Entry Level Open-Wheeler

[cgr-10]

After numerous recommendations i've decided to get a month or two on iRacing after Christmas, it sounds so much better than any sim i've played.

My question is: Since i'm mainly interested in open wheel racing (IndyCar, F1 etc.) which of the less powerful open wheel cars should I buy first off? The Star Mazda, Lotus, Skippy?

I would like to have a rough indication of how many people race these cars and how hard/easy they are to drive. Cheers

 

[Cowboys965]

Is there Indy lights?

 

[cgr-10]

Is there Indy lights?

I think that's in development, right now they have the Star Mazda and Dallara IndyCar

 

[Cowboys965]

Mazda Road to Indy?

 

[Jav]

Don't worry about buying cars as a rookie, just focus on getting yourself out of there. I'd suggest start off in the SRF, the when you get to D license get in the Skip Barber, C license Star Mazda, B license use the Dallara and finally when you get to A enjoy the FW31!

 

[cgr-10]

Don't worry about buying cars as a rookie, just focus on getting yourself out of there. I'd suggest start off in the SRF, the when you get to D license get in the Skip Barber, C license Star Mazda, B license use the Dallara and finally when you get to A enjoy the FW31!

Cheers Jav, I can't wait to get practicing. Thanks for the advice! 👍

 

[Tom]

Just seen the specs for this, so badly buying it! 3 months for the price of 1? Yes please...

 

[sandboxgod]

Problem is in my humble opinion the Skippy doesnt share much in common with the other f1 cars (lacks downforce, butt slow, & much harder to drive). It's a popular series though so I suppose its worth giving it a shot.

What you might want to try is sticking with the Mazda MX-5 and skip Class D entirely unless you know deep in your heart of hearts you really want to give Skippy a shot. Good news is most Skippy tracks are reused for the other series somewhat. It depends which route you go cause there's Indy, Lotus, F1, & Star Mazda.

I pretty much hate the Skippy through-and-through but I do attend the occasional practice session with it.

* Be warned F1 series doesnt seem too popular (guess it's too easy to drive for the avg iRacer). Star Mazda is the most popular open wheeler along with the Skippy. I must admit Star's backend can spin around on ya if you're not careful similar to how a Skippy behaves. So dont read too much into my criticism about the Skippy. I'm just disappointed with it cause when I watched GT Academy it seemed like their f1 training car (the single seater they kept calling it?) seemed much more akin to a true F1 car with downforce, etc

 

[Tom]

Get the Star Mazda, Tom. 👍

 

[cgr-10]

I probably will get the Mazda when I've got used to the game as i've been told by a few people including yourself that the Skippy is slightly tricky to drive.

Get it and we can race together Tom, when i've had some intensive practice

Can any of you guys give a heads up on the Lotus? How it is to drive and how many people race it 👍

 

[Jav]

Oh man the Lotus is an awesome car to drive! Unfourtunately not a very popular series... You will only find a solid gid on the weekends, but is such a sweet sweet car to drive! I love it!!

 

[cgr-10]

Really? I'm going to have to try it out at some point, maybe in a couple of months

Jav, can you win iRacing credit in game for series/race wins?

 

[sandboxgod]

Well prizes are for the Pros which are above & beyond mere mortals.

now you can earn some credit for doing 8 official race weeks in a series. Anywhere from $4 - $10. So in one year you can earn back $40

I have found the best way to get credit though is through referrals. I'll send you my member info. But also consider Jav or anyone else that spams ya lol.

Btw JAV! I saw you at mid ohio practice for a second last night

 

[Tom]

I probably will get the Mazda when I've got used to the game as i've been told by a few people including yourself that the Skippy is slightly tricky to drive.

Get it and we can race together Tom, when i've had some intensive practice

Can any of you guys give a heads up on the Lotus? How it is to drive and how many people race it 👍

Haha, let's crawl around like a snail to boost our safety rating!

 

[cgr-10]

Up to 40 dollars back a year is pretty awesome.

Yep Tom, start in the pits and drive off the racing line to let the traffic through

 

[WedgeX]

After numerous recommendations i've decided to get a month or two on iRacing after Christmas, it sounds so much better than any sim i've played.

My question is: Since i'm mainly interested in open wheel racing (IndyCar, F1 etc.) which of the less powerful open wheel cars should I buy first off? The Star Mazda, Lotus, Skippy?

I would like to have a rough indication of how many people race these cars and how hard/easy they are to drive. Cheers

get the skip...... its so good, I think the people who don't like it just haven't stuck with it long enough.... its a very light car, the back end gets light very easily especially if you happen to be in a turn on a slopped or downhill section and that means it will spin easily.... so all your inputs have to be very subtle and precise and its one of those things where you need to be focused 100% on where you want the car to go... taking your eyes off the road is death with this car, but even if you get bent out of shape quite bad its often still possible to recover if you keep your eyes down-road

its probably one of the most challenging cars, even after about 6 months it feels like on every New track each week I literally have to re-learn how to drive it for that track .... but once you get past all the spin outs and get a bit consistent its very rewarding - and the racing is better in some ways because everyone is terrified of touching, being that the cars are also very fragile - they damage easily.... ........but honestly since I've actually put the time to practice a bit more I just find it to be a blast, some of the best races I've ever had were with the skip ..

not very powerful but low to the ground and you feel the bumps - so its a better sense of speed with this car...but the force feedback and the new tire model suites this car extremely well.... you feel the car allot more so than some of the others.

If you want a challenge and something that will make you a better driver in iRacing I would highly recommend it.... I've heard the Star Mazda is a good choice if you want something easier to drive (just if you are wondering)

The lotus isn't very popular from what I've heard and make sure you are eligible to race that series, I think you may need to be a B driver to race lotus

 

[cgr-10]

I'll take it into consideration, will probably end up getting both eventually 👍

The Star Mazda is probably easier to drive because of more downforce, just guessing.

 

[Patrocles]

get the skip...... its so good, I think the people who don't like it just haven't stuck with it long enough.... its a very light car, the back end gets light very easily especially if you happen to be in a turn on a slopped or downhill section and that means it will spin easily.... so all your inputs have to be very subtle and precise and its one of those things where you need to be focused 100% on where you want the car to go... taking your eyes off the road is death with this car, but even if you get bent out of shape quite bad its often still possible to recover if you keep your eyes down-road

its probably one of the most challenging cars, even after about 6 months it feels like on every New track each week I literally have to re-learn how to drive it for that track .... but once you get past all the spin outs and get a bit consistent its very rewarding - and the racing is better in some ways because everyone is terrified of touching, being that the cars are also very fragile - they damage easily.... ........but honestly since I've actually put the time to practice a bit more I just find it to be a blast, some of the best races I've ever had were with the skip ..

not very powerful but low to the ground and you feel the bumps - so its a better sense of speed with this car...but the force feedback and the new tire model suites this car extremely well.... you feel the car allot more so than some of the others.

well said! WedgeX, put your name into the directory and I will add you to MyRacer list for some SKB racing.

I started driving the skip this season and it is my first foray into open-wheel cars (I've always been a tin-top pilot). I really hated the car at first, but once I got the hang of it I am now starting to really enjoy my time in the seat!

The racing with the skippy is very good, too. I am a slow pilot using the default setup and run in the second half of the pack and if I don't take myself out I always have some good battles.

 

[WedgeX]

well said! WedgeX, put your name into the directory and I will add you to MyRacer list for some SKB racing.

I started driving the skip this season and it is my first foray into open-wheel cars (I've always been a tin-top pilot). I really hated the car at first, but once I got the hang of it I am now starting to really enjoy my time in the seat!

The racing with the skippy is very good, too. I am a slow pilot using the default setup and run in the second half of the pack and if I don't take myself out I always have some good battles.

Yea I would consider myself fairly slow as well...but there are so many people crashing with this car, recently I've been able to win a few races by the skin of my teeth, which I'm sure was in the slower split but I'll take whatever I can get being its still only my first year in iRacing

 

[Frantikk]

Yea I would consider myself fairly slow as well...but there are so many people crashing with this car, recently I've been able to win a few races by the skin of my teeth, which I'm sure was in the slower split but I'll take whatever I can get being its still only my first year in iRacing

The key to driving the skip is to not drive it as fast as you can and pace yourself worrying about staying on the track and avoiding wrecks. A clean race almost always means a top 5 finish even in the top splits. A lot of the time I can tell by watching the guys in front of me that they are going to wreck each other and I'll back off and wait on it. The more cautious approach has increased my irating a good 700 points this season.

 

[Jav]

The more cautious approach has increased my irating a good 700 points this season.

This is true for all classes on iRacing, follow this aproach and 1/4 of the way in you'll find yourself in a good possition and a great race!