I’ve been racing a couple of months now, with a FFB wheel and can post good times on qualifying and time trials. However, I’m at a loss with online races. I always get pushed off the track (whether from behind or from the side) and end up losing at least 2 places. I often end up with the penalty and can never get back to where I started. My driver rating has gone right back down to the start of D because I’ve lost so many places or I have quit (I don’t know if that affects DR).
I practice the track and car before races. I have tried being conservative and aggressive during races with both ending up in the same result. My SR is S
I don’t want to quit but I’m just not having fun anymore. Any suggestions?
Quitting a race is very detrimental to your DR, essentially you automatically finish in last place. So, as frustrating as it may be sometimes; if you want to maintain your DR, you should finish every race you start.
Dealing with being punted, rammed and otherwise run off the track is a bit of a different thing. There's entire threads dedicated to that topic. As well as being on the receiving end of a punt and getting a penalty for it. Trust me, a lot of discussion has happened and continues to happen around those facts.
It comes down to finding a driving style that adapts to those around you while still giving you results you are happy with. Some people are only happy if they finish as high up the grid as they possibly can. I can tell you from experience that driving style will result in lots of contact incidents for you but some people are okay with that. Other people have adopted a style of hyper-vigilance and have made avoiding contact at all costs their preferred style of racing. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.
I'm not going to ramble on too much here but take some time to read the penalties thread, the daily race thread and the FIA thread. All of these things are discussed in great detail by people with more experience and racecraft than I. Also, there are numerous YouTubers that discuss these things as well. SuperGT is one of everyone's favorites. Personally, I learned a lot from watching EERIEISSSS when it comes to racecraft and thinking of the larger picture rather than the immediate situation in front of you. He channel goes by Rory Alexander now and mainly focuses on iRacing but his library is worth browsing, IMO. Tidgney has an amazing Driving School where he not only talks about driving skills but many of the situations you will encounter in racing, as well. There are many other excellent channels, as well.
I'm sorry, I don't think there's anything I can give you in a single post other than people share your frustrations and there's resources out there that can help you both in dealing with them and becoming a better driver.
