Convince me to get an iRacing membership

[superbike81]

Honestly, after seeing how poor so many of the rookie drivers were, I just wanted to get out as fast as possible. Here is your way out:

1) Forget about placing first. Start from the pits.
2) Avoid other people at all costs, don't worry about losing positions, you'll normally finish top 5 anyways just maintaining a steady pace (say 3 or 4 seconds off the leader).
3) This will work, I promise.

Doing this you could be out of Rookie in a day or two with only racing a few times a day. Once you go above 4.0 you'll automatically be promoted.

I still love the rookie cars, but I really only race them in private hosted sessions.

 

[Imari]

1) Forget about placing first. Start from the pits.
2) Avoid other people at all costs, don't worry about losing positions, you'll normally finish top 5 anyways just maintaining a steady pace (say 3 or 4 seconds off the leader).
3) This will work, I promise.

This is great advice.

Left888, if you stay in Rookie too long, you're likely to become frustrated and quit. Do yourself a favour and make getting out of Rookie your priority. There's a great MX5 series in D. If you want to keep entering those rookie races with less frustration, get your D license, gain some iRating in a less dangerous environment, and then go back at popular times. If there's lots of people racing you'll end up in a higher split that is less likely to have newbies and/or crashing retards in it.

Starting from the pits works wonders too. As you've noted, having a clean race usually means a good finish. The ten seconds or so "penalty" from starting in the pit lane is usually more than offset by the decreased likelihood of you having incidents.

 

[Phil129]

1) Forget about placing first. Start from the pits.
2) Avoid other people at all costs, don't worry about losing positions, you'll normally finish top 5 anyways just maintaining a steady pace (say 3 or 4 seconds off the leader).
3) This will work, I promise.

Did this a few times myself, worked great to increase my SR. On a side note I finally won two races at Lime Rock, what a great feeling. Started getting butterflies on the last few laps hoping P2 wouldn't do anything crazy and he didn't just a great battle, cant' say enough good things about this sim.

 

[sandboxgod]

Maybe I had better luck with Rookie cause I took my time on Oval side. On Road side I did rush through it to hit Class D. And I rushed through Class D to hit Class C cause I wanted to run the Riley DP.

Problem is in Class C if you wreck its lights out and iRating plummets

But in Class D you can get repaired as far as I know from the handful of Skippy races I tried to do

Anyway, keep in mind your iRating is invisible right now. I fear if you just stand back and let others win it w/o a fight your iRating will drop. So you still have to try to hit Top 5 as best as you can. But i already know left888 is doing that by looking at his history / profile. Good work man!

Just dont try so hard to hit top 3. You know, let the nooblets pass you safely and all that. Be passive-safe-quick as possible to get +IR.

but worry not. You can always quickly improve iRating later anyways then return to Rookie. I know when I run Rookie Ovals I get put in the higher splits

 

[bevo]

I'm getting back into iracing after a few months layoff. Last time I only ran a few oval races and pretty much went straight road racing with the skippy. This time I think I'm going to go more oval, but I'm having a major problem. How is it possible to ever get out of the rookie class in oval? I've done maybe 5 oval races all together and I think only one didn't have people crashing each other with the pace car on the track. Last night, there were at least 5 cars taken out of the race before the green even dropped. Then when the race started I got in maybe 10 laps before someone came out of pit row, right in front of me, and just destroyed me. How does anyone get their safety rating high enough to get out of oval rookie to get into some decent races where people can actually make it around the track during the pace car laps?

For you Left888. The mx5 rookie series is pretty fun, but try and move up and give the skip barber series a try. Those have been by far my favorite races I have done. The car is very fun and challenging to drive, and the racing is much, much better then the rookie series. I have had very few races in it with people who were out of control. I've had more then 1 race where 3 or 4 of us ran the entire race no more then 1 second apart with multiple lead changes and super tight racing the entire time. When you come up to lap traffic they are much better at letting you by. It's a great step up from the mx5 series and it's a very popular iracing league. There will be all levels of drivers in it, so you really get a chance to see how fast you are.

 

[superbike81]

Haha, can't help with that, but it's not the first time I've heard it. I avoid oval races like the plague.

 

[sandboxgod]

The trick is to let people pass you safely cause in rookie ovals many will wreck out. Always stare ahead and calculate how they will collide and dodge the smoke

 

[swiftwilly]

i've asked before, how would this run on:

3.06GhZ, core 2 Dua
4GB ram (I can upgrade to 8)
ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB

 

[superbike81]

It should run well, maybe not at max settings, but it will still look nice. If you can though I would really try to upgrade your video card as that will be your main bottleneck.

If you could spend even a little less than $100 on something like an ATI Radeon 6750 you would double your video performance (according to benchmark testing).

But if you have the laptop version of the 4670, not much you can do. Like I said, it will run, but you may have to give up some of the eye candy and resolution to get an acceptable framerate.

 

[left888]

I am getting a promotion at the end of the month to D class, I know I can get it sooner. Honestly I do like the challenge of battling it out for a win. If I could just race the MX5 against better drivers. I'm not saying I'm the fastest their but man trying to pass someone at turn 1 at Lime Rock is insane. I've seen noobs try to pass at every turn without regard.

Anyway I am confident about my future. I have purchased almost all the cars now and I have some fast times with the Riley Prototype, in fact on a couple tracks my times are only a few seconds off the lead times.

 

[Patrocles]

I'm getting back into iracing after a few months layoff. Last time I only ran a few oval races and pretty much went straight road racing with the skippy. This time I think I'm going to go more oval, but I'm having a major problem. How is it possible to ever get out of the rookie class in oval? I've done maybe 5 oval races all together and I think only one didn't have people crashing each other with the pace car on the track. Last night, there were at least 5 cars taken out of the race before the green even dropped. Then when the race started I got in maybe 10 laps before someone came out of pit row, right in front of me, and just destroyed me. How does anyone get their safety rating high enough to get out of oval rookie to get into some decent races where people can actually make it around the track during the pace car laps?

For you Left888. The mx5 rookie series is pretty fun, but try and move up and give the skip barber series a try. Those have been by far my favorite races I have done. The car is very fun and challenging to drive, and the racing is much, much better then the rookie series. I have had very few races in it with people who were out of control. I've had more then 1 race where 3 or 4 of us ran the entire race no more then 1 second apart with multiple lead changes and super tight racing the entire time. When you come up to lap traffic they are much better at letting you by. It's a great step up from the mx5 series and it's a very popular iracing league. There will be all levels of drivers in it, so you really get a chance to see how fast you are.

Cool! I will look for you in the Skip Barber series. I second the comment about the good sportsmanship in the Skip Barber series. I have been wonderfully lucky at Road America this week. I think I finished on the podium in 3 out of 4 races that I ran at RA. I've been slow and steady and gifted the podiums by people in front of me spinning/crashing out.

 

[swiftwilly]

Question guys

Can I use paddle shifters in the game? If so, will I be penalized for using it?

I might get the game in a few months and I have GT5 now and want to know if I should practice using my h shift, paddle shifters or sequential. Want to focus on one of these to help my long run iracing career.

 

[RobJackson85]

Question guys

Can I use paddle shifters in the game? If so, will I be penalized for using it?

I might get the game in a few months and I have GT5 now and want to know if I should practice using my h shift, paddle shifters or sequential. Want to focus on one of these to help my long run iracing career.

You can use anything you like. You can remap any of the buttons/paddles/shifters to do anything. You can even have custom maps to each car.

 

[superbike81]

You don't HAVE to use any one particular setup.

But I would recommend you learning how to use each well if you are looking for the best immersion.

While it is true you could use paddles for everything, if you use it on say, the MX-5, you will need to engage the auto-blip aid or else your downshifts won't be smooth and may even cause a spin. Using this aid will give you a speed penalty, but normally the penalties aren't enough to effect a new iRacer or even an experienced mid-packer.

 

[swiftwilly]

You can use anything you like. You can remap any of the buttons/paddles/shifters to do anything. You can even have custom maps to each car.

Not asking which one I can use.

I am asking which one is best. Not for immersion. But to get the best speeds vs penalty. I heard aids are not allowed at later levels?

Like I know paddle shift needs blip but for all cars or just some? Is the trade off that much ? What do the top players use?

Also doing some homework. Most complaints I have seen are
1. Losing points even though it's not your fault. Idiots running into you etc.
2. At higher levels, the smallest of mistakes cost you dearly.

 

[RobJackson85]

Not asking which one I can use.

My bad, I think I kinda misread your original question. I took it that you wanted to use paddle shifters. I was trying to explain that you can use anything you would like, which ever is comfortable with you.

I am asking which one is best. Not for immersion. But to get the best speeds vs penalty. I heard aids are not allowed at later levels?

Like I know paddle shift needs blip but for all cars or just some? Is the trade off that much ? What do the top players use?

Also doing some homework. Most complaints I have seen are
1. Losing points even though it's not your fault. Idiots running into you etc.
2. At higher levels, the smallest of mistakes cost you dearly.

In the races in which I have run, I have used auto blip and auto clutch as I have yet to master heel & toe.

Granted I've only really stuck with the Rookie series, but I have been competitive in most races, only loosing due to my incompetence of putting in decent, consistent and clean laps. Too many spins and off track's ruin my chances.

 

[Patrocles]

Not asking which one I can use.

I am asking which one is best. Not for immersion. But to get the best speeds vs penalty. I heard aids are not allowed at later levels?

Like I know paddle shift needs blip but for all cars or just some? Is the trade off that much ? What do the top players use?

Also doing some homework. Most complaints I have seen are
1. Losing points even though it's not your fault. Idiots running into you etc.
2. At higher levels, the smallest of mistakes cost you dearly.

As Rob and Superbike stated you do have a slight time penalty for using the autoblip/autoclutch feature in the game. I heard it was on the order of a tenth of a second each lap? but that may have been for one particular car?

I use the autoblip/autoclutch feature in most cars because I am still learning how to use the clutch properly and I cannot heel/toe to save my life! LOL

I have read some posts at the iRacing forum about people using paddles and a macro mapped to a wheel button to activate the clutch? Some people have called it a 'cheat' but I think it may be commonly used? Does anyone know more about this?

 

[superbike81]

I had my first iRacing account back when the game had just been released. People figured out that clutch key macro very quickly and it became a hot topic of debate.

For now, just consider it a moral thing, if you macro the clutch (or use a feature such as ACL "autoclutch" on the new Fanatec CSR-E wheel) are you going to feel any less accomplished when you win? It's a personal choice, if you feel you are robbing yourself of the challenge, don't use it. If you feel fine about using it, go ahead, I just wouldn't go publically mentioning it in your races. It's very easy to spot someone using a macro or autoclutch feature in the replay telemetry, so if you are going to race in an organized league, I would suggest not using it.

The fact is, iRacing could call it cheating all they want, and it may even be in the Sporting Code, but the fact is, they have no reliable way to disable macros, so people WILL use them regardless.

I don't use the clutch macro, but I use pit stop macros which I program to my button box all the time in endurance races, so a single button press will request a half tank of fuel and four new tires for example. Is it cheating? Maybe, but I'm not in the pro series, I don't feel badly about it.


As far as the time penalty goes, from what I've seen, the very fastest guys will end up being about 0.2 seconds a lap slower with driving aids on.

 

[swiftwilly]

Thanks for the info. So it seems like the best way to go is to use sequential shifter and for noobs, to use blip and auto clutch.

H shifter would be a pain I imagine in such a competitive environment and sequential will allow you to at least downshift correctly?

I rather use paddle shifters then. Can I use paddle shift + autoclutch + blip instead of sequential shifters + autoclutch + blip? They really are the same thing except that paddle shift is just easier.

 

[superbike81]

I use whatever the car I am currently racing uses in real life. So if I an in the MX5 or Lotus 79, I use my TH8RS gated shifter, in the Corvette I switch to sequential, and in the HPD it's paddles. Using the gated shifter might make me a little slower, but I view it as a challenge and I think it's much more realistic that way.

Even though I've won my share of races, I'm not concerned enough with winning where I would do something like use a driver aid or the wrong transmission type just to be a little faster. Just my opinion though.

 

[Imari]

It's very easy to spot someone using a macro or autoclutch feature in the replay telemetry...

Unless you're considering a button clutch to be part of the same group, it's really not. How do you tell the difference between someone with a DFGT or similar who is holding the shift paddle and pushing a button clutch, from someone with a macro? It's basically the same inputs except that button clutching requires two buttons and a macro requires one.

 

[swiftwilly]

I use whatever the car I am currently racing uses in real life. So if I an in the MX5 or Lotus 79, I use my TH8RS gated shifter, in the Corvette I switch to sequential, and in the HPD it's paddles. Using the gated shifter might make me a little slower, but I view it as a challenge and I think it's much more realistic that way.

Even though I've won my share of races, I'm not concerned enough with winning where I would do something like use a driver aid or the wrong transmission type just to be a little faster. Just my opinion though.

Cheers. So what aids do you need to turn on to use the paddle shifters?

 

[Hwangm]

Cheers. So what aids do you need to turn on to use the paddle shifters?

Im more leaning towards realism as Superbike81 said, with paddles and manual clutch no aids, you can be very fast. I actually tested this, with skippy.
im about 0.5 to 1 sec faster with paddles but I love my frex shift+ and skippy use sequential so every race I use that now even though im 1 sec slower.
mx5, since I just got the Th8Rs, It slows me down like 2 sec from my normal lap time (im quite new/n00b to this), I 've seen people 59-58 seconds per lap. so I stick with paddles, but I didn't race it lately been having too much fun with skip.

You can turn all aids ON with Paddles or you can turn all off, I suggest you turn auto blip/clutch on during your first race until you are confident with how the car handles + the track and you ran races with 0 incidents 9/10 times then do your no aids thing and you'll be much faster no aids.my 2 cents.

here's my first skippy race 2 weeks ago if you're interested
http://youtu.be/No2H7i0Gjag
not very fast yet but Im aiming for clean race, no incident(s).
been running that for the past 3 weeks, love it got 3rd Road America last week.( again im still learning this) , but patience is the key.

 

[menco]

I tried out the 3 month membership and it had its ups and downs. Wins were far more satisfying than with GT5. But when you get rammed and your whole race is ruined, then u have to stick with the next 20 laps to keep a good rating is really annoying.

But what stopped me from joining up for another year was the fact that the V8 supercar series I wanted to race in would cost me an extra $150...No thanks.

 

[superbike81]

Unless you're considering a button clutch to be part of the same group, it's really not. How do you tell the difference between someone with a DFGT or similar who is holding the shift paddle and pushing a button clutch, from someone with a macro? It's basically the same inputs except that button clutching requires two buttons and a macro requires one.

You are correct, however using these macros you will see that there is no variation in the timing. A person using a button for the clutch will not always hold the button for the exact sime amount of time.


Swiftwilly: you don't have to use any aids if you also use your clutch pedal. You can use the clutch with the paddles, but if you don't want to use the clutch at all you will need to engage auto clutch and autoblip.

 

[superbike81]

I tried out the 3 month membership and it had its ups and downs. Wins were far more satisfying than with GT5. But when you get rammed and your whole race is ruined, then u have to stick with the next 20 laps to keep a good rating is really annoying.

But what stopped me from joining up for another year was the fact that the V8 supercar series I wanted to race in would cost me an extra $150...No thanks.

Some people are willing to pay that price, others aren't. No big deal either way. I could never go back to GT5 at this point and really enjoy it.

 

[swiftwilly]

Im more leaning towards realism as Superbike81 said, with paddles and manual clutch no aids, you can be very fast. I actually tested this, with skippy.
im about 0.5 to 1 sec faster with paddles but I love my frex shift+ and skippy use sequential so every race I use that now even though im 1 sec slower.
mx5, since I just got the Th8Rs, It slows me down like 2 sec from my normal lap time (im quite new/n00b to this), I 've seen people 59-58 seconds per lap. so I stick with paddles, but I didn't race it lately been having too much fun with skip.

You can turn all aids ON with Paddles or you can turn all off, I suggest you turn auto blip/clutch on during your first race until you are confident with how the car handles + the track and you ran races with 0 incidents 9/10 times then do your no aids thing and you'll be much faster no aids.my 2 cents.

here's my first skippy race 2 weeks ago if you're interested
http://youtu.be/No2H7i0Gjag
not very fast yet but Im aiming for clean race, no incident(s).
been running that for the past 3 weeks, love it got 3rd Road America last week.( again im still learning this) , but patience is the key.

How does paddles and the clutch enables work? basically the paddle shifter wont work unless your engaging the clutch? (bit weird)

 

[superbike81]

Some cars, even with paddle shifters, depending on the type of transmission, it helps with downshifts to use the clutch. Either that or a quick throttle blip (like the Radical)

 

[Hwangm]

How does paddles and the clutch enables work? basically the paddle shifter wont work unless your engaging the clutch? (bit weird)

no its not,

ok, for Mazda since it's actually manual gated gear, if you use auto clutch+blip it will cost you some times, waiting for the shift going from N-> gear in auto cost you, while if you use paddle and clutch. you can clutch as fast as you can and change gear and let go of the clutch = no delay ( this is where the speed penalty comes from ) slower using auto clutch.

To cater for people with no clutch (DFGT, etc) , they can assign a button as a clutch and use the 2 paddles shifter.
it is very fast and proven technique - Otherwise it is unfair for people with no clutch pedal.

Same with star Mazda ( I tried ) no clutch needed with Sequential and no noticeable penalties, while Skip barber it will cost me 0.5 - 1 second in my case per lap if I use auto clutch Sequential. plus Heel-toe downshift also shave plenty of time .

I find I can downshift no clutch with skippy but I have to reduce my speed to the right point first, can't shift if it's too fast, but if use clutch you can shift faster ( just be carefull not to blow your engine)

sorry got too excited, talking bout this, please correct me if Im wrong , there are a lot of super experienced iracers here. I am just relaying what I understand / remember from readings in the "gear shifting technique" in Iracing forum.

You'll be surprised how good iRacing is ( watching video doesn't tell you how good it feels, trying it does) , but learning curve is very very high and can be very unforgiving if you don't learn patience.

iRacing is the only race that have license grading , safety rating, and makes you drive better

no rumble strips felt as nice
no traction lost felt as nice
no clubsport wheel lock feel as strong (direct connect to usb instead of your wheel with a plugin)
no ForceFeedback felt as accurate.
Im so ****in spoiled.
Everyone agree?

good luck and happy new year 👍👍

 

[swiftwilly]

Ok so let me get this straight, between paddle shift vs sequential vs h shift. Sequential sounds like the way to go? H shift is (although more realistic for some cars) its slower than sequential given that you could easily miss a gear?

Don't want to use paddle shift and clutch, seems way too unrealistic for me.

Sequential + clutch the way to go then for best iracing results?