iRacing - hosted GT3 Club Races - Sundays @ 9:00am EST

SnappyDEe · Dec 22, 2015

OP has been edited - sessions are now two hours

. Sessions require password which I will post the day of the race.

These RD club races are casual events I am hosting for the purpose of providing the opportunity to race using the iRacing service but without the pressure of worrying about iRating and Safety Rating. The majority of the tracks will be base content but there will be some of the more popular paid tracks mixed in as well. All skill levels are welcome to join in and race. Please race respectfully and have fun.

Two Hour Sessions: 1 hour practice, 15 minute quali (single car, 4 laps), 45 minute race. Race fuel limited to 46 percent. You will have to pit so use the time in practice sessions to find your stall. There are also 2 fast repairs available.

Session requires password which I will post up here on the morning of the race.
Password = Senna

The cars:
BMW Z4 GT3
McLaren MP4 12C GT3
RUF RT12R Track
Ford GT3 GT3

Sunday December 27th, 2015 @ 9:00 am EST - Okayama International (base content)

Sunday January 3rd, 2016 @ 9:00 am EST - Daytona circa 2007 (base content)

Sunday January 10th, 2016 @ 9:00 am EST - Spa (paid content)

Sunday January 17th, 2016 @ 9:00 am EST - Laguna Seca (base content)

Sunday January 31st, 2016 @ 9:00 am EST - Summit Point (base content)

Sunday February 7th, 2016 @ 9:00 am EST - Interlagos (paid content)

Dave R · Jan 16, 2016

Snappy can you post up some pit stop information? . Thanks in advance

James Nance · Jan 16, 2016

Dave R said:
Snappy can you post up some pit stop information? . Thanks in advance

What info you need?

SnappyDEe · Jan 16, 2016

Here are my suggestions:
During practice you need to figure how much fuel you need when you stop and adjust accordingly so as not to waste time getting extra fuel.

Don't take tires. Uncheck that box when you grid and are waiting for the race to start. These races are too short to take tires. The GT3 car pit stops will refuel the car and then change the tires. These ARE NOT done simultaneously so you can see where you will lose a lot of time if you take tires.

Most importantly - you have two "fast repairs". Meaning that: if you get in a wreck and take a tow you can go to you pit stop settings, while you wait for the tow, and deselect everything except "Fast Repair". The second your tow is complete you will have a totally new car with whatever fuel level you started the race with. THERE IS NO NEED TO QUIT OUT.

Hang in there and keep running until the end.

See you tomorrow guys.

James, feel free to add anything I missed.

James Nance · Jan 16, 2016

SnappyDEe said:
Here are my suggestions:
During practice you need to figure how much fuel you need when you stop and adjust accordingly so as not to waste time getting extra fuel.

Don't take tires. Uncheck that box when you grid and are waiting for the race to start. These races are too short to take tires. The GT3 car pit stops will refuel the car and then change the tires. These ARE NOT done simultaneously so you can see where you will lose a lot of time if you take tires.

Most importantly - you have two "fast repairs". Meaning that: if you get in a wreck and take a tow you can go to you pit stop settings, while you wait for the tow, and deselect everything except "Fast Repair". The second your tow is complete you will have a totally new car with whatever fuel level you started the race with. THERE IS NO NEED TO QUIT OUT.

Hang in there and keep running until the end.

See you tomorrow guys.

James, feel free to add anything I missed.

I know some guys fill it up as much as it will take and go, and some will put enough to get to halfway or a little past just to be able to have some what of a better race pace. My suggestion is if you qualified badly or it looks like your gonna be in a bad pack of cars, then go ahead and put full fuel, your gonna be slow enough in the backed up train of cars to hold your own BUT this is sometimes track dependent as well, so test different fuel loads and see how much time difference there is. Adding on to that, kinda with what David said, having full fuel will allow you to pit in whenever you want, thus when the fuel is going in, it wont take so long to fill. The other scenario is if your up front, it might be good to take less fuel to have the pace and possibly gap anyone around you, do a clean pit in and see where you come out at. Just my 2 cents.

Dave R · Jan 16, 2016

Thanks for the tips !!

Fritz Anker · Jan 16, 2016

I'll just add one more thing to the list. Something I learned this week in BSS. The fuel restriction is absolute: meaning if you have a reason to pit early - crash, spin, tow - and in that pit stop you think - well just get the fueling done now and try to make the best of it racing to the checkered - you won't get more fuel than the original limit and will probably need to pit again for fuel. Kinda sucks, but that's that.

SnappyDEe · Jan 17, 2016

OP updated: password for this week posted in the usual spot.

Hugo Ramos · Jan 17, 2016

I had a great time with you guys. Thanks a lot for hosting, David. I guess I need more experience, since my driving was poor to say the least, and I got into the grid with my qualifying fuel quantity. Maybe next week I'll do a little better. Congrats to James, too. He was flying out there. See ya!

Fritz Anker · Jan 17, 2016

I got on the podium!

...but I got lapped. Dominant James was unbeatable. Those shiny new rims did the trick alright. I don't know how he gets through the corkscrew so fast, but wow. Just wow. Tried to show the west coasters proud in our home track but at least we got the podium. Great show James. Noticed you stayed with us. Sleep is so overrated.

EDIT: OK. Realized half way through making pancakes, that James meant his steering wheel rims were changed out. Thought he was making a joke about his set up. ...chalk this up to a 5:30 wake up call.

...what rim did you change to? Thought you were using the F1 rim, did you change back?

James Nance · Jan 18, 2016

Fritz Anker said:
I got on the podium!

...but I got lapped. Dominant James was unbeatable. Those shiny new rims did the trick alright. I don't know how he gets through the corkscrew so fast, but wow. Just wow. Tried to show the west coasters proud in our home track but at least we got the podium. Great show James. Noticed you stayed with us. Sleep is so overrated.

EDIT: OK. Realized half way through making pancakes, that James meant his steering wheel rims were changed out. Thought he was making a joke about his set up. ...chalk this up to a 5:30 wake up call.

...what rim did you change to? Thought you were using the F1 rim, did you change back?

Hehe funny. I changed from the F1 to the standard T300 rim. With heavier cars, the standard rim feels better, something about the ffb coming through better in the old rim vs the F1, being so light and I less solid. I still use the F1 rim for the F1 car, but thats it. I remember having to tip toe and be very careful using the F1 rim at Laguna, compared to using the standard, I felt very in control and could push real easily. Im only 4 tenths quicker than my personal best but I had a good portion of my laps under my old times and the times were set in warmer track conditions. Even I was a little skeptical when I saw Troy and Hugo setting there times, I wasnt sure I could match, but then I used the old rim the first time there back at Laguna and there was the result.

On a side note @SnappyDEe, I used your ffb settings a week back. To be honest they didnt feel so well, wasnt sure what was going on ffb wise. So I stuck back to my usual settings, which feel great already and not sure what could top the feeling I get with them.

Fritz Anker · Jan 18, 2016

Well, that decides it. You only get to use the F1 rim. Haha. I have the Fanatec gear and feel the same way about its F1 rim. I use it on the McLaren 12C for the immersion - although I'm not sure the dimensions are really similar and it is very twitcy needing almost too small inputs. With the FGT, I switch to a GT rim and it takes SUCH a long time to not feel like I'm driving a bus it seems so big.

I wish I could have stayed closer to Troy as I was only 3 tenths back in Q but I couldn't hold on from lap 1. Felt I had a decent start but once I missed T7 up to the corkscrew (I can only get that right one out of 40 times) you guys were gone. I couldn't get even close to qualy pace at all, then had a really sloppy second half starting with the pit stop. I forgot to set the pit needs on the grid so I was struggling to set it all up by the time I got to my box. Barely got it done but it was a bad bad stop. Then had a few almost-spins, bad corners, dropped a few wheels and bammo there your name was coming in red. I tried to stay on the lead lap, but you were chewing through at least two seconds a lap by then so couldn't get it done. ...but it was fun trying.

James Nance · Jan 18, 2016

Fritz Anker said:
Well, that decides it. You only get to use the F1 rim. Haha. I have the Fanatec gear and feel the same way about its F1 rim. I use it on the McLaren 12C for the immersion - although I'm not sure the dimensions are really similar and it is very twitcy needing almost too small inputs. With the FGT, I switch to a GT rim and it takes SUCH a long time to not feel like I'm driving a bus it seems so big.

I wish I could have stayed closer to Troy as I was only 3 tenths back in Q but I couldn't hold on from lap 1. Felt I had a decent start but once I missed T7 up to the corkscrew (I can only get that right one out of 40 times) you guys were gone. I couldn't get even close to qualy pace at all, then had a really sloppy second half starting with the pit stop. I forgot to set the pit needs on the grid so I was struggling to set it all up by the time I got to my box. Barely got it done but it was a bad bad stop. Then had a few almost-spins, bad corners, dropped a few wheels and bammo there your name was coming in red. I tried to stay on the lead lap, but you were chewing through at least two seconds a lap by then so couldn't get it done. ...but it was fun trying.

What degrees of rotation do you have iR set at? I found setting it to the I guess normal range of 900 helps with catching spins, more room to correct, as well not over correct. Of course the sim adjusts according to each car, but the open wheel cars use a smaller degree of rotation I believe.

SnappyDEe · Jan 18, 2016

I had a terrible race. I'm just no good at Laguna. TBH, I usually avoid it. It's time to stop doing that and run it as much as possible. It's the only way to get better at that place.

Next weeks race is at Summit Point. Tight track with these cars. It should make for a really interesting race.

Fritz Anker · Jan 18, 2016

James Nance said:
What degrees of rotation do you have iR set at? I found setting it to the I guess normal range of 900 helps with catching spins, more room to correct, as well not over correct. Of course the sim adjusts according to each car, but the open wheel cars use a smaller degree of rotation I believe.

Mine is set at 900 too. I should try the 12C with a normal GT rim and see if it's much different. I would assume so as the diameter of the wheel will be much bigger giving more resolution for the input. I just like the wheel I'm using to look/be as much like the car I'm driving makes me feel like I'm driving different cars. I should try to find the size of the 12C wheel and then compare it to my F1 rim to see if its even comparable. Been thinking of getting a small round rim too for the Spec Ford, and other small wheel cars. ...then again I just like buying stuff for the race hobby.

Fritz Anker · Jan 18, 2016

SnappyDEe said:
I had a terrible race. I'm just no good at Laguna. TBH, I usually avoid it. It's time to stop doing that and run it as much as possible. It's the only way to get better at that place.

Next weeks race is at Summit Point. Tight track with these cars. It should make for a really interesting race.

This place is deceptive. I have a hard time with the track as well, but racing the SpecFord here helped (along with their resident alien giving much needed track guidance). Even though I know what I need to do now, doing it reliably and consistently is very different matter.

Side note: Having tracked here IRL, this is such an amazing copy. Almost all sims have it but none are like this one and some are just down right awful. From the corkscrew to the flat bits to how blind and technical some of the turns are, they just nailed it. Thankfully, they also omitted the annoyed neighbors so you can run without decibel limits.

James Nance · Jan 18, 2016

Fritz Anker said:
Mine is set at 900 too. I should try the 12C with a normal GT rim and see if it's much different. I would assume so as the diameter of the wheel will be much bigger giving more resolution for the input. I just like the wheel I'm using to look/be as much like the car I'm driving makes me feel like I'm driving different cars. I should try to find the size of the 12C wheel and then compare it to my F1 rim to see if its even comparable. Been thinking of getting a small round rim too for the Spec Ford, and other small wheel cars. ...then again I just like buying stuff for the race hobby.

Oh okay, was wondering. Just seems the standard T300 rim is more physically solid compared to the F1 rim being more plastic like, the ffb forces come through differently. Id love to get a sequential shifter to go with my setup

Fritz Anker · Jan 18, 2016

The Fanatec rims are pretty darn fantastic. The F1 is really solid too, just super quick compared to the GT rims. Their CSS SQ shifter is amazing. Only downside is its size and weight, but just can't beat going from H to S with a flip of the switch. Can't recommend it enough.

ttdan · Jan 19, 2016

Will hope to join you guys again in a couple of weeks. Im away on business right now with some new pedals waiting at home, very frustrating

James Nance · Jan 19, 2016

Fritz Anker said:
The Fanatec rims are pretty darn fantastic. The F1 is really solid too, just super quick compared to the GT rims. Their CSS SQ shifter is amazing. Only downside is its size and weight, but just can't beat going from H to S with a flip of the switch. Can't recommend it enough.

I can only dream of using a fanatec wheel, love the pedals though. thats what I look at for a SQ shifter is the Fanatec, looks awsome. The one thing I do miss from my old DFP GT wheel was the little shifter it had, was tiny and pretty much a nub but did its purpose for me.

Gerbuho · Jan 19, 2016

I'm beginning to think I may not like iRacing, I don't understand the physics, I don't understand the FFB, find it way over my poor skills. But, being too soon to really tell, I just threw a couple hundreds to be sure ha ha. So far, I see the McLaren is more friendly than the Ford, we'll see.