iRacing after 2+ years

[kneebon5]

I have been a member of iRacing for a little over two years now, with 478 official races under my belt. (338 oval, 140 road) So far over the last two years iRacing has continued to grow and expand its racing, and is now reaching out around the world bringing us some of the best tracks outside of North America. The biggest expansion has been the Williams 2009 F1 car, which will be coming out in a few weeks and should offer some crazy races for all of the members through the next few years. If you have any questions feel free to ask, I really cant review every aspect of the sim off the top of my head, so this is just an overview of some new things that have come about. Im sure other OS'ers who are members can also add their thoughts.


The constant growth of iRacing is what has kept me around this long, and will continue to do so over the next however many years. Not only does the content keep expanding, but the cool little things like the World Tour, iRacingTV, inRacingNews.com, along with the broadcasts of the top series for both road and oval.


The World Tour events have been great fun. The first one I ran was the 2.4 hours of Daytona, racing the Riley Daytona Prototype. The race was a lot of fun, and the first single driver endurance race in iRacing. They also did the Daytona 500 and other NASCAR events through the year, but I did not take part in those. The second WT event I did was the Indy 500, I didnt actually race due to computer issues, but for a week I qualified trying to make the top 33 to get into the “main event”. Everyone outside of the top 33 still got to race the Indy 500 but the top (fastest) split was broadcast and where all the glory was. Working hours and hours trying to find the speed over a 4 lap average run was a lot of fun, and a lot of work, and it never failed that when I would go into an official Q, I never could back up my fastest practice time. The nerves just somehow got to me knowing a brush with the wall would end my attempt and I would have to wait 2 more hours until the next session.
The final WT event I ran was the Petit Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, which took place yesterday. A two hour event placing the Corvette and Mustang in a mixed class race. This was just an amazing event with the Vettes running 20 secs faster than the Mustang, all the Mustangs were racing against each other while watching the mirrors for Vettes who seemed to find you at all the wrong spots, but it was clean and very smart driving. The Vettes wouldnt force any issues, and the Mustangs would hold their lines to be more predictable for the faster cars. By the end of the race, the endurance part started to kick in, at least for me, my focus was lost and started making slight mistakes with braking zones. Even though I didnt finish in the top 3 of the Mustangs within my race, it still felt good to finish all 2 hours without a spin or any contact from another car.


iRacingTV and inRacingnews.com are a few new media sites iRacing has added to give members and people outside the service news and updates about the service. Both offer race reports and series reports through the seasons. It is a really cool thing to have. You can check them out here.


www.inracingnews.com
www.iracing.tv


Broadcasts of the top series, known to members as the DWC (Driver World Championships) have also been great to watch and see the drama unfold live. These are also recorded and can be seen here, along with some World Tour Events, and the Intel GP Series.


http://www.psrtv.com/archive/index.php


Along with all of these cool little things, iRacing has kept improving the service, and membership has grown to over 9000 active drivers a month, and over 20000 total members. The new Williams F1 will be great, along with that we are getting a right and left hand drive Mazda MX-5 Miata (will be free) which will replace the Solstice as the rookie car on the road side. Later this year iRacing will replace the Advanced Legend with a Street Stock (will be free) that Dale Jr. owns.
With these cars new tracks will also be coming out. All but 3 tracks of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be in the service by the end of the month (Kansas, California, and Kentucky are not in yet). Road Courses being worked on over the next year will include, New Jersey Motorsports Park, Twin Ring Motegi, Okayama International Circuit (will be free), Oran Park Raceway, Oulton Park, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Suzuka Circuit, Tsukuba Circuit, Circuit Zolder.


Current Content Available. Red is Free

Oval Cars


600 Racing Legends Ford '34 Coupe Oval rookie
Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Late Model Oval class D
SK Modified (Modified racing) Oval class D
Tour Modified (Whelen Modified Tour) Oval class C
Chevrolet Silverado (Camping World Truck Series) Oval class C
C&R Racing Silver Crown (USAC) Oval class B
Chevrolet Impala SS (Nationwide Series) Oval class B
Chevrolet Impala SS (Sprint Cup) Oval class A

Road Course Cars


Pontiac Solstice Road rookie
Spec Racer Ford Road rookie
Ford Mustang FR500S Road class D
Skip Barber Formula 2000 Road class D
Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Road class D
Ford Falcon FG01 V8 Supercar Road class C
Star Mazda Road class C
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 Road class B
Lotus 79 Road class B
Radical SR8 V8 Road class B
Riley Technologies Daytona Prototype Road class B
Dallara IndyCar Road class A *races half oval half road


Tracks


Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, Georgia Oval, Roval
Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama 3 Road courses
Brands Hatch West Kingsdown, Kent 2 Road courses
Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tennessee Oval (Day and Night)
Chicagoland Speedway Joliet, Illinois Oval
Centripetal Circuit Fictional Skid pad
Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte, North Carolina Oval, Roval
Concord Motorsport Park Concord, North Carolina Oval
Darlington Raceway Darlington, South Carolina Oval
Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Oval, Roval
Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida Oval, 2 Rovals
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Oval, 2 Rovals
Infineon Raceway Sonoma, California 4 Road courses
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California Road course
Lanier National Speedway Braselton, Georgia Oval
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada Oval, 2 Infield Road courses
Lime Rock Park Lime Rock, Connecticut Road course
Martinsville Speedway Martinsville, Virginia Oval
Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan Oval
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Troy Township, Ohio Road course
Milwaukee Mile Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Oval
Mosport International Raceway Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada Road course
New Hampshire Motor Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Oval, 3 Rovals
Oxford Plains Speedway Oxford, Maine Oval
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia Road course
Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona Oval, Roval
Pocono Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Oval, 4 Rovals
Richmond International Raceway Richmond, Virginia Oval (Day and Night)
Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Road course
Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia 3 Road courses
Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida 3 Road courses
Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, Northamptonshire 5 Road courses
South Boston Speedway South Boston, Virginia Oval
Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford Springs, Connecticut Oval
Summit Point Motorsports Park Summit Point, West Virginia 3 Road courses
Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas Oval, Infield Road course
Talladega Superspeedway Talladega County, Alabama Oval
Thompson International Speedway Thompson, Connecticut Oval
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Irwindale, California Oval
USA International Speedway Lakeland, Florida Oval
Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia 6 Road courses
Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York 2 Road courses
Circuit Park Zandvoort Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands 4 Road courses

[Lakers 24 7]

I'm a huge iRacing fan as well, so it's pretty cool to see the game getting some love here at OS. This is a very informative post and pretty much covers everything that's great about iRacing. Overall, I think they deliver the best MP experience out of any genre. There's just nothing else that feels as official or authentic of a competition as iRacing does.

The potential that this game has is absolutely enormous, however for this type of game to really work it needs to have an extremely large and active user base, larger than it is right now even. Personally my favorite cars on there is the V8 Super Car and the Corvette, both of which suffer from inactivity. I really hope things in those two particular series pickup, but with even more series on the way it seems like that will make things even more fragmented unfortunately. So personally while I love the game, considering the monthly fee and cost of tracks and cars I'm going to hold off on it for a bit. I might get back into it though once they release the new tire model, I'm very interested in seeing how the new model will compare to netKar's, whether or not it'll surpass it.

Definitely a good game and worth checking out for anyone interested in sim racing. Also, you'll find some great promos for it here http://simracing-news.blogspot.com/p...romotions.html

[kneebon5]

Forgot to mention one of the biggest things that went on this year.

Wyatt Gooden got a real world ride in the VW Jetta TDi Cup by winning the virtual championship on iRacing in the Jetta. He ended up winning 2 races, and was rookie of the year and finished 3rd overall. He did have prior experince in karting and a skip barber school, but it was good to see him do so well, and represent iRacing.

Wyatt Gooden Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXDYH4br3TY

They also brought Greger Huttu over to the US, if you dont know who Greger is, he is the best sim racer in the world. We are not sure what he got to do, but Top Gear Magazine and I think 3 Wide Life is going to be covering what he did while he was over here.

Other Videos worth watching:

NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship Final Race Promo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic750-nJoYg

Info about iRacing's laser scanning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcqLEIE8MBk

[RunN1st]

Man! This is all awesome stuff, Kneebon! I'm just not sold on the purchase/subscription model they have implemented. Bottom line, for me it's not worth the investment. You never really own anything (tracks or cars).

They would probably have had me on day 1 if they allowed us to at least race offline for free but with no AI what's the point, right. I've gradually excepted that I'm not a sim racer and I think I'm ok with that since I'm having more fun than ever in my own arcade/sim way.

I'm hearing rumors that rFactor will follow the same subscription idea and if that's the case, I'll be alienated from following them along as well.

Don't get me wrong, if I had money to throw around I would throw their way. Until then, I'll keep my rFactor, NR2003, Race, GTR 2, and others up to date and freely race with my friends for free, when we want to and where we want to without feeling we are being milked.

[superjames1992]

Quote: Originally Posted by RunN1st

I've gradually excepted that I'm not a sim racer and I think I'm ok with that since I'm having more fun than ever in my own arcade/sim way.

Last Saturday night comes to mind...

Oh, wait, we weren't supposed to talk about that, we were?

[Perfect Zero]

I've dabbled in iRacing, and I love the concept. The only problem for me (and it's a big one) is that there is nothing for the console. My laptop isn't made for gaming, and I've become a console only gamer. If there was a way to play through my PS3, I'd be on in a heartbeat.

[av7]

Nice write up Nick, didn't think you'd show up again around here.

The one thing I lost interest in was the broadcasts, 20 minute advertising and the mix of not liking any of the drivers because of their forum posting habits.

I haven't been around the iRacing forums/races lately, what class is the Willaims going to be? Wish I had time to race the Mustang

[kneebon5]

Sounds like the Williams is going to be the A class Road, but they may also put a fixed setup series in for D-B. But im not sure. I am going up to Boston in two weeks to the open house, so Im sure I will find out more then, if they havnt said anything in the forums yet.