Is it just me, or has iRacing been feeling more like bumper cars recently? I haven’t been playing iRacing for too long, so I’m curious about others’ perspectives, but recently it’s felt like the driving standard of those competing, even in higher splits, has dramatically dropped. I’m constantly competing with people using others as brakes for corners, taking out half the pack in like the first or second lap when acting like a hero makes zero sense. Granted I’m not the fastest out there but it feels like people’s common sense to back out of a manuaver or willingness to take a corner 3 wide without changing speed or breaking zones has dramatically increased as of late. Just wanted to see what others takes are. Maybe I’m just getting to sucked in as of late and letting little shit affect me, but it’s killed a lot of fun these past couple weeks. Maybe the lower splits just had more people focused on learning the craft vs people on higher splits thinking they are max verstappen, idk.
Mostly it’s just lower splits
Vern on the forums has done a pretty decent analysis and it pretty much comes out that incident rates haven’t changed much between pre-covid and post-covid racing.
Certain series are particularly bad though. F4, GR86 and Fixed Ferrari are all some of the series with the highest number of incidents.
Certain series are particularly bad though. F4, GR86 and Fixed Ferrari are all some of the series with the highest number of incidents.
I finally just started f4 after buying some tracks and it’s been what I have been primarily racing in, maybe this could actually explain a bit. As I haven’t been on the service for more than a couple months I don’t really have anything to go on pre covid race craft. Maybe I should try out more of the ff1600 d ranked series instead till I get a higher license class. Thanks for the insight
F4 is definitely the problem. Everyone tends to drive that car like they’re Max Verstappen and live by the words of Senna.
Race what you want, you’ll learn a lot about the art of avoidance in F4 and if you can keep it clean you’ll get a good amount of iRating. Id really advise against license chasing. I did it and now I’m right back where I started with 1.5k iR and a lot of practice needed in slower cars.
Fair enough, I probably need to give myself more seat time in the f4 so I can get a better grasp on how the aero affects my grip levels and car balance so when those oh shit moments crop up I’m not locking up and sending myself into a wall to avoid it and can instead better capitalize on those mistakes for my own benefit and make up more positions. Gonna stick with the f4 for now and just get the high down force fundamentals more dialed in, I’m sure once I start getting a grasp on the aero affects more intuitively instead of being so reactionary I’ll be more than happy to see all the others crash out and give me free positions haha
Vern the iR Forum patron saint :D
Much better than some of the other regulars
Best,
BURN
Since COVID it has been a bit more rough in terms of race craft. i dont think its gotten worse since then but if you competed before COVID you would notice a huge difference.
I haven’t competed before covid but as someone else pointed out f4 has one of the highest incident counts and I just finally made the plunge to buy some maps and have been maining that series which could explain the difference I’m seeing from the higher split ff1600 series. Might just play in the ff1600 d ranked series until I’m at a higher license level for now. Thanks for the insight, though
It is definitely possible to have clean races in most categories, but it depends on the class. I did a GR86 race the other day and was shunted off in lap1 by an overly aggressive fellow who bumpdrafts in corners. The next race was GT4 at Suzuka and I finished with no incs and good fights. Both were around 1700ir SoF and me in midfield positions. Driving standards haven’t changed much since I started using iR 4 years ago.
Now, with the changes to grass and damage repairs, maybe we’ll see less offtracks resulting in bowling strikes as people can actually slow down and steer a bit on the green stuff now. And repairs prioritize mechanical damage over aero.
The common factor is you. keep your heads up and nose out of trouble, learn to read the field and consider what fights are worth it and what areas of the track is prone to accidents. If something happens up ahead, brake and move predictably until you see a clear path through.
The common factor is you.
Yeah, I have been working on my car control a lot more for high downforce cars as I started with more gt style sims before going for the fia f4 now I have my d license. Upon reflection I think I just need to be more intuitive for the differences here as I tended to off track myself after reacting to other drivers mistakes, breaking before trying to swerve when a lift probably would have been better. Making sure to trail throttle a bit more to keep momentum up for passing, I still catch myself trying to trail break where a partial lift would have served me better.
I did a GR86 race the other day and was shunted off in lap1 by an overly aggressive fellow who bumpdrafts in corners.
Yeah, shit like that is what’s given me a bad taste for that series. I can drive clean and get around fine but it’s those inconsistent moments that have left a sour taste in my mouth. I’ve been getting into the scca spec racer and while participation is a bit lacking compared to the gr86 series, the driving standards seem to be miles apart and I’ve been having fun clean races so that’s a plus.
Now, with the changes to grass and damage repairs, maybe we’ll see less offtracks resulting in bowling strikes as people can actually slow down and steer a bit on the green stuff now. And repairs prioritize mechanical damage over aero.
Haven’t gotten a chance yet to drive with the new changes but from the little I saw it looks like such a night and day difference, should be able to play a bit tonight to see how it all works out now.
