How Do YOU Decide Which Cars/Tracks to Buy in iRacing?

[newbert]

With the wide variety of cars and tracks available on iRacing, I'm just wondering what the general thought process is in buying cars and tracks?

For example, I'm currently in mid D-class and enjoy both AI and multiplayer racing. I'm leaning towards purchasing the Skippy2000 since it's now available for AI. But then, if I want to race the Skippy in a season, how do I research which specific tracks I'd need?

Right now the only series I'm running is Mazda MX-5. The tracks it uses are all included with basic membership.

But assuming I want to "graduate" to something else, how would YOU decide what to purchase?

Thanks!
Bert

 

[JE20]

Setting up races against AI is very straightforward. You can either do one of the scripted events where the race length and pit stops and stuff are set like the real world events, or you can do what I do, set up your own race weekend with loads of parameters. It is done in about 3min. and works very well. Just don't set weather to changeable unless you are really good at playing in wet conditions. I lose about 4 secs a lap to the fast AI the moment the rain starts and this ruins every race. If I set a rainy race, I set the AI to less competent and everything is fine.

And what is it like setting up/joining an online race? How frequent are they held? etc.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

And what is it like setting up/joining an online race? How frequent are they held? etc.

I use iracing for online, so others might have better info. I have used it a little: There is a great ACC club here at RD that offers very competitive racing with fun chaps and strict rules. Highly recommended, I was there at the inaugural race There are free servers set up by communities / individuals / Kunos which are either totally open or demand you have scored track medals on the track (easy: four laps at steady pace with no offs gets you the top ranking, three medals) or you have reached a certain SA rating (usually 70+, some servers restrict it to 95SA out of 100 reachable). This is to make sure players can play cleanly. SA can be gained by racing clean either offline (where you can also switch it off) or online (where it is always counted). Just as in iRacing, the SA system does not judge who caused the collision, everyone involved gets points deducted. There are also ranked servers for the much coveted CP rating, these run three times a day, you need 70+ SA (though this changes) and players get rated as in iRacing with regards to their performance. Higher rated players get grouped together just as lower rated players are. You need two participations for your rating to show up, after two weeks of not participating your participation points disappear but comes back the moment you join again.
Overall, everytime you go online, there should be two to five interesting servers open if your ratings are fine.

 

[EyeoftheAbyss]

Hey all, I just joined iracing and this forum. I found this free site that tries to organize tracks and cars. https://www.irbg.net

I gather from the messages that if one were to buy everything or much, later on these costs will not recur. Then there was something about a participation credit? Does this mean that playing more reduces some kind of cost?

I prefer open wheel, F1 and the like. I've added lots of these cars but I really don't want to buy it all now. It's expensive. Now with the quarantine due to COVID-19 many new sim racers are joining, so I hope iRacing will lower some costs, or at least give some discounts. I agree that with thousands of users, they are raking in the $$$ and that's unnecessary after a certain point. I hope they're honest enough to adjust if this is so. Greed is ugly in any form.

I'm a bit confused by all the choices, currently my cart has these, I'm willing to go 6 items for the 15% discount, but 20% requires 40 items, that's ridiculous, at least for my budget:

Cars:
Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 - do I need both?! I read it's very difficult to drive.
Dallara F3 and IR18 - again, both? Is this the car that allows AI?
Skip Barber Formula - I hear it's popular so good for finding racers
Lotus 76

Tracks:
Suzuka (It's in F1 2019 and I love this track)
Circuit of the Americas (same as above)
Spa
Silverstone ( I thought this came free, I have a Silverstone track but it's definitely not the same layout as the F1 circuit)
Sebring (because it's used in so many leagues, so if I ever get into GT3 or else)
Indianapolis (basically like F1 and used in many leagues, I think)

If I had to pick only 6, which?

Thanks!

 

[mesfigas]

Hey all, I just joined iracing and this forum. I found this free site that tries to organize tracks and cars. https://www.irbg.net

I gather from the messages that if one were to buy everything or much, later on these costs will not recur. Then there was something about a participation credit? Does this mean that playing more reduces some kind of cost?

I prefer open wheel, F1 and the like. I've added lots of these cars but I really don't want to buy it all now. It's expensive. Now with the quarantine due to COVID-19 many new sim racers are joining, so I hope iRacing will lower some costs, or at least give some discounts. I agree that with thousands of users, they are raking in the $$$ and that's unnecessary after a certain point. I hope they're honest enough to adjust if this is so. Greed is ugly in any form.

I'm a bit confused by all the choices, currently my cart has these, I'm willing to go 6 items for the 15% discount, but 20% requires 40 items, that's ridiculous, at least for my budget:

Cars:
Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 - do I need both?! I read it's very difficult to drive.
Dallara F3 and IR18 - again, both? Is this the car that allows AI?
Skip Barber Formula - I hear it's popular so good for finding racers
Lotus 76

Tracks:
Suzuka (It's in F1 2019 and I love this track)
Circuit of the Americas (same as above)
Spa
Silverstone ( I thought this came free, I have a Silverstone track but it's definitely not the same layout as the F1 circuit)
Sebring (because it's used in so many leagues, so if I ever get into GT3 or else)
Indianapolis (basically like F1 and used in many leagues, I think)

If I had to pick only 6, which?

Thanks!

Dont buy Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 just dont
Dallara F3 is fantastic
Track selection is good but mostly tracks that are used very often are others
like Brands Hatch-Road America-Road Atlanta-Sao paolo-Spa-Silverstone-Watkins Glen-Autodromo Nazionale Monza-Imola-Nürburgring ...those are the most popular tracks.
Also GT3 cars are popular...buy Merchendes GT3 if you go GT3 races it can be used in many series
thats all from me

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Hey all, I just joined iracing and this forum. I found this free site that tries to organize tracks and cars. https://www.irbg.net

I gather from the messages that if one were to buy everything or much, later on these costs will not recur.
True, but you never buy stuff at iRacing, you just rent it until further notice, so in case the service goes belly up, it's all gone.
Then there was something about a participation credit? Does this mean that playing more reduces some kind of cost?
Yes, if you do 8 of the 12 races in an official series, e.g. the Skip Barber series, you get 4iRacing dollars. These can only be used to rent further iRacing stuff, but still. If you do the same in one of the higher classes, e.g. the F1 class, you get 7iR$. However, in each of the 8 races you have to do at least half the distance the race winner did, so you can't just join, let the other guys start, disconnect and collect credit.

I prefer open wheel, F1 and the like. I've added lots of these cars but I really don't want to buy it all now. It's expensive. Now with the quarantine due to COVID-19 many new sim racers are joining, so I hope iRacing will lower some costs,
I wouldn't exactly bet on it.
or at least give some discounts. I agree that with thousands of users, they are raking in the $$$ and that's unnecessary after a certain point. I hope they're honest enough to adjust if this is so. Greed is ugly in any form.
None of us has a clue about their bottom line and unless one is a business insider one should not guess and base one's assumptions on these guesses. But others here at RD do have markedly different opinions on this point.

I'm a bit confused by all the choices, currently my cart has these, I'm willing to go 6 items for the 15% discount,
makes sense
but 20% requires 40 items, that's ridiculous, at least for my budget:
once you have "bought" 40% of all items they offer, you get a 20% bonus on all further "sales". That is indeed difficult to do straight away, I think I reached that point some time in year 5 on the service.

Cars:
Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 - do I need both?! I read it's very difficult to drive.
so have I. I own the 2.0 and it's fun to play, but since the Formula 3 car came out, I gather participation is not the best
Dallara F3 and IR18 - again, both? Is this the car that allows AI?
the F3 is the latest single seater, so participation should be quite high. It is also in AI. The Dallara IndyCar can be run on both ovals and road which makes it a good buy.

Skip Barber Formula - I hear it's popular so good for finding racers
Been doing this for 7.5 years and still my favourite place, we had, for instance, 11 grids of 18 players each on Tuesday and on weekends numbers go through the roof atm
Lotus 76
isn't it 79? anyway, brilliant, super fun car, but very difficult to find a full grid, there is a small, very friendly and very very dedicated group of players, but they have all done a lot of laps in this car already ...

Tracks:
Suzuka (It's in F1 2019 and I love this track) spot on
Circuit of the Americas (same as above) not many people in iRacing like it
Spa always a favourite with many players
Silverstone ( I thought this came free, I have a Silverstone track but it's definitely not the same layout as the F1 circuit) old layout is free, new one costs
Sebring (because it's used in so many leagues, so if I ever get into GT3 or else) love it, but many players don't
Indianapolis (basically like F1 and used in many leagues, I think) great fun in the week when the IndyCar runs there, dozens of grids, just stay out of the crashes and you're in top five, lol

If I had to pick only 6, which?
first, test the waters with/in the free stuff, get out of Rookies by doing x races or whatever it is one has to do and once you have your D licence for road and oval (and maybe dirt road and dirt oval, who knows) concentrate on one series for the rest of the season. If you go for the Skip Barber, the following tracks are on the schedule which I attach below: Charlotte Roval (this week, till Monday night), Virginia, Nordschleife, Spa, Brands, Zandvoort, Detroit Belle Isle, Oulton Park, Montreal (Villeneuve) Charlotte is free and if I had to buy five of the others, I'd go for Spa (often used), Montreal (you know it from F1), Nordschleife (just because you can) Zandvoort (great track in Skip Barber) and Oulton Park (many layouts, super in Skip Barber). But those are very personal choices.

Thanks!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

I wouldn't "buy" more than six items, if after all you do not like iRacing or - especially - the other players there after your first season, you have squandered a lot of money but not a heck of a lot of money, if you get the drift. Towards the end of the season, you will see on the forums at iRacing that the community votes in the new tracks for the next season. Participate in the votes and then pick the car / path you would like to take after the Skip Barber, taking into account free tracks and tracks you already "own".

 

[JE20]

Hey all, I just joined iracing and this forum. I found this free site that tries to organize tracks and cars. https://www.irbg.net

I gather from the messages that if one were to buy everything or much, later on these costs will not recur. Then there was something about a participation credit? Does this mean that playing more reduces some kind of cost?

I prefer open wheel, F1 and the like. I've added lots of these cars but I really don't want to buy it all now. It's expensive. Now with the quarantine due to COVID-19 many new sim racers are joining, so I hope iRacing will lower some costs, or at least give some discounts. I agree that with thousands of users, they are raking in the $$$ and that's unnecessary after a certain point. I hope they're honest enough to adjust if this is so. Greed is ugly in any form.

I'm a bit confused by all the choices, currently my cart has these, I'm willing to go 6 items for the 15% discount, but 20% requires 40 items, that's ridiculous, at least for my budget:

Cars:
Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 - do I need both?! I read it's very difficult to drive.
Dallara F3 and IR18 - again, both? Is this the car that allows AI?
Skip Barber Formula - I hear it's popular so good for finding racers
Lotus 76

Tracks:
Suzuka (It's in F1 2019 and I love this track)
Circuit of the Americas (same as above)
Spa
Silverstone ( I thought this came free, I have a Silverstone track but it's definitely not the same layout as the F1 circuit)
Sebring (because it's used in so many leagues, so if I ever get into GT3 or else)
Indianapolis (basically like F1 and used in many leagues, I think)

If I had to pick only 6, which?

Thanks!

Thanks for the link to that website. I'm a little confused: if I look at this week's races, and choose for example the Fanatecc GT Challenge, it says under the column "Next Race" at Silverstone in 10 minutes. But if I click on Fanatec GT Challenge to see the current and upcoming races, the "Start Date" has 31st March and nothing for 3rd April. How can there be a race in 10 minutes if there is no race scheduled for 3rd April? I am sure I am misunderstanding it, but if anyone can clarify that would be helpful. (It's not just the Fanatec GT Challenge either, in fact I tried a few and there didn't seem to be any races scheduled for 3rd April).

 

[mesfigas]

@EyeoftheAbyss also download Racelabs software its free and helpfull

Discord - A New Way to Chat with Friends & Communities

Discord is the easiest way to communicate over voice, video, and text. Chat, hang out, and stay close with your friends and communities.

discordapp.com

plus crewchief http://thecrewchief.org/

 

[Kurupt CDN]

My advice for any new comer to iracing.
Wait for a promo or if you've never used iracing before, I am almost certain it's usually 50% off the subscriptions for new members.

Get yourself out of rookie class.

Decide what type of racing you wanna focus on..road, dirt road, oval or dirt ovals.
Take advantage of the base content (26 cars & 21 tracks) as you can pretty much get up to C class before you need to purchase another car.

Once you are out of rookie class you will need to start purchasing some tracks for your series.
The schedule for each upcoming season is released on the forms a week before the start, picked by the community.
Usually sometime during week 12

When looking to buy a new car, keep your eye on the top of the race guide main screen for upcoming maintenance downtime announcements...bright orange banner across the screen.
Once the service is down there is an offline mode you can access with your email linked to your iracing account.
You can than test any car in service for free on any of the tracks you own.
So if you don't like something your not stuck paying for it.
The past few months there has been a maintenance day every week, sometimes two a week and a big update 4 times a yr before the start of each season.

I'd suggest sticking to 2 series a season unless your one of those aliens that can adapt to everything and be competitive...or have a fat wallet...more series =more content needed.

Once out of rookie and enter D class you can start earning credits that you can put towards the subscription or content.
You must complete 8 out of the 12 weeks in a single season.
D & C class pay $4 a season
B & A class $7 a season
With a maximum of $10 a season. Multiply by 4 seasons and you can earn up to $40 a yr.

When buying content try to buy content in bulks of 3, as you will get a discount of I believe 10%
Once you have bought 40 pieces you will always get a 20% discount....30% if you own all the content on future content.
If you buy a track and a new version is released within 2 yrs of your purchase they will either give it to you free or heavily discount the new version.

Purchasing a subscription....try to taking advantage of the black Friday sale or....if you enjoy the service start a new membership and take advantage of the 50% off new members subscription. (Only suggesting to those that haven't purchased any content)

For quick drop in racing try to stick to fixed setup races.
If your not good at tuning or your racecraft could use some improving, I strongly recommend VRS...it's an additional $9.99 a month seperate subscription. They will supply you with tunes for a car in each series, telemetry and in-depth turn by turn track guides.
When your practicing you can run their program in the background and it will upload the data to their service where you can compare your laps to the pro. Very helpful and you will learn alot....unless your already an alien

Lastly....try not to get caught up in focusing on safety and irating, it will fluctuate and ruin your experience.
If protecting your rating means alot to you than I'd suggest looking into a league that doesn't use it....there are thousands of leagues.

Edit: @EyeoftheAbyss
I forgot to mention that iracing just announced 2 new open wheelers that will replace 2 existing cars coming this June and some new short tracks.

Indy pro 2000 will be replacing the D class dallara F3

US F200 will be replacing the C Pro Mazda

Cheers
David

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Thanks for the link to that website. I'm a little confused: if I look at this week's races, and choose for example the Fanatecc GT Challenge, it says under the column "Next Race" at Silverstone in 10 minutes. But if I click on Fanatec GT Challenge to see the current and upcoming races, the "Start Date" has 31st March and nothing for 3rd April. How can there be a race in 10 minutes if there is no race scheduled for 3rd April? I am sure I am misunderstanding it, but if anyone can clarify that would be helpful. (It's not just the Fanatec GT Challenge either, in fact I tried a few and there didn't seem to be any races scheduled for 3rd April).

mmmh, there are races every day either an hour or two hours apart (I think in the least popular series maybe four hours apart? not quite sure), however, there was, I think, some maintenance done yesterday, so for some time one could not reach the servers. maybe that's when you checked? One iRacing week runs from Tuesday to Tuesday, meaning the track running on Tuesday is kept all the way to next week Monday night. The series you checked runs a race every two hours at a quarter to, for my time zone it's 01:45am and then all through the day from there.

 

[JE20]

mmmh, there are races every day either an hour or two hours apart (I think in the least popular series maybe four hours apart? not quite sure), however, there was, I think, some maintenance done yesterday, so for some time one could not reach the servers. maybe that's when you checked? One iRacing week runs from Tuesday to Tuesday, meaning the track running on Tuesday is kept all the way to next week Monday night. The series you checked runs a race every two hours at a quarter to, for my time zone it's 01:45am and then all through the day from there.

Ah, I thought the races were only held on the date specified, I didn't realise there were races every day of the week for each series. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[JE20]

mmmh, there are races every day either an hour or two hours apart (I think in the least popular series maybe four hours apart? not quite sure), however, there was, I think, some maintenance done yesterday, so for some time one could not reach the servers. maybe that's when you checked? One iRacing week runs from Tuesday to Tuesday, meaning the track running on Tuesday is kept all the way to next week Monday night. The series you checked runs a race every two hours at a quarter to, for my time zone it's 01:45am and then all through the day from there.

I appreciate your advice. I'm quite new to sim racing and posted this thread (https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/newbie-questions.181144/) in another forum - would appreciate any help you can give!

 

[MadTurtle]

Me being new as well I plan on deciding between oval and road by purchasing the F3 car and class d Nascar for ovals with next weeks track for each and playing them as much as possible till I decide. The reason I plan to do 4 purchases at once is I know I will probably enjoy both and you get a 10% discount.

 

[François Strat]

It's hard to find actual numbers, but it was claimed a few years ago that there were 50,000 active members. If you assume that the average monthly subscription is about $5 (incl tax), that's $250,000 per month! Hardly just "enough to pay staff and keep developing content". Or is there something I'm missing? Most sim devs would kill for that sort of income.

You roughly calculate their incomes, but you don't know how much it costs to run all that thing... If they earn 250.000/m, but running the company costs 200.000/m, would you say it's a "rich company" ?

 

[maelstrom]

You roughly calculate their incomes, but you don't know how much it costs to run all that thing... If they earn 250.000/m, but running the company costs 200.000/m, would you say it's a "rich company" ?

Where did I say it's a rich company? The problem is that we don't know how much it costs to run the company so it's all speculation. The 50,000 membership figure was from 2013 so would almost certainly be significantly more now (double?), with the accompanying boost to their income. Unlike most companies at the moment, iRacing has probably become more profitable during the pandemic with enforced lockdowns in many parts of the world resulting in increased usage. Even if they're not rich, I can't imagine they're struggling for money.

 

[François Strat]

Where did I say it's a rich company? The problem is that we don't know how much it costs to run the company so it's all speculation. The 50,000 membership figure was from 2013 so would almost certainly be significantly more now (double?), with the accompanying boost to their income. Unlike most companies at the moment, iRacing has probably become more profitable during the pandemic with enforced lockdowns in many parts of the world resulting in increased usage. Even if they're not rich, I can't imagine they're struggling for money.

Hi mate,

I really don't know more than you on this subject, so i'll assume they are doing very well ^_^ (obviously)

Cheers

 

[BabyGotBackmarker]

To keep from blowing the cat food fund, I use iRacing just to get my oval fix. Not a fan of dirt tracks or short tracks, so that further narrows it down. Get my NASCAR fix via the AI racing because I don't want to make a mistake, wreck half the field and have several US southern men yelling at me.

 

[testover]

I set a $30 monthly content budget. That roughly allows me to alternate buying one piece of content one month and three the next to get the volume discount. I have very little time to play, maybe 3 hours on a good week, so I use that time to focus on one series, maybe a second in another discipline. I try to pick a series that requires only a few new content purchases and ideally those are spread out to fit my monthly budget scheme. The SimLab Production Car Challenge was ideal for me this season - most of the eligible cars are stock content, and only 3 tracks on the schedule were not stock content, and all 3 were tracks I would want anyway, and they were spread out with two in the middle of the schedule and one at the end. I was able to do 10 of 11 weeks so far, just missing one due to a crazy week schedule, so I have my $4 credit too. if it’s schedule for next season is similar to this season’s, I want to try the USF2000 series next. I’ve saved up a bit of my budget (I let it roll over) since I had to buy so little this season, that I can buy A bit more content this season.

I like iracing for the organized multiplayer racing, so for me focusing on performing well in a limited number of series, giving myself time to practice on that week’s track and get used to a particular car is part of the appeal, so limiting my content isn’t too much of a negative for me. If I’d rather run a particular car track combo for a quick race or two, I have other offline sims with full content already paid for to scratch that itch.

 

[François Strat]

Ok, After one month of iRacing, I can answer the question ^_^
I chose few series I like (3 in my case), then I only spend money for the tracks needed... When you have an acceptable amount of track, then you Can buy any new serie, you would be able to drive it right away :-D

Cheers

 

[Alex Townsend]

I've just started looking at this thread as the lure of iRacing has been a little too much lately. Plus the races on RD are always at European times which mean me getting up at 3am, which is probably not the best mental state to be in, racing online for a couple of hours.

I'm really in to GT cars so I'm looking to get the base content, race my way out of Rookie license and then start something like the Ferrari Challenge. With the 488 and a the tracks from that series, I'm actually checking to see how many series overlap with the content.

Can I just ask, when the series is over, (by June this year by the looks of it), do they restart the same series with the same content, or is the content for each series amended by the public voting system that was eluded to earlier?

The thing is that I sent my wife details of the potential costs for the first and second years...
She said, "Go for it!", so all good and cannot wait to get involved.


Also, while I'm here, is it best to purchase iRacing on Steam or on the iRacing website directly?
There is a small saving for me on Steam that could be put towards content so just checking if there are any pros and cons to either option.

TIA
Alex.