Why I don't race in iRacing anymore...

[Stefan Mizzi]

Sad but true. I have not raced in iRacing for weeks now (only try it every now and then maybe I change my mind).

Reason? Well, for some reason I cannot find grip in most cars and it seems that the cars never want to stop when I brake.

I can be quite fast in rFactor 2, nKPro and GCS2012 for example. True, first few laps, there is no grip as well, but then, especially in rF2, the car is glued to the road when the rubber is laid.

I can immerse very easily in rF2 and the car stops when I want and I know how much to push in corners. In iRacing, the car keep going out and out of the corner and the braking, I don't know, I cannot get the right feeling.

Am I doing something wrong in iRacing? Do you guys have the same experiece or its just me???

 

[Kevin Ascher]

I find it very easy to immerse with iRacing.
Much easier than in rFactor 2 or GSC for example.
Have you maybe thought about adjusting your fforce Feedback or your Field of View in iRacing?

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Hmmm, interesting. Can you please share your setting so that I try them out? Maybe I have them all wrong...

Thanks!

 

[Xosé Estrada]

You have a FOV calculator under the options in iRacing, you need to measure your monitor and the distance your eyes are from it.

Then the result might surprise you but I encourage you to use the correct FOV.

To correctly setup the FFB you may find some useful threads in main forum.

 

[David Wright]

You have a FOV calculator under the options in iRacing, you need to measure your monitor and the distance your eyes are from it.

Then the result might surprise you but I encourage you to use the correct FOV.

But this is like driving with a monitor sized hole in an opaque windscreen. It isn't any more realistic than a default setting.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

If you get habituated to it it will give you consistent laptimes and good racing.

Trying to have 120º visual field in a monitor size has even less logic IMHO

 

[Kevin Ascher]

I find that the majority of sim racers use a WAY TOO HIGH field of view for their monitpor size and distance from the screen. It's been a few days that I changed to realistically low FOV as recommended in the calculator. It surely took some getting used to but since then I find it much much easier to immerse in iRacing!

I mean, who the **** sees their arms and hands and steering wheel clearly while driving?
None, I hope!

 

[David Wright]

I mean, who the **** sees their arms and hands and steering wheel clearly while driving?
None, I hope!

Since the speedometer and revcounter are normally located inside the arc of the steering wheel I hope everyone can see their steering wheel while driving!!

 

[Senad Subasic]

I mean, who the **** sees their arms and hands and steering wheel clearly while driving?
None, I hope!

Sounds like the cockpit blur in Shift was made for you.

Realistic FOV is a tiny hole, as mentioned above. Good for hotlapping I guess, but I'll stick with my WAY TOO HIGH one when there are others around.

 

[Kevin Ascher]

Each to his own,

Since the speedometer and revcounter are normally located inside the arc of the steering wheel I hope everyone can see their steering wheel while driving!!

...Without moving their eyes off the road.

 

[Björn Spindel]

It's not realistic to have a field of view of 45 degrees, do you drive with blinkers on in real life? If you only have one screen you need to compromise.

 

[David Wright]

Each to his own,

...Without moving their eyes off the road.

And with a standard FOV I have the option to take my eyes off the road to check my instruments or check my mirrors, just like in real life. With a narrow FOV I do not have this option.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Post your FOV in the Caddy.

Will be interesting to see what everyone runs, i´ll post one tomorrow.

(take a print while in car)

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Reason? Well, for some reason I cannot find grip in most cars.

I don't see the relation between physical grip and field of view to be honest. I also experience the same as the Stefan in iRacing and for me its also a major turn down to the level that I hardly play the sim either anymore.

For a sim that claims to be the most realistic thing ever I find it disappointing that the grip levels of the cars are way off. Maybe time to laser-scan grip in the future?

My account is filled with 95% of all the available content in iRacing and most of it is untouched at the moment because of the above.

The only noticeable improvement for me with NTM was the fact that you can attack the curbstones but that's about it.

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

But...how would a different FOV help me to 'find' more grip! and brake better?

I think my FOV is OK, just like other games. FFB I think is set fine too, not the best compared to other sims, but good enough.

Maybe the type of cars in iRacing are not my style and I'm just slow because I do not know how to drive them. In general I struggle with open wheelers and RWD cars. That's most of the cars in iRacing. I love the open wheel cars, but I am way too slow....

Then the Jetta feel is not good at all, very slippery and never stops while braking...and I hate the MX5. The mustang is fun to drive, but feel rightly like a tank.

Then there are the other ones, like spec racer and skip barber...I just spin endlessly so I become frustrated and don't drive them.

I really wish I can find the solution to drive these cars, but I have a feeling that it's my problem that I do not know how to drive them

My yearly subscription ends in a month, I hope I can start enjoying the game as I think it's quite good and fun, otherwise I'll have to part away

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Sounds like the cockpit blur in Shift was made for you.

Realistic FOV is a tiny hole, as mentioned above. Good for hotlapping I guess, but I'll stick with my WAY TOO HIGH one when there are others around.

Realistic FOV is realistic FOV, there is not discussion there.

If you want to have the same distance sensation and scale than in real life, you have one chance, is like a physical law

 

[Chronus]

But...how would a different FOV help me to 'find' more grip! and brake better?

It won't, Stefan.

People try different FOVs in order to better sort out reference points, improve their situational awareness (track, markers, cars).

Dave Kaemmer's NTM, as detailed by himself in the official forums, is no doubt a big challenge and a grand work...when he finishes it. The NTM, up until 5 months ago (last time I drove iRacing cars) was still suffering (in most cars) from the same problem: lack of grip, be it at lower speeds or higher speeds. The NTM made the transition from grip to sliding a bit more obvious, true, but cars are still nowhere near its real counterparts when it comes to recovering from slides - this was stated several times by Milner, Basu and others.

One thing is true, though: a lot of iRacers drive with too high a FOV, which, as explained above, makes it harder for them to correctly assess brake points, turn ins, etc.

I really wish I can find the solution to drive these cars, but I have a feeling that it's my problem that I do not know how to drive them

My yearly subscription ends in a month, I hope I can start enjoying the game as I think it's quite good and fun, otherwise I'll have to part away

Some iRacers would readily have you believe it is solely your problem. It probably isn't.

Different racing sims do things differently - visual cues, sound cues, FFB. iRacing, as good as it is (and it is, no doubt) is by no means perfect, and one either adapts to its shortcomings and quirks, or doesn't.

It is a work in progress, with superb tracks and great potential (and, unfortunately, doesn0t come cheap).

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Thanks Chronus for your reply. It makes lots of sense. I think what I'll do is that I won't renew my subscription now and wait for a future update regarding the NTM, hopefully I'll be able to get the right feeling then.

Like you said its not cheap, so at this stage I'm not prepared to fork out 100 euro per year just wait for that update.

Cheers
Stefan

 

[Hampus Andersson]

In most cars there is no lack of grip.. Most cars are seconds faster around a track then what they are in real life.

F1 is a great example. IRL you pull a maximum of 6g´s during braking.
In iRacing you can hit close to 7g in cornering alone.
And that´s with the supposed hard bridgestone compound.

If you can take a car and a track from let´s say Rfactor, do some laps then check what they do in real life.
If your going way faster then you have to much grip and have become accustomed to too much grip.
So naturally when trying a game with more correct grip levels it will feel like running on ice when in reality all you have to do is slow down.

Not saying iRacing has correct grip levels but many cars in the game is way faster then the times they do in real life.

proper setups is also key (better setup = more mechanical grip in some cases you need more downforce as well). Most people i see run Fixed setups that are made by a monkey.
Obviously the whole game will feel destroyed then. Caddy when it was released is a great example of just how F´d up iRacing can make setups.

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Caddy when it was released is a great example of just how F´d up iRacing can make setups.

The Caddy was a huge disappointment to me and that is because I cannot drive it 100m without loosing it and crash. I just can't drive this car.

So maybe after all, I am at fault. I usually try setups shared in the iRacing forums.

Something I should make clear regarding the grip level is that I see others zip past me, much faster, so they seem to find grip, then seem to manage to handle the cars without loosing the back-end and spin, exit corners faster than me and brake later.I have no idea how they can do that. Mind you, I can go/be very fast in other sims....

Most probably, it's me that do not know how to drive these cars or maybe I am missing something...

Could also be that I am old now