I don't think we have a thread for general discussion about iRacing yet, so I guess I just made one.

I've been driving since two weeks now (made an account months ago while they had the 6-month free offer, never played until now - of course I'm on my last free month) and had some fun during week 13. I practiced over the weekend and jumped straight into the Mazda Cup as the new season started last tuesday and have been fairly successful I guess. Didn't know you could promote mid-season but apparently I did (why and how does that happen? I thought you could only promote on certain dates at the end of a season?). But here's a problem: I'm in races that are way, WAY above my level now. Based on what criteria does the sim match players? I guess the "Strength of Field" is an indicator of how tough the competition is (just guessing by its name ;) ) and I could hold my own in races with a SOF of about 1500. My latest race had a SOF of 2439 and people were doing 1:23:xxx on Summit Point and thats just way too crazy. Do I have to do really bad in some races to drop back to my level?

Regarding promotion, if you get your SR (safety rating) up above 4.00 and have completed at least 4 races in your class, then it will promote you. (You can also do 4 time trials to get promoted if your SR is high enough.)

As for the Strength of Field stuff, it's a tough thing to quantify. Firstly, if there's a lot of people racing, the race will "split" so that they don't overload the track with cars. So all the high iRating people (iRating is the stat used for SOF) will be in the top split, and then the next group, and so on. But if there's not enough people to make it split, then the field will have a wide range of skill levels in it.

Or another thing that might happen is that the ratio of high-skill players and low-skill players is skewed in a class like the Miata Cup. So even though you're way slower than the fastest guys, there's also a lot of people slower than you, so you end up in the top split anyway. This will even out eventually, as your iRating drops with a bad finish. Also, once you get away from the rookie class, it will get a bit more normal, I think.

Alright, so I guess thats what happened then. I got a SR above 4.00 and got an insta-promote to D-Class.

As for the race splits, I just looked it up and I've been in the top split for the last 4 races with there being usually around 7 splits in the Mazda Cup (at the time when I was playing at least). The problem is that I keep gaining iRating right now, just for not crashing. Usually my qualifying lap puts me as the last one of the guys who qualified, which is like P8 to P10, but I keep finising in the top 5 just because people crash or quit the race. I guess thats one of the problems of the rookie cup, isn't it?

Speaking of rookie series, I didn't know about the mid-season promotes and thought for sure that I would be stuck in the Mazda Cup for at least 4 weeks. Should I still finish the season in it? I really don't feel ready for a higher class just yet (as a player and from a cash perspective) but at the same time the overall crazyness can be a bit annoying. Maybe drive the MX-5 in a D-Class Series? Which one's the best?

I get way more enjoyment being in the back of the pack in the higher splits than in the front of the pack in the lower splits. The lower splits are where expectations hit a wall called reality and tempers usually flare. If you're points racing you always want to be in the higher split because the possibility for higher points is there. All things equal though, if you're just as fast as the guy who won the split below you and you did fine in your race, you'll generally get the same amount of points even if you finish in 5th or whatever.

As for moving up in class, if you're in Rookie and wanting to move up to D, go for it. There's only the 4 tracks on Rookie so you can always still hop in those races anytime. I think points racing over a season is fun so you can always try to see if you can get top 3 in your division. But I would say don't do a quick jump from D to C. Race the whole season in D. You'll get a lot of experience at a lot of tracks and gives you a chance to find some people you may end up racing against frequently if you race at the same times. If you're in the top one or two splits of D the racing is great.

Also another comment about points racing, it's fun if you're going for the top three but for the most part don't ever worry about racing too many times in a week. Race as much as you can for the experience.

I would say that you should jump into the Grand Touring Cup, which is the MX-5 along with the less-popular Solstice and Jetta. It's mostly Miatas anyway, but you still get a bit of experience with multi-class racing and get to see some new tracks if you're able to buy them. Of course you can still hop in the Rookie races, just be careful around all the rookies, lol.

Edit: Here's a feature of iRacing that isn't well-publicized: you can jump into any race as a "ghost" and experience the car and track with other cars around, but not have to worry about collisions. You won't be scored, but you might learn more from it than just doing testing on your own.

http://faq.iracing.com/article.php?id=151

So after driving on Laguna Seca for about an hour and a half, I hit my skill wall and couldn't get a better lap time than 1:52.655. Anything after that was slower or I would just spin out trying to eek out some extra speed in a turn. Feel free to criticize me and give me pointers!

@fleabeard:

Ok (for the sake of this, I'm not calling a "bend" a turn)

T(urn)1: You can brake much later and harder than you are. Also downshift as you're braking to take advantage of the retardation you get from engine braking. Run a little wide of the first apex, then turn in a bit tighter and hit your second apex. Make sure you're in the correct gear for the corner exit (3rd usually) and use all of the road on the exit.

T2: Go as wide as you can on the left (without hitting the dirt of course!) and brake in a straight line. Be in 3rd or 4th, turn in to your apex and power through. Use as much of the width of the track as you can (meaning: avoid turning sharply), and be a little careful on exit as it's easy to dip your rear left on the dirt and get yourself into a spin.

T3: Not too bad here. Once again, just make sure you're using all of the width of the track on entry and exit. You're quite slow on entry (braking too much. You don't actually need to brake very much/at all on this corner if you're taking the right line), but that will change as you gain more confidence.

T4: Use more of the track. This corner is cambered, so hit your apex and power hard out of the corner. Stick to 4th.

T5: This is a tricky one. It's all about confidence. Stay in 4th and don't brake at all. Go as wide as you can (to the right). Your turn-in point is roughly around the middle of the final two braking markers on your right. Lift off the throttle as you're coming up to the corner (you really just need to feel this one out. Again: confidence) and then throw it in [to the corner]. Once you've hit the apex, power out with full throttle. It's easy to get a tank slapper going on exit, depending on how you hit the inside kerb. Practise makes perfect here.

T6 (calling the entire "corkscrew" entry and exit turn 6, just to make things easier): The other tricky corner. My biggest piece of advice is to go into the corner as straight as possible. You want to drive straight over the kerb that's on the right at the top of the hill. This is a bit hard to describe so I've mocked something up quickly in Paint (excuse my terrible drawing skills):

The green line is your racing line. The blue (very) roughly represents the kerbs on the hill. Red is roughly where you should be braking.The lines I drew are a bit wobbly, probably best if you drive a little smoother than that :P You'll have to feel out your exact braking points/intensity and gears through practise.

T7: I have some trouble with this one myself. You want to, once again, go as wide as possible before entry (you actually did this pretty well). Stay in 4th for the entire corner. Be very careful with your throttle through here. You want to hit the inside kerb on the apex of the corner, then power out. You should be able to power with full throttle at that point, but if you're not completely stable, the slight off-camber on exit can unsettle the rear of a car a bit. Once again, practise.

T8: Keep it in 4th, go wide on the left before entry. A little bit of braking is needed here, but not much. Because it's a cambered corner, you can carry more speed than you might think. Turn in a little before the final braking marker and hit the inside kerb. Power out of the corner once you've done that. You're fine to use full throttle out of there, but just be careful you don't dip one of your rear tyres in the dirt or you're going to be looking the wrong way very quickly.

Final turn: Stay out wide, brake in a straight line. I like to take this one in 3rd, but you can do it in 2nd if you want. Hit your inside kerb again and power out of the corner, using all of the road (and kerb) on the exit.

Hopefully this helps a bit. Your two biggest issues are: 1) Not using all of the track and 2) Lack of confidence.

To 1), it's just a matter of using the right racing line. I like to think of it as trying to drive as straight as possible, as often as possible. Stay wide before your entry, go tight on the apex and run out as wide as possible on exit. There are obviously corners that this doesn't apply, but it's a good general rule to follow. Also, always remember "slow in, fast out".

To 2), it's practise. All practise. You need to understand the limits of how fast the car can take the corner. Once you've got your racing line sorted, you can start to go faster and faster until you find those limits. Then it's just a matter of knowing where you can and can't push the limits.

So first step: make sure your racing line is good. Hopefully this post will help you a bit with that, but the best way really of seeing this is to watch a video of someone doing a lap on Youtube. Now, you likely won't be able to drive at anywhere near the speed they do just yet, but just take it easy and use it as a guide for where you car should be positioned at any time.

Next step: slowly, lap by lap, build your confidence. Don't start off trying to drive super fast. Try even doing some laps really, really slow, making sure you stick to the racing line the whole time. Take it easy, and be as smooth as possible.

A couple more rules:

Brake in a straight line. Keeps the car nice and stable.
Never brake in the middle of a corner. This unsettles the car massively.
Get your downshifts done as you're braking, don't do them at the exit of the corner. You get the retardation of the engine braking, and you're not fumbling to change gears, losing precious momentum when you should be powering out of the corner.

As with any rules, these can be broken when you know what you're doing. For now, don't break them.

@khann: Thank you for this amazing response, It's all super helpful.

Well I've been playing for a few days now, completed 7 or 8 races, joined a league, and I love it. I can't thank Drew enough for bringing this game (sim!) to my attention. Its great to have dusted off my Driving Force GT wheel/pedals having not used them for over a year, and it's nice to race where (nearly) everyone has a strong sense of self preservation. Being able to switch been ovals and road tracks is a real bonus to me too, as I love both styles of racing.

Sure, the pricing of the cars and tracks is bloody ridiculous for a casual racer (maybe that's the point), but you get a lot for free with the basic membership - everything to run in 4 separate series (2 to start, and 2 when your safety rating goes up a little) - I think it'll be a while before I start considering splashing any cash.

Anyone with a pc compatible racing wheel sitting gathering dust, I'd defo recommend trying it. And with the 3 months free from here https://cadillaccupracing.com/ there's nothing to lose.

One thing that helps a lot on Laguna Seca and some of the other tracks: School config. Load up the School version of the track you want to test and then practice your laps. You'll see red cones by every turn. The first cone indicates where the turn begins. You usually want to be as close to that cone as possible without hitting it. The second cone is the apex. Again, get as close as you can. The third cone shows where the turn ends, which in most cases is also about where the car needs to be. I find the cones to be much more effective at teaching you proper techniques than trying to follow the racing line, since you actually get to focus on the track rather than stare at an imaginary line.

The other thing that helps a lot, the instructional videos on the iracing site. Each video is fairly short and is very informative. Don't gloss over any of the instructions, everything they talk about is important. The one where they talk about taking turns properly is especially relevant to driving on the School courses.

When you get to the first cone, slow down. Use your brakes if you have to, let off the gas completely or at least partially, and just try to glide to the second cone. Once you reach that middle cone, get back on the gas. Don't necessarily floor it, but get on it. As you're accelerating you'll want to steer over towards the third cone. Practice this a few times around the track and you'll immediately see a difference. Not only will you be faster, you'll be far less likely to lose control. It's all a matter of getting off the gas, turn into the corner, get to the second cone (the apex), and *then* get on the gas. Don't accelerate at all until you reach that apex.

This is absolutely true and a very good point. It's why I would hesitate to recommend anybody ever use that big on track racing line overlay thing. You need to understand the entirecorner, not just the perfect line through it. There are many, many times in a race where you won't be able to be on the perfect line, and if you have little understanding of the corner as a whole, it's very easy to be completely lost.

Didn't realise there was a "school" version of Laguna Seca. Sounds very cool and definitely worth checking out.

@maxx77: I didn't know about the school version of this track either. Very cool

So, does anyone have any experience with the Star Mazda? Usually I really like open-wheel cars and when I first started my career I made it my goal to eventually drive the Williams-Toyota FW31. After graduating to D-Class I jumped into the Skippy and.....hated it. I've never driven an F2-class car before, but I raced enough of the F3000, F Renault 3.5 and GP2 in rFactor1 and 2 to know that I like and can handle these cars. So I switched to the iRacing Global Challenge for D-Class and I'm having a lot of fun with the Cadillac, so much in fact that I think about sticking with the big cars. With a possible C-Class promotion at the end of the season I'd like to know: Does the Star Mazda handle more like a "big" open-wheel racer? (Y'know what I mean, at least GP3 like) Or whats THE class to drive if I'm sticking with the touring cars? Grand-AM?

EDIT:

And what about the Indy Car Road Series in B-Class?

Keep in mind that the Skippy has very little downforce compared to all those cars you just mentioned. It also isn't raced with slicks. That results in significantly less grip. It's much closer to a Formula Ford than a proper "wings and slicks" open-wheeler.

The Star Mazda is a proper, (relatively) high downforce open-wheeler that races on slicks, and will be much, much closer to the cars you prefer. Enjoy the Skippy for what it is and the skills it helps develop, but know that it's just another step towards where you want to be.

FWIW, I'm very much an open-wheel guy as well.

Yeah, I just promoted to C-Class one week after going D-Class. Now I'm seriously considering buying the Star Mazda. I know that the Skippy is a school car and that it helps to develop handling skills and getting the car back under control after sliding, but (I don't want to sound like a total dick, but I guess I'm about to) I don't think I need those skills as I've driven some of the bigger cars in other sims and I can handle them "alright", not always the fastest but I usually don't spin and crash other people.

It's just that I really, really hate the Skippys handling and have no fun whatsoever with it. At all. I have a really profound feeling of hatred towards it.

Would be awesome if they had a trial of some of the cars, like I don't know, Planetside 2 does it. If you could check them out like 60m in a private practice session. Because I'm seriously on the fence about if I want to go Star Mazda or Grand-Am. (Well I'd be really interested in the V8 Supercars as well but all races are in the Aussie Timezone :( )

A trial would definitely be nice. Not entirely sure why they haven't implemented something like that. I guess in the end you'll probably end up just having to try both disciplines and see which one you enjoy more. (maybe that's why they haven't got a trial...)

The V8 Supercar is an interesting car. The brakes are terrible, it understeers like crazy and will spin you in to a wall if you're not super careful with the throttle. I'd say it's probably one of the hardest cars in the game to drive, but as a result, very rewarding when you get a handle on it. That said, it has been a couple of years since I drove it, so I have no idea how it handles with the switch to NTM.

For a laugh, here is some old, hilariously terrible footage of my first time ever trying to drive it. Also one of the first few times I drove Laguna Seca. Happy to say my iRacing abilities have improved a little since then ;)

Just happened to see this video, demonstrating how to heel & toe shift in iRacing. :D

Today's my worst racing day ever. Lost more than 1.00 safety rating (right now about 1.30) and 400 iRating. One race I was the one who crashed, spun and was generally slow, but all the other times I got hit out of nowhere (people out of control just sliding into turn 1). Also I made a mistake while buying stuff and bought the wrong car. But you know what? I'm not gonna quit. I'm not gonna call it a day and have better luck tomorrow. Let's blow some more safety and iRating. Fuck it.

(Just had to vent.)