rec.autos.simulators

Don't know why, though I have some theories. After release day I have been
finding myself in races with the Aliens again. Prior to that, they had all
taken off to brighter and better things leaving me with racers of my own
caliber.

I'm guessing my race rating might be near default (which if true, means
default is pretty poor) and many of the new drivers are coming in at this
default value, which puts them in the races I inhabit.

For me the experience has changed from really good racing in the midfield,
to being a backmarker again! Arrgggghhh flashbacks!

RobP

iRacing is an emotional roller-coaster, not a racing sim. ;-)

Andrew McP

PS. I think you're right in assuming that a fairly high percentage of new
racers will be fast, and the rating system hasn't had time or enough info
to filter them into faster races... assuming there are enough racers
around for that session to allow multiple servers.

No doubt it'll settle down within a week or so.

Andrew McP  

I have been concentrating on the ovals for now. I will get back to the
Solstice later. I am now in the Silver Crown and it is a monster. I am a
good 1sec slower than the faster guys at Richmond and haven't done a race in
it yet. I did a Late Model race yesterday and it was such a wreckfest in the
1st turn at Martinsville that it reminded me of a GTR2 pick-up race. I got
spun into the wall, 'esc'd out and restarted and unlapped myself of one of
the two laps and did get a 5th place finish. I did a Rookie Legends to see
how the new guys were doing and was still a mid-pack runner but the new guys
seem to be really concentrating on driving clean. I am in for a year and
with all the tracks and cars invested may stay if I am still
around.......:-). I actually got a 3rd place (best yet) finish in the
Advanced Legends and would have been a lock for second or even a possible
win but my right front gave out in the last 10 laps. I had to take a month
off due to a knee/hamstring injury and just couldn't work the accelerator
without aggravating it so I feel fairly good about myself. One little tidbit
about using real names............. In the Late Model race at Martinsville
there was a guy named Darrell Wallace Jr and a Ryan Truex who lapped the
field easily and finished 1/2. They were laughing about their IDs before the
race and it just makes me wonder who these yahoos are........:-). The
'Truex' guy was really adept at doing a "bump and run" move without
incurring any incident points at all. I was the recipient of one of them and
neither of us were penalized for that (although a lot of penalties went out
in the first turn incident). Neat...........Just a little tap to move you
over and bye bye......:-) I need to get back into the Solstice and get that
thing behind me, but it is racing at Mazda now and I dislike that track
about as much as the Solstice.......

Ed

Take a look at what division you are in.  That is how races are grouped
together.  You may have raced yourself into a harder division :)

-Larry

The iRating is really at it's best when the number of registrants for
a race is huge. If the number of drivers running a race in a Class D
car is 10, for example, you could easily have a Rookie with 4.0 SR and
a Class A racing together... With only 10 registered drivers, all
those drivers are placed in the same race and of course, the
difference from fast to slow is huge.

I find if I run roadcourses in the late morning (US time) and ovals in
the evening (US time) I get the best races where I feel the most
competitive.