iRacing day one.

[2re]

After nearly a 3 year absence from sim racing I was as it turned out, briefly back in the racing seat.
Well the old office chair that is, but hey its got a built in handbrake to keep it still ;-)

I got the G25 back from my nephew last month. Without the power adapter of coerce
iRacing had been high on my wish list for a long time but I wanted to wait until the content had matured a little more towards road racing. Oh and more importantly, my first born baby came/comes first.

On Saturday I got the new power adapter. Riped of the paper wrapping and called a friend with the other hand.
Loaded up LFS and had a blast chasing one another for a few hours. I've been prepping him up to sign up to iRacing with me. But think I've scared him a little with the seriousness of the sim.
And he's probably worried about being too slow, well he should as he's past 50 now and uses two sets of glasses ;-) I know he will love it, as he enjoys taking part in the race as much as I do winning them

Well I said I would buy iRacing later that night and invite him to a test drive.
I took out my credit card but before I paid I noticed the code box. Checked my backup mail and found a special invitation code from iRacing from before it was launched, it still worked and saved me a few bucks

As people say. Download and install was easy as pie but all the info from the web page seamed a little overwhelming at first glance. As an old GPL racer I will probably never loose my love for single seater's.
I've watched lots of clips with the Skippy on YouTube and thought it was part of the package, wrong.
Silly decision really as its most likely THE best car to learn to drive in. Well forked out a few more bucks and was eager to take it for a spin.

It turned out to be horrible. Well I couldn't tell for sure if the car was OK or not, because the wheel was not giving a good FF feeling and I had huge dead zone to master. The wheel calibration process went wrong all the time. Spent most of the night trying to make it work. Gave up frustrated and wrote support letter to iRacing.
Next day I searched and tested G25 settings, It didn't perform so well in other games too. The Logitech profiler software had been running in the background with custom profiles for each game. I turned it OFF and made a permanent profile in Windows control panel. Got back to Lime Rock and suddenly everything was great. After a few laps me and Skippy where the best of friends.

I was eager to get into a race as I felt confident with the handling and I also knew Lime quite well. But I was not eligible to drive the Skippy in races it seamed, well at first glance. The only race open to me was Laguna driving the Solstice. 30min to start. Took it for a test ride but spent to much time in the options menu to get a feel for the car and track, selected forfeit. To my surprise a little later, I think I'm listed as a starter in the race, even though I didn't even get to the warm up?

Found a new race and went practicing again.
Never liked Laguna, T1 5 and 6 are easy to loose control in, not forgetting the blind exit at the corkscrew and the following long sweeper. I know the track layout but only raced there a few times and never been close to master it. Good news it changed in a flash as I quickly noticed the excellent apex and road markers. That in combination with the locked gear ratio made it easy to get into a steady rhythm quickly improving lap times, but I was slow, around 1.55 at first.

Race 1. First in iRacing.
Told my self to focus on driving safe and staying on track. On the second lap I got hit by a car that came flying back onto the track after a bad exit on T6. At first I thought, its not so bad. Then I noticed I had to hold the wheel 45 degrees to the right to go straight. Limped back to pit and went back out when it was repaired, took a while ;-) finished last but exited and happy with the experience.

The Solstice proved it self to be easy and fun to drive, so he's my pal too ;-)
A tiny flick, lift of and slide into the turn with full throttle, well by the end of the day it felt like that ;-)

Race 2. My first WIN
A little more confident in car and track but my hart was beating hard and knuckles locked tight around the wheel.
Started 6 on grid and got up to second on lap 2. On lap six I took the lead and hold it to the end.
My fastest lap was 01.50.645
This was everything i hoped it would be and something I've missed since my GPL league days.
Not because I won the race, its the feeling of being on the track fighting, trying hard to stay in control, of emotions and car and not f..... up.

Race 3. Another race another trophy
Started 8th on the grid but advanced to second on the first lap. Swapped places with leader Ben Adams a few times in the middle of the race but lost control in lap 7 and T. Yasuoka went flying by.
Snatched the second place back on the last lap

Wow.. I was totally exhausted by the intensity and the level of concentration, witch I'm not used to anymore.
But I wanted MORE.

Race 4.
Started at 11th on the grid but exploited the usual first round chaos and hopefully made a few smart moves too. Got up to 4th on the second lap and it looked like it could be another podium finish
Then suddenly a huge BANG sounded of next to me and everything electric went black.
The "good as original" power adapter didn't physically explode but it sounded like it had.
I had to go out to the fusebox and turn the power back on. To my relief my PC booted up again.
But my G25 is dead, or at least the crappy power supply is. I hope the G25 is OK too

If it only it had hold up until the race was over, instead it struck me like lightning and left me screaming for MOORE.

And the eBay seller has not responded yet

F...

 

[Abdul Al-Amry]

Lets see how fast u get to B now LOL. I have been trying for a few weeks. It does get tougher as you rank up.

 

[2re]

New Class C SR 3.76

Hi Abdul. Well if I want a class B license I will need a new car and new tracks right? :sheep:
Hmm the Mustang looks like fun to drift around but I guess the Mazda got more followers?

Update: just bought Mazda and Skip Barber track.

 

[William Nowell]

And so it begins, lol. Good choice with the mazda, but the mustang is very popular as well. Cars are the easy part, tracks are where you will spend most of your money. After you invest your money into cars and tracks then you are trap and iracing has you by the b@lls. I'm hooked like a fish. I'm going to take week 13 to do the shifter and brake mod.

 

[Abdul Al-Amry]

Young man you have SAD(Sim Addiction Disease)

 

[2re]

Forced absence ;-)
No B Class license this weekend or perhaps I get time on Sunday.

CTS + SAD does not go well hand in hand, but like my old Sensei said, Don't use the force Luke.

Good weekend to you all.

 

[2re]

Had some car trouble today, my winter tires is not balanced right so I had to cancel my trip.
The good news is I got to stay home and get the Class B license.
Well it was fun chasing levels but I rather race but there's hardly any in the Mazda?
Last race went down the drain on the first lap, got hit in T1 then smacked in the rear again soon after.
Lost control a tiny bit with the cold tires, the guy behind was right on my tail so that was the end of that :eek:

Even though I more or less satisfied with the rapid improvement in each new car my times are far from competitive compared with the top drivers, even in the rookie league.
So what now? Buy a New car & track and go for Class A.

The Lotus 79 looks ace but I had fun racing the rookies league.. Chasing promotions feels a bit empty.

 

[Abdul Al-Amry]

2re I salute you. What division did iRacing put u in?

Go all out and get em licences, once you have achieved that focus on your favourite car and work on winning the championship next season

 

[Dario Jagar]

2re

you are moving quite fast, slow down, we can´t follow your progress so fast
I would recomend to get all licenses you can but in a way that you don´t buy cars you woudn´t drive later on, first you should decided are you going open wheelers or tintops way, I would sugest:

-Skip D
-Mazda C
-Indy B (in season 4)
-F1 A

or

-Mustang D
-Riley C (mixed with Stang)
-C6R B
-F1 again (not other choice)

since you already have Skip and SM makes more sense to stay in open wheelers

most popular tracks if you dont have them already are Watkins and Road Atlanta (used in pretty much all series)

have fun!

 

[2re]

Thanks for the kind words and help.

I don't know yet, what car or if I should try to continue to advance to Class A at all at this point.
Perhaps I'll just do practice sessions and Skippy races for a while. Because I don't really see the benefit of being a higher class racer.

My arm hurts a bit from the excessive abuse the last few days so I'm taking a break until next week.

Have nice weekend.

 

[William Nowell]

Hey 2re, I agree with what has been said as in you want to try to get as many licenses as possible, it opens up more cars and series for you, but what's the use of beening a class A if your irating is low and still put you in races that reflect that. And as far as which cars to buy, if you look at the stats for that series it will tell you how many people race in it. For example the mazda has over 2000 racers, with almost 200 in my division, while the lotus only has 240 racers and 20 in my division. I must repeat again cars are the easy part, focus on tracks. Try to buy ones that cross multi series, the new schedule is out you can use that as a guide.

The indy car should be a good pick for a B class car, since it was the A, and Pro class car last season there should be a good number of people who have it and race it. I brought the corvette for my B car and love it although it seems like they most run in the fix series.

 

[Dazmaniac]

My arm hurts a bit from the excessive abuse the last few days so I'm taking a break until next week.

I don't know if I dare ask about the 'excessive abuse' that is causing the arm pain, lol.

 

[Abdul Al-Amry]

I don't know if I dare ask about the 'excessive abuse' that is causing the arm pain, lol.

LMAO

 

[2re]

Well there's no stopping me, unless I accidentally step on my saggy balls.
Anyway, my left arm is holding up, so don't worry about me, I'm FINE :thumb:

Young people now a days..

Back to Class B car selection:
What about the Radical, its got an open cockpit, I like that :tongue:
I've driven the Radical in GTR-Evo and I loved it, except I wish the steering wheel was on the right side, witch is left to me. Probably because I nearly killed my self 5min after renting a car in Queensland, many years ago

 

[William Nowell]

I liked the radical as well on gtr, but for iracing the only class for the radical is a mixed class with the corvette, so you will have to buy them both to race. And they only race 4 days a week.

 

[2re]

Thanks William.
I've added you to my friends list in iRacing. Hope you don't mind. ( Abdul & Dario Too )
I'll listen to your advice and stay away from the Lotus, to few in the series. I'm not sure about witch car to go for, Vette or Indy. I like open wheelers because they are just that, open and easier to race close with.
I think there's too much visual safety installments in the cockpit on the road cars.

Indy cars are close to F1 right? In that case I would think its a little too fast for my taste.
Only F1 cars I've raced are the 1967 models. The Mazda on the other hand is perfect fit for me as I've raced a little in the F3 cars in rFactor. Perhaps I'll enjoy the Indy too. But I'm sure I will love driving the Vette also as I'm more used to that type of speed and handling and fixed setups sounds good to me as I'm not good with that.

Hmm.. I feel tempted to leave the choice of car and tracks to you. 1 car and perhaps 1-3 tracks.

 

[William Nowell]

I think my choice for a B car would be the vette. As far as the Indy car, you already have the skip, and star mazda for open wheel. The vette races on a lot of the same tracks as the skip and mazda so that's a bonus. The vette races in it's own series, although it's fixed people still show up to race. As far as tracks, you can't go wrong with walkins glen, road atlanta, and zandvoort. All three cars race there and they are pretty good tracks with multi configs. Road America and VIR are also good tracks that see alot of action. The Indy car is nice, but with 2 open wheelers already my third will be the williams f1. Look at the schedule and plan your purchases accordingly. If you get walkins glen the spec ford also races there and it will complete your tracks for the season in that series.

 

[2re]

So its the Corvette then. ( Is it the same car for fixed setups and not )
I got WG already so that leaves Zandvoort and Road Atlanta..

 

[stabiz]

I am really against fixed setup series, as I never like the fixed setups at all (way too much front brakes for starters). I would go with the Radical for B class, its easily one of the funniest cars in iRacing to just drive, even on your own. Setups are never any problem anyway, I have always found a setup to my liking from those shared in the forums.

PS: Yes, the Corvette is the same for fixed and open setup championships.

 

[2re]

Thanks Stabiz:
Just bought the Vette and I've been practicing on Road Atlanta for a good 90min now. Best time 1.20.2xx
But I'm terribly inconsistent because of the down shifts not kicking in and I have to visually check what gear I'm in.
I'm getting better but the downhill after the long back stretch, brake & shift down is killing me.

BTW. Checked my iRacing bills today, yikes I've forked out 95$ so far

Perhaps I'll take the radical instead.

 

[William Nowell]

lol, I make it a habit to not look at my account history as it can be kinda scary. I love the vette at road atlanta, I ran the Petti lemans there and it was a blast. 1.20.xxx is a good time to start with, I'm sure you will break sub 18's with more track time. The fixed setup for that track is not to bad, I agree with Stabiz that on some of the fixed setup brake bais can be a disappointment although I think with my new brake mod it shouldn't be a problem now, just keep in mind that everyone else has to deal with it to. I also have no dout that the radical would be fun but I didn't recommend it because you would also have to buy the vette in order to race it(no stand alone series for the radical). With the vette you can ran in the fixed series and if you decide to get the radical you can also ran the mixed open setup series.