In my previous message a month ago I wrote about starting out in IRacing and
my observations of the service after 3 weeks of trying it out. At the time I
summed up my feelings as "In Sum: not bad, I'll continue supporting it"
My summary for this report remains the same. Still a good value and I'll
continue supporting it
Since the last message I have bought the years subscription. In addition to
reducing the average monthly cost of the service the years sub came with a
$60 credit which I used to purchase the Skip Barber car and 2 tracks,
Virginia and Infineon. In addition I also sprung for Road America even
though I can't race on it as yet.
Having accomplished my rookie goals of getting my safety rating in both road
and oval up to the visible max of 4.99 (it actually goes higher but the
higher values aren't visible to you) I decided to concentrate exclusively on
the Skip Barber car and series. While I actually enjoy driving the Solstice
going back and forth between it and the Skippy requires too much of an
adjustment in driving style to be a practical proposition. Same goes for
trying to do ovals and road work; too much adjustment required.
As a rookie I had to keep my SR above 4 to stay in the Skippy races. This
really wasn't a problem. Yes there are some boneheaded drivers who managed
to inflict some incident points on me and I even managed several boneheaded
moves all by myself. The incident points effect on SR is very forgiving to
rookies and I rarely fell below my 4.99 goal during the week I raced the
Skip as a rookie. As you advance up the IRacing classes the role of incident
points to negatively effect your SR becomes more pronounced so as you rise
you are expected to be much more aware of safety than you were as a newbie.
First week of Skip racing was at Virginia on a track variant called Grand
East. This variant appears to take its inspiration from the Nurburgring;
lots of sweeping esses, blind corners and elevation change. Unlike the
Nurburgring it has runoff areas so an off track doesn't always mean a reset.
It is long and tricky and probably not the best place to start out in a new
and tricky car.
The Skip is a squirrely little beast to drive at its max. The car has a wing
front and rear but they seem to be mostly for show. Possibly this is due to
the fact that the car has not much power and doesn't go fast enough to work
the wings or maybe the wing angle is fixed so flat that it doesn't generate
a lot of downforce. Whatever the reason this is mostly a mechanical grip
racecar and anytime the wheels are unweighted (like going over a crest) you
are dancing on the edge of disaster. Adjustments are few , mostly limited to
tire pressure, brake bias and some weird thing call Spring Perch Offset
(mostly seems to effect the height of the front end). After some fooling
around I determined that tire pressure is the main factor and lowered mine
by 3 psi all around. The really fast guys are using much lower pressures
than that but the tendency for the car to fling itself off track is too much
for me to handle. After a week of this I was only just starting to get a
grip on it and participate in some racing as opposed to trundling around at
the back. Not to say I wasn't far from the back but at least I was racing
for position. Fun time
At the end of that week IRacing reached the end of that season. There was
then a week of "fun races" that I did not participate much in since I did
not own most of the material. The future plan for this between the seasons
interlude is to run championship races but that will only go ahead after the
end of the present 12 week season once full rollout is achieved.. I used the
week to get really familiar with the Skip and the next Skip track, Infineon
long.
At the beginning of the new season all us rookies who met the requirement
(SR>3 plus a small minimum # of races) were promoted to class D. Now in
addition to a visible SR we can now see our IRating (more about this later)
. We now get an orange stripe on our car instead of the rookie red (?for
danger?). Promotion involves having your SR knocked down by a full point
however mine only went from 4.99 to 4.48 which is when I found out about the
hidden SR over 4.99. This would be great if I wanted to go on the next step
the road race ladder which is the Mazda series (require minimum Class D and
SR >4 if a Class D) Since Mazdas require buying additional content I have
elected to stay with the Skips for the next 12 week season. I quickly
brought my SR back up to the 4.99 level. Race clean and don't try to force
the impossible is my formula.
Once into the new season I became really involved in IRacing and put in a
major amount of races (at one point my stats said I was # 14 of 700 + in
Skip races started; I think this makes me a IGeek :) ). I am basically a
strong midfield runner, rarely challenging for podiums but able to pick up
position on the mistakes of others as well as do the occasional pass on my
own. Infineon is a real rhythm track and once you get into it one corner
flows into another. There's only a couple of real passing places but since
this is the sim racing world there are always THOSE GUYS who try stuffing
their car into a 1/2 car spot. Keeping an eye out for the knobs is a major
part of keeping SR. Apart from the aforesaid fools there was plenty of good
racing to be had and I raced PLENTY. At one point I was even ranked in the
top fifty in points (at #50 dead on) but then the big dogs showed up and I
am now more like 150 (still not too shabby in 700+ drivers).
IRating: one of the neat things about IRacing is the IRating system. This is
a numerical rating that the server uses in an attempt to match you with
similar drivers when setting up races. Apparently everyone starts out as a
rookie with a IRating of 1600 (I think thats the number) and you rise and
fall from that value according to your ability. As a rookie you can't see it
but you can infer it from the company you find yourself in. Class D and up
can see it and it makes an interesting figure to track which is exactly what
I've done the last couple of weeks. In theory once the server has gathered
enough information about you to give you the appropriate IRating it will
place you with racers of your own ability and you'll all have a splendid
nose to tail race. That's the theory anyway. The reality is not quite so
finely polished. Chief gotcha factor is the # 's signed up for any
particular race time slot. The more numbers the better since the server
sorts you into several races of 12-14 cars which are roughly of similar
IRating. Obviously the more cars the more races are generated and the closer
the 12-14 cars will be in any one particular race. Low numbers mean that
sometimes you can find yourself in totally inappropriate groupings. For
instance I am in the 1700-1800 range and I have found myself in servers
where the average is around 1400 and in the next race I find myself in a
server with an average of 2500. In the latter case I am usually the car
ranked 14 out of 14 in the group and I am racing for the crumbs that fall
when the fast guys screw up. I've sometimes done well by those crumbs but
more often it generates a small loss of IRating points. No big deal since
there's always another race in 2 hours where you can make up for it.
How do you get IRating? From my tracking the major factors in generating
ranking points are A)where you finish in the race and B) where you finish in
relation to your ranking coming in. A & B may seem like the same thing but
they can either compliment or offset one another.
For instance I enter a race where I am ranked #2 (you can always tell your
relative rank in a field because that is the number assigned to your car)
and I finish 2nd. Since this matches my relative rank factor B does not come
into play and I gain points solely based on my finish. If I finish 5th I
don't get all the points I might normally expect from finishing 5th since I
did not perform up to the expectation of my # 2 rank. If I crash out and
finish 10th I'll take a major hit to my IRating points for both a low finish
and being nowhere near my #2 rank.
For another instance I enter a race where I'm ranked 13 of 14. If I get
lucky and a lot of fast guys crash out I might finish 4th. In that case I
get a lot of points both for finish position and greatly exceeding
expectation. If I finish 7th I still get a small # of points for exceeding
expectation. Finish 10th and I lose a couple since the finishing order
reward for 10th is negative and I did not exceed expectation enough to
offset it
Tracking IRating is a academic exercise but at the end of it all its the
racing that matters . As I go on the races are getting better all the time
since the win or bust drivers are slowly learning that it doesn't pay off to
take themselves out of the race (a reset can put you a lap down , very
costly in IRating results). I may not be able to race with the best of them
but the races can have some major highs as you battle it out. This week we
have moved on to a Virginia variant call VIR full which is a lot more fun
than the overly fussy Grand East. There are some wonderful off camber
corners where a matter of a few inches in line can make all the difference
in catching the draft of the guy in front. What a great feeling to finally
draft by the guy you have trailed for several laps. Just as you are getting
used to thinking of yourself as some sort of driving god he does the same
thing to you next lap :)
At the end of this week we will be sorted into divisions for the rest of the
season. I think this is just a further refinement of the ranking that allows
us to contest for divisional titles with others of same talent since, lets
face it, Gregor Huttu doesn't stay up late at night worrying about the likes
of me chasing him down on the track. More to come in my next report....
End of it all: Still having fun, still worth the money, still worth the
time. Good stuff
Dave Erb
"DavErb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Excellent report lots of good info there. Although its still early days for
me I have been involved in a few good races, the last one I came 6th in
which for me is unprecedented.
My tactic, is regardless of grid position to fall to the back, before the
first turn. Then guaranteed, either the first or second turn, there will be
a few people off the track and I end up taking their place. Yesterday there
was a D rated driver (I'm a rookie) who was definitely faster than me, in
that I could always see his car growing in size in my mirrors, but for some
reason, he had no consistency. Just when I thought he'd overtake me he'd run
off the track. On one lap I actually let him pass, only for him to come off
3 turns later.
My policy in races is to race at my natural ability and not push the car. I
save the pushing for private lap practice, that way I learn to speed up my
laps and get proficient without my safety rating going out of the window.
What I'd like them to add to this game - oops sim, is a performance analyzer
for private sessions only. This way you can gauge much more easily which
lines work the best.
RobP
Quoted text (201 lines)
> In my previous message a month ago I wrote about starting out in IRacing > and > my observations of the service after 3 weeks of trying it out. At the time > I > summed up my feelings as "In Sum: not bad, I'll continue supporting it" > > My summary for this report remains the same. Still a good value and I'll > continue supporting it > > Since the last message I have bought the years subscription. In addition > to > reducing the average monthly cost of the service the years sub came with a > $60 credit which I used to purchase the Skip Barber car and 2 tracks, > Virginia and Infineon. In addition I also sprung for Road America even > though I can't race on it as yet. > > Having accomplished my rookie goals of getting my safety rating in both > road > and oval up to the visible max of 4.99 (it actually goes higher but the > higher values aren't visible to you) I decided to concentrate exclusively > on > the Skip Barber car and series. While I actually enjoy driving the > Solstice > going back and forth between it and the Skippy requires too much of an > adjustment in driving style to be a practical proposition. Same goes for > trying to do ovals and road work; too much adjustment required. > > As a rookie I had to keep my SR above 4 to stay in the Skippy races. This > really wasn't a problem. Yes there are some boneheaded drivers who managed > to inflict some incident points on me and I even managed several > boneheaded > moves all by myself. The incident points effect on SR is very forgiving to > rookies and I rarely fell below my 4.99 goal during the week I raced the > Skip as a rookie. As you advance up the IRacing classes the role of > incident > points to negatively effect your SR becomes more pronounced so as you rise > you are expected to be much more aware of safety than you were as a > newbie. > > First week of Skip racing was at Virginia on a track variant called Grand > East. This variant appears to take its inspiration from the Nurburgring; > lots of sweeping esses, blind corners and elevation change. Unlike the > Nurburgring it has runoff areas so an off track doesn't always mean a > reset. > It is long and tricky and probably not the best place to start out in a > new > and tricky car. > > The Skip is a squirrely little beast to drive at its max. The car has a > wing > front and rear but they seem to be mostly for show. Possibly this is due > to > the fact that the car has not much power and doesn't go fast enough to > work > the wings or maybe the wing angle is fixed so flat that it doesn't > generate > a lot of downforce. Whatever the reason this is mostly a mechanical grip > racecar and anytime the wheels are unweighted (like going over a crest) > you > are dancing on the edge of disaster. Adjustments are few , mostly limited > to > tire pressure, brake bias and some weird thing call Spring Perch Offset > (mostly seems to effect the height of the front end). After some fooling > around I determined that tire pressure is the main factor and lowered mine > by 3 psi all around. The really fast guys are using much lower pressures > than that but the tendency for the car to fling itself off track is too > much > for me to handle. After a week of this I was only just starting to get a > grip on it and participate in some racing as opposed to trundling around > at > the back. Not to say I wasn't far from the back but at least I was racing > for position. Fun time > > At the end of that week IRacing reached the end of that season. There was > then a week of "fun races" that I did not participate much in since I did > not own most of the material. The future plan for this between the seasons > interlude is to run championship races but that will only go ahead after > the > end of the present 12 week season once full rollout is achieved.. I used > the > week to get really familiar with the Skip and the next Skip track, > Infineon > long. > > At the beginning of the new season all us rookies who met the requirement > (SR>3 plus a small minimum # of races) were promoted to class D. Now in > addition to a visible SR we can now see our IRating (more about this > later) > . We now get an orange stripe on our car instead of the rookie red (?for > danger?). Promotion involves having your SR knocked down by a full point > however mine only went from 4.99 to 4.48 which is when I found out about > the > hidden SR over 4.99. This would be great if I wanted to go on the next > step > the road race ladder which is the Mazda series (require minimum Class D > and > SR >4 if a Class D) Since Mazdas require buying additional content I have > elected to stay with the Skips for the next 12 week season. I quickly > brought my SR back up to the 4.99 level. Race clean and don't try to force > the impossible is my formula. > > Once into the new season I became really involved in IRacing and put in a > major amount of races (at one point my stats said I was # 14 of 700 + in > Skip races started; I think this makes me a IGeek :) ). I am basically a > strong midfield runner, rarely challenging for podiums but able to pick up > position on the mistakes of others as well as do the occasional pass on my > own. Infineon is a real rhythm track and once you get into it one corner > flows into another. There's only a couple of real passing places but since > this is the sim racing world there are always THOSE GUYS who try stuffing > their car into a 1/2 car spot. Keeping an eye out for the knobs is a major > part of keeping SR. Apart from the aforesaid fools there was plenty of > good > racing to be had and I raced PLENTY. At one point I was even ranked in the > top fifty in points (at #50 dead on) but then the big dogs showed up and I > am now more like 150 (still not too shabby in 700+ drivers). > > IRating: one of the neat things about IRacing is the IRating system. This > is > a numerical rating that the server uses in an attempt to match you with > similar drivers when setting up races. Apparently everyone starts out as a > rookie with a IRating of 1600 (I think thats the number) and you rise and > fall from that value according to your ability. As a rookie you can't see > it > but you can infer it from the company you find yourself in. Class D and up > can see it and it makes an interesting figure to track which is exactly > what > I've done the last couple of weeks. In theory once the server has gathered > enough information about you to give you the appropriate IRating it will > place you with racers of your own ability and you'll all have a splendid > nose to tail race. That's the theory anyway. The reality is not quite so > finely polished. Chief gotcha factor is the # 's signed up for any > particular race time slot. The more numbers the better since the server > sorts you into several races of 12-14 cars which are roughly of similar > IRating. Obviously the more cars the more races are generated and the > closer > the 12-14 cars will be in any one particular race. Low numbers mean that > sometimes you can find yourself in totally inappropriate groupings. For > instance I am in the 1700-1800 range and I have found myself in servers > where the average is around 1400 and in the next race I find myself in a > server with an average of 2500. In the latter case I am usually the car > ranked 14 out of 14 in the group and I am racing for the crumbs that fall > when the fast guys screw up. I've sometimes done well by those crumbs but > more often it generates a small loss of IRating points. No big deal since > there's always another race in 2 hours where you can make up for it. > > How do you get IRating? From my tracking the major factors in generating > ranking points are A)where you finish in the race and B) where you finish > in > relation to your ranking coming in. A & B may seem like the same thing but > they can either compliment or offset one another. > For instance I enter a race where I am ranked #2 (you can always tell your > relative rank in a field because that is the number assigned to your car) > and I finish 2nd. Since this matches my relative rank factor B does not > come > into play and I gain points solely based on my finish. If I finish 5th I > don't get all the points I might normally expect from finishing 5th since > I > did not perform up to the expectation of my # 2 rank. If I crash out and > finish 10th I'll take a major hit to my IRating points for both a low > finish > and being nowhere near my #2 rank. > For another instance I enter a race where I'm ranked 13 of 14. If I get > lucky and a lot of fast guys crash out I might finish 4th. In that case I > get a lot of points both for finish position and greatly exceeding > expectation. If I finish 7th I still get a small # of points for > exceeding > expectation. Finish 10th and I lose a couple since the finishing order > reward for 10th is negative and I did not exceed expectation enough to > offset it > > Tracking IRating is a academic exercise but at the end of it all its the > racing that matters . As I go on the races are getting better all the time > since the win or bust drivers are slowly learning that it doesn't pay off > to > take themselves out of the race (a reset can put you a lap down , very > costly in IRating results). I may not be able to race with the best of > them > but the races can have some major highs as you battle it out. This week we > have moved on to a Virginia variant call VIR full which is a lot more fun > than the overly fussy Grand East. There are some wonderful off camber > corners where a matter of a few inches in line can make all the difference > in catching the draft of the guy in front. What a great feeling to finally > draft by the guy you have trailed for several laps. Just as you are > getting > used to thinking of yourself as some sort of driving god he does the same > thing to you next lap :) > > At the end of this week we will be sorted into divisions for the rest of > the > season. I think this is just a further refinement of the ranking that > allows > us to contest for divisional titles with others of same talent since, lets > face it, Gregor Huttu doesn't stay up late at night worrying about the > likes > of me chasing him down on the track. More to come in my next report.... > > End of it all: Still having fun, still worth the money, still worth the > time. Good stuff > > Dave Erb >Dave,
On the Skippy... You've probably found it is tail-happy mid-corner,
especially if you let up on the throttle.
Now I'm far from a setup expert, and in fact I pretty much stink at it, but
what I found helped me tremendously with that problem is to change the Perch
Spring settings to a NEGATIVE number. Most setups have them set POSITIVE.
I usually ran a -6 or -7 on each side in the Skippy to alleviate that
mid-corner, lift-loose issue (which can send you off-track in the wink of a
cats eye). You will have to re-adjust other things (tire pressure, etc...)
to re-balance the car so it's not too tight for exit though.
Worked for me.
-Larry
"DavErb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (201 lines)
> In my previous message a month ago I wrote about starting out in IRacing > and > my observations of the service after 3 weeks of trying it out. At the time > I > summed up my feelings as "In Sum: not bad, I'll continue supporting it" > > My summary for this report remains the same. Still a good value and I'll > continue supporting it > > Since the last message I have bought the years subscription. In addition > to > reducing the average monthly cost of the service the years sub came with a > $60 credit which I used to purchase the Skip Barber car and 2 tracks, > Virginia and Infineon. In addition I also sprung for Road America even > though I can't race on it as yet. > > Having accomplished my rookie goals of getting my safety rating in both > road > and oval up to the visible max of 4.99 (it actually goes higher but the > higher values aren't visible to you) I decided to concentrate exclusively > on > the Skip Barber car and series. While I actually enjoy driving the > Solstice > going back and forth between it and the Skippy requires too much of an > adjustment in driving style to be a practical proposition. Same goes for > trying to do ovals and road work; too much adjustment required. > > As a rookie I had to keep my SR above 4 to stay in the Skippy races. This > really wasn't a problem. Yes there are some boneheaded drivers who managed > to inflict some incident points on me and I even managed several > boneheaded > moves all by myself. The incident points effect on SR is very forgiving to > rookies and I rarely fell below my 4.99 goal during the week I raced the > Skip as a rookie. As you advance up the IRacing classes the role of > incident > points to negatively effect your SR becomes more pronounced so as you rise > you are expected to be much more aware of safety than you were as a > newbie. > > First week of Skip racing was at Virginia on a track variant called Grand > East. This variant appears to take its inspiration from the Nurburgring; > lots of sweeping esses, blind corners and elevation change. Unlike the > Nurburgring it has runoff areas so an off track doesn't always mean a > reset. > It is long and tricky and probably not the best place to start out in a > new > and tricky car. > > The Skip is a squirrely little beast to drive at its max. The car has a > wing > front and rear but they seem to be mostly for show. Possibly this is due > to > the fact that the car has not much power and doesn't go fast enough to > work > the wings or maybe the wing angle is fixed so flat that it doesn't > generate > a lot of downforce. Whatever the reason this is mostly a mechanical grip > racecar and anytime the wheels are unweighted (like going over a crest) > you > are dancing on the edge of disaster. Adjustments are few , mostly limited > to > tire pressure, brake bias and some weird thing call Spring Perch Offset > (mostly seems to effect the height of the front end). After some fooling > around I determined that tire pressure is the main factor and lowered mine > by 3 psi all around. The really fast guys are using much lower pressures > than that but the tendency for the car to fling itself off track is too > much > for me to handle. After a week of this I was only just starting to get a > grip on it and participate in some racing as opposed to trundling around > at > the back. Not to say I wasn't far from the back but at least I was racing > for position. Fun time > > At the end of that week IRacing reached the end of that season. There was > then a week of "fun races" that I did not participate much in since I did > not own most of the material. The future plan for this between the seasons > interlude is to run championship races but that will only go ahead after > the > end of the present 12 week season once full rollout is achieved.. I used > the > week to get really familiar with the Skip and the next Skip track, > Infineon > long. > > At the beginning of the new season all us rookies who met the requirement > (SR>3 plus a small minimum # of races) were promoted to class D. Now in > addition to a visible SR we can now see our IRating (more about this > later) > . We now get an orange stripe on our car instead of the rookie red (?for > danger?). Promotion involves having your SR knocked down by a full point > however mine only went from 4.99 to 4.48 which is when I found out about > the > hidden SR over 4.99. This would be great if I wanted to go on the next > step > the road race ladder which is the Mazda series (require minimum Class D > and > SR >4 if a Class D) Since Mazdas require buying additional content I have > elected to stay with the Skips for the next 12 week season. I quickly > brought my SR back up to the 4.99 level. Race clean and don't try to force > the impossible is my formula. > > Once into the new season I became really involved in IRacing and put in a > major amount of races (at one point my stats said I was # 14 of 700 + in > Skip races started; I think this makes me a IGeek :) ). I am basically a > strong midfield runner, rarely challenging for podiums but able to pick up > position on the mistakes of others as well as do the occasional pass on my > own. Infineon is a real rhythm track and once you get into it one corner > flows into another. There's only a couple of real passing places but since > this is the sim racing world there are always THOSE GUYS who try stuffing > their car into a 1/2 car spot. Keeping an eye out for the knobs is a major > part of keeping SR. Apart from the aforesaid fools there was plenty of > good > racing to be had and I raced PLENTY. At one point I was even ranked in the > top fifty in points (at #50 dead on) but then the big dogs showed up and I > am now more like 150 (still not too shabby in 700+ drivers). > > IRating: one of the neat things about IRacing is the IRating system. This > is > a numerical rating that the server uses in an attempt to match you with > similar drivers when setting up races. Apparently everyone starts out as a > rookie with a IRating of 1600 (I think thats the number) and you rise and > fall from that value according to your ability. As a rookie you can't see > it > but you can infer it from the company you find yourself in. Class D and up > can see it and it makes an interesting figure to track which is exactly > what > I've done the last couple of weeks. In theory once the server has gathered > enough information about you to give you the appropriate IRating it will > place you with racers of your own ability and you'll all have a splendid > nose to tail race. That's the theory anyway. The reality is not quite so > finely polished. Chief gotcha factor is the # 's signed up for any > particular race time slot. The more numbers the better since the server > sorts you into several races of 12-14 cars which are roughly of similar > IRating. Obviously the more cars the more races are generated and the > closer > the 12-14 cars will be in any one particular race. Low numbers mean that > sometimes you can find yourself in totally inappropriate groupings. For > instance I am in the 1700-1800 range and I have found myself in servers > where the average is around 1400 and in the next race I find myself in a > server with an average of 2500. In the latter case I am usually the car > ranked 14 out of 14 in the group and I am racing for the crumbs that fall > when the fast guys screw up. I've sometimes done well by those crumbs but > more often it generates a small loss of IRating points. No big deal since > there's always another race in 2 hours where you can make up for it. > > How do you get IRating? From my tracking the major factors in generating > ranking points are A)where you finish in the race and B) where you finish > in > relation to your ranking coming in. A & B may seem like the same thing but > they can either compliment or offset one another. > For instance I enter a race where I am ranked #2 (you can always tell your > relative rank in a field because that is the number assigned to your car) > and I finish 2nd. Since this matches my relative rank factor B does not > come > into play and I gain points solely based on my finish. If I finish 5th I > don't get all the points I might normally expect from finishing 5th since > I > did not perform up to the expectation of my # 2 rank. If I crash out and > finish 10th I'll take a major hit to my IRating points for both a low > finish > and being nowhere near my #2 rank. > For another instance I enter a race where I'm ranked 13 of 14. If I get > lucky and a lot of fast guys crash out I might finish 4th. In that case I > get a lot of points both for finish position and greatly exceeding > expectation. If I finish 7th I still get a small # of points for > exceeding > expectation. Finish 10th and I lose a couple since the finishing order > reward for 10th is negative and I did not exceed expectation enough to > offset it > > Tracking IRating is a academic exercise but at the end of it all its the > racing that matters . As I go on the races are getting better all the time > since the win or bust drivers are slowly learning that it doesn't pay off > to > take themselves out of the race (a reset can put you a lap down , very > costly in IRating results). I may not be able to race with the best of > them > but the races can have some major highs as you battle it out. This week we > have moved on to a Virginia variant call VIR full which is a lot more fun > than the overly fussy Grand East. There are some wonderful off camber > corners where a matter of a few inches in line can make all the difference > in catching the draft of the guy in front. What a great feeling to finally > draft by the guy you have trailed for several laps. Just as you are > getting > used to thinking of yourself as some sort of driving god he does the same > thing to you next lap :) > > At the end of this week we will be sorted into divisions for the rest of > the > season. I think this is just a further refinement of the ranking that > allows > us to contest for divisional titles with others of same talent since, lets > face it, Gregor Huttu doesn't stay up late at night worrying about the > likes > of me chasing him down on the track. More to come in my next report.... > > End of it all: Still having fun, still worth the money, still worth the > time. Good stuff > > Dave Erb >Larry wrote:
The biggest change for me was to run with the fronts 2-3 lbs higher than
the rears, it becomes a much more stable car and you can lower the front
(raise the spring perch) a bit to get some more speed.
Cheers
Tony
Quoted text (13 lines)
> Dave, > > On the Skippy... You've probably found it is tail-happy mid-corner, > especially if you let up on the throttle. > > Now I'm far from a setup expert, and in fact I pretty much stink at it, > but what I found helped me tremendously with that problem is to change > the Perch Spring settings to a NEGATIVE number. Most setups have them > set POSITIVE. I usually ran a -6 or -7 on each side in the Skippy to > alleviate that mid-corner, lift-loose issue (which can send you > off-track in the wink of a cats eye). You will have to re-adjust other > things (tire pressure, etc...) to re-balance the car so it's not too > tight for exit though."Tony R" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:DElpk.773$[email hidden]...
Ditto; found that out tying to come to grips with the diving last turn at
Lime Rock initiallly and has proved to be the case elsewhere since.
And it's not just the skippy where pressures are important; cars in iRacing
are more reactive to small tire pressure changes than any sim I've driven in
over a decade of simracing.
SB
Quoted text (21 lines)
> Larry wrote: >> Dave, >> >> On the Skippy... You've probably found it is tail-happy mid-corner, >> especially if you let up on the throttle. >> >> Now I'm far from a setup expert, and in fact I pretty much stink at it, >> but what I found helped me tremendously with that problem is to change >> the Perch Spring settings to a NEGATIVE number. Most setups have them >> set POSITIVE. I usually ran a -6 or -7 on each side in the Skippy to >> alleviate that mid-corner, lift-loose issue (which can send you off-track >> in the wink of a cats eye). You will have to re-adjust other things >> (tire pressure, etc...) to re-balance the car so it's not too tight for >> exit though. > > The biggest change for me was to run with the fronts 2-3 lbs higher than > the rears, it becomes a much more stable car and you can lower the front > (raise the spring perch) a bit to get some more speed. > > Cheers > TonyGood reporting Dave.
> The more numbers the better since the server sorts you into
> several races of 12-14 cars which are roughly of similar
> IRating.
I think this is definitely one of iRacing's big selling points. I've seen
a few races with 20+ people registered, then wondered where most of them
went. It turns out they went to <we're_not_worthy>The Fast
Server</we_re_not_worthy> leaving the dregs to race with me. That
explains why I haven't been lapped for a few races now. :-)
However I still think iRacing should dump the whole Solstice rookie stuff
and give people a nice stable, no tweaking, Skippy-lite to play with....
call it Kangaroo Klass and show people why it's worth sticking around.
Without some of the feedback here I'd probably have parked my Solstice in
a tree and gone back to watching the Olympics after the first few highly
frustrating days.
Andrew McP
Andrew MacPherson wrote:
> However I still think iRacing should dump the whole Solstice rookie stuff
> and give people a nice stable, no tweaking, Skippy-lite to play with....
> call it Kangaroo Klass and show people why it's worth sticking around.
For the true new sim racers it may be a good idea though. I think
iRacing knew the sim racing nuts would be unimpressed but stick with it
to get to the better stuff. I would still like to at least see a free
test drive option. Maybe when they target the new racers it may happen?
Cheers
Tony
I've been driving the Skip with -3's since we've raced at Virginia. Seems
to balance the car better than the +9's I used at Infineon. Also running a
much lower swaybar at VIR since the transitions aren't nearly as close
together at VIR. Managing to do alright but I'm not a quick studyat it. Now
I have to figure out what works at Summit
There is much to be said for fixed setups :)
Dave
"Larry" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:F5jpk.15504$[email hidden]...
Quoted text (246 lines)
> Dave, > > On the Skippy... You've probably found it is tail-happy mid-corner, > especially if you let up on the throttle. > > Now I'm far from a setup expert, and in fact I pretty much stink at it, > but what I found helped me tremendously with that problem is to change the > Perch Spring settings to a NEGATIVE number. Most setups have them set > POSITIVE. I usually ran a -6 or -7 on each side in the Skippy to alleviate > that mid-corner, lift-loose issue (which can send you off-track in the > wink of a cats eye). You will have to re-adjust other things (tire > pressure, etc...) to re-balance the car so it's not too tight for exit > though. > > Worked for me. > > -Larry > > "DavErb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... >> In my previous message a month ago I wrote about starting out in IRacing >> and >> my observations of the service after 3 weeks of trying it out. At the >> time I >> summed up my feelings as "In Sum: not bad, I'll continue supporting it" >> >> My summary for this report remains the same. Still a good value and I'll >> continue supporting it >> >> Since the last message I have bought the years subscription. In addition >> to >> reducing the average monthly cost of the service the years sub came with >> a >> $60 credit which I used to purchase the Skip Barber car and 2 tracks, >> Virginia and Infineon. In addition I also sprung for Road America even >> though I can't race on it as yet. >> >> Having accomplished my rookie goals of getting my safety rating in both >> road >> and oval up to the visible max of 4.99 (it actually goes higher but the >> higher values aren't visible to you) I decided to concentrate exclusively >> on >> the Skip Barber car and series. While I actually enjoy driving the >> Solstice >> going back and forth between it and the Skippy requires too much of an >> adjustment in driving style to be a practical proposition. Same goes for >> trying to do ovals and road work; too much adjustment required. >> >> As a rookie I had to keep my SR above 4 to stay in the Skippy races. This >> really wasn't a problem. Yes there are some boneheaded drivers who >> managed >> to inflict some incident points on me and I even managed several >> boneheaded >> moves all by myself. The incident points effect on SR is very forgiving >> to >> rookies and I rarely fell below my 4.99 goal during the week I raced the >> Skip as a rookie. As you advance up the IRacing classes the role of >> incident >> points to negatively effect your SR becomes more pronounced so as you >> rise >> you are expected to be much more aware of safety than you were as a >> newbie. >> >> First week of Skip racing was at Virginia on a track variant called Grand >> East. This variant appears to take its inspiration from the Nurburgring; >> lots of sweeping esses, blind corners and elevation change. Unlike the >> Nurburgring it has runoff areas so an off track doesn't always mean a >> reset. >> It is long and tricky and probably not the best place to start out in a >> new >> and tricky car. >> >> The Skip is a squirrely little beast to drive at its max. The car has a >> wing >> front and rear but they seem to be mostly for show. Possibly this is due >> to >> the fact that the car has not much power and doesn't go fast enough to >> work >> the wings or maybe the wing angle is fixed so flat that it doesn't >> generate >> a lot of downforce. Whatever the reason this is mostly a mechanical grip >> racecar and anytime the wheels are unweighted (like going over a crest) >> you >> are dancing on the edge of disaster. Adjustments are few , mostly limited >> to >> tire pressure, brake bias and some weird thing call Spring Perch Offset >> (mostly seems to effect the height of the front end). After some fooling >> around I determined that tire pressure is the main factor and lowered >> mine >> by 3 psi all around. The really fast guys are using much lower pressures >> than that but the tendency for the car to fling itself off track is too >> much >> for me to handle. After a week of this I was only just starting to get a >> grip on it and participate in some racing as opposed to trundling around >> at >> the back. Not to say I wasn't far from the back but at least I was racing >> for position. Fun time >> >> At the end of that week IRacing reached the end of that season. There was >> then a week of "fun races" that I did not participate much in since I did >> not own most of the material. The future plan for this between the >> seasons >> interlude is to run championship races but that will only go ahead after >> the >> end of the present 12 week season once full rollout is achieved.. I used >> the >> week to get really familiar with the Skip and the next Skip track, >> Infineon >> long. >> >> At the beginning of the new season all us rookies who met the requirement >> (SR>3 plus a small minimum # of races) were promoted to class D. Now in >> addition to a visible SR we can now see our IRating (more about this >> later) >> . We now get an orange stripe on our car instead of the rookie red (?for >> danger?). Promotion involves having your SR knocked down by a full point >> however mine only went from 4.99 to 4.48 which is when I found out about >> the >> hidden SR over 4.99. This would be great if I wanted to go on the next >> step >> the road race ladder which is the Mazda series (require minimum Class D >> and >> SR >4 if a Class D) Since Mazdas require buying additional content I have >> elected to stay with the Skips for the next 12 week season. I quickly >> brought my SR back up to the 4.99 level. Race clean and don't try to >> force >> the impossible is my formula. >> >> Once into the new season I became really involved in IRacing and put in a >> major amount of races (at one point my stats said I was # 14 of 700 + in >> Skip races started; I think this makes me a IGeek :) ). I am basically a >> strong midfield runner, rarely challenging for podiums but able to pick >> up >> position on the mistakes of others as well as do the occasional pass on >> my >> own. Infineon is a real rhythm track and once you get into it one corner >> flows into another. There's only a couple of real passing places but >> since >> this is the sim racing world there are always THOSE GUYS who try stuffing >> their car into a 1/2 car spot. Keeping an eye out for the knobs is a >> major >> part of keeping SR. Apart from the aforesaid fools there was plenty of >> good >> racing to be had and I raced PLENTY. At one point I was even ranked in >> the >> top fifty in points (at #50 dead on) but then the big dogs showed up and >> I >> am now more like 150 (still not too shabby in 700+ drivers). >> >> IRating: one of the neat things about IRacing is the IRating system. This >> is >> a numerical rating that the server uses in an attempt to match you with >> similar drivers when setting up races. Apparently everyone starts out as >> a >> rookie with a IRating of 1600 (I think thats the number) and you rise and >> fall from that value according to your ability. As a rookie you can't see >> it >> but you can infer it from the company you find yourself in. Class D and >> up >> can see it and it makes an interesting figure to track which is exactly >> what >> I've done the last couple of weeks. In theory once the server has >> gathered >> enough information about you to give you the appropriate IRating it will >> place you with racers of your own ability and you'll all have a splendid >> nose to tail race. That's the theory anyway. The reality is not quite so >> finely polished. Chief gotcha factor is the # 's signed up for any >> particular race time slot. The more numbers the better since the server >> sorts you into several races of 12-14 cars which are roughly of similar >> IRating. Obviously the more cars the more races are generated and the >> closer >> the 12-14 cars will be in any one particular race. Low numbers mean that >> sometimes you can find yourself in totally inappropriate groupings. For >> instance I am in the 1700-1800 range and I have found myself in servers >> where the average is around 1400 and in the next race I find myself in a >> server with an average of 2500. In the latter case I am usually the car >> ranked 14 out of 14 in the group and I am racing for the crumbs that fall >> when the fast guys screw up. I've sometimes done well by those crumbs but >> more often it generates a small loss of IRating points. No big deal since >> there's always another race in 2 hours where you can make up for it. >> >> How do you get IRating? From my tracking the major factors in generating >> ranking points are A)where you finish in the race and B) where you finish >> in >> relation to your ranking coming in. A & B may seem like the same thing >> but >> they can either compliment or offset one another. >> For instance I enter a race where I am ranked #2 (you can always tell >> your >> relative rank in a field because that is the number assigned to your car) >> and I finish 2nd. Since this matches my relative rank factor B does not >> come >> into play and I gain points solely based on my finish. If I finish 5th I >> don't get all the points I might normally expect from finishing 5th since >> I >> did not perform up to the expectation of my # 2 rank. If I crash out and >> finish 10th I'll take a major hit to my IRating points for both a low >> finish >> and being nowhere near my #2 rank. >> For another instance I enter a race where I'm ranked 13 of 14. If I get >> lucky and a lot of fast guys crash out I might finish 4th. In that case I >> get a lot of points both for finish position and greatly exceeding >> expectation. If I finish 7th I still get a small # of points for >> exceeding >> expectation. Finish 10th and I lose a couple since the finishing order >> reward for 10th is negative and I did not exceed expectation enough to >> offset it >> >> Tracking IRating is a academic exercise but at the end of it all its the >> racing that matters . As I go on the races are getting better all the >> time >> since the win or bust drivers are slowly learning that it doesn't pay off >> to >> take themselves out of the race (a reset can put you a lap down , very >> costly in IRating results). I may not be able to race with the best of >> them >> but the races can have some major highs as you battle it out. This week >> we >> have moved on to a Virginia variant call VIR full which is a lot more fun >> than the overly fussy Grand East. There are some wonderful off camber >> corners where a matter of a few inches in line can make all the >> difference >> in catching the draft of the guy in front. What a great feeling to >> finally >> draft by the guy you have trailed for several laps. Just as you are >> getting >> used to thinking of yourself as some sort of driving god he does the same >> thing to you next lap :) >> >> At the end of this week we will be sorted into divisions for the rest of >> the >> season. I think this is just a further refinement of the ranking that >> allows >> us to contest for divisional titles with others of same talent since, >> lets >> face it, Gregor Huttu doesn't stay up late at night worrying about the >> likes >> of me chasing him down on the track. More to come in my next report.... >> >> End of it all: Still having fun, still worth the money, still worth the >> time. Good stuff >> >> Dave Erb >> > >
"Rob P" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:43ipk.1672$[email hidden]...
Theres a lot of tactics that come into play in IRacing. Keep a high SR and
you get to race up class. Stay out of accidents (easier said than done
sometimes) and eventually you get into a higher catagory than the
win-or-bust crowd.
Agree about the performanace analyser....right after they give us saveable
replays :)
Dave
Quoted text (25 lines)
> > > Excellent report lots of good info there. Although its still early days > for me I have been involved in a few good races, the last one I came 6th > in which for me is unprecedented. > > My tactic, is regardless of grid position to fall to the back, before the > first turn. Then guaranteed, either the first or second turn, there will > be a few people off the track and I end up taking their place. Yesterday > there was a D rated driver (I'm a rookie) who was definitely faster than > me, in that I could always see his car growing in size in my mirrors, but > for some reason, he had no consistency. Just when I thought he'd overtake > me he'd run off the track. On one lap I actually let him pass, only for > him to come off 3 turns later. > > My policy in races is to race at my natural ability and not push the car. > I save the pushing for private lap practice, that way I learn to speed up > my laps and get proficient without my safety rating going out of the > window. > > What I'd like them to add to this game - oops sim, is a performance > analyzer for private sessions only. This way you can gauge much more > easily which lines work the best. > > RobP[email hidden] (DavErb) wrote:
> There is much to be said for fixed setups :)
Absolutely! Just not in the Solstice... the fixed setup Legend is a lot
of fun though, and I wish it could be raced on road courses.
I do like to tweak my brake bias though. I'm not cut out for a world
where about 60% is 'normal'. Mine's back at 53 at the moment, which
probably makes the car a bit too stable for fast cornering. Probably
explains a lot.
But so far I've been far more interested in staying safely on the track
than being quick. I'm proud of my 4.99 SR, minimal tyre wear, and fuel
economy. Apparently that doesn't get you a place on the podium though.
No doubt when/if I lose my Rookie status and see my iRating I'll be
shamed into taking a few more risks. I suspect I may be the first person
to start D class with a negative figure.
Andrew McP
"Andrew MacPherson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
When do promotions happen? Is it every four weeks? And what kind of rating
do you need? Mine is currently 3.63 (took a battering after I collided with
cars that had spun off - then I tried to continue racing only to discover
that the car handled so badly I kept spinning off and getting more points...
Lesson learned...) - will this be enough or do I need to shoot for a rating
of 4 plus?
RobP
Quoted text (22 lines)
> [email hidden] (DavErb) wrote: > >> There is much to be said for fixed setups :) > > Absolutely! Just not in the Solstice... the fixed setup Legend is a lot > of fun though, and I wish it could be raced on road courses. > > I do like to tweak my brake bias though. I'm not cut out for a world > where about 60% is 'normal'. Mine's back at 53 at the moment, which > probably makes the car a bit too stable for fast cornering. Probably > explains a lot. > > But so far I've been far more interested in staying safely on the track > than being quick. I'm proud of my 4.99 SR, minimal tyre wear, and fuel > economy. Apparently that doesn't get you a place on the podium though. > > No doubt when/if I lose my Rookie status and see my iRating I'll be > shamed into taking a few more risks. I suspect I may be the first person > to start D class with a negative figure. > > Andrew McP >[email hidden] (Rob P) wrote:
> When do promotions happen?
If this was the iRacing forums I would say READ THE SPORTING CODE! But
for mere mortals unable to inwardly digest 40+ pages of verbose racing
bible (ie me and just about every other new iRacing driver ;-) Tony and
others have been busy spoon-feeding us this info.
In another current thread Tony said...
In my case my only aim was to get to an SR of 4 as soon as possible so I
could get out of that poxy Solstice and into the Skippy. As long as I
stay over 4 I can race as a Rookie in the Skippy races, and that's where
I intend to stay.
Andrew McP
Quoted text (16 lines)
> You can drive any car you purchase in testing but not > join any online sessions without the appropriate licence. > It will take a while to race the Radical though as this > is in the fourth class. So you have to race the Solstice > (Rookie), Skip Barber (Class D) and Mazda (Class C) > before the Radical. > It will take 4 weeks to get promoted from Rookie and > then 12 weeks to get promoted to the next class and > so on. Although with a high enough Safety Rating (4 > and above) you can "race up" to the next class. So you > could hold a Class D licence and race in the Mazda if > your Safety Rating is high enough. You can only race > up one class though and need to wait for promotion > at the end of the 12 weeks.
"Andrew MacPherson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Lol I had read that post to, guess it went in one ear and out the other. I
will shoot for over 4 now so that I can try out some of the other races.
That said I must be one of the few people on the planet that actually likes
the Solstice! :)
RobP
Quoted text (35 lines)
> [email hidden] (Rob P) wrote: > >> When do promotions happen? > > If this was the iRacing forums I would say READ THE SPORTING CODE! But > for mere mortals unable to inwardly digest 40+ pages of verbose racing > bible (ie me and just about every other new iRacing driver ;-) Tony and > others have been busy spoon-feeding us this info. > > In another current thread Tony said... > >> You can drive any car you purchase in testing but not >> join any online sessions without the appropriate licence. > >> It will take a while to race the Radical though as this >> is in the fourth class. So you have to race the Solstice >> (Rookie), Skip Barber (Class D) and Mazda (Class C) >> before the Radical. > >> It will take 4 weeks to get promoted from Rookie and >> then 12 weeks to get promoted to the next class and >> so on. Although with a high enough Safety Rating (4 >> and above) you can "race up" to the next class. So you >> could hold a Class D licence and race in the Mazda if >> your Safety Rating is high enough. You can only race >> up one class though and need to wait for promotion >> at the end of the 12 weeks. > > In my case my only aim was to get to an SR of 4 as soon as possible so I > could get out of that poxy Solstice and into the Skippy. As long as I > stay over 4 I can race as a Rookie in the Skippy races, and that's where > I intend to stay. > > Andrew McP >You need a safety rating of 3.0 to move up and license progresion occurs at
the end of the 12 week "season".
Don
"Rob P" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:PPQpk.27688$[email hidden]...
Quoted text (35 lines)
> > > "Andrew MacPherson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... >> [email hidden] (DavErb) wrote: >> >>> There is much to be said for fixed setups :) >> >> Absolutely! Just not in the Solstice... the fixed setup Legend is a lot >> of fun though, and I wish it could be raced on road courses. >> >> I do like to tweak my brake bias though. I'm not cut out for a world >> where about 60% is 'normal'. Mine's back at 53 at the moment, which >> probably makes the car a bit too stable for fast cornering. Probably >> explains a lot. >> >> But so far I've been far more interested in staying safely on the track >> than being quick. I'm proud of my 4.99 SR, minimal tyre wear, and fuel >> economy. Apparently that doesn't get you a place on the podium though. >> >> No doubt when/if I lose my Rookie status and see my iRating I'll be >> shamed into taking a few more risks. I suspect I may be the first person >> to start D class with a negative figure. >> >> Andrew McP >> > > When do promotions happen? Is it every four weeks? And what kind of rating > do you need? Mine is currently 3.63 (took a battering after I collided > with cars that had spun off - then I tried to continue racing only to > discover that the car handled so badly I kept spinning off and getting > more points... Lesson learned...) - will this be enough or do I need to > shoot for a rating of 4 plus? > > RobP[email hidden] (Rob P) wrote:
> Lol I had read that post to, guess it went in one ear
> and out the other.
Now you know how I feel when I read the 40+ pages of the <snooze>
Sporting Code</snooze>. ;-)
Andrew McP
Wait till you hit VIR Full with the Mazda. It's kicking my ass right now :)
-Larry
"DavErb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
