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???

 

[Chronus]

That old, huh? lol

Well, the physical side of iRacing is one thing.

Handling is another. When they want to, people adapt to pretty much everything - even to skating with soap under the feet (and no, never tried that personally).

Another thing is this: take a moment to consider the number of hours some of the fastest iRacers are in-sim, every day, every week, every month. Some of the most notorious guys there spend a minimum of 15 hours a week. I never did that, others I know didn't either, so it's not a simple task to get to that level of "being fast".

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I rarely do any racing on iRacing maybe tops 3 times a week when i´m signed up for a league and i can be within half a second to a second of the absolute fastest.
Before i signed up to the RD Le Mans league i don´t think i drove a car seriously for over a month.

It´s not all about practice practice practice. If you don´t practice right nothing will help you.
Some people are stupid quick regardless of practice...

Setups makes a huge deal. As an example i ran a setup and was maybe 1,5 seconds off pace.
It just wasn´t possible to go any quicker with that setup for me.

Got a setup from Bjorn and was 1-2 tenths away from him...
I bet if i got my hands on a DWC setup or a collection of them i would not be that far off them either.

Then you have another issue as most people who are way way off pace simply do not understand the fundamentals of going fast around a track.

In order to go fast you need to understand how.
If a car feels completely different then you have to change your driving style and discover something new within you and then work on that until that driving style becomes the standard when driving that car.

Seems most people think all cars drive exactly the same and thus, only need one type of driving style.

Ford GT and Caddy are two very special cars that require a revamp of your driving style.
In the Ford GT you can´t get away with things you can in other cars for example.

If you get 5-6 setups that are quick, made by quick drivers you can be sure you have a setup that has in some ways unlocked the secret to the car at hand.
At least a great deal of the secret.

Then you probably also have a time to chase after. If you are not anywhere near that time, go check onboard videos of that track/car and see where they brake, where they turn in, how they accelerate out that particular corner, how much of the curb he´s taking over there etc etc.

Long post but in short,

• get a quick, comfortable setup, making your own if you can is the best, (i can´t)
• Study the fastest guys and see what they do, then try to replicate it.
• Adjust yourself for the car you are driving. Get comfortable with that type of driving
• Study the art of going fast around a track. There´s loads of books out there.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

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

How long did you practice? How many days?
One night of sleep between practice will help. (no joke)

Why do you lose the rear end? Have you tried lowering the rear end of the car or playing with the diff so that it pushes rather then pulling in corners?

Have you understood how the car wants to be driven? Caddy is very special as when you brake the splitter goes down and it shifts the whole aero balance forward so some throttle application during corners can help a great deal.
I usually hit the brakes then straight back on the throttle with 4-5%.
Have you watched replays of others and watched how they tackle the track?

If the answers to these questions are "not much" "1" "no idea" "nope" then there´s your answer.

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Very good and valid points Hampus and Chronus (lol, they rhyme nicely )

Maybe that's the problem, that I dont have much practice under my belt and it's not like that these cars are easy to master...

You guys made me think deeper. thanks.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Let me know if you want to do some running some day, i haven´t driven since last Wednesday or so.

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Let me know if you want to do some running some day, i haven´t driven since last Wednesday or so.

Thanks mate. I see you are class A, that is a pro

 

[Mike McCormick]

Stefan, iRacing has a completely different feel to it than rFactor.

You can't really expect to be as fast as you are in rFactor after only a few practice sessions.

Put in a lot of practice laps and then see how you feel about iRacing.

I would also stick with one car during this time as driving many different cars won't allow you to become as comfortable with iRacing as driving one car would.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Thanks mate. I see you are class A, that is a pro

No definitely not a pro hehe It´s actually pretty easy to get A class license.

Rookie
D Class
C Class
B Class
A Class
PRO/WDC

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I would also stick with one car during this time as driving many different cars won't allow you to become as comfortable with iRacing as driving one car would.

Quoted for truth.

I only run one car at a time, impossible for me to switch between cars.

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

I've been racing with the Jetta mostly, but now I don't like it anymore, I see it a bit sluggish and boring.

I'm still class C so I'll have to see which car I shall stick to for now...

 

[Mike McCormick]

License is not an indicator of how fast you are.

They are some slow A license drivers.

iRating shows how well you do against others.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is getting a higher license when their skill level doesn't justify it.

Also SR requirements are higher the higher your license is so if you have say nine offs or wrecks in a race it will hurt your SR more if you have a higher license.

 

[Eric Estes]

I've never been a fan of the Jetta. In Class C, for me, Star Mazda is the best car going, though the Radical is also a nice ride, if not as grippy. Both cars have a decent group of regular drivers.

I remember having a lack of grip and spinning the car a lot when I first joined, I guess I just got acclimated to it because I have no such problems now. Of course, I am not what you would call extraordinarily quick.

Unlike the above, I do switch cars a lot, with Lotus 79 as my primary (and pretty much only 'official' series) and Star Mazda as an alternate, while toying with Class B Impala, Trucks every Monday, and the Riley DP in a once a month league here at RD.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

iRating shows how well you do against others.

Usually yes, but for me i only have 1800. that´s nothing compared to other drivers and i´m a safe driver.

It´s just that morons have done all kinds in races and when i protest i get "race incident".

One time we were coming down to Turn 3 at Mid-Ohio, i´m on the inside line, he´s on the left side of the track.
There´s a Mustang ahead of us which is in his lane. I go on the inside of the Mustang.
He tries to brake but realize he will hit the Mustang so he lets go of the brake, goes into my lane and rams me off the road.
Then cuss me out because i did not give him enough room.
Thank god he did not live in Sweden as i probably had went to visit the idiot.

Sucks even more that it was the best race i´ve ever had. Forgot to Qualify and started close to last, went through the field and even passed some Swedish mates on the way to third place.
Battled with him for several laps then he does such a idiotic thing..

I had to abort the race, his car did not have a single scratch and he continued the race.
I protest. "Race incident" says the old lazy fart called Nim Cross.

I can´t even count how many times people have used me as their own brake.
I get the DNF while they continue. My iRating goes down, theirs go up..

I realized there are still morons in official racing so i simply quit racing in official series.
It´s not worth the risk imo.

 

[Jorge Alves]

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.

Try this Mizzi http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/2023748.page

I use to get the same feeling as you and i didnt race in iRacing for months ... but i gave it another try some weeks ago ... it took one all day to calibrate the wheel properly after reading that topic .... but after that it was like a new sim for me and im just there all the time now. Read everything in there very carefull and follow every steps until the end.

About the brakes ... i think i read somewhere you have G25/G27 and the break pedal just sucks ... i did a home mode and put a rubber in the brake spring and i can break much better now ... something like this http://www.nixim.com/index.php?s=e65a957e96a413eca39ba560b6026185&pageid=brakemod

i didnt want to spend money on that so i just made a rubber myself

Like Hampus said all cars drive completly diferent so my advice its to choose one car you really like and stay with it until you drive it good

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Good points guys, thanks!

Jorge, tomorrow I will read the article and setup the wheel according to it and will give it a go. I've been too busy enjoying racing rF2 F2 today

And btw, Happy Birthday!! Hope you had a good one

Cheers

 

[Jorge Alves]

And btw, Happy Birthday!! Hope you had a good one

Its only tomorow ... but thank you

 

[Mike McCormick]

Usually yes, but for me i only have 1800. that´s nothing compared to other drivers and i´m a safe driver.

It´s just that morons have done all kinds in races and when i protest i get "race incident".

One time we were coming down to Turn 3 at Mid-Ohio, i´m on the inside line, he´s on the left side of the track.
There´s a Mustang ahead of us which is in his lane. I go on the inside of the Mustang.
He tries to brake but realize he will hit the Mustang so he lets go of the brake, goes into my lane and rams me off the road.
Then cuss me out because i did not give him enough room.
Thank god he did not live in Sweden as i probably had went to visit the idiot.

Sucks even more that it was the best race i´ve ever had. Forgot to Qualify and started close to last, went through the field and even passed some Swedish mates on the way to third place.
Battled with him for several laps then he does such a idiotic thing..

I had to abort the race, his car did not have a single scratch and he continued the race.
I protest. "Race incident" says the old lazy fart called Nim Cross.

I can´t even count how many times people have used me as their own brake.
I get the DNF while they continue. My iRating goes down, theirs go up..

I realized there are still morons in official racing so i simply quit racing in official series.
It´s not worth the risk imo.

Hampus if you review your accidents I think you'll find that in some, but not all there are actions you could have done to help avoid the accidents.

I know that is the case in some of mine. I will get upset, but after I review the accident I will find that if I had done something different I might have avoided the accident.

Also you learn which drivers you can trust and which ones you have to give more room when racing. The lower splits generally have more accidents that the top split most of the time.

If I'm in a race and I see drivers I don't know, who have a low iRating or high ping then I am more careful around them than drivers I know or who have a high iRating.

Of course with some drivers who have high iRatings, you still have to be aware of who aren't as careful as they should be.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Hampus if you review your accidents I think you'll find that in some, but not all there are actions you could have done to help avoid the accidents.

Sorry but there´s nothing i can avoid when someone doesn´t use their own brakes.

It´s a different thing if i hit something head on but i don´t have eyes in my neck.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

It´s actually pretty easy to get A class license.

yep, getting there quick also teaches you humility and good behaviour

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Sorry but there´s nothing i can avoid when someone doesn´t use their own brakes.

been there countless times and it is sooooo frustrating! However, some of these incidents could later be attributed to lag which is a serious problem for European players on the crowded nights, i.e. Friday and Saturday. Happened two times now that my car became invisible for some secs while I noticed absolutely no glitch and I got punted off real bad as a result.