Convince me to get an iRacing membership

[Imari]

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.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that.

Swiftwilly, if you want to be absolutely the fastest then a clutch and your choice of sequential/H-pattern is the way to go. Whichever you're more comfortable with, you'll be faster with.

Personally, I just go with auto-blip and paddles (DFGT). I know it's costing me time, but I just don't believe that I've screwed all the speed out of my driving skill yet. It seems nit-picky to be chasing tenths on setup changes when I can get whole seconds improving my lines and driving style.

 

[swiftwilly]

Good point, I hadn't thought of that.

Swiftwilly, if you want to be absolutely the fastest then a clutch and your choice of sequential/H-pattern is the way to go. Whichever you're more comfortable with, you'll be faster with.

Personally, I just go with auto-blip and paddles (DFGT). I know it's costing me time, but I just don't believe that I've screwed all the speed out of my driving skill yet. It seems nit-picky to be chasing tenths on setup changes when I can get whole seconds improving my lines and driving style.

I see your point. Your saying that with the aids + shifters, this is allowing you to concentrate more on the race and therefore despite the aids setting you back say 1 second per lap, your making this up by not screwing up/spinning and getting decent lines?

I think I'll go start using sequential on GT5 and before I get into iracing because I can't get it now. Once I get iracing at least I will be good at sequential/heel toe etc and can shift into paddle shift anytime.

 

[Patrocles]

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.

thanks for the info!

a very dumb question (as usual! LOL), but I thought in real-life that some cars (Formula 1 for instance) have autoclutch/autoblip? Or do these guys actually have a clutch pedal?

 

[Patrocles]

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.

nice race and setup! Ugh...Laguna Seca was so difficult for me! I definitely need more practice at that track and perhaps some setups (i am an idiot when it comes to setups so I only use basic setups).

Did you make or buy that cool-looking button box?

 

[Imari]

I see your point. Your saying that with the aids + shifters, this is allowing you to concentrate more on the race and therefore despite the aids setting you back say 1 second per lap, your making this up by not screwing up/spinning and getting decent lines?

I dunno how much you lose to aids, but it's not massive. You notice that people will catch a couple of tenths on a long straight maybe because the aid holds the clutch too long, but it's not too bad.

And yeah, I think in the long run at the moment I'm more consistent with not having to deal with the additional overhead of clutching. Safety is number one for me, so first I work on driving safe, then I work at making top 5 finishes while staying safe, then I go for the win.

The extra tenths from aids only really affect you when you're trying to win, so I haven't bothered turning them off yet. I'm not good enough. The fact that I have a DFGT is a factor though, if I had three pedals I'd probably just clutch+sequential too. But I wouldn't stress about using aids, particularly initially. There's a lot to learn, and the more you spread it out the better IMO.

 

[swiftwilly]

Thank you guys for the tips.

 

[Blaze_409]

thanks for the info!

a very dumb question (as usual! LOL), but I thought in real-life that some cars (Formula 1 for instance) have autoclutch/autoblip? Or do these guys actually have a clutch pedal?

F1 cars have the clutch pedal for leaving pits or leaving standstill but when upshifting all of the clutch blipping etc is done by the computer. They just press the paddles and because it happens so fast it seems like became doesn't even blip throttle either but I does.

 

[sandboxgod]

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.

Yeah it can get expensive. I know I've spent over that. But there are specials. Like atm there's the member referral program which grants like $15 iRacing dollars. I've been tapping into that program bigtime! I own almost all the road courses now and a few ovals

Thanks GTP!

Note: anyone else considering joining hit me up if you don't have anyone else to refer please

And btw, you don't have to stick around and drive a damaged car. When you drive a car like the Honda (ARX) you'll find that if you barely tap someone that will often mean the end of the race anyway. Your iR will drop a little but you can always try to earn it back.

Granted, if I can drive the car, I will just drive the car. In real life the pros always drive malfunctioning vehicles. I watch Vettel win an f1 race a few weeks ago and his gearbox was jacked. iRacing is keeping it real for better or worse. not meant to entertain per se.

 

[lemansfanatic]

Yeah it can get expensive. I know I've spent over that. But there are specials. Like atm there's the member referral program which grants like $15 iRacing dollars. I've been tapping into that program bigtime! I own almost all the road courses now and a few ovals

Thanks GTP!

Note: anyone else considering joining hit me up if you don't have anyone else to refer please

And btw, you don't have to stick around and drive a damaged car. When you drive a car like the Honda (ARX) you'll find that if you barely tap someone that will often mean the end of the race anyway. Your iR will drop a little but you can always try to earn it back.

Granted, if I can drive the car, I will just drive the car. In real life the pros always drive malfunctioning vehicles. I watch Vettel win an f1 race a few weeks ago and his gearbox was jacked. iRacing is keeping it real for better or worse. not meant to entertain per se.

You meant a repeat airing of vettel right? hehe i didint think he was busy doing anything this time of year but chasing women around to pick one to name his next car after. (kindof funny the most succesful racecar in f1 history was named "kinky kylie". i wish i could meet her!

 

[swiftwilly]

Yeah it can get expensive. I know I've spent over that. But there are specials. Like atm there's the member referral program which grants like $15 iRacing dollars. I've been tapping into that program bigtime! I own almost all the road courses now and a few ovals

Thanks GTP!

Note: anyone else considering joining hit me up if you don't have anyone else to refer please

And btw, you don't have to stick around and drive a damaged car. When you drive a car like the Honda (ARX) you'll find that if you barely tap someone that will often mean the end of the race anyway. Your iR will drop a little but you can always try to earn it back.

Granted, if I can drive the car, I will just drive the car. In real life the pros always drive malfunctioning vehicles. I watch Vettel win an f1 race a few weeks ago and his gearbox was jacked. iRacing is keeping it real for better or worse. not meant to entertain per se.

+1, it would be annoying to be running first and someone taps you and your out. But...how is this any different to real life? If Vettel or any type of racer gets hit by a someone else's mistake it will be the same thing. Or worse (injury etc, god forbid). I do agree however, its annoying that you need to spend more time to bring back up the rating - this part for me isn't very realistic as if Vettel has an accident, it doesn't take him the rest of the season to make up for it.

-1, not everyone gets referrals like you, the rest of us needs to buy these additional extras and they are very very expensive.

 

[Blaze_409]

lol. two more days for the $15 dollar gig! if anyones lost and needing to make up there mind

 

[WedgeX]

reading some of the comments.... I disagree about crashing, i think its always best to finish the race, depending on the series you can be punished severely for forfeiting ... my ratings have gone down quite a bit from quitting out - driving a smashed car does suck though... my first memory of iRacing was how hardcore it was - everytime I got my MX5 in a scuffle my alignment was effed up and I was starting to ask myself if every race I'd have to drive with sideways steering ... lol....but at that time I pretty much assumed every accident was the other guys fault .... but after watching the replays it seemed more often than not it wasn't intentional - since then I do a better job of giving people room and trying to get a sense of the other drivers level before passing.

I bought all the tracks.... but its almost like both a case of not having time to compete in both Ovals and Road - nor the talent to stay competitive in both ... when I stuck to Ovals for awhile my road skills suffered, when I chose to leave Ovals for a full season to do Road I fell off completely in Oval racing and have to start over ... so yea there is a ton of content and it can get expensive but there is almost no point in buying it all unless you have unlimited time .. ie no job or school

 

[Eric.]

You definitely need to finish any race you start or be prepared to lose a ton of iR. Rookie and D class cars have one instant repair in the pits. And its actually against the Sporting Code to drive a damaged vehicle, but like all rules there are exceptions. They don't want you spinning all the time or having to creep around and be a hazard. I couldn't tell you how many Legends races I've finished with my axles facing different directions and having to drive with the wheel turned 100 degrees left to go straight.

 

[superbike81]

Driving a severely damaged car is dangerous to everyone on the track. If you hit a wall but can still manage to keep the car straight, fine, limp to the pits to get it fixed (or in some series do the fast tow). But if you are struggling to control the car, take the IR hit, your race is over. Don't be the reason that someone else's race ends just because you were to proud to throw in the towel.

 

[the_greeze]

Driving a severely damaged car is dangerous to everyone on the track. If you hit a wall but can still manage to keep the car straight, fine, limp to the pits to get it fixed (or in some series do the fast tow). But if you are struggling to control the car, take the IR hit, your race is over. Don't be the reason that someone else's race ends just because you were to proud to throw in the towel.

Indeed. I've been guilty of this myself; running a badly damaged Radical around the track. I pitted for repairs but just had the minimum carried out, subsequently I was spinning easily. Went off and ended up in the middle of the track, right in everybody's way! Not good.

When I viewed the replay it was obvious that the car was un-raceable. So, like the advice above, if you get wrecked make sure that you have sufficient repairs carried out to continue with out being a hindrance to others.

 

[Hwangm]

nice race and setup! Ugh...Laguna Seca was so difficult for me! I definitely need more practice at that track and perhaps some setups (i am an idiot when it comes to setups so I only use basic setups).

Did you make or buy that cool-looking button box?

Hi Patrocles, sorry for the late reply. yeah I don't know how to tune the skip, so I use shared tunes and test them. Laguna is very hard full stop. It was my first ever on a skippy and I almost give up I was thinking if it's this hard at the beginning howbout latter on but ended up getting hooked on them now. loving skipp until i decide to run in the star mazda maybe in the near future.

the button box is my own DIY it works with PS3 and PC (anygame)
here's tutorial I posted a while back http://wp.me/pLC9x-9G

 

[swiftwilly]

Hi Patrocles, sorry for the late reply. yeah I don't know how to tune the skip, so I use shared tunes and test them. Laguna is very hard full stop. It was my first ever on a skippy and I almost give up I was thinking if it's this hard at the beginning howbout latter on but ended up getting hooked on them now. loving skipp until i decide to run in the star mazda maybe in the near future.

the button box is my own DIY it works with PS3 and PC (anygame)
here's tutorial I posted a while back http://wp.me/pLC9x-9G

Marcus is a genius

so far with iracing...if your sitting on the fence...its a must buy if you like sim racing. I mean in a few quick words and of comparison, I would go over the corkscrew on Laguna a million times on GT5 and I can nail it 99% or something with almost any car, its very easy, very smooth. On iracing, its the opposite. Every bump, or feature of the track makes every corckscrew a screw up...no joke, after a few attempts I left the track and decided to go do the easier tracks to get familiar with it. Although you cannot feel every bump on the road due to FFB settings and wheel differences, its all there.

 

[S30Zenzow]

Marcus is a genius

so far with iracing...if your sitting on the fence...its a must buy if you like sim racing. I mean in a few quick words and of comparison, I would go over the corkscrew on Laguna a million times on GT5 and I can nail it 99% or something with almost any car, its very easy, very smooth. On iracing, its the opposite. Every bump, or feature of the track makes every corckscrew a screw up...no joke, after a few attempts I left the track and decided to go do the easier tracks to get familiar with it. Although you cannot feel every bump on the road due to FFB settings and wheel differences, its all there.

I totally agree with you. It is a must buy for every sim racer.

 

[sandboxgod]

+1, it would be annoying to be running first and someone taps you and your out. But...how is this any different to real life? If Vettel or any type of racer gets hit by a someone else's mistake it will be the same thing. Or worse (injury etc, god forbid). I do agree however, its annoying that you need to spend more time to bring back up the rating - this part for me isn't very realistic as if Vettel has an accident, it doesn't take him the rest of the season to make up for it.

-1, not everyone gets referrals like you, the rest of us needs to buy these additional extras and they are very very expensive.

You don't have to buy all the tracks at once though although it's cheaper that way (10% to 20% off). Plus it shouldn't be too hard to get a referral. If you see someone thinking bout joining send them your email address and ask them to consider you. You're a member of GTP just like me right?

Only problem is the promotional codes do not stack. So I always end up with a bunch of codes and split up my purchases.

They have all sorts of specials. Atm its the referral program. Often they run buy 3 and get $15 code. And they always pay you money for completing a season. I'm sitting on 2 different promotional codes atm

The main trick to keep in mind is all you need is 8 tracks to complete a season. you dont need all 12. Practicing to master a track takes time. It's not a bad idea to only focus on doing 8 tracks for a season. Rarely, rarely, rarely will you see someone do all 12 weeks in a season. In prototypes & GT I know for a fact less than 10 people did all 12 looking at the stats

So just buy a couple of tracks and a car, then focus on mastering that car series for a season.

Prototype & GT (Open) Stats: http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/1839884.page

Drivers who raced all 12 weeks
Dmitry Sivkov
Robert Tucker
Ryan Reesman
John Cousland
William Kabela
Roderic Kreunen
Riccardo Schiavon
Eric Miller
Andy Fuller

Very small list right for the hundreds that did the series

Also, Class D series always use a couple of free tracks too. That helped out my wallet when I first started in my very 1st Skippy season. So if they use bout 4 free tracks, that should mean all you need to pay for is just 1 car plus 4 tracks. On your off weeks you can run some rookie Oval/Road or do a bit of Advanced Rookie -OR- if you play your cards right, do some hosted sessions or other series using the tracks you purchased already.

So I'd say go bout 4 popular tracks like Road America, Spa, Watkins Glen, Mid Ohio, and at least 2 cars. 1 will be the main car and the other is for fun, etc

One more thing-- all you need is 4 races or TTs at a License level to advance. So on oval side I'd like to do Indy Oval Fixed eventually. All I have to do is just buy ONE car and just do the free tracks to advance. You should be able to do this to make it all the way to Class A for both Road/Oval. Most series usually run at least 1 free track. During that week, crank out 4 TTs and then bounce back to advanced rookie or something to raise up SR. Granted, Class D is a good rank to take your time in cause you get a free repair. but you get 4 free tracks anyways.... Thats what I'm doing on Oval side. But I happen to own a few ovals already anyways

 

[tissimo]

Driving a severely damaged car is dangerous to everyone on the track. If you hit a wall but can still manage to keep the car straight, fine, limp to the pits to get it fixed (or in some series do the fast tow). But if you are struggling to control the car, take the IR hit, your race is over. Don't be the reason that someone else's race ends just because you were to proud to throw in the towel.

Fast tow? Lol wish i knew about that... More then once I've driven around the track with a barely operable car to get to the pits, its no fun..

 

[swiftwilly]

Fast tow? Lol wish i knew about that... More then once I've driven around the track with a barely operable car to get to the pits, its no fun..

Must do for all rookies, go into the rookie section of the forum and read the post "essential reading"