Community Question | What Stops You From Racing Online?

[DaVeX↯]

RF2 introducing the multiplayer competion system where I can sign and race the slot bet suits me.

I'm done joining communities where there is the "golden rule" that if you hit someone not deliberately you need to wait that person rejoining the track . This kills competition and the fun of racing online.
As VR user, I cannot play ACC , AC servers has always the same events ,Raceroom is dead, Iracing is too expensive and AMS2 is too early stages at the minute.

So yeah, better experimenting with combos on RF2 offline

The so called "golden rule" says that if you hit someone not deliberately because lack of spatial awarenes/too aggressive driving you need to wait that person rejoining the track.
This is what makes a big difference between a public server and a free-open to all organized community event.

 

[joshua zuch]

I don't race online because of the rammers and unfair penaltys. But the only game i do play online us Forza Horizon 4 is beacause of the Forzathon challenges every hour

 

[MetalMania]

My job often requires me to be available outside of my regular work hours, and my internet service has reliability issues. Also married with children and a house to take care of... sometimes there just isn't a lot of time. My other hobby is playing guitar, and I generally split my leisure time between sim driving and bashing out Rush/Iron Maiden/Metallica/Alice In Chains riffs.

I had an iRacing subcription for a short while, the summary of that is that I probably didn't put enough time in to really give it a fair trial - but at the same time didn't feel I really "needed" it. The first race I ever did in iRacing was tarnished by one guy going off on a profanity laced tantrum against someone who asked why he was dropping to the back when he qualified on pole. He could have just said he was boosting his safety rating, but he instead brutally insulted the guy. It was abusive and uncalled for - I wanted to file a protest but thought who am I to protest someone in my first race? I wasn't even involved in that argument, but it still angered me. It made me wonder, is it always like this? Of course, it isn't - I did have some good races without anyone verbally abusing anyone. But then there were times like the guy who wrecked me 3 times in a practice session because I dared to pass him... in PRACTICE! It reminded me of someone I did some kart races with who declared anyone who passed him must "pay the price", which meant he'd ram them any chance he got if they passed him. Idiot.

After a while I just never went back. Most of my enjoyment of racing sims is the actual driving, the sights and sounds of a favorite car on a track I enjoy, trying to chip away lap times. Competition is fun and can be intense, but I don't think it's the primary draw for me. I think I just felt that in terms of pure driving and car/track combinations - I actually had more of what I wanted on other platforms, not to mention less expensive. I've had races vs AI that were so good I don't know that they would have been better if it were real people. Of course, there are plenty of times AI are horrible and ruin the single player experience too. People say iRacing is a lot better once you've advanced past the lower license levels and get into better splits. Maybe, but I'm not sure I care enough to get there. I shouldn't let idiots running their mouth bother me, but then again I'd rather not have to hear it in the first place. If the AI they're developing in iRacing turns out to be the best in the business... I could give it another go.

I think I'd probably enjoy racing in a league, but the schedule and internet issues I mentioned might not work out for that - I can't always commit to a time slot. I really don't know whether I'm fast or slow, good or bad since the vast majority of my race time is vs AI that I'm just trying to set at a competetive level relative to what my own performance is. I had some good races in iRacing, my second ever road course race was a pole and a win... but is that saying much if it's iRacing MX-5 Rookie league? I have never tried online multiplayer in any other racing title. Perhaps I should.

Also, I wonder if some if it is generational. I've been a "gamer" most of my life, I'm in my mid 40's - but my gaming foundation was always single player, regardless of genre - online multiplayer just wasn't really a thing for a long time. My son, on the other hand doesn't play ANY single player games - if it's not MP he's not interested.

 

[ZeldaACFan17]

My other hobby is playing guitar, and I generally split my leisure time between sim driving and bashing out Rush/Iron Maiden/Metallica/Alice In Chains riffs.

I have musical instruments too. I have a violin, a trumpet, two recorders, a tin whistle, a slide whistle, a pan flute, and some ocarinas. I know this is off topic, but I get sidetracked sometimes xD

 

[Tar Heel]

I don't race online much for a lot of reasons. Here is a list of some.

1. Time zone. I live in the pacific northwest and online lobbies are empty usually by the time I am online. If I find a half decent filled one it is usually a very short sprint race that I have zero desire to participate in.

2. Schedule. I play games when my schedule permits and I don't enjoy having to follow a racing schedule that someone else creates that I'd have to plan around my real life.

3. Control. I don't enjoy joining someone else's league where they are determining the schedule, what cars are being raced, how long the races are etc. I'd like to decide what I race when I race, and I don't want the responsibility of running a league.

4. Immersion. Most leagues I have tried on average have less than 10 people total for the races. This isn't immersive, the skill gaps are wide, so it usually ended with me driving alone for the entirety of the race. That isn't fun or immersive for me.

I'll say too, the fact that most players stay offline, I find it extremely aggrevating that offline options/modes, QOL gets neglected so often now. Kunos announcing that MP gets multiclass with GT4 coming to ACC, but offline doesn't sucks. S397 ignoring long standing issues with the AI while focusing on e-sports heavily is extremely annoying. For as big as the offline sim racing community is, I find myself feeling like a second class citizen in this hobby more and more, purely because I am not interested in online racing.

 

[TShrimp]

I read a post not too long ago that stated you should have at least 100 hours on the track you want to race and at least 100 hours on the car before you ever consider joining an online race. A majority of the responses second that. I don’t have that kind of time to put in.

 

[Deleted member 241736]

calculation:
Good and expensive rig = best lap times

nasty and simple rig = bad lap times

Fazit :
BOP the rigs

 

[Case_]

I read a post not too long ago that stated you should have at least 100 hours on the track you want to race and at least 100 hours on the car before you ever consider joining an online race. A majority of the responses second that. I don’t have that kind of time to put in.

For serious league racing...maybe. Probably even more than that.

For races you just do to have a bit of fun and relax, you can learn a new car or an average length track in 20 minutes enough to enjoy yourself, do reasonably well and not be a nuisance to others.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

I read a post not too long ago that stated you should have at least 100 hours on the track you want to race and at least 100 hours on the car before you ever consider joining an online race. A majority of the responses second that. I don’t have that kind of time to put in.

this is just a smokescreen, don't even bother. There are soooooo many friendly communities out there welcoming online players but this sort of statement turns off players. don't listen, just do it.

 

[Aki Korhonen]

everybody want to drive gtr3 class..too easy to drive and its so boring. f1 old or new and indycar is my favorite but there is not so many servers.and i dont want to pay that i can race with good drivers. where can i find rfactor 2 league indycar fw12 or 90's f1 mods?

 

[Emery]

Because I live in a rural location, the lack of a low-latency connection keeps me from online racing. Satellite ISP has pings over 700 mS and, despite living in the USA, the only cellular provider that provides coverage in my location has a low quality signal due to a ridge just barely interfering. Only 12 miles to the grocery store in town, but 5 miles away is where the cable internet ends.

The red circle is where my house is... would you guess there is a highway and a bunch of homes alongside it in the valley?

Edit: Oh, yeah, and west coast USA is a rotten time zone for evening online races.

 

[DrRob]

@Eckhart von Glan

Well, in all fairness it helps to concentrate on one car at first and to train tracks before going to an online race. You will get better at learning the lines and the quirks of the track and exploit the car to your limits and grow with the challenge.
In that respect SP races helped me far more than hotlapping or practice mode. I started out in ACC EA with 90% AI strength and currently doing 94% or 95% AI strength races.

And if you want to excel at all possible track conditions with that one car (green/fast/optimum, greasy, damp, wet) at various temperatures, I think the 100h isn't far fetched.
You'd need to learn how to adapt yourself and your setup to temperature changes, anticipate the development of race conditions, pitstop strategy, etc.
Plus if you shift sims, car classes, etc......

There is lot to be learned if you're eager to do so.
If you just want to enjoy yourself without demanding too much from yourself at the same time, I think there's lots of fun to be had with less time spent.

My problem is....I'm too hard on myself.

 

[LeSunTzu]

I read a post not too long ago that stated you should have at least 100 hours on the track you want to race and at least 100 hours on the car before you ever consider joining an online race. A majority of the responses second that. I don’t have that kind of time to put in.

Those numbers do not mean anything. You have to learn the track, that is for sure. But once you've learn it, you know it forever. You have to learn the car too. But again when you've come to grips with a car, you know how it will behave on most tracks. So there is an initial time investment but it pays dividends for future races and you don't need to relearn everything every time. And you have already made it if you raced offline.

Now to prepare for an online race, the basic stuff is to make sure you can drive the car agressively without spinning and making to many mistakes. When you practice, it usually takes a few hours (definitely not 100!! especially if you split track time into 30-45 min sessions max, which is the quickest way to progress) to reach a plateau when your times don't improve anymore. This is the point where some guys start sinking into hours of small driving and setup adjustements to gain a few tenths. But you can also stop there because you are already prepared for a race.

 

[guidofoc]

I read a post not too long ago that stated you should have at least 100 hours on the track you want to race and at least 100 hours on the car before you ever consider joining an online race. A majority of the responses second that. I don’t have that kind of time to put in.

100 hours on a track? Ridiculous. For league races i remember doing 3 race weekends against the AI on each new track, which amounted to 5-6 hours. And that was for league races, where I was trying hard to be at the front.
For casual multiplayer all you need is understanding how to be on a track with other people. Have the radar on, the track map on, and know when to brake when you are close to other people. Check this video:

 

[BertramRaven]

The reason I don't race online is because I don't want to ruin other people's races if I mess up.

I resemble that remark.

 

[Neawoulf]

Time.

To be competitive i need a lot more training than some other, more talented racers. I simply don't want to spend that much time for training because i play other games as well. A while ago i raced online and it was fun and i even won some races, but training was just too time consuming for me.

 

[Mike nolan 1985]

because the jump to PC is so expensive and console lobby races are just pointless due to idiots

 

[dcully]

I live on VROC back in the days of GPL glory ,yes it had crazy drivers but nothing like whats going on these days.
Overall it was fantastic with mostly safe racers.
Later i moved to the papyrus nascar sims and again same scenario mainly clean racing.
Up next for me was iracing,one of the first 800 through the door infact.
It was great for a while until it exploded with numbers, i spent over €500 on content but eventually i had enough of wreckers and to this day i feel im mentally scarred from it lol.
I just avoid online racing altogether now.
Many times i considered joining a league but i just find setting up a race weekend or a championship in my favourite sims to be so much more immersive.

Having said that if i found a nice friendly community to race with id definitely jump back in.

 

[gecco]

T.I.M.E

Between working full time, a wife, three kids, and other conflicting hobbies, there's just not enough time and interest left to allocate to simracing in advance, as it would be neccessary for doing proper league racing. So the problem is not to spare few hours a week to dedicate to simracing, but to schedule it in advance. My working life is full of schedules, dead lines, and appointments, so I like to keep my past time free of any obligations to do whatever tickles my fancy.
However, I still very much enjoy an occasional race, so every so often turn on the rig in the evening, and look for a populated server with a car I feel like, or else load up a field of AIs for some offline fun.

 

[MDBenson]

My main reasons are as follows roughly in order of importance:

• I don't think I'm good enough to compete with most good racers
• I am not keen on open lobbies because of rammers and greifers
• I am not great in traffic so worry I'll punt someone accidentally and get into trouble/banned or ruin someones race
• I struggle to lap consistently, and that seems to double when I'm against other people and have to push
• I've been out of Sim Racing for a long time and Sims hgave changed a lot, I am backwards coming forwards trying to get used to them!