iRacing

[barmyllama]

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Do you have to spend a lot on top of the monthly subscription?

The basic content allows you to race in all the rookie class and some of the D licence series. Everything else costs.

$14.95 per track and $11.95 for each car.

You get a 10% discount in your basket if you buy 3 items and 20% for 6 items or more.

If after your free trial you feel it's worth it then buying a 12 or 24 month subscription is is best value.

You can also earn up to $40 in credits per year if you compete in 8 weeks of a twelve week season. Basically $5 for racing in 1 race a week for 8 weeks out of 12 in a series.

Competing in rookie races doesn't count towards any credits.

 

[Murray]

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Do you have to spend a lot on top of the monthly subscription?

I do since I like pretty much every car on the service and I buy the tracks to participate in series that I run but you don't have to spend much at all.

 

[DiscoDave]

The basic content allows you to race in all the rookie class and some of the D licence series. Everything else costs.

$14.95 per track and $11.95 for each car.

You get a 10% discount in your basket if you buy 3 items and 20% for 6 items or more.

If after your free trial you feel it's worth it then buying a 12 or 24 month subscription is is best value.

You can also earn up to $40 in credits per year if you compete in 8 weeks of a twelve week season. Basically $5 for racing in 1 race a week for 8 weeks out of 12 in a series.

Competing in rookie races doesn't count towards any credits.

Outch, that's quite costly. I'll play the three months and see if it's worth it..

 

[PLazarou]

It depends on how you perceive the value of the service. Very difficult to compare it to another racing game as the service it offers is unique. Break it down to the individual costs of tracks and cars with a traditional retail game and it seems expensive. But the beauty of iRacing is that you can get more than enough value from the subscription by driving just one car on the included tracks. Many of the top racers in the service only drive one car, because they learn it as a professional racing driver learns a single car.

In my first year of iRacing I pretty much only drove the MX-5 on the included tracks and was totally satisfied. It felt like I was paying for the consistency of the racing rather than for 'content'.

 

[barmyllama]

IRacing charges a premium over other racing games, but the service you get is a premium service and is worth it as far as I'm concerned.

I've spend hundreds of hours on other racing sims and for the most part the online racing is appalling. You might get one decent race out of 50, whereas with iRacing the vast majority of the races are enjoyable. Plus you've got all of your results and stats recorded if you like that sort of thing.

 

[DiscoDave]

Well I've used the 3 months free trial thing and had a quick hour blast. It's pretty awesome.

I've been in the Mazda cup car on the Okayama circuit. After an hour I've got my lap times down to ~ 1:55.6, which seems quite pedestrian as I look at some of the boards. Will have to keep practicing.

Only criticism so far is that there doesn't seem to be anyone playing this cup. I saw 1 person in a qualy session but that's it.

 

[Murray]

The Mazda cup is very popular, every race will have 10+ drivers. Not many people do qualifying and practice sessions since its a rookie series.

 

[barmyllama]

Well I've used the 3 months free trial thing and had a quick hour blast. It's pretty awesome.

I've been in the Mazda cup car on the Okayama circuit. After an hour I've got my lap times down to ~ 1:55.6, which seems quite pedestrian as I look at some of the boards. Will have to keep practicing.

Only criticism so far is that there doesn't seem to be anyone playing this cup. I saw 1 person in a qualy session but that's it.

The Mazda cup is very popular, every race will have 10+ drivers. Not many people do qualifying and practice sessions since its a rookie series.

Even the in the higher licence series at least half the grid haven't done a qualifying time. The best of it is, you only need one qualifying time and it counts for every race you run in that series for the weeks track.

 

[PLazarou]

Overall I think their scheduling rules are very well considered, but the qualifying is something they could adjust. I don't think there should be practically unlimited chances to get a quali time during the week.

Maybe restrict it to a maximum of 5 sessions.

 

[Spils]

I didn't mean license promotions.

I'm currently in division 6 for the Grand AM Series, whereas Spills is in division 4.

Do you stay in the division you start in or do you go up into higher divisions as you get better?

You can also drop down a division. My first season in Radical I was a div 4-5 driver cant remember now. Following Season after a good decent first season. I moved up to Division 3. You need a Irating of around 2250 for div 3.

After a bad week 13 last year I lost all my Irating due to people with to much money and not enough skill. I lost a shed load of Irating something like 750 and Since then I have been a div 4 driver. This season I should hopefully get back to a div 3 driver.

From racing with you you should aim to get into div 4 for next season you have a good battle with the people at around that pace. From playing with you your need another season or so before your do well at div 3.
At div 3 in the Radical I had a great battle the one season top3 all the way through to the last few weeks until I couldn't get an official race, or didn't own the track.
Great season for me that was racing against the top 7 we was all neck and neck through out the season. Great thing was I practised almost every week with those drivers tuning sets and helping each other out.
I dont half miss Gravey, skill and the rest of the Radical crowd. The two seasons I did it in was awesome and helped me climb the Division ladder.

You seem to be enjoying teh Mp4 and can drive it fast and in control use it as you series to help division progression

 

[barmyllama]

I seem to fair better at some tracks than others.

In the MP4 I felt like I could hold my own in the midfield driving Sebring, Spa, Zandvoort and Watkins Glen.

At Brands Hatch I'm slow and can't seem to improve, I find it a really difficult track to even feel comfortable on. It's the same at Laguna and Mosport, but not to the same degree as BH.

At Interlagos I'm sort of ok at getting around without too much fuss, but I'm not finding masses of time the more I drive it.

I can see me struggling at Mid Ohio and Road Atlanta when they come up, from driving them in the MX5. The last three tracks of the Grand AM series I don't even own yet, so time will tell when I get to them.

I suppose the best thing I've got going for me I can get through most races without going off, spinning or hitting anyone. So I usually gain places as the "boy racers" take each other off.

On the plus side my eldest daughter bought me this as a belated birthday/early fathers day gift.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GC-041-TH&groupid=702&catid=288&subcat=353

 

[Spils]

I suppose the best thing I've got going for me I can get through most races without going off, spinning or hitting anyone. So I usually gain places as the "boy racers" take each other off.

On the plus side my eldest daughter bought me this as a belated birthday/early fathers day gift.

Most important part nailed then mate. Raw pace is nothing if you cant hold that pace for 45 minutes. Its all about driving to your limit and a little bit past it when you need to. The amount of people I beat in long races who are in qualifying faster than me. But they don't have the race craft I have learnt racing with the Radical drivers. Or the ablity to race wheel to wheel. Something I developed racing a full season with fellow iracer peter thomas. Just doing loads of laps running side by side together.

Tracks like Laguna, Brand hatch etc separate the men from the boys its places you have to be inch perfect.


Dont worry about Road Atlanta I have a really nice setup for there its the track I learnt to drive the MP4 at when I purchased it at the start of this season. Ill send setup next time I see you on.
Just put a new Pc togther so Im out of racing for a week or two while I get it all back setup. Good Luck with the rest of the season.

 

[DiscoDave]

The Mazda cup is very popular, every race will have 10+ drivers. Not many people do qualifying and practice sessions since its a rookie series.

I'm looking at the race/qualifying/TT at the top, 1 person is in qualy and that's it. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

 

[Murray]

Guess what

Spoiler

That felt pretty awesome. I started on the front row and managed to get into first at the start and then just did quali laps the whole race. No idea how I kept it on the track but that feels pretty damn good to win a race in these cars. It was the second split but I'm still feeling pretty great about it.

 

[Murray]

I'm looking at the race/qualifying/TT at the top, 1 person is in qualy and that's it. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

The races have scheduled start times, you can sign up 30 mintues before it and then race when its time. If you look right now 14 people have already registered for the race at 11pm.

 

[barmyllama]

Guess what

Spoiler

That felt pretty awesome. I started on the front row and managed to get into first at the start and then just did quali laps the whole race. No idea how I kept it on the track but that feels pretty damn good to win a race in these cars. It was the second split but I'm still feeling pretty great about it.

Impressive.

Starting at the front, all laps lead and fastest lap.

Deserves a "jolly well done old boy"

 

[Phantom Shadow]

After seeing the other thread about iRacing, I'm keeping an eye out for a DFGT to give this a go. Used to be quite heavily into flight sim so this is right up my ally.

Did consider whether it would be worth giving it a go with the controls for the flight sim, but for the price of a used DFGT (especially compared to the cost of iRacing) figured it wouldn't be worth it.

 

[Totality]

Barmy, how do you find the F1 addon wheel? I was looking at it yesterday as the static paddles on the stock wheel can be annoying on open top cars where you change gears a lot. Is it more of a gimmick than the TH8 or do you find it great?

 

[Totality]

Not at all, played it for a bit and the Mazda's were fun for a while but I am not going to pay £10 or something for another car and £15 for a track.

rFactor 2 is more fun in my opinion

This post on the front page made me smile. It seems Murray became a believer later on and paid for content after all!

I was looking for RFactor info. Do you still play rfactor2 these days? How is it compared?

 

[barmyllama]

Barmy, how do you find the F1 addon wheel? I was looking at it yesterday as the static paddles on the stock wheel can be annoying on open top cars where you change gears a lot. Is it more of a gimmick than the TH8 or do you find it great?

I've only turned a few laps so far.

It's not as good quality as the original GT rim. The GT rim is metal in the middle, whereas the F1 rim is plastic and the dials in the middle are just for show. The buttons are ok, but they look better quality than they are. The paddles are ok, they work well, but they aren't as good as the static originals

Having said all that, I do like it and non of the comments above make any real difference. I actually think it will help me at little bit, because its a smaller diameter than the GT rim I turn in a little further for the same amount of steering input from hands and arms. If that makes any sense?

I'll see how it goes over the weekend, but I think I'll be happy with it overall.

I think I'll still buy the new Ferrari GT rim as well though.