Advice iRacing

[Jupitus]

I took the plunge and signed up for 3 months on iRacing... I know a few of you have played this so any advice on offer @caLLous @ECA @Gumbo ?

 

[Gumbo]

Spend time practicing before jumping into races. Don't get frustrated with people crashing into you, it gets better when you get out of rookies, so focus on finishing races cleanly and don't worry about results. You can get out of rookies in a handful of races if you're safe. Then start to learn your craft. The Skippies are great fun and teach you a lot about car control and momentum so don't feel you need to rush to get into the GT cars or Formula 3 etc.

When you're ready to take it more seriously and start endurance racing then hit me up if you want to get into a team. You need to be able to drive at 90% of your ultimate pace for hours on end to do 24hr races and that's haaaard.

Mostly have fun, and prepare your bank account for the upgrades. I think I'm about £3k or so into my rig and I've probably spent the least in my team..

 

[Moriath]

Spend time practicing before jumping into races. Don't get frustrated with people crashing into you, it gets better when you get out of rookies, so focus on finishing races cleanly and don't worry about results. You can get out of rookies in a handful of races if you're safe. Then start to learn your craft. The Skippies are great fun and teach you a lot about car control and momentum so don't feel you need to rush to get into the GT cars or Formula 3 etc.

When you're ready to take it more seriously and start endurance racing then hit me up if you want to get into a team. You need to be able to drive at 90% of your ultimate pace for hours on end to do 24hr races and that's haaaard.

Mostly have fun, and prepare your bank account for the upgrades. I think I'm about £3k or so into my rig and I've probably spent the least in my team..

What have you spent 3k on?

 

[Jupitus]

Thanks @Gumbo ... I have watched quite a few races streamed so have a basic understanding and you advice backs up what I thought - practice then steady and clean laps are crucial to progression. I am not going to delve into any DLC for now, just take it as it comes, and forget endurance stuff - I had a weak bladder even before I got old!

@Moriath I would guess hardware (wheels / pedals etc) rather than DLC, although that can also add up, I understand...

 

[Gumbo]

What have you spent 3k on?

Don't make me actually work it out!!

Um, 4 wheels, and a wheelbase, pedals, shifter. All Fanatec.

Simlab 8020 rig and Monitor stand plus seat.

Triple Monitors and VR.

Computer itself, and then iRacing content...

 

[MYstIC G]

I took the plunge and signed up for 3 months on iRacing... I know a few of you have played this so any advice on offer @caLLous @ECA @Gumbo ?

Find something to help you reach the peddles

 

[Ono]

Nice. I love PC racing at the moment. Mainly on AC,ACC, AM2, PC2 and even KartKraft.

Only got the Logi G920 but it is pretty decent for my current needs but alongside the Valve Index it is sublime.

Not serious enough a racer to do iRacing though.

 

[Jupitus]

Find something to help you reach the peddles

CNUT

 

[Moriath]

I got a wheel that still works. I tired it on something or other. Its old tho. Only a break and accelerator and i think i got it for gt on ps4 when it came out. Maybe even ps3. Lol

 

[Moriath]

Don't make me actually work it out!!

Um, 4 wheels, and a wheelbase, pedals, shifter. All Fanatec.

Simlab 8020 rig and Monitor stand plus seat.

Triple Monitors and VR.

Computer itself, and then iRacing content...

Ah you went the whole cockpit jobbie. Whos the cock in the pit lol.

 

[caLLous]

@Jupitus, I never played it. Just make sure you properly secure your booster seat and you'll be fine.

 

[old.Osy]

@Jupitus, I never played it. Just make sure you properly secure your booster seat and you'll be fine.

Top shelf joke that

 

[ECA]

I took the plunge and signed up for 3 months on iRacing... I know a few of you have played this so any advice on offer @caLLous @ECA @Gumbo ?

My advice would be: practice!
Watch a video of the current season/track/car your racing , and put some time or into driving alone.
You need to be able to complete laps without going offtrack too much, ie if your constantly spinning out or braking late and going off the track, you're overdriving way too much.
Once you're at that point then just start racing.

It splits into two parts for getting better - driving alone to improve laptime and then the racing aspect of driving closely with others and being clean - which will develop over time.
It can become too easy to isolate yourself into putting too much time driving alone to improve laptime before you race - so you never end up racing as you don't feel fast enough, or just queueing up races because it's fun and looking at replays/youtube videos/etc to figure out better technique can feel boring.

You also don't need to think about buying faster cars much at all early on.
You can become a very accomplished driver using the free mazda, or the skip barber ( check the forum, new tracks get used for multiple seasons so it's kinda important to check which tracks you can buy will get used a lot and which you can avoid - unless you want to just throw money at the game ), etc.
Plenty of good drivers drive in the slower cars because it tends to generate closer racing than faster cars.

Try ovals as well, they're actually much more fun to drive than you might expect.

 

[Scouse]

@ECA Lives!

 

[Jupitus]

My advice would be: practice!
Watch a video of the current season/track/car your racing , and put some time or into driving alone.
You need to be able to complete laps without going offtrack too much, ie if your constantly spinning out or braking late and going off the track, you're overdriving way too much.
Once you're at that point then just start racing.

It splits into two parts for getting better - driving alone to improve laptime and then the racing aspect of driving closely with others and being clean - which will develop over time.
It can become too easy to isolate yourself into putting too much time driving alone to improve laptime before you race - so you never end up racing as you don't feel fast enough, or just queueing up races because it's fun and looking at replays/youtube videos/etc to figure out better technique can feel boring.

You also don't need to think about buying faster cars much at all early on.
You can become a very accomplished driver using the free mazda, or the skip barber ( check the forum, new tracks get used for multiple seasons so it's kinda important to check which tracks you can buy will get used a lot and which you can avoid - unless you want to just throw money at the game ), etc.
Plenty of good drivers drive in the slower cars because it tends to generate closer racing than faster cars.

Try ovals as well, they're actually much more fun to drive than you might expect.

Thanks alot @ECA ! This is pretty much how things have come to pass.... I checked what car / track combo a rookie season uses and chose the Mazda global on Lime Rock GP (well, it was at the time) then di some practice and online research. Having got to a stage where I could find my way around I started a few races without qualifying and gradually have been working my way up. I have an impeccable safety rating as a result, but crap iRating which means I dropped to the lowest splits with this, but as I keep going I am gradually getting closer to success. I am on the cusp of needing to qualify properly I think, but I have been up in the top 5 consistently from the back and learned race-craft along the way.... I was going to do the switch then they changed it to Summit raceway (last night, I didn't know that was going to happen)!!

So - some research done and some practice laps (off line) to see what works for me before a few non-quali races to see how I fair!

So - in short, your advice is pretty much spot on and very welcome

 

[Jupitus]

I took the plunge and signed up for 3 months on iRacing... I know a few of you have played this so any advice on offer @caLLous @ECA @Gumbo ?

Hmmm... any of you use JRT overlays? I am having trouble getting my head round it... maybe a teams screen share chat?