iRacing | Dallara LMP2 Preview Video

[Paul Jeffrey]

Another LMP 2 Dallara preview I hear you cry? Yes, iRacing are obviously excited about this one, and looking at the video, I suspect the players are pretty hyped too.

Not much to say here, a video tells a thousand words as they say... so let us have this hear poetry in motion do the talking on this article....

iRacing is a PC exclusive racing simulation available to purchase from the Steam Store.

Got questions about the sim? No worries, pop over to the iRacing sub forum here at RaceDepartment and start up a new thread to get involved with the sim racing community today!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

nice sound additions. Just hope it is not like the bits of canned sounds in ACC or Race07 where it was/is always the same announcer saying the same words over and over again. In ACC the lady asks about qualifying in a 24h race, no matter which track or race length you picked ...

 

[Andrew Harper]

Even the first rFactor and GTR2 had that, when devs add it.

I really like the ambient garage noise in raceroom as well.

When I'm playing it through my surround speaker setup it's good fun.

The iracing setup sounds interesting though with different sounds for different tracks. Nice one.

 

[Pedro17]

One thing I have not seen on any forum is an Iracing member claim that Iracing is the most realistic sim.There is general agreement that most sims have their own strong points & Iracing is way ahead on multiplayer.

Indeed. Proper physics aren't important in a racing sim.

Pictured: iRacing tire development research

 

[RaceNut]

Nice sound updates but, I'd rather they focus on improving the actual car-related sounds. For example, Sector3 just updated the backfire sounds and brought more resonance into the cockpit, which really improves immersion and sounds stunning in VR.

To date, no racing title has been able to master backfires combined with engine-engine braking sounds very convincingly. S3 made a good step in that direction recently imo. More studios need to push the envelope in similar ways to maximize the aural experience that exists in RL auto racing.

Of course, Aussie Greg Hill has the pedigree in audio engineering to do amazing things so, hopefully the peep's at iRacing have more tricks up their sleeves.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Indeed. Proper physics aren't important in a racing sim.

Pictured: iRacing tire development research

Haven't driven iRacing lately, have you?

 

[Pedro17]

Haven't driven iRacing lately, have you?

People who know more about it than me (or you) sure have. I'm not paying $13 a month for the privilege of racing against AI with tracks and cars that I've already purchased.

 

[Nick Hill]

Your mileage may vary, but having some (real life) mileage under my belt on racing slicks has given me a much more charitable perception of iRacing. I've noticed I've played it more and more recently. Other sims feel much too rubbery and springy to me now.

In my experience, you really can't appreciate how incredibly stiff slicks feel until you've really driven on them. They also "let go" with alarmingly little warning.

iRacing's not perfect but, for my tastes, it comes very close to replicating the real world feel.

 

[tlsmikey]

The haters can hate all they want. IRacing is the most popular sim on the planet right now. Their usage numbers dwarf ACC, R3E, AMS2 and rf2.

They have built an incredible platform and it just keeps getting better.

 

[Fucitol]

The haters can hate all they want. IRacing is the most popular sim on the planet right now. Their usage numbers dwarf ACC, R3E, AMS2 and rf2.

They have built an incredible platform and it just keeps getting better.

Yes, yes they are. But for real sim enthousiasts that kinda stings a little as it clearly lacks in physics. I really want to like driving it but every time I switch to iRacing I first get hooked to the online racing but very soon want to go back to playing rf2 and just feel what the car is doing instead of learning the artificial limits of whatever I am driving. I don't care about the costs so much but it's just a nagging feeling of something missing that I do get in other sims and that is frustrating.

It is of course more prominent in some classes compared to others and I get great fun out of F3 for instance especially with the new damage model (that is a frustration I can live with).

Love driving prototypes so this one will be added to my garage though.

 

[Andrew Harper]

Yes, yes they are. But for real sim enthousiasts that kinda stings a little as it clearly lacks in physics. I really want to like driving it but every time I switch to iRacing I first get hooked to the online racing but very soon want to go back to playing rf2 and just feel what the car is doing instead of learning the artificial limits of whatever I am driving. I don't care about the costs so much but it's just a nagging feeling of something missing that I do get in other sims and that is frustrating.

It is of course more prominent in some classes compared to others and I get great fun out of F3 for instance especially with the new damage model (that is a frustration I can live with).

Love driving prototypes so this one will be added to my garage though.

I have no issues with iRacing, it's a great sim racing model but I can only race once a month (or thereabouts) so I prefer to sign onto websites and race leagues instead (mainly RF2). Rather than use money on a subscription that I most likely won't take full advantage of.

My personal feeling is the reason(s) why iRacing is so successful is because of it's appeal to American racers or those based outside European time zones.

The number one comment I see on most sim-racing websites (when it comes to leagues) is the issues with time differences and iRacing of course caters for this perfectly.

You only have to look at the thousands of iRacing videos on YouTube that are all from American racers.

So many leagues on RF2, Raceroom and others are of course all based in Europe and that makes it difficult for different time zones to take part.

Of course it also has very good online stability as well.

Anyway, it's great that iRacing have managed to land themselves a modern prototype.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Yes, yes they are. But for real sim enthousiasts that kinda stings a little as it clearly lacks in physics. I really want to like driving it but every time I switch to iRacing I first get hooked to the online racing but very soon want to go back to playing rf2 and just feel what the car is doing instead of learning the artificial limits of whatever I am driving. I don't care about the costs so much but it's just a nagging feeling of something missing that I do get in other sims and that is frustrating.

It is of course more prominent in some classes compared to others and I get great fun out of F3 for instance especially with the new damage model (that is a frustration I can live with).

Love driving prototypes so this one will be added to my garage though.

it's exactly the other way round for me, no other game can do weightshifts quite like iRacing which is why I have uninstalled (for want of use) rF2, RRE and others, only Rally games, ACC and iR for me. It's what I feel through the wheel, but then again, except for very little karting, I have never sat in a race car

 

[williang83]

Yes, yes they are. But for real sim enthousiasts that kinda stings a little as it clearly lacks in physics. I really want to like driving it but every time I switch to iRacing I first get hooked to the online racing but very soon want to go back to playing rf2 and just feel what the car is doing instead of learning the artificial limits of whatever I am driving. I don't care about the costs so much but it's just a nagging feeling of something missing that I do get in other sims and that is frustrating.

It is of course more prominent in some classes compared to others and I get great fun out of F3 for instance especially with the new damage model (that is a frustration I can live with).

Love driving prototypes so this one will be added to my garage though.

lol which is not entirely true since a lot of professional drivers still prefer iRacing over any other, simple as that, included lando and max as many others.

 

[Shovas]

It's obvious to me (paying iRacing member) that they're just kicking themselves they lost the first official Le Mans sim broadcast this year and Studio 397 and rFactor 2 came off looking brilliant in their first major outing.

The reason iRacing couldn't do it is they didn't have the appropriate lineup of cars and rFactor 2 did.

I would love to see another official rF2 Le Mans broadcast featuring rF2.

But seeing iRacing take it over, which I think this move is meant to accomplish, would be annoying as you'd putting pro drivers in a frustratingly inferior simulator.

 

[williang83]

It's obvious to me (paying iRacing member) that they're just kicking themselves they lost the first official Le Mans sim broadcast this year and Studio 397 and rFactor 2 came off looking brilliant in their first major outing.

The reason iRacing couldn't do it is they didn't have the appropriate lineup of cars and rFactor 2 did.

I would love to see another official rF2 Le Mans broadcast featuring rF2.

But seeing iRacing take it over, which I think this move is meant to accomplish, would be annoying as you'd putting pro drivers in a frustratingly inferior simulator.

So frustrating that so many real pro driver, and not just american, does not even bother to waste time on anything else but iR unless there is a huge event on which they kind of need to take part of. Get over it, the world wide quarantine days are over, big events like those are over. It has been great but probably an event of that magnitude won't happen anymore.

 

[BP]

Yes, yes they are. But for real sim enthousiasts that kinda stings a little as it clearly lacks in physics. I really want to like driving it but every time I switch to iRacing I first get hooked to the online racing but very soon want to go back to playing rf2 and just feel what the car is doing instead of learning the artificial limits of whatever I am driving. I don't care about the costs so much but it's just a nagging feeling of something missing that I do get in other sims and that is frustrating.

It is of course more prominent in some classes compared to others and I get great fun out of F3 for instance especially with the new damage model (that is a frustration I can live with).

Love driving prototypes so this one will be added to my garage though.

Curious, which cars in particular do you feel is lacking in physics? I drive primarily the F3 and recently started with the FR 3.5 and I feel the FFB for both is very responsive, I can feel exactly through the corners when the back is about to step over the limit and can catch it most times. I also drove the MX5 extensively when I was training with Driver61 and that felt very good as well (not as sharp as the open wheelers but I'd imagine that's due to the design differences between road car and formula).

Also, I'd bet good money that the vast majority of people that tried iRacing didn''t have the FFB setup correctly. It's not explicitly stated anywhere when you start out and it's not as straightforward as most other sims; unless you had someone show you how, most people don't have it setup right. I've raced with it for years without it being set right, but the very first lesson with Driver61 they went through that and it made a HUGE difference in feel. Then I got the VRS DirectForce Pro WheelBase and they pointed me to their setup guide here: https://virtualracingschool.com/academy/hardware/vrs-directforce-pro-wheel-base-settings/ , which should help lots of people get it right (what wheelbase you have doesn't matter; these settings are universal). Here's one of the most crucial parts of that guide (you want to be within 2-3 Nm of these settings or you're not getting all the FFB):

As stated above, unless you're driving a wheel that needs to be at 100% power to be effective like the Logitech wheels, it's recommended to set the car's FFB Nm to these values and then set your wheel's FFB strength to what's comfortable to you. I used to think iRacing's FFB was inferior until I changed this...try it and see.

I should probably do a 1:1 comparison and drive a GT3 car/track combo that appears in iR, ACC and RF2 to compare, but I haven't seriously driven a GT3/E car in iRacing in quite awhile.

 

[Fucitol]

Thanks for that link BP, will try it out even though I have tried other tutorials as well. I'm running a large Mige (30NM) DD wheel so this guide should apply well.

Mostly the GT3 and GTE cars have in my opinion dull FFB. Yes, I am able to properly feel what the car is doing but the resistance is very linear (should be somewhat coupled to speed, AC does this very well were a high-downforce car on high speed is very difficult to turn) and curbs often have no effect; both in 'no rumble' but also it never seem to pull the car towards the curb. Compared to rf2 this is a huge difference where the car really feels alive and you have to wrestle it on the limit. Note that this is also without any canned effects.

But, I'll try to re-setup my FFB and will adjust my opinion if I'm able to get more out of it.

 

[BP]

Thanks for that link BP, will try it out even though I have tried other tutorials as well. I'm running a large Mige (30NM) DD wheel so this guide should apply well.

Mostly the GT3 and GTE cars have in my opinion dull FFB. Yes, I am able to properly feel what the car is doing but the resistance is very linear (should be somewhat coupled to speed, AC does this very well were a high-downforce car on high speed is very difficult to turn) and curbs often have no effect; both in 'no rumble' but also it never seem to pull the car towards the curb. Compared to rf2 this is a huge difference where the car really feels alive and you have to wrestle it on the limit. Note that this is also without any canned effects.

But, I'll try to re-setup my FFB and will adjust my opinion if I'm able to get more out of it.

What's the most 1:1 car/track combo between iRacing, ACC and RF2? I'm thinking the Porsche 911 Cup car at nurburgring GP?

 

[Shovas]

Curious, which cars in particular do you feel is lacking in physics? I drive primarily the F3 and recently started with the FR 3.5 and I feel the FFB for both is very responsive, I can feel exactly through the corners when the back is about to step over the limit and can catch it most times. I also drove the MX5 extensively when I was training with Driver61 and that felt very good as well (not as sharp as the open wheelers but I'd imagine that's due to the design differences between road car and formula).

Also, I'd bet good money that the vast majority of people that tried iRacing didn''t have the FFB setup correctly. It's not explicitly stated anywhere when you start out and it's not as straightforward as most other sims; unless you had someone show you how, most people don't have it setup right. I've raced with it for years without it being set right, but the very first lesson with Driver61 they went through that and it made a HUGE difference in feel. Then I got the VRS DirectForce Pro WheelBase and they pointed me to their setup guide here: https://virtualracingschool.com/academy/hardware/vrs-directforce-pro-wheel-base-settings/ , which should help lots of people get it right (what wheelbase you have doesn't matter; these settings are universal). Here's one of the most crucial parts of that guide (you want to be within 2-3 Nm of these settings or you're not getting all the FFB):

View attachment 403379

As stated above, unless you're driving a wheel that needs to be at 100% power to be effective like the Logitech wheels, it's recommended to set the car's FFB Nm to these values and then set your wheel's FFB strength to what's comfortable to you. I used to think iRacing's FFB was inferior until I changed this...try it and see.

I should probably do a 1:1 comparison and drive a GT3 car/track combo that appears in iR, ACC and RF2 to compare, but I haven't seriously driven a GT3/E car in iRacing in quite awhile.

Just tried the above with the 911 GT3 Cup and BMW M4 and a few others things like app.ini FFBUseSimpleMinForce and steerAverageSteeringTorque and the ffb still falls so far behind other major sims.

I find iRacing FFB frustratingly dull and dumb compared to any other major sim (AC/ACC/AMS1/rF2/GTR2/GTL/R07/etc). All of those others sims have a category of ffb that I feel are similar. And then there's the outlier, iRacing, expressing the same forces but with different feeling.

I've been on iRacing for 6 years and tuned ffb on a G27 and then an AccuForce. I've found it impossible to get pleasing ffb out of it.

Do you consider iRacing FFB to be on par with those other sims?

By-passing iRacing's FFB using AccuForce's Steering Feedback Foundation mode, I now consider the telemetry or more likely tire model, to be the culprit. Just like custom ffb files for Project Cars 2 found forces that were missing in the original ffb implementation, I suspect there's some forces missing in iRacing's tire model or telemetry model that is hampering it. Another example is AC1 missing the 'gyro' option force for a long time. It's possible for these sims to be missing forces and I suspect iRacing is missing something. PC2 has brutal inconsistency and noisy, awkward ffb, but the important forces, and how they are expressed, are there and I'd honestly rank it better than IRacing.

 

[BP]

Just tried the above with the 911 GT3 Cup and BMW M4 and a few others things like app.ini FFBUseSimpleMinForce and steerAverageSteeringTorque and the ffb still falls so far behind other major sims.

I find iRacing FFB frustratingly dull and dumb compared to any other major sim (AC/ACC/AMS1/rF2/GTR2/GTL/R07/etc). All of those others sims have a category of ffb that I feel are similar. And then there's the outlier, iRacing, expressing the same forces but with different feeling.

I've been on iRacing for 6 years and tuned ffb on a G27 and then an AccuForce. I've found it impossible to get pleasing ffb out of it.

Do you consider iRacing FFB to be on par with those other sims?

By-passing iRacing's FFB using AccuForce's Steering Feedback Foundation mode, I now consider the telemetry or more likely tire model, to be the culprit. Just like custom ffb files for Project Cars 2 found forces that were missing in the original ffb implementation, I suspect there's some forces missing in iRacing's tire model or telemetry model that is hampering it. Another example is AC1 missing the 'gyro' option force for a long time. It's possible for these sims to be missing forces and I suspect iRacing is missing something. PC2 has brutal inconsistency and noisy, awkward ffb, but the important forces, and how they are expressed, are there and I'd honestly rank it better than IRacing.

I have both FFBUseSimpleMinForce and steerAverageSteeringTorque set to 0 and it feels great to me...all the recommendations I'm finding about setting FFBUseSimpleMinForce=1 are from 4-6 years ago...maybe they're not needed now? I take any recommendations older than 1 year ago on an actively developed sim with a grain of salt (not saying it won't work), as they alter the engine so many times since then that it might be irrelevant today.

I'm seeing a common trend with the GT cars not feeling great (and maybe that's true, but I haven't driven them in iRacing in awhile)...but I drive open wheelers almost exclusively (as well as the about-to-be-retired HPD) and they all feel amazing, that's all I can speak to. Do you have any dampening going on in the Accuforce settings? In my VRS settings I have all dampening off (I had it at 10% prior and that was fine too)...nothing kills finer details like dampening.

If none of those help, then I guess we look for different things if every other sim beats iRacing by far...I play most of those sims (I own Race07, GTR2 and GTL but don't play them) and, while I do feel differences in the way they're implemented and some are more "lively" than others, I would never say iRacing ranks way below all of them as I feel it communicates slip angle pretty well...and especially not PC2. Not sure if open-wheelers are your thing, but try the F3 (hopefully you own it already) and let me know if it still feels horrible.

 

[Shovas]

I feel it communicates slip angle pretty well

That's so weird, that's exactly where I feel it falls, that and and the feeling of scrubbing (ie. it doesn't have any), and they steering forces and grip load and unload. rFactor2 is a great example of how to make that feel like you're driving on rubber.

I'll try the F3. I have heard the same thing about GT cars not having as good ffb as other types.