iRacing

[kneebon5]

Well after racing 14 oval races and 4 road races, i have to say that this sim has lived up and passed what i was looking for.

It is just a little past 6:45am right now, and i just got done with my 4th solstice race (worked the overnight shift thought i would get some racing in before i went to sleep) Everyone in the race was International or Wester Europe. I didnt see one person pop in and out, i didnt see any cars moving around like a bad ping, everything was stable and raced nose to tail for 6 laps (im not a roady driver) I was put in a race with people that were about the same as me and had a blast. 5th 6th and me 7th has a great battle going on but not knowing how to really out brake a person i just waited for a mistake and took it when it came. I am having so much fun road racing now that i can actually race with people that dont make me feel like an old lady on a sunday drive.

Safety rating.

This was something i was worried about and how it worked but as long as you are not an idiot you will move up just fine. My oval rating is a 4.99 (high as it will go) and my road racing is a 3.45

Once you move up into advanced legends or solstice everyone with a 3.00 or above can race, which keeps the "spinners and crashers" in the lower level so they can learn more. These races are so much better, as those that are sitting at a 3.01 take it easy yet still race trying not to fall below the 3.00 mark.

The same happens with the latemodels but 4.00 and higher is the mark, which cleans up the races even more.

I need to go to sleep but want to race so bad, just because it is that much fun. The structure of things, and the way all the sessions and ratings work is probably the best way to handle things. I dont really have a problem with any of it. It really makes it easy to show up and race, and not have to worry about being here at this time, on this day.

[karlos]

Thanks for your updates so far guys - keep them coming.

It`s good to hear that there are also some Europeans involved too. I prefer road courses but do also enjoy the ovals and different skills/style involved. Good news that lag doesn`t seem to be a factor either. The safety ratings sound nicely done and I guess will keep things straight. Plus the subscription charges are likely to mean that only those committed are involved.

If you do get chance to send out invites bear us here in mind please. Registered a while ago but awaiting an invite.

Cheers

[kneebon5]

i dont think we will be getting to send out invites, but if so i will post here.


im loving this even more
I did a latemodel race at martinsville. I started 5th, got to 4th on the 2nd lap, and from there we, 3rd 4th 5th, ran the next 48 laps nose to tail. I would get a slight run out of the corner but never enough to get by. I was slightly tapping him through the center and off, without it saying anything about incedents. But 3rd to 5th was running in a .8 sec pack, the whole time. It was the hardest sim race i have ever done. I was trying to pass without messing up, because i didnt want to get stuck on the high side. It is just amazing how close you can run with these and not have problems.

[Scott76]

Quote: Originally Posted by kneebon5

i dont think we will be getting to send out invites, but if so i will post here.

I received an invitation today!

[Chaos81]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott76

I received an invitation today!

Good to hear man, hope you enjoy it as much as we have been.

[jct32]

I would love to get a invitation, if you need my email or something for an invitation please send me a PM, like I said I would love to get an invitation and I would really appreciate it.

[ramenite]

Well, I signed up, figured I'd put my two cents in...

I'll start out with what I liked. The driving physics were what you would expect from the former Papyrus team. The included tracks are also wonderful. People generally seemed helpful and friendly in the chats. There was also some good racing to be had, regardless of skill level, being how they separate drivers. Although if you're already in a good league with another sim, these races will feel like a step down.

My liking the sim ends there however. There's a lot NOT to like. For instance, the UI is the worst I've ever seen in ANY program--game or otherwise. It works by installing a service that runs under the SYSTEM user. You navigate though stats, races, etc. via the website. When it's time to launch the sim, the service is running a webserver on a different port and the button on the website is just a link to localhost ort/yadayadayada. This is a security nightmare waiting to happen. The UI as well just feels for lack of a better word--klunky.

You also have a severe lack of information while you are on the track. times are total lap only--no sector times. There is also no way to see what damage you have done to your car, either as you're driving or when you are in the pits. If you're used to the wealth of information and the ease to get it from rFactor with the spotter plugin, you'll be very disappointed.

Graphically, there's nothing special about what it's displaying to warrant the performance. I don't have a beefy system here with just a 256M Nvidia 7900, but I've gotten much better performance with better visuals in every other sim--rFactor, LFS, Race 07. This is a first release, and they may improve. But I can only go by what the current state is.

And while I'm on graphics, the default view has a lot to be desired. You have only view--the cockpit. This I'm fine with. However, the view seems to be from a driver that's way too short. Yes I'm fully aware you sit lower in the seat in a race car than in a road car. But this view seems to be from a driver about 4' tall. The only adjustments you can do are FOV changes. A seat adjustment would do wonders here.

And you can't mention iRacing without mentioning the subscription. I'm not against the idea of a subscription. There's 10M people who pay $15/month to click on monsters in WoW. While the tracks are wonderful, I don't know if paying $20-$25 for each additional track warrants the price. Neither do I feel $15/car warrants the price. $5 a car and $10 for ANY track? Maybe. The laser modeling of the track surfaces may have a track surface modeled to a foot, but these things change yearly. They just repaved Lime Rock. Am I going to have to pay another $20 for an "updated" Lime Rock?

I also think things like the online stat tracking and the idea of a "safety rating" are things that are new to racing sims, and will probably be integrated into new games coming out. These things aren't too different from current stats tracking for various other types of games out there. Racing sims are just behind the curve in implementing them.

Overall, my opinion of iRacing isn't as negative as it sounds. I just don't really feel outside the stat tracking--which is LONG overdue in racing sims--there is anything that this sim does better than what's currently on the market. And the other sims cost A LOT less money. And if you're already in a league either in rFactor, LFS, Race, or GTR2--the racing itself is a step down. But what it sets out to do, it does do it well enough.

[lnin0]

Good post ramenite. I mostly just hear all this great stuff about iRacing and from what I have seen of it you give a more accurate assessment than most. There is a lot of great stuff in that engine but the game built around it is far from ideal.

[kneebon5]

Ok, from what i have seen now, you have to be loose to be fast, a little too loose, which makes driving on the edge the fast way, and to do it over and over takes a ton of skills and a ton of guts. Luckly they split you based on your ability, and you get good races, once you are past the rookie class.

Right now the rookie class is just deadly, and i probably wont race another one for a long long time.

I just got my first protest against me. a guy spun me out twice. The blame was placed on me although i feel it wasnt my fault. But the person in charge is a cool guy and fair. At least i didnt get put on probation.

I'm now in the skip barber cars, which are just crazy how you have to drive them to be fast. Im still 2 secs off the fastest pace, and my fastest lap would put me at about 125 out of 145 people. You just have to drive on the edge and the tire wear doesnt seem to fit how hard some of these people drive it. Smooth loose is the fastest, which woudl make me think they are burning up their tires, but the fast people never fall off.

All in all it is still fun. I just have to avoid the people who dont know how to drive and give space.

There is some talk about the points system which in my mind makes people want to race less, but no one has seemed to come up with a better plan that wouldnt hurt those who only have time for one race.

And i guess if those fast people only want to race once a week and feel they are still getting their moneys worth then more power to them. I will still be racing as much as i can and focus on the Time Trail championship and using the races, just to have fun and race.

[avrbas]

Are the codes/invites no longer open?

I still cant decide.. I'm still wondering if everyone will be going to iRacing as the main sim or still stick around with rFactor/Arca.