Coming over to iracing

[Majorwolf72]

He guys,

Just saying Hi as I move from GT Sport to iracing.

It‘s been fun there but it was getting a little old with the penalty system and drivers exploiting the weaknesses of the game.

So on a proper sim now, eh? God knows I‘m struggling with the different physics, especially the breaking. But I‘ll get there with time, I guess.

See you on the track!

 

[noshog]

Congrats, you wont regret it....Well maybe you'll question yourself battling the Rookie races, after that the racing is second to none.

 

[BigDawg_1281]

Welcome! Once you get through rookies, you will realize how much better iracing is. I switched from GTS too. I have been very pleased with decision.

 

[monkeywall]

He guys,

Just saying Hi as I move from GT Sport to iracing.

It‘s been fun there but it was getting a little old with the penalty system and drivers exploiting the weaknesses of the game.

So on a proper sim now, eh? God knows I‘m struggling with the different physics, especially the breaking. But I‘ll get there with time, I guess.

See you on the track!

Welcome I moved to iracing for some of the same reasons at the beginning of the year. Loving it the racing is way better. Always looking to add friends on it pm me your iracing name if you want.

 

[Daz555]

Once you get over the shock of looking at a decade old graphics engine (and the cost), it has to be said iRacing has got multiplayer online racing nailed.

 

[Dobermann92]

As a recent convert to the church of iRacing I can tell you that it isn't as overpriced as some people say it, because the services iRacing provides. I also had the closest races here (even in the Rookie league) out of all the sims. The penalty system is a bid weird, especially against laggy opponents, so you should watch out for that. You can get to C or B licence with the subscription stuff and you only need the Skippy for the rest of your life. Unless a new sim offers something comparable to their system, the devs of iRacing shouldn't lower their prices.

 

[Ph1sh]

Welcome to iRacing. The latest update with the tire model and damage model along with new TCR car is absolutely amazing. iRacing getting better by the day each update!! If you ever need help don't be afraid to ask!

 

[Erik Luke]

He guys,

Just saying Hi as I move from GT Sport to iracing.

It‘s been fun there but it was getting a little old with the penalty system and drivers exploiting the weaknesses of the game.

So on a proper sim now, eh? God knows I‘m struggling with the different physics, especially the breaking. But I‘ll get there with time, I guess.

See you on the track!

Welcome!

I am assuming you will be doing mostly road stuff. You are more than welcome to add me on Discord Erik Luke #4520 and if I am online I will be more than happy to help you out. I don't check here often so the best way to reach me is through discord or iRacing. My iRacing ID is Erik Luke2

I am an organizer for the Precision Racing League Monday series, which is a fixed CTS V league. I also race in the Tuesday GTE series. With the seasons about to kick off again I will be on more frequent.

 

[Majorwolf72]

Just a quick update for all interested: After week one I‘m B licensed with 1507 irating and enjoying it a lot.

[Update on September, 22: A license, after 13 days, 1524 irating]

Racing Global Mazda, Advanced Mazda, IMSA Sportscar and VRS Sprint, both with the AMG GT3, in week 2 of my endeavors Plus a private IMSA league.

Nah, you didn’t think I‘d start out easy, did you now?

C‘ y‘all on the track!

 

[Z Crazy]

I've been considering it, but the car and track costs seem crazy. At around $1500 for full content the value just isn't there and I'm a BIG value guy. If something cost $9,000 that's OK if the value is there.

Also, I get that you don't need full content to have fun and be happy, its just the thought that they feel its value is that high. Can you imagine if an over the counter sim had a cost of a relatively paltry $200 how it would be received, nevermind $1500+.

All that said, I will likely be trying it out sometime this week, as there is one good thing that comes with those high costs... a serious mindset. I'm hoping it has a significantly smaller basher mentality.

 

[Majorwolf72]

I've been considering it, but the car and track costs seem crazy. At around $1500 for full content the value just isn't there and I'm a BIG value guy. If something cost $9,000 that's OK if the value is there.

Also, I get that you don't need full content to have fun and be happy, its just the thought that they feel its value is that high. Can you imagine if an over the counter sim had a cost of a relatively paltry $200 how it would be received, nevermind $1500+.

All that said, I will likely be trying it out sometime this week, as there is one good thing that comes with those high costs... a serious mindset. I'm hoping it has a significantly smaller basher mentality.

I do road only. Now at 470.72€ (excluding VAT) for 32 tracks and 9 cars I have pretty much all I could ever want for road. Maybe a few more cars at a later stage for say 50 bucks, but that’s it.

Yeah, give it a shot and see how you like it. I‘m hooked.

 

[monkeywall]

I've been considering it, but the car and track costs seem crazy. At around $1500 for full content the value just isn't there and I'm a BIG value guy. If something cost $9,000 that's OK if the value is there.

Also, I get that you don't need full content to have fun and be happy, its just the thought that they feel its value is that high. Can you imagine if an over the counter sim had a cost of a relatively paltry $200 how it would be received, nevermind $1500+.

All that said, I will likely be trying it out sometime this week, as there is one good thing that comes with those high costs... a serious mindset. I'm hoping it has a significantly smaller basher mentality.

There is definitely a significantly smaller basher mentally. Yea the cost is a little high. You could try want i have pick a series and only get the tracks and car/cars for that series. Although the tracks change each season.

 

[BigDawg_1281]

I've been considering it, but the car and track costs seem crazy. At around $1500 for full content the value just isn't there and I'm a BIG value guy. If something cost $9,000 that's OK if the value is there.

Also, I get that you don't need full content to have fun and be happy, its just the thought that they feel its value is that high. Can you imagine if an over the counter sim had a cost of a relatively paltry $200 how it would be received, nevermind $1500+.

All that said, I will likely be trying it out sometime this week, as there is one good thing that comes with those high costs... a serious mindset. I'm hoping it has a significantly smaller basher mentality.

Honestly, you do not want to buy all of the content. Some of the series have no participation. Also, you do get discounts when buying 3 or more things at a time. Once you purchase 40 items, you get a permanent discount. Then, it applies to all purchases, even just 1 item.

The main thing is the membership fee that throws people off. I look at it as I usually get a new game on console every year. So, the membership fee kind of works out the same.

Also, I justify the costs for tracks and cars as I am paying for the best. I do get my money's worth. One time fee for the car and I have it forever.

Believe me, most of us were exactly where you are now. We all thought that the costs were way too much. But, once we gave it a go and realized that we don't want all of the content nor need it. We all have loved our decisions and found it really is worth the money. The old saying, you get what you pay for

 

[Z Crazy]

Honestly, you do not want to buy all of the content. Some of the series have no participation. Also, you do get discounts when buying 3 or more things at a time. Once you purchase 40 items, you get a permanent discount. Then, it applies to all purchases, even just 1 item.

The main thing is the membership fee that throws people off. I look at it as I usually get a new game on console every year. So, the membership fee kind of works out the same.

Also, I justify the costs for tracks and cars as I am paying for the best. I do get my money's worth. One time fee for the car and I have it forever.

Believe me, most of us were exactly where you are now. We all thought that the costs were way too much. But, once we gave it a go and realized that we don't want all of the content nor need it. We all have loved our decisions and found it really is worth the money. The old saying, you get what you pay for

I started last week and clearly see what you are saying. There's no need for that much content, but there is still quite a bit of costs involved with the sim. The annual fee isn't too bad, honestly for me, spending a few hundred dollars on cars and tracks is the issue. So I'll just have to see how I feel about the additional purchases. I love the physics model, even if the engine is a little dated. Its very vanilla... which is good. No surprises. I'll give it some time before fully assessing it, but I never thought I'd say this... I'm missing GT Sport's penalty AI. 45% wrong is much better than 100% wrong.

 

[BigDawg_1281]

I started last week and clearly see what you are saying. There's no need for that much content, but there is still quite a bit of costs involved with the sim. The annual fee isn't too bad, honestly for me, spending a few hundred dollars on cars and tracks is the issue. So I'll just have to see how I feel about the additional purchases. I love the physics model, even if the engine is a little dated. Its very vanilla... which is good. No surprises. I'll give it some time before fully assessing it, but I never thought I'd say this... I'm missing GT Sport's penalty AI. 45% wrong is much better than 100% wrong.

Once you graduate from rookies, it gets a lot better. Personally, I've only bought a few cars. I am slowly accumulating tracks. I've actually been running 2 of the free cars lately, Radical and SRF. I also like to run the F3. Each series uses some of the free tracks too.

 

[monkeywall]

@BigDawg_1281 what's the radical series like for numbers, etc was thinking of doing a few races to get my B licence. Been concentrating on the ferrari gt3 series this season and last. Planning to stick to fixed setup series this year. Then moving on something with tuning next near.

 

[BigDawg_1281]

@BigDawg_1281 what's the radical series like for numbers, etc was thinking of doing a few races to get my B licence. Been concentrating on the ferrari gt3 series this season and last. Planning to stick to fixed setup series this year. Then moving on something with tuning next near.

The numbers are fair. Seems to vary some by track. It does not have the participation like the Ferrari GT3 series. Every race I've ran has gone official. I like them because they are difficult to drive. Once you get the hang of them, they are a lot of fun. Last week was Lime Rock Park, this week they are at Mosport (Canadian Tire). They behave similar to the SRF, with the off throttle oversteer. But, have a lot more power and downforce. I think you can definitely get in enough clean and official races to move up classes.

 

[monkeywall]

The numbers are fair. Seems to vary some by track. It does not have the participation like the Ferrari GT3 series. Every race I've ran has gone official. I like them because they are difficult to drive. Once you get the hang of them, they are a lot of fun. Last week was Lime Rock Park, this week they are at Mosport (Canadian Tire). They behave similar to the SRF, with the off throttle oversteer. But, have a lot more power and downforce. I think you can definitely get in enough clean and official races to move up classes.

Cheers think i'll give it a try.

 

[Johnny Dean]

Also new to this, taking advantage of a 40% sub offer
Coming from GTS...
Will probably fail hard as iRacing seems a bit daunting, but hey...!

 

[Mad94d]

Also new to this, taking advantage of a 40% sub offer
Coming from GTS...
Will probably fail hard as iRacing seems a bit daunting, but hey...!

Everyone starts somewhere mate. Gran Turismo isn't uncompetitive... I remember for me I started on GT5P many years ago and when I came across to iRacing yes it was daunting, however the basic principles of working out how to go fast apply to any racing situation/simulation. You'll be fine! Welcome to iRacing, best change I ever made that is for sure!

 

[Z Crazy]

I'm starting to see the costs spike up now that I'm out of the "Rookies". Just have to pick and choose cars and tracks carefully or spend several hundred dollars.

To those of you with a solid amount of time in the game, which cars tend to pop up more often from season to season? Personally I'm planning on the 911 GT3 Cup, 488 (GTE and/or GT3), Pro Mazda, Skip Barber, and maybe the Formula Renault 3.5 or the 2.0 (unsure if both are needed).

 

[BigDawg_1281]

I'm starting to see the costs spike up now that I'm out of the "Rookies". Just have to pick and choose cars and tracks carefully or spend several hundred dollars.

To those of you with a solid amount of time in the game, which cars tend to pop up more often from season to season? Personally I'm planning on the 911 GT3 Cup, 488 (GTE and/or GT3), Pro Mazda, Skip Barber, and maybe the Formula Renault 3.5 or the 2.0 (unsure if both are needed).

Out of what you listed...

The Skip Barber is one of the most popular series. It always goes official and has very good races. Instead of Renault 2.0, I recommend the Dallara F3. It has 2 different series you can run in and is very popular. The Ferrari 488 GT3 is extremely popular and also has 2 different series you can compete in.

 

[Z Crazy]

Out of what you listed...

The Skip Barber is one of the most popular series. It always goes official and has very good races. Instead of Renault 2.0, I recommend the Dallara F3. It has 2 different series you can run in and is very popular. The Ferrari 488 GT3 is extremely popular and also has 2 different series you can compete in.

I took your advice on the F3 and that was the best advice, thanks. At first, I felt like I wasted money on the car, but once I learned its limits (which are very odd) its pretty fun to drive. Haven't had a chance to drive the 488 GT3, but I'm really liking the challenge of the Porsche Cup car. That's gotta be the funnest to drive bad car. Good power, OK handling, uber sensitive to driver inputs (luckily not as sensitive as the F3 car).

Warning to others, the safety rating system sucks for racing. I can't tell you how many times I lost rating on the pace lap as people spin in front of you and others behind run you over. Or some crackhead "warming up" their tires hits you. Some say once you get out of the lower ranks things get better, which is true, but you are always trying to get the next licence so you are always backing out of any remotely possible areas of contact... meaning, racing sucks. You can always just say, "This licence is enough" and just race clean, but that's the trade off... advance or stay still and have fun.

 

[BigDawg_1281]

I took your advice on the F3 and that was the best advice, thanks. At first, I felt like I wasted money on the car, but once I learned its limits (which are very odd) its pretty fun to drive. Haven't had a chance to drive the 488 GT3, but I'm really liking the challenge of the Porsche Cup car. That's gotta be the funnest to drive bad car. Good power, OK handling, uber sensitive to driver inputs (luckily not as sensitive as the F3 car).

Warning to others, the safety rating system sucks for racing. I can't tell you how many times I lost rating on the pace lap as people spin in front of you and others behind run you over. Or some crackhead "warming up" their tires hits you. Some say once you get out of the lower ranks things get better, which is true, but you are always trying to get the next licence so you are always backing out of any remotely possible areas of contact... meaning, racing sucks. You can always just say, "This licence is enough" and just race clean, but that's the trade off... advance or stay still and have fun.

The F3 is one of my favorites too.

What you are saying about the SR is what I did. Once I got to B, I quit worrying about it. The only thing I would need an A for is F1. From what I hear, F1s are beyond difficult to step into on iracing. So, I am content with just a B. Now, I race and have fun. I really don't pay attention to IR or SR anymore.

 

[rayeski]

He guys,

Just saying Hi as I move from GT Sport to iracing.

It‘s been fun there but it was getting a little old with the penalty system and drivers exploiting the weaknesses of the game.

So on a proper sim now, eh? God knows I‘m struggling with the different physics, especially the breaking. But I‘ll get there with time, I guess.

See you on the track!

I'm in the same boat here. GT Sport gave me my first taste of competitive online racing and I'm 2 months into iRacing and loving it. It doesn't look as flashy as others, but it's that drabness that kind of makes me find it more realistic. The dynamic lighting really is what makes the environment come alive as it transitions between dull flat light to sunshine. I'm really enjoying the Porsche Cup races and find the drivers to be great(every race I've had at Monza, I make it through the first turn, and that's exciting) Remember to be patient and wait for your passes, contact is very unforgiving and can take you out of the race and your opponents quick. Enjoy!

 

[rcgldr]

I'm an old timer that did not like the pricing structure of iRacing and the teams effort to prevent mods for the prior Papyrus games like Nacscar Racing Season 2003 (lot of lawsuit threats to sites hosting mods). At the start, iRacing violated US consumer laws by doing auto-renewals without any warnings (6 month and 12 month subscriptions require 90 day notices, and the free trial renewals were difficult to stop auto-renewal). I did a one month free trial, using PayPal, as that prevented iRacing from doing auto-renewal on the free trial, when the Caterham was included with the free trial (the Solstice was boring). Making matters worse, iRacing started selling in game content like cars and tracks in addition to the subscription fees, a scheme to get players to feel committed to continue their subscriptions due to purchased content. They had predicted about 50,000 accounts by the first year, but it took more like 4 to 5 years to reach 50,000 accounts.

 

[kolio]

I'm over here a proud owner of all the dirt oval content (except non-winged sprint cars). And a little bit of oval content.

I mostly run dirt oval and have absolutely no issue spending the money on the content and subscription fee.

The graphics may be "decade-old" but I can distinguish good dirt from bad dirt and where the line is especially when it moves.

I have zero complaints. Plus, iRacing is very accommodating to views inside the car, your HUD, hotkeys for car adjustments.

I cannot wrap my head around tuning a pavement stock car as there are so many things that I have no clue what to do with. But guess what, that's my problem. Not their problem.

iRacing is hands down the best racing game available.

Dirt content is mostly what I run and that's what I'm happy with. I only run pavement stuff with friends. But clearly I'm sucked into this scheme and willing to buy more and more content because of my committed subscription fee oh no I'm never going to be free.

EDIT: I said that wrong... I'm always going to continue my subscription because I've already bought the content! I would feel bad if I wasted it!

 

[left888]

I'm going on 9 years at iRacing and it is by far the best online racing experience anywhere. The graphics have been updated every year since I started. I mostly do road races but ovals are fun. After 9 years I am a 100% content owner, it helps to support iRacing which in turn helps with developmental costs. I have steadily upgraded my rig along the way and have been doing much more league races. I joined Team Canada a couple years ago and they're a great bunch of guys.

 

[Z Crazy]

Now, I've been on iRacing for a couple of months and I finding this the absolute most frustrating racing game on the planet (due to the incident and rating system). But it is the best one as well (by a fair bit). Now, I'm very rarely going back to GT Sport, but I have to admit... the racing is still fun on GT Sport. GT Sport's better penalty system/rating and matchmaking is apparent. But the physics in iRacing are just more natural. I rarely have those "WTF just happened moments" like I was constantly finding on GT Sport.

I'v been bouncing around from "A" 2.20 - 4.50'ish in licence but, I'm still under 2000 in iRating so that could be the problem I find in the quality of racing, but we'll see. It seems both good and bad races come in bunches for me. Whether I'm hanging at the back trying to stay out of trouble or racing for wins... there really is no sure fire way to race and stay out of trouble short of starting 20-30 seconds behind everyone and just circulating, but there's no fun in that.

Oh... to newer drivers. One thing to take note of, in the licencing if you are close to breaking through a barrier (i.e. if your at 3.05 licence on the edge of falling under 3.00) be VERY CAREFUL in choosing your races. In the example (3.05 licence) a very small -.06 point loss in the race will bump you all the way down to 2.59. iRacing doesn't want people bouncing back and forth between levels so when you break through the barrier (up or down) they will boost you .40 extra or deduct -.40 extra to your actual score. For that reason, I wouldn't race an LMP, F1, F3, or anything where drivers may be hoping in a car that's too fast for them and causing you problems. Also, steering clear of the Global MX5 races when you are at the edge of the licence is probably a good idea too. On the flip side, if you only have .05 or so to go to the next licence level up (2.95-3.00), maybe do a easy time trial and take advantage of the bonus .40 without the risk of being knocked down by other's errors.

 

[Veinz]

Is there a lot of active players at any given time? Or is it best to wait for certain time of day?

I've been interested in this sim for a long time, I want to try this out whenever I decide to splurge on a good pc.