How Do YOU Decide Which Cars/Tracks to Buy in iRacing?

[newbert]

With the wide variety of cars and tracks available on iRacing, I'm just wondering what the general thought process is in buying cars and tracks?

For example, I'm currently in mid D-class and enjoy both AI and multiplayer racing. I'm leaning towards purchasing the Skippy2000 since it's now available for AI. But then, if I want to race the Skippy in a season, how do I research which specific tracks I'd need?

Right now the only series I'm running is Mazda MX-5. The tracks it uses are all included with basic membership.

But assuming I want to "graduate" to something else, how would YOU decide what to purchase?

Thanks!
Bert

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

I've just started looking at this thread as the lure of iRacing has been a little too much lately. Plus the races on RD are always at European times which mean me getting up at 3am, which is probably not the best mental state to be in, racing online for a couple of hours.

Welcome Alex

I'm really in to GT cars so I'm looking to get the base content, race my way out of Rookie license and then start something like the Ferrari Challenge. With the 488 and a the tracks from that series, I'm actually checking to see how many series overlap with the content.

That's the idea, try to optimize your investment

Can I just ask, when the series is over, (by June this year by the looks of it), do they restart the same series with the same content, or is the content for each series amended by the public voting system that was eluded to earlier?

There are usually votes by members. Follow the series and/or car thread on the iRacing forums, about halfway through the season there will be a chance to vote. Usually players try to not do a complete new schedule but carry over 75% or so of the old schedule to next season.

The thing is that I sent my wife details of the potential costs for the first and second years...
She said, "Go for it!", so all good and cannot wait to get involved.

First two seasons are the most costly, prices fall rapidly after 1.5 years. For instance I paid 3Euros for next season, because I only bought one new track, Hockenheim, and paid fot with my 10Euros participation credit and got some reduction for "owning" more than 40 pieces. (plus of course the original outlay in November)


Also, while I'm here, is it best to purchase iRacing on Steam or on the iRacing website directly?
There is a small saving for me on Steam that could be put towards content so just checking if there are any pros and cons to either option.

I wouldn't know, sorry, never activated on steam.

TIA
Alex.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Also, while I'm here, is it best to purchase iRacing on Steam or on the iRacing website directly?
There is a small saving for me on Steam that could be put towards content so just checking if there are any pros and cons to either option.

This is a bit of a catch 22 and really depends on where you live and the currency exchange on steam vs the Vat tax on iracing

For me it is cheaper to buy my subscription on steam here in Canada it's $83 for 12 months for the first yr. $120 a yr after....I have seen cheaper subscription sales on steam too that appear randomly throughout the yr.
If you purchase on steam you can't renew your subscription on the iracing website....and vise versa. You are locked to which subscription site you first purchase from.

If you purchase from iracing a first time member gets a 50% off new subscription and "IF" they continue there black friday subscription sale you can get 25% off your future subscription purchase.

There's only one thing I am not sure of....you can gain up to $40 a yr in participation credits that you can put towards content or subscription cost....I don't think you can use those credits towards a subscription off steam.

 

[Alex Townsend]

This is a bit of a catch 22 and really depends on where you live and the currency exchange on steam vs the Vat tax on iracing

For me it is cheaper to buy my subscription on steam here in Canada it's $83 for 12 months for the first yr. $120 a yr after....I have seen cheaper subscription sales on steam too that appear randomly throughout the yr.
If you purchase on steam you can't renew your subscription on the iracing website....and vise versa. You are locked to which subscription site you first purchase from.

If you purchase from iracing a first time member gets a 50% off new subscription and "IF" they continue there black friday subscription sale you can get 25% off your future subscription purchase.

There's only one thing I am not sure of....you can gain up to $40 a yr in participation credits that you can put towards content or subscription cost....I don't think you can use those credits towards a subscription off steam.

This is good to know. I'd factored my completion of series and the credits to offset some of the overall content spend into my business proposal that I sent to my wife...
Trouble is, Steam here for 1 year only costs RM159 with new member at 38% off. Then RM199 a year afterwards. This initial 2 year spend is cheaper than in iRacing as they have it at $119.40 which is RM492.11, so I'd save RM144.11, which is about the cost of 5 tracks and a car which would also be subject to 15% off for bulk purchase.
Then we add the Black Friday renewals into the mix, along with the credits for finishing a series, I think its clear that going direct is probably a better long term solution.

Think I'll go direct then

 

[Dont Panic]

Think I'll go direct then

I just leave this here:

You can still use a 3 months for 5 bucks on a new account (email) to try it out

Promo code: PR-HOTLAPS - 3 months for $4.78 (remove default 50% discount to use this code)

 

[Alex Townsend]

I just leave this here:

Just to confirm on this, wouldn't I lose the 50% off new member discount by doing this?
Do people usually set up a dummy account for the promo, try it for a few months, then create another account to utilise the new member discount?

Thing is, I've seen enough on YT and been tossing up the idea of getting involved. My wife has unfortunately seen the decline in my temperament in days after early morning races so think she wants me to compete in something where I can drop in for a few hours during a Saturday, (or some evenings), and not have any sleep deprivation issues the following day(s)...

 

[Dont Panic]

Just to confirm on this, wouldn't I lose the 50% off new member discount by doing this?

Yes, because you are not new member anymore. But iRacing has a 25% discount several times a year for one or two year renewal.
Of course you can make new account, but then your name in a service will be Alex Townsend2.

I'm really in to GT cars so I'm looking to get the base content, race my way out of Rookie license and then start something like the Ferrari Challenge. With the 488 and a the tracks from that series, I'm actually checking to see how many series overlap with the content.

Can I just ask, when the series is over, (by June this year by the looks of it), do they restart the same series with the same content, or is the content for each series amended by the public voting system that was eluded to earlier?

Tracks change partially between seasons. Like Ferrari Challenge, it's third season now. In these three seasons there was 19 different tracks. Seven of those are free tracks included in the base package.
So if you going to race that serie few years, you have to buy at least 16-18 tracks totally.
Total cost for two years are something like $5 + $150 for (3 months + 2 year) sub and 17x $15 for tracks + Fefe and few other cars and minus race participation $80 = $370.

EDIT:
I forgot this Volume Discount thingie they have, so total price are bit smaller:

Check out our volume deals:

• 10% Bulk Purchase Discount: Purchase any three to five pieces of content (cars/tracks) at once and receive 10% off the total.
• 15% Bulk Purchase Discount: Purchase any six or more pieces of content (cars/tracks) at once and receive 15% off the total.
• 20% Loyalty Discount: Purchase any 40 pieces of paid content (cars or tracks) and receive a 20% discount from that point forward. In other words, once you own any 40 pieces of content, every content purchase after that is automatically discounted by 20%.
• 30% Loyalty Club: Purchase all available, full-priced content (cars & tracks) and receive 30% off the total price. This discount is calculated at the time of purchase, which means, if new content becomes available in the future, this would need to be purchased in order to receive the discount again. For example, if there are 100 pieces of content available and you already have purchased 97, you need to purchase the remaining 3 pieces in order to receive the discount, even if you had previously received the discount.

 

[Alex Townsend]

Gonna pull the trigger tonight I think.
2 years at $120, this is with 40% off for new members direct from the iRacing website.

Will mess around in the Rookies for a bit on the free stuff till I get the D license and then buy some tracks and the F488 GT3, then it's on to a Ford GT for GTE stuff, (mainly cause I can't drive it in any other sim I currently own), and the obligatory Porsche 911 for the other championship I'm interested in. Should be good fun setting it all up and getting into it for the first time.

Thanks for all your help guys.
I see there is an option to refer someone when you sign up, you've all been helpful so first one to PM me with their email address will get the referral. (hope this is fair and ok to do this)

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Gonna pull the trigger tonight I think.
2 years at $120, this is with 40% off for new members direct from the iRacing website.

Will mess around in the Rookies for a bit on the free stuff till I get the D license and then buy some tracks and the F488 GT3, then it's on to a Ford GT for GTE stuff, (mainly cause I can't drive it in any other sim I currently own), and the obligatory Porsche 911 for the other championship I'm interested in. Should be good fun setting it all up and getting into it for the first time.

Thanks for all your help guys.
I see there is an option to refer someone when you sign up, you've all been helpful so first one to PM me with their email address will get the referral. (hope this is fair and ok to do this)

Hope we won't lose you in the rF2 Fridays!

Rookies are surprisingly fun, but I also advice you to skip qualifying in the first few races, and maybe even "camp out" for 3-4 seconds at the start, see what and where the others mess up, and drive safely, just to get some SR and learn where the... less skilled/serious people make mistakes.
You may find some random big names in the rookie races as well. I actually raced against multiple DTM-champion Mattias Ekström in a rookie MX-5/Miata race at Oran Park last year.

 

[Alex Townsend]

Hope we won't lose you in the rF2 Fridays!

Rookies are surprisingly fun, but I also advice you to skip qualifying in the first few races, and maybe even "camp out" for 3-4 seconds at the start, see what and where the others mess up, and drive safely, just to get some SR and learn where the... less skilled/serious people make mistakes.
You may find some random big names in the rookie races as well. I actually raced against multiple DTM-champion Mattias Ekström in a rookie MX-5/Miata race at Oran Park last year.

I would still like to participate in the rF2 Fridays as they were really fun. It's just the times are really bad for me lately with work being so busy throughout the week. I needed to find something that was more a jump in during regular times kinda deal.
With iRacing I could literally jump in to a race for my lunch break, or whilst the kids are being showered and put to bed.
The 3am or 4am starts were knackering me out, I think that's why the Mrs. was so ready to agree to me doing iRacing, even though it costs more.

Will definitely take your advice with regards to qualifying too, I think there is a reason that Dave Cam and Dan Suzuki start from the pits when they're doing a Rookie iRacing video...

But that would be cool to race with some actual racing drivers too, see if you can keep up or learn something from them until they speed off into the virtual distance.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I would still like to participate in the rF2 Fridays as they were really fun. It's just the times are really bad for me lately with work being so busy throughout the week. I needed to find something that was more a jump in during regular times kinda deal.
With iRacing I could literally jump in to a race for my lunch break, or whilst the kids are being showered and put to bed.
The 3am or 4am starts were knackering me out, I think that's why the Mrs. was so ready to agree to me doing iRacing, even though it costs more.

Will definitely take your advice with regards to qualifying too, I think there is a reason that Dave Cam and Dan Suzuki start from the pits when they're doing a Rookie iRacing video...

But that would be cool to race with some actual racing drivers too, see if you can keep up or learn something from them until they speed off into the virtual distance.

Awww I totally understand it though! And this is also the main advantage with iRacing in my mind. I just don't get sucked in to the game as much as I would like to. I only did 18 races (11 road, 7 dirt) last year, and it before that, I did 9 races in 2012 Not exactly hooked. But I like that you can just jump in and do races.

Ye, When I see the November-races I did in 2020 (when I raced against Ekström), my starting positions were: 17, 11, 9, 12, 9 and 11 Finishing was 4, 5, 6, 4, 2 and 5. It was all about getting up to the next license for me, so stay out of trouble and start passing people when the field was spread a bit.

It is, I wasn't sure that it was the Mattias Ekström, but I followed the guys profile, the next day he was racing in a hosted session, together with fellow World RX drivers Andreas Bakkerud, Timmy&Kevin Hansen etc. then I realized it was the Ekström. In hindsight, I wish I'd qualified for that one race, as I'd likely been second on the grid, behind him

Btw, write in this thread when you have joined iRacing, I'll add you to my friends list, so I can stalk see your progress if I ever get back into iRacing after my sub runs out in April

 

[Alex Townsend]

Btw, write in this thread when you have joined iRacing, I'll add you to my friends list, so I can stalk see your progress if I ever get back into iRacing after my sub runs out in April

Yes I'll definitely do that. Would be good to know at least a few guys on there when I start out.
Feels like I'm about to start a new school... Being the new kid... Lol

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Yes I'll definitely do that. Would be good to know at least a few guys on there when I start out.
Feels like I'm about to start a new school... Being the new kid... Lol

Haha, it's fun though! I joined iRacing mainly to get my oval fix. The issue is that I don't spend 1 second on setups, and it's not every time the baseline setups are competetive (or, it wasn't back in 2010/2011 when I did it).
I got back into iRacing in 2020 mainly due to rallycross. But didn't last long ;P The only reason I'm in iRacing now is that someone kindly paid for my subscription because he wanted me to drive in a Norwegian rookie series

But it's always fun to see the progress of my iRacing friends though, I am in love with statistics. As can be seen from me doing stats for RDRC manually, just because I love stats...

See! Stats! I do find it funny that I have the lowest avg.inc in rallycross!

 

[Alex Townsend]

Will hopefully get some decent stats going once I'm out of Rookies then. Will let you know when I'm signed up.

Anyone wants the referral? Not sure how it works but looks like I just enter an email address so anyone on here let me know and I'll put your email down when I sign up.

 

[Dont Panic]

Anyone wants the referral? Not sure how it works but looks like I just enter an email address so anyone on here let me know and I'll put your email down when I sign up.

I can take it... It works as you write it.

You can test cars using iRacing Testdrive. Unfortunately it's only open when they have a maintenance (basically almost every tuesday). Cars has to be downloaded to you machine in advance and only tracks that you own are available.

iRacing AI is good tool for practice.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

You can test cars using iRacing Testdrive. Unfortunately it's only open when they have a maintenance (basically almost every tuesday). Cars has to be downloaded to you machine in advance and only tracks that you own are available.

But, if you are like me, don't know what you'll race and when... And got space on the drive. I just DL it all at all times

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Seems iRacing has about as much participation as AC/ACC/rF2/RRE/PC2/AMS/AMS2 combined...

 

[Alex Townsend]

View attachment 458035

Seems iRacing has about as much participation as AC/ACC/rF2/RRE/PC2/AMS/AMS2 combined...

I qualified for a Rookie session just now that had 100 people signed up for the session.
I was in Division 1, qualified on Pole, but the race never started, for me... anyone else have this issue and know how to resolve it?
I've already sent an email to iRacing support, so we will see what they say

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

I qualified for a Rookie session just now that had 100 people signed up for the session.
I was in Division 1, qualified on Pole, but the race never started, for me... anyone else have this issue and know how to resolve it?
I've already sent an email to iRacing support, so we will see what they say

This one here where you and one other disconnected at the start? There were 18 splits and it looks like most drivers made it to the end so not sure what the issue might have been

iRacing Authentication

members.iracing.com

 

[Alex Townsend]

Yes, this was the one
I was so happy to have qualified in pole on my 3rd race, (2nd proper one as had graphical issues on the 2nd race), and was sat there waiting for the race to start after hitting the Race button after quali...
Guess it's just one of those things, I've sent a message to iRacing support so we will see if they come back and can see what the issue was.
Everything else in my room was constantly connected this morning though so not sure what happened...

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Yes, this was the one
I was so happy to have qualified in pole on my 3rd race, (2nd proper one as had graphical issues on the 2nd race), and was sat there waiting for the race to start after hitting the Race button after quali...
Guess it's just one of those things, I've sent a message to iRacing support so we will see if they come back and can see what the issue was.
Everything else in my room was constantly connected this morning though so not sure what happened...

If you remember next time, iR support always likes to get replay files if possible as those have lots of info in them that they can check. You can submit a ticket with files here https://support.iracing.com/support/home