Tell us about your latest race!

I always kind of like these threads. It's fun to hear about other's exploits. I'm going to say iRacing & GB forum rules apply here, no calling out another driver by name in a bad way.

So I hadn't raced in a few months. I really like sports cars so I started back a couple days ago in the FordGT with a lot of practice and some time trials but getting a race didn't line up just yet. So yesterday I figured I'd try to McLaren and it's really close to the FordGT so I was able to get up to (my) speed pretty quick. I got lucky and found a race with 8 Daytona prototypes and 8 McLarens and I had qualified 2nd. I was thinking man I'm picking this right back up where I left off, this is awesome. Then turn 1 happened... I just completely forgot about how the car handled on cold tires. I was in a controlled slide around the outside and then got hit. I thought it was because I was way off pace and just holding the field up but after the race I looked at the replay and it turned out someone behind me wasn't paying attention and just blasted through turn 1 and hit a couple cars including me. It's always a nice feeling to find out later a contact wasn't really your fault. :P

I still got the meatball flag and after a quick 1 min stop for mandatory repairs I was back out one lap down. The rest of the race I kind of just stuck with it and practiced. I got too many offs and something in the right rear broke because by the last lap it was really hard to control and in the post race setup showed the right rear too low and that's where I had gotten hit. 4th out of that was pretty good I'd say.

Results - iRacing membership required

Accidentally jumping the start and having to take a 30second pit lane stop go penalty is never the best way to start a race, however I'm still in the "I just want to finish races incident free" phase atm, so it wasnt the end of the world...

I was edging closer to the C rank through fast track and getting all excited, want to do them indy cars on ovals SO BAD.

Then I decided to do Street stock on charlotte just to get some quick SR on my last race of the night. 2nd lap in, BOOM the big one got me when someone decided to stop dead on the racing line for no apparent reason. I just go ahead and say 'dats cool, onto the pits and just finish the race a few point loss wont hurt'. So after that and 3 laps later, someone spins out in the merging lane from the pits while I am on the inside line (I mean COME ON, how do you spin a street stock? Its got like 2 horses) I have literally half a second to react when a car shoots infront of me then BOOM hit again. After waiting another minute for a tow I am too damaged to go on.

0.18 loss later I shout 'OH FUCK THIS SHIT' and left it for a few days. Never doing Street Stock again.

Street stocks are fun at Charlotte as in a 43 legends cars at Talladega kind of way. Going in expecting crazy and it does not disappoint.

The Street Stocks aren't so bad in C class, but yeah the rookie series for them is kind of a minefield.

I just tried my first race in iRacing at Okayama and it was frustrating to say the least. I had surprisingly qualified third for the race I was split into (I managed a 1:53.50); however, the two dudes ahead of me were about 2.0 s/lap faster. I tried my damnedest to stay out of their way at the start and just keep the car straight. I managed to do that and get a good launch. I may have been able to sneak into second; however, I figured that wasn't worth the battle given the speed difference.

So after slotting comfortably into third and fending off a brief challenge going into turn 2 I was well setup for turn 3. It was at that point that the dudes in front of me decided that they didn't want to win the race. One of them out breaked himself on the cold tires and slid into the leader, who was running wide anyway. This caused them to spin and slide down the track (turn 3 is cambered) and of course, right in my way. I tried to take to the grass on the inside to try and avoid, only to be tagged in the door and shoved into my own spin, which caused me to hit the wall and destroy my steering.

Thus my latest race, and my first race, ended up with me having to bail and get nothing from it. Super disappointed because I figured I was well setup for a top 5, maybe even a top 3. Oh well, I guess there is always tomorrow.

My last two races have been pretty disappointing. Im in the Mazda Cup and my last race was kicked off with a jump start...never good. That pretty much messed up the whole race as i didn't get my focus back and made mistakes afterwards.

The race before that was ruined by another racer who intentionally rammed me off the road twice leading to time in the pits. After the race the driver apologised and said it was his little brother racing, who was trolling...not good.

Other than that though im just really really loving the structure of iRacing. I never usually have the mental fortitude to force myself to learn tracks to any level of detail but iRacings structure of "Take a week, this track is all you need to focus on this week" really makes me feel like putting the effort in is worth it.

I usually spend a few days learning the track then try some live practice to get used to other cars positioning on the track and then do a couple days of qualifying before attacking the races late on in the week. The progression from "oh my god im 10 seconds off the average lap time on this track, ill never be competitive" early in a week to "where the hell did i find 10 seconds from" by the end of a week is one of the most satisfying curves ive experienced in gaming recently.

That said, im still terrible but thats ok, i wont be forever.

You know you can tow your car back to the pits and have it repaired, right? I know that this costs a lot, and I mean a LOT of time but from my experience in the rookie races at least 2-3 other people usually have to do this so a Top 5 finish is often enough still possible.

I had a rough day yesterday too. First I did a Late Model race at Irwindale, and I am just not very good there. The fast line around the track is hard to hit perfectly, and I couldn't get a setup I liked. I did have a clean race though, but came home a lap down.

Then I did some practice and then raced in the Skip Barber car at Road America. First lap, going through the uphill left-hander and following a car closely when he spins. I have nowhere to go, so I slow down to try and minimize contact with him, but there are cars behind me and they have nowhere to go either, so I end up with a car on my rear wing and a long trip back to the pits. I get the car repaired, get going again, and chase down the only car in my sights. It's the guy who spun in front of me, but that's fine because we have a good battle the rest of the race, except on the last lap I was following him through the kink and he slowed down more than I expected and we got tangled up again. My SR took a big hit (when your SR goes below an even number, like 3.0, it automatically drops an extra 0.4 points to prevent people from constantly fluctuating back and forth between licenses, so now I'm at a 2.5 SR in B class).

I did learn that the rear ARB makes a big difference in the handling of that car. I went from loose and nervous to confident and driveable with just one notch down on the adjustment.

I raced the McLaren again yesterday. I wanted to get a FordGT race in but there were 50 about to race in the GrandAm so I jumped in that and got in the top split. I love the big fields. 25 cars on the track is fun. Road America is not a good track to have your throttle not always going to 100%. I need to try to clean my pedals. I still have a Logitech Driving Force Pro and I like the wheel but the pedals are just ok and I need to upgrade. So going down the long straights I'd sometimes only get 80% throttle and have to slam down on the pedal to get it back to 100%. Not good for focus either. I only had a couple offs and did ok. Just no consistency to the lap times because of the throttle issue.

To those in the rookie Mazda series, keep at it. The accidents happen but always go back out and finish the race. Everytime you go back out and beat the guy who you had contact with you're that more likely to get a higher iRating than them. Then when race splits happen you won't get in races with them.

@iron1c: Good to know, thanks!

This thread is racist.

Just came in 4th in the Mazda Cup on Lime Rock, my best finish ever. Got my safety rating up to 2.89 in Road, need to do a couple more races to get up to 3 so I can get promoted and get out of the Rookie series.

Just had my first race. I was pretty damn fut but by the end I was pretty much racing by myself. Everyone else crashed and I even did too at a point. Why does your safety rating go down if a bunch of cars spin out in front of you and there is nothing you can do to stop yourself from being part of the action? I lost .09 points because of that.

Just the way the system works, for better or worse. Try to be super, super cautious in the early laps of a rookie race. Sometimes you can avoid those pileups by hanging back a bit and giving yourself an opportunity to brake or avoid. Sometimes you have no chance and you just have to take the SR hit.

@flacracker: The SR system in effect makes everyone look out for their own safety, instead of the other way around. Thus making the racing technically cleaner as you never want to be in an accident of any kind ever.

I came in 4th on a iRacing Stock Car Oval thing. It boosted my SR back up a little bit. I tried after practicing a little bit to do a road course. That went... bad...

I just finished my first Grand Am race in the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 and man, those 75min are quite exhausting. It was all good up until lap 6. Someone tried to brake way, way to late into the hairpin at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve , bumped me and did some manageable damage to my steering. I raced on and even got up to 2nd place in my class, when in lap 16 I bumped the wall slightly on the side where I had my damage from the first incident and that did the rest to that suspension. Had to make a 12min pitstop but did a full refuel for the rest of the race so wouldn't have to stop again. Not all damage could be repaired though and that cost me around +1.5secs compared to the laps before. In the end I finished 7th. On one hand I'm frustrated that I only finished 7th but on the other hand I'm happy that I managed 32 laps without crashing into any further walls. The McLaren is a lot of fun!

Good lord. So I literally just won a race on fumes. Ran the minimum in the Skippy on Watkins, didn't realize it wasn't quite enough for 12 laps. I started in the front of the pack, and was happy just to watch guys pass me and rack up that sweet, sweet SR. So I let them, and they crashed & I took first. :D

About halfway through, I realized I wasn't going to make it running full bore, so I backed off a bit and let 2nd & 3rd back through. Tried to draft a bit, and take it easy. Then on the last lap, they crashed into each other during an overtake attempt, and I sped ahead. Then my car started sputtering, and I figured I'd be passed again. Nope. Dude spun out on the 3rd to last turn. I crossed the finish line at about 30 miles an hour. :D

@skullcrushermountain: LOL nice!

I entered a Skippy race with no practice at all. Tried a setup I downloaded randomly and spun out, so I went back to the baseline and spun again as warmups ended. Went to the garage, took a bunch of fuel out, and lowered the rear tire pressure a lot and the front a little bit.

Ended up having a great race (for the circumstances) with no incidents at all. Battled really well with 3 other cars and finished 7th. And then I realized the Skippy only has like 6 setup things, so I could probably make a decent setup for next time.

You'll have to share that with me. I can't seem to find a setup that isn't ass-happy city.

Also, can we post replays here to go along with our story times?

Try bringing the ARB right down. Generates a lot more understeer, but it seems to make the car quite a bit more stable as well. I'm terrible at setups, so take that for what it's worth ;)

edit: after a little testing, turns out that low ARB at Lime Rock is bloody terrible.

On another note, got a couple of 2nd place finishes in the MX5s and managed to get enough SR to be ready for promotion out of Rookie. The second 2nd place I got the guy that came first had 4000 iRating, which is a bit crazy. He finished around 25 seconds ahead; didn't have a chance.

One of my latest races was in the MX-5 at Laguna Seca... and I fell asleep driving. Damn I'm old.

@khann: Alright, so it appears I'm a GIANT moron. Because I can't cars, I thought that if I had a lower rear tire pressure, it would increase grip, and I'd stay more planted in the corners. I also thought that more ARB means more understeers, less oversteers, and I'd stay more planted in the corners. Turns out nope! I just dropped my ARB down to 4 like you suggested, and brought up my rear tire pressure up one to 21F/23R. NOW I DON'T SPIN OUT WHEN I ACCELERATE ANYMORE. God, what a huge difference this makes. I already dropped about a second off my fastest lap time on Watkins after only practicing about 5 laps. I don't hate the Skippy as much any more!

@skullcrushermountain: Highly recommend giving this a read. Really nice concise guide to the setting up the Skippy.

@khann: Oh yeah, I have that. I'm just, you know, stupid. :(

So, uh. This just happened in my last race.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9eov3d6uL8ATDBrTEIzdEUwZDQ/edit?usp=sharing

Not too sure what you were linking there, but it doesn't work.

Works for me. You just have to put the file in your iRacing Replay folder, which is most likely in your My Documents folder.

Nice replay. That's both the best and worst thing about Charlotte. You never know when the big one is going to happen and end your race. But on the other hand, the times you manage to get through the wrecks and not hit any cars, almost as satisfying as actually winning the race.

@maxx77: Yeah, the weird thing is, I missed the guy, but I still got 4 points for collision. Any idea if I can protest that?

@maxx77: Yeah, the weird thing is, I missed the guy, but I still got 4 points for collision. Any idea if I can protest that?

Oh, that's a bummer. I've seen that happen to other drivers as well. Even though you didn't make contact, the game figures that you were going too fast near another car that was out of control and therefore might have contributed to the accident. If you want to look at the bright side, you managed to skate past a major incident without losing time or taking any damage. In real life you probably would have driven through oil and gone over a minefield of debris.

I don't think you can protest it since it's just how the game is configured to calculate safety rating penalties. Also, I think the protest procedure is just to protest other drivers, not iRacing itself. You can always email their support and ask them to look into it.

Ugh, I've crashed and ruined my last 3 road races. Time to focus on ovals for a while.

@maxx77: I don't think it's so much that the 4x was for going too fast near an out-of-control car, I think it's that the collision detection is sometimes a bit messed up by connection issues and latency. This is why there are lots of "iracing netcode fail" videos on Youtube.

Busy week and weekend so I had to do an early morning Saturday race. My practice was pretty much just the qualifying session. I wasn't very fast with the McLaren at Laguna, I think I was over driving it and the fixed set I was running was tightening up over the race. But I got a top 5 out of 10 so that's not too bad. Just a reminder, let the other folks take themselves out on lap 1. :P

So, I decided that I like ovals, but only ~1 mile ovals, in proper stock cars. Tiny ovals just aren't fun. Hooray National series!

@skullcrushermountain: You're going to love the upcoming tiny ovals on the National series schedule, then. :D

@slowbird: Yeah, not really happy about that. Might just run in Street Stock this week.

@skullcrushermountain: Imagine Indy and their 'short course' variants, I just give up the tires are too fucking hard to keep from overheating.

@dark: Yeah, f that crap. If I run Indy, it'll be road courses only.

Just did Street Stock C at South Boston, it actually went pretty well :D

I did get clipped in the left front wheel as I tried to dodge a spinning car, but I stayed on the lead lap and finished 4th. Car handled pretty good before the wreck, still drivable after but slower. I might have done better but I got stuck on the outside for a lot of restarts.

@skullcrushermountain: You should check out the Carburetor Cup if you like big ovals. I finally decided to buy one of the Gen 6 cars and two tracks, Talladega and Daytona, today just so I could try that series. The only other track that's raced on is Charlotte which we all have. It's fixed setup, so no worries about the 5 million variables in the Gen 6 cars, and the races are only about 15 laps, so no worries about pit strategy. It's just pure high speed, close quarters racing.

I didn't do any races there today, but I practiced a lot. I had the most fun I've ever had with iRacing. Several other people in the session said the same thing. Going three wide around the entire length of the track is about as white knuckle as it gets. Easily worth the relatively small investment.

I just had the most fun I've ever had on a last lap. In the Skippy at LRP battling in 3rd and 4th and I are really closely matched. With 5 to go he passes me and gets out to a .8 second lead. I keep at it and he bobbles slightly and I'm able to pass back on the backside of the track with 3 to go. Now I'm running down the middle of the front straight the entire way to try to prevent a pass. This works twice but going onto the last lap he goes for it anyway and I had left too much room. We race 3/4 of the last lap side by side with me on the outside. I just keep it and able to stay with him until I get a faster run up the hill and pass him on turn 6, the right hander before the downhill to take 3rd.

This is me in the 6 car on the outside of turn 5, The Uphill.

I ran a Late Model race today, missed qualifying so I started about 11th. Somehow I got up to 6th due to attrition, and ran there for a long time behind the 5th place car. It's hard to pass at Thompson because the fast groove is the outside and it's hard to get alongside someone if you go down low. I battled that one car for what felt like half the race before finally getting by. Someone had passed us both during that time, so I was now 5th. My tires were pretty worn out by then too. But then, in the span of about 5 laps, two of the leaders had a collision and the other two ran out of fuel! (Super weird for that to happen.) So I inherited the lead with about 4 laps to go and held off a hard-charging yellow car to get the win :D

@slowbird: Congrats!

Just started racing the Class B NASCAR, it's very intimidating but I've been doing alright. Last night was by far my best race, there were cautions after a lap or two so I took a risk and went with 2 tyres to get track position. Came out in first, lost a couple of places on the restart but then the yellow came out again and everyone pitted, so really I went from tenth to third thanks to taking a risk on the tyres. Compared to road racing, there is so much more strategy than road racing, it's great. Ended up finishing 5th out of 16 with the 14th highest irating. Super satisfied, now I've met my MPR too so I'll be up to A Class oval soon!