I think
@hitm4k3r created a good post, and we should have some debate about what comprises a good "competition system".
iRacing began with "official races" for a number of series: open events that took place typically every hour or two, open to anyone with the right license class and safety rating. They then began to do what are now called "Special Events", which were really community events open to all (typically above "rookie" class) to race events modeled after big real-world events, like the Daytona 24, Daytona 500, Indy 500, etc. In those days, there was no team racing so everything was done as single driver, usually maxing out at about 3 hours for the longer events. Today, there are 14 of those events typically one or two per month, of different types e.g. 4 NASCAR races, 1 Dirt Midget (Chilli Bowl) of single driver type. leaving the rest (about 6) to be endurance, team events (and meaning, some of the most beloved events like Daytona 24 which had previously been single driver 2.4 hr event, got lost). Increasingly iRacing have moved to "professional eSports" type series, and that's where the supposed "community representatives" seem to be spending all their time and promotional efforts. Since that impacts at most 100 or so competitors, in my opinion that's a huge mistake for a company that claims to have 100,000 members. Those top-level events you have to qualify for, so there are some ladder series that help with that which were modified from the original 'Pro' series that were used to qualify for the big series. Initially these were aimed at 'gentlemen racers' like myself, for which just getting in that group was an achievement in itself, but now there are so many people that its become entirely populated by those who want to get to the top level, alien-caliber series. Which is, maybe 500 people now. These series are all managed by iRacing employees or close affiliates, selected by the company. There are also accredited broadcasters who stream these events.
There are many issues with this structure, and it has tended to more an more focus on the very elite level, especially now they are sponsored by the likes of Porsche and other significant companies in the field. They've dropped the true community events - they'd gotten too big, and too much effort to pull them off. For example, each member in iRacing was assigned to a geographic "club", and there was then a "World Cup of iRacing" which the clubs qualified for by scoring points in the regular official open races. This was widely enjoyed, especially by John Henry the main founder/investor. But that series has now been eliminated (there's a private attempt to run it by the community, but with entirely different rules/qualification criteria). In short, other than the Special Events which are now completely dominated by team endurance events, there are no "community events" on iRacing. There are "official" NASCAR series that follow the real-world Cup series, and an Indy series that tries to do the same; but similar attempts for GrandAm and others have foundered. Big cash prizes are offered for winning those competitive events (not the Special Events).
In my mind there are two types of event; true community events, which is where enthusiasts from all around the world want to celebrate their addiction to racing; that are club-level, gentlemanly events done for the fun of it. Then there's the competition side. This is, qualify your way up through various series and for the few elite aliens, a top-level championship. S397 seem to only be worried about the latter, or things they can 'market' in conjunctions with manufacturers etc. (e.g. McLaren series). They aren't aimed at the mass ownership. It's probably true right now that rF2 online competition is probably limited to a couple of thousand die-hards, but it doesn't have to be that way, and the events being put forward now are not doing anything to bring more people in and grow the platform and community. That's a problem, in my mind. Or in fact, several problems. There's hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people who want to be involved with sim racing. But, only a handful are being catered to by what's been announced by S397 so far. Is that the limit of their ambition?
