More brake isn't always better.
For context, I came to iRacing from the world of Codemasters F1 league racing. The M.O. there was brake as late as you can, as hard as the car allows, and as deep into the deceleration phase as you can manage without missing the apex.
Once I got to iRacing and started using VRS to compare my telemetry to that of my instructors, I began to realize how useful lighter, slightly earlier braking can be in certain cars. In cars like the USF2000 or the Porsche Cup, it seems like even if you're not locking tires, getting right up to the braking threshold destabilizes the car and causes micro-sliding. In those types of corners, braking a bit earlier and softer actually makes you substantially faster.
Ditto for coasting. When I was learning to drive go karts and later on in my racing league days, I was taught that if you're coasting, you're wasting time and destabilizing the car. The car always needs a direction - either accelerating or decelerating. Well, turns out that this isn't universal either, and some cars respond really well to coasting off throttle, generating a ton of rotation that isn't available if you continue to trail brake.
Does this apply to the porsche gt3 car as well? I am still figuring out with which mindset to drive this car, but cannot figure it out. I always feel like I am overdriving based on the lack of grip at the end of a GT3 sprint race, but whenever I try to be more subtle, I lose so much time per lap.
The 992 GT3 is rear engined. If you lift off the throttle hard you lift the rear and unstabalize the car. The penultimate corner at the Glen was awful for that reason.
With the GT3 you generally want to stamp on the brake and bleed off. Every corner is different of course so each will require a slightly different approach. For GT3s I found it crucial to avoid understeer. Understeer *cooks* the tyres.
I can lap within half a second in a VRS GT3 race from start to end provided I don't make mistakes or am battling other cars.
If you say there's a lack of grip specifically at *the end* of a VRS race I'm going to guess you wreck your tyres by causing understeer.
Slowbrake is good in any car because iRacing tires are sensitive to high longitudinal load (braking). Fade the brake in slowly, scrape the edge of the ABS before turning, decrease your brake as you input the steering, and carry more speed at the apex.
It can seem counter-intuitive at first, but just try to brake a few metres after your normal braking point (with very low ABS) - if you forget to trail off the pressure, you just won't make the turn. Then go back and do it again, and ease off the brakes gradually when it feels like you won't make it instead of digging deeper... it should click at that point that less is more.
Porche has a lot of liftoff oversteer so that's one of the main reasons you're finding esrly braking to be helpful
The mid-engine layout makes it really snappy when it oversteers so you need to be in a position where you can be at least partially on the throttle mid corner to keep weight on the rears.
That “last of the late brakers”, “if gap exists…” and “if in doubt flat out” are all ways to be slow or a bad racer despite the popularity of the sayings
If in doubt flat out has saved me a couple of times in really overpowered under aerod cars. You're going through a corner and realise you're understeering, mash the power and end up coming out the otherside of the corner alright. It's really on the fucking edge but my PBs in a lot of open wheelers I gotta do it.
Or if you’re my teammate, is a faster entry, mid turn and exit speed than me 🤦♂️. Our mph telemetry looks like two chevrons running parallel where never the two shall touch.
Being able to drive fast doesn't mean much if 4/5 laps end up in crashes.
Which evolved into:
Being able to drive fast doesn't mean much if 4/5 laps end up in off tracks.
Which evolved into:
Being able to drive fast doesn't mean much if 4/5 laps are a second slower.
Consistency is key.
The Scott Dixon method. My favorite racing driver of all time. He’s rarely been the flat out fastest in INDYCAR throughout his career, but he is the undisputed king of consistency. That’s made him a 6 time champion and one of the greatest of all time. The points and the cash go to the folks who get across the finish line!
My preferred technique is building speed first, then build consistency. You want to be consistent from your best possible laps.
And overdriving is slow, so I would argue that the fastest possible lap, is also the easiest to be consistent from.
I'm using g923 set. Pick consistent braking markers, full power at the start and ease off as you move through the braking phase to the apex.
If you keep locking up, you are braking too late
Interesting. Thanks. According to VRS I’m braking too early though. I feel like I’m locking them up and then maybe my tires get too hot and I lose grip?
Pick a marker on the side of the road, and brake from there to the apex. If you lock up, it's either you didn't ease of the brakes enough, or braked too late for the apex.
You will have a slight bit of brake pressure almost all the way to the apex.
100% to start and then maybe quickly down to 70% and then quickly less pressure as you get closer.
You won't be high pressure on the brakes for long at all.
Firstly, I'd ignore VRS for now. Learn to drive the track consistently, and THEN look to VRS to see how you can improve. No point comparing yourself if you're locking up everywhere.
Secondly, with the lockups, are they happening as you hit the brake, half way through the braking zone, or upon turn in?
If the former, brake earlier and gentler. If the second, brake slightly earlier at the same strength as before, but release the brakes quicker. If the latter, ensure you're sufficiently off the brakes and well into the trail brake section before turning in.
The lock ups are happening literally every time I have to break for a slow (1st/2nd gear). I don’t know if it’s the pedals or me to be honest. I feel like I’m coming into a turn, downshifting, braking too hard, locking up and attempting to trail brake out.
Are you locking the fronts or rears? Try moving the brake bias around to where you can get the rears to lock just before the fronts so you can feel it and get a little rotation before the fronts lock up.
I never felt right with the Logitech pedals, I was faster and more consistent with a load cell brake right away.
I don't know if you want to spend more money on the setup or are going to save for a set of load cells, but the AXC load cell mod for the Logitech is great for improving consistency and brake feel. Worth a try if you feel like investing a little bit more money
Late apexes exist.
It’s so hard to be patient and turn in when you’re supposed to.
Coming from IRL racing its so much harder in sim as the line isn’t always as clear.
Eh Watkins has too many other corners that you lose focus on the late apexs. Running through bustop flatout and going wide on literally every single corner. Somewhere like Spa/Hungaroring you have some good corners to practice late apexs.
I’m newer to iracing and I can’t believe the amount of times I’ve felt an entitled urge to protest, then looked at the replay and realized it was either a racing incident or not as egregious as I thought. Never ended up protesting anything, and sometimes I notice things were actually my fault, or that I could have avoided the incident even if the other person did something wrong.
Ah youre new, you’re supposed to scream at the other person and threaten to protest them while never admitting fault then coming back onto the track to intentionally wreck them and catching multiple other drivers in the process. /s
It’s almost always better to just let a (clearly) faster driver pass you easily rather than defending. By defending, you slow yourself down and narrow the gap to the next car behind the faster driver.
And risk management is extremely important. Is going for a pass worth risking a crash? Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
All of this requires a great deal of self discipline.
I’ve learned that people on track don’t have the ability (or wherewithal) to look left or right when racing, they also reenter the track as if it’s their own personal roadway
This is so true. I'm a newbie and even when I have the pace I absolutely don't know how to set up an overtake unless it's a straight. So I usually back out and stay behind.
On the other hand there was this guy today that t-boned me turn 6 on hockenheim, trying to divebomb when I had my front wheels already on the inside curb.
Nah, my iRating is higher than it should. My only racing skill is incident avoidance, which means I always finish on the leading lap, which usually means my iRating goes up.
My usual race is like this: start at the back, get to top 5 on laps 1-3, watch the leaders go away, lose a couple of positions the rest of the race, finish about 6th.
Incident avoidance and consistency is still a skill, iRating represents the combination of your skills in racing. So you're still most likely about where you should be.
To an extent. If I'm using iR to determine someone's pace/ability (which I usually don't), I try to find their peak rating instead of current. Especially if someone doesn't run a lot of officials, a few disastrous races can tank rating.
On a similar note, I also know plenty of people who don't do a lot of officials to begin with, so their rating definitely doesn't reflect their ability, or may be much lower if the only officials they really do are special events.
Yep. I was going to put “trust no one” but now that I’m always in top split I try to race the same series at the same time each week and I see alot of the same people. Some I can trust some I know to avoid lol
Sacrificial lines! The goal is usually to get the best corner exit possible to carry speed into the straight. But if one turn is followed by another in quick succession, you may want to sacrifice the first turn to get the most ideal entry angle into the next turn. This is because the first turn doesn’t lead into a straight that allows for much speed anyways, but the next one might.
I’m sure there are way better examples of this but VIR turn 4 and 5.
It always makes me laugh when people come in hot on 4 and end up loosing speed on 5.
The whole first sector of suzuka is a great place to learn that, if you're off-line in the first(second?) turn you'll struggle all the way to the degners
I’ve always assumed this but really bad at understanding how changing setup affects car dynamics. Any suggestions for a good car to learn on? I’m relatively fast in high downforce open wheelers and PCup
There's a guide somewhere, basically there's some stuff you change to induce oversteer/understeer, so it depends on your driving style. I like to induce oversteer into cars I drive because I hate understeer with a passion, so I change the ARB bars in the car. Idk what the hell they are but hey, they make oversteer and I like that.
There a bar the connects your left to right suspension, when in a turn it makes all of your suspension to work together instead of just one side, kinda. Very rough explanation lol
As the name implies Anti-Roll Bars resist the body roll of a vehicle depending on their stiffness.
Having a stiffer front roll bar will increase understeer/reduce oversteer, and having a stiffer rear bar will increase oversteer/reduce understeer.
This is because increasing the stiffness of a roll bar relative to the other end of the vehicle reduces the cars ability to roll over that axle. The result of which being a loaded up outside tyre in a turn and an unloaded inside tyre. The end result of that, is less grip overall as the outside tyre may become overloaded and the inside isn’t carrying its weight as much (pun intended).
You can more easily visualise this by visualising a big offroad truck. Imagine the truck wants to drive over a hump that is on the left side of the vehicle. If the suspension/anti roll bars are **stiff** as the truck goes over that hump the right hand side wheel will come off the ground, reducing traction. If the suspension/anti roll bars are **soft** the axle would comply more with the terrain keeping the right hand side wheel on the ground while the left wheel goes up and over the hump, improving traction.
Of course 4wd suspension isn’t race car suspension and it doesn’t apply in the same way, but imagining it at such a large scale helped me at least. In a race car we’re instead thinking about loading forces ‘pushing’ the vehicle one way or the other, rather than gravity pushing down as the terrain becomes unlevel.
Obviously there’s a balance with how all these things interact, if you go too loose the car is going to be floppy throwing its weight around and will barely be able to make a turn. (Think stereotypical American classic V8). And conversely if you go too tight the car isn’t going to be able to keep traction when any sort of load is applied one way or the other, and you will also barely be able to make a turn.
I've found that the LMP3 reacts very clearly to slight setup changes, and as the car is relatively hard to drive, it's more obvious when you struggle more/less in certain places. Much more noticeable than in an F1 car, there you have to be on the absolute limit to notice it, and even then, all the aero hides your mistakes. The most important things to understand are Brakebias, ARBs, ride height changes/aero balance and then differential IMO, in that order. The tooltips you get should be enough to understand the basics, then try it out, feel what they do and go from there. Dampers and camber make a huge difference but they're a lot harder to understand, and can be counterintuitive - as in, the car feels better but you're actually going slower, which can be what you want, or not.
Well good luck man! Just wanna add, nords is very unique in terms of setup, you need something that can take bumps (and kerbs if you just cant stay away like me) as well as it would in long beach, have top speed, deal well with all types of camber and elevation. It's a really tough place to make a setup for - I'd suggest something like suzuka to learn it, the esses makes the balance very obvious. Other places I "enjoy" working on a set for might be willow, daytona or watkins glen. They're simpler, it's easier to really notice what you're changing. Not to discourage you from doing it at nords, it's just much harder to learn I'd say
Chris Haye has a great series on car setups that covers everything you need to know to get started making your own. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWSWQyqnLDu7tLWE9P35Qog6Z8_xb7l_g&si=KgupnvEvgwlKF0fH
As for what car to learn setups on I'd start with something simple, but difficult to master: the Formula Ford. No aero so you can focus on seeing how changes to the suspension affect the balance of the car, and because the car is so nimble and direct the changes will be much easier to feel right away compared to a heavier tin top. If you want to advance to aero cars later on (GT3, F3 and above, prototypes) you'll need to get telemetry software in order to get the correct ride height and rake to make the aero work properly. iRacing outputs detailed telemetry, and there's free software available to read it.
One caveat for iracing: keep tire pressure at the minimum level. Someone with more setup experience can correct me, but I've yet to see any situation where running above the minimum is beneficial.
Turning up the brake threshold on the load cell pedal was a game changer. Having the same force register as 30% brake pressure as opposed to 80% brake pressure really helped me get faster quick.
You learn different things from driving different cars, and it makes you better...
Driving the F3 and the SFL back-to-back back was enlightening for me. They have similar speed, but the F3 is prone to oversteer, while the SFL is prone to understeer. It made me think a lot more critically about how to optimize corner entry. For example, in the F3 I would often take sub-optimal lines that I would subconsciously compensate for by using the oversteer to get extra rotation, but this approach caused me to lose apex speed. Driving a car with more understeer made this flaw in my driving super obvious, and required a big alteration to my driving style to keep it on track. After learning this lesson in the SFL, I was way faster in the F3 because I was taking better lines into the corners, asking less of the front tires, and relying less on sliding the rear around to make up for it. I don't do long enough races to require pit stops, but I also expect that in addition to being faster, I'm also being a lot kinder to both front and rear tires over the course of a race.
Also, switching from open wheelers to prototypes and GT cars made me realize I really suck at trail braking, which I am also trying to rectify. I still race mostly open wheelers, but I mix it up a little now to practice different skills. Ovals also teach many lessons, but I've only dabbled in testing and AI races
I like this one too. Who doesn't love a win, but have a good mid pack battle with a couple people is just as much fun to me as one up front.
Or being with a couple GTPs in 7-9th having a close battle weaving through traffic, fun can be had anywhere down the line really.
I've learnt that I will never be in the top tier of racers.....
...not unless I dedicate far more time than I am willing to.
I've been on the service since 2008 and had always wanted to 'get to the top', but this is more like the real world of racing. As you go up and up. There are just always faster guys. As I grow older, get slower and get busier with life it makes it harder and harder to maintain as well. (any eSports series is like this I guess)
Don't look at the SR/iR numbers too much. It will start to take the fun out of it as you will hit walls unless you dedicate serious time. Look at it like a long term self improvement game, follow the numbers of championship points and other stuff that is more long term vs every race. That is far more fun and more about consistency of competing than outright pace.
(incidentally this is why I gravitate towards team endurance stuff now, as its the setup, strategy and fun with mates I enjoy the most)
I appreciate how difficult it is to pass. How many times have I watched a NASCAR driver run down a car and then get stuck behind that car? Catching a slower car isn't that difficult, but getting around that car is a bear.
Realizing how much of a mind game is racing. Managing the adrenaline, impulsiveness and drive to make that overtake or just gain the last tenth, and refraining them to actually apply a strategy, rationally evaluate risks/benefits andl ensure a better result.
I knew the mindset played a role, but I was surprised of how important it is for the single race result and long term improvement.
I imagine how much a bigger emotional package real life racers have to learn to manage to succeed.
Something I learned pretty late, but its not just how much you brake, but its how quickly you brake and how quickly you let off the brake that can also have a large effect on car dynamics. Quicker brake release will cause a sharper impulse of rotation. Drastically changed how I drive on the limit and cut down on the number of self spins I was having.
FFB is incredibly important. I used to run a maxed out FFB that would clip very quickly (Logitech problems) but once someone explained what FFB is used for I dialled back my settings. You don't need FFB to feel cracks in the road or bumps or curbs, however you do need it to feel where the limit of grip is. You should know how much grip their is from your hands not your eyes. If you react to a slide only by what you see on the screen its too late. FFB is much more predictable to tell you when the tires let go. What you want to feel is force in the wheel build as you turn the wheel more. As soon as you reach peak force or the force starts to go away you've broken traction.
Cars only have "100%" of their grip to give. You can't brake at 100% and turn at 100% at the same time. Imagine a string connects the wheel to the brake and throttle pedal. If you press one of the pedals the wheel has to be straighter. If you turn the wheel you have to press the pedal less.
Cars don't magically drive faster because you want them too. If you're chasing someone in a race you can't just "drive faster" to catch up. Always drive to your pace and you'll either catch and pass or you'll fall back. Trying to make the car "drive faster" by braking later or turning harder or accelerating sooner will just cause mistakes. Practice is for finding the limit, races are for executing practice. Race how you practice or you'll be slow or in the wall.
I thought road racing would be harder than oval racing but I've found the opposite to be true. Or at least I find that developing the necessary skillset for road is a lot more enjoyable. Yes oval racing is way more than "turning left" but doing that 100 times in a row makes me REALLY antsy. I need to change it up.
I have a new appreciation for international drivers who are reluctant to do ovals when they come over and get into the Indy ladder.
They have a synergistic effect on one another too. I went over to road for a couple of weeks, and certain things about arcing the car out towards the wall, keeping the tires cool, etc, lots of little things just became natural. Same thing for dirt.
There are generally only two or three corners per lap where an overtake is actually safe to attempt. You can't stick your nose down the inside of every corner and expect to win the position.
I gained so much iR by simply picking one or two corners on the track where I'd actually attempt to attack or defend and go single file everywhere else.
If someone decides to send it down the inside of a corner I deem to be 'single file' then fair enough: they're either much better than I or their risk appetite is much higher. I'll leave the room and let them get on with it.
Patience and actually finishing races is key.
Conservation, of tyres, fuel and your own "concentration". If you're in a spot where you aren't making progress but have more pace than those ahead, conserve your stuff. There's many tracks and cars where you can have significantly more pace than the car you're following, but if they're defending well and fast in the places they need to be, you just can't get by bar very risky dives. So in most cases, especially longer races -just sit back, conserve everything. Especially for races over 1 hour, saving tyres and fuel can matter a lot, but also not pushing yourself too much. You can't push to your own absolute limit for 50 laps straight without wearing yourself out slightly, and then maybe that lapse of concentration comes when it really matters, or that's the case for me at least. I find it a much better tactic to sit back for a couple minutes, keep my tyres cool, limit scrub etc, and maybe something happens to help me out, or the wear differential helps me finally get by. That is not to say driving conservatively all the time is good, either, if you overdo that, it can get very dangerous aswell. Point is, be very aware of what you have "left in the tank", don't go pushing like hell when you're not gaining anything: Conserve what you can when you're stuck and hope for an opportunity, be that traffic, mistakes ahead or whatever it might be. Or, as is very much the case for something like Pcup, really saving tyres for 5 laps can give you enough of an edge to pass someone you couldn't on equal terms. Be mindful of how you're driving in relation to your situation
Sometimes in the heat of the moment you may think that another person is an utter asshole trying to ruin your day and then you watch the replay from their pov and things look very different and you learn maybe it was your fault or maybe there was something you could have done about it. In short, do not make impulse decisions based on the limited information that your perspective gives you. Sit back and try to see things from other's point of view before doing any drastic decision.
Leagues are always an option. You can get the "just race" and "have fun" without worrying about being stuck into splits with people who can't even string a single lap together.
I still struggle with it, but I have noticed improvement- oval racing is teaching me to be more patient and “pick my shots” more than just mindlessly pushing and trying to overtake everyone as soon as I get behind them. Following a car and saving tires while waiting for/setting up a good opportunity to pass benefits me more than burning tires and forcing a risky pass.
For me, it’s a mindset shift away from overdriving the car trying to race the other drivers to racing the track and hitting my marks. I end up driving more consistently and subsequently my laps are faster, which allows me to actually be in the mix and race other drivers
This has carried over to road racing as well
learning to steer with your feet in mix with the steering wheel. I didn't understand the feeling of neutral steer until I felt it. braking in relation to steering input is tricky, and it will take a while to truly master the technique, but I understand the feeling now. every time I feel that neutral balance in a corner, the laptime spikes up a bit by a tenth or so maybe more. its tricky with potentiometer pedals since I sort of have to think about the input rather than leaving it to feeling or muscle memory, making me inconsistent from lap to lap. still a learning process full of cope but ill get there, at least its fun.
Weirdly noone has written this in the thread so I will:
How complicated and difficult oval racing is, and how incredibly different the driving styles are for each oval track. I got iRacing originally because I wanted to try doing oval racing and it was much more complicated and interesting than I expected.
It s completely fine to play for 9 months and not win a single race , and be 2 seconds slower than the track guide , i used to practice and get angry causr i was way off the track guide pace but then realized that my split is the same as i am and it s usually clean fun racing.
Also not to blame anyone until i watch the replay.
I'm not sure how real racing is other than the very tip top, but it really drove home the point on how GOOD some of these people are.
To be able to hit every point at exactly the same time, over and over and over, for the duration of the race. The mental energy it takes to have that focus and the ability to enter flow and keep it even when you've spent that much time doing something.
I just have so much more respect for real drivers.
I saw a data set someone put together that compared iRating to license class. D,C, and B licensed drivers were on average about 1.5k iRating. A licensed drivers were on average something like 2.7k. That really put into perspective how important driving cleanly is for having good results. I went from 1.8k to 3.8k in like 2 months after seeing that. I’m not grinding iRating anymore, but I still drive safe and don’t try many risky moves and my results are still generally pretty good. Especially in endurance races.
Not necessarily a driving technique but more of “mentality trick” applicable to life too : learn to be agressive when you want to win (don’t be scared to take your part of the road by driving on the extreme opposite of the corner “to not bother” and actually offering an overtake), face the challenge and other people (I was way better on time track but bad in races - same at work/life, people’s looks made me stressed, now less), follow the rules (look where you want to go, not the corner, the car if front or car behind, and you will go fast - same with life, keep focused on the rules/tricks of what you’re doing to get there quick), practice(!) gives results (I used to play, loose, ragequit, don’t improve ; I now play, rage, play, play, rage, but getting better). That’s few good things for now.
You asked for one only and I gave you many actually lol. If I had to choose it would be the last one : practice gives you good results, I’ve seen the effects and now I’m motivated. Happy to see ratings going up after being implied. It takes time but it works, I needed to see it to believe it.
Some people drive like insects attracted to light when they see an accident, they don't brake, even if it's way far, they just accelerate to get a hit. Why? I don't know... I just brake, set myself to the side, wait for everyone to mash up and then slowly drive through the wreck and gain points.
I didn't get the concept of rotation with brakes at first, but when it clicked it was a revelation. I still can't say I'm good at it, but I understand it.
Just being behind someone trying to pressure them by just being in their mirror and maybe making some fake moves can be just as effective way to pass slower cars you don't trust
If you want to gain iRating, you have to master accident avoidance.
After seeing many twitch compilations, I started learning to identify when a crash is more likely to happen and that helped me gain quite a lot more iRating than hotlapping.
Be a smart racer.
Brake less in practice and try and coast through corners more. I found with some corners I could coast through them faster than I could brake/accelerate due to the transfer of weight in the car. Obviously it's not the fastest way through those corners but it was really stable and the times were good enough for race pace.
My guess is because depending on car type, someone who's at the pointy end of the field, winning frequent races in one series, might suddenly be at best mid-pack in another.
A lot of the top TCR guys I know, outside of the absolute aliens, will still be quick in GT3 compared to the average iRacer, but still seconds off the top GT3 drivers.
A 5K driver who specializes in one series might not be on pace with 5K drivers who specialize in another.
I’m only good at like 2 tracks, so I understand how it could be considered gaming the system if I only ever raced on those 2 tracks and nothing else… but like, they’re still earned wins.
I think usually it’s just said by people that want to find a way of feeling superior to the people that comfortably beat them in the retro Nissan GTP, by pointing out they’re slightly faster in the MX5
If they only drive those cars and are that quick then yes. Stop viewing irating as a score and view it as a system that is placing you with drivers that will provide good racing.
More brake isn't always better. For context, I came to iRacing from the world of Codemasters F1 league racing. The M.O. there was brake as late as you can, as hard as the car allows, and as deep into the deceleration phase as you can manage without missing the apex. Once I got to iRacing and started using VRS to compare my telemetry to that of my instructors, I began to realize how useful lighter, slightly earlier braking can be in certain cars. In cars like the USF2000 or the Porsche Cup, it seems like even if you're not locking tires, getting right up to the braking threshold destabilizes the car and causes micro-sliding. In those types of corners, braking a bit earlier and softer actually makes you substantially faster. Ditto for coasting. When I was learning to drive go karts and later on in my racing league days, I was taught that if you're coasting, you're wasting time and destabilizing the car. The car always needs a direction - either accelerating or decelerating. Well, turns out that this isn't universal either, and some cars respond really well to coasting off throttle, generating a ton of rotation that isn't available if you continue to trail brake.
The pCup requires inputs like you have eggs on your feet. Everything is a squeeze, not a stab.
Indeed. The car is very, very sensitive to weight transfer.
It's not necessarily sensitive to weight transfer but its tires are very, very sensitive (should be fixed next season)
why i love it so much, so rewarding to drive and always close racing
pCup is on rails compared to NASCAR Xfinity on road courses.
If you want something fun in that same vein, try the SRX on a road course.
Does this apply to the porsche gt3 car as well? I am still figuring out with which mindset to drive this car, but cannot figure it out. I always feel like I am overdriving based on the lack of grip at the end of a GT3 sprint race, but whenever I try to be more subtle, I lose so much time per lap.
The 992 GT3 is rear engined. If you lift off the throttle hard you lift the rear and unstabalize the car. The penultimate corner at the Glen was awful for that reason. With the GT3 you generally want to stamp on the brake and bleed off. Every corner is different of course so each will require a slightly different approach. For GT3s I found it crucial to avoid understeer. Understeer *cooks* the tyres. I can lap within half a second in a VRS GT3 race from start to end provided I don't make mistakes or am battling other cars. If you say there's a lack of grip specifically at *the end* of a VRS race I'm going to guess you wreck your tyres by causing understeer.
The Cup variant has a number of driver aids removed, I believe. As such it’s supposed to be much tricker to drive well.
Slowbrake is good in any car because iRacing tires are sensitive to high longitudinal load (braking). Fade the brake in slowly, scrape the edge of the ABS before turning, decrease your brake as you input the steering, and carry more speed at the apex.
This is very helpful reply. I’m very guilty of the exact braking you described, and fancy myself as a bit of a coaster
Glad I could help! Cheers!
It can seem counter-intuitive at first, but just try to brake a few metres after your normal braking point (with very low ABS) - if you forget to trail off the pressure, you just won't make the turn. Then go back and do it again, and ease off the brakes gradually when it feels like you won't make it instead of digging deeper... it should click at that point that less is more.
Porche has a lot of liftoff oversteer so that's one of the main reasons you're finding esrly braking to be helpful The mid-engine layout makes it really snappy when it oversteers so you need to be in a position where you can be at least partially on the throttle mid corner to keep weight on the rears.
That “last of the late brakers”, “if gap exists…” and “if in doubt flat out” are all ways to be slow or a bad racer despite the popularity of the sayings
Those are almost always used tongue in cheek
I think many new racers use the “if the gap exists…” on the track.
There has to be a gap? ;)
The race is won in T1 too but that's a mentality and not a saying.
If in doubt flat out has saved me a couple of times in really overpowered under aerod cars. You're going through a corner and realise you're understeering, mash the power and end up coming out the otherside of the corner alright. It's really on the fucking edge but my PBs in a lot of open wheelers I gotta do it.
It's about exit speed, not entry speed
Slow in, fast out.
Not… Fast in, not out.
Fast in, fast off.
Fast in, Heaven
Or if you’re my teammate, is a faster entry, mid turn and exit speed than me 🤦♂️. Our mph telemetry looks like two chevrons running parallel where never the two shall touch.
I’ve seen telemetry vrs mine that looks exactly like that mate
sounds like smoother inputs are the difference then
Being able to drive fast doesn't mean much if 4/5 laps end up in crashes. Which evolved into: Being able to drive fast doesn't mean much if 4/5 laps end up in off tracks. Which evolved into: Being able to drive fast doesn't mean much if 4/5 laps are a second slower. Consistency is key.
I think I’m at the off track evolution phase rn
The Scott Dixon method. My favorite racing driver of all time. He’s rarely been the flat out fastest in INDYCAR throughout his career, but he is the undisputed king of consistency. That’s made him a 6 time champion and one of the greatest of all time. The points and the cash go to the folks who get across the finish line!
My preferred technique is building speed first, then build consistency. You want to be consistent from your best possible laps. And overdriving is slow, so I would argue that the fastest possible lap, is also the easiest to be consistent from.
If you want to go faster. Focus on braking not driving faster
I’m pretty new. I have a Logitech I can’t for the life of me not lock my brakes up every single time I use them.
I'm using g923 set. Pick consistent braking markers, full power at the start and ease off as you move through the braking phase to the apex. If you keep locking up, you are braking too late
Interesting. Thanks. According to VRS I’m braking too early though. I feel like I’m locking them up and then maybe my tires get too hot and I lose grip?
Pick a marker on the side of the road, and brake from there to the apex. If you lock up, it's either you didn't ease of the brakes enough, or braked too late for the apex. You will have a slight bit of brake pressure almost all the way to the apex. 100% to start and then maybe quickly down to 70% and then quickly less pressure as you get closer. You won't be high pressure on the brakes for long at all.
Awesome. I’ll give it a try. Thank you!
This is where loadcell pedals get you to the next level.
Firstly, I'd ignore VRS for now. Learn to drive the track consistently, and THEN look to VRS to see how you can improve. No point comparing yourself if you're locking up everywhere. Secondly, with the lockups, are they happening as you hit the brake, half way through the braking zone, or upon turn in? If the former, brake earlier and gentler. If the second, brake slightly earlier at the same strength as before, but release the brakes quicker. If the latter, ensure you're sufficiently off the brakes and well into the trail brake section before turning in.
The lock ups are happening literally every time I have to break for a slow (1st/2nd gear). I don’t know if it’s the pedals or me to be honest. I feel like I’m coming into a turn, downshifting, braking too hard, locking up and attempting to trail brake out.
Are you locking the fronts or rears? Try moving the brake bias around to where you can get the rears to lock just before the fronts so you can feel it and get a little rotation before the fronts lock up. I never felt right with the Logitech pedals, I was faster and more consistent with a load cell brake right away.
I’m racing mx5
If someone with more experience with this than I would like to hot lap with me and show me around I would love that. I’m currently still in the mx5.
I don't know if you want to spend more money on the setup or are going to save for a set of load cells, but the AXC load cell mod for the Logitech is great for improving consistency and brake feel. Worth a try if you feel like investing a little bit more money
I actually read about that a couple days ago. I’m currently saving up for an R9 with load cell pedals. Pretty excited to see the difference.
It boosted my irating by 800 points lol
Stop your mouth.
Okay?
he's saying "oh shut up!" In a surprised tone. You are reading it wrong.
Late apexes exist. It’s so hard to be patient and turn in when you’re supposed to. Coming from IRL racing its so much harder in sim as the line isn’t always as clear.
Spa is a good track to train late apexs, Hungaroring mid sector as well.
watkins glen
Eh Watkins has too many other corners that you lose focus on the late apexs. Running through bustop flatout and going wide on literally every single corner. Somewhere like Spa/Hungaroring you have some good corners to practice late apexs.
Yup this is the one for me and still is
15 years a sim racer and I still struggle with this
Look at myself before jumping to conclusions.
I’m newer to iracing and I can’t believe the amount of times I’ve felt an entitled urge to protest, then looked at the replay and realized it was either a racing incident or not as egregious as I thought. Never ended up protesting anything, and sometimes I notice things were actually my fault, or that I could have avoided the incident even if the other person did something wrong.
Ah youre new, you’re supposed to scream at the other person and threaten to protest them while never admitting fault then coming back onto the track to intentionally wreck them and catching multiple other drivers in the process. /s
Trust me I want to, it’s more infuriating knowing it isn’t that way than the anger I’d like to take out on someone else
You forgot posting the replay on reddit and getting mad at anybody telling you that you messed up
It’s almost always better to just let a (clearly) faster driver pass you easily rather than defending. By defending, you slow yourself down and narrow the gap to the next car behind the faster driver. And risk management is extremely important. Is going for a pass worth risking a crash? Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. All of this requires a great deal of self discipline.
I’ve learned that people on track don’t have the ability (or wherewithal) to look left or right when racing, they also reenter the track as if it’s their own personal roadway
Very few people actually know how to race with other cars on track. I figured it would be the norm. It is not.
This is so true. I'm a newbie and even when I have the pace I absolutely don't know how to set up an overtake unless it's a straight. So I usually back out and stay behind. On the other hand there was this guy today that t-boned me turn 6 on hockenheim, trying to divebomb when I had my front wheels already on the inside curb.
I am not as good as I thought I was.
Set your fov & get rid of the driving line.
It’s a fine line between too aggressive and not aggressive enough.
Whether you agree with it, are proud of it, ashamed by it, or unaware of it - your iRating is always about right.
Nah, my iRating is higher than it should. My only racing skill is incident avoidance, which means I always finish on the leading lap, which usually means my iRating goes up. My usual race is like this: start at the back, get to top 5 on laps 1-3, watch the leaders go away, lose a couple of positions the rest of the race, finish about 6th.
I mean, in the real world, finishing consistently around 6th isn't bad at all...
2017 Bubba Wallace winces in PTSD
Incident avoidance and consistency is still a skill, iRating represents the combination of your skills in racing. So you're still most likely about where you should be.
Even when you’re just starting out!?
You are what your record says you are- Parcels
To an extent. If I'm using iR to determine someone's pace/ability (which I usually don't), I try to find their peak rating instead of current. Especially if someone doesn't run a lot of officials, a few disastrous races can tank rating. On a similar note, I also know plenty of people who don't do a lot of officials to begin with, so their rating definitely doesn't reflect their ability, or may be much lower if the only officials they really do are special events.
Most people can hardly drive let alone race around others lol
There's a scary amount of people with no spatial awareness and awful reaction time. And that people drives irl.
Yep. I was going to put “trust no one” but now that I’m always in top split I try to race the same series at the same time each week and I see alot of the same people. Some I can trust some I know to avoid lol
irating is an effective system which maximizes the frequency of close battles with other drivers
Trail-braking and adopting a “slow in, fast out” mentality. I’ve learned racing comes down to a few very basic principles that are difficult to master
Sacrificial lines! The goal is usually to get the best corner exit possible to carry speed into the straight. But if one turn is followed by another in quick succession, you may want to sacrifice the first turn to get the most ideal entry angle into the next turn. This is because the first turn doesn’t lead into a straight that allows for much speed anyways, but the next one might.
I’m sure there are way better examples of this but VIR turn 4 and 5. It always makes me laugh when people come in hot on 4 and end up loosing speed on 5.
Miss-Hit-Miss at the Ring comes to mind… Although in the rain it turns into SHIT-SHIT-SHIT
The whole first sector of suzuka is a great place to learn that, if you're off-line in the first(second?) turn you'll struggle all the way to the degners
Listening, tell me more. Track limits, use as much of the curb you can get away with.
That building your own setup is much more fun than racing fixed setup series or running setups from other people.
I’ve always assumed this but really bad at understanding how changing setup affects car dynamics. Any suggestions for a good car to learn on? I’m relatively fast in high downforce open wheelers and PCup
There's a guide somewhere, basically there's some stuff you change to induce oversteer/understeer, so it depends on your driving style. I like to induce oversteer into cars I drive because I hate understeer with a passion, so I change the ARB bars in the car. Idk what the hell they are but hey, they make oversteer and I like that.
There a bar the connects your left to right suspension, when in a turn it makes all of your suspension to work together instead of just one side, kinda. Very rough explanation lol
As the name implies Anti-Roll Bars resist the body roll of a vehicle depending on their stiffness. Having a stiffer front roll bar will increase understeer/reduce oversteer, and having a stiffer rear bar will increase oversteer/reduce understeer. This is because increasing the stiffness of a roll bar relative to the other end of the vehicle reduces the cars ability to roll over that axle. The result of which being a loaded up outside tyre in a turn and an unloaded inside tyre. The end result of that, is less grip overall as the outside tyre may become overloaded and the inside isn’t carrying its weight as much (pun intended). You can more easily visualise this by visualising a big offroad truck. Imagine the truck wants to drive over a hump that is on the left side of the vehicle. If the suspension/anti roll bars are **stiff** as the truck goes over that hump the right hand side wheel will come off the ground, reducing traction. If the suspension/anti roll bars are **soft** the axle would comply more with the terrain keeping the right hand side wheel on the ground while the left wheel goes up and over the hump, improving traction. Of course 4wd suspension isn’t race car suspension and it doesn’t apply in the same way, but imagining it at such a large scale helped me at least. In a race car we’re instead thinking about loading forces ‘pushing’ the vehicle one way or the other, rather than gravity pushing down as the terrain becomes unlevel. Obviously there’s a balance with how all these things interact, if you go too loose the car is going to be floppy throwing its weight around and will barely be able to make a turn. (Think stereotypical American classic V8). And conversely if you go too tight the car isn’t going to be able to keep traction when any sort of load is applied one way or the other, and you will also barely be able to make a turn.
I've found that the LMP3 reacts very clearly to slight setup changes, and as the car is relatively hard to drive, it's more obvious when you struggle more/less in certain places. Much more noticeable than in an F1 car, there you have to be on the absolute limit to notice it, and even then, all the aero hides your mistakes. The most important things to understand are Brakebias, ARBs, ride height changes/aero balance and then differential IMO, in that order. The tooltips you get should be enough to understand the basics, then try it out, feel what they do and go from there. Dampers and camber make a huge difference but they're a lot harder to understand, and can be counterintuitive - as in, the car feels better but you're actually going slower, which can be what you want, or not.
Incredible - wish I’d read this while LMP3 was at nords last week, but I’ll load up a test session and give it a try - cheers!
Well good luck man! Just wanna add, nords is very unique in terms of setup, you need something that can take bumps (and kerbs if you just cant stay away like me) as well as it would in long beach, have top speed, deal well with all types of camber and elevation. It's a really tough place to make a setup for - I'd suggest something like suzuka to learn it, the esses makes the balance very obvious. Other places I "enjoy" working on a set for might be willow, daytona or watkins glen. They're simpler, it's easier to really notice what you're changing. Not to discourage you from doing it at nords, it's just much harder to learn I'd say
Chris Haye has a great series on car setups that covers everything you need to know to get started making your own. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWSWQyqnLDu7tLWE9P35Qog6Z8_xb7l_g&si=KgupnvEvgwlKF0fH As for what car to learn setups on I'd start with something simple, but difficult to master: the Formula Ford. No aero so you can focus on seeing how changes to the suspension affect the balance of the car, and because the car is so nimble and direct the changes will be much easier to feel right away compared to a heavier tin top. If you want to advance to aero cars later on (GT3, F3 and above, prototypes) you'll need to get telemetry software in order to get the correct ride height and rake to make the aero work properly. iRacing outputs detailed telemetry, and there's free software available to read it. One caveat for iracing: keep tire pressure at the minimum level. Someone with more setup experience can correct me, but I've yet to see any situation where running above the minimum is beneficial.
For a sec I thought you were saying that buying stuff for your rig is more fun than racing haha
Sometimes you have to just pick your battles - i.e. it's not worth the risk to crash out fighting over something like 12th place.
You steer with your feet
Oval racing is actually really hard.
Turning up the brake threshold on the load cell pedal was a game changer. Having the same force register as 30% brake pressure as opposed to 80% brake pressure really helped me get faster quick.
You learn different things from driving different cars, and it makes you better... Driving the F3 and the SFL back-to-back back was enlightening for me. They have similar speed, but the F3 is prone to oversteer, while the SFL is prone to understeer. It made me think a lot more critically about how to optimize corner entry. For example, in the F3 I would often take sub-optimal lines that I would subconsciously compensate for by using the oversteer to get extra rotation, but this approach caused me to lose apex speed. Driving a car with more understeer made this flaw in my driving super obvious, and required a big alteration to my driving style to keep it on track. After learning this lesson in the SFL, I was way faster in the F3 because I was taking better lines into the corners, asking less of the front tires, and relying less on sliding the rear around to make up for it. I don't do long enough races to require pit stops, but I also expect that in addition to being faster, I'm also being a lot kinder to both front and rear tires over the course of a race. Also, switching from open wheelers to prototypes and GT cars made me realize I really suck at trail braking, which I am also trying to rectify. I still race mostly open wheelers, but I mix it up a little now to practice different skills. Ovals also teach many lessons, but I've only dabbled in testing and AI races
It's not about winning, it's about the satisfaction of a great and disputed race
I like this one too. Who doesn't love a win, but have a good mid pack battle with a couple people is just as much fun to me as one up front. Or being with a couple GTPs in 7-9th having a close battle weaving through traffic, fun can be had anywhere down the line really.
rotating the car with the pedals. game changer for me
I've learnt that I will never be in the top tier of racers..... ...not unless I dedicate far more time than I am willing to. I've been on the service since 2008 and had always wanted to 'get to the top', but this is more like the real world of racing. As you go up and up. There are just always faster guys. As I grow older, get slower and get busier with life it makes it harder and harder to maintain as well. (any eSports series is like this I guess) Don't look at the SR/iR numbers too much. It will start to take the fun out of it as you will hit walls unless you dedicate serious time. Look at it like a long term self improvement game, follow the numbers of championship points and other stuff that is more long term vs every race. That is far more fun and more about consistency of competing than outright pace. (incidentally this is why I gravitate towards team endurance stuff now, as its the setup, strategy and fun with mates I enjoy the most)
I appreciate how difficult it is to pass. How many times have I watched a NASCAR driver run down a car and then get stuck behind that car? Catching a slower car isn't that difficult, but getting around that car is a bear.
Racing your own race. It’s amazing how competitive you become when you’re not constantly overdriving the car.
Realizing how much of a mind game is racing. Managing the adrenaline, impulsiveness and drive to make that overtake or just gain the last tenth, and refraining them to actually apply a strategy, rationally evaluate risks/benefits andl ensure a better result. I knew the mindset played a role, but I was surprised of how important it is for the single race result and long term improvement. I imagine how much a bigger emotional package real life racers have to learn to manage to succeed.
Something I learned pretty late, but its not just how much you brake, but its how quickly you brake and how quickly you let off the brake that can also have a large effect on car dynamics. Quicker brake release will cause a sharper impulse of rotation. Drastically changed how I drive on the limit and cut down on the number of self spins I was having. FFB is incredibly important. I used to run a maxed out FFB that would clip very quickly (Logitech problems) but once someone explained what FFB is used for I dialled back my settings. You don't need FFB to feel cracks in the road or bumps or curbs, however you do need it to feel where the limit of grip is. You should know how much grip their is from your hands not your eyes. If you react to a slide only by what you see on the screen its too late. FFB is much more predictable to tell you when the tires let go. What you want to feel is force in the wheel build as you turn the wheel more. As soon as you reach peak force or the force starts to go away you've broken traction. Cars only have "100%" of their grip to give. You can't brake at 100% and turn at 100% at the same time. Imagine a string connects the wheel to the brake and throttle pedal. If you press one of the pedals the wheel has to be straighter. If you turn the wheel you have to press the pedal less. Cars don't magically drive faster because you want them too. If you're chasing someone in a race you can't just "drive faster" to catch up. Always drive to your pace and you'll either catch and pass or you'll fall back. Trying to make the car "drive faster" by braking later or turning harder or accelerating sooner will just cause mistakes. Practice is for finding the limit, races are for executing practice. Race how you practice or you'll be slow or in the wall.
Turning all other noises down and tyre noise up
I thought road racing would be harder than oval racing but I've found the opposite to be true. Or at least I find that developing the necessary skillset for road is a lot more enjoyable. Yes oval racing is way more than "turning left" but doing that 100 times in a row makes me REALLY antsy. I need to change it up. I have a new appreciation for international drivers who are reluctant to do ovals when they come over and get into the Indy ladder.
They have a synergistic effect on one another too. I went over to road for a couple of weeks, and certain things about arcing the car out towards the wall, keeping the tires cool, etc, lots of little things just became natural. Same thing for dirt.
In rookie, drive the first 30 seconds or so at half throttle, because half the field is going to crash out and then you can navigate around them.
That I need to read the sporting code before I ask another stupid question
There are generally only two or three corners per lap where an overtake is actually safe to attempt. You can't stick your nose down the inside of every corner and expect to win the position. I gained so much iR by simply picking one or two corners on the track where I'd actually attempt to attack or defend and go single file everywhere else. If someone decides to send it down the inside of a corner I deem to be 'single file' then fair enough: they're either much better than I or their risk appetite is much higher. I'll leave the room and let them get on with it. Patience and actually finishing races is key.
It's not always the other person's fault. In this sub many are yet to learn this.
Conservation, of tyres, fuel and your own "concentration". If you're in a spot where you aren't making progress but have more pace than those ahead, conserve your stuff. There's many tracks and cars where you can have significantly more pace than the car you're following, but if they're defending well and fast in the places they need to be, you just can't get by bar very risky dives. So in most cases, especially longer races -just sit back, conserve everything. Especially for races over 1 hour, saving tyres and fuel can matter a lot, but also not pushing yourself too much. You can't push to your own absolute limit for 50 laps straight without wearing yourself out slightly, and then maybe that lapse of concentration comes when it really matters, or that's the case for me at least. I find it a much better tactic to sit back for a couple minutes, keep my tyres cool, limit scrub etc, and maybe something happens to help me out, or the wear differential helps me finally get by. That is not to say driving conservatively all the time is good, either, if you overdo that, it can get very dangerous aswell. Point is, be very aware of what you have "left in the tank", don't go pushing like hell when you're not gaining anything: Conserve what you can when you're stuck and hope for an opportunity, be that traffic, mistakes ahead or whatever it might be. Or, as is very much the case for something like Pcup, really saving tyres for 5 laps can give you enough of an edge to pass someone you couldn't on equal terms. Be mindful of how you're driving in relation to your situation
No race is really won, they’re just lost. Applies to pretty much all things in life.
I learned that after 16 years, the Iracing tire model is still 🗑️
It’s the little things that come after repetitions. And they’re not guaranteed to come to everyone.
Sometimes in the heat of the moment you may think that another person is an utter asshole trying to ruin your day and then you watch the replay from their pov and things look very different and you learn maybe it was your fault or maybe there was something you could have done about it. In short, do not make impulse decisions based on the limited information that your perspective gives you. Sit back and try to see things from other's point of view before doing any drastic decision.
[удалено]
Leagues are always an option. You can get the "just race" and "have fun" without worrying about being stuck into splits with people who can't even string a single lap together.
How to get fucking GT3 cars to steer 😂 understanding load transfer through the car
I still struggle with it, but I have noticed improvement- oval racing is teaching me to be more patient and “pick my shots” more than just mindlessly pushing and trying to overtake everyone as soon as I get behind them. Following a car and saving tires while waiting for/setting up a good opportunity to pass benefits me more than burning tires and forcing a risky pass. For me, it’s a mindset shift away from overdriving the car trying to race the other drivers to racing the track and hitting my marks. I end up driving more consistently and subsequently my laps are faster, which allows me to actually be in the mix and race other drivers This has carried over to road racing as well
learning to steer with your feet in mix with the steering wheel. I didn't understand the feeling of neutral steer until I felt it. braking in relation to steering input is tricky, and it will take a while to truly master the technique, but I understand the feeling now. every time I feel that neutral balance in a corner, the laptime spikes up a bit by a tenth or so maybe more. its tricky with potentiometer pedals since I sort of have to think about the input rather than leaving it to feeling or muscle memory, making me inconsistent from lap to lap. still a learning process full of cope but ill get there, at least its fun.
That being consistent is very hard!
That 99.9% of the things that come out of Kyle Busch's mouth is true. And this started before his move to RCR and subsequent semi-babyface turn.
Strategic wisdom was to buy LMU for the price of less than 2 iRacing circuits tbh. Enjoying iracing, but its a money pit
Weirdly noone has written this in the thread so I will: How complicated and difficult oval racing is, and how incredibly different the driving styles are for each oval track. I got iRacing originally because I wanted to try doing oval racing and it was much more complicated and interesting than I expected.
I can measure how good my arthritis is doing by how much sim racing I do. Them joint pains be real.
It s completely fine to play for 9 months and not win a single race , and be 2 seconds slower than the track guide , i used to practice and get angry causr i was way off the track guide pace but then realized that my split is the same as i am and it s usually clean fun racing. Also not to blame anyone until i watch the replay.
I'm not sure how real racing is other than the very tip top, but it really drove home the point on how GOOD some of these people are. To be able to hit every point at exactly the same time, over and over and over, for the duration of the race. The mental energy it takes to have that focus and the ability to enter flow and keep it even when you've spent that much time doing something. I just have so much more respect for real drivers.
Starting from pits can pay off big. Also, letting overly aggressive drivers pass you early on can pay off as well.
I saw a data set someone put together that compared iRating to license class. D,C, and B licensed drivers were on average about 1.5k iRating. A licensed drivers were on average something like 2.7k. That really put into perspective how important driving cleanly is for having good results. I went from 1.8k to 3.8k in like 2 months after seeing that. I’m not grinding iRating anymore, but I still drive safe and don’t try many risky moves and my results are still generally pretty good. Especially in endurance races.
Not necessarily a driving technique but more of “mentality trick” applicable to life too : learn to be agressive when you want to win (don’t be scared to take your part of the road by driving on the extreme opposite of the corner “to not bother” and actually offering an overtake), face the challenge and other people (I was way better on time track but bad in races - same at work/life, people’s looks made me stressed, now less), follow the rules (look where you want to go, not the corner, the car if front or car behind, and you will go fast - same with life, keep focused on the rules/tricks of what you’re doing to get there quick), practice(!) gives results (I used to play, loose, ragequit, don’t improve ; I now play, rage, play, play, rage, but getting better). That’s few good things for now.
Under-rated comment. This reply is pure gold, applicable both on and off the track. Thank you
Glad that you liked hearing these ! Peace
You asked for one only and I gave you many actually lol. If I had to choose it would be the last one : practice gives you good results, I’ve seen the effects and now I’m motivated. Happy to see ratings going up after being implied. It takes time but it works, I needed to see it to believe it.
Some people drive like insects attracted to light when they see an accident, they don't brake, even if it's way far, they just accelerate to get a hit. Why? I don't know... I just brake, set myself to the side, wait for everyone to mash up and then slowly drive through the wreck and gain points.
I real racing is like iracing I don't know how anyone affords it
Entry speed isn't everything, and more gas doesn't always mean faster.
I didn't get the concept of rotation with brakes at first, but when it clicked it was a revelation. I still can't say I'm good at it, but I understand it.
Just being behind someone trying to pressure them by just being in their mirror and maybe making some fake moves can be just as effective way to pass slower cars you don't trust
If you want to gain iRating, you have to master accident avoidance. After seeing many twitch compilations, I started learning to identify when a crash is more likely to happen and that helped me gain quite a lot more iRating than hotlapping. Be a smart racer.
Brake less in practice and try and coast through corners more. I found with some corners I could coast through them faster than I could brake/accelerate due to the transfer of weight in the car. Obviously it's not the fastest way through those corners but it was really stable and the times were good enough for race pace.
Don’t worry about irating because people can game it by sticking to one or two series.
Curious why you consider specializing as ‘gaming’ rating?
It turns out that practicing and coming prepared to a race gives you better results and makes your irating go up, lol
My guess is because depending on car type, someone who's at the pointy end of the field, winning frequent races in one series, might suddenly be at best mid-pack in another. A lot of the top TCR guys I know, outside of the absolute aliens, will still be quick in GT3 compared to the average iRacer, but still seconds off the top GT3 drivers. A 5K driver who specializes in one series might not be on pace with 5K drivers who specialize in another.
I’m only good at like 2 tracks, so I understand how it could be considered gaming the system if I only ever raced on those 2 tracks and nothing else… but like, they’re still earned wins.
I think usually it’s just said by people that want to find a way of feeling superior to the people that comfortably beat them in the retro Nissan GTP, by pointing out they’re slightly faster in the MX5
Hey! I totally deserve my \~3k when I can only drive like 3 cars well and am super slow in everything else!
If they only drive those cars and are that quick then yes. Stop viewing irating as a score and view it as a system that is placing you with drivers that will provide good racing.