iRacing

[Muska]

I'm sure we must have a few people from here on this. I'm just starting out, and finding steering with a mouse a little hard while I decide which Wheel to buy.

Anyone else already enlisted?

[Muska]

I've just bought a few cars/tracks to try things out for now. It's far too hard to try and race properly with the mouse! My iRating already took a bit of a bashing when I gave it a go.

I think I'll give the bora a good try till I get the rating up enough to enter more events.

[Muska]

I think the lowest package to try it out is only $6, I paid that just to give it a go and I'm pretty impressed.

[Muska]

Managed to find out my old Logitech Driving Force Pro from way back and it still works fine, including the Force feedback! What a difference it makes over a mouse!

Feel free to add me, Matthew Stanton.

[Muska]

I'm in if its not before tomorrow evening!

Glad to see a few more racers coming out the woodwork. I think ill be taking advantage of the half price memberships.

[Muska]

Sounds like a plan

[Muska]

It's always better to take a tow in a situation like that then continue the race, nice and steady as cleanly as possible to get your safety rating up. Mine took a bit of a battering in similar instances until I read that tip. Now, on the first corner I hang back or take it way off the racing line then wait for the pack to thin out. Someone usually pushes or crashes causing grief for others.

I got my first second place last night, I'm finding I can run consistent 1.48's on Laguna and a fastest of 1.45 when I push it so I'm getting decent positions most races now, providing I don't cook it when I take the lead like earlier! It's surprising how many people you can force to make an error just by being within 0.5sec close to them.

[Muska]

I've managed to get my safety rating looking decent again after a big drop. Hoping to get out of rookie in the next few days.

I don't mind hosting an MK5 race if we can sort a time to get people together. I have a TS we could use too for 'friendly rivalry' etc.

[Muska]

Count me in: Matt Stanton

[Muska]

I will have to skip practice but I'll be there for Qual.

Would you like to use a TeamSPeak or stick to ingame comms?

[Muska]

Thanks very much for hosting, if possible for the future perhaps we could keep options like racing line available for those of us that are relatively new so we can remain relatively competitive.

I might edit a few bits of the replay from before I left.

[Muska]

Finally got my first win at Lime rock after I started in the pits too!

The MX5 is a great little car and I've sent it round at 1.047 fastest, I've no idea how people get below the 1 minute mark!

I've just embarked on having a custom paint job for the car from one of the communities painters/designers.

[Muska]

Not me, this was this morning.

[Muska]

Bit of a thread revival but does anyone still play this?

[Muska]

Good to hear it. I had a fair time away but recently I've invested more time and just hit my B licence yesterday after three wins in the Ruf Cup and a second place.

What are you guys racing? Besides the skippy.

[Muska]

I settled down to do the 10:45 RUF cup race on Charlotte road course last night, my last before the track changed, and it was going really well. I started on Poll, great start and leading for the first few laps with only one real contender, I was faster round the course but on the oval he could hold slightly higher speed than me. By lap 10 lead had changed places and coming onto the oval he made a small mistake and I hit it much faster than him, were were side by side all the way around and I managed to out brake him on T1, holding the lead for the next lap pushing the gap a little further till coming down the main straight, I brake for T1, turn in and SMACK! My race is over.

Checking back on the replay, the guy in 2nd didn't brake and turned so as to strike me, destroying my nearside rear wheel and ending my race a little under half way, giving me a 4x for the pleasure. I was fuming and all he could say was he forgot to brake. A B licence racer, who was fast in a close race with me up to this point... It's the first time I've filed a protest sadly but it just seemed too deliberate to me.

To console myself, here are a couple of screens of the latest paint I'm using for the season in the RUF cup. I didn't make it but I have a few changes planned to personalise it a bit more. (I have permission from the maker)

3241 by Matt Stanton, on Flickr

RUF by Matt Stanton, on Flickr

1234 by Matt Stanton, on Flickr

[Muska]

The easiest way is through a program called trading paints that works along side iracing to let you use free to share designs people have made.

You can download vehicle templates from iracing and use photos hop to edit them, it's not very easy though.

Edit: beaten to it with a more detailed answer.

[Muska]

Race by Matt Stanton, on Flickr

Having a very tough time on Road Atlanta this week, can't seem to get a good race going without stupid errors and a spin. In the shot above though I was side by side with that guy for nearly half the track, very intense!

One more crap race and I'll be under 3.0, in B licence so I'll probably take it alot easier and go for the safe approach.

I am very envious of you Rift guys, I've seen a few decent videos on YouTube and it looks incredible, I can see why you'd never go back!

[Muska]

Great news! I think multi car practices will be a good experience too.

I've been busy painting again

[Muska]

Driver101 said:

Been a few years since I was active on iRacing. It seems to have moved forward a lot in that time.

Not sure I agree with the Nurburgring as a race track. If iRacing is the same as it was a few years back, that will empty all the other series for a while as people try to master it.

How busy are the races these days? Are all the series having official races 24hrs, or is it still a bit hit or miss?

What is the SOF rating average for races these days?

I can't answer for the service as a whole but from what I see (RUF C--Spec cup) I only very occasionally struggle to get an official race at a certain time, and usually the next one onwards will fill up. If it's busy I don't fall into the top split yet, most of those guys have upwards or 3000iR. Mid range SOF tends to be about 2000 or so. I think more popular series like GT3 have a much easier time finding races and bigger splits.

I personally don't think the other series will empty out for this track. It will best fit endurance events (and upcoming driver changes too) in my opinion and generally those run alongside a 12 week championship. Like the road warrior series for instance.