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Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2012
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I really suck! I cannot drive consistently at all!

All the cars are super unstable for me. I cannot do more than a few laps without losing the rear under braking or downshifting.

I've moved brake bias forward, im blipping throttle on the down shift, nothing is helping. im not even trying to go fast, im no where near 100%

I did a race in the fixed GT3 with the McLaren and I just cant downshift as fast as everyone else (going by the replays) 8inc and last of the runners.

I just drove round on my own, wasn't very fun tbh

Starting with the hardest GT3 to drive probably doesn't help. :p
The GT3's blip for you so no need for that. As skill said, you don't gradually come down the gears in the GT3. Get hard on the brakes and bang down the gears as fast as possible. They stop so quickly that the gearbox shouldn't go into protection mode by you trying to go down gears too quickly. Macca is tail happy as it is and fixed sets aren't great. Maybe try the AMG for now which is bit more stable or the the Ferrari?
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2012
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9,852
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South Wales
Had another race in the GT3. faired a lot better. 1 inc and 12th with a no.11 car. I'm fairly happy with that as i'm massively over ranked.

Leaving the throttle on 15% while braking fixed almost everything.

I watch the replay of 1st placed, ovbs very good (8000+ ir) is there a way of watching his input? or a telemetry app?
No way of seeing other people's inputs unless they film the lap or or give you data. It is useful to see those sort of people's laps but they have to be taken with a pinch of salt. They are called aliens for a reason, you can't replicate their lines, braking pionts etc. without losing control of the car. I wouldn't leave any throttle input while braking in the GT3s to be honest. You don't gain anything for it and it's just a possible cause of instability.
 
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Associate
Joined
27 Dec 2008
Posts
752
I wouldn't leave any throttle input while braking in the GT3s to be honest. You don't gain anything for it and it's just a possible cause of instability.
I think you might have misunderstood, if I don't do the in the McLaren GT3 on hard braking, the car is super unstable. Going around sunset on Sebring is a nightmare if I don't.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Apr 2009
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2,191
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Birmingham
Haven't played iRacing since 2015, but slowly getting back into Sim racing.

Any recommendations for first car/track purchases as i only had the stock package first time round.
 
Soldato
Joined
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9,852
Location
South Wales
Haven't played iRacing since 2015, but slowly getting back into Sim racing.

Any recommendations for first car/track purchases as i only had the stock package first time round.

Best thing to do is plan ahead. Download the schedule of the series you want to run and have a look at what tracks it's running. If your going for scatter gun approach of cars/tracks that are in the most series.
GT3 (BMW M4, Lambo) are in all GT3 races as well as IMSA. GTEs (488 + RSR) that are in are IMSA + the European endurance thing. Tracks wise, Spa, daytona, Road America, Hockenhiem is new so will crop up a lot.
Depending of what you want to do (not sure if you have graduated from rookies yet) There's a fixed D class, TCR or Ferrari GT3 series. Both cars will be used higher up the ladder as well as in special events. I'd always recommend the skippy starting out though, it's a good car to learn in.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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7,005
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Melksham
^^^ What 'e said basically :p

Skippy is good fun, I think they have a certain number of free tracks and keep tracks in rotation for 3(?) seasons in a row to try to reduce costs. And there are races every hour with plenty of people so splits etc.

I find the GT3/GT4 very different to drive though, struggled to get into the GT4 and kinda gone back into a lull of not doing anything, partially due to lack of time to practice. Should probably jump back to the skippy for the familiarity/less need to practice... But the main point is if you hang around and get good in the skippy you might find yourself in the 'wrong' splits and struggling to get the pace in other cars, but I guess that happens across the board really.
 
Associate
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But the main point is if you hang around and get good in the skippy you might find yourself in the 'wrong' splits and struggling to get the pace in other cars, but I guess that happens across the board really.
My irating is dreadful so it's not a problem for me but can't see why there is not a separate rating for each car. Would make it much easier to chop and change cars.
 
Soldato
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South Wales
My irating is dreadful so it's not a problem for me but can't see why there is not a separate rating for each car. Would make it much easier to chop and change cars.

I think they need to hide irating and keep it behind the scenes. You shouldn't worry about irating, just race what you want to race (as long as your a safe drive in that car).
It's easy to get too focused on IR (we have all done it at times), it's just a tool for sorting splits.
 
Associate
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I think they need to hide irating and keep it behind the scenes. You shouldn't worry about irating, just race what you want to race (as long as your a safe drive in that car).
It's easy to get too focused on IR (we have all done it at times), it's just a tool for sorting splits.
Good advice. Its my first proper season and am at the stage where my SR is not bad (SR3.2) but irating is low as quite often end up coming off track (without crashing) and finishing way down the pack. All good fun though and am finding VRS really helpful in these early stages.
 
Soldato
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it is difficult when your first starting to be fair. Not only are you still finding your feet but everyone else around you is too in both race craft and just staying on the track. I've seen some advise for newer racers to start at the back and just lap, I don't agree with that myself. You will end up getting up higher splits not being able to race well with others, either end up losing loads of positions or being unsafe around traffic.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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7,005
Location
Melksham
I think they need to hide irating and keep it behind the scenes. You shouldn't worry about irating, just race what you want to race (as long as your a safe drive in that car).
It's easy to get too focused on IR (we have all done it at times), it's just a tool for sorting splits.

But that's kinda the point, it's no fun for me, or the other drivers, if my 'high' iRating based purely off Skippy driving puts me in the top split of GT4's where I'm maybe a second off the pace, I don't get a good race and I'm taking a spot from someone who 'deserves' it more...

I don't really care about winning or not but if I'm just trundling round at the back it gets a bit boring... and if I let it drop to GT4 level then if/when I jump back to the Skippy I'll probably be a split or two lower and potentially winning unfairly...
 
Associate
Joined
22 Apr 2009
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Birmingham
Had my first race last night, MX5 at Ocran Raceway (think thats what it was).

Qualified 3rd, which in hindsight was a mistake as the three front runners (myself included) were wiped out going into the first hairpin. That left me in 12 place on Lap one but i manage to battle my way back up to 3rd over the next 10 laps and still had a positive increase on license/safety rating.
 
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Associate
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22 Apr 2009
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2,191
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Birmingham
Thats the one, a very weird track which i found hard to find a groove.

My fastest lap was a 1m19.50 and my average laptime was 1.20.100 so at least i was consisten despite being 1 second off the pace from the fastest two.

After watching a few videos i think i know where i'm losing time.
 
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Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2012
Posts
9,852
Location
South Wales
But that's kinda the point, it's no fun for me, or the other drivers, if my 'high' iRating based purely off Skippy driving puts me in the top split of GT4's where I'm maybe a second off the pace, I don't get a good race and I'm taking a spot from someone who 'deserves' it more...

I don't really care about winning or not but if I'm just trundling round at the back it gets a bit boring... and if I let it drop to GT4 level then if/when I jump back to the Skippy I'll probably be a split or two lower and potentially winning unfairly...

If it's going to be splitting IR even more, I think maybe via car class would be a bit better?
One IR for all GT3s, then one for GTEs etc?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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7,005
Location
Melksham
If it's going to be splitting IR even more, I think maybe via car class would be a bit better?
One IR for all GT3s, then one for GTEs etc?

Yeah, definitely class rather than per-car, I kinda use/think of them interchangeably which is wrong, it makes no sense for different GT3 cars to have different iRating, and those class based iRatings can be applied across series obviously as well.
 
Associate
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13 Jan 2018
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Anyone try the formula vee yet. I am moving house this week so have not been able to. On the face of it seems like nice addition to free content.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2004
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Oxfordshire
So I've finally taken the plunge and stepped in to the world of iRacing, took advantage of the Black Friday offer.

I've pretty much played F1 2020 and 2021 since sim racing, with the odd lap on Assetto Corsa.

Where should I start? I wanted to get in to iRacing, mainly because I could never enjoy F1 online as the lobbies are so damn toxic, and any good racing you might do is rewarded by a salty player shunting you off at any opportunity. So I figured iRacing would be a good way in to online racing.

At the moment, I'm basically just getting used to the physics and driving with the free MX-5 on Oulton Park, slowly getting to grips with it and putting in some solid times. But what would you guys recommend in terms of tracks and cars to buy? I'm a Mercedes fanboy so eyeing up the AMG GT3, as it's what I'd use on AC when doing the Nürburgring, but is that a case of running before I can walk?

And how soon should I leave it before actually doing a race online? Should I just stick with AI for a while until I'm decent? Or will it match me with newbies if I try and race online? I don't want to be that annoying guy who's all over the place and getting in peoples way so I want to be at a decent standard

Also, the force feedback on this game is nuts, so used to the fairly tame FF of F1, that when I went straight in to iRacing and had my crash, my DD1 damn near took my arms off :D have set that properly now based on recommended settings, but it's still dangerous if you hit a barrier
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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15,177
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The land of milk & beans
Where should I start?
You have to start with the rookie MX5 series to get your D licence, assuming you're doing circuit racing. I'm not sure if it's still the case, as I've not been a member for a few years now, but this used to run on the free circuits so you shouldn't need to buy anything. Remember that to improve your licence you need to be safe (ie, not go off track, spin or crash) not necessarily be the fastest. The mantra that 'rookie class only exists for you to get out of rookie class' is 100% true.

I'm a Mercedes fanboy so eyeing up the AMG GT3
The GT3 series are in C or B licence series, so you'll need to continue your license progression to that point. You can race the Ferrari GT3 in D licence though, but this will require buying the car and the tracks used for that series.

And how soon should I leave it before actually doing a race online? Should I just stick with AI for a while until I'm decent? Or will it match me with newbies if I try and race online?
Practice until you can do a race distance without falling off the circuit and then dive straight in to a race. The beauty of iRacing is that the iRating system will match you with people of your ability (as best it can for who's online). Just bear in mind that when you start out you'll be matched with other newbies, so the quality of competition won't necessarily be great and you can still have issues with wreckers. Just keep as safe as you can and treat every other car like the back end of a horse and you should be out of rookies in 5-10 races.
 
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