iRacing catch-all

Nyxs Optare wrote:

Way to guilt me back into it. I've re-upped for another 3 months. If you want to look me up, my real name is: Shane Johnson - Texas group.

Wuss. He said lifetime subscriber.

I don't have the scratch to pony up just now for a 2 yr sub (didn't see lifetime available). It's no matter... Wanna Race?

My favorite cars so far are the Ford (falcon?) V8, the Corvette, and the little SCCA spec racer. It's like a go-kart. I'd love for someone to set a time - maybe on the weekends - recurring - that we could meet up and race/practice. I'd pay for a private session if people would come.

Here's a bad ass race in those Aussie V8's if you're interested. It's a real (not iracing) race, but still... DAMN!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/FpEp3ja...

I dunno how to embed the video

Youtube embedding:

No spaces by the brackets gets you:

Just got an email from Amazon, looks like they got a shipment of Logitech wheels in and my G27 will be here next week. Nice.

garion333 wrote:

Just got an email from Amazon, looks like they got a shipment of Logitech wheels in and my G27 will be here next week. Nice.

Congrats! I'm *really* looking forward to running with you guys. I'm head over heels for the sim now, and am tweaking out my hardware settings (force feedback, wheel radius, etc) to a perfect setup for me, and having so much fun in the sim. Finished 3rd in a race at Lime Rock Park last night, and very nearly finished 2nd, had a photo-finish with a guy who blocked cleanly around the final turn beat me down the line. Was a blast. My safety rating is up to 3.68, and I'm closing in on a class D license.

I'm EAGERLY awaiting my Clubsport pedals, which UPS tells me will be here Tuesday.

If there are any more fence sitters out there, please post, I and others I'm sure will be more than happy to enable you.

Well Jeff told me I needed to post in this thread but I've been having so much fun in iRacing since we joined that I kind of forgot about everything else.

I've been a sim racer since the early 2000's and became disillusioned for the most part with the various ones I tried after Papyrus lost the rights to NASCAR. There were plenty of fun ones but most lacked the ease of online racing that I enjoyed from Papyrus, I had my eye on FIRST(iRacing) as they originally called it back in the rumor days and when it did launch I ended up buying a G25 but it wouldn't clamp to my desk the way my previous wheels did so that was the start of my long game chair project and I never did end up racing (I need to detail this in a post some day). Well I finally finished building a fully featured cockpit I use for flying, driving and regular games yet I didn't revisit the idea of iRacing until I got wind of the buy 1 get 2 free deal, I figured you would need a few months to really get into it but I was wrong there Rookie class has something to offer most race fans and is easy to get up to speed in. I've been going for about 2 weeks now and have only competed in 4 races but I'm obsessed with increasing my safety rating so I can advance to the next license, it bugs me a bit that I can't see all my stats until I have a D license so I run a lot of time trials (TT's). iRacing is a time sink, yeah races at the rookie level are short often less than 20 minutes but if you care about not being that guy who ruins sh*t for other people you really need to put in hours of practice first. I'm hoping to reach my D oval license today and run a couple road races each of the next two days to see if I can't hit D in Road as well.

The structure of the sim is laid out very well in my opinion in regards to what they let you drive and using your safety and race results to place you in proper races. I read all kinds of horror stories of the Legends rookie cars in their forums but since I kept my iRating high enough and was careful in my first race both of my Legends races have been in higher class fields with little to no incidents. I'm a little put off that it will take serious time in the chair to reach the larger Oval track series as I personally feel those are easier to drive for less experienced drivers but I'll manage.

I don't know if Jeff mentioned this but he was on track the other night in a rookie series with Scott Speed, I'm pretty sure Speed has dabbled in just about every form of top tier racing and was only a back marker in NASCAR with the exception of the road races but I still thought it was cool that he just happened to be in a session Jeff was participating in.

One last thing about iRacing, I'm noticing a parallel between it and learning to play guitar/bass in more ways than one. First it takes practice to be good and second GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) has come into effect. I thought I would be happy with the cars and tracks that are provided with your membership and can totally see staying with those for 8-10 weeks and revisiting them after as well but I really want D level equipment and thus you start making shopping lists and I finally get how micro transaction MMO's make money

So I ran 3 road races today and by staying out of trouble for the most part I finished with a 4th and a 5th place which kept moving me up into races with better competition until I got into a race where I was seeded 11th out of 11 and I managed to win a somewhat crazy race. I had Jeff working as a spotter for me over skype, he was in spectator mode and could look around the track and he tried to keep me calm but nerves eventually got to me and I screwed up in a corner and cost myself 8 seconds of my 15 second lead. The early leader who went off track from his own mistake had worked his way back and was within a second or two with 2 laps to go then pushed himself too hard and wrecked leaving me with an easy coast for a win in the final lap and half. First Win, Yay Me!

Yeah congrats to Rich on his first win. We both started the same day, a few weeks ago, so it's a momentous occasion. It was a lot of fun spotting for him. I used the blimp cam and could see well in front of him and behind him, and I could call wrecks to him, and such, over skype -- that was almost as fun as racing itself.

Got my third 3rd place finish tonight ... starting from pit row ... hehe. It's a new strategy I've learned in dealing with poor rookie drivers who inevitibly pile up on turns 1 & 2 (and 3 and 4 ...) at Lime Rock. I just come out of pit row and wave as I pass 5 cars into 5th place on my out lap

And guess what ... drumroll please ...

This kid is no longer a rookie!

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/Snap98.jpg)

NauticaLNaughT wrote:

So I ran 3 road races today and by staying out of trouble for the most part I finished with a 4th and a 5th place which kept moving me up into races with better competition until I got into a race where I was seeded 11th out of 11 and I managed to win a somewhat crazy race. I had Jeff working as a spotter for me over skype, he was in spectator mode and could look around the track and he tried to keep me calm but nerves eventually got to me and I screwed up in a corner and cost myself 8 seconds of my 15 second lead. The early leader who went off track from his own mistake had worked his way back and was within a second or two with 2 laps to go then pushed himself too hard and wrecked leaving me with an easy coast for a win in the final lap and half. First Win, Yay Me!

Stop, I have to get my thesis finished:) Looks like April I will get back to practicing. I hope. You and Jeff are doing incredibly well.

You folks are seriously tempting me. I don't really have the time to commit to this sort of thing, nor do I relish the MMO like payment plan. But I do have very fond memories of our old racing league, and it wouldn't cost me anything to pull my dusty old wheel and pedals out of the closet for at least a trial..

Don, it's addictive, but there's no denying it can get expensive. IMO, it's worth it, if you have the time to put into it, but it does require a good bit of practice to be competitive. I remember you from the old BIOS racing days, and I know you're a good driver, so I'm sure you'd pick it up quick.

For $12, you can get 3 months of the service. There's no other cost involved unless you elect to spend more. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

I know you can practice whenever, but do YOU practice at a certain time? One of the things about the old racing league that made it great was getting to know the other drivers -- who was strong, aggressive, or whatever.

While I could race with random strangers, it would be more fun to run with a core group or at least a few people that I know.

I'm pretty much set on giving this a go.

Don, unfortunately there's only one way to have private sessions, and that's to run what's called a 'hosted' session, and those cost $3 for a 4 hour block. However, there is another way to do it, and that's to run in official practice sessions - they are free - but there's no way to control who joins. There are usually several to choose from, and sometimes they are empty.

This isn't NASCAR 2003, and by that I mean this isn't some deal where random idiots join and try and grief everyone. There are indeed poor drivers at the rookie level, but the vast majority are trying to learn and i've found that most people are respectful. The service punishes you if you drive like an idiot. Car contact, anything greater than a light brush, is the stiffest penalty in the sim. iRacing uses licenses to control what, and where you can race. Licenses are awarded based on your safety rating, and you need to drive clean to make that rating go up.

Here's a post by John Bodin, an extremely helpful guy on the iRacing forums, who's known for his assistance to people new to the service.

You will probably have lots of questions, so feel free to ask and one of us will try to answer. I'd also strongly recommend reading the iRacing beginner's guide [PDF], and the iRacing Sporting Code.[PDF]

Running with other drivers you know is relatively hard unless you pay for a 4 hour block of time for a private server. Arranging to all meet in the same practice session is possible, they are numbered but I'm not sure how far in advance you can see the session numbers. The race you end up in when you sign up to race is based on an iRating that goes up and down on how well you finish, so if you start with 1350 iRating points and 70 guys sign up to race they will create say 7 splits and the top 10 iRatings will go in split one, 11-20 in split two and so on. Jeff and I started I think our first two races in the same split but we've been separated since that point, although not by much and I wouldn't be surprised to see us in the same split again soon.

Content is another thing, this is both a subscription based MMO and a micro transaction MMO, yeah they do both at the same time. You are given a bunch of content for your initial membership ($12 for 3 months right now) then once you get to your D license series you'll have to start spending money on cars and tracks which can add up a lot if you are constantly wanting to try out more advanced stuff. It's entirely possible to be happy racing the free rookie gear for months and months if you so like and as your iRating in those goes up the splits you end up in are less and less likely to be full of bad drivers.

One thing we've not really touched on is how great the website itself is, there are all kinds of stats and stuff to look up and compare to your friends. You can also compete in Time Trials and see your ranking not only overall for that series but in your Racing Club as well, Clubs are determined by physical location. Right now in the Nvidia Cup which runs Mazda Miata's I sit in 2nd for the 1B season in Time Trials in my club and I'm in 8th place in championship race points. Over in Legends I sit quite a bit further down in my race standings but again I'm in second in time trials. Saving replays of your races is very easy to do and the painting is made simple by choosing 3 colors and a paint scheme, then doing the same for the number as well as the numbers font, you can't choose your number, your number in races will be based on your iRating in relation to the rest of the field in your split, if you have the best iRating of those drivers you get car #1.

For just hanging out and talking with friends, well Jeff and I have used skype for years and years but it would be no big deal to grab a room on the Vent server as well. I have no problem racing at a set time in a series if I'm home, odds aren't that bad several people could end up in the same split.

If there's enough of us here who want to have a 4 hour block a week for private races, that could be fun too. We could take turns buying the blocks if people wanted to.

This sim is indeed expensive if you get into it, but in my opinion, WELL worth it. You get a lot for your money. There are also ways to save money. If you buy any 3 pieces of content at once, you save 10%, any 6 pieces at once and you get 20% off. You also get paid to participate in races. By following very reasonable guidelines, you can earn up to $10/season, and $40/year by participating, which knocks a big chunk of the monthly cost off. Also, buying the monthly service in packages saves a lot. $12/mo for a single month can go as low as $5/mo with a 2 year sub and nominal participation. I want to say this too, the cars and tracks are freaking awesome. This is not a game, or a toy, but a highly realistic simulation, and the tracks are what they call "millimeter accurate", which they achieve by laser scanning. Every bump and crack is accounted for.

Like Rich said, the website is great, and has endless information sources, and excellent controls. The service seems extremely well managed, and organized.

My only complaint so far is the fee for private hosting, but I understand why they did that. They don't want everyone logging in and going to private sessions, but rather want the races populated.

This is a hardcore sim, and definitely not for everyone, but if you're into racing, it's fantastic.

I need to get a new wheel. My wheel isn't recognized (the wheel is, the pedals aren't). Bah.

I'd appreciate if you could PM me you in-game names so I can at least get you onto my in-game friend's list.

For me, Don is the short form of Donald. The other D is for Desio.

Don my in game name is Jeffrey Jones2

What wheel pedals setup do you have? Are your pedals recognized in Windows?

I have the old Microsoft wheel. There are no downloadable drivers for it (for the last 3 versions of Windows, actually), and although Windows sees it in the control panel and I can configure it, the game doesn't see it.

New wheel/pedals are already on order. I had to go with the Driving Force GT since there's apparently a 2 month wait to get a G27 and there's no way I can spring for a t500 setup.

DonD wrote:

I have the old Microsoft wheel. There are no downloadable drivers for it (for the last 3 versions of Windows, actually), and although Windows sees it in the control panel and I can configure it, the game doesn't see it.

New wheel/pedals are already on order. I had to go with the Driving Force GT since there's apparently a 2 month wait to get a G27 and there's no way I can spring for a t500 setup.

My G27 order was filled in two weeks (from Amazon). YMMV.

DonD wrote:

I have the old Microsoft wheel. There are no downloadable drivers for it (for the last 3 versions of Windows, actually), and although Windows sees it in the control panel and I can configure it, the game doesn't see it.

New wheel/pedals are already on order. I had to go with the Driving Force GT since there's apparently a 2 month wait to get a G27 and there's no way I can spring for a t500 setup.

The DFGT is a very good wheel, the pedals are barely adequate. But you can definitely get by with it. Let me know when you get it and I can help you with a good DFGT setup for iRacing. Good news is if you get into it, you can always upgrade your pedals later.

Ok grinding for SR to get my D license is worse than grinding for XP in WoW. It would be faster if I was willing to risk my current championship points in 2 series but since I'm not I'm running time trials for .03 points or so when I need .30

I don't know much about this game. Is the simulation on a different level compared to the console driving "sims"?

kyrieee wrote:

I don't know much about this game. Is the simulation on a different level compared to the console driving "sims"?

It is a different level. GT and Forza are great. I will not try to say anything is the best

Spoiler:

(iRacing)

.

iRacing is much different. The multiplayer focus and safety rating adjudication lead to better races. To compete in those races, you need to practice...hours. Shaving .20 seconds off your lap times starts becoming heroic. And, the physics are unforgiving. But, this is a sim you invest WoW-like hours in to get good. I highly recommend it.

Just for the heck of it, I tried setting up iRacing and the wheel on a different computer and it saw my pedals. I spent much of the morning trying to learn the fixed setup Legends Ford at South Boston Oval.

It's a squirrely little thing. I've managed (at best) 20 laps incident free on the practice track, with somewhat less success when spectating/testing against ghosts during a race. For the record, the race runs 40 laps. The racers are running 17.5xx. I'm still in the 18s.

I've got a lot more work to do.

I'm hopeful that an improvement in my hardware will translate to better control of gas/brake, and thus a better lap, but I still have a lot of work to do.

For kicks, I also ran the fixed MX-5 Roadster around Lime Rock and that was an absolute joy. Sooo stable under throttle/brake and Lime Rock is a fun course to run on.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/4uXET.jpg)

Glee!

^^ Schweet!

DonD wrote:

Just for the heck of it, I tried setting up iRacing and the wheel on a different computer and it saw my pedals. I spent much of the morning trying to learn the fixed setup Legends Ford at South Boston Oval.

It's a squirrely little thing. I've managed (at best) 20 laps incident free on the practice track, with somewhat less success when spectating/testing against ghosts during a race. For the record, the race runs 40 laps. The racers are running 17.5xx. I'm still in the 18s.

I've got a lot more work to do.

I'm hopeful that an improvement in my hardware will translate to better control of gas/brake, and thus a better lap, but I still have a lot of work to do.

For kicks, I also ran the fixed MX-5 Roadster around Lime Rock and that was an absolute joy. Sooo stable under throttle/brake and Lime Rock is a fun course to run on.

Glad you're enjoying it, Don. Are you planning to focus on ovals, or road? It's possible to do both, but I've found that I need to focus on road racing, as it takes a great deal of practice to be competitive at either discipline.

And yes, the MX5 is a fun car to drive. This week (starting 7PM EDT tonight) the track switches back to Laguna Seca, which is very fun to drive in the MX5 as well.

Congrats, garion, that's great news about the G27. Be sure to post your thoughts on it later

My Fanatec Clubsport pedals are in Jacksonville, and will arrive tomorrow. I CANT WAIT!

I'm now in D Class and running the Skip Barber series. We start at Zandvoort tonight, and that's a fun track too.

I'd like to at least be decent on both circuits, but I imagine my main pursuit will be road. I find the longer circuits and the greater variety of track topography to be more enjoyable to drive.

I think when it switches back to Laguna Seca I won't set a qualifying time. In the Lime Rock races I was always starting third or fourth in the grid because I had a time set and I'm not that good. I'm running in the 1:02-1:03 range and the other racers are running 1:01 or less. By the way, do you know they have the Spa racetrack! As Jeremy Clarkson would say "Best track...in the World".

speeddokken wrote:

I think when it switches back to Laguna Seca I won't set a qualifying time. In the Lime Rock races I was always starting third or fourth in the grid because I had a time set and I'm not that good. I'm running in the 1:02-1:03 range and the other racers are running 1:01 or less. By the way, do you know they have the Spa racetrack! As Jeremy Clarkson would say "Best track...in the World".

If you're running 1'02 and 1'03 at Lime Rock, there's another trick you can do. Don't grid at all. If you don't hit the Grid button, the timer will countdown and you'll see a "missed start" (green) button. Click that, and you'll be placed in pit row. The cars will start off the line, and then you'll be given a short countdown timer, then you can exit the pit and still be a part of the regular race. Just don't exit the pit until you've cleared the yellow line on the track. Don't cross that line or you'll be black flagged. This is a decent strategy in the Nvidia cup at Lime Rock, because usually there will be several people wreck out early, get mad & quit, etc. I routinely finish 5th or higher doing this. 1'02's and 1'03's are fine at Lime Rock if you drive safe & clean.

As for SPA, yep, just purchased it a few days ago ... it's part of the Skip Barber series I'm in. Great track.