Have you been exclusively racing road series on iRacing but now want to get your oval licence for the Indy 500 Special Event? We have a trick to help you get there!
Image credit: iRacing.com
It is the start of iRacing's Season 2 of 2024, and the Indianapolis 500 is returning after a year away due to licencing disputes. It is safe to say that players are excitedly preparing to compete in the greatest spectacle in (sim) racing, including a large chunk of road racing-only members who typically do not do ovals.
But with the event having been away for a year and new players having joined since then, maybe there are a number of racers who have not done any official oval races. Perhaps they are now frantically racing Rookie and D-licence oval races, struggling to boost their Safety Rating.
So if you have only ever raced Road (now split into Formula Car and Sports Car) races and got a decent licence level, this can help you boost your oval licence in time for the Indy 500 on iRacing.
The secret is the amount of corners there are in a race. iRacing will base a player's SR on the last 2,000 corners the player has taken compared to how many incident points they garnered in that time. Which is why if you are bleeding SR in your Road licence (as it was previously known), a quick race on the Nordschleife without much incident can compensate for it.
This is no problem on road courses, but ovals? They have four corners for the most part. Plus, in terms of garnering incident points, it is more than likely that someone gains a few of those. It goes without saying, but when you are running millimetres apart at very high speeds constantly, a wreck is just fractions of a second away.
The Rookie and Class D licence oval series races are quite short. So assuming you have a high enough licence in Formula Car, consider the following way to boost your Oval licence using Formula Car licence series.
It may have been a road race and it will have affected a player's road licence after competing in it, but it was NASCAR Class A, an oval series. Long Beach was the only track on the schedule last season that was not an oval, and to race in this series, you have to get your oval licence to Class A.
The inverse is also true in that a road series can feature oval races. That is what we will be utilising, although with the new licence split, only Formula Car series for this season will be the ones you want to compete in.
There are a multitude of series that in various weeks will feature oval races. The following are the series that will run before the Indy 500 Special Event, along with when they are accessible and the weeks that they run ovals:
To make a few minor details clear, the IndyCar iRacing Series and the open and fixed setup IndyCar Series are different. The former runs throughout the year on the same weekends as the real life IndyCar, with only four timeslots towards the end of the week.
The latter two, on the other hand, are regularly scheduled throughout the week, taking place every day in hourly increments. Also, the Fixed setup series runs considerably shorter races, - and the point of you doing these races is to increase your safety rating, which means you want to go for the longer races.
But of course, the IndyCar Series and IndyCar Series Fixed are only accessible if you have a Class C licence and a Safety Rating of 4.0 or higher. The IndyCar iRacing Series may be accessible to those with a Class D licence but again, only four timeslots and only two sets of oval events before the Indy 500 Special Event make this path less efficient.
For those who have not got a high enough Formula Car licence and need regularly scheduled races, the other series accessible to you will have to do. However, therein lies an issue that will hinder your efforts to raise your oval licence: participation.
This is so nobody can sign up to a race on their own and boost their SR without anyone around to cause incidents. For a majority of series, that magic number to count as an official race is six competitors. One thing you will find with many of these series is a lack of participation, particularly when the American crowd are sleeping.
With the timeslots where there are little to no American-based members signing up, you can perhaps conspire with a bunch of fellow oval licence-raising hopefuls to sign up for those times so the races go official. But when the Americans get online, that is when these races will for the most part always be official.
Our very own Elz Indriani has put together a guide to help you oval beginners out. Additionally, Elz will be streaming to the OverTake.gg Twitch channel her oval racing escapades, so join in on the fun - maybe you can even try to raise your oval licence together!
Will you be attempting oval races in iRacing official Formula Car series? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
Image credit: iRacing.com
It is the start of iRacing's Season 2 of 2024, and the Indianapolis 500 is returning after a year away due to licencing disputes. It is safe to say that players are excitedly preparing to compete in the greatest spectacle in (sim) racing, including a large chunk of road racing-only members who typically do not do ovals.
But with the event having been away for a year and new players having joined since then, maybe there are a number of racers who have not done any official oval races. Perhaps they are now frantically racing Rookie and D-licence oval races, struggling to boost their Safety Rating.
So if you have only ever raced Road (now split into Formula Car and Sports Car) races and got a decent licence level, this can help you boost your oval licence in time for the Indy 500 on iRacing.
How to Gain Safety Rating
There are a few misconceptions on how SR gets affected in iRacing. Of course, gaining incident points is a given, but undoubtedly there are a few out there who have wondered why they may have increased their SR in one race but then increased it a lot more in another despite garnering more incident points.The secret is the amount of corners there are in a race. iRacing will base a player's SR on the last 2,000 corners the player has taken compared to how many incident points they garnered in that time. Which is why if you are bleeding SR in your Road licence (as it was previously known), a quick race on the Nordschleife without much incident can compensate for it.
Cutting the track, losing control, hitting walls and other opponents contribute to garnering incident points. Image credit: iRacing
This is no problem on road courses, but ovals? They have four corners for the most part. Plus, in terms of garnering incident points, it is more than likely that someone gains a few of those. It goes without saying, but when you are running millimetres apart at very high speeds constantly, a wreck is just fractions of a second away.
The Rookie and Class D licence oval series races are quite short. So assuming you have a high enough licence in Formula Car, consider the following way to boost your Oval licence using Formula Car licence series.
Formula Car Series Oval Races
Did anyone see the video that Jimmy Broadbent made where he raced a NASCAR Next Gen around Long Beach? Many road racing enthusiasts will have perked their ears up and been thinking "What Road licence series has NASCAR?". The answer is none.It may have been a road race and it will have affected a player's road licence after competing in it, but it was NASCAR Class A, an oval series. Long Beach was the only track on the schedule last season that was not an oval, and to race in this series, you have to get your oval licence to Class A.
The inverse is also true in that a road series can feature oval races. That is what we will be utilising, although with the new licence split, only Formula Car series for this season will be the ones you want to compete in.
There are a multitude of series that in various weeks will feature oval races. The following are the series that will run before the Indy 500 Special Event, along with when they are accessible and the weeks that they run ovals:
- US Open Wheel D (Formula Car series, open from Rookie SR 4.0)
- Week 2: USA International Speedway (46 laps)
- Week 10: Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Oval (45 laps)
- Car needed: USF 2000
- US Open Wheel C (Formula Car series, open from Class D SR 4.0)
- Week 2: USA International Speedway (80 laps)
- Week 10: Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Oval (77 laps)
- Car needed: Indy Pro 2000 PM-18
- Grand Prix Legends (Formula Car series, open from Class D 4.0)
- Week 6: Talladega Superspeedway (45 laps)
- Car needed: Lotus 49
- Dallara Formula iR Fixed (Formula Car series, open from Class D SR 4.0)
- Week 3: Charlotte Motor Speedway Oval (50 laps)
- Week 7: Homestead Miami Speedway Oval (50 laps)
- Week 11: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (40 laps)
- Car needed: Dallara iR-01
- IndyCar iRacing Series (Formula Car series, open from Class D 4.0)
- Week 2: Auto Club Speedway Oval (150 laps)
- Week 11: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (125 laps)
- Car needed: Dallara IR18
- IndyCar Series and IndyCar Series Fixed (Formula Car series, open from Class C SR 4.0)
- Week 2: Auto Club Speedway (Open 95 laps, Fixed 28 laps)
- Week 5: Texas Motor Speedway (Open 125 laps, Fixed 38 laps)
- Week 8: Richmond Raceway (Open 125 laps, Fixed 49 laps)
- Week 10: Mobility Resort Motegi Oval (Open 125 laps, Fixed 32 laps)
- Week 11: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Open 40 laps, Fixed 22 laps)
- Car needed: Dallara IR18
To make a few minor details clear, the IndyCar iRacing Series and the open and fixed setup IndyCar Series are different. The former runs throughout the year on the same weekends as the real life IndyCar, with only four timeslots towards the end of the week.
The latter two, on the other hand, are regularly scheduled throughout the week, taking place every day in hourly increments. Also, the Fixed setup series runs considerably shorter races, - and the point of you doing these races is to increase your safety rating, which means you want to go for the longer races.
If you fancy racing IndyCar throughout the year, this series follows the schedule as close as possible. Image credit: iRacing
But of course, the IndyCar Series and IndyCar Series Fixed are only accessible if you have a Class C licence and a Safety Rating of 4.0 or higher. The IndyCar iRacing Series may be accessible to those with a Class D licence but again, only four timeslots and only two sets of oval events before the Indy 500 Special Event make this path less efficient.
For those who have not got a high enough Formula Car licence and need regularly scheduled races, the other series accessible to you will have to do. However, therein lies an issue that will hinder your efforts to raise your oval licence: participation.
Going Official
Many an iRacing player will have seen some series get such few signups, if any at all. There is a rule in iRacing official races that if it does not meet a minimum number of competitors, the race will not affect a player's iRating or Safety Rating.This is so nobody can sign up to a race on their own and boost their SR without anyone around to cause incidents. For a majority of series, that magic number to count as an official race is six competitors. One thing you will find with many of these series is a lack of participation, particularly when the American crowd are sleeping.
Times are in GMT. Look at the contrast, from 22 signups down to one! Image credit: iRacing
With the timeslots where there are little to no American-based members signing up, you can perhaps conspire with a bunch of fellow oval licence-raising hopefuls to sign up for those times so the races go official. But when the Americans get online, that is when these races will for the most part always be official.
Oval Racing Etiquette
Last but not least, you need to know the written and unwritten rules of oval racing. This is racing at around 200mph consistently mere inches from other drivers, so you need an expert to help bring you all up to speed on ovals.Our very own Elz Indriani has put together a guide to help you oval beginners out. Additionally, Elz will be streaming to the OverTake.gg Twitch channel her oval racing escapades, so join in on the fun - maybe you can even try to raise your oval licence together!
Will you be attempting oval races in iRacing official Formula Car series? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
