1 month into iracing

[zzjorzz]

Have been simracing a long time. Played AC,ACC,RF2,PC1 and PC2, Automobilista,Raceroom,GTR1 and 2, GP legends, and a lot of F1 games.
While they all have there strengts and weakenesses none of them where able to to for me what iRacing did in one month.

I totally lost all fun in simracing. Even on the verge of selling my simrig and all my hardware.

Iracing is NOT a racing sim, it is a divebomb sim. It is a very expensive copy of wreckfest.

I am not the fastest driver, but certainly not the slowest either. Of all my races I only not qualified top 5 in 1. Off all my races I have not been divebombed of in...also 1.
People driving more then 1 second behind plowing into you in the middle of the brake zone, they make the corner with 2x penalty, I go off for 2x contact and 2x losing control, plus meatball flag to go for repairs. Wich means losing even more iRating, wich means driving with even worse drivers in the next race.

I have 11 months of subscribtion left, and bought some cars and tracks hoping it would be better in other series (spoiler alert, it is not!) so Iracing made good money out of me.

For those who say it gets better....well, I have watched a lot of higher tier races this month, and I see the same thing there all the time. I wish I wasnt, maybe then I would stick to it.

So, Iracing, thanks for taking all the fun out of simracing for me....

 

[RCHeliguy]

Have I been bumped from behind? Sure, but I've also had a blast!!!!

It's also the only one I've been able to take serious.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

nice bit of a mess there at Road Atlanta. well starting with #13 sure wasn't a lucky choice made for you

 

[RCHeliguy]

Yeah, #1 bumped #9, who bumped me.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

good old chain reaction:

 

[RCHeliguy]

I laughed it off and ended up with P10 or P12 I think. I qualified at P12 in the following race and got P5. So far I've only had a podium finish in the MX-5.

 

[David_Gowrie]

Whilst this subject has been done to death there's some really good points being made. I've been one of the fortunate ones in having a relatively clean entry into iRacing.

That said there were times early on (in D Class moreso than rookies) where I wondered would it get better and considered other sims.

Once you make the jump into C Class the races are far safer and more competitive. The problem with D Class is everyone thinks that because they've made it out of rookies they're racetrack gods.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I for one do not think I'm a race track god. I will be promoted to Class C next season but I'm just holding my own in Class D in the lower splits. In fact if there are not a decent number of splits 3 or more, I don't stand much of a chance in a race.

However I am looking forward to trying out the Porsche Cup. I raced the 488 GT3 Fixed last season and the M8 12.0 this season.

I've only raced the Porsche against AI at this point. I expect to sit in Class C for a little while.

Still I'm happy to be where I am considering I started from not having any clue what-so-ever.

 

[Rob Every]

Tried again, this time it is quits for good.

I utterly detest being penalised for other peoples mistakes, I drive as carefully as I can do and yet have to suffer through other peoples incidents, stupid driving and simply not quitting or realising the simplest of basics.

It works for some people I think, I am not sure how you get past the frustration of the early stages, I think like most games like this, you have to be alien level to get past this stage quickly and to really enjoy this bloody game, or a glutton for punishment. Or be prepared to invest heavily in cars and tracks.

Not for me sadly, too stressful, too un-enjoyable and sadly, too incriminating all the time, how you are supposed to avoid everything, without losing stacks of positions and becoming a hazard yourself is beyond me. and then, you lose massive amounts of ratings because you let these things happen but lost places. So you just can't win, unless you are super fast.

I will leave this one to the geeks and aliens as I have better ways to enjoy my time.

I will add that it is also a money pit to be honest, fair enough it is probably worth the investment for cleaner racing. But I found that even with all D licences there were very few races I could enter with the cars I had, (all the free ones), nearly all of them I had to buy stuff like tracks or cars or enter rookie races to even drive anything. And entering rookie races with a D licence is the same as entering with a rookie licence, you are in the lap of the Gods, and that is NOT realistic, not in the motorsport I have watched anyway.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

I will leave this one to the geeks and aliens

Damn, since i am the longest shot possible from an alien that makes me a geek. It's official and sort of liberating.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Pity, Rob, for your experience, here's hoping you'll find a better place in another franchise, there's so much variety out there, should be something for everyone. Good luck!

 

[BrunoBæ]

@Rob Every
I will not try to give you more advices because your decision sounds reasonable - seen in the context of the personal impact on you when one of the many idiots take you out.
But using some logic (and my own personal experience) then part of your problem is that because of your low licence the cars/tracks you can run is very limited.

So if you want to get revenue out of your "investment"(subscription) then just get to A fast.
To be able to run any car you want in official races.

And then research in A or B class (forum) until you find a series where people sounds both serious and helpfull.
Be aware that in the most popular series its almost mandatory that there are a huge amount of fake Racing Gods.
And then when you have found some reasonable people bite the bullet and pay for the one car(!) needed in that series.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: When I was a member I found my own personal compromise in both the L79 and Nissan GTP(Kamel series). Eventhough I hated iRacings TM these 2 cars were driveable(somehow ).

 

[zzjorzz]

Tried again, this time it is quits for good.

When my pedals come back from Fanatec repair, I am going to give it one more shot. But I encounter the same issues as you.
Because you lose so much Irating when someone drives you off you cant drive carefull. Because then you end up bottom and lose Irating as well.

I qualify top 5 almost every time, but it is better to start in the back. The worst racers are not in p10 or lower, they know they are slow or new and drive fairly carefull. Mostly the worst drivers start between p6 and p10. They think they are faster then they actually are, thats is why they divebomb into players, lose control because of overdriving the car (to keep up with the top 5 or 6) and get frustrated that they are not fast enough and realise they can only get a good position, IE higher Irating, by hitting people of the track.

So far, I think Iracings rating system does not do enough to stop this. In my opinion safety rating (and I mean hitting other people, not the occasional spin or offtrack) should be much more important then Irating. Most people will not think twice when they can choose 2x for pushing another car off if that gives them a position and gains them higher Irating.

 

[Rob Every]

To be clear.

My point about being fast is not meant as a criticism, if you are good enough to win in MX5's or Speccys against anyone, you are clearly top drawer and will be fine.

My point is aimed at joe average like me, who can drive pretty well, keep within the track, not make many mistakes and be consistent. I was usually top 5, on ovals and road, only thing I really sucked at was rallycross, because there was so much contact in that I simply thought I would try and get away and found a lot of people raced far quicker than they qualified, so you were holding them up. And I found the physics in rallycross were so crap compared to other off road titles like Dirt Rally 1 and 2.

The game works for the majority, but I think it really only works if you spend money after getting out of rookies.

It used to be you went into skippy's and other stuff, but they have stopped that now. legends need trick setups, never did were always fixed. and brought in other stuff. I found a niche in the Street Stock, was pretty good in that on ovals, but even then still found myself trying as hard as possible to qualify up front, stay there, but not be able to avoid other peoples incidents, or just be unlucky, I was lucky sometimes, but for me the bad luck seems to take a toll. Simply cannot be doing with it when race after race is ruined by people either making mistakes or trying silly moves.

You do get better at spotting it, and that is what annoyed me so much this time, I had gone about 5 races without incident, all my own, and in one race had to deal with all sorts of people making mistakes, and trying daft moves and enough was enough. I should be better at dealing with it yes, but simply find it too frustrating and tiring to waste that much time and be taken out by people who don't fully realise what they are doing.

It is very frustrating as there is so much to like, but being unprepared to invest in the subscription, I was only going to be there for a few months anyway so felt it better to just say, lump it fellas, I cant be dong with it.

Bizarrely I can take being taken out in publics on other games, because you either can exact revenge or quit and go elsewhere quickly, it does not penalise,, but here every time anything happens, whether your fault or mine, you are penalised, and in most cases out of the race with damage.

I do feel that in rookies the penalties should be perhaps lowered a little, a hell of a lot is left unexplained, for instance you might go for repairs in a 40 lap oval race, you sit there for 20 seconds and then they bloody refuel and change your sodding tyres, you are never asked to check this beforehand, you just have to know it. Might sound simple to most, but you lose ratings as a result of simply not knowing something.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

It used to be you went into skippy's and other stuff, but they have stopped that now.

I can totally see your point the rest of your post, but do not get this? I have been doing Skip Barber for well over four years now, never noticed anything stopping. Asking out of sheer curiosity.

 

[Rob Every]

Eck

Sorry for not explaining.

I was a member about 9 years ago, had a free month, loved it back then, less people, easier tracks, and once out of rookies I think you could drive SKippys for free without buying them, they were part of the package.

I think you had Solstice, Spec ford, MX5, Legends and Skippy, then street stock and a few more at D licence.

As I say a long time ago. I went back this time as it was only a fiver for 3 months, but as I explained it is not for me sadly. Damn shame

 

[Case_]

It's not iRacing, it's online racing in general. Unless you are very lucky to find people who take care while racing, if you're not fast enough to get from the back of the grid, the chances of not having a great time are pretty great, because people at the back of the grid generally seem to be very overconfident in their abilities and/or doing dumb things seemingly without a single worry.

And yes, it can make you take a break from simracing, or even consider quitting completely, because it can be frustrating as hell.

 

[MarcG]

Has anyone here joined any of the leagues? They may perhaps be more takes compared to the possible crash fest lower ranking races. I'm thinking this may be doable for me personally, i don't mind the pick up racing (C class) and last night had a blast in a Rookie race.

 

[alexSchmurtz]

This is a very very old vid but what it says remains so true... Worth watching in full.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Has anyone here joined any of the leagues? They may perhaps be more takes compared to the possible crash fest lower ranking races. I'm thinking this may be doable for me personally, i don't mind the pick up racing (C class) and last night had a blast in a Rookie race.

Conserning iRacings user created leagues I was a member of a L79 one for about 2 years.
As I recall there was 1 race every 2nd week and the smart move was that the league used the same track for the L79 as the official race schedule.
Which ment that you could practice on the same track for both league and official race every 2nd week.

Hehe every time I became frustrated of the low quality/uber aggressive behaviour in the official races I looked forward to the more friendly and higher quality races in the league.

But conserning my point above that it is actually possible to find reasonable friendly and above all pretty good skilled racers in some official series I have a video of the first 2 laps in the official L79 series when I was a member. No 1st corner heroes and no uber aggressive idiots.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

I think you could drive SKippys for free without buying them

ah, never knew about that, people must have cried havoc when it was switched from free to pay. bought/rented it eight years ago.