iRacing

[Cam]

If I didn't hope for the best, I would never race.

[Yobbo NZ]

I joined Cam in one of those GT3 at ovals races.
Turns out if you join their session, you seem to enter practice and that's it.

I had a great week 13 Porsche cup race at Spa, started near the back, got through the usual crashes for 2-3 laps and ended up 8th I think.
I've been hesitant to enter an official one due to the amount of chaos in them.
But it seems consistent and cautious does work in that car.

Tried out the new Hyundai TRC car, feels rather pedestrian, almost like it has half the power it should. Maybe it's just the way they are....
Still, could be a fun series if the MX5 suicide drivers don't come over.

[Cam]

If you want to join the same race as a friend, you pretty much have to agree ahead of time which session you are going to join. Even if you register at the same time for the same race, you may not end up in the same split due to iRating and number of participants.

[Yobbo NZ]

Ah ok.
Knockhill is a cool track, getting great 90s BTCC vibes while smashing over curbs here.

[Yobbo NZ]

Just did a TCR race at Knockhill, holy hell it's fun.
Lapped traffic is intense and dodging accidents the same.
Qualified 3rd, up to 2nd by the first corner and held that till the end.
This series should take off now if they have short tracks like this.

[Cam]

Cool.

Tried a couple more oval races. No surprise, got wrecked.

[Cam]

Yep, just can't finish an oval race. It's just people doing stupid shit too. Griefers are abundant this week.

Good news, my Cam-gets-wrecked rate in official series went from 75-80% down below 30% overall this season. In the first 2/3rds of the season, it was like 25%, but the last several weeks were kind of bad.

I've just been looking through the upcoming season schedule. I am going to attempt a full season in the same series, for the most part, except one. I am replacing IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Formula Renault 2.0. I seem to do better in the open-wheelers.

RWA, you might be happy to know that I am going to buy an oval track, Atlanta Motor Speedway, but not for racing oval. It's for iRX. A side-effect is that I can use it in IndyCar. ...Or maybe Iowa, or both.

[Rare White Ape]

Atlanta is fun! It has an older surface so there’s plenty of bumps on the turns, and you gotta wheel it pretty hard to be fast. Run low early in the race, then as the tyres wear pick the top-top groove and pass everyone on the outside.

Last race I did there was a crash and everyone pitted under yellow for fresh rubber with 10 to go. That threw the top groove strategy out the window and it was an 8-lap disco party to the chequered. I passed four cars by running 2nd groove and stomping the throttle early, exiting 2 and 4 each lap with the rear tyres gently spinning. One guy behind had the same idea as me and followed my lines and waited until I’d cleared the four victims before attempting to pass me, but I was faster than him.

I don’t know if rallycross will provide those same thrills

[Cam]

Says the guy who doesn't like iRX. It has been my experience that oval racing is not thrilling. :shrug:

[Cam]

I got my first dirt oval win. I did a few start-from-the-back races to try to increase my dirt oval SR with mixed success. Soooo many drivers are wrecking or otherwise driving really unpredictably. I said to myself that I need to get in higher splits to get away from the noobs. I was the lowest-rated driver in the room. I actually tried in qualifying and started on pole. I led flag-to-flag, despite having to dodge cars left and right, high and low. Luckily, I only got 2x from the whole thing. Alas, with an A-license, you pretty much need to get 0x in a race to increase your SR. However, I got what I think is my highest iRating increase from a single race, +102. It was not thrilling. It was stressful.