What you need to start iracing

  • Thread starter Ollie20
  • 13 comments
  • 4,527 views
11
England
England
Hi

After a few years off sim racing I have purchased a New set up. Can anyone tell me the minimum I need to purchase for iracing. I would be looking to run it through a tele due to room. Also best place to buy the bits I have no idea about computers at the moment. Could it be through a laptop and hdmi wire? Also would like to keep the cost down as that all just went on the setup
 
A strong laptop could run it OK, but I would use the iRacing Hardware Test to check. Honestly, I think the video requirements are higher than your normal/mid level laptop spec.

VIDEO CARD
Minimum: A gaming graphics card with at least 2GB of DEDICATED memory Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 / GTX 1050 or ATI Radeon HD 7850 / AMD RX 550 or better

Good news, on PC's even older equipment will work fine. G25, G27, Thrustmasters, DFGT's whatever you used to use should still work, so you can save money there. But if your starting from scratch, those can be found for a song and a dance on the used market. Dial up might be an issue though... considering the comment "run it through a tele" refers to dial up. Its possible you'll be at the edge the lobby's bandwidth limits and getting kicked out occasionally. Truth be told though, I'll have to defer to those that have used dial up to confirm.
 
Ok, if your laptop is a beast your good to go. If its normal, it might be tight... check the link above with the laptop and see what it says.
 
If you have to buy a laptop still, I would recommend building your own pc instead. You can get way more bang for your buck and still display it on your television. Building a pc is simple as long as you watch a few YouTube videos on building a pc.
 
You can buy good PC parts and build it yourself. You don't need a crazy fast PC to play Iracing. Best advice is, do some research before buying anything.
 
The real thing you need to have is mental strength. iRacing is brutal period.

If you reached 2000 Driver Rating in Rookie Mazda, once you try a race in Skip Barber, the slaughter will begin.

Just focus 1 series per season
 
A mental health. Real-world (non-virtual) racing can be traumatizing and extremely difficult (or vice versa, a way to overcome the trauma). Decent PC or laptop, because it matters.

My laptop:
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 740M
CPU: Intel Core i5
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 10
 
The real thing you need to have is mental strength. iRacing is brutal period.

If you reached 2000 Driver Rating in Rookie Mazda, once you try a race in Skip Barber, the slaughter will begin.

Just focus 1 series per season
I get bored if I focus on one series. I have league raced for years and am used to the variety of racing multiple series at the same time. As a result I have to be the same with iRacing.

I'm back on the iRacing train after 4 years away. I've decided to start from scratch with a new account so bring on the Rookies - which is me as well. It has been so long I think all my old experience is irrelevant!
 
The real thing you need to have is mental strength. iRacing is brutal period.

If you reached 2000 Driver Rating in Rookie Mazda, once you try a race in Skip Barber, the slaughter will begin.

Just focus 1 series per season

This is the way to go IMO too. Practice, practice, practice and race as much as you can.

I won't say 2k iR before exiting Rookie Mazda, because it's a Rookie series and sometimes can be a mess, but Production Car Challenge seems fine to me to achieve that. 3k before leaving Skip Barber Race Series seems another good target too. Or never leaving SB at all, it's one of the most beloved cars in the service!

But yes, one series only is needed to give your best.
 
A mental health. Real-world (non-virtual) racing can be traumatizing and extremely difficult (or vice versa, a way to overcome the trauma). Decent PC or laptop, because it matters.

My laptop:
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 740M
CPU: Intel Core i5
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 10

8GB Ram? I did the IRacing equipment check and it said I was good to go EXCEPT for the 8GB Ram. Needed to be 16GB.

And I hadn't even though about running it through a TV. That could save 1K to start. Eventually I want triple screen.
 
I'm planning on running through my TV as well. Mine has 240hz refresh rate so should be good. 65" as well so should be immersive coupled with 7.1 sound.

My 7 yr old PC passed iRacing requirements minus the Ram. Mine has 8gb so I need to either get another 8gb or just upgrade the whole thing. Probably will get 8gb more which will give me time to build a new system.
 
Back