iRacing Review

[OverTake.gg]

Bram Hengeveld submitted a new blog post:

iRacing Review

More than five years after its initial release, I feel it’s finally time to give iRacing the professional review treatment. Five years is more than enough time for one game to sort out all of its issues, the game costs several times more than your traditional boxed PC game available on the shelves at Best Buy, and deciding whether to take the plunge based on biased forum ramblings is never a good idea. Six hundred million laps later, it’s time to finally take a look at iRacing, and determine...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

 

[Bakkster]

You don't have to worry about locking up every time you brake or spinning off if you slightly over do it.

Which cars are you driving? It has been over a year since I've felt if I went just over the limit in the SRF that I would spin, and with the latest update I have to work VERY hard to spin it around. A few weeks ago I made a last lap pass at Sebring by going off track onto the grass at Le Mans and keeping the throttle planted.

I get all the stuff about NTM and realism but if DK is such a genius why not make a tyre model that is more fun to drive with?

I've never liked the argument to just build the 'funnest' model. Not everyone finds the same things fun, you'll never make as many people happy that way.

As you say, real race cars don't crash unpredictably, they're intuitive. IMO, the best goal is an accurate model, which by extension will make the cars intuitive and enjoyable. The AC tire model is fun because they have an elegant solution for accuracy, the driving enjoyment comes from that accuracy not from trying to make something 'fun'.

 

[Steve O'Malley]

I really meant its more fun to drive when you are not in constant fear of spinning off.
However, I renewed today and bought the RUF and that seems a definite improvement over some of the others. I also ran a SRF race and it now seems possible to skid and slide a bit without disastrous consequences so that's good.

I had a brief go of the Star mazda.and compared to the Tatuus Abarth single seater its an absolute dog. Now I've never driven a Star Mazda and I am unlikely to but if the IR model is accurate I find it hard to believe a race car could be that bad.

So the RUF and SRF are better, so hats of to IR for that. Will try some more and see if they have changed much.

 

[Bakkster]

Yeah, sounds like the Star Mazda is one of the worst cars. Not everything has reached the level it needs to, but as for the iceRacing thing the most recent content no longer has that problem. I do wonder how long to shake that reputation Eben once it's fixed on all the content.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

It's good that they seem to actually be making progress towards making the cars actually feel and behave like cars and hopefully it will get good enough that I will renew someday. I do find it funny about the Star Mazda though, seems like a couple years ago it was everybody's favorite and widely considered one of the best cars. If it is one of the worst now there may be hope for the place.

 

[Bakkster]

It's good that they seem to actually be making progress towards making the cars actually feel and behave like cars and hopefully it will get good enough that I will renew someday. I do find it funny about the Star Mazda though, seems like a couple years ago it was everybody's favorite and widely considered one of the best cars. If it is one of the worst now there may be hope for the place.

It definitely didn't take to the early NTM very well, and hasn't been updated since. Definitely low hanging fruit for a big improvement on v5.

There are a lot of people who liked the way the OTM drove, namely oversteering at a high yaw angle. That's part of why picking 'fun' as the goal doesn't work. I expect it will become popular again once the sidewall fixes are in and the car doesn't lose stability when crossing 0 yaw angle and all the other glitches. You won't hang the tail out anymore, but it should be incredibly stable and make for solid racing.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Just my opinion but the old tire model was broken as hell but every version of the new tire model I drove was just as broke but in pretty much the completely opposite way...Good to hear it sounds like they are heading down the right road but until I hear alot of good things and major changes on the oval side I will do my racing on AC. If the VHR stock car mod comes to AC I'll probably just write off the money I spent at iracing and not look back.

 

[Bryan O'Connor]

My mini review;

I have tried and it's not for me. The cars i have raced and/or tested seem to have two physics 'states'. Grip and No Grip. The latter is achieved by turning the wheel more than a set amount of degrees (80-90 on my 900 wheel) no matter the speed.
I tested this by loading the Spec Ford, Mazda MX-5 and GT-3 Caddy and i could do the exact same thing - go at anything above 25mph, turn the wheel 90 degrees and the car just spins.
Now i know when i am driving my own car this doesn't happen, and i am glad as the roads would be a bloody mess on the way to and from work.
Cars with slicks do not spin at 30 mph. My van with the cheapest tyres known to the western world on it does not spin at 30mph when i turn the wheel 90 degrees!

The graphics are poor for a game constantly updated (car models are good admittedly). Tracks are lifeless and textures look 10 years old.
I know they probably want people with old hardware to be able to play.... but in 2014 it's not nice.
The tracks themselves are good though. Laser scanning makes a big difference here.

Sounds are very good - engines on some cars are orgasmic. Break squeek is annoying though. Not sure why rFactor and iRacing insist on this on all cars.

Force feedback while ok (it's there) is vague is it can be. If i shut my eyes and drove off track i wouldn't be able to tell through the wheel that this is the case. Nothing to let you know your under/oversteering. Bumps don't register neither does contact with other cars. There is also no difference in feel/force while you are spinning.
AC, R3E, GTR-2, Race 07, rFactor... all have superior 'feel'. The cars seem more alive through the wheel (yes i know this is a 'simulated effect').

The licence thing while a great idea is terribly flawed. Being punted off the track by idiots results in me receiving points off my end of session total, so it takes forever and a day to 'level up'. Example; i just spun off the track and was hit by another car who done the same thing right after me. He hit me several times as we were pirouetting across the grass. I received the 'Contact with car x4/17'. Not a game breaker but annoying all the same.

Also the advertised "Race anytime" is not strictly true. Searching last night i could not find a race to join. And from what people and reviewers had told me it was this massively populated sim.... 1,300 people online is the most i have saw (granted most Yanks are probably only getting home from work when i log off).
And there are not that many people as active as i thought there was. Well fewer than 100k have signed up. A sign that costs are too high?
Why not make some free content to entice people in? I know they rely on the sub service so it's difficult.

Like i said i have tried and i don't really like. I still have most of my 3 months left so i will probably keep popping in and trying.
This is also my opinion and not to be taken as me trying to state 'facts'.
If you enjoy it, great. If you expect to be blown away like i did from what i have heard about this game, then don't get hopes too high!

 

[Niel Hekkens]

Do you have the correct steering settings? Because (like in any other game) it makes a big difference.

These were my settings for a G27:

Settings Ingame
- Wheel range: 870°
- Map range: 870°

- Enable Force Feedback: YES
- Use linear mode: YES

- Strength: 18 (Afhankelijk van auto, in dit geval McLaren MP4-12C)
- Damping: 15%
- Min force: 7.0%

Now I have a Fanatec GT3 wheel and use 900 degrees rotation at the moment. Also 0 damping. The rest is the same.

 

[Bryan O'Connor]

I have tried almost all suggestions i have come across on the interwebs. Nothing makes any difference i'm afraid.
Possibly coming from AC to iRacing doesn't help either as that game is pretty loaded with wheel effects.

 

[Niel Hekkens]

The only 'problem' I had with AC, I had to turn down the FFB strength. The rest are roughly the same for me.

 

[Bakkster]

I tested this by loading the Spec Ford, Mazda MX-5 and GT-3 Caddy and i could do the exact same thing - go at anything above 25mph, turn the wheel 90 degrees and the car just spins.

You say you're spinning in the SRF at any speed above 25MPH, which makes me think one of two things:
1) The iRacing engine just doesn't agree with you (it might just not match the feedback you're expecting from a sim, nothing wrong with that)
2) Something's wrong.

I know just the other day I started losing the rear of the car unexpectedly and couldn't go 25MPH without wiping out. Turned out Logitech Profiler thought I was playing RBR and reduced my wheel to 270 degrees...

I know people who have trouble with the Mazda and Caddy (myself included, don't like either of them right now), but the SRF is probably the car I have the most trouble spinning. I honestly can't get it to go around unless I enter a corner 40MPH to fast and stab the brakes, or nail a curb. Take that with a grain of salt (I remember the SRF when it used to spin if you lifted off the throttle just a bit too much), but my experience with the car is certainly not that. Nothing more than a few small countersteering corrections to keep it on track (stay on the gas to keep the tail planted, it doesn't have enough power to light up the tires).

If you've double checked the wheel and don't think it's a problem, let me try and help. I think I have some time this weekend, I can see if there's anything you're doing that might be causing the issue. Do you have a replay of the spins you're seeing?

 

[vee10]

I'm new to iracing too, bought it with the excellent offer from here. Now enjoying working my way up the ranks, and am absolutely loving it. Had some cracking races and most people seem respectful of your position on track. I have a DFGT with csr elites and i used used these settings i found. Different ones for each car, it made a massive difference to my feedback, you can feel the transition between over and understeer in the MX5. Check out the list of strength settings further down the page.

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/2023748.page

@ Bryan i am sure i saw you in a Mazda MX5 race earlier at summit point raceway, but i think you left the lobby. You missed my first win

 

[Bryan O'Connor]

@ Bryan i am sure i saw you in a Mazda MX5 race earlier at summit point raceway, but i think you left the lobby. You missed my first win

Ha, yeah that was me. Congratulations!
That was the synchronised pirouette i was on about above. Didn't end well

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Damn Bryan, the honeymoon period generally lasts the better part of a year...this is where you are amazed by the tracks and keep buying new cars hoping one of them will drive good...then you hang around another year because you hear about all the new stuff that is coming "soon" and you have faith that everything will be better in the next build or two....By the third year you are kinda pissed because you have spent around a grand in content and the cars drive marginally better than they did years earlier, at best; and all those cool features are still coming "soon".

 

[Bakkster]

By the third year you are kinda pissed because you have spent around a grand in content and the cars drive marginally better than they did years earlier, at best; and all those cool features are still coming "soon".

YMMV

 

[Bryan O'Connor]

You say you're spinning in the SRF at any speed above 25MPH, which makes me think one of two things:
1) The iRacing engine just doesn't agree with you (it might just not match the feedback you're expecting from a sim, nothing wrong with that)
2) Something's wrong.

I know just the other day I started losing the rear of the car unexpectedly and couldn't go 25MPH without wiping out. Turned out Logitech Profiler thought I was playing RBR and reduced my wheel to 270 degrees...

Yeah that's all set at 900. All other settings are what seems to be the general recommendation.

If you've double checked the wheel and don't think it's a problem, let me try and help. I think I have some time this weekend, I can see if there's anything you're doing that might be causing the issue. Do you have a replay of the spins you're seeing?

To be honest i wouldn't want to waste your time. I don't think it's how i have the wheel set up, dialled in or anything else. I just don't get on with the ffb and physics.
Me and iRacing were just not meant to be

 

[Bakkster]

And you're positive the driver isn't trying to apply another set of setting once you get in game?

I'll at least forward you my SRF setup. Maybe it isn't meant to be, but at least it might help you get some use out of your three months.

 

[Chris Partridge]

Bryan - you need to get out of rookie class. Class C and above is sensational racing. Most of the idiots are weeded out by that stage. DX11 and 24-hour lighting is coming to improve the feel of the sim. Great days ahead for racers. Do you drive the Ruf Track and McLaren, Corvette GT1 and Ford GT?Sensational cars on NTM5.

 

[muscimol]

To be honest i wouldn't want to waste your time. I don't think it's how i have the wheel set up, dialled in or anything else. I just don't get on with the ffb and physics.
Me and iRacing were just not meant to be

I'm pretty sure you have something wrong with your configuration. FOV, wheel or something else. Spec Racer Ford is really stable and I simply cannot imagine spinning the car unless you are doing something very wrong.

 

[Stereo]

I'm pretty sure you have something wrong with your configuration. FOV, wheel or something else. Spec Racer Ford is really stable and I simply cannot imagine spinning the car unless you are doing something very wrong.

I found it pretty easy to see spins coming, but how hard they are to provoke is dependent on the corners too... Lime Rock's first 2, with the decreasing radius, really sets you up for a spin, since you keep the weight on the front for so much of the corner. It also doesn't take much excess braking during cornering to spin it out, relative to how sensitively I can adjust my brake pedal. Though TBH while learning the track boundaries of LRP I managed to spin it on pretty much every corner, the curbs are brutal in some places.

I do have fun with the SRF's throttle steer for the most part though, so easy to adjust the direction the car's going.

Weirdest experience I had in the MX5 was braking early to avoid someone else spinning out, taking the corner at 30km/h below usual, and just doing a complete spin in 2nd gear. It didn't feel like it was even going fast enough to make the tires squeak, and the back tires just floated off the track somehow.