Well, I finally decided to give Iracing a try, there is a 50% discount at the moment and the default content set include some interesting drive, so... At the present moment I'm trying to understand FFB, I've read some help and guide here and there, but it seems I've not grasped it yet... or maybe there is nothing to grasp? After some hours with the mazda mx5 and a short test drive with the Radical RX8 I can't say that I'm amazed at it. I even partecipated in 2 races with the mazda at limerock park, a track that fortunately I know well enough to not be a danger in a race. At the moment the racing has been .. tensing .. the fear of messing up was quite there, unfortunately I can't say I had any fun. The problem I'm having with Iracing at the moment, is exactly this: is not fun. Probably most of the problem seems to be FFB, but the driving I've experienced sofar seems to tell us few things: 1) if you enter a turn faster than needed, you will run wide, no matter what you do, you will understeer. 2) Entering a turn require to set the wheel at a correct angle (around 90 degrees) and nothing else is required. 3) in turn exit, applying and managing the throttle is the only condition where you can feel a bit of life from driving. 4) most of my control on the car seems to be from visual cues (like oversteer and understeer) more than FFB. Assuming the fault is mine, and there is some magic trick in the controls I can do to improve things, someone has some hints?
After several more hours of testing, a few races on a different track, finally I can say I had fun. Yes, the FFB still feel strange somehow, but once you tune it to your tastes/needs, and probably after learning how to lay rubber on the track before practice and switching to a track that is not Limerock Park, Iracing become pretty enjoyable. Just finished a 15 lap race in 3rd position, after starting 2nd, unfortunately the poleman decided that the road was too narrow for both of us, and struck me on the side as soon as I was about to overtake him after green flag. Despite this I finished third, just a bit more than 1 second behing nr.2 . For my standard this should be a great outcome, and I would be very happy to be able to achieve this in RF2, but somehow I'm not satisfied. Yes the race was tense, and all, but I still feel I miss a thing. Staying on the limit is difficult, but once you develop a bit of feel, you understand it, at least, this is true on the mazda, probably the first car everyone races. But anyway, let see what will come next.
I think I'm starting to enjoy Iracing, unfortunately I don't think I'm going to subscribe to their service for more than a month or two, it's not cheap, unless you limit yourself to the activity you can with your default content. Being a very "americanocentric" service, I can say I'm not interested in 3/4 of their offer, so probably will never use 3/4 of the default content too.. Anyway yesterday I had the first big crash in a race, probably pushing to fast too early in the race... maybe cold tires? who knows, anyway lesson learned.. fortunately I killed myself into a barrier alone, without crashing anyone. Probably this is one of the weird aspect of Iracing it is very noticeable in fast "S" turns, you start oversteering in the first corner, the drifting come along all the S, all seems fine and dandy, but you are almost straight out of the turns, and you still hear the sound of tire squealing. For a time that seem ethernal the tires seems to have a difficulty to regain grip even when car slipping is minimal. This is the most critical part of being fast to me, keeping the car in control AFTER a turn. Maybe with a different car the issue is different, but the mazda has enough grip to drive most of a lap with the gas floored, but has enough power to make tire slip for a long time for example at race start. Even this seems to me a bit strange, it's easier to spin the tires unable to accelerate than to make the engine RPM "collapse" under load. As a side note, Iracing FFB reminded me how powerful my little G27 can be, and having a FFB clipping indicator I was able to translate back with more confidence in RF2 all the power that with time I've lost in fear of clipping... RF2 FFB is even more marvelous when you squeeze almost 100% from your wheel.
There´s no magic, the driving feel is not there. You can´t make corrections. The online aspect is great, in terms of always having somebody to race against, but the driving itself, sorry but no. Once you get a taste on the caviar that is rF2, that thing is... A three day old Taco Bell?
You CAN make corrections,it's just that the difference between being on rails and going straight like a bowling ball is narrow and not very apparent FFB wise. I'm not sure I agree with "you find always someone to race against". Probably I have to explore the website more, probably have to acquire a D license drive at least, but as a working rookie in europe, I can't make more than 2 events in a whole evening. I understand that if you how more content, and have higher ranking you can jump in far more racing, but at the same time this mean to change cars or race kind often, and unfortunately I'm pretty limited ... maybe is time to rediscover my past in nascar racing or indianapolis 500 (papirus on amiga 500). And I'm not negating it, RF2 FFB is another league, but iracing can be decent if tuned properly (it took me almost 3 days to be relatively happy with feeling).
I agree, too much money, but at least I have had the satisfaction to win a race, ok, it was just mazda MX5 , but anyway... in a matter of 4 races I was able to get a D license , that is how thing should be unless you make some disasters. Lacking events on road courses I decided to give oval racing a go, I must say that it was quite fun, but well, you can't really say that this is driving.. oh I'm sure that once you have the chance to drive a full fledged nascar things will change.. but anyway. As a side "project" to see how things are once you drive serious cars I tried the DW12 at Laguna Seca, a track that I have fond memories from the time of Indycar Racing 2 . How much downforce has that car? Probably I will let my subscription run a month or two but the requests to buy content are already popping here and there, and I've just made it to a D license in a single category. I don't really like the idea to pay 10/15 euro a track PLUS a monthly subscription. How much a chanpionship on the Radical could end costing?
There is a plug-in named irFFB that really helps the FFB in iRacing. If you're just getting into iR it is rather expensive for what you begin with. The MX5 series is the most popular series on iR. iR is not for everyone and would never push or insist anyone to become a member.
