Thinking of returning to iRacing

[Philip Antonia]

Hi to all the iRacers here at RD:smile:.

I was one of the lucky buggers to get to drive iRacing b4 the Full public release and it got me into online racing. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to continue after my first month and I've not used it since. I had the original 2 cars plus I'd bought the Skippy to practice in if I'd got my rating high enough at the end of my first month. I think I bought V.I.R raceway and another Oval I think. I know I'll still have these if I rejoin, but I'm wondeing if any of you guys here have any suggestions as to which cars/tracks I may benifit from most early on. I'm not entirely sure how iRacing runs week by week. When I did the first month it was a roadcourse one hour then an oval the next. It would be the same two tracks for a week and then different ones the following week. How has this changed now and how many circuits etc will I need to take part without missing out?

Basically they have sent me an offer to rejoin which runs out on the 20th of March. As it's my Birthday on the 23rd I was thinking of taking it up and asking for iRacing gift vouchers from my family to get me started.

Any thoughts/suggestions or advice will be of great help in my decision process. It's not a case of wether I'll like iRacing as I know I did. I'm just weighing up the value for money/time available to play etc so that I can feel happy with my decision.

Cheers,

Phil.

 

[Marc Good]

How do you have FF settings?
I took the 20 FF strenght for the info thread and 100 in the profiler. But it still feels abit weird.
I am used to the 100% strenght in other games. But with iRacing thats insane.

I got it at 105% in profiler and in iRacing between 7 and 10 depending on the car.

Remember to have read somewhere on the iRacing forums that above 12 (or what ever number, not sure about that) clipping appears.

 

[Ivo Simons]

Oke will check that. Thanks.
I must say i am playing the whole day already. And i found it awesome. First sim where you have a real feeling of driving a car. Awesome.

 

[Steve Emmons]

Here's some interesting info on FFB & clipping, though I didn't find that it changed anything for me...
http://members.iracing.com/iforum/thread.jspa?messageID=518066&

Yep, totally understand. It does suck you in...

What car are you using?

 

[Ivo Simons]

The Rookie cars and i have the Dallara and Skip.

 

[Mark A Warmington]

How do you have FF settings?
I took the 20 FF strenght for the info thread and 100 in the profiler. But it still feels abit weird.
I am used to the 100% strenght in other games. But with iRacing thats insane.

I have mine @ 100%... Just kept dialling it up and am now just used to it (had to start racing with gloves though).

 

[Jack B]

How do you have FF settings?
I took the 20 FF strenght for the info thread and 100 in the profiler. But it still feels abit weird.
I am used to the 100% strenght in other games. But with iRacing thats insane.

I assume you're using the Logitech G25. If so, most people set it up to 105% in the profiler. There are threads in iRacing that show the exact setting for Springs, Dampers etc. I can't remember them all without searching the forums.

As for the iRacing ingame settings, it's pretty easy. You just need to choose whatever feels good to you. There is only one choice to make and that's 1 to 100%. Most people choose lower numbers, but it depends on the car.

Some cars like the Solstice and the Vette have power steering, so I crank it up more. Some cars don't have power steering like the Indycar. The Indycar also has so much grip, that I use a really low setting of around 5. In real life it takes quite a bit of arm strength in an Indycar to battle 4g's without power steering. iRacing has awesome FFB and each car is different and modeled to better match the car, type of steering, steering lock, G's in corners, car weight etc.

In the Soltstice and the Vette I use a much higher setting, because power steering makes it easier to steer and I wanted more forcefull feedback. I can't remember on the Soltstice, but I think I was around 18% or so in the iRacing setting. Vette maybe the same. Skippy I went around 20% or so, but sometimes I move it around depending on whether I want a workout or nice sublte FFB. Definitely the Indycar is the lowest though, because it has a lot of grip and strong FFB.

So, what setting between 1 and 100% if personal preference and car preference. Too much though distorts the FFB, so I recommend using a lower number, so you can feel more subtlies and don't have to fight the wheel.

 

[Mark A Warmington]

...the Vette I use much higher, because power steering makes it easier to steer and I wanted more forcefull feedback.

Snap. In the Late Model 100% kind of aches after a while. I would have turned it down, but I was too lazy . If I invest in the Oval content, or the Indycar, I will probably dial it back down a bit (or just start lifting heavier weights) .

 

[Jack B]

Snap. In the Late Model 100% kind of aches after a while. I would have turned it down, but I was too lazy . If I invest in the Oval content, or the Indycar, I will probably dial it back down a bit (or just start lifting heavier weights) .

Yeah, not only do you get a few more subtlities with lower settings IMO, it saves wear and tear on your wheel. I think iRacing also calculates the diameter of the steering wheel itself. The Indy car has a small wheel and the NASCAR COT has a big wheel. All things being equal, smaller wheels take more force to turn.

 

[Mark A Warmington]

...it saves wear and tear on your wheel.

Should I admit now that there were a few races in the Skippy where I caught the faint scent of overheating FF motor .

 

[Ivo Simons]

Thanks for the info guys. I will give it a go.

 

[Jack B]

Thanks for the info guys. I will give it a go.

I forgot one more thing. Make sure you check the box in options to "save the settings" when you setup a car. That way when you come back to the car it will remember your FFB setting and if you use paddles or H shifter, all your buttons etc.

And don't forget to use the tab key to see the split times feature... There are so many things to learn about the software, that you'll be discovering new features you didn't know about for months.

 

[Philip Antonia]

Well my time with iRacing is running out:frown:. I really enjoyed my first few weeks, but started getting frustrated again with the ratings system. I'd go 3 or 4 totally clean races finishing regularily in the top 3 getting little reward. Then someone would cause a crash and damage my rating only to take 2 or 3 clean races to repair my rating. As time for me is pretty limited I was unable to get my rating up in the 3 weeks available to get my licence up so that I could race something more interesting. Another month of driving the Solstace ahead (I hate the Spec Ford) meant a loss in motivation. Along with work (a new 2nd part time one too) and my Mum needing care after her stroke meant I haven't turned a wheel since. I have about 2 weeks left b4 my membership ends (cancelled it already) and that will probably be it. I don't think I'll ever have the time or money to make iRacing worth while for me as much as I enjoy it when I get the chance:cloudy:.

I've been sim racing since Indycar racing and GP1, but I think my time is coming to an end. Hopefully next year GTR3 and rF2 can rekindle my love of it. Until then I'm not sure what I'll do keep myself going.

 

[Kevin Watts]

Sorry to hear about your situation Philip. A short supply of free time keeps me from playing iRacing as much as I'd like but I found running time trials allowed me to quickly rank up and avoid some of the frustration that can happen with a bad race. Race when you have time and just enjoy it knowing you can repair the damage with a few time trials. When you time trial don't just run the required number of laps to complete the time trial but run as many extra laps as you can as it increases the rating score you get for that time trial. I quickly went from rookie to C class and then onto B by running a few races here and there and then doing time trials to give my rating a little boost.

 

[Mark A Warmington]

Yeah - sorry to hear that Philip. I agree with Kevin. When I was trying to rank up my licence I also would get a little frustrated with the SR hit when someone else crashed. Thing is - that's racing. In fact - I am in that situation right now and plan to run one or two TT's today to get my B licence from 2.90 back above the 3.00 threshhold.

I figure if I run the entire session in TT and just pootle around without a single incident, I should be able to do it in one sitting.

 

[Marc Good]

In fact - I am in that situation right now and plan to run one or two TT's today to get my B licence from 2.90 back above the 3.00 threshhold.

I figure if I run the entire session in TT and just pootle around without a single incident, I should be able to do it in one sitting.

Why don't just go for it and push your SR above 4.00? That way you get instantly promoted if you've completed your MPR.
Don't think the license progression is hard since the introduction of fast track.

I for one had the primary objective of finishing races clean while racing the lower licenses. Although the pace was not my primary concern I could not just let the others push and cruise around myself. That way I had interesting races while sometimes avoiding wrecks due to my safety-oriented approach. Did never really get frustrated with the SR with this approach.

Since I got my A license I don't really care about SR anymore and just race (with the safe racing still in mind as always, but without SR concerns) - my SR is basically always climbing somewhat despite taking some hits from time to time.

 

[Mark A Warmington]

Why don't just go for it and push your SR above 4.00? That way you get instantly promoted if you've completed your MPR....Since I got my A license I don't really care about SR anymore and just race (with the safe racing still in mind as always, but without SR concerns) - my SR is basically always climbing somewhat despite taking some hits from time to time.

That is my plan and that is how I got my B licence in the first place. What I mean is that I need to get back above 3.00 first - as I got caught up in other peoples messes, blew qualifying sessions and dropped from 3.56 to 2.36 (or something like that). I need my 3.00 safety buffer before I can start attacking 4.00 again .

 

[Marc Good]

That is my plan and that is how I got my B licence in the first place. What I mean is that I need to get back above 3.00 first - as I got caught up in other peoples messes, blew qualifying sessions and dropped from 3.56 to 2.36 (or something like that). I need my 3.00 safety buffer before I can start attacking 4.00 again .

Ah, sry. Think I misinterpreted your statement

 

[Mark A Warmington]

Nah - don't think I explained it properly first time around (I'm always short-handing statements, expecting people to know what ok thinking ).