Does anyone use iRacing purely for hotlapping?

  • Thread starter Punknoodle
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Punknoodle

Punknoodle

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I'm an Assetto Corsa guy, love it. Bought Project Cars, find the track roster awesome, but don't much like the rest of it.

Being an Assetto Corsa guy I will be quite honest in saying I'm a hotlap guy. I'm not terribly fast but I'm not useless either. I don't race others often, only tried online a handful of times, don't really do AI races.

Anyway, got suckered in to trying iRacing out because of a deal. I live in 'Straya so of course I bought Bathurst, and I'm in love with Zolder because of Project Cars so I bought that too because it's not in Assetto Corsa and I bought a GT3 car (the Z4) because it's one of the cars I drive most often in Assetto Corsa and I figured I'd get used to iRacing better if I tried out a car I knew on a circuit I knew.

Anyway, that's my background.

So, I like the way the BMW feels at Zolder and Bathurst. I could just do lap after lap and be quite happy, and after a while I could buy more tracks (the ones Assetto Corsa doesn't have anyway) and keep being happy.

I feel I'm wasting it though. I feel like I actually should try.

So I hopped in to the MX-5 cup at Lime Rock and I really have to get used to it (track and car). I somehow managed to do a practice session with some other bloke on the track at the same time (UI is baffling me a little at the moment) and saw I was 2 seconds off his time, and terribly inconsistent. I need to improve a lot in this combination. I know I need to do this in order to use iRacing for it's intended purpose. I know that by starting out in this it will make me better at the handling of iRacing. It's just that I do laps then want to go back to something more.. Exciting.. So I go and hotlap the BMW again at Zolder...

So, does anyone actually maintain their subscription but not build their rating at all? It's a fairly expensive bit of software so not sure if people would use it not to it's fullest potential.
 
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There is a dedicated time trial mode, but I don't think many people use it for anything but getting MPR requirements and a little safety rating. You also have to do it with the track/car combos that are used in the official races that week. But the whole point of iRacing is getting good races with other people, so I wouldn't say it's worth it if you just do time trials.
 
I maintain my subscription but don't do official races. I just do league races. Every once in awhile I'll pop over to an official race if I like the track and car combo but don't run for points. I highly recommend joining a local league that races in your time frame. It's a lot of fun because you race the same people week in and week out.
 
Can't imagine why you would be concerned. Pretty simple for me ... if I am enjoying the game (whatever game it may be) and it fits my budget, I couldn't give a hoot whether others think I'm wasting my time. I like the iRacing Bathurst circuit and often run laps just for fun in the different cars I have acquired. It doesn't need to be formal hot laps to be enjoyable. If you're enjoying yourself and can afford it, do whatever you want. Cheers
 
I did get a 3 month Cadillac Cup membership of iRacing.com a while back. Wasted most of membership by not playing it and did only a few hot lapping sessions. Didn't like the physics and feeling so decided it is not for me. Surprised I got top position as a Rookie with the MX5 Cup at the time with a lot of potential to improve:

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Maybe if I was really into online racing, it would be great for that. Hopefully they one day release a standalone version for people who just like doing time trials.
 
I am going on 5 years as a iRacing member and it takes a big commitment to do the official race regiment. At least for me it did. I race Road racing only, no oval. It was in the Riley DP, which has since been retired. For me to be competitive I had to practice at least a couple hours per day and at least 1 race per week. I won my division by a wide margin, that was a 12 week schedule. I don't race that much lately, which is fine with me. I love getting outside behind the lens in warm weather and race when the extreme cold arrives. So to answer the OP's question, yes I hot lap from time to time, especially after a new car or track is released. Also as the OP mentioned, for the sheer enjoyment of taking a fast car for a blast around the track.
 
I started out racing and built myself up to A class so I could do anything I wanted. After a couple of years I decided that I didn't want to be as cutthroat competitve as many are on the site, so I just go there now to hotlap and read the forums. The reason I hotlap there: the tracks. The 'old' Daytona on iRacing is the only time I ever actually felt the bumps. Their scanning process is second to none. And I can't wait to get on The Ring!
 
Bit of a thread revival but I thought I would give an update. I've been using iRacing for a while now and I still hot lap in various cars. I've bought many of the road circuits (no interest in oval racing) and I've been competing in a few series, Skip Barber and Blancpain Sprint. Really enjoying it!

Not super competitive, I'm normally mid pack and can get near the front if the lead guys make mistakes lol. But I do it for the enjoyment.
 
Punknoodle
Bit of a thread revival but I thought I would give an update. I've been using iRacing for a while now and I still hot lap in various cars. I've bought many of the road circuits (no interest in oval racing) and I've been competing in a few series, Skip Barber and Blancpain Sprint. Really enjoying it!

Not super competitive, I'm normally mid pack and can get near the front if the lead guys make mistakes lol. But I do it for the enjoyment.
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Cool! I actualy thought about your OP the other day and was wondering how you were doing, thanks for the update! :)

For me, With time and content restraints to focus on race prep for official races and especially the BES time slots are terrible for me. I'm mostly a hot lapper. I joined in late Oct 2015 and have my Class A License in both road and oval through mostly TT's. I did do a few league endurance races and the Sebring 12h (P5 in our 1st race together :) -with a team and had a blast, but left the team due to the time restraints. I maybe should have stuck around tho with Spa 24h coming up. Love that place and thanks to GT Academy got pretty decent there.

imo, if you have the time to prepare and focus on a set schedule, the best racin' is in legue racin'. The Official races are a crap shoot or a roulette wheel spin, as far as if you'll get in a decent race with decent competition who actually cares if they finish clean or not. Either way tho, iRacing has been a great investment so far! ...and looking forward to the Winged Sprints on Dirt (coming soon!)! :)
 

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