Newb, with lots of questions

  • Thread starter Smokeyr67
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Smokeyr67

Smokeyr67

3
Australia
Australia
Hi Guys,

I'm seriously thinking of joining iRacing, but before I lay out some cold hard cash, I have a few questions.

1. Internet issues - at the moment my internet isn't fantastic, so is ping an issue?
2. How do the series / promotion work - I have no desire to compete in (e.g.) Nascar, do I have to do that to climb up the licence ladder?
3. the dreaded hardware question - I'm thinking of going for thrustmaster gear, TS PC wheel and T3-PA pedals, mainly for availability and price, I know that there are more popular options available, but I'd like your opinion on the thrustmaster stuff.
4. Is there a solo practice "mode"?

Thanks

Shane
 
Smokeyr67
Hi Guys,

I'm seriously thinking of joining iRacing, but before I lay out some cold hard cash, I have a few questions.

1. Internet issues - at the moment my internet isn't fantastic, so is ping an issue?
2. How do the series / promotion work - I have no desire to compete in (e.g.) Nascar, do I have to do that to climb up the licence ladder?
3. the dreaded hardware question - I'm thinking of going for thrustmaster gear, TS PC wheel and T3-PA pedals, mainly for availability and price, I know that there are more popular options available, but I'd like your opinion on the thrustmaster stuff.
4. Is there a solo practice "mode"?

Thanks

Shane
Click to expand...


1. Yes ping can be a issue so you want a good solid internet connection.

2. There are 2 licenses. 1 for oval and 1 for road. You can do one or both up to you. You don't have to do any oval racing if you only want to do road course stuff and vise versa. To race upper series races you do have to "climb the ladder" so to speak but that's for the iracing official series races. You can race whatever car you want in hosted races no matter the license unless the person hosting the room put a license restriction on it.

3. I'm a fanatec guy myself so I cant comment on thrustmaster gear. Any newer wheel/pedal set will be fine. Higher end gear doesn't make you faster.

4. Yes there is a test mode where you can practice by yourself for as long as you want.
 
Thanks MadRR, I'll set myself up and do a bit of net testing, then look at buying a new wheel/pedal setup (I wish I could find some good drivers for my 1990's era logitec wheel, but life goes on)
 
Smokeyr67
Thanks MadRR, I'll set myself up and do a bit of net testing, then look at buying a new wheel/pedal setup (I wish I could find some good drivers for my 1990's era logitec wheel, but life goes on)
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No problem. If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask.
 
New newb with questions:

What will this game cost me on a monthly average.

In the feels department is it comparable to project cars 2? If not what are the biggest diffrences.
 
Mr Tree
Yeah I do realise that do you need to buy a lot of tracks?
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You don't need to, no. You get several cars and tracks for free. As you progress the higher series will use non-free tracks/cars that you'll have to buy if you want to participate in that race, but you don't need to buy every track for the season unless you want to. A buddy and I just took the plunge, we studied the schedule to decide what content we'd get the most use out of. You get a 10% discount if you buy three or more pieces of content (car or track) at once so we figure out which three tracks would get us the most use from the series we had available to us and we managed to have something to race for 11 weeks out of the 12 week season.

So for about $40 (on top of $8/month for the subscription) we managed to get a nearly full season of racing open to us, not bad IMO. Next season we're going to do the same, study the schedule to see which tracks we'll get the most use out of and buy three more at the 10% discount, after a few seasons we'll have a pretty good library of content built up which will allow us to participate in even more races.

And in short how does the 'regulated' racing work?
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You have a safety racing that represents how clean you race, and an iRating which represents how fast/strong you race, the two are totally independent of each other. In order to move up to the higher series with the more interesting cars you need to improve your safety rating (and do races that qualify for your advancement) which will eventually move you up to the next higher license. Just avoid contact and going off track and it's pretty easy to move your safety rating up so you can get promoted to the next license and drive more interesting cars. Your safety rating doesn't care at all about your finishing position or how fast you are. You get "incident points" during a race for every contact, spin, or off and if you get 17 points in a race you get DQ'd.

Your iRating is determined by your performance compared to other drivers in the field. Generally if you finish in the top half your iRating improves, if you finish in the lower half it decreases. Your iRating is used to determine which "split" you get into, they split the field based on driver skill which in theory puts you in races with people of similar skill to yours and makes for closer racing. That's all your iRating is used for, it has no bearing in improving your license or opening up new classes of cars.

Hope that makes sense. It's all kinda complicated and not spelled out very well so it took me a while to grasp how it all works but now that I mostly understand it the whole system makes a lot more sense and so far for me has provided some really entertaining racing. It's kinda like the ultimate career mode, your safety rating is kinda like currency and if you get into crashes or incidents you lose some of your currency, if you keep it clean you gain currency and get promoted to higher series.
 
Newb, here as well! Been on ps4 for yrs and Im finally deciding to make the switch! I will be picking up a PC today i hope, or at least ordering one. This decision was super tuff, because i had to leave my league behind that I started, and all my buddies as well :(, but this is what i need to full fill my passion! Pcars2 and Gt are just not good enough :banghead:. Pcars2 is still limited With growing pains and gt has zero feel when driving :nervous:. Im sure i will have more questions to come :D
 
Ive been on Iracing for a week now, i love the drive and feel of this game! I cant believe I waited this long to jump on PC. I still encounter a bad driver from time to time, but hands down the driver level is so much more courteous! Im in the process of grinding it out in the MX-5 at laguna just so i can level up to a 4.0 rookie rating, then i will purchase another car and the tracks i will need for the series. I can only assume that once i spend a bit more money the drivers will get even better.
 
mphile77
Ive been on Iracing for a week now, i love the drive and feel of this game! I cant believe I waited this long to jump on PC. I still encounter a bad driver from time to time, but hands down the driver level is so much more courteous! Im in the process of grinding it out in the MX-5 at laguna just so i can level up to a 4.0 rookie rating, then i will purchase another car and the tracks i will need for the series. I can only assume that once i spend a bit more money the drivers will get even better.
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Check out precision racing league here: http://precisionracingleague.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=107

We are heading into round 7, but I jumped in the series at round 5. You will have to buy either the Ferrari 488GTE or the Ford GT and some more tracks to finish the season, but it's worth it. The competition is tough and the racing is hard but very clean. Next race is at Sebring.

The race schedule is simple:
Monday night: Free practice 1 (2 hours)
Tuesday night: Free practice 2 (3 hours) qualifying (15 minutes) race (45 minutes)

If you are interested and have any questions let me know.

Something else you may want to look into is trading paints for iracing. Check it out here: https://www.tradingpaints.com
This will allow you to build more customized livery's for your car as well as see other drivers custom paints in the game.
 
demeaning pie
Check out precision racing league here: http://precisionracingleague.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=107

We are heading into round 7, but I jumped in the series at round 5. You will have to buy either the Ferrari 488GTE or the Ford GT and some more tracks to finish the season, but it's worth it. The competition is tough and the racing is hard but very clean. Next race is at Sebring.

The race schedule is simple:
Monday night: Free practice 1 (2 hours)
Tuesday night: Free practice 2 (3 hours) qualifying (15 minutes) race (45 minutes)

If you are interested and have any questions let me know.

Something else you may want to look into is trading paints for iracing. Check it out here: https://www.tradingpaints.com
This will allow you to build more customized livery's for your car as well as see other drivers custom paints in the game.
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What time zone? Im in the eastern standard time zone.
 
mphile77
What time zone? Im in the eastern standard time zone.
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Eastern time zone. The guys that I race with are all on the same time zone. I'm in Florida, couple of them are in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania.

Tuesday race day starts at 6PM eastern and the race starts at 9:15PM and runs 45 minutes. I'm usually logged off around 10:15-10:30 after the race (5am work alarm comes quickly). One of the guys I race with hosts his own session(s) for practice as we are all racing the 488GTE. We share set ups and help each other find speed. You of course can practice the track on your own in a test setting as well.
 
demeaning pie
Eastern time zone. The guys that I race with are all on the same time zone. I'm in Florida, couple of them are in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania.

Tuesday race day starts at 6PM eastern and the race starts at 9:15PM and runs 45 minutes. I'm usually logged off around 10:15-10:30 after the race (5am work alarm comes quickly). One of the guys I race with hosts his own session(s) for practice as we are all racing the 488GTE. We share set ups and help each other find speed. You of course can practice the track on your own in a test setting as well.
Click to expand...
Im in PA so this could work out! I alsohave a 5am wake upcall for work! Im still figuring stuff out, plus i have another buddy @Br1mann that might be interested down the stretch?
 
mphile77
Im in PA so this could work out! I alsohave a 5am wake upcall for work! Im still figuring stuff out, plus i have another buddy @Br1mann that might be interested down the stretch?
Click to expand...

I will check with the guys I am running with and see if I can get you on board with our sessions if you are interested. The guys have helped me get everything sorted, and I mean everything. For the time being you can add me to your iracing friends list Erik Luke2. Our group has every level of racer in it, from the stupid fast to the total noobs. It's overwhelming getting started, and these guys have helped me along.
 
demeaning pie
I will check with the guys I am running with and see if I can get you on board with our sessions if you are interested. The guys have helped me get everything sorted, and I mean everything. For the time being you can add me to your iracing friends list Erik Luke2. Our group has every level of racer in it, from the stupid fast to the total noobs. It's overwhelming getting started, and these guys have helped me along.
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Sounds like a good spot to be, thanks!
 
MadRR
1. Yes ping can be a issue so you want a good solid internet connection.

2. There are 2 licenses. 1 for oval and 1 for road. You can do one or both up to you. You don't have to do any oval racing if you only want to do road course stuff and vise versa. To race upper series races you do have to "climb the ladder" so to speak but that's for the iracing official series races. You can race whatever car you want in hosted races no matter the license unless the person hosting the room put a license restriction on it.

3. I'm a fanatec guy myself so I cant comment on thrustmaster gear. Any newer wheel/pedal set will be fine. Higher end gear doesn't make you faster.

4. Yes there is a test mode where you can practice by yourself for as long as you want.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your answer to author.Thet help me!
 

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