iRacing | The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8R Is Coming To iRacing

[Paul Jeffrey]

Yes, iRacing have yet another new high profile car release in the works - as the new Chevrolet Corvette C8R is confirmed to be heading to the sim later this month.

American muscle with a hint of European inspired design, the latest in a long line of Corvette machinery has rolled off the production line and onto the race tracks of the world - with plenty of divided opinions from the Chevrolet faithful, and now the new car is set to be recreated in virtual form, thanks to the development team over at iRacing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1301173039460167680

Scheduled to be added to the simulation as paid DLC during the month of December, the new car marks a very welcome addition of yet more closed top GT machinery within the title, joining the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Audi in what is a growing roster of endurance specification cars.

At this early stage no exact time frame of when the car will be released has been revealed, however I think it fair to say we probably won't have to wait until the very dying days of September to enjoy all the new content goodies coming as part of the new season update for iRacing.com.


iRacing is a PC exclusive racing simulation, available now.

Want to join in with the discussion about this popular online racing title? Worry not, head over to the iRacing Sub Forum here at RaceDepartment and get yourself involved in the action today!

 

[BP]

8Mb/s (that's 1MiB/s) is still plenty for any racing sim netcode. It's about latency, not bandwidth. I'm always on WiFi and don't experience lags in any sim, even on iRacing when connected to US servers from Europe(pings are a little higher, but not a problem even with close fights). Only remember two times within last few years I had to reboot my router because I was lagging.

If you read what I said carefully, you'll see I mentioned that it's 8Mbit on a REALLY GOOD day (meaning it's usually more like 4Mbit and I was sharing the connection with my wife). I also mentioned latency being important several times (latency to your ISP and overall latency to the server). I studied Computer Science in college ages ago so I'm well aware of how it works; I know 8Mbit is more than enough, actually around 3 - 4 Mbit is actually all that's needed for actual bandwidth but the latency needs to be low in all situations.

Question regarding this....
I use a TM TX which only produces 4nm, how I've setup the ffb was setting the NM in-game setting to 4nm and used the auto tune ffb option while running practice laps than selecting the use custom controls option at the bottom.
I am assuming your guide is just for DD wheel users as no none DD wheels came handle those Nm for each car?

Get wheelcheck and run level 2 and 3 linear min force tests. With my CSL Elite I turned on linear, set wheel force to 6.0 (since the CSL does 6nm) and after wheelcheck tests I found that my min force is 4.0 so I set 4.0 on all cars then figure out a favorable strength on each car.

Using the "Auto tune" feature will get you close, but I've found it's not always correct. If you don't drive the car to the limit, under the grippiest track state and, most important, drive clean laps (that means no off tracks, no hitting anything), the auto feature will set it to the wrong number.

What's important is that you monitor the FFB meter and see if and when the FFB is clipping. You want some clipping in heavy corners but not a lot. If you have a VRS subscription, their telemetry app makes it easier and more accurate to figure out, but it depends on your driving (if you're not driving the car to the limit under the grippiest conditions, the numbers won't be correct).

Also, It doesn't matter what kind of wheel you have...what's important is making sure the wheel is getting all the FFB that car is sending...in order to achieve that you have to set it up the way the guide explains. That means changing the iRacing FFB display from "Strength" to "Max Force". Don't worry about the numbers you see in iRacing (for example MX5 is 14Nm, Formula 3 is 33 Nm), that's the "Virtual torque", not actual torque...you won't blow up your wheel by setting it to 33 Nm.

Last thing to remember is the Nm Max Force values work in a "backwards" way, where the higher the Nm number, the less force you feel on your wheel. It's actually not backwards, but it's scaling the forces based on that number. Let me explain a different way:

• The MX5's recommended setting is 14 Nm. The sim will scale the FFB so that the clipping point of all forces is 14 Nm. Any virtual force in the iRacing physics engine that goes beyond 14 Nm will be clipped. It's like listening to music and if something in the signal chain is too loud, you'll hear distortion...except in FFB world there is no distortion, just 100% power..no more, no less.
• This means that a Virtual Force of 14Nm or higher in iRacing = 100% of Real force on your wheel.
• The (virtual) cornering forces produced by the MX5 are slightly above 14Nm but not by much (about 15Nm). So you should feel everything you need for cornering.
• The (virtual) crash forces, i.e. when you hit a wall or a car, goes wayyy beyond 14 Nm usually. Usually anywhere from 50 Nm to 100+ Nm. These will also be clipped if you set it to 14 Nm.
• If you set it to 50Nm, the sim will scale the FFB so that the clipping point of all forces is 50 Nm. This means that the only time you'll feel 100% Force on your wheel is when you crash into a wall. However, in regular cornering you will only feel about 30% FFB (15 divided by 50) so your wheel will feel lifeless.

Since your wheel is 4Nm and I'm assuming you're strong enough to handle 4Nm (I'm a fairly weak guy but I can handle up to 8 - 9Nm), my recommendation is to set the wheel's strength to 100% in Thrustmaster's settings.

The big selling point for Direct Drive wheels isn't only the strength it can produce, it's how FAST they can go from low strength to high strength and back to low strength, which is crucial for feeling all the little nuances in the road and the inertia of the car. I went from G27 to Fanatec CSW v2.5 to the DirectForce Pro and with each jump I felt more of these differences. I say this not to praise Direct drive wheels, but to explain that there is a actual limit to what some wheels can output, simply because they're not fast enough to do it, due to the capability of the motor and other things like gears and belts that may damper the finer details. As detailed as the lower or mid-range wheels might feel, there is a very notable difference when you get to DD range and it helps greatly with car control.

 

[avenger82]

OK I'm gonna help a bunch of you out right now. The 2 big issues people have with iRacing's driving is the FFB isn't responsive and the brakes lock up uncontrollably. Here's how you fix both those things; if you have an active iRacing subscription, go try this and report back. Other than the articles and videos linked, this is my opinion based on my findings.

STEP 1: How to calibrate iRacing's FFB

iRacing's FFB setup is not as straightforward as other sims (you have to change the gain for each car) but I promise you this makes a world of difference in feeling what the car is doing. iRacing doesn't apply compensation for differences in forces at the steering rack as some sims do, where an MX5 has lower forces at the wheel due to power steering vs. a Formula 3 car with higher forces due to no power steering and overall design differences. You have to tune this on a per car basis and the guide linked below explains how.

Follow the guide and do not deviate in any way. If you drive on a Logitech wheel or something of similar power, turn your wheel's FFB strength to 100% (or 107%? I think that's what it was from what I remember on my G27), otherwise, if you own a much stronger wheel like DD or belt driven whels, just set the strength to what you can handle AFTER you've changed these settings.
https://virtualracingschool.com/academy/hardware/vrs-directforce-pro-wheel-base-settings/

Here's one of the most important parts of the guide here, but read the whole thing.

View attachment 403382

My assumption is most people who try iRacing (for a month or two) don't get this part right and then rag everywhere about how bad the FFB is...I used to feel it wasn't responsive too until I did this and it was a game-changer...literally my Road iRating went from around 1700 (which is near the average iRacing driver's rating) to over 3K in no time (high enough to always be in the top splits). It wasn't even this VRS guide that clued me in on this, it was taking the Driver61 Sim racing course this summer where one of the coaches told me on Day 1; the guide above only confirmed it and why it works (highly recommend that Driver61 course btw).

STEP 2: Fixing the brakes/Minimising lockups

Like the FFB, iRacing doesn't "bake in" settings for calibrating the brake pressure so that it transfers from car to car a lot better like most other sims (not saying this is bad or good, btw)...so whereas an MX5 you can mash the brakes hard and rarely get lockups, other cars like openwheelers have more responsive brakes and lockup under less pressure. My guess is they model the brakes after the cars using pedal travel and leave it to the user to have the appropriate hardware to mimic said brake pedal's behaviour...i.e. Have your physical brake pedal be softer with lots of travel if driving an MX5 and have the pedals be very stiff with minimal travel when driving a Formula 3.

Obviously most of us don't have several sets of sim racing pedals, or have the time to adjust the resistance in our pedals each time we switch cars. What makes it worse is when you have pedals with load cells and progressive resistance...because the cars lockup in the faster cars with less pressure, it's harder to learn with muscle memory if the car locks up at say 40% brakes but you don't feel strong resistance on your pedals until 60% brakes.

To fix this, you have to trick iRacing into thinking 100% of your physical brake travel is not 100% in the game by modifying your control config file. It's a totally legal move to do since there's no way to calibrate brake pressure in the sim itself. I'm not gonna explain it here, just watch this video and he'll do the heavy lifting for me. One key thing to remember is when you're calibrating your brake pedal, take note of the Raw input value for 100% brakes. His method is sound, but you have to figure it out based on what numbers your pedal puts out. Read the comments below the video as many people have posted solutions for various pedals.

So just remember this formula for calculating the desired percentage when you jump into a new car:
(100% brake pedal RAW value) divided by (percentage you want converted to decimal)

So if your brakes show 4095 when you press it at 100%, but you want 100% to be 75% in-game:

4095 divided by 0.75 = 5460

If you want 60%:

4095 divided by 0.60 = 6825


THAT'S IT!
The rest is up to you...as all of this means nothing if you don't have the driving skills to catch a slide or threshold brake effectively

I went from G27 to Fanatec CSW v2.5 to the DirectForce Pro and with each jump I felt more of these differences. I say this not to praise Direct drive wheels, but to explain that there is a actual limit to what some wheels can output, simply because they're not fast enough to do it, due to the capability of the motor and other things like gears and belts that may damper the finer details. As detailed as the lower or mid-range wheels might feel, there is a very notable difference when you get to DD range and it helps greatly with car control.

Such simple fix! But people are so lazy and expect game developer to fix it for them. Shame on them!/s

Also they resist on getting DD wheel (with a rig that is able to handle it) and still dare to complain on iRacing FFB!

 

[atomed]

Best looking Corvette ever?

 

[BP]

Such simple fix! But people are so lazy and expect game developer to fix it for them. Shame on them!/s

Also they resist on getting DD wheel (with a rig that is able to handle it) and still dare to complain on iRacing FFB!

I only started racing on a DD wheel a month ago, been simracing for at least 5 years before that on low end/mid range hardware, so get off whatever "elitist" angle you're trying to push on me with the sarcasm. I'm not trying to insult people with non-DD wheels, just stating what is verifiable in the numbers: a gear driven wheel will never feel as accurate or react as quickly as a DD wheel, it's not opinion, it's facts. What I AM trying to show is how to get the most out of ANY wheel you own in iRacing.

Ever noticed how many sims have presets for certain wheels? Then you have people complaining "but where is my wheel??? there's no option for me!!!"...or "this preset sucks!!!111"...but still for "some reason" developers add a "custom" FFB option...gee I wonder why. See, I can do sarcasm too...

That is one approach to tweaking the FFB values to each wheel (even though they may still not fit someone's preference)...iRacing took the other approach where it's all custom and you tailor whatever wheel you have for it.

You can't please everyone, but you can give them the tools to figure out what works for them.

 

[Phantom Lord]

Best looking Corvette ever?

Ooooh, I dunno. It's a good looking car for sure, but I kinda miss that long 'Vette bonnet (hood?)...

 

[Kurupt CDN]

@BP
Thank you for info, I quickly gave it a try and noticed a difference!
I always was under the assumption the Nm force was based on your own wheels strength and not the virtual cars.
It would be nice if iracing set that up for us since they should have that data.
Do you own the VRS pro?
I am on the order list for when they become available to Canada.

Cheers

 

[sentry87]

Come on s397. Make the C8r happen in rf2!

 

[atomed]

Ooooh, I dunno. It's a good looking car for sure, but I kinda miss that long 'Vette bonnet (hood?)...

Yeah, that's a classic.

 

[Nick Gregory]

 

[avenger82]

I only started racing on a DD wheel a month ago, been simracing for at least 5 years before that on low end/mid range hardware, so get off whatever "elitist" angle you're trying to push on me with the sarcasm. I'm not trying to insult people with non-DD wheels, just stating what is verifiable in the numbers: a gear driven wheel will never feel as accurate or react as quickly as a DD wheel, it's not opinion, it's facts. What I AM trying to show is how to get the most out of ANY wheel you own in iRacing.

Ever noticed how many sims have presets for certain wheels? Then you have people complaining "but where is my wheel??? there's no option for me!!!"...or "this preset sucks!!!111"...but still for "some reason" developers add a "custom" FFB option...gee I wonder why. See, I can do sarcasm too...

That is one approach to tweaking the FFB values to each wheel (even though they may still not fit someone's preference)...iRacing took the other approach where it's all custom and you tailor whatever wheel you have for it.

You can't please everyone, but you can give them the tools to figure out what works for them.

Ok, but it sounded to me, that you suggested it’s users fault that they don’t have proper FFB in iRacing.
Whether because they are not willing to spend time “researching” how to make it right in iRacing, or don’t buy very expensive wheel. With CSW 2.5 any game should have realistic out of the box. Of course all sims should have profiles for low, mid and high end wheels.

I had G27 and it felt great with rF2 out of the box, and many people seem to have similar experience.
There are many other issues in rF2, not polished like in iRacing or other established sims, and it’s often criticized for that , but that’s another topic.

 

[LilBrick]

well the "new" RSR only had a exhaust position change to fit a different diffuser and seems like they are putting it back already

Porsche Unveils New 911 RSR – Sportscar365

Naturally-aspirated Porsche 911 RSR GTE unveiled ahead of September race debut...

sportscar365.com

The new RSR is more than just a exhaust change.

Porsche Testing Different Exhaust Layout for 911 RSR-19 – Sportscar365

Porsche working on new GTE exhaust layout to enable quieter private running for customers...

sportscar365.com

And yeah, they may change the exhaust again, but it won't be the same as the old exhaust, it will actually be quieter.

 

[BP]

@BP
Do you own the VRS pro?
I am on the order list for when they become available to Canada.

Cheers

I do, it's a great wheel, you'll definitely enjoy it!

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

You ignore the words of champion drivers who literally say that iRacing's tire model is ****, and instead parrot the marketing claptrap of people who are selling renting you something.

And you seem to ignore the words of many champion drivers who praise iRacing's tire model and it's competition model as being as close to the real thing as it gets. Just because some of the naysayers have big social media platforms doesn't make their opinion any more accurate or relevant than the hundreds of professional race drivers who say the opposite.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

In which department?

Physics/Tyre Physics? No.
Graphics? Lol, no.
UI? No
Netcode? Lol

Total package my friend. Total package. Oh, and also participation - by a landslide.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

iRacing has been off the v4 tire model for some timw now BTW.

Yeah, since about 2012

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Ya I forgot to mention I've done that, min force on my wheel is 2 which I've set on all cars.
My understanding is that min force is your dead zone at center and not the NM your wheel can produce...but could be wrong?

Min force is only really required with low powered wheels like Logitech that have a noticeable "dead zone" around center. For anything else, you're just masking the more subtle low level FFB forces by using a min force settings

 

[Pedro17]

Total package my friend. Total package.

 

[Tony 93]

Been waiting for this beast

 

[Timekiller221]

hope they will bring the Lexus 2 in 5 years

 

[MSKbeans]

Okay think peeps getting muddled up with the tyre model.
Yes they cocked up the release big time. Wrong numbers punched into a keyboard probably an over zealous skint racer...
But they fixed it, okay it took time but feels more like it should...
If the car is set to edgy then you need to have fly reactions... Mellow it out and pretty easy to catch slides, not the ones were your never going to get it back, that's a trip into the RallyCross zone.