iRacing after 2+ years

[Chaos81]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Here's a replay of a few laps I just did. 31.9-31.2s. Not very pretty or consistent, but you might be able to pick something up. Hopefully this is the car/track combo you're referring to. I'm still trying to figure out all the new names iRacing has these days.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h002bowtm2dyt28/KN_NH.rpy?dl=0

[Redacted01]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Thanks! I'll post mine later after the cup race today and will compare to what you have and see if I can't get the times down a bit.

I tried to vary lines a bit. I liked riding higher there because I could at least feel like I could turn a bit, but was still too slow.

[Redacted01]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Ok, here's the mayhem! I took some notes on what you did and I think part of it looks like my steering wheel needs some better calibration/steering ratio changes. I'm really having to work the wheel at times just to get it to do normal turning and never noticed it in the street stocks. That could be why the car always feels like it's not turning for me which slows me down out of every turn.

Other things I think I see are inconsistent lines and timing on when to accelerate, but again, I think not being able to turn is what makes me cautious on when to accelerate. I probably hit the wall out of turn 2 at least once if not twice in the replay.

[jct32]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

What kind of wheel are you using dochalladay?

It's all about smooth, slow in, fast out.

In other news I got my first win in the Skip Barber series. It was the lowest SoF I had all week and I was the #1 car but it was great to get my first win in the series.

[Redacted01]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Driving Force GT. Changed the wheel to 900 degrees in the profiler and recalibrated and it's a bit better. I'm at least running consistent 32's now. At this point it's probably my braking in the turn. Either I'm not doing it hard enough fast enough, or I'm braking too much and losing speed unnecessarily, but 32's is still better than 33's!

[Chaos81]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Well I had a longer post written up, but OS decided to log me out when I went to post so it is now in the internet post graveyard. RIP.

Anyway, a few quick thoughts that I can remember. One thing you do is put in a ton of wheel input when you didn't get the car slowed down and turning. Check out turns 1/2 on laps 6 and 8 (iRacing lap #) for example. Then compare what you did there to lap 7. If the car isn't turning, hit the brakes or let off the gas, don't just throw more wheel into it.

As you mentioned, your consistency on the brakes isn't very good. I'm not very good at this myself, but a big problem you had was getting on the brakes too late or not enough, which leads to the car drifting way up, which ends with you putting all the left wheel input into the thing as I mentioned earlier. If you can focus on getting the car slowed down and into the corner consistently, you'll find speed just magically appear.

[Redacted01]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Chaos, you've definitely helped. Sequence of laps I just put up in practice. All 32's

.207
.261
.119
.559
.392
.421
.486
.962
.606
.341

Probably good enough that I feel like I could get in another race and not feel in the way now that I know what others are capable of and what I can do; my worst lap here that stretch was better than my best lap last night. Going to practice braking a bit earlier and see if that gets me the extra few tenths that I think I need to be competitive. Another 3 or 4 tenths on that average would have put me in the top half of the top split of last night's race.

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Something a lot of people struggle with is cranking the wheel even further when you get tight. This scrubs off more speed and destroys the tires. Frankly, it is something I deal with, too.

I'm not on my PC right now, so I can't pull up the replay files, though. I haven't raced the K&N car in a long while, but it's a pretty lively car with a decent amount of power considering the tracks it is raced at. It gives you decent preparation for the cup car, IMO.

I raced an A Fixed race last Wednesday which went pretty well. I was fastest, but I couldn't pass the leader and that was that. In the NiS race on Thursday, I was decent and probably had a 10th-15th place car, but NHMS was a cluster-you-know-what on iRacing, as usual, and big junk ensued late and I got my car destroyed and ended up 19th four laps down. Frustrating.

I could race the NiS Race tonight, but I don't think I am up for it. I'll probably just get frustrated with the wrecks and the difficulty of passing (and lack of multiple grooves) and not have a good time.

The full-length Brickyard 400 is next week!

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

iSpeed, MoTec, iAnalyze. Those are the options that I know of.

Yeah I watched someone who was streaming your split James, until I had to go to bed, and there were a lot of cautions in the time I watched.

Haha, yeah, I saw you on the chat when I watched Rutgerskev's video the next day. I like to watch RutgersKev's videos. He's usually borderline top split, so he's usually in my split and sometimes in the split below. Team Abrams is another streamer from top split fixed, and he's one of the best drivers (I think he is leading the points at the moment).

I don't race enough to really race for points. Sometimes I race NiS Fixed, sometimes I race NiS Open, and sometimes I race nothing.

Maybe next year I'll actually give points racing a shot, though I said the same the last couple years and something always forces me to miss several races throughout the year.

[Chaos81]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

James, what do you think of the cup car these days?

I ran some laps with it at New Hampshire and it didn't seem quite as loose off the turns as it was a year ago. I found it easier to keep her going straight. I'm wondering if that's just because it's a flat track and you don't have the big transition between the corners and straights like you would on a mile and a half, or if the car is a little easier to drive.

The full-length Brickyard 400 is next week!

I was excited for that until I realized it was 100% distance. I've got a hard enough time focusing for 100 miles, much less 400.

I like to watch RutgersKev's videos.

On that subject, I enjoy when you post your races to YouTube.

[Chaos81]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

On another note, I'm remembering one of the big downfalls of iRacing. Too many cars/series, not enough time in the day to race them all. I've only been back for 48 hours, and I've already practiced in about 10 different cars. I really need to pick one or two and stick with it rather than switching every 5 minutes.

[canes21]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Just got my first iRacing win. Sure, it was rookie stock at Charlotte, but it feels pretty good. I led all 20. I didn't drive my usual line as I was in 1st and know how those cars work. I stayed inside at all parts of the track to make sure I never got passed there. I stayed smooth and never jerked around to block 2nd or anything. There's nothing wrong with that, right? I kept the same line every single lap except one when a guy who was lapped randomly turned off the apron up track towards us.

It feels good to get that first win, but part of me feels bad about staying inside all race even though I usually am lenient on most blocking attempts in real racing as long as they are smooth. Like I said, I kept the same inside line at all times that never left an opening for a car inside, just enough to turn in and whatnot. I left the outside open all race because I know it is extremely difficult to pass high with these cars on that track.

[jct32]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Just got my first iRacing win. Sure, it was rookie stock at Charlotte, but it feels pretty good. I led all 20. I didn't drive my usual line as I was in 1st and know how those cars work. I stayed inside at all parts of the track to make sure I never got passed there. I stayed smooth and never jerked around to block 2nd or anything. There's nothing wrong with that, right? I kept the same line every single lap except one when a guy who was lapped randomly turned off the apron up track towards us.

It feels good to get that first win, but part of me feels bad about staying inside all race even though I usually am lenient on most blocking attempts in real racing as long as they are smooth. Like I said, I kept the same inside line at all times that never left an opening for a car inside, just enough to turn in and whatnot. I left the outside open all race because I know it is extremely difficult to pass high with these cars on that track.

You posted this on the iRacing forums too right? I agree with what was said over there. You weren't blocking if you kept the same line. It's their job to pass you cleanly and if you aren't changing your line it makes it a lot easier.

Quit worrying, congrats on your first win.

[Redacted01]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

Congrats! But yea, you did nothing wrong according to their code. Just because that "best line" is there doesn't mean you have to follow it. As long as you are holding your line through each turn and not weaving up and down to block, there's nothing wrong. It's their job to pass you. Better than some of the people I raced down there that would come out of turn 2 low, move high when they see me coming along the wall, so I go low into the the turn because I'm faster, then they jerk down track to block you again... so glad to be out of rookie. It's not that some of them were driving poorly, it's just they're so damn afraid to get passed. I'll gladly take my chunk of top 5's with no wins haha, and that includes several races starting in the very back.

On another note, I'm remembering one of the big downfalls of iRacing. Too many cars/series, not enough time in the day to race them all. I've only been back for 48 hours, and I've already practiced in about 10 different cars. I really need to pick one or two and stick with it rather than switching every 5 minutes.

I'm glad I prefer my niche in oval stock cars. It keeps it somewhat affordable. My friend and I this past weekend planned out a chunk of tracks and cars that would cover us through September when our 3 months is up and then we take a break for football season (will hopefully take advantage of Black Friday deals and get a 1-2 year subscription). Sticking to just street stock, K&N, trucks, Xfinity, and Sprint Cup keeps it somewhat affordable. But even then, Michigan and Pocono in August have some overlap next month, though I doubt I'll be fast enough to make it worth driving the Sprint Cup there just yet, but I have it for practice.


Ran the K&N race last night at 8:45. Somewhat better, somewhat worse. Started 8th, but someone up front didn't go so we all got brake-checked at the start, wreck happened behind me. A lap or two later there was a wreck in front of me and a car came down and barely brushed me and cost me 4x. Must have done more than I thought because I could not get any decent lap times in after that. Was running 4th/5th but hit the wall a time or two and had to pit for repairs. Went 2 laps down but held 11th the rest of the race and was passing everyone else at that point with new tires. Better than the first race, but not as good as practice had gone.

Techniques worked on trucks as well as I went from running high 36's to low 35's. Still could use a bit more speed, but enough that I feel that I may try a truck race tonight at Gateway before it switches. I also knew slower is faster in the turns, but finally seeing it.

[canes21]

Re: iRacing after 2+ years

I did post it there too. I didn't feel I was doing much wrong since I was consistent all race in my line and never weaved up and down. Through the turns I stayed tight throughout them all and never made it look like I was going high ever on the track. I just wanted to make sure I did nothing wrong in the eyes of the community as well.

Knowing that I didn't, awesome! The win feels pretty good, but once I get in higher series and better SOF races, it'll really be nice to win. It was a top split, but it was still rookie, though mostly D licenses, but still a weak 1500 SOF.