How long to get good?

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zslane

zslane

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Has anyone else out there gone into iRacing without ever having played a racing game or sim before? If so, how long did it take before you were good enough at it to regularly finish in the top split? How long before you were winning races?

I am learning to drive ovals without much guidance (there are no training videos that I know of which are specific to oval racing), so it is taking forever for me to "find speed" on these tracks. Moreover, the tricky coordination that it takes to turn, brake, and accelerate into and out of turns for maximum speed eludes me. But I can't tell if that is just because of my inexperience or because I am just not cut out to (ever) be good at this. I see plenty of rookies out there who are much faster than me...

So I'm looking to hear the experiences of others who had difficulty with this, particularly if you got into it without any prior racing game/sim experience to "jump start" your iRacing career.
 
I had a lot of GT5 experience, but its not the same. It might be better to come in with no experience so you dont have any bad habits that carry over from other games. Its going to take you a good month or so before you feel comfortable enough to race competitively. Until then just get used to the game and do your best to avoid accidents.
 
One thing about most oval cars is that you won't touch the brakes for most tracks at all to setup corners or be fast.

I am no where near as good as the top guys even after being on there for awhile, the top guys are usually pretty much in another world so I would just over look them. Your talent level will even itself out but practicing tracks helps alot. There are some tracks that suit people better than others and you will get the feeling down while racing.

Don't be shy about asking in warm-up for some tips because most will tell ya how to be faster or atleast the right line. One thing I learned from someone where about Class B/Nationwide car was it doesn't like turning while on the gas at all, so to help tires and get a better run, you will need to adjust that.
 
zslane
Has anyone else out there gone into iRacing without ever having played a racing game or sim before? If so, how long did it take before you were good enough at it to regularly finish in the top split? How long before you were winning races?
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I believe the top split racers "have it" I think you either "have it" or don't. Sure you can practice a lot and get better. Myself I have won 2 races, one in the MX-5 and the other with a Riley Prototype. This is a tough race for me to win, up against division 1 racers when I am in division 7.

So I think the aliens are the guys that tore up GT5 and any other race game. I improved but to win I have to get lucky and smart. Just practice a lot. iRacing isn't a game that you plug in and start winning, practice, practice to improve your racecraft.

Seat time = winning.
 
Wilbur
One thing about most oval cars is that you won't touch the brakes for most tracks at all to setup corners or be fast.
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When I began all this last month, the street stocks were on USA International. I didn't have the luxury of staying on the gas the whole time like at Charlotte. The best tip I saw with regard to this was to treat the corners like road course corners, and that helped. A replay posted online also helped a bit.

I spent about three weeks just practicing street stocks at USA. Yes, my lap times improved but they plateaued at around 24.7. And by that time I had time trialed out of rookie and felt comfortable enough to get out and race without worrying too much about losing control. So far I've run three Legends races at USA and my average finish is 7th (with zero incidents). I just can't seem to find speed when in competition. Maybe that's an inexperience thing, maybe I'm just not being aggressive enough, or maybe I just don't "have it" as left888 put it.

Some may wonder about my rig setup. It is pretty basic: Fanatec CSR wheel, CSR Elite pedals, and Thrustmaster TH8 shifter. My PC is a very modest Dell home desktop machine with a Radeon 5770 HD card hooked up to a single 24" display. Right now the weakest aspect of my setup is the monitor; according to the iRacing graphics options, my FOV should be around 30 degrees, but the minimum is 45. So not only is the game world not 1:1, my view is so zoomed in that I can only see what is right in front of me. I don't have any view of the track around the turns--where most wrecks and spinouts occur--so I have to slow way down just to be safe, and I lose a lot of time and any chance of passing any car that was in front of such crashes.
 
Honestly street stocks are horrible for learning to race. It's pretty much an avoid idiots car, that's the only way you will learn to be better. Once you get into the Class C and higher on oval side, things change and you will find out where you need to pick up skills or whatever.

You would been better off with a late model but I wouldn't go buy it either now. I think Legends teach you much better car control with having to be easy on the gas to keep from spinning, the street stock is just horrible all around.
 
Have you tried riding around with the fast guys? Just find the fastest guy in the room and ride around with him in cockpit view. Should give you a basic idea of their racing line and when to get on and off the throttle. I do it on some road course to make sure Im in the right gear for a corner.
 
fatkrakr
Have you tried riding around with the fast guys? Just find the fastest guy in the room and ride around with him in cockpit view. Should give you a basic idea of their racing line and when to get on and off the throttle. I do it on some road course to make sure Im in the right gear for a corner.
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You mean Watching a race? I've only ghosted a couple of races. I've never just spectated and changed cameras like that.
 
I've been into racing games for 28 years. I've been playing iRacing for 3 years. I'm of average speed. Always have been and think I always will be. If an iRacing race goes to two splits I'll either be at the bottom of the top split or the top of the bottom split. I just lack the talent. I've read, watched and studied how to get faster but at the end of the day it makes no difference. I still love racing though and also love iRacing - it's great fun.

So, my answer to

> If so, how long did it take before you were good enough at it to regularly finish in the top split?

is an infinite amount of time if you don't have it in you in the first place.

plus

> How long before you were winning races?

with the way iRacing is set up you can still enjoy the battles and you will win some of the races whatever your skill level.
 
From what I've found, it's not the winning that matters in iRacing as much as finishing consistently toward the top. I've started to focus less on iRating and more on being safer and consistent in lines. Then I'll start trying to go faster to keep up with the big boys. I really have currently been staying in the Solstice and MX-5 to keep drilling consistency into my head. I feel I have no point advancing if I cannot master the basics of driving fast at a low level.
 
As I stated in another thread, make sure that you get iSpeed: http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/310006.page
You can compare how you are doing your laps with how others are doing theirs. For example, I was missing a fair bit of time on USA street stock. When I looked at iSpeed, I saw that the faster guys were braking earlier and longer than I was, but with a lot less brake force. I started doing that and gained a bunch of time right there. It is very helpful for both oval and road. It won't get you alien times if you don't have the talent but you can pick up your major mistakes and gain a bunch of time.

As for me, it didn't take me long to get into the top splits in oval but I haven't won any races yet and I'm not really in any danger of doing so. I find that if you run clean you more often than not finish in the top half and gain irating.
 
In the end it depends how much effort you will put in to win a race, and how long you can go on at a good pace consistently.
 
RCFProd
In the end it depends how much effort you will put in to win a race, and how long you can go on at a good pace consistently.
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This. It's all down to consistently fast pace, and that only comes with a lot of practice. I wouldn't consider 100+ laps of practice during the week before the race to be overkill for someone who wanted to really do well. Watch the fast guys' replays after the race, pay attention to their lines and braking points, and iSpeed is also a very good resource. Also, if you really want to be fast, pick one car and a series and really learn it inside out.
 

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