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....

 

[Rob Every]

Personally when I joined all those years ago I cannot recall it being anywhere near as fraught as it is now, it was all very clean, I think Iracing was much newer and far fewer people obviously.

I raced for the month, got massively into it and loved every second, but maybe time has shrouded my recall!

As I say there is a lot to love about Iracing, but I was only ever going to be a fleeting visitor, I would never subscribe to the payment syste, as I do not like it, never have.

But I do recall my first time being considerably more fun and less of a dodge ball type environment

 

[BrunoBæ]

Conserning the Skippy it was "free" in the beginning.
And because the car was one of the easiest to control you could(!) actually have pretty clean races - eventhough a lot af Racing Gods from rookie and D was allways a pest.

Hehe and conserning "it was allways better in old days" then there was a lot of discussion inside the iRacing forum what has happened with the driver skills since all the Steam minors began populating the series.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: In the beginning years iRacing had no relation to Steam

 

[Rob Every]

You really think Iracing being on Steam attracts a lot of the bad, slightly worse drivers? I suppose it might be an answer

 

[zzjorzz]

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

I dont really agree with the voice over here. Divebombs are almost impossible to avoid. I do have to say I only drive road races, not ovals.

And not really a fan of the sesamestreet style commentary. Bit racing for toddlers...

 

[zzjorzz]

You really think Iracing being on Steam attracts a lot of the bad, slightly worse drivers? I suppose it might be an answer

I think it also had to do with pro drivers actively promoting their iRacing career. With the biggest names Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. In the past simracing was a more a niche but last few years it is exploding.
2nd reason is that more and more people can affort a fairly decent simrig. They buy a playseat with a logitech, put it in front of tv and go racing with Forza or Gran turismo like FOV so they cant judge any distances so missing brake marks by over 50 meters, hitting everything in its way....

 

[BrunoBæ]

Personally Im not so sure I believe the Steam minors and the mentioned VIP and pro drivers career promoting is the reason iRacings official race atmosphere has been so aggressive and hateful as it (often) is.

I think its the same phenomena that can be seen in most discussions on the net.
When people participate in a virtual room instead of a "real" physical room they more or less mandatory does behave like there is only 1 important person in the world.
And all others are enemies that should be defeated by any means.

 

[Rob Every]

Obviously I am comparing to other sims I have played and yes open public servers can be very troublesome, but I have also had some of the best racing I have ever experienced in them. No ratings systems, no being petrified to touch a wall or a bit of grass.

Yes I understand why those things are there, but I do not have the mindset and the mentality to be endlessly blamed for every single thing that happens when a lot of them are simple mistakes from others or worse idiotic driving.

Some people have endless patience or the desire to play the game for a long time so invest in the game. Bravo to you, I envy you, but when I have a **** race I can't laugh it off, I can if it's my fault and will be the first to apologise if I make a mistake. But driving like a berk a lap down is not fair. And it happens a lot sadly.

One thing I do think does not help is the way you can just get out there and race without much idea about how to work out where you are, the relative, the timings, the flags, fuel, penalties, you can literally enter a race from scratch and be out there being either great or a hazard to everyone around you.

That, is clearly not fair on the innocents out there really, of which there are many.

Does anyone think that not having VR or a triple screen setup can hinder you in Iracing? I think it certainly helps on ovals.

 

[whaletail]

@eck
If your "nope" is about iRacings "want to earn money" then you are more naive than I thought.
A bit more.
And if you are able to read and understand the use of "often" in the sentence "Often new or unused tracks" then "often" does not mean the same as "allways".
And then after your out of context quotation we have to hear your lecture about how iRacing are so user friendly that they often does hear members wishes for track schedules.
Exactly what I mentioned in my post - but what you didnt quote .. because we have to hear it from you instead.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: Its quite funny that inside iRacings own forum there was often (not allways ) pretty openminded discussions where members asked staff for more influence on track schedules.

Considering every non-rookie/non-pro road series uses some sort of community polling to determine schedules, your claims about iRacing forcing tracks on us is incorrect.

Of course they want our money, hell, they need it to survive, but in this instance , they're hands off.

 

[Ceolmor]

3 years ago I took a cheap 1 month offer, did not buy any additional content and my experience was similar to the posts above. A month ago I rejoined with a different approach and am now having the best time ever.

I drove only the Mazda in Rookie class and eventually avoided enough mayhem to get into D class. I then invested about £70 in the Skip Barber and some tracks and have done exclusively the Skip Barber series. Here drivers have been courteous, even if the skill levels have not been high.

I’ve not worried about my iRating at all, but provided you are having close, clean racing what does it matter? I’ve often purposely started at the back, taken it carefully on the first couple of laps and found myself in a good position due to other cars falling off the track. I’ve then had some great races. One where three of us swapped positions no less than 10 times with not one contact.

I now have enough safety rating to get promoted to C class next season where it might be even better, although I may stick to the Skippy again as it’s such fun.

P.S. My theory is that with the Black Friday deals there must be a lot of ‘casual’ drivers in iRacing at present who won’t buy additional content and will go back to dive bombing in PC2 in a month or two’s time when their sub runs out.

 

[BrunoBæ]

I’ve not worried about my iRating at all, but provided you are having close, clean racing what does it matter?
()
I now have enough safety rating to get promoted to C class next season where it might be even better, although I may stick to the Skippy again as it’s such fun.
()
P.S. My theory is that with the Black Friday deals there must be a lot of ‘casual’ drivers in iRacing at present who won’t buy additional content and will go back to dive bombing in PC2 in a month or two’s time when their sub runs out.

First if I may comment on that - it sounds like your personal attitude fits pretty good to iRacings setup.
You "invest" money with a direct purpose and does concentrate on very few cars/series.
But your greatest advantage (beside skills) is probably that you take the outcome of negative events in races as they are - and does focus on the positive experiences instead.
It sounds like a good attitude both inside iRacing - and outside

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: I hope for you and iRacers with similiar attitude that your theory about the short lifespan of the Black Friday drivers is right.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

I’ve not worried about my iRating at all, but provided you are having close, clean racing what does it matter?

Sums it up in a nutshell. Skippy and Cadillac here and only ever been punted off once this season. It's a mind game.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Sums it up in a nutshell. Skippy and Cadillac here and only ever been punted off once this season. It's a mind game.

Very urgent comment. Will by garantee help a lot of people.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

?

 

[bassun]

Kind of late on this thread - but - yikes! Getting into D rating is a breeze. No doubt there. Getting out of the crazy drivers cross-hairs doesn't seem as easy. Then add in the "people" who decide to purposefully wreck you and it's a real mess. I kind of wish they would run the spits by SR instead of IR. I'd rather lose to a clean driver than survive and win with a group of loons.

That said, if you choose to race rookie races - what do you expect? I am talking to myself as well as I am a newb to iRacing (again) and have not spent the money to go to other races. I have had two polar weeks lately. Last week and the week before, racing was actually pretty good. I seemed to get mostly good drivers *fast is not good necessarily*, who largely only made racing mistakes. This week has been full of individuals who apparently migrated from wreckfest. Minus one race. Total anomaly where after the race EVERY driver had a +SR! I, was unfortunately taken out even in that one and ended up with 4 incident points...but it was a mistake, not "stupid" driving. I just happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time. And that was in SS!

I thought that the MX5 would offer cleaner racing...I thought wrong. Sometimes you do get some good racing, if you survive lap one lol. Part of it does seem to be an ultra-aggressive and bumpy style. I call it "GT" driving. They drive in iRacing like they did in Gran Turismo. That.Doesn't.Work.

All that said, part of the problem is me. I try to race clean. I try to drive like I would in real life. I try to give room to drivers who come in hot for every corner...and I pay the price. Maybe I should start defending aggressively to try to slow them down going into corners -- but too often I've been just punted if I do take that approach.

I've tried letting them by and just passing them when it make sense, or when they blow off the course. Often that results in the same mayhem. The problem I see is often they can't hardly hold the line they want, much less a different line. Then my car apparently grows a magnet and here they come, lol.

Good clean racing is a blast! Win or lose, I love being in a good battle. My problem is I keep thinking I am going to have that consistently racing Global Mazda and SS in the open races. This week I have lost over 200 points in iR. It's been a bad week. I'm grumpy. Who's fault is it? Probably mine. I've tried starting in the front --- that seems to invite drivers who want to take the lead on lap 1 with tires that are not up to snuff and they drive like they are on hot tires. Start in the back, and you just dodge stuff but that's no fun. I like to race to win, trying to work from the back can happen - but it's not what I'd prefer.

Anywho - I think the only real option is to survive free content, then pay for content to avoid the worst of the worst. The bad thing is I don't know what I want to focus on. Like even road or oval... I like both, but don't want to pay for content for both since I don't put in enough time to really benefit from buying tons of stuff.

Leagues are fine, but that limits race time significantly. I'm at the crux of "what do I want to run that will have lot's of races when I am on...and offer clean racing." A big ask...

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Definitely the Skip Barber then, we had about 300 players on at European evening hours this past week so you will get chaps evenly matched. If you indeed know how to avoid wrecks, keep that fighting spirit clamped down and hold back for two laps, picking up enough positions to give you a solid base and then start to race for the final 12 or so laps. You should be able to pick up some iR and SR in every race, unless of course some … decides to use those magnetic forces you described. Next tracks for Skip are Phillip Island, Charlotte roval, Virginia full, Nords. Especially at Phillip Island and Charlotte t1 and t2 invite mayhem, so starting from pits will make sense if your main goal at this point is to gain iR. Just my five cents.

 

[tlsmikey]

Rookies is not easy. 99% of the people that seem to join think that they don't have to memorize braking points at tracks and just go to it by "feel" which is insanity. It was daunting for me to try and memorize braking points at tracks, but after watching a couple guys online I knew where the points were and I went to work.

Suddenly, I wasn't getting wrecked as much and I started progressing quite quickly. Look at any of the twitch streams of the popular racers and you'll see they have clean races all day. It's basically about getting out of Rookies and moving into C class or higher.

Just take it easy and worry less about placing first and more about having a good, clean race. Make sure you're braking at the same spots lap after lap. You'll get it.

 

[bassun]

Thanks for the encouragement, lol. Yeah, SR isn't really a problem, even with yonkers yonking. I am D3.49 oval and D3.66 road, generally climbing, lol. I could easily hold back and ramp it up fast, but not sure that I really gain much by rushing it vs experiencing things at a "real" pace, if that makes sense?

Skips looked like the obvious progression from the MX-5 so that kind of makes sense. I will probably run out the season to learn the rest of the tracks and maybe hit up skippies on free tracks to see how I like them before buying in for a season. Unless there is a really good reason to skip ahead.

Any thoughts on the cleanest for ovals that has a overnight population?


Braking points -- oh good lord, you are 100% right. I saw some guys earlier this week who were just all over the place braking. I don't get it. It's SO easy to find good lines with just an ounce of effort. Again, I am NO alien.

My process is pretty simple for learning a new to me track. I like to look at top laps for a series circuit, and top qualy's. That gives me a basic goal. Test the track at the same time (seems to be noon for most of what I've played with.) Run a few laps just to see / feel the track a bit, then pick up pace and start pushing corners. That usually puts me within 5-10 seconds of a good lap (depending on the track). I'll then step back and look at the areas of WOT. I adjust corners there to make sure i'm slow in fast out. After a little practice and picking solid braking points I'm usually able to consistently be w/in about 5 seconds or so of top times. Again, not alien but ok.

Now I do an open practice and hope to find someone running top times...or if I feel cagey, run a race starting at the back. Key isn't to win, but to get a good replay and hopefully see some tendencies for the track. After that, I just watch the replay from the fast guys in cockpit. BOOM! You now have some of the best tips you can get -- a ride along - sometimes the lines that are the fastest were not what I thought. From there, it's just a matter of correcting braking points and learning the nuances. I wont say that I'll be sitting on pole, but, I will have a good idea of how to run the track and putting up decent times. It's just a matter of experience from there and tweaking things that fit my style. I will never be an alien...but I can be fast if I put in the time.

Wrecks on the road course don't seem to involve me as much as oval, minus the guys dive bombing corners, or me mucking up and not getting on the brakes early enough when in a line. I've been the one booting before. It sucks. I have gotten better at preparing for random breaking points though when in a tail position. It's amazing how many people are not consistent, but still quick enough to be annoying lol.

End of the day, I am still learning - and it looks like the goal should probably be to move into a higher class, not to be the best of the worst.

 

[MadTurtle]

Iracing can have its rough points but I cant stress enough to report dive bombers and blockers. The only way it gets better is to weed out bad apples. It gets better with higher class cars, especially easy to drive ones as the hard ones people make a lot of mistakes and wreck into you still but at least on accident.

(dont report accidents only intentional)

 

[Miguel Batista]

I dropped iracing because honestly, I can't be assed. The game is not that good of a simulation and the community is a bit toxic (I think mostly people trying to justify having spent thousands of moneis and hours). Also, it is too expensive for what it offers imho.
I didn't have a problem leaving Rookie (road racing mostly) and the Skippy was good but not that good. I decided to stop playing when I was about to fork out another 100 or so pounds in tracks to be able to race in the skip Barbers properly (as it was one of the few

 

[BrunoBæ]

I think mostly people trying to justify having spent thousands of moneis and hours

Reasonable point.
But psychologically its quite understandable.
Its the same phenomena you see when a person buy a somewhat decent car - but from then on does tell everybody how good this car really is.
Hehe because then his choice of paying for this car gets more and more reasonable - in his own mind.