Really mad at iRacing right now, please empathize with me

I was an ISI guy in my early teens doing blissfully happy AI races on Sports Car GT, then eventually I got to rFactor and did the same things there. Spent countless hours tweaking the rFactor AI and then making fantasy championships with the best drivers in the world on all kinds of tracks. Then, because I'm primarily an Indycar guy in real life, iRacing stole me away with their incessant ads on Indycar's website and for the past 4 years I've been doing nothing but that while waiting for ISI to come out with a finished next-gen sim. I've done over 1200 races, become one of the best sim Indycar oval racers on the planet, and a decent road racer as well. I've been on successful mega-teams, started my own team, offered prize money out of my own scant pocket as an incentive for people to race more, been a beacon of reason and kindness on the iRacing forums and stuck up for people who were being unfairly harassed...been a full content owner and poured over $1,000 into the thing (in a world where video games are supposed to cost $50-60 and iRacing despite all its grand claims is really nothing more than another video game with a particularly solid multiplayer infrastructure) basically the perfect model iRacer. I just finished a 12-week season where I was P3 out of thousands of people in the fixed setup championship and P3 out of 500 people in the open setup championship where I mostly built my own setups. Of course, when you are that good, and as outspoken as I have been, people will get jealous. One such person apparently just used the massively abused iRacing protest system to accuse me of (since there was nothing else I could possibly be blamed for) stopping on the apron during one of iRacing's endless cautions (since 50% of the drivers have no idea what they're doing since iRacing's driving standards are so ridiculously lenient), to either go to the bathroom, or possibly check my email to see if my girlfriend had given me any updates on our dangerously ill cat. People stop on the apron under caution ALL THE TIME, I've done it hundreds of times in my iRacing career, and one has ever even hinted that there was any problem with it, nor am I aware that iRacing has anything against this in their "Sporting Code". But apparently this week someone decided to issue a protest against me for it. Its understandable since recently I'm been defending on the forums and social media some guys who are either too young to be properly respected or slightly mentally disabled and unable to understand how they're coming across to others. And people don't like that, of course. Haters must be free to hate.

So guess what? iRacing suspended me for stopping on the apron under caution. Despite having gone 4 years and 1200 races without a single protest against me for any actual racing-related incident. And shortly after the suspension, a certain member publicly posted on Facebook bragging about my suspension, making it obvious that he was maliciously responsible. I had honestly thought the iRacing stewards were more intelligent and aware than to issue suspensions against members of good repute for such petty crap, but alas. And even worse, they had time to issue the suspension and send me a detailed form email about it tonight, ruining my evening, but somehow they don't have time to have an actual discussion with me about my concerns.

On that note, let's get some rFactor 2 going on. I don't even care if it doesn't have Indycars yet, I just want some real racing without all the petty egos.

 

If you have an issue there, try calling their support. There are lots of nice people there, and I think you can deal with iRacing via some other means than posting it all here. If they don't do anything, they don't do anything. That's really what you agreed when signing up unfortunately, so the ball is in their court. Maybe being nice will make a difference, being angry will give you nothing positive back, and posting here about it will certainly not make a difference.

What I quoted above is really all that applies on our forum.

 

LMAO funny stuff there. Maybe the local bartender can help you out.

 

welcome to RF2............

 

I just googled what "empathize" means and i concluded that you really suck at this.

lol

 

Pfah, lololol! I almost died laughing just before!

Do you mind if I use this as my signature here?

 

lol, not at all

 

I am not posting here to try to effect iRacing, I'm just telling the story of why i want to go back to rFactor. I've already previously talked to iRacing on the phone about why other members who are not me were being harassed by the community, and they were not very nice then either. Like any other larger corporation they don't make it obvious how you are signing your rights away, they just hide it in the fine print.

Anyway Tim at least you care to notice what is going on in your forum

 

This is why I never got into iRacing. Not because of the suspension thing, but the "spent over $1000" thing.

There has got to be more to it than this. It just doesn't add up right, unless you're leaving out a few "minor" details of course.

 

I'd frankly not want to bother debating it here. Or bother moderating the later arguments.

I've advised what to do as best I can. Choice is to either move on, or try to be nice to their support and see if anything changes. Unfortunately, out of choices otherwise.

 

Welcome to RF2, spend the $80+ for the lifetime, and forget iRacing... been there done that. Way to politically correct over there..

 

Being a good customer doesnt mean much usually, not that it should bend the rules, but if looking into someones rep and finding it being good, Im sure that atleast checking into the matter wouldnt hurt. I can sympathize with your predicament, not sure that giving up on iRacing is in your cards, but I can full heartedly recommend rF2 though

Theres indycar incoming to rF2, and I am quite sure that its the best indycar ever released in any sim, so you should be good to go.

 

Well, my graduate school teacher always said "organizations are suboptimal" and possibly more so as the size grows. They have a pretty big shop over there so I can imagine it's difficult to strike the right balance with governance and even if they can mistakes will happen. They always do.

 

I just downloaded and bought rFactor 2, looking forward to exploring all the content at a time when I'm less drained and stressed by the trials of iRacing.

 

Loll...than that guy from gtplanet was right! iRacing community is like a big sect, is a sorte of Jehovah's Witnesses!

 

Not everyone, I am in iracing for a couple of years and do not stress myself at all. Only race for fun.

 

Good luck with that!


Sounds to me that perhaps you got unlucky with them drawing a line in the sand and getting more militia on those creating issues. if indeed 'everyone' is doing it there will be a point where they have to lay down the law and Galaga said it right, once companies grow bigger they become less emphatic themselves, or cannot afford being as nice as before.

But welcome to rf2, don't get too frustrated with it too quick, learning curve can be quite intense at points. but the rewards are there as well. Now all you (we) need is a larger community to have fun with

 

Hi Matt

 

iRacing were the ones that basically took down modding in NR2003 by suing modders (because they bought the NR2003 code to create iRacket...). They never were "nice" to begin with, and someone that was in simracing long enough to see that NR2003/First/iRacing debacle can't be surprised by what happened to the OP.
(and that post comes from a long time GPL fan).

 

Stopping modders to mod can simply be part of a business model, doesn't have to mean they are evil.

inb4 flame thread