Roadcourse Racing or not?

Linus Broström · Apr 11, 2012

When i first got iRacing it was all cause of the oval racing. I tried some roadcourse's, but since there are only RWD cars i just couldnt do well enough, quick enough. But now after about a year with the service, I've decided to give it a proper try. After all i do race IRL so it looks rather strange to see my road licenses is only at rookie...

Is it worth it with all the extra costs it will mean when i get new license's, and what cars/tracks would you recommend me to get?

Linus

Jan Roman · Apr 11, 2012

Definitely yes. I find road racing much more entertaining and diverse. It's good to ask yourself whether you prefer open-seaters or hardtops. Get out of the rookie as quickly as you can (driving MX-5s probably). Then you can choose Skippy or Mustang (both fun, Mustang still on the OTM however, I'm not sure about upcoming season). And after that, there's a lot to choose from. New GT series (C6Rs + Ford GTs only) will be available in C class, which is very nice. Star Mazda is probably a lot of fun too.

Xosé Estrada · Apr 11, 2012

Oh yes.

I joined because the oval side as well, but now I'm doing road races mostly.

Linus Broström · Apr 12, 2012

im finding the Mazda MX5 abit hard to drive, might be cause i've never driven RWD before apart from the NASCAR's and the V8's on Race07, though it's been a while since i last did that. But is the MX5 hard to drive compared to other cars or is it just cause it's all new to me??

how is it compared to the open wheel Indy Car and Star Mazda for egsample??
and compared to V8's and the Street Stock??
or any other funny car you might find fun to drive. I appreciate any help i can get here!

Thanks in advance,

Linus

Josh Barton · Apr 12, 2012

In terms of difficulty, id put it this way for me personally, with road cars.

Easiest to hardest:
MX 5 (takes a bit to get used to, but predictable and slow)
Indy (hard to get it to go fast, but pretty predictable)
Prototype (get a decent setup and its very forgiving)
Star Mazda (hard to go fast but)
V8 Supercar (can be hard to be consistant)
Williams F1 (twitchy steering and almost too much grip for me to be able to use all of it)
Mustang (I hate that understeery bucket of crud)
Skip Barber (havent successfully done a lap in it ever)
Ford GT (something about that thing was too hard for me!)

Thats all the ones Ive driven. They are all hard in their own way, but practice makes it easier. Ive done enough practice in the MX 5 now that I find it pretty easy to manouver.

Jan Roman · Apr 12, 2012

Well, I've driven (competitively) only three cars so far. Mazda MX-5s are fairly easy to drive, it almost never oversteers (tweakable in setup) and it a bit slow in comparison to other cars, so you have plenty of time to know what's going on on the track and it's definitely the easiest car to drive here. Then I participated into Mustang series. The Stang has OTM at the moment, but real life Mustang drivers reffered that it's not a bad tire model at all. Mustang is quite another animal, it has much more power than Mazdas and it's a bit heavy, so it oversteers and understeers a lot. It has a specific style of driving including A LOT of trailbraking since it's not really willing to turn-in. The thing I like the most about Mustang is that it has a classic synchronized H-pattern shifter and heel-toe is a lot of fun here. I would say it's an ideal car for learning how to drive hardtops. Drivers say that the Ford GT feels the closest to Mustang, but with much more power of course. Now I drive Corvette C6.R and it's lovely. I'm still getting used to it since it has A LOT more power than Mustang, the the drive is absolutely astonishing and it is a great fun.

Eric Estes · Apr 13, 2012

Once you get a handle on the MX-5's I think you'll like them. The car is understeery in real life (I own one, admittedly with an autoX tuned suspension). I prefer open wheel - next progression was Star Mazda. Tried the Indycars but wasn't a great fan of the 'atmosphere'. Now racing in the Classic Lotus series and plan on dropping in on the Radicals now and then. (Note: driving the Lotus, with its full ground-effects is unlike any modern car in existence - be warned)

Greg Carr · Apr 13, 2012

Road racing is all that I do now. When I started I couldn't stand the solstice (there was no MX-5) so I raced oval for a little while but I finally got out of my rookie road licence and I haven't raced oval again. Right now I race the Corvette and the Indy Car Fixed series. I try a few F1 races on tracks that can support F1 cars, some tracks are way too small for F1.

Some advice I have is stick with MX-5 and learn the whole package of iRacing. I mean learn to race in pack, learn to race with guys with lag, learn the tracks, learn how to control the car, make friends online and build up some camaraderie. Once you move up in licence everything happens faster on the track and I think a lot of people quit iRacing is because they aren't competitive once they get out of rookie. In theory you can jump to A licence in only a few days, but you never gain that experience that you need to succeed at the higher levels.

Linus Broström · Apr 13, 2012

i am acctually starting to like the MX5 already. just finished 2nd in my 4th roadcourse race. and the only guy who beat me was a D-license driver. But i got new PB at 1:00.87

and i lead 4 laps :eek: and i made 3 nice passes on lap 1

and i only got 2x

i've also tried the Star Mazda for the RD league and the Indy car, since im gonna start doing that on ovals too, and i like the feel of them both. But driving the Indy Car at Oulton Park was not such a good idea

EDIT: oh and yes i got this aswell
Great Finish - Road

Advance 60% of the field from where you started in an official road race with at least 10 drivers in your class and no more than 2 incidents.

Charged up the pack from 10th to finish 2nd. Great finish!

Linus