Giving iRacing a second look?

[DND]

With iRacing getting AI I am considering to reactivate my account when that time comes. Have you given iRacing a second chance by reactivating an account and what has been your experience the second time around?

 

[James Nance]

I have let my account expire a few times, but always end up coming back because the online racing is some of the best and most competitive in sim racing. This time around, I have joined a team and also started a subscription type service for extra help on setups and data analysis. So far I have performed way better than before and way more motivated than ever. Yeah iRacing has been around for a while and some things have taken a long time to come, but it is the same as everything else. I too also look forward to what their AI will offer, will definitely help those gain confidence and attract those who like offline racing.

 

[Hal Burns]

I reactivated recently during a promo, trying to get my road and oval up to C class. I've got there in road and working on oval now, but I am remembering why I let it go before. There is a lot of grinding involved to get there...running races you aren't really interested in to get more SR points. And of course, getting no points or less when you get bumped around by others. It can seem more like work than fun.
On the good side, being able to get into a race every half hour or so is very handy and if you can stay ahead of the backmarker carnage ( ...ie qualify well!), the racing is usually great. I also enjoy the "roundy-round" oval racing and the new dirt ovals. I suck at Rallycross, but its pretty popular and a real challenge.
And the cost.....once I get to C class, I cant really do much of anything new unless I start to really hand over the cash. You have to decide if you'll play enough to make that worthwhile.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

the moment a game starts to feel like work is the moment one should leave it alone. However, the end of your post sounds so positive, I suppose the allusion to work just slipped in undetected cu on track.

 

[Matheus Machado]

I tried the sim around a year and a helf ago. Went for the yearly subscription and some content in the black friday sale. The sim is now much improved and the way setups work is amazing in the game.
The competition is simply the best you can find anywhere. At any time of the day you can get challenged no matter your skill level, that to me is unrivaled.
Not to mention the attention to small details, it is a very immersive experience.

The bad part is the cost, kinda expensive but there is nothing comparable to it, so if you have the money I say go for it.

 

[Philip Antonia]

Went back 2 years ago as my working/personal life became to unstable for Club/League racing and I haven't looked back!! I would often go back and try iRacing in the past, but not stick with it, but now with the content, various improvements, excellent VR and decent numbers online at the time of day I can race (09:00-14:00 UK) it's been my go to sim since. Now with LMP1, 2018 Indycar coming in next build and the excellent Global RallyX that joined the sim in December, I rarely fire up AC and my other sims!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

... I rarely fire up AC and my other sims!

me in a nutshell, even uninstalled AC, just play rally titles from time to time and the odd AI race in RRE on tracks not available in iRacing (llllove Norisring ...).

 

[dud]

Wait, they have IndyCar?

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

yep, latest type supposed to be out in a week or so. already own the two last types and indycar on ovals is sooo much fun on iRacing.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

I've been an on/off member since 2012 with an A license in road vehicles and b in ovals.
The sims layout is amazing on paper, structured races, laser scanned tracks, cars, stat tracking, ranking, endless data apps etc.

The sim has grown alot since 2012 and I was especially excited for the new global rallycross which thankfully my friend let me test on his system before taking the plunge again.....and it only took me several mins to remember why I had let my subscription expire.

9pm on a sat night west coast of canada -7 gmt my usual race time in the evenings after the wife and kids have gone to sleep. I was reminded how fast the iracing population drops off after 8pm mt. Asides from the gt3 class, some ovals (don't race often) and the rookie crash races......there wasn't much going on or any official races of interest till the europeans started jumping on at around 4am.
Really this isin't an iracing issue....it's pretty much the majority of titles have very little going on in the evenings in north america.....sadly sim racers are a dying breed here.
Only 2 titles I have found with decent population during those times is PC2 and AC with 20+ open rooms......raceroom and ams ill be lucky to find 10 people total in mp during the evenings.
Seems like the console get all the action here.

Secondly, which I often thought was due to a wrong setting in the ffb or wheel....which if I recall correctly only has 3 or 4 adjustable sliders in the menu so not much to fiddle with.
Something in the tire model just felt odd to me and lacked some of the detail I needed to feel comfortable.
Tried a total of 4 lower end wheels g27, fanatec gtr3, fanatec csl elite and a thrustmaster tx with gte rim In the sim, all of them felt similar in detail just slight stronger in strength.

The chassis and suspension feel was great but it was still missing something.....it wasn't until I watched Nicki Thiim Porsche Cup Car comparison video between 3 titles where he perfectly described the issue I couldn't quit explain......the tire model ...it feels like a mushy rain tire melting on a hot dry track and lacks lateral detail grip with it's weak sidewall flex.

Video link

Being a pro driver (former porsche cup winner) and avid iracer his description and feedback of the tire model at the end of the video is pretty entertaining lol

Than there's the price......personally it is crazy expensive compared to other games and never stops taking money out of your pocket for as long as you play. Also ignore those that say it only costs them a cup of coffee a month to play with all the discounts they get from racing...it's true, but there forgetting to tell you about the hundreds of dollars they spent to get to that point....not to mention the cost of any future content. But eventually it does get cheaper if you play it right. Me id rather pay the $100 cdn for the ultimate edition with all dlc included and be done with it.
For me the cost wasn't a huge issue as sim racing is my hobby and I enjoy it....much cheaper than racing in real life.
It was the lack of people to race with in my time zone and the tire model that lead to buyers remorse.
If those 2 factors can improve down the road ill definitely jump back in......or move back to the east coast so I can race with more people

If the time zone you live in has enough online action, you like or get along with the physics and money isin't an issue......GO FOR IT!!!


Edit: forgot to mention the currency exchange rate from cdn to usd didn't help my decision either + taxes
Car $11.99 = $15.45 cdn
Track $14.99 = $19.32 cdn
1yr membership $110 = $141.73....$71 if there's a black friday sale

I also didn't like the fact I couldn't access the iracing forms for general information once my subscription expired as there is a ton of useful threads there.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

I played iRacing for 6 months in 2016, but I didn't renew my subscription for the reasons @Hal Burns mentioned before.
I decided to give iRacing a second go this year, I'm enjoying the sim because is great and the level of detail and immersion is not second to any other racing title.

The problem, in my opinion, is that I have to do a career in order to unlock series, I can't just pay for the car and the tracks and have fun.
So it can be boring at the start, forcing you to earn licenses driving races you're not interested in and moreover buying tracks and cars to compete in them.

Having fun in the RaceDepartment Racing Club is a good way to enjoy the multiplayer in other sims for 10$/year. I know it's not the same, but hey, for me it makes sense.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

Uh, and the last week I had a look to buy the Porsche Cup Car series: 174$.
It's too much?
I think yes, for a single series, yes.

 

[dud]

Thanks so much everybody.

Seems problematic for my particular case. I sometimes don't have time to game for extended periods of time, which could clash with their frequency requirements.

And while I do not specifically object to any of the individual price points, the financials get a bit iffy when you have to buy all tracks for a series. Tracks that you might only run once, ever.

Seems a bit off pricing wise. Pay for the car, super. Pay for each track while forced to move from track to track? I mean a real team has to pay to own their own cars, but they aren't buying the tracks they run on over the year.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

well, if you stay for a year, you will probably run most of the tracks three, maybe four times. schedules are usualls done so that only three of the twelve tracks change from season to season. also, one only needs to attend eight of the twelve weeks to qualify for full season credits, so one doesnt have to buy em all. still, one pays about 400 dollars the first year i'd say ...

 

[Dennis]

And while I do not specifically object to any of the individual price points, the financials get a bit iffy when you have to buy all tracks for a series. Tracks that you might only run once, ever.

I have read this suggestion quite often, but I'm glad I didn't follow it. In case you do decide to join, just buy the tracks that you actually like or find interesting. Otherwise you might end up with tracks that you will always skip when they are used (for me that would be Suzuka ).

I bought 11 tracks over the years and 90% of the time that's enough to find at least one race per week in my three go-to series (IMSA, BSS, Porsche). With the upcoming Le Mans series added it might get to 100%.

To come back to the original question:

Have you given iRacing a second chance by reactivating an account and what has been your experience the second time around?

For me the turning point was when they added Nordschleife and the VLN series. It is not perfect (only 60 cars per split) but VLN and Nordschleife was the reason why I got into sim racing in the first place back when GTR1 and "The Mother" still was a thing

Compared to my first sub they have a lot more "European" content now (both tracks and series wise), which is a big plus for me. (Don't get me wrong, I also learned to love some "unknown" American tracks like Road Atlanta )

Team races with driver swaps greatly increased the value for me as well.

But it certainly is not the right sim for everyone, especially considering the pricing. Also the grind in the beginning after you are out of Rookies but still not "safe" enough for the interesting series can be tedious.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

2018S2 is about to start. To plan my iRacing career I bought these tracks/cars:

• Sebring
• Interlagos
• Spa
• Suzuka
• Watkins Glen
• Road America
• Mount Panorama
• Porsche 911 Cup

120$ in total.
I can now have available to race in D and C classes:

• 8 rounds in the Global Challenge
• 8 rounds in the Grand Touring
• 7 rounds in the Spec Ford
• 5 rounds in the Advanced Mazda Cup
• 4 rounds in the BES

When I buy the Radical SR8, the V8 and one of the Proto GT cars I'll unlock other 3 full series.
I took a couple of hours to write down an Excel sheet and decide the least amount of tracks to buy to unlock the most number of series
I hope it helped!

edit: sorry I did not mention that I bought even the R8 and the Nordschleife a long time ago.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

so you went to the trouble and checked all the separate forums for the proposed schedules? epic. fingers crossed iRacing will stick with the community choices. nice choice of ttracks you bought there, cu in the global challenge

 

[dud]

I think I can rule out that I could get a satisfactory overall experience (in terms of time and money) out of this :-/

 

[Giovaneveterano]

I just finished a nice race at Sebring with GT3 cars, I have to say it was fun!
Hosted sessions are fine, I never raced in one of those before.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

yep, hosted can be real fun as well, because everyone has the "Mind-your-Safety-Rating" basically etched into their playing behaviour, even though it's totally irrelevant in hosted racing. Makes for some nice civilized gameplay.