iRacing

[PaulC2K]

Just renewed. Not sure if its throwing more money away though. I did 5 races with the last 1yr sub and they were all back in Feb.


Im wondering if others go through the same thing as me with iRacing. My main issue is with motivation, I spent most of the '00s playing LFS with a team (as the slowest in a top team) and every day jumping into a server, people hopping in & out of races during an evening, having a chat and a laugh. It was easy. However none of them races these days and whenever i jump on iRacing i just keep myself to myself and practice/race and it just doesnt hit the same.
What doesnt help is that im trash at multitasking, such as driving and remembering where i braked last lap, was it better/worse, how i had the car set up for the corner etc. Its like im 100% focused on now and the next corner, and so progress is slow, its almost like building muscle memory where with repetition the right move comes natural,
but it fades away when I move to a new track, or worse a new car. So i practice - i have the time, but it doesnt take long for the motivation to leave when its always solo laps (offline or practice servers), and the frustrations kick in where in the past the group mood keep things more up-beat.

I keep saying i'll try and find a league or join a driving school just to find a community to drive with, but i never get around to it.
Now im hoping that a mate starting a new job might have time to hop on from time to time and we can do some short team races together and progress from there, cos i spent a little over 5k buying the gear and i think ive used it for about 10h this year. I bought the monitor mount for my rig during last years BF sales and the box is still sealed.

It also hasnt helped that iRacing seems to have got swetty AF compared to when i was previously on (~2014) and it feels like everyone believes they're vastly better than the person infront of them and they're gonna send it at every opportunity. So now i join races, based on my old iR (was 2.6k, now 1.9k, and considerably off the pace even with practice), and get dunked on, and as petty/pathetic as it is, watching the iR drop reduces my enthusiasm and its harder to motivate to continue. Thats part of the thinking behind finding a league, to stop giving a hoot about iR losses and just focus on racing, and maybe find a group to practice with.

Just feels like an up-hill battle and easier to fire up youtube and watch others who find it all so effortless.

 

[imtoooldforthis]

It also hasnt helped that iRacing seems to have got swetty AF compared to when i was previously on (~2014) and it feels like everyone believes they're vastly better than the person infront of them and they're gonna send it at every opportunity.

The skill level went up from the COVID boom. The popularity of sim racing has also increased amongst younger generations, so on average, everything is a bit more sweaty than it used to be.

The attitude towards racing amongst a lot of drivers is also a bit more gamey and win at all costs than it used to be, although it's always been sweaty in top splits of popular series.

 

[BogEyes]

So now i join races, based on my old iR (was 2.6k, now 1.9k, and considerably off the pace even with practice), and get dunked on, and as petty/pathetic as it is, watching the iR drop reduces my enthusiasm and its harder to motivate to continue. Thats part of the thinking behind finding a league, to stop giving a hoot about iR losses and just focus on racing, and maybe find a group to practice with.

Just feels like an up-hill battle and easier to fire up youtube and watch others who find it all so effortless.

Honestly, forget about iRating, it's purely a matchmaking metric.

If I were you, I'd find a car you hand on heart enjoy driving (personally I prefer slower cars), ideally a lower populated series with 1 or 2 Strength of Field races a week, and then try to challenge for a division podium. That's my focus every season. One of the reasons why lower participation series are great is that you start to see the same names racing week in and week out, and before long people start saying hello to you, and many of these series have active discords too.

The trouble you personally have, is that your iRating is potentially higher than it should be given your break in service. iRating gets to where it needs to be relatively quickly, and then races start being more fun when you are in the right split, but you HAVE to commit to doing several races and takes the 'poor' results on the chin. Being in the wrong split is amplified in higher participation series such as F4 or GT3.

 

[PaulC2K]

Honestly, forget about iRating, it's purely a matchmaking metric.

If I were you, I'd find a car you hand on heart enjoy driving (personally I prefer slower cars), ideally a lower populated series with 1 or 2 Strength of Field races a week, and then try to challenge for a division podium. That's my focus every season. One of the reasons why lower participation series are great is that you start to see the same names racing week in and week out, and before long people start saying hello to you, and many of these series have active discords too.

The trouble you personally have, is that your iRating is potentially higher than it should be given your break in service. iRating gets to where it needs to be relatively quickly, and then races start being more fun when you are in the right split, but you HAVE to commit to doing several races and takes the 'poor' results on the chin. Being in the wrong split is amplified in higher participation series such as F4 or GT3.

Yeah I get it, I tried to do just that 18mo ago. The plan was to do GT4 for a season to build up familiarity and then go back to GT3, and maybe try LMP2/3. Like yourself I’ve tended to get better results in slower cars, which should help. However I feel like the GT4s (McLaren) might be a little harder to drive than GT3, fewer driver aids etc, and couldn’t match the rest of the field.

I did a couple hrs last night vs AI and its gonna take a little longer to get back up to speed and just be comfortable again. Watching others it’s all simple and graceful, and then I hop in and it’s Bambi on ice, which is accurate considering my laps on cold tyres.

 

[BogEyes]

It's not that I get better results in slower cars as such, I just prefer driving and racing them. Less wannabee's (mostly).

The racing tends to be closer and less chaotic overall in my experience.

Road cars I would recommend looking at are the MX5 (the advanced series is great with 30 min races), Spec Racer Ford (such a fun car to drive), TCR's are a great challenge with good racing. Recently fallen in love with the LMP3. Open wheels you have to try the Skippy, though the FF1600 is way more popular now, I like them both for different reasons. I'm thinking of trying the Lotus 79 because it looks well fun.

Do you take advantage of Demo Drive during maintenance? It's a great way to see if you gel with a car or not.

If you can't find joy in any of the above cars and series I don't know what to suggest Good luck finding something!

 

[PaulC2K]

When i started 12yr ago i did a season of Rookie MX5 > Skippy > GT3 (BMW Z4 just released), with a handful of original Ford GT races. I liked the MX5, and the Skippy was a handful but very satisfying once you figured a few things out. However I dont want to spend time & effort on single seater racing for a while, need to try and focus on 1 car/class that i can feel comfortable in and build upon that.

After doing some GT4 last night, im thinking it might be best to reset and maybe do MX5 > TCR > GT4 etc. Part of me thinks it'd be easier to start back off with something easy to drive, hard to screw up, but then i'll pick up bad habits i'd need to lose. But i think starting with a complex car like the Porsche cup and learning how to drive that properly would help in the long run, but could be tougher on moral.

I'd forgot about TCR as an option, that might actually be a better fit for me - slower, race-spec, some aero etc. The Civic was one i had my eye on before i returned and i waited till i knew a new update was dropping so i could test drive a bunch of stuff, however it ended up being less than ideal timing and i only had about 2hr to test a bunch of cars, and the Civic felt a little off, iirc it felt like it was floating (not planted) or something and i decided to give it a miss as it was already getting pricey.
I'll definitely be giving TCR another try next week, and i'll have a look at the 911 cup too. Im sure theres plenty of stuff i'd enjoy, i just wish they wouldnt lock everything behind a paywall with no refunds, and waiting for a 24h window 4 times a year still sucks, even though its better than nothing. I've said before, if they let you buy say a 3 day test drive for $10, letting you try all cars & tracks, and gave you $5 credit towards a purchase made within 30d, something like that, i'd use it and im sure others would. Free would be better, but i think paid with credit gives a little bit to both parties, sells more content, and should pay for development cost etc.
Back when i bought the Z4, it was because i'd initially got the RUF and didnt like it, i couldnt understand it, and asked for a refund, and was told this was my only time. It just makes me reluctant to try something, like now, i'd love to try a couple of TCRs and see if thats the one for next season, but i have to wait for the next maintenance instead, and if i miss that...

The other thing ive considered once i get going is the driving school the BRT lads do. £10 for a couple of hrs shared time, might be worth a try, and also put me with others in a similar situation.

 

[SKILL]

I'm back! \o/

Got my new PC bits yesterday and got it built in the evening, windows installed and then went to bed with iRacing and a whole bunch of other sims/games downloading many many GB's

Then had to basically leave it during the day for work, boo, but after that continued some setup before eventually sitting down and doing some iRacing, happy to say now I'm not using a VM it seems to work fine/no corrupted graphics, w00t.

Had a play with a few cars but think I'm gonna give the FF1600 a go, had a quick look at Skippy vs FF1600 and the latter seems more popular these days? Used to love the Skippy but hey. So did some offline practice and it's 'easy' enough so felt ok to jump into a practice session. Still learning the car (and the track limits, or lack there of at Watkins Glen!), ended up with a 1:20.2, optimal of 1:19.8, think that's a solid second+ off the pace but I know there's loads of lap time to be gained still as I get happier with the car, looped it a few times in the first corner and bus stop.

Main bit though is how 'nice' it felt, for whatever reason iRacing just feels comfortable to me, even with a new wheel and various new settings/graphics stuff it just feels right, done a bunch of ACC over the last few weeks but never felt like that. Happy days

Oh yeah, silly question, are we at the start of Week 12 or end of it? Think it changed to W12 overnight last night but it's been a while...

 

[mike_t]

Oh yeah, silly question, are we at the start of Week 12 or end of it? Think it changed to W12 overnight last night but it's been a while...

We're at the start--as I found out after practising Le Mans all weekend to sit down and find out the tracks had changed over

 

[SKILL]

Just done my first 3 races back, consecutive sessions, maybe a bit extreme

Mixed overall, racecraft and process definitely needs some work but pace isn't a mile off really...

1st race I made a silly mistake, start of lap 2 a guy several cars in front spun in T1, had plenty of time to avoid him but just didn't, really dumb just brain struggled to process/react it seemed, weird Pitted for repairs and completed the race in <somwhere near the back> but with some consistent laps. Lost a bunch of SR and some iR. Not that either matter as I'm a 3.x A class driving D-Class/Rookie series, and my iR clearly isn't representative anymore!

2nd race an even sillier mistake by starting the race with the qual setup, d'oh. Pitted for fuel like a n00b and actually ended up like 8th or something, somehow. Again good pace afterwards but hey. Think I gained some SR and lost a tiny sliver more iR.

3rd race was much better! Not hard but hey. Ranked 10th but qualified 6th, did my best to survive early on even dropping to the back of the draft pack and sitting there rather, some of those guys are mental A few people crashed out and then once a guy behind caught up and there was only ~5 laps left I went aggressive, got past 2 guys and tried to go after the next guy, the 2 guys I got past fought a bunch and I dropped them which was helpful and just put some nice laps in at the end. Finished 4th, couple of OT's gave me a slight dip in SR but actually gained a bunch of iR, almost back to where I started the evening

I love this game, it's been too long

Although Watkins Glen, man, crazy racing every time, I kinda love it but kinda hate it at the same time

 

[Jony27]

I’ve setup my alpha mini and have done a few races already. Only managed to do a back to back session for the first time last night. Arms and hands are stiff as a rock after 1.
May have been a mistake to just jump straight to 100% ffb.

 

[SKILL]

I’ve setup my alpha mini and have done a few races already. Only managed to do a back to back session for the first time last night. Arms and hands are stiff as a rock after 1.
May have been a mistake to just jump straight to 100% ffb.

Yeah, these DD wheels are pretty strong aren't they

I've got the R12 so similar ballpark having recently upgraded from a G25, found for the FF1600 I like to turn it down quite a bit from the auto setting but when I did some stuff in a GT4 car I could turn it up a bit so it seems worth doing some car specific stuff.

 

[SKILL]

Watkins Glen in a low-class series maybe wasn't the best way to return to iRacing

Two races tonight, crashed out in both. First one got 2nd off the line but going up the hill it was 3 wide with me in the middle when the guy to my right swerved towards me, I reacted to turn left but doesn't work when there's a car there, annoyingly the guy that swerved towards me finished second, note to self if I see him again I aint moving

Second time was just unfortunate I think, in a nice if overly aggressive fight going up the hill side by side when the guy on the inside clipped the kerb and hit me, I'd left room so happy that there was nothing else I could've done (well, except not race) so whatevs.

SR's taken a beating though

Also bought the F4 as a mate is gonna pick up the MSUK deal 'soon' so be good to practice with him at least, quite fun to drive and a nice step up from the FF1600, but I hear the races are 'fun'

 

[Wang]

Will be sad to see the Porsche Cup (in it's current guise) mothballed. For me, the whole fun, but mainly frustration, was trying to tame 500 bhp+ with zero aids. Fingers crossed the TCS and ABS is absolutely minimal.

 

[Alz_D]

Resubbed again and determined to actually make use of my sub this year now I've got some extra time on my hands!

What are the popular series these days for road or formula? I've been subbed but not really raced for a while. Couple of years actually

 

[SKILL]

I've only just re-subbed and got a new pc running it in the last week or so but what level were you looking at?

I did some FF1600 Formula Ford stuff last week and it was fairly popular, this seems to have replaced the Skip Barber as the D-level single seater of choice. Also did some IMSA Fixed GT3, not sure what licence level that is but again seemed decently popular for a longer/multiclass sports car thing...

 

[imtoooldforthis]

What are the popular series these days for road or formula?

Any series with GT3 cars is going to be popular. IMSA series for multiclass. GT4 is reasonably popular

F4 series is the most popular open wheel series but driving standards are meme tier, super formula lights is superior or even the old F3 series.

The new Porsche Cup series will be very popular as well now that the new car has TC and ABS

 

[SKILL]

Will be sad to see the Porsche Cup (in it's current guise) mothballed. For me, the whole fun, but mainly frustration, was trying to tame 500 bhp+ with zero aids. Fingers crossed the TCS and ABS is absolutely minimal.

I had a quick play and even a race around Oulton in the new one, never really used the last but the TC isn't much really, can run with it off without real issues. ABS though, tried that off and found it really hard to not lock up, still happy with it on 2/3, especially once the tyres were warm

 

[PaulC2K]

Will be sad to see the Porsche Cup (in it's current guise) mothballed. For me, the whole fun, but mainly frustration, was trying to tame 500 bhp+ with zero aids. Fingers crossed the TCS and ABS is absolutely minimal.

From what ive seen so far, it seems like a negative move for the PCup community because they liked what they had, but a positive one for everyone else because this car is more fun and accessible and will probably double in attendance for what was already pretty popular.

 

[imtoooldforthis]

I could tolerate the addition of TC but ABS makes braking a lot more boring, similar to GT3

 

[MCFC_ANDY]

im having naall sorts of trouble with gearing, its like its deciding what gear it whats to be in, refused to downside until i stopped car then it was fine for another lap, they chicane instead of 1st or 2nd it refused to downshift from 4th, just cant see to work out whats going on