iRacing after 9+ years

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

I'm thinking I might need try learning to brake with my left foot. I've tried it a couple of times but my left foot is 'heavy' for the brake (fine for clutching though). Gotta work at it I guess, seems important to be able to race that way for faster brake reaction.

I am loving iRacing so far

[canes21]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Racing harder, more aggressive has gotten me some good positioning in the races I've done, but I've hit an unfortunate string of luck with wrecks that I cannot avoid. 5 of my last 6 races I've either been dumped in a manner that is borderline protestable or I've had races like my most recent one where we went two wide into a corner and he caught some apron and over-corrected and just came up and nailed me. No avoiding that. It is a racing incident. The ones like two races before that where the guy just runs up and bumps me, then keeps the pedal to the metal as I get sideways and he drives me down the front stretch of Charlotte because he is still on the game are irritating. Then of course the guy just quits, no sorry or anything. The one race I avoided touching anything, but the wall I finish 4th and had great battles. Led half of the race.


It's been irritating and I've lost like 400+ iRating so far because of the misfortune. I don't care a whole lot about the iRating, but it dropping from these races just puts me in more races where this is more prone to happen.


EDIT: Was able to get another race in tonight. I started 6th place. Got to 5th place a few laps in. The guy in front of me spins out and does not hold the brake pedal down and goes down the track in front of me. I avoided the wreck, but also went all the way down to 5 mph lol. Fell back to 11th place. Was able to fight back all the way to 6th place. Gave the 5th place car a real nice battle and had a couple chances to pass him, but didn't feel comfortable going for them yet. Was hoping riding his tail would lead to him making a mistake. I ended up getting loose and he got a comfortable distance on me. Then with 2 laps to go I am in the middle of a real smooth streak and am on pace to pass the 5th place car. We go into turn 2 and there is a lapped car ahead. He gets around him no problems. I go to follow the racing line and him and the lapped car comes down right in front of me and blocks me. Luckily I checked up and didn't wreck, but that guaranteed that I wasn't getting 5th place. Was frustrating to have that happen and what happened earlier in the race, but considering those two instances and my recent luck I was fairly happy finishing 6th place.

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

I was a very responsible iRacer tonight. Bought the Camping World trucks and within 15 minutes I was qualifying for my first race in them at Bristol. I had never driven Bristol in a race before, I had just bought the trucks 15 minutes ago and had never driven them and was doing a race. I was everyone's worst nightmare. Of Course I don't qualify well, 18th out of 24, but I was the #20 car so I guess I did better than expected? The race was a mess. We got a yellow before the first lap was over. We had 10 laps in before ever having a clean lap.



It eventually cleaned up after 20ish laps and was a pretty decent race. I didn't know the line too well, but I tried to watch the other drivers and race the same line I saw Keslowski running when I was there Sunday afternoon. I ended up finishing 6th. I had 8x points from not completely getting through the wrecks unscathed, but I never was actually in a wreck. My fastest lap was a 16.2 which I know is not good at all, but I was running smooth and safe and letting people pass whenever they got near for the first 50ish laps. By then I actually felt comfortable and was catching up the front pack before I pushed it too hard and got loose and had to slow and lose ground to stay straight. I kept it and eventually got close to the front pack again before another wreck happened and the race fittingly ended during yellow.


I had a lot of fun despite how messy it was. The trucks are fun. I am rusty and obviously very new to the trucks. I don't know what a good time is on Bristol with the trucks, but I did qualify at 15.7 I think it was. It felt rough and I definitely could tell I could improve that by half a second at the very least, but overall I was happy with my performance qualifying and racing considering the circumstances.

I remember back when Fontana first came out a few years ago, I ran an NiS race there right after purchasing it, never having turned a lap until the race started (I don't think I even got a warm-up lap in and didn't qualify so I could start at the back). I used the first green flag run to practice my line and ended up finishing mid-pack with 0 incidents, so it all turned out okay, though it's probably not the best way to go about things.

I have this week off before starting my new job next week, so I've raced a lot these last few days. I've been having a blast with the K&N cars at USA Speedway. I love the car on short tracks, and I love that track. Gives me nostalgia from Rookie Street Stocks back in 2013...

I also ran the Coca Cola 600 last night and finished 13th in top split. It was fun in a sense, but I don't want to do that again anytime soon. It's so long and the new package for the Gen 6 at Intermediates is just so boring to drive on iRacing...

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

I'm about to get my B license on oval. The thing is, I am not a fast driver. I am a consistent driver that stays out of wrecks more often than not(outside of Talladega haha). My biggest issue is that I don't know optimal track lines, what tracks to use brakes on and where, whether or not left foot braking is needed, etc. I just ran 50 practice laps on Kansas in the C Class trucks and was probably averaging a 32.3 lap time. I never could get a feel of what to run, where exactly to slow, etc.

I ran two races earlier. One with the Impala on Bristol. I would usually run one of the faster laps in practice and qualified decently well, but it was like by lap 15 I had killed the grip on my tires and I lost positions the remainder of the race. I made maybe 4 passes at most in the final 45 laps.

Is there a good site to go to to learn how to become quicker? Driving consistently and driving in traffic I am comfortable with at this point. Driving faster at a consistent pace I can't seem to achieve. I;m about to be a B Class driver with like a 1,600-1,800 iRating and I'd really like to get it up more.

As someone who bought iRacing for the road racing and only fell in love with oval rookie and has never looked back, all of my oval experience ever is just from the 68 races I've ran in iRacing the last 4 years. 59 of those were in 2015 and so far since getting my free time back I've been able to run 8 officials the last 4 weeks. I enjoy oval racing a lot more, but I definitely am not near as good at it as I am road racing despite not racing road and having stuck with oval after loving it so much.

Is this just a case of me needing to keep at it and the speed will come with experience? It just feels like my biggest weakness right now is not knowing lines or great tire preservation techniques. Like the Bristol race, I ran fast early, but I had no grip a quarter into the race. It felt like and could not keep up at the end of the race. Pushing it any harder felt dangerous and I'd get loose easily.

I think watching Youtube videos helps a lot. There's some guys who record the races in various cars that post a lot of videos of their races (well, I would only watch the ones that are at least somewhat good as you could pick up bad habits this way, too!). I would recommend taking a look at those since you can view their pedal and wheel inputs and see what lines they are taking. I know Kneebon records a lot of his races. I also have recorded some, but I haven't done so in over a year and so a lot of it may be outdated now (most of them were with the Gen 6 car, which is completely different now...).

Ultimately, more practice will help. And half the battle in this game is just not wrecking, especially in the lower splits, so if you do that, you'll do well.

Like Kneebon said, try not to overdrive the corner. It's tempting to do when you're trying to go fast, but it will make you slower (because you'll get a bad run on corner exit) and burn up your RF. I still do it more than I should, though, when I'm not careful about it.

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

I'm thinking I might need try learning to brake with my left foot. I've tried it a couple of times but my left foot is 'heavy' for the brake (fine for clutching though). Gotta work at it I guess, seems important to be able to race that way for faster brake reaction.

I am loving iRacing so far

Yeah, if you're going to oval race, I think you have to left foot brake (you don't have to, but you'll be giving up time if you don't, IMO). It also allows you to use both inputs at the same time and get on the brake as you let off the throttle, which can help you to keep stability on corner entry more easily than you otherwise would if you had to move your right foot from the throttle to the brake.

Even for road racing, left foot braking is probably best for the cars with non-fully manual transmissions (like the Miata). A lot of the road racing cars automatically cut the throttle on upshifts and either auto-blip on downshifts (like the F1 car) or just require a manual blip with no clutching (like the Skippy), so you really don't need to use your right foot for braking. The same applies for the stock cars on road courses, where you can just lift on upshifts (no need to clutch) and can left foot brake and blip the throttle on downshifts with your right foot (like the real NASCAR guys do it at road courses, for the most part). Heel-and-toe isn't really needed for the most part, except for cars like the Miata.

Glad you're enjoying iRacing!

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Guy forced it 4 wide 5 laps into the race and I got into a big wreck. Could barely get the truck to 155. Finished 21st. Tried another race. Got wrecked on the first lap as they tried to force it 4 wide again by passing me halfway on the apron... I was excited for Talladega and then I actually raced. I'm excited to get out of Talladega.

I hate restrictor plate racing, LOL.

---

It seems like we have a decent contingent of OS iRacers these days. Maybe we should try a hosted race sometime if we have enough?

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Yeah, if you're going to oval race, I think you have to left foot brake (you don't have to, but you'll be giving up time if you don't, IMO). It also allows you to use both inputs at the same time and get on the brake as you let off the throttle, which can help you to keep stability on corner entry more easily than you otherwise would if you had to move your right foot from the throttle to the brake.

Even for road racing, left foot braking is probably best for the cars with non-fully manual transmissions (like the Miata). A lot of the road racing cars automatically cut the throttle on upshifts and either auto-blip on downshifts (like the F1 car) or just require a manual blip with no clutching (like the Skippy), so you really don't need to use your right foot for braking. The same applies for the stock cars on road courses, where you can just lift on upshifts (no need to clutch) and can left foot brake and blip the throttle on downshifts with your right foot (like the real NASCAR guys do it at road courses, for the most part). Heel-and-toe isn't really needed for the most part, except for cars like the Miata.

Glad you're enjoying iRacing!

Great info, thank you

[canes21]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Filed my first protest today. Guy hit the wall and I got a run on him. He blocks me and then when we are exiting the turn doesn't get on the gas and I tap his bumper because I expected him to accelerate. Then when I had another run on him and was nearly passed him he retaliates by pit maneuvering me. Still was able to finish 7th, but 4th would have been better.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Filed my first protest today. Guy hit the wall and I got a run on him. He blocks me and then when we are exiting the turn doesn't get on the gas and I tap his bumper because I expected him to accelerate. Then when I had another run on him and was nearly passed him he retaliates by pit maneuvering me. Still was able to finish 7th, but 4th would have been better.

Not cool.

I'm a competitive person, but in the case where I hit the wall, or start to lose control of my vehicle in iRacing, I go into 'yield' mode until I have the vehicle back under control. No active blocking while re-gaining.

First and foremost, I want to be considered a clean, fair driver and if I can top 5 (or even top 10) I'm great with that. Winning is a goal but I know with my style and temperament it won't happen much. I'm good with that.

I know not everyone has the same agenda, but thankfully so far people have at least apologized for causing wrecks, and I send apologies and PM's to anyone I have strong contact with.

[canes21]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Top 5 I am generally happy with. Top 10 depends on the SOF and other circumstances. Races where I've started in the back of the field or had something cause me to fall to the 20's and then I fight back for a top 10 are rewarding. I was fine with his first block attempt even though I had to check up or I would have potentially ended both of our races. Making one blocking move is okay in my book. Driving through your rear view mirror is where I get irritated. Still, if you block me and I'm inches from your bumper and we make any contact, then that is a part of racing. Blocking me and then accelerating extremely late and it causing contact was irritating, but I was still willing to let it slide as I was going to pass him soon based off of the last few laps had gone. When he pit maneuvered me, that was crossing the line and then some. Some other guys in the race watched the replay after I guess they heard me say something and they told me to protest it so I did when able. The guy who wrecked me never said anything at all in the race, after the race, through PM, etc.



The guy had like 5,500 iRating, I'm sitting there around 2,000 as I am still relatively new. I'm hoping he didn't get his iRating that high by constantly dumping and spinning people that were faster than him.

[canes21]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Bleh. Another race, another wreck. We come out of turn 4 on Lucas Oil side by side and he somehow gets a little loose going onto the stretch and takes me down to the infield wall. I am beginning to become impressed with the run of wrecks I am getting into. If these were avoidable things and something I could see and avoid it would be one thing. The way these are happening is just unfortunate at the moment.

[kneebon5]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

Well, the Lucas Oil Off Road Trucks are stupid fun. Plus, the motion blur and graphics have been stepped up this build.

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

I watched your videos yesterday with them. They looked fun. I might have to buy them.

[canes21]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

I really want to try them out, but don't know how much I'd actually race them. I race in VR so I feel they would be a blast to race with that, but I feel like I struggle to find the time to get a few oval races in each week so I don't think I'd be able to race them as well.

[superjames1992]

Re: iRacing after 9+ years

I ponied up and decided to pay for VRS. I'm not sure it's going to be worth it, but I've really gotten tired of the fixed oval setups being so tight and want to do some non-fixed oval racing, but I'm not great at starting with a base setup. I can tweak one when given, but I don't know enough (yet?) to start from scratch. Hopefully the track guides and telemetry will be helpful, as well.

In other news, I've been having a lot of fun in the Rookie Mazda Cup the last couple weeks.