iRacing as a rookie and a class D player. Those impressions were
sufficiently positive that I signed up for a year and bought a bunch of
content so as to progress up the road racing ranks. I decided to concentrate
on the road series and leave the oval series for some other time.
So far my impressions have remained positive. I'm about midway through the
Radical series as a class B driver. When I arrived in Class B I found the
level of competition had become much more intense. The drivers who elected
to go into the Radical are very good. You have to be since the Radical, as
delivered, understeers like a pig. It takes a lot of practise and setup
skill to get it to run at it's best . When it is dialed in it is a blast to
drive.. It's just as well that this is a class B ride, it is not a car for
the "do a couple of practise laps and jump into a race" crowd.
Until I arrived in class B the Safety Rating thing was a breeze. I had no
problem maintaining a maxed out SR. First couple of time trails in class B
I made several errors and saw the SR take an abrupt nosedive. That would not
have happened in the lower classes for that amount of errors. The effect for
me was to force me to concentrate on running a clean race using steady if
unspectacular setups. Once I had made this adjustment SR has again become a
non factor. One of the neat things about taking this approach is that I am
racing above the level that my natural skills would normally put me. I am
presently sitting second in my division ahead of many other drivers that can
go faster than me on any given lap. I however have gone faster than them
over an entire race :) SR works: though it is a poor substitute for fear
but it's still better than any other solution that doesn't require huge
amounts of time on the part of organizers.
The racing in the Radical series is excellent. Yes there are some shunts and
occasional bone headed moves but no more than I saw in my previous league
racing (which was MARA consisting of a fairly level headed and mature set of
racers). For the most part the field sorts itself out nicely and in some
races I've been in intense battles while in others I've found myself an
empty spot on the track in which I cruise. Typical road racing really. Best
race so far was against a fellow who fought his way past me about a third of
the way in , proceeded to leave me behind and then as his tires wore I
reeled him back in to pass him in the last corner of the last lap to take
the place. Had to do an authentic cool down lap to get my heart rate back to
normal. This was genuinely no hyperbole *fun*
Along the way my iRating has slowly crept up. I find it provides an easy to
understand measure to compare myself to other racers even if I haven't
raced them before. Think of it as reputation. If I see the guy on the grid
next to me is close to me in IRating I know I'll have a close race on my
hands. It's a better indicator of a competitors ...uhm.. competitiveness
than his qualifying speed and I govern myself accordingly
There's some stuff I'd like to see changed such as making qualifying
mandatory and scaling SR so that its affected by both your class and the
class of the car you are driving. That would make it less painful for the
higher class drivers to participate in the shorter "lower" class races which
are the place where the wild rookie learns his chops.
So the plan is to finish off the Radical series and move up to the Class A
Prototypes for next season. After that I'm not sure what I'll do next. I
don't have the skillz that will put me into the Pro ranks which is probably
just as well since I already have a full time job. Maybe I'll start all over
in the Ovals or just stick with the Prototypes and see where I can go with
them.
Is it expensive? Well that kind of depends. Compared to a one time purchase
of something like GTR or rFactor, yes it is. Compared to what I used to pay
in my flight sim days in Warbirds at $2/hour it's cheap. Compared to what it
would cost me to take my ancient 911 to the track for a weekends Drivers
Education session iRacing amounts to spare change. I'm Ok with the cost.
Iracing is sufficiently involving that I have shrunk my game buying
significantly since other games just don't appeal much anymore
Is it fun? For me the answer is yes. The quality of both the sim and the
racing at my present level make it very much so. I am able to counter my
ageing reflexes to some degree with planning and tactics. Old age and
treachery may not always beat youth and enthusiasm but at least I have a
shot.
Anyway there it is. Hope this helps anyone who was wondering what iRacing
was like beyond the introductory levels
DavErb