iRacing

[Scott76]

Re: iRacing

Since the service seems to only be "invitation only" right now, can one of you guys invite me to the service the next time they do it? Would really appreciate it, have been waiting for this forever...

[kneebon5]

Re: iRacing

Since the service seems to only be "invitation only" right now, can one of you guys invite me to the service the next time they do it? Would really appreciate it, have been waiting for this forever...

Yeah, make sure you register for updates at their site also, that will be the next wave of people.




Ok here are my thoughts.

Going in i was a little bit worried about the format. I am an oval only guy, for now, so the races starting every two hours worried me a bit. Im used to being able to get on and hope into a race right away.

I got the service at about 5pm my time. Took the advanced legend out for a spin, just to see what it was like. From there, i pretty much made my self feel like a fool. I was in private test mode and cant count how many times i spun. I was really starting to get angry at my self because i was .8 off the pace, and if i tried any hard i would loose it.

After i did a few test sessions, i went to Laguna in the Solstice, now TCrouch said it was easy to drive, i spun out many times again. This was really starting to make me mad, and questions myself, do i really suck this bad?

Since i was a Rookie with a 2.59 rating, i can only race the Rookie Legends cars, so i decided i better test those just so i can race and get my rating up. I went into a practice session that starts every 2 mins where i can run with other people but crashes wont effect my rating, a good place to learn how to drive around others and get the feel of where that front bumper is.

The schedule was set for Lanier Speedway, a nice wide .345 or so mile oval, perfect for the legends. The rookie car felt so much better, it has a rev limiter and fixed sets so i could start to learn how to drive it. It's amazing how much you can learn by starting off slow.

I finally got my lap times down to something respectable around the low 16.2s I kept doing practice sessions, as more of my friends joined and we all went into the practice to run around with each other. We had some awesome racing, 3 wide, rubbing and passing, getting loose, jUst a ton of fun. After about an hour of that i got up enough nerve to go do a Time Trail.

Time Trails are one of the sessions that effects your safety rating, so i wanted to make sure that i was ready, and wasnt going to spin. I went out and ran 15 laps, and it took the best 10 in a row and averaged them to give me my TT, for the next hour or so i worked and worked on getting better at those, because i ended up 13th on the board, and the top 10 looks so much better.

I ended up with no inccidents, (didnt spin or contact the wall) so i decided to go back and practice around other cars some more. Then all my friends wanted to go race. We registered for the race, and waited wondering if we would get to race each other.

The first race i didnt run against any of my friends. I started last because i forgot to run a qual session. But i was 4th fastest out of 11 in the warmup before the race, so i knew this would get crazy. Green came out and the racing was on, each inch of track so hard to get, passing took a ton of skill, and a mistake by the person you were racing against, and two wide battles could last for 20 laps if both drivers were good enough. I came up on the guy in the #1 car, which means he has the best irating out of everyone in the race i got under him, trying to get by for 8th spot, once we got side by side i felt good about it, going into the next corner i hear in my right ear a high rev, and then my wheel almost rips my hands off, as my car spins up the track and towards the wall. This is the point where i yell out some words, at the screen only, as i didnt want to break the rules and get reported (clean chat and voice chat) Luckly i didnt hit the wall and spun around to get going in the right direction. The leaders were now coming up on me, so i let 1st and 2nd go, not wanted to mess up their race. I fell in behined them, and ran on their tails the whole race. So their was one plus to that, but i still would have rather got 3rd than my eventual 7th place finish. Each rookie race is 40 laps so it gives you enough time to race around, and if you are easy on the tires, enough time to catch those going as fast as they can.

I ended up with 4 incidents, but because it was 40 laps my safety rating still went up.

The rest of the night we ran Qual, and TT, and 3 more races. (you can race as many times as you want a week, and once you get to a 3.00 rating you can run the Advanced legends, so you can race 2 different tracks as much as you want per week on the oval side.)

As i said before i was worried about the races only being every two hours, but i would have time to do all the other cool stuff like TT and qual if it wasnt this way. It also makes it easier have a schedule, because people know when the race will be, no one can advance or change the time.

The layout and ease of use is amazing, the stats are just crazy, you can look at any stat you want of anyone. See what Dale Jr is running for lap times this week at this track, and so on.

The force feedback is just crazy, it feels so good now. The wheel just isnt sitting in your hand with the legends, which is pretty much what i raced but on dirt in real life, as you go across the bumps the wheel moves around a little bit, but as it should, the feel is just hard to explain. The tracks are just amazing, crazy amazing. All the real sponsors are there, Bud and Coors, and beer sponsors are there, just giving it a more real world feel.

I hope this wasnt a boring read, im sure i left out many cool things, if you have questions ask me.

gonna go do more racing and TTs. (by the way i just woke up so if my words are mispelled and not in the right order sorry.)

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: iRacing

Gotta say, I'm impressed. I still think it's going to be a highly niche title based on the pay-to-play and the astronomical cost of cars and tracks, but what's there is very, very good.

They do a great job with making rookies run fixed setup vehicles in the Legends and the Solstice, and it's great to have integrated voice chat with a built-in push-to-talk button on my wheel.

What it manages to capture is almost impossible to explain--most "sims" are very difficult when starting out. Very few games actually manage to make it feel like driving a car. You know, if you hop in a Pontiac Solstice and take off, you're not going to have a very difficult time keeping it under control. Most sims go out of their way to make something difficult, all in the name of "realism". I'm in the camp that a game doesn't have to be overly difficult to be realistic, depending on the car being modeled.

After running their two rookie cars and being able to easily control them just with instinct, I came away quite pleased. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked, but I ran a few practice sessions and met some good guys, and then a qual and time trial run. It seems the Legends are so evenly balanced with the forced fixed setup that passing is very difficult. My average lap seemed to be somewhere around 16.25 or so, and it was the same for most of the cars around me, so we just kind of followed each other around like a little bee swarm. However, the vision from within the cockpit of the car lets you see out the side windows (since the car is so narrow), giving you a form of peripheral vision. I haven't found any way to change the driving camera, so I think drivers are locked into cockpit cam...I love it, but I can see how some people won't, and that makes it even further "niche". It's great in my opinion, considering they want to put everybody on an even playing field, etc.

I was really impressed, but I have yet to actually fire up a race. I must have misunderstood, because I thought you could only actually race the one time that week, but were free to practice or time trial all that you wanted. I need to RTFM.

Hi TCrouch,

So, what you are saying is that these cars don't drive like the "Holy Grail" of racing sim, Grand Prix ledgend(GPL)?. If that's the case, I might try it! From what I've been hearing at the RSC website is that it is just like GPL, which to me, was too hard and not fun at all..IMO.

I know a lot of simers swear by GPL as being "the" most realistic racing game. However, I want to have fun racing, of course, I don't want arcade physic, but I don't want GPL ice physics either, a nice balance would be my choice if you will. Trying to keep the car on the track with that ice racing that was GPL was too much work and I gave up quickly.

I don't know how people came to the conclusion that GPL was as real as the F1 car from that era. I know not all those Elitist GPL'ers never even driven those cars in real life LOL! so how can they compare it. Even if it was as real, it was too difficult for the above average gamer/simer. Remember, this is still a game!! played on a computer.

Anyway, I would appriciate your comments regarding physics of Iracing vs GPL. I'm really interested, I'm not too crazy about the subcription deal, but if all the cars are a least fun and doable to handle, then I might consider giving it a try!


peace
Ernesto

[TCrouch]

Re: iRacing

What you have to understand is that I'm racing the newbie cars that you're given at the start...you can't adjust setups, they're very underpowered, etc. They're MUCH easier to drive than in GPL. I can't comment on the higher class cars since I haven't driven them yet (and not sure I will, judging by the $15 per pop that they command), but the starter cars are very easy to drive.

[Scott76]

Re: iRacing

Yeah, make sure you register for updates at their site also, that will be the next wave of people.

Yeah, I've been registered there since late 2007...but I've heard that current people get to "invite" others. What info do you need from me?

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: iRacing

What you have to understand is that I'm racing the newbie cars that you're given at the start...you can't adjust setups, they're very underpowered, etc. They're MUCH easier to drive than in GPL. I can't comment on the higher class cars since I haven't driven them yet (and not sure I will, judging by the $15 per pop that they command), but the starter cars are very easy to drive.

Oh, I see..yes, I should have known that you do start with the small Pontiac..sorry about that.

So I'm assuming you are not going to stay long with the sim?...Hey, I don't blame you, times are tough..$15 can be used for better more important things then Sim racing, and the way that IRacing is $$$ structured, $15 becomes $25, $50 and so on!! it starts to add-up after a while too.

Well, enjoy it while you can!!

thanks TCrouch

peace
Ernesto

[Scott76]

Re: iRacing

Hi TCrouch,

So, what you are saying is that these cars don't drive like the "Holy Grail" of racing sim, Grand Prix ledgend(GPL)?. If that's the case, I might try it! From what I've been hearing at the RSC website is that it is just like GPL, which to me, was too hard and not fun at all..IMO.

You also have to understand that GPL was based on how the cars handled/raced back in the 60's...they were very hard to drive and had very little downforce compared to today's cars.

[TCrouch]

Re: iRacing

Oh, I see..yes, I should have known that you do start with the small Pontiac..sorry about that.

So I'm assuming you are not going to stay long with the sim?...Hey, I don't blame you, times are tough..$15 can be used for better more important things then Sim racing, and the way that IRacing is $$$ structured, $15 becomes $25, $50 and so on!! it starts to add-up after a while too.

Well, enjoy it while you can!!

thanks TCrouch

peace
Ernesto

The money doesn't bother me much by itself...but the fact that you can get so many mods for FREE for rFactor and other games does. I'm not certain what I'll do as far as iRacing goes, because the handling felt incredibly good. But it's one night...I have 29 more to go

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: iRacing

The money doesn't bother me much by itself...but the fact that you can get so many mods for FREE for rFactor and other games does. I'm not certain what I'll do as far as iRacing goes, because the handling felt incredibly good. But it's one night...I have 29 more to go

I hear ya!! re: Rfactor..that's what I play now and enjoy it as well, because it is free! I might get LFS, I've been playing with the demo and I like it a lot.

Anyway, enjoy IRacing and make it last so you can give us some more feedback! Please let us know when you get into the other cars like the Formula Masda or the Skip Barber, if you do decided to keep it and buy the other cars.

Thanks again for you honest comments TCrouch!

peace
Ernesto

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: iRacing

You also have to understand that GPL was based on how the cars handled/raced back in the 60's...they were very hard to drive and had very little downforce compared to today's cars.

Yes, I understand that the programer, David Krammer decided to go with realisim physics to match how those F1 beast handled back then. IMO, he went far too extreme in that direction, the reason for the very poor sales of GPL. I just wish he had just struck a balance between realisim and fun.

My question, how did he come up with those physics?...did he drive those cars? Did he get his imput from former F1 drivers/engineers of that era? I would like to know.


peace
Ernesto

[Scott76]

Re: iRacing

It's been such a looooong time since that game came out, but yeah I think they did get a ton of feedback from people of that era, and also drove the cars.

I think the games "unpopularness" was mostly due to it being an F1 Sim based on the 1967 season. They really limited their core base of purchasers to strictly hardcore simracers who knew it was Papyrus' latest and greatest, and to fans of that era.

[Bahnzo]

Re: iRacing

Yes, I understand that the programer, David Krammer decided to go with realisim physics to match how those F1 beast handled back then. IMO, he went far too extreme in that direction, the reason for the very poor sales of GPL. I just wish he had just struck a balance between realisim and fun.

My question, how did he come up with those physics?...did he drive those cars? Did he get his imput from former F1 drivers/engineers of that era? I would like to know.


peace
Ernesto

You also have to realize that in 1967 those cars were extremely light, and extremely powerful. You put those two together with no downforce and you can understand why they drove like they did. I'll admit the sim was difficult to drive, but this was also due to people not setting their cars up correctly. A proper setup in these cars allowed you to drive them quite easily.

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: iRacing

It's been such a looooong time since that game came out, but yeah I think they did get a ton of feedback from people of that era, and also drove the cars.

I think the games "unpopularness" was mostly due to it being an F1 Sim based on the 1967 season. They really limited their core base of purchasers to strictly hardcore simracers who knew it was Papyrus' latest and greatest, and to fans of that era.

Yes, true. F1 is not that popular here in the USA, and the reason for the slow sales.

I guess I just didn't have the stomach to give it more time with set-ups. I just got frustrated!..lol I always envy those that did get enjoyment out it. Just looking at videos on the GPL sites and how these guys drove them without crashing and spining like I always did..lol

I stand corrected then.

thanks for the info!!

peace
Ernesto

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: iRacing

You also have to realize that in 1967 those cars were extremely light, and extremely powerful. You put those two together with no downforce and you can understand why they drove like they did. I'll admit the sim was difficult to drive, but this was also due to people not setting their cars up correctly. A proper setup in these cars allowed you to drive them quite easily.

yes, someone did mention to me that with the right setups, the GPL F1 cars can be driven. I guess I missed out on it. Like Scott said, it was a long time ago when I purchased the game, I remember I was thrilled to get my hands on it!! to drive the old F1 cars I used to follow back then when they were on TV..(very rare) here in the states...only to be dissapointed that I did not have the patiences to keep on trying. It is still tucked away in a closet somewhere. Plus, I'm getting kind of old now and I don't have the motor skills I used to have!!..lol

peace
Ernesto

[TCrouch]

Re: iRacing

After spending most of the evening with it, this thing is for real.

I got the controls to feel exquisite with the 900 degree rotation, allowing me to do exactly what I wanted to do with the car, when I wanted to. After many practice sessions, a couple of qual sessions, and a couple of races, I'm amazed at how solid it is.

Each race I seem to start from the pole after my qualifying run, but there are always one or two guys more consistent than me in the little Legends car, and I've finished 2nd and 3rd so far, with a win eluding me. I have yet to see a hint of lag or anybody slamming into anybody else, because the game seems to punish your "Safety Rating" pretty severely for initiating contact. I've had guys right on my rear bumper, but they didn't force the issue until they could get a clean pass, and I've done the same.

It's absolutely amazing, I've still got white knuckles. The only downside is that you have to wait several hours for a race, or 30 minutes for a qual session, etc. Back to Nascar 09 in the meantime