iRacing - Any UK racers on here using this Simulator

[superkartracer]

Signed up to this service the weekend and was very surprised at how realistic the cars and tracks feel, just wondering if anyone on here uses this?

Only been on a few days but spotted a few (real) drivers from the UK

This is defo not a game! and makes 2010 F1 seem piss poor on the 360

S

Edited by superkartracer on Tuesday 2nd November 15:10

[PabloTeK]

Yep, just finished practicing at Talladega in the Sprint Cup car playing bumpdraft with a few random peeps, I seem to be one of the few people that udnerstands how you get around there

[Glyn84]

Been driving iRacing (and all the Papyrus sims before it) since it was released mainly for fun than anything else. Had many hard faught close races over the years Have you driven the Williams F1 car yet? Having raced that I must say my respect for F1 drivers has gone up somewhat. Insane isn't really an accurate description!

I actually went from sim racing into real cars and a lot was carried over from the sims I think, but it still took me quite a long time to feel comfortable to really push the car and a bit longer to feel comfortable racing other cars. I'd be interested to know what you thought going from real life experience to the sim.

[jellison]

Buy a Mountain bike! Get Outside........

[Some Gump]

jellison said:

Buy a Mountain bike! Get Outside........

Lol.

[superkartracer]

I do Fell running instead and gym 4/5 times a week...

Anyway.. iRacing

Now up to a decent level and racing with better drivers, i'm driving the skip B and it's tricky to drive fast, on the VIR track i got to within 3 seconds of the top times
not bad for first time there and it's rather tricky, was only .2 tenths off the top times on ovals but got fed-up with the Yanks voices...

You really need decent kit to get the most out of this tho so you can heel/toe/clutch etc

Regards how it compares to real cars, well main thing lacking is feeling the grip with your bum but you get enough feeling from wheel/sound to know cars limits, also
sense of speed/danger is missing BUT you still get the heart beating when in a group of cars going into a corner, it's great fun.

Need more UK tracks, looking forward to Olton Park as i'll be racing there so will be interesting to compare to scanned version.

Lots of real world drivers using this, and have bumped into a few UK racers

[PabloTeK]

I'd quite like to see Mallory on there, it'd make a great rookie track too.

[terryb]

How does iRacing compare to Rfactor??

[Glyn84]

terryb said:

How does iRacing compare to Rfactor??

rFactor is a very accurate sim, but it's downfall is it never came with any real content. It's all community developed and as such the quality varies massively. I also think rFactor lacks seat of the pants feel compared to iRacing (as far as you can get in an office chair anyway) but that is just an opinion.

iRacing is a closed system sold as a driver training tool, but because you need the money to make it work, sold and packaged so people can enjoy it at home. You can't edit it in any shape or form and they provide all the content. The tracks are laser scanned and very accurate, and a similar amount of work goes into developing the cars too. The advantage of this is what they have is very good, but there isn't the widest choice of cars and tracks, but it is growing all the time. They also provide all the servers and run the various series, although you can create and run your own too. It's a bit like a pay monthly sim racing package.

There's also rFactor 2 coming out soon which looks good too, but I don't know the details on it yet.

[Mister V]

Another iRacer here

Im just getting started with the skip barber, It's a tricky little car but so satisfying when you get it right and I managed to get my first win yesterday at Charlotte. I also ran the Truck series last season which is a completely different challenge but great fun as well.


and a pic of my trusty stead.

[LDN]

superkartracer said:

You really need decent kit to get the most out of this tho so you can heel/toe/clutch etc

Regards how it compares to real cars, well main thing lacking is feeling the grip with your bum but you get enough feeling from wheel/sound to know cars limits, also
sense of speed/danger is missing BUT you still get the heart beating when in a group of cars going into a corner, it's great fun.

Need more UK tracks, looking forward to Olton Park as i'll be racing there so will be interesting to compare to scanned version.

Lots of real world drivers using this, and have bumped into a few UK racers

What kit do you have for it? Apologies if you have already said...

What's an affordable setup for iRacing?

[Glyn84]

You do need a steering wheel and pedals to play, but any PC wheel/pedal set will do. Obviously with the nature of iRacing a decent setup is highly recommended. You'll hear people saying them have a £1000 set of pedals and a £1000 wheel - this isn't needed. An off the shelf wheel/pedal set such as the Logitech G27 (or G25 off eBay which is what I use) will be a very decent setup without spending more than a few hundred quid. Some of the fastest drivers use these and it seems to work for them

http://www.dabs.com/products/logitech-g27-racing-w...

I use a G25 with a set of BRD pedals, which is just my preference when I bought them, but I believe the G27 pedals are much improved.

[LDN]

Glyn84 said:

You do need a steering wheel and pedals to play, but any PC wheel/pedal set will do. Obviously with the nature of iRacing a decent setup is highly recommended. You'll hear people saying them have a £1000 set of pedals and a £1000 wheel - this isn't needed. An off the shelf wheel/pedal set such as the Logitech G27 (or G25 off eBay which is what I use) will be a very decent setup without spending more than a few hundred quid. Some of the fastest drivers use these and it seems to work for them

http://www.dabs.com/products/logitech-g27-racing-w...

I use a G25 with a set of BRD pedals, which is just my preference when I bought them, but I believe the G27 pedals are much improved.

Thanks for this.. I'm going to look into these now.. with regard the PC, I only have laptops and I don't believe any of them have a dedicated graphics card. Is it worth buying a souped up PC for the best experience?

EDITED TO ADD: I have just found the system requirements: http://www.iracing.com//membership/system-requirem...

Edited by LDN on Wednesday 24th November 14:42

[superkartracer]

Regards the Kit -

Wheel - G25/27 or GT are great and all you need BUT pedals... this is a different matter.

The fastest guys are NOT using the standard G27 pedals, they will be modified* using a load cell hack or they purchase
decent versions with load cells built in, you can't brake properly using the Potentiometer's these use as
they act like an on/off switch with only a small amount of travel, but they are good enough to start with.

You'll gain a second a lap using these - http://www.virtualr.net/wp-content/gallery/631/cst...

I've a brand new Logitec GT if you want it?

• http://www.apelectrix.com/index.html

Edited by superkartracer on Wednesday 24th November 14:54

[LDN]

superkartracer said:

Regards the Kit -

Wheel - G25/27 or GT are great and all you need BUT pedals... this is a different matter.

The fastest guys are NOT using the standard G27 pedals, they will be modified* using a load cell hack or they purchase
decent versions with load cells built in, you can't brake properly using the Potentiometer's these use as
they act like an on/off switch with only a small amount of travel, but they are good enough to start with.

You'll gain a second a lap using these - http://www.virtualr.net/wp-content/gallery/631/cst...

I've a brand new Logitec GT if you want it?

• http://www.apelectrix.com/index.html

YHM, not about the wheel specifically...

[Glyn84]

The fastest guys wont be using standard G25/27 pedals as superkartracer says, for the same reasons I have a separate set of BRD pedals. The pedals, especially the brake pedal are worth a lot of extra lap time, especially in the faster cars like the F1 car where you have to be very accurate in pedal input. However, for just starting out the standard pedals will be fine. As you progress you'll know when your hardware is letting you down and you can take the chance to modify your pedals or buy some better kit.

[Mister V]

Yep decent pedals are a must.

i have a set of clubsport pedals, very nice bit of kit

[superkartracer]

If anyone is not wanting to spend $$ ££ on pedals, Andy @ http://www.apelectrix.com/index.html is starting production again in a few weeks..

Or spend 1k on CST's

LDV, thanks for message, will get back to you asap/

[RobM77]

I'm just getting into iRacer, having had it recommended to me by Superkartracer. I was initially impressed by the MX5, then disappointed with some oddities in the physics model. However, at SKR's recommendation, I bought the SB2000 car and am back to being a fan The car I will be racing next season in real life is halfway between the SB2000 and the Star Mazda. It's a shame I can't get something closer to real life so that I can practise, but I think driving both those cars equally will suffice. From what I have experienced of single seaters in real life (an old '95 FRenault with about 150bhp, and a faster F4 car with less weight, more aero and I guess about 170-190bhp), the two cars in iRacer that I've tried seem very realistic indeed. The high speed handling of the SM car is very like what I'm used to in real life, as are the general reactions in the bends and on the brakes (although the iRacer cars seem to have more grip coming out of the slower corners, and are less friendly when they do let go at the back, but this may be because I'm not sat in it to feel what's going on). I did need SKR's setup for the SB2000 car though before it felt like anything I'd driven before!

Brands Hatch is spookily accurate - easily the best I've seen in any sim.

Does anyone have any lap times to aim for at Brands Indy in either the SB2000 car or the Star Mazda car? So far I'm doing low 54s in the SB car and low 44s in the SM car.

My next purchase is a G27 wheel. I've tried a friend's one and it's fantastic. My present wheel (a very old Logitech Formula Force) is nackered, and according to friends who've followed me online racing in RFactor, it keeps flicking the brakes on down the straights. Obviously that's not terribly good for straight line speed!

edited to add: According to SKR on another thread, SB2000 race times are in the 50s I need some practise I think!

Edited by RobM77 on Sunday 28th November 20:59

[NJH]

jellison said:

Buy a Mountain bike! Get Outside........

...or go down the gym. Its a good point which may have been made in jest. The one thing I have struggled with more than anything else in my first year was lack of physical condition. In my case my fore arms just couldn't take the way the steering weights up so much in my car on long corners.

Is iRacing much better than LFS guys? I just started trying this stuff for the first time and have GPL and LFS so far. GPL crashes a lot on my machine, seems to be a graphics issue but the way the cars go stop and handle is fantastic. Not sure about LFS to be honest the force feedback on my wheel (DFGT) seems a bit unrealistic so far in some circumstances. These sims take some getting used to though don't they, especially for someone like me who hasn't spent the last 20 years playing games.