Tony
Staff member
I figured I would go ahead and make a thread about what happens in the iRacing game (simulator, holy crap don't call it a game lol). If you watched the live stream yesterday, you know that I'm looking for something else other than RC and I absolutely love racing. With that said though, I SUCK at iRacing at the moment lol.
When I got started, I knew I was not going to be able to go out and run with the best of them. I knew it was going to take time to get used to the cars and tracks, and being stuck in Rookie class doesn't help matters any. Knowing all of that, I figured I would start by testing the Street Stock on Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was the track that the rookies were running the first week I activated my subscription with iRacing.
After a few laps, I found my line and I decided it was time to push myself a little, and that is when I started running Time Trials, which DOES go against your iRating and Safety Rating if you crash. But, there are no cars on the track, so if you screw up, it's your fault!
The first time trial I ran I completed 25 laps and ended up gaining .04 on my iRating. I have absolutely no idea on safety rating since that is hidden from rookies. The second TT I ran I only gained .02 and then .03 for the last two. This put me up a bit on my iRating and I was feeling pretty good. So, I decided to enter my first race.
Hands sweaty, arms and legs getting that nervous shake, I love this feeling and know it will subside a bit once I know what to expect. I decided that I was going to go ahead and run practice and I was going to qualify for this first race. I can't remember how many cars there were in the field, but I qualified 6th. Talk about crappy qualifying lol. But, ran a clean race and ended up finishing 4th, which was two spots ahead of where I qualified. This helped out a LOT on my iRating.
From there, I decided to back that race up with another race the next hour, but this time, I decided to not practice and not qualify and guess what.... It cost me. Right at the green flag a dude spins, I go low to dodge him and get RAMMED in the rear bumper by another car. But, I was still going. Uneventful from there, just dodging a few wrecks here and there, that is until lap 9. On that lap, we were going down the back stretch and two cars get into it. I go WAY low to try to avoid them and one of them comes down into me. Boom, another 4x penalty. Ended up in the garage after that one getting a new engine and the car repaired. So in this race, I started 12th thanks to not qualifying and ended up 14th. I still gained iRating, but just not near enough.
From there I decided to go ahead and take the rest of the night off and the next day, it was time for a new track for the week. USA International in Lakeland Fl. This is a short track with very tight turns, lots of braking and you are going to get loose coming out of 2. I ran test after test on this thing, even doing ghost racing to see if I could keep up and there was no way in hell I was keeping up with these guys. They are driving this car into the corner deeper than I can and getting back on the gas way earlier than I can. But, I just kept practicing.
Two days of that and I decided today was the day I enter a race and see how things play out. I entered, did about 30 seconds of practice before it ended, and I did qualify. Horribly, but I did qualify and ended up in the 10th position out of a 17 car field. Not where I wanted to be, that's for sure. So we started the race and to my surprise this was one of the cleanest races I have ever seen at this track (yes, I got video, still need to edit it). I had to dodge a few wrecks but I was not looking to win, I was not looking to race anyone, I was just looking for experience at that track with other cars.
I did have a few contacts with other cars, but they were all 0x which doesn't count against me. At the end, I ended up finishing 11th, one spot down from where I qualified. I think next time I'm going to run a little slower in qualifying lol.
When I started this race, I had an iRating of 2.86. To my surprise, when I was finished with the race, I ended up with a 2.99! .01 away from GETTING THE HELL OUT OF THE ROOKIE CLASS! So I'm going to run one more race, get the license with a race and move on up to bigger and better things.
I will post video when I have it edited.
When I got started, I knew I was not going to be able to go out and run with the best of them. I knew it was going to take time to get used to the cars and tracks, and being stuck in Rookie class doesn't help matters any. Knowing all of that, I figured I would start by testing the Street Stock on Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was the track that the rookies were running the first week I activated my subscription with iRacing.
After a few laps, I found my line and I decided it was time to push myself a little, and that is when I started running Time Trials, which DOES go against your iRating and Safety Rating if you crash. But, there are no cars on the track, so if you screw up, it's your fault!
The first time trial I ran I completed 25 laps and ended up gaining .04 on my iRating. I have absolutely no idea on safety rating since that is hidden from rookies. The second TT I ran I only gained .02 and then .03 for the last two. This put me up a bit on my iRating and I was feeling pretty good. So, I decided to enter my first race.
Hands sweaty, arms and legs getting that nervous shake, I love this feeling and know it will subside a bit once I know what to expect. I decided that I was going to go ahead and run practice and I was going to qualify for this first race. I can't remember how many cars there were in the field, but I qualified 6th. Talk about crappy qualifying lol. But, ran a clean race and ended up finishing 4th, which was two spots ahead of where I qualified. This helped out a LOT on my iRating.
From there, I decided to back that race up with another race the next hour, but this time, I decided to not practice and not qualify and guess what.... It cost me. Right at the green flag a dude spins, I go low to dodge him and get RAMMED in the rear bumper by another car. But, I was still going. Uneventful from there, just dodging a few wrecks here and there, that is until lap 9. On that lap, we were going down the back stretch and two cars get into it. I go WAY low to try to avoid them and one of them comes down into me. Boom, another 4x penalty. Ended up in the garage after that one getting a new engine and the car repaired. So in this race, I started 12th thanks to not qualifying and ended up 14th. I still gained iRating, but just not near enough.
From there I decided to go ahead and take the rest of the night off and the next day, it was time for a new track for the week. USA International in Lakeland Fl. This is a short track with very tight turns, lots of braking and you are going to get loose coming out of 2. I ran test after test on this thing, even doing ghost racing to see if I could keep up and there was no way in hell I was keeping up with these guys. They are driving this car into the corner deeper than I can and getting back on the gas way earlier than I can. But, I just kept practicing.
Two days of that and I decided today was the day I enter a race and see how things play out. I entered, did about 30 seconds of practice before it ended, and I did qualify. Horribly, but I did qualify and ended up in the 10th position out of a 17 car field. Not where I wanted to be, that's for sure. So we started the race and to my surprise this was one of the cleanest races I have ever seen at this track (yes, I got video, still need to edit it). I had to dodge a few wrecks but I was not looking to win, I was not looking to race anyone, I was just looking for experience at that track with other cars.
I did have a few contacts with other cars, but they were all 0x which doesn't count against me. At the end, I ended up finishing 11th, one spot down from where I qualified. I think next time I'm going to run a little slower in qualifying lol.
When I started this race, I had an iRating of 2.86. To my surprise, when I was finished with the race, I ended up with a 2.99! .01 away from GETTING THE HELL OUT OF THE ROOKIE CLASS! So I'm going to run one more race, get the license with a race and move on up to bigger and better things.
I will post video when I have it edited.
