with the clutch anyway so the benefits of the G25 are mostly lost on me, other than the fact that it's very well built and a very nice wheel to use.

I would definately reccomend trying iRacing though, for £13-14 (guessing now the pound has gone sucky against the dollar) it's worth a punt, you'll be placed in the Solstice to start with which some people dislike but it's a good learners car for getting the hang of keeping up corner/exit speed and even using weight transfer :)
 
Cheers boys.

I have a wheel I borrowed from a friend, it's a Thrustmaster Universal Challenge. He doesn't seem to want it back in a hurry and I know why. The pedals are rubbish, they feel like they are made out of pure imagination, it doesn't have 900 degrees lock, the only gear shift are flappy paddle and if I forget to take my fingers off them they crack against the wheel vice on full lock and there is no force feedback.

Am I right in thinking you have some "free" credit after buying iRacing to spend on tracks/cars? I had it in my head that you started with the skippy and Solstice for some reason.

I know this depends on skill, but how long untill you get to drive the SB competitively? I guess I'm asking about your personal experience. I assume you don't start with the liscence to use anything other than the two free cars.

EDIT: Just out of curiosity, any TrackIR support?
 
Last edited:
Yep, you get some free credit, but with the single month payment it's a measly $2.50 which won't buy you much :p A years subscription gets you a much nicer $60 which I think is actually enough for the SB and the tracks you need to compete in it with a bit left over.

You start with a Rookie licence with an SR of 2.5, on the Rookie licence you can drive (road course at least) the Solstice, Advanced Solstice and the Skip Barber, but you need an SR of 3.0 and then 4.0 to drive the Advanced Solstice and then the Skip Barber.

I probably started racing before I was consistant enough really, and so my SR had a habit of going down a fair bit before I got the hang of the car/track enough to do incident free races and it shoots up then, so it took me ~3-4 weeks to get my SR to 4.0 to race the SB's. It's possible to do it in far less time than that if you concentrate purely on doing incident free races, heard some people claim to have done it in 2 days and I can believe it.

The other option to drive the SB's is to up the licence to Class D, this is done by having an SR >3.0 at the end of the 13 week season (12 weeks competitive, 1 week fun), then you get upgraded to class d and can race in the SB's (and Formula Mazda if you get your SR to 4.0 again)

TrackIR definately works in the game, dunno how well, or if there are any issues though, but several people use it (along with several other people using Triplehead2Go for 3 monitor setups :p)

Probably worth getting a new wheel, if only for force feedback, I started years ago with a thrustmaster non-ff wheel and the difference when I changed to an ff wheel was massive, so much nicer, but something like the cheaper logitech's would be fine, from what I remember the G25 has 2 ff motors, h-pattern shifter and clutch pedal over the rest of the lineup, nice stuff but not completely necessary and it is expensive :p
 
My love/hate relationship with iRacing continues thanks to a 3 month deal for $25 (available to anyone now using the code PR-3MONTHOFFER-MAY2009 during signup). I even picked up a nasty truck racing habit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOTL20rYOko&fmt=18

I'm pretty slow though. I keep having to stop when all the shotguns and roadkill fall out of the back of the truck. ;-)

Andrew McP

PS I think the free month + Silverstone & Radical deal is still running as well via...
http://www.radicalsportscars.com/racing/virtual-racing
 
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