I read many times that iRacing has best online competition/physics/whatever, but that it falls short on the graphics side in comparison with sims like AMS2, ACC, etc.

I can't agree. I really like the iRacing graphics more in comparison to the forementioned sims. Not because the environment looks so realistic (trees and crowd are complete unrealistic), but the overall tone is is the most realistic of all sims in my eyes.

AMS2 has way better graphics in the way how objects are portrayed, but the overall tone/vibe is far too saturated/colorful/shiny to feel realistic for me. It gives me automatically Forza Horizon Vibes.

Also ACC doesn't give me a realistic vibe of the graphics, even the graphics can be considered as objectively good.

The second best color tone / vibe has Raceroom for me. Maybe I like the more neutral color tone of older Sims / graphics engines more than modern ones, which are often too colorful and shiny for my taste.

All other Sims like RF2, LMU, AC, etc. feels like middleground in terms of color tone. The new AC Evo is also to colorful and shiny for my taste.

For me graphics is splitted into two parts:

1.The portrayal of the objects

and

2) The overall color tone and effects (sunlight, dust, etc.)

In the first category iRacing is behind modern Sims (and will be at least the new Spark Engine is released), but in the second category iRacing feels the best for me.

I hope that iRacing holds to the current neutral tone und understatement effects in their new Spark Engine and don't go the more colorful and shiny effects way most Engines and Games went in the last decade.

How do you see this?

Do you try to achieve an average time that is similar to the spilt you are in?
do you try to just be consistent?
or do you just wing it and start a race without practicing much?

Edit: Ty for the replies, you are insanely active (20 replies in like 10 mins)

TL;DR: I successfully protested someone for intentionally tanking their iRating to get weaker competition.

I had a race a few weeks back where the winner felt off. Now, granted, I'm no sim racing goat but things weren't sitting right as the race wore on.

The winner was clean, quick and never in any trouble in a SOF split around 1100. They managed to lap almost everyone and were averaging almost one full second a lap faster than everyone else.

I finished second.

So, I went looking after the race at their profile.

- The driver was around 4,000 iRating a couple of weeks before the race. Not a smoking gun but keep this in mind.

- The driver dropped roughly 2400 iR in two weeks.

- In 10 races, the driver finished FIVE with 0 championship points and 0x incidents, meaning the driver joined sessions, waited for them to start and then left. In the 5 they didn't quit, 4 wins and a runner up finish.

I finished the race in P2 but filed the protest for what I believed was intentionally lowering their rating to get lower splits.

I learned a few things while filing the protest:

1. You need a replay clip, even if your evidence is their history. I attached a replay clip and then the evidence I found which was their recent results and iRating chart in the description and screenshots.

2. I moved quickly, I did it within 24 hours after I checked the Sporting Code. I pulled the screenshots before that though.

3. Keep it factual. Dates, numbers and no guessing about the motives and no ranting. A lot of us get caught up ranting and upset over accidents but that can affect the protest when you rant.

4. Keep it in the protest system. I didn't message the driver after the fact and I, to this day, have not posted their name either. It's also against Sporting Code.

Three days passed and iRacing passed judgment on the driver and they were disqualified and the win moved to me. When I initially filed my protest I didn't expect anything to happen. Mainly because many of my protests don't amount to anything and I'm sure you've felt the same way.

However, if you've ever thought "why bother, nothing gets done," this one did.

Have you ever protested someone for tanking and it went through or did it get rejected?

I love racing the Radical SR10, which is kinda dead. I also have been thinking of getting the Dallara IR01 (mainly for the insane v10 sound) and some other “dead” cars just for hot lapping fun.

This got me wondering.. who else does this and with which cars? Also, do you find there’s any benefit to it other than enjoyment?

Hey All,

Like usual, I’ve written a short article sharing my thoughts and experience on a given topic in sim racing. My goal with these articles ultimately is to help give people a bit more information about the hobby we all love, while also hopefully making for an interesting read.

If you don’t know me, I’m Tom, and I’ve been working full-time for the last two years on a sim racing coaching business, so my thoughts in this mini essay draw on the 700+ hours of coaching I’ve done in those two years. Just to say that the thoughts I’m sharing here aren’t pulled from nowhere, but come from everything I’ve seen during my time coaching drivers of all ability levels.

Why You’re Inconsistent (Even with a Consistent Braking Point)

I want to preface this article by saying that there are many factors that go into consistency, and naturally I can’t cover them all in this article, but I do want to speak generally about where consistency comes from, and narrow down to one element of driving that can impact consistency, both to explain how to think about that element, but also to serve as an example of how to think about all the other elements that go into consistency.

Where does consistency come from?

Consistency can mean different things to different people, but for the sake of clarity, we can think of consistency as the ability to drive the same corner in the same way lap after lap. If it feels like you can’t take a corner in the same way twice, then you are inconsistent in that corner. The largest source of inconsistency in a corner is variation in your entry speed into the corner, i.e. if you looked at your speed just before turning into the corner across five of your laps, how closely would those speeds match? With an inconsistent entry speed, even the best drivers would not be able to execute the corner in the same way. Naturally, we are aiming to drive the car to the limit of grip, and a difference of 10 kph faster or slower on entry will be the difference between being over the limit and being under the limit. The question, then, is how do we make our entry speed more consistent?

Consistency of entry speed

Ultimately, your entry speed into the corner is dictated by your approach to braking for the corner. Braking encompasses a long list of variables that you need to consider in order to have a consistent deceleration lap after lap. As a broad overview, aside from the two most obvious ones (consistent braking point and consistent brake pressure), there are a good number of other factors that go into a consistent approach to braking, including downshift timing, car positioning on entry, steering (or lack of steering) during the braking zone, and initial brake application. Having a consistent brake trace and braking point are the first areas to work on when looking to improve your consistency, but I want to use the remainder of this article to explain how one seemingly more subtle factor can impact consistency, and for that, let’s consider the impact of initial brake application on entry speed.

Initial Brake Application: Why You’re Inconsistent

If you take a look at the red and blue laps in the video above, you can see that they begin braking at exactly the same point and have a largely similar approach to braking, but the difference in their entry speeds at the point of turn-in is 5 kph, which is enough to significantly influence the line they can take through the rest of the corner. The difference here is simply an inconsistent approach to initial brake application. Whereas the red lap lifts off the throttle prior to braking, the blue lap overlaps the throttle and brake, meaning the car is being pushed forwards for longer, even during the initial braking. This means that the blue driver will carry significantly more entry speed and struggle to get the car slowed down as a result.

This article is already getting too long, so I don’t want to go into the nuance of whether overlapping the pedals matters, how quickly you should apply the brake, or the impact of other variables such as downshift timing. At a high enough level these things will matter, but if you’re struggling for consistency, then simply having the same approach lap after lap will matter far more than having an exactly optimal approach. Nonetheless, hopefully this article has helped you think about consistency in a slightly different way, and given you a few things to pay attention to next time you hop into the sim :).

If anyone has any questions, don’t hesitate to ask — I’ll do my best to respond to any questions in the comments. As always, thanks for the support on these mini articles, and if you know of someone who would benefit from this article, sharing it with them would be greatly appreciated :).

Cheers
Tom
Noakesy Coaching

This is my first livery, a Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) design inspired by Magma Racing. Took a while, but I finally got it looking the way I wanted.

Still learning, so any feedback or tips are welcome. Let me know how it looks on track!

I recently built a new PC;

9800x3D
5080 OC
32GB DDR5

I'm currently on one wide monitor but I'm certainly tempted to look into VR again, I used to have the quest 2 but it was just heavy and lacked the resolution I wanted. It was brilliant but just not quite good enough.

I've been looking at all the VR systems, all the youtube videos, I just can't seem to find one that suits. I don't mind spending the money, I was looking at the Pimax systems and I almost pulled the trigger until I read alot of bad feedback from buyers.

If you could be given a free VR to run on my specs, what would you go for?

I just want something ideally light with good resolution.

Anyone here having a good VR experience?

I ended up getting a 5x during this race because I didn’t realize that this was counting against me

edit:
Apparently this corner has some interesting rules for track limits, thank you all for your input

EDIT #2
Why do we downvote people for asking questions? Let’s be helpful not hateful

I'm not used to paying $100cad just for 1 car and 4 tracks (Nurburgring combined counts as 2) on top of the annual subscription 😭

How much have you guys spent on all your tracks + cars? How do you justify the cost.

The ironic thing is, the cost is probably what is gate keeping the kids from ruining races with poor driving etiquette. Iracing has more clean races than I've experienced in other sims.

Why is no one racing in the Formula A - Cosworth Cup Grand Prix series? I’ve searched this subreddit but haven’t found any convincing explanations.

For example, some people argue that it requires an A license, but there are plenty of drivers participating in the sport car A license series.

Another argument is that the car itself isn’t popular, but the Formula A - Grand Prix Tour series seems to attract a decent number of participants.

Others say the car is difficult to drive, but I don’t see how that alone would discourage people from racing it. Plenty of other cars are difficult to master, too.

So, what are the actual reasons behind the lack of participation in this series?

What track conditions and weather conditions in test drive or AI mode are optimum for quick lap times in F4?

I'm looking to cut a quick time in response to a family member challenge. I can drive, I can set up a car but I've never spent much time trying to rig the track or the weather.

"Lap 1 at Flugplatz gonna do lap 1 Flugplatz things" - @theswickster

I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but it seems like there’s a lot more drivers regularly on the supercar series after the James Baldwin video. Obviously not as much as the GT3s but it is nice to see a few more heads in the races.

Very very excited to see this series hopefully grow!

I just want to join a practice but the game is making it impossible. What am I doing wrong? Step by step, here is what I just did.

1. Create a new team
2. Find Global Endurance Challenge
3. Select "Join Public Practice"
4. Verify Drivers (just me)
5. Select Continue on the screen that warns me I must have 2 drivers for an actual race but it will allow me to proceed solo since it's practice.
6. Verify the Selected team and Driver (me)
7. get an error message that says I can't declare myself for more than one team.

I created a new team because my normal team says another driver has already registered. I'm One million percent positive that is not the case, it's a team of 2 and I know the other guy is sleeping and has not signed up for this practice session. WTF is wrong with this UI? Why can't I just join a damn practice session??

Above video shows the situation
There was a crash, I slowed down because its Martinsville and you know. I was on lead lap before all this, I had quite a few cars behind. I marked approx. where the caution came out, and then when the game told me - instead of Catch up to ## - to Let Pace Car by. Only 2 cars stuck behind the pace car was me and the guy who was in the wreck (stationary). I also don't know why the game wouldn't wait for him to start going aswell or something since we're under yellow, he probably couldn't get his car going before the pace car ran out, but he was in the crash so it is somewhat understandable. Me on the other hand, did not even have a 0x impact....

I knew this would put me a lap down, but in hopes of it will let me around I did not even pit. It did not let me around, and I had to start IN FRONT OF THE LEADER, not even on the inside lane (like it normally is with the Grand Nationals).

I might've slowed more than others but I did not stop, and anyway how do I lose a lap UNDER CAUTION. This is mindfuck for me. Please someone explain what happened, or confirm if this was an error so I can rightfully carry on raging.

I can see menus but track doesn't render

Using meta link and quest

Vd withered just not steady

Had a lightbulb moment I’ve been needing to unlock some more pace last night. Been testing the new driving style in several tracks just to see how much quicker my lap times would get.

The best lap I’d ever done on Spa was a 2:17.9, where everything had to go perfectly and with low fuel. Never thought I’d ever be able to hit anywhere in the 16’s so just felt proud of this lap and wanted to share.

Not too long ago I made a post titled “what’s wrong with my driving” where I felt helpless after not being able to keep up with even the slowest of the top split drivers in Imola.

I’ve been at a plateau for a while at 2k irating, with raw pace always being something I’ve been lacking in. Because of this lack of pace, I’ve always felt like a fraud, since I’d always be defending rather than chasing in races.

Anyways, it’s come to my attention that I’ve been babying my car too much and exaggerating the “brake early but lighter” advice we are always given.

Fired up the sim for the first time in days, simply pushed my braking points further and braked a little harder, trailed off earlier than used to, and wala. My car had the floating and rotating through the corners feeling those trailbraking guides talked about that, that I never felt my car was doing.

Did several laps on different tracks to check that the new pace was legit, and all of my personal best/average laps have indeed gotten two seconds faster. Still have a lot to learn, but progress is progress.

Feels good to finally hit another “aha” moment after a while in this simracing journey, that I’ll be able to keep with me as I continue to practice and hopefully progress more.