So due to a few members on here playing iRacing and me wanting to give it a shot, I figure ill post my impressions of iRacing.
Other than the occasional Solstice race most of my time has been spent making those tricky left hand turns, must be the redneck in me.
First off let me say that the $14 a month and the need to have to purchase new cars/tracks for $11.95 a piece when you want to move up to another class may make you turn away from this game, it shouldn’t, its worth every penny IMO.
So starting off you get the Pontiac Solstice, legends oval car and the Ford SCCA Racer. Depending on how much you race and how comfortable you are with your abilities in game it can take anywheres from a week to a month to get yourself even ready to move up to another class.
The game and the people you play with is all set around a Safety rating and an iRating, the safety rating being a rating based on your ability to drive without spinning out, contacting the wall hard or taking out other drivers. To move up to another class you have to have a good safety rating. IIRC most classes require you to stay above a 3.0 Safety rating which well isnt really difficult if your a clean aware driver. Off the bat you start with a 2.5 Safety rating. Depending on how clean you raced or not it could drop significantly or go up by a few points, twice thou I’ve randomly gotten +.44 SR point, not sure what thats about.
Your iRating is also based somewhat on the same principal it seems, the cleaner the races the more your iRating goes up, also where you position, if your laps down if any etc. and vice versa it will go down if you have a rough race, are laps down etc.
When you first start out you cant see your iRating as a rookie, and well obviously you start off with a lower irating so you may get paired with some fuckwads who dont know how to run a clean race, in the beggining it may be very frustrting but once you get your rating up in get into better race groups the racing is as fun as can be
The cars feel awesome, every car has its own unique feel and handling characteristics. For those of you who were thinking redneck at the beggining when i first stated most time was spent on ovals, let me tell you that when you get into advanced legends as a rookie when you can start setting up the car… then onto SK Modifides and Late models, its a whole different ball game, its acctualy quite difficult to keep a good line, stay fast and stay straight, more so than any other oval game i’ve played. My arms are a little sore after a race, most people seem to leave their force feedback down, I like “more realism” so I leave mine up and well your constantly fighting it just like you would in a real car.
Also I feel that the oval track racing is much more fun, while bettering your lap times in road racing is rewarding, the racing at least on a rookie level is no where near as accelerating and fun as oval racing, its a constant battle, aggresive driving etc… make for a hell of a fun race
The community is awesome, I’ve met a lot of cool guys racing, people that have no issue BSing with you before a race, giving you some tips if your not a seasoned driver even sharing some of their setups if you dont think yours is good. Ive made a lot of good iRacing buddies that always make for a good race over the past week, they come in and talk to you as your friends around here would. When i won my first race in advanced legends everyone who I was friended with came into the next race, gave me a congrats etc.
This is honestly the most rewarding racing game i’ve played, between a good community, the need to get your ratings up to move and stay in a higher class, the mastering of a new vehicle when you move up etc just makes this game very rewarding compared to most other games ive played. If you love racing games and woudlent mind getting a little serious about one I’d deff check this game out.\
I’m sure im leaving some stuff out, its monday morning… and im tired