Since the Road licence in iRacing has been split into Sports Car and Formula Car, it has presented an issue regarding how to gain Safety Rating.
In iRacing, players can access more series by raising their safety rating and getting promoted in their licence.
There are five types of licence:
Safety rating can be quite difficult to gain, especially since there are always drivers who are prone to overzealous divebombs in the same races. In my experience, there is no place more common to see those kinds of drivers than Formula Car races.
Following the introduction of rain, this can make the task of gaining or maintaining SR even more difficult. So I have put together this brief guide to hopefully increase your safety rating in Formula Car races.
Safety rating is gained by measuring a driver's incident points against the number of corners they took in a race. So if you have ever done a race on the Nordschleife and compared your SR gains/losses to one of the same distance at Monza, you will notice that the SR gains are drastically different.
A track typically used in Formula Car races with a large amount of corners is Sebring. Image credit: iRacing.com
Of course for D-rated Formula Car licence drivers, the races are short. Part and parcel with Formula Car races, less distance covered can mean not as drastic gains with SR. They are all roughly the same length, although some of the cars are faster than others.
I recommend you look for a race that is on a track with a considerable amount of corners and how many laps you can cover on them. Do keep in mind that some Formula Car series cars (SF Lights, F4, FF1600) are rain-compatible, so there may be wet races in those series.
You can not increase your safety rating if you keep spinning it around, of course. Also - as we established in our road racing oval licence promotion article - there are a few Formula Car series with oval races that will not affect your Formula Car licence.
Sometimes you have to just surrender the battle to win the war. Gaining safety rating at the expense of iRating means you can access higher-level series, and by that point, you can start racing with a lot more like-minded drivers.
First laps in Formula Car races are always dangerous, so you may want to try avoiding first-corner pile-ups. Image credit: iRacing.com
In the lower power Formula Car series, the draft is very effective so you will have to put a lot of faith in the other drivers to not cause collisions. Then when you get up to licence class B, you can do Super Formula and IndyCar races and they can be quite tricky to drive.
Thankfully - unlike Sports Car - there is very little incentive to go beyond B licence. The Formula A - Grand Prix Series open and fixed setup rarely get even enough grid numbers to go official, and the majority of drivers with the Mercedes W13 just do the Grand Prix Tour races which are accessible from D licence with a 4.0 SR.
Those longer races meant more chances to take corners and subsequently be able to increase safety rating. The longest races in the Formula Car class are the Formula A - Grand Prix Tour races, which are full F1 Grand Prix distance and take place on the same weekends as real-life F1.
For the longest distance races in Formula Car, do the Formula A - Grand Prix Tour races. Image credit: iRacing.com
Of course, the other licences have shorter races and tracks with much less corners. Therefore the Safety Rating needs to go through some balance changes, so it allows for drivers in shorter races to actually gain some SR.
As it stands right now, even just one tap in an F4 race is enough to send your safety rating soaring. It can be even worse in oval races where drivers are running inches from each other at over 200mph and only four corners for the most part on the track.
What suggestions do you have to gain or maintain safety rating in iRacing? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below.
In iRacing, players can access more series by raising their safety rating and getting promoted in their licence.
There are five types of licence:
- Dirt
- Oval
- Dirt Oval
- Sports Car
- Formula Car
Safety rating can be quite difficult to gain, especially since there are always drivers who are prone to overzealous divebombs in the same races. In my experience, there is no place more common to see those kinds of drivers than Formula Car races.
Following the introduction of rain, this can make the task of gaining or maintaining SR even more difficult. So I have put together this brief guide to hopefully increase your safety rating in Formula Car races.
Pick Tracks With More Corners
Depending on where you are in your Formula Car licence, the official series you have access to can vary. If you are at level D, the likes of various F4 series, Skip Barber, US Open Wheel D and open setup Formula 1600 are available.Safety rating is gained by measuring a driver's incident points against the number of corners they took in a race. So if you have ever done a race on the Nordschleife and compared your SR gains/losses to one of the same distance at Monza, you will notice that the SR gains are drastically different.
A track typically used in Formula Car races with a large amount of corners is Sebring. Image credit: iRacing.com
Of course for D-rated Formula Car licence drivers, the races are short. Part and parcel with Formula Car races, less distance covered can mean not as drastic gains with SR. They are all roughly the same length, although some of the cars are faster than others.
I recommend you look for a race that is on a track with a considerable amount of corners and how many laps you can cover on them. Do keep in mind that some Formula Car series cars (SF Lights, F4, FF1600) are rain-compatible, so there may be wet races in those series.
You can not increase your safety rating if you keep spinning it around, of course. Also - as we established in our road racing oval licence promotion article - there are a few Formula Car series with oval races that will not affect your Formula Car licence.
Try To Avoid Everyone
This seems to be a common tactic in iRacing, but it involves having to tank one's iRating: avoiding everyone by starting near the back and just steering clear of any incidents. This may be counterproductive, especially for those who are racers at heart. But sometimes, unfortunately, it is a lost cause trying to engage with everyone who thinks that they are the next Ayrton Senna.Sometimes you have to just surrender the battle to win the war. Gaining safety rating at the expense of iRating means you can access higher-level series, and by that point, you can start racing with a lot more like-minded drivers.
First laps in Formula Car races are always dangerous, so you may want to try avoiding first-corner pile-ups. Image credit: iRacing.com
In the lower power Formula Car series, the draft is very effective so you will have to put a lot of faith in the other drivers to not cause collisions. Then when you get up to licence class B, you can do Super Formula and IndyCar races and they can be quite tricky to drive.
Thankfully - unlike Sports Car - there is very little incentive to go beyond B licence. The Formula A - Grand Prix Series open and fixed setup rarely get even enough grid numbers to go official, and the majority of drivers with the Mercedes W13 just do the Grand Prix Tour races which are accessible from D licence with a 4.0 SR.
SR Needs Updating
When the Sports Car and Formula Car licences were just the Road licence, you could do compete in several races in F4, F3, Super Formula etc. and any losses to your SR could be offset by a long race in GT Endurance Series, IMSA Endurance Series, Global Endurance Tour etc.Those longer races meant more chances to take corners and subsequently be able to increase safety rating. The longest races in the Formula Car class are the Formula A - Grand Prix Tour races, which are full F1 Grand Prix distance and take place on the same weekends as real-life F1.
For the longest distance races in Formula Car, do the Formula A - Grand Prix Tour races. Image credit: iRacing.com
Of course, the other licences have shorter races and tracks with much less corners. Therefore the Safety Rating needs to go through some balance changes, so it allows for drivers in shorter races to actually gain some SR.
As it stands right now, even just one tap in an F4 race is enough to send your safety rating soaring. It can be even worse in oval races where drivers are running inches from each other at over 200mph and only four corners for the most part on the track.
What suggestions do you have to gain or maintain safety rating in iRacing? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below.
