Why I don't race in iRacing anymore...

Stefan Mizzi · Sep 11, 2012

Sad but true. I have not raced in iRacing for weeks now (only try it every now and then maybe I change my mind).

Reason? Well, for some reason I cannot find grip in most cars and it seems that the cars never want to stop when I brake.

I can be quite fast in rFactor 2, nKPro and GCS2012 for example. True, first few laps, there is no grip as well, but then, especially in rF2, the car is glued to the road when the rubber is laid.

I can immerse very easily in rF2 and the car stops when I want and I know how much to push in corners. In iRacing, the car keep going out and out of the corner and the braking, I don't know, I cannot get the right feeling.

Am I doing something wrong in iRacing? Do you guys have the same experiece or its just me???

Hampus Andersson · Sep 17, 2012

Are you using Autoclutch?
Or just full throttle shifting?

Joao Borges · Sep 17, 2012

That shifting is way smoother than I could achieve in iRacing. I had to fight the rear getting loose under heavy braking/shifting. I still have my iRacing subscription but haven't played it in a month. Driving on ice kinda feeling isn't for me.

Stefan Mizzi · Sep 17, 2012

Hampus Andersson said:
Are you using Autoclutch?
Or just full throttle shifting?

In this case, I was using auto Blip. I know that one looses some time with auto, but it should not be much.

Rhys Gardiner · Sep 18, 2012

I've bookmarked those FFB threads and will have a go at modifying my FFB tomorrow, as I'm having much the same problem as Stefan has been.

I've just gotten back into iRacing after a year's break, as it was doing nothing but stressing me out, but it seems that I've fallen into the same cycle again - try to drive clean laps, can't get comfortable, can't place the car where I want it, car does something weird, I spin/crash, I look like an idiot. Most often, what happens is the steering rate seems to increase without warning when I turn my wheel past a certain point, so I'm never satisfied with how I take a corner... I'm either going through it too slow or too fast, either cutting or running wide.

It doesn't seem to matter what I do, be it setups, driving style, taking cues from other drivers - I am always at least 3 seconds off the pace, any car, any track. I am seriously struggling to understand why. In iRacing, it's not just a question of skill level (my iRating currently stands at 1500

) , it's a question of safety - I never truly feel in control of the car and am constantly living in fear of it doing something I never expected it to do, and the last thing I want to do is ruin races for others.

I'm going to give those FFB recommendations a try and see if there's any improvement. If not, I'll find it hard to justify continuing to spend money on a sim that I can't get the most out of.

Hampus Andersson · Sep 18, 2012

Joao Borges said:
I had to fight the rear getting loose under heavy braking/shifting.

Then you probably run way to much braking force on the rears causing them to lock up.
Move BB forward and you should get a stable rear end.

Joao Borges · Sep 18, 2012

Hampus Andersson said:
Then you probably run way to much braking force on the rears causing them to lock up.
Move BB forward and you should get a stable rear end.

The Mazda Cup doesn't allow setup changes. Can I tweak BB while driving like on Race 07? You may just convince me to get back to iRacing.

Hampus Andersson · Sep 18, 2012

Joao Borges said:
The Mazda Cup doesn't allow setup changes. Can I tweak BB while driving like on Race 07? You may just convince me to get back to iRacing.

You can change BB in setups window. Not much in the Mazda but it should be possible.
You can only change BB on the fly if the car supports it.

Joao Borges · Sep 18, 2012

Hampus Andersson said:
You can change BB in setups window. Not much in the Mazda but it should be possible.
You can only change BB on the fly if the car supports it.

Can't believe I haven't noticed it. Dumb me.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

Niel Hekkens · Sep 19, 2012

The Mazda Cup is a fixed setup series. So you can't change anything.

Hampus Andersson · Sep 19, 2012

Niel Hekkens said:
The Mazda Cup is a fixed setup series. So you can't change anything.

That´s right, but if you do hosted you can,

Dariusz Swiderski · Sep 19, 2012

Tempted by the $5.00 offer i gave iRacing a go to see what's the hype all about.
Was especially excited to try the MX-5 as it was the only car i tried in real life on racing circuit. And what a disappointment it was, the handling was nowhere near, the FFB mediocre at best, and yes, the icy feeling too. I don't think there isn't enough grip in the game, i think the problem lies how the game handles the transition from having grip to not having any.

As i really don't like the whole structure of the game, i was hoping at least the feel of the cars would compensate for it, but i was wrong. My month of subscription isn't up yet but the game isn't on my HDD anymore. It isn't better then most other sims, in many aspects is actually worst.

This is only my opinion and what doesn't work for me it may work for others.
Try it and make your own mind up. I know i have made my.
Bye bye iRacing. You won't be missed.

Hampus Andersson · Sep 19, 2012

How many cars did you try?
Did you set up your FFB according to the link?

Rhys Gardiner · Sep 20, 2012

Rhys Gardiner said:
I'm going to give those FFB recommendations a try and see if there's any improvement. If not, I'll find it hard to justify continuing to spend money on a sim that I can't get the most out of.

Well, I gave the settings a go. There was some improvement, in that I could feel the car a bit better and no longer felt terrified entering a corner. The pace problem is still there, though...

Stefan Mizzi · Sep 20, 2012

So, I did the first tests from the link http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/2023748.page and followed the instructions carefully.

I also did the test 3 times, to make sure that the results are consistent (files are all at home and thus cannot upload anything as I am at work, but will if need be).

OK, so here is what happened.

First I checked what settings I had and steeringFFBBaseOffset was set to 0.1. At this stage, FFB in iRacing was very faint, thus the problem I'm having.

After the tests, following all the instructions...the result was to set steeringFFBBaseOffset to 0.0175!!!..which is less.

Obviously, I tested iRacing again with 20 FFB and 0 damping (as suggested) and the FFB was even softer.

Then I stayed playing with the values for steeringFFBBaseOffset, always increasing a bit and testing.

When I set it to 0.2 and higher, the FFB does become stronger with 0.5 quite strong. But there is one big issue, the wheel's rattling is then very very high and anything above 0.2 is too much rattling. So really, 0.2 is the max, where the FFB is still too week.

And the worst rattling comes from braking (with 0.1 and over), When I hit the brakes, the wheel wants to come off with rattling, which is unrealistic

I will continue testing the other things and investigating. Maybe 0.0175 would be good for you guys, but when I compare it to other sims (link rF2 or nKpro which I find FFB awesome) the FFB in iRacing is very faint.

Thank you for your continuous feedback

Jorge Alves · Sep 20, 2012

Good you are making the tests man!

when you have the time post the excell file(s) with the results and the app.ini file here so i can have a look and check if you are doing things right ... if the test tell you its 0.0175 then thats what you have to do and then adjust the ffb strenght to get the wheel stronger ... increasing the steeringFFBBaseOffset behind the test results will not work ... but i would like to see the test results and app.ini file before going on ffb strenght tests/adjusting

Stefan Mizzi · Sep 20, 2012

Thanks Jorge for your time

I'll upload them once I get home.

Cheers
Stefan

Stefan Mizzi · Sep 20, 2012

Here are the files...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjnlw5hpth43fd4/iRacingTestAndAppini.rar

Thanks!

Jorge Alves · Sep 20, 2012

Those results are really low ... from what i have seen in foruns g25 ususally show results bettween 400 and 800 ...your is 121 ?

...

Try this ... let the app.ini file as it is (everything looks ok there) ... i can see you drive the mx5 roadster .... so make some laps with roadster with ffb strenght to 35.9 and no damping .... after 1 lap go out and do the tests again (dont restart pc or wheel)... i think you will get different results then ... i only got consistent results after running the tests 3,4 times so try it sometimes more until you got it consistently (allways do some laps before doing the tests)

I said 35.9 ffb for the roadster because thats what they advise in the post

Jorge Alves · Sep 20, 2012

Stefan Mizzi said:
When I hit the brakes, the wheel wants to come off with rattling, which is unrealistic

after reading this i think your test is ok and if futur tests confirm that values and if 35.9 ffb in roadster looks week for you then i just dont know what more to say to help you ... but once again dont compare it to rF2 cause they have completly different physics/ffb and nKP have the best physics/ffb i have seen in sim racing ... i think iracing physics/ffb feel very good with the right ffb calibration but not as good as nKP ... dont compare it ... just try to understand the details in iRacing and get use to them ... after a while i started loving them (specially with the mustang) and i really think they are very realistic .... some people say its driving in ice but i like it a lot cause i can feel in the ffb every details ... i feel when car starts loosing grip and everythink else i need to control it ... its a difficult sim do handle but i dont think the real cars will be more easy to drive ...

Hampus Andersson · Sep 20, 2012

I believe you can check on the fly in NKPro if your forces are clipping as well.
see if they do that. If it does then you are running too much FFB, even in NKPro.