iracing.com

[Eric.]

Can the Street Stock's transmission be adjusted? I can't get it above 92 MPH.

Rear end gear. The oval cars all come with baseline setups for all the tracks it goes to.

 

[tissimo]

Clutch pedal dies, now my pc dies..

Lol

 

[Jav]

Clutch pedal dies, now my pc dies..

Lol

Man my clutch died this weekend too, kind of... The input the sim is reading are completely crazy!

In a completely different note, nice technical piece by Shawn Cole:

 

[Blaze_409]

I was having one of the best races ever just now in the Mazda at Okayama.

Started 4th, overtaken in turn 1 and then again in turn 3 so I was down to 6th place. Then a few mightly laps put me in 3rd place and battling hard with the guy in second who was running a little slower than me.

Then around 10 laps into the race, the fire alarm went off. So I pulled to the side of the track, grabbed my coat and made my way out of my flat and into the courtyard. As I walked outside there stood an evil little woman with her evil clipboard with that evil look on her face, directing her minions (Student reps) to check that the flats were empty. Stupid fire drill ruined my race!!! When I came back I was 5 laps down and stone-dead last. I managed to take two places from some guys who had retired to the pits but after that it was impossible to make any more gains.

I think it's a conspiracy, the guy in second place organised the fire drill

http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=5089830&custid=86901

lolol. One time the fire alarm(unscheduled) went off while everyone in my hall including me was sleeping....at 3am in the morning!...I went out but my roomate said 🤬 that and kept sleeping even though the alarm beeps two feet above the beds lol.

If i was in a race..unless i smell smoke..Im keeping my foot planted...


Soo...will iRacing be updating Daytona to include the charred surface from tonight? TF was Montoya doing lolol. Blown tire? strange accident fortunately everyone ok.

 

[left888]

Soo...will iRacing be updating Daytona to include the charred surface from tonight? TF was Montoya doing lolol. Blown tire? strange accident fortunately everyone ok.

That was wild wasn't it? I thought for sure they were going to call the race. Man what a long week that was, it took three days to watch it .

In a completely different note, nice technical piece by Shawn Cole:

That was a great informative video, thanks for posting it

 

[Patrocles]

I've been playing Gran Turismo since the first one, absolutely loved all of them. When I started iRacing in 2008 I found myself more and more disappointed with the GT series, but I still played it just because of all the different tracks and cars available. I bought GT5P and GT5 when it finally came out, still played them occasionally. But as time went on, everything just felt so dead. Nothing felt *right* after spending so much time playing iRacing (and rFactor), it's difficult to describe, but the cars felt too similar too eachother, and the tracks felt dead. For the last 6 months or so I find myself not even able to force myself to play GT5 or Forza.

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I have had an similar experience.

As others have pointed out the Forza/GT series is made for the masses so everything is made easy (forgiving physics, short races, gamepad control, simple/smooth track surfaces). GT5 is still fun for many things to many many many people, but I rarely touch it these days.

 

[Nastradamus87]

...Nice work on the 5th for 3200 SOF , I have to ask when (Day/GMT) did you find a SOF that high, the highest I've been in would be about 2600 (not that I could really compete but would still be nice to see it).

Sorry, keep forgetting to check this info when I'm at home. It was on a Saturday around 19:00 GMT. It was a rediculously fast field.

 

[Mac K]

Watching the 500 last night makes me want to buy the Impala for no reason! Must..resist..

 

[jjaisli]

No, don't do it! At least, not yet.

Coming from the PS3 and games like GT, which is really more of a car culture game with lots of car choices, there's a big temptation to buy and try the different cars. You have to think of iRacing as a whole slew of different racing 'series' that you can run, rather than as a single game. If you want to get the feel for a cup car, you can always try the Street Stock car and enter one of the Rookie Oval series.

The best suggestion I can give you, is work your was past Rookie level by improving your safety rating. And then, even with the MX5 or Solstice, you'll have more series options than just the Mazda Cup. (Although this will mean buying more tracks).

 

[sandboxgod]

I tried both ways when I joined.

On road side I was impatient, bought a bunch of stuff, and jumped into series before I was ready and my iRating suffered

On oval side I learned from my mistakes, took my time, and my iRating was/is flying high.

So my advice to you is to take your time and not rush through the licenses. I did buy that Late Model tho but its too much car for me. I'm going back to rookie or advanced rook (Street Stocks)

 

[swiftwilly]

Turn 1....argh..people need to have their ego checked, 0.1seconds aint going to make a difference in the first turn. I find (in lower splits), people just pushing it way too hard at the start. Let some small gaps appear in between cars, if your faster, your going to catch up regardless.

It also dissapoints me greatly that lower split drivers don't seem to adjust braking points according to race conditions, they seem to have a "I brake here during testing so I will brake here no matter what" despite having heavy traffic up ahead of behing behind another car and gaining some draft.

I hope iracing releasese MPC soon, I don't think I will race the Skip next season. Its fun, but I find that I am more focused on trying not to spin out as opposed to actually enjoying racing. I am comparing this only to the other car I have driven extensively, the Mx5, where I was more focused on where people were in the race, what position I am, what lap times I am doing etc. with the skip, every corner your thinking "brake here or there, adjust steering, hope you don't spin out etc." Also, it is a SR/irating killer in every sense of the way, whilst fun, the lower irating is killing my enjoyment as I am constantly placed in lower SOF which drivers include the ones I have menetioned above. I am sure skips are hell fun in higher SOf and with greater skill. Good learning progress, I don't regret it, I want the MPC or I might race the HPD.

 

[Mad94d]

Yeah, top split is often cleaner racing. Mostly people drive to the conditions which is good.

Just hit a 57.480 in Skippy Qualifying at Lime Rock. Pretty happy with that to be honest! Might do a few races shortly too.

 

[sandboxgod]

You need to push to the star Mazda. It feels like a buffed skippy. Very fun to drive! I tire of multi class racing. Wish I had the speed for star.

Also it doesn't always split so u can find high Sof races

edit- My point, I noticed in Skippy even though I finshed in the top half of the field I lost iR. In Prototypes & GT I usually gain a little or stabilize due to the high SOF. In the low splits in Skippy, they dont seem to pay out very much iR. It's like a mud hole. Hard to drive clean due to all the wrecks around in the low splits yet when you do prevail inspite of all the odds the damn sim wants to be super stingy with the iR.

 

[swiftwilly]

You need to push to the star Mazda. It feels like a buffed skippy. Very fun to drive! I tire of multi class racing. Wish I had the speed for star.

Also it doesn't always split so u can find high Sof races

edit- My point, I noticed in Skippy even though I finshed in the top half of the field I lost iR. In Prototypes & GT I usually gain a little or stabilize due to the high SOF. In the low splits in Skippy, they dont seem to pay out very much iR. It's like a mud hole. Hard to drive clean due to all the wrecks around in the low splits yet when you do prevail inspite of all the odds the damn sim wants to be super stingy with the iR.

SPOT ON. Hence why I am in this rut.

Currently 0.58 on LRP.

 

[sandboxgod]

I just dropped 40+ laps in the Star Mazda at mid ohio at a practice session. I think I will finally finish mid pack for the 1st time ever or close to it. I am usually dead last. I am glad I did those skippy races cause I learned a lot more. I am getting a little faster....

I might do it this weekend. I am feelin' that good. Might do my 1st race in the Star Mazda. Not going to expect the world. Just want to earn some seat time.

 

[isamu]

You need to push to the star Mazda. It feels like a buffed skippy. Very fun to drive! I tire of multi class racing. Wish I had the speed for star.

Also it doesn't always split so u can find high Sof races

edit- My point, I noticed in Skippy even though I finshed in the top half of the field I lost iR. In Prototypes & GT I usually gain a little or stabilize due to the high SOF. In the low splits in Skippy, they dont seem to pay out very much iR. It's like a mud hole. Hard to drive clean due to all the wrecks around in the low splits yet when you do prevail inspite of all the odds the damn sim wants to be super stingy with the iR.

So basically you have to be pretty much FLAWLESS at *all* times throughout the duration of the race, and if you so much as *graze* another car, it's race over? That sounds waaay too unforgiving and stressful, and a bit masochistic to be honest.

 

[sandboxgod]

Oh it's not quite that bad... Skippy is a Class D series so you get a full repair. But it can be rough....

I forget tho- never rate a series by Watkins Glen. And LRP can be a tough one too (well at least in the Prototypes & GT series it was high risk).

I plan to try Skippy again honestly. Especially for oulton park. I am not going to give up on that car again.

 

[swiftwilly]

So basically you have to be pretty much FLAWLESS at *all* times throughout the duration of the race, and if you so much as *graze* another car, it's race over? That sounds waaay too unforgiving and stressful, and a bit masochistic to be honest.

Mate, I am going to disagree with sandbox and say it is. But the stress and unforgiveness is more to do with the car and not people hitting each other. The car is really difficult, I always see cars spin out and if your behind them, it pretty much means the end of your race. I know other cars is the same, but just Skips are more accident prone - and I don't mean by crashes but simply self induced errors. I mean by the very nature of the car it is suppose to teach driving so there is less downforce, grip etc, hence many people have accidents!

I am not a good driver by all means, but I don't think I am that bad to lose -300 irating and -1.0 SR in 3 races....my ttrating and irating has deviated from each other by so much (they should sort of reflect each other). my tt is at 1300+, my irating is 900, gives you some kind of idea of races vs racing by yourself.

However, word of warning, I am in low SOF.

 

[Hwangm]

yup skippy is FUN, certainly not one you can took a nap when you have 5 laps to go.

 

[Mad94d]

Skippy is a great car but due to the low aero and low power the racing is really close. Problem is they're hard to drive. So packs of cars, hard to drive = massive accidents involving multiple cars when 1 driver makes a mistake.

When you get into faster cars the fields become more spread out and it's normally 2 cars max that get involved in one accident. HPD for example, when you make a mistake in that it normally fires you ridiculously fast off the road and into a wall. Normally, it's only 1 car involved.

As Swiftwilly said though too, bottom split is not the place to be. Qualify at the front in top split (easier said than done) and you're normally fairly safe.

 

[Imari]

The Skippy rewards driving well. It's a training car, so it's designed to bite hard when you cock up. The Star Mazda or the Williams will let you get away with stuff that is sub-optimal without spitting you off the race track. The Skippy will inform you in no uncertain terms that you're doing it wrong.

It's not an unpredictable car (as long as you've set it up right, which is another thing). It's perfectly predictable. There is no "hope I don't spin out". If you're feeling that, you're driving too fast.

It's great, because knowing these things, and knowing how awfully hard they are to drive you can adjust your race strategy. You don't race wheel to wheel with people because the risk of damage from minor contact is too great. You hover in what in a road car might be called their blind spot and wait for a mistake. You pick a target lap time that is within your capabilities and stick to it religiously so that you don't end up driving beyound yourself. You remember that it's a long race, and that at least half the field will put themselves into a wall with absolutely no help from anyone.

The first corner carnage is something that there isn't much to be done about, but there are options. If I'm starting in the front third of the grid I'll usually just go for it. If I'm further back than that I'll usually deliberately get a slow start and try to filter to the back and to one side to give myself room to manoeuvre. I'd rather be near the back of the field in lap one and two and then make up positions later, it seems to be safest. Note that getting a good slow start is a bit of an art form in itself, you want to be slow enough that people overtake you easily but not so slow that people ram you from behind.

 

[swiftwilly]

Some good tips there Imari!

Doesn't anyone else here think that its not very realistic that starting at the back of the grid will net you a better finish vs qualifying, getting a good time and starting from front of the grid? Its quite annoying and not vey realistic at all....probably has to be one of my biggest peeves of this game. Really makes you feel your in a game with 12 year olds as opposed to proper drivers.

 

[Mad94d]

Doesn't anyone else here think that its not very realistic that starting at the back of the grid will net you a better finish vs qualifying, getting a good time and starting from front of the grid? Its quite annoying and not vey realistic at all....probably has to be one of my biggest peeves of this game. Really makes you feel your in a game with 12 year olds as opposed to proper drivers.

Depends how far you are at the front of the grid. Racing in real life always has mid pack carnage so I think it is realistic. Unless you're on the front row, I'd never say your safe even against the best drivers. In the end, most of us are playing games because we love racing and never got the opportunity in real life. In most cases that means less skill, so if professional race drivers struggle to do it what hope to bottom split iracers have?

 

[superbike81]

Starting from the pits virtually guarantees you can avoid any lap 1 carnage, but what if there isn't any? What if nothing happens on lap 2? What if there is a race with zero major accidents? You can get those once you get into races with people you know and people are ACTUALLY held accountable for their actions. This is what racing in a league gives you. If you divebomb someone and cause a huge wreck, you can be guaranteed the real race marshall will penalize you heavily in the next race.

In these pickup races there really isn't much accountability because unless you are blatantly trying to crash others, Nim isn't going to do much.

In the league race Eric and I had last week we went the last 45 minutes without a major incident at Barber with a field of 41 multi-class cars. You can get good racing out there, it's just a little harder to find in low SOF pickup races.

 

[swiftwilly]

Depends how far you are at the front of the grid. Racing in real life always has mid pack carnage so I think it is realistic. Unless you're on the front row, I'd never say your safe even against the best drivers. In the end, most of us are playing games because we love racing and never got the opportunity in real life. In most cases that means less skill, so if professional race drivers struggle to do it what hope to bottom split iracers have?

No way. I have watched real life racing, turn 1 accidents in iracing happens much more often. But anyway, because its a game, the fear of damage, getting hurt etc goes out the window and therefore people take more risks.

Well at least I will always have my ttrating to show.

 

[redreevos]

Picked up the Mustang today. I have had it for all of about 12 hours, but I am really enjoying it. It is a heavy beast, that took a little bit to get used to after driving the much lighter spec racer ford.

Once I got the hang of braking earlier than expected, and accelerating earlier than anticipated, I found some decent lap times.(I think)

As I don't have any iRacing tuning under my belt.. I have only done one thing to the car.. That is add the rear ARB at soft. It doesn't appear it even has a bar attached if going with the stock setup. Well, that and drop down the gas in the fuel tank for running some time trials.

I ended up joining a race after running a couple time trials. I was running second behind a driver with 4000+ iRating, with over a 10 second lead on third. When, sputter, sputter, sputter.. out of gas. DOH! This was the first car I have ever touched the gas tank. I sure learned a lesson. Instead of finishing 2nd, I finished 13th.

If anyone has a setup they wouldn't mind sharing for the Mustang, I would appreciate it. My name on the service is Rees Gould.

I am down to a 1'45.2xx at Okayama full, and I hope with a little tuning help, I can hit a 1'44. Thanks guys!

 

[swiftwilly]

I don't think I will resub another year after this one. It is a good game, but not I am not finding enjoyment out of it - I think the SR could use a bit of tweaking and find better ways of fixing it as opposed to just focusing on tracks and cars etc.

Just my 2 cents. I am sure there are other guys who haven't got hit in the last 10 races, but for me. I am getting hit almost every race. They are still fresh in my mind...
Week 1 - Mid Ohio - first 3 races hit at turn 1. Had a good 3 other races.
Week 2 - Brands Hatch - 2 or 3 hits, 1 good race
Week 3 - Watkins - 1 good race and I bailed straight away after and never raced again haha...
Week 4 - LRP - 3 out of 3 hits. 0 good races.

I might have to try what superbike mentioned and hit a league instead. These public races just suck...

Anyway, I got some nice advise from fellow GTP's, I am going to ignore my SR, irating and just enjoy the game. I cannot get demoted below D Class and I don't think my irating can ever go to 0 so whatever....I might just concentrate on ttrating as a way to compete with other people. At least the only thing that can hit me in time trails is the wall !


EDIT// forgot to add, this probably is just the Skip series I am gathering? I might try to go fast tracked and race another car.

 

[redreevos]

Well. Decided to run a couple more laps. Ran a 1'45 flat, but alas no '44. I am starting to wonder if the auto-clutch is slowing me down.

@SwiftWilly.. I am finding I am having less incidents as my iRating increases. With the higher SOF people seem to be a little more aware of their surroundings. I also try and set a qualification time before joining as well. That way if I get in a lower SOF, I am usually near the front, and can quickly create a gap to the "wreckers." So, I think if you keep at it, you will get better and better races.

 

[superbike81]

Swiftwilly: I think you are jumping the gun here. If you genuinely aren't enjoying the game, then by all means quit. But if you aren't enjoying it because of the races you are currently experiencing just give it time. You've got to get your iRating up in order to get away from the noobs who just don't care. I've never had an iRating higher than 2200 but I noticed once I got into the 1500 range the racing gets so much better, significantly less stupid incidents.

For now, to get your iRating and SR up, you need to be overly cautious. Start from the pits, stay behind people for as long as you have to in order to make a safe pass and just be generally patient. Normally a top 6 or so finish in a field of 10 will get you positive iR so don't worry about fighting for the podium, just sit back, relax and you will find that your iRating will hit 1500 no problem. You might even get a win or two doing this.

But if you really can't take the poor racecraft you see now, you should consider a league. But if you are only going to do league racing, I would recommend rFactor, GTR, or any of the other upcoming sims. That way you spend less money overall, but still get great racing and a huge variety of cars. I like both pickup and league racing so I stick with iRacing mostly.

 

[Patrocles]

So basically you have to be pretty much FLAWLESS at *all* times throughout the duration of the race, and if you so much as *graze* another car, it's race over? That sounds waaay too unforgiving and stressful, and a bit masochistic to be honest.

Oh it's not quite that bad... Skippy is a Class D series so you get a full repair. But it can be rough....

I forget tho- never rate a series by Watkins Glen. And LRP can be a tough one too (well at least in the Prototypes & GT series it was high risk).

I plan to try Skippy again honestly. Especially for oulton park. I am not going to give up on that car again.

As sandboxgod said it is not that bad. The game is realistic in that you cannot 'rub paint' with open wheel cars without expecting damage as compared to tintops! The game also forces you, the pilot, to think of the other cars around you. The races are >20 lap affairs. iRacing does not need any kamikaze pilot running 3 lap races as a demolition derby. iRacing teaches racecraft.

Drive fast, safe, and consistent and you will do well in iRacing.
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