I'm close to making the move to iRacing and need to know, for certain, whether they have kept it a haven for people who want to race (not wreck). I've done some online racing (mostly Forza 3) and while there is the occasional good experience, for the most part it is unsatisfying as a learning tool. Do they offer "exclusive" races for SCCA/NASA/PCA racers?

My main goal is to get familiar with tracks I may visit in the future, and to stay sharp (concentration/intensity) between real world races.

I've seen some negative iRacing videos on YouTube but that may not be representative.

 

iRacing is really clean actually. They use a Safety Rating point system that ensure's that everyone at least attempts to be on their best behavior. As in real racing, that doesn't always work out, but the races aren't usually wreckfests.

As for exclusive races, you can setup leagues and private races quite easily. I'm not privy to all the different ones out there, but we host one every week for our customers (and F-chat users). You are more than welcome to join us! Patrick Long is racing with us this week

 

Best out there Greg, and by far the most accurate tracks. Still no NJMP but I hear it's in the works. If EA ever gives up the exclusive rights to Porsche i'm sure you will see a 911 Cup and/or RSR in there but for now plenty of different types including SRF.

 

Give it a try. It's pretty cool

 

Greg,
I used to work for them and I can honestly say that it is a clean sim. They do not tolerate people crashing other people for kicks. You will enjoy it a great deal.

 

Dont' expect the SRF to behave like it does in real life. At least with what you'd call normal settings. I had the wildest setup to make it handle pretty close. Not sure how much it's changed with the new release out but I can't imagine they got it back to reality.

As for learning courses it's as good as anything out there. You can get the rhythm down. Especially in the SRF where you can run lap times pretty similar to real life without too much work. It helped immensely when I did the Road Atlanta pro race last year.

 

And Joe is wild to run with in the TDI's too! I'm in the Purple car in P2....

 

I recently bought a vision racer and Porsche wheel w/ clubsport pedals. Currently I have it set-up on Playstation 3. I'd like to get RFactor and iRacing but I'm an all MAC guy. Any suggestions on using that platform? I hate the idea of having a dedicated computer for that... My only other option is to go w/ a used CPU.

 

New(er) Mac? Simply use their Parallels or Boot Camp program and run in Win7.

 

iRacing is pretty clean. Any people who purposely wreck are usually flushed out of the game pretty fast. Now you will get into wrecks in iRacing races. Some people drive above their skill levels and lose control of their cars. But it's not like they were purposely trying to wreck. They just wrecked because they exceeded their limits.

iRacing turned into iPractice for me (LOL). There are some talented sim races in iRacing and I am nothing more than a mid packer. I just do not have the time to dedicate to the game to be ultra competitive. But the cool thing about iRacing is they have private test sessions where you drive the track all by yourself. They have practice sessions where you do get to drive with others and you do not lose any Safety Rating points from incidents in the practice sessions. They also have time trial sessions where you are alone on the track and you do lose SRs for incidents. They have qualifying sessions where you lose SRs for incidents. On road course qualifying sessions you share the track with others, but ovals in qualifying you are alone on the track. And then there is racing where yes you lose SRs for all incidents in races.

I would say they are in the minority, but beware of the people who enter races without practicing first.

 

It's 2 yrs old. But again, if I need a newer system I'd still go the route of buying a New MAC over a PC simply dedicated for this.

Does anyone have experience going this route? Or perhaps system requirements, links to more help on the topic...

Here is my set-up..

 

Nice driv'n Barney

 

I would guess (as i'm not a Mac guy..yet) that you are running an Intel CPU and Mac OS X or newer, yes? Then the answer is simple - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1461

If not update you box to a newer version and you will be all set also..

 

You can get a refurb or dumpster PC that will run iRacing for a couple hunsky tops. That's my plan. And with all the "convergence" going on these days, it's good to have a computer connected to a TV.

 

Can you provide details on this setup? I already have the seat but need the rest. Thanks.