Back on iRacing

"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
09/08/2013 at 23:40 • Filed to: iracing

Nothing like being welcomed back to iRacing after a 3 month hiatus with a nice revenge crash. I might have been a bit provocative, but still. Glad to be back in the saddle, at least. Already have more raw speed then when I last left off, just no consistency yet.

DISCUSSION (16)

ddavidn > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/09/2013 at 00:59

I can't wait to get back into it. Two weeks of iRacing, one month break...

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/09/2013 at 09:58

Just got into iRacing. I'm hoping it's as great as everyone says :)

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > DocWalt
09/09/2013 at 13:20

It absolutely is. Rookie league can be tough to work through just because there are so many yahoos, but it's a lot of fun once you're out and the quality ramps up.

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/09/2013 at 14:28

For now, I'll consider myself one of those yahoos. I haven't put together too many consistently fast laps yet.

Any tips on improving consistency?

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > DocWalt
09/09/2013 at 15:08

Most people (including myself) start out as yahoos. Speed isn't important in the rookie series, staying clean is, because clean racing is how you increase your rating to get out of the rookie league.

As far as consistency goes, that's all about practice. Forget about racing and qualifying, just get out there in practice sessions. Mix it up with other racers in practice sessions; practice sessions don't affect your rating, so mistakes don't mean anything. Get out there and try to race around/near the other guys that are on track during the practice session. Get behind them, see where they're braking and the lines they're taking, try and stick with them.

Also, go find the leaderboard for the track that you're racing at that week, find the top guys and watch their replays. Compare and contrast their styles/braking points, and get a feel for what an ideal lap would look like for you.

Keep your in-car data display set to 'relative' and keep an eye on your position relative to the guys in front of you and behind. If you think you've nailed a corner, look down and see if you're gaining time on the guy in front of you as you come out, and vice versa for if you think you've boofed a corner.

The biggest help in the newest update is that they have the real-time lap-by-lap comparison/optimal lap thing on the left-hand side of the screen. That wasn't there when I was first getting going on iRacing 3 months ago, and it has been a HUGE help since I've dropped back in. It's really great to be able to see where you're fast, where you're slow, which lines are quicker and get instant feedback on each corner. Really a big fan of that new tool.

But really, just get out there and practice. When you feel like you're no longer making progress and getting faster in a session, stop racing. Go look at replays or just get off the computer/iracing altogether and do something else. When you come back after a few hours/a day/however long, I can almost guarantee that you'll be faster immediately.

Do a race or two a week, if you have the time, along with a qualifying session or two a week, but spend a lot of time in practice sessions; races/qualifying are for when you're feeling comfortable with where you're at. Once you get to racing regularly, my biggest advice is just to not push too much at the start. Let everyone else sort their mess out. Try and get a good launch, but try and immediately find a comfortable, non-busy portion of track to put yourself in position to make it through turns 1, 2, and 3 without anything catastrophic happening. Make it clean through that first lap and you've pretty much guaranteed yourself a top 10 as guys will be all over the place. Treat it like a real race and give people room if you don't think you can hold them off any longer, don't try any stupid passes, and race like you want to be raced.

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/09/2013 at 15:51

Thank you for the tips! I greatly appreciate the help. I'm hoping to get comfortable enough to drive around with other people in a practice tonight.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > DocWalt
09/09/2013 at 17:09

Dive in, man! You won't be as bad as you think, for starters, people are pretty understanding in practices (especially if you apologize via chat), for another, and the only way to really get used to the feeling of being in traffic is being in traffic (once you're comfortable with the physics).

Brad Parker2 is my handle on iRacing, shoot me a friend request. I assume you're hanging out in the Miata Cup. I won't be on tonight, but I should be getting some time in later this week, so hit me up and I'll try to hop in a practice session with you.

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/09/2013 at 23:17

Yeah, I'm hanging out in the Miata cup. I had a great race earlier tonight. I qualified first, started from the pitlane and ending up navigating through some wrecks, and some very close calls (another driver's mistake, and one of my own) to finish first. A bit of a surprise, really. There was a fellow racer who was putting up a challenge from behind until he got stuck in traffic. Newbie question time: how do I enter an open practice session?

I added you, my account name is Kenneth Houseal.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > DocWalt
09/10/2013 at 09:05

Very nice, sounds like you're well on your way! Next to the qualifying tab there's a practice tab, and you just select one of the sessions.

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/10/2013 at 10:06

I'll take a look when I get home. Thanks again for the advice. Now I just need to drive around and pace myself off of other cars, I didn't have much opportunity for that in my race.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > DocWalt
09/10/2013 at 10:09

Shoot, no need to worry about that if you're going pole to pole!

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/10/2013 at 10:55

I'm not nearly fast enough to do that once I'm out of the Miata though ;) I tooled around in the CTS-V and it felt easier to drive everywhere except hard braking where I proceeded to back it into the wall at a high rate of speed, haha.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > DocWalt
09/10/2013 at 10:57

Which wheel/pedal combo are you using? I'm using a Logitech DFGT, and I think the pedals are one of the big things holding me back. Just don't have any confidence and kind of have to mash the brake pedal to the floor and hope for the best, lol. I need to pick up some Fanatech pedals at some point.

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/10/2013 at 11:10

Just a bone stock G27. The pedals are ok, but there's not much feel. I'm really limited by the arrangement of my desk, so I think that will be the next thing to change.

Those fanatech pedals sure are tempting though...

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > DocWalt
09/10/2013 at 11:12

I had a chance to jump on a set about 6 months ago for $50 but I forgot about the ebay auction after seeing it initially. I've been pretty upset with myself ever since.

DocWalt > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
09/10/2013 at 11:33

That would have been a steal! I'm tempted to try the Bodnar Box to see if it actually improves the feel of the pedals I already have.