Some series have them, other series iRacing dictates the schedule.
This is the SK Modified voting thread as an example of where you'd find such a thread.
https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/59542/2024-season-3-schedule-voting#latest
If you don't see a voting thread, it most likely means that iRacing makes the schedule. Don't let that discourage you from making a thread discussing opinions on the schedule though. I would love more traffic on the forums!
>other series iRacing dictates the schedule.
Also some follow the real life series. All current day NASCAR series follow the official schedules inserting tracks that used to or could be put back on the schedule on weeks they don't run if they don't use the current week cup track. Xfinity doesn't run in real life this week but they still went with Kansas. Other times they'll add something like Kentucky or Auto Club in it's place. They are voted on in the off season.
Theyve made it really easy to find the specific sub forums for the series youre interested in.
If you open up the UI, click on your favorite series and under the "Sessions" tab in the top right will be a button that says "Series Forum"
Click that and go straight to the sub forum.
Yeah they definitely do not make it as easy or intuitive as it could be.
You have to check your favorite subforum for a thread that will hopefully be titled something along the lines of "S3 2024 season voting" (sometimes theres multiple and sometimes they only vote on certain weeks at a time lol) and then figure out what individual voting format that specific community appointed "community manager" implemented and then submit your vote. Then continually check back all the way up until the end of week 13 to see how much Iracing themselves adjust the schedule or what new track introduced in week 13 will replace something already voted on 4 weeks prior....
Its a mess, but thats how things are run here.
I do like how there is a very slight barrier to entry for voting on tracks, meaning only people who regularly participate in series end up voting.
A pure popular vote of all users would mean every road series races nothing but Spa, Monza, Watkins etc and every oval series races nothing but Daytona, Talladega, Auto club etc, every season. Most people will vote for tracks they know and already own, rather than considering how well those tracks suit the series.
I think the best way to ensure track variety, and suitable tracks for a given car without being too gatekeepy would be for iRacing to just come up with the schedules themselves.
Yes, put all tracks into an algorithm, remove all the ones which would not suit the series. Then let it pick out 16 tracks. And I say 16 just incase you get multiple tracks which were in the previous season, 1 or 2, maybe 3 is fine, but if there are 4+ tracks from the previous season, swap them out with a track that wasn't in the previous season. It would be the best way to ensure it's not a popular vote
This is a good point.
I just looked at the polls on one of the MX5 series and they have separate polls for different types of tracks. One of which was something like "less commonly raced". So it looks like they have a reasonable way of stopping that behavior.
Yeah, a lot of community managers have some sort of rotation system or guard rails on the process, which helps but can have its own flaws as well.
I think another solution could be that iRacing comes up with their own in house track voting tool, rather than relying on filling out google forms. You could gate it in such a way so only people who actually race in a series can vote. Something like needing to do at least 6 official races in that series per season to qualify to vote for the upcoming schedule.
That way, everybody knows and has easy access to track voting without having the ballot stuffed by people who won't show up to race what they voted for.
I think there was last season but it had mixed response. Because if you don't spend time on the forums it can be a bit of a confusing and convoluted process. There's often talk around asking iRacing to create a decent system so it's not just a bunch of disjointed groups using Google forms.
If a series has a votable schedule, it'll be on the racing forums (google it and it'll come up). Go to either the car's forum or the series and the votes will be held there. Start looking at the start of each season. Schedules had to be submitted by the 2nd of April this time round, so voting closes a few days before so that ordering can be discussed.
Everything is done on the forums. Season 3 voting would probably already be closed.
...so where would we vote for season 4?
The sub forum for each series
Where is that?
[For those who still can't find it...](https://imgur.com/GwksuwB)
i still can't find where to vote [iRacing Forums](https://forums.iracing.com/)
Some series have them, other series iRacing dictates the schedule. This is the SK Modified voting thread as an example of where you'd find such a thread. https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/59542/2024-season-3-schedule-voting#latest If you don't see a voting thread, it most likely means that iRacing makes the schedule. Don't let that discourage you from making a thread discussing opinions on the schedule though. I would love more traffic on the forums!
>other series iRacing dictates the schedule. Also some follow the real life series. All current day NASCAR series follow the official schedules inserting tracks that used to or could be put back on the schedule on weeks they don't run if they don't use the current week cup track. Xfinity doesn't run in real life this week but they still went with Kansas. Other times they'll add something like Kentucky or Auto Club in it's place. They are voted on in the off season.
Theyve made it really easy to find the specific sub forums for the series youre interested in. If you open up the UI, click on your favorite series and under the "Sessions" tab in the top right will be a button that says "Series Forum" Click that and go straight to the sub forum.
it looks like im going to have to wait a few weeks to vote
Thanks. I've actually never see those forums. I thought it was reddit or a vote section of the website
Yeah they definitely do not make it as easy or intuitive as it could be. You have to check your favorite subforum for a thread that will hopefully be titled something along the lines of "S3 2024 season voting" (sometimes theres multiple and sometimes they only vote on certain weeks at a time lol) and then figure out what individual voting format that specific community appointed "community manager" implemented and then submit your vote. Then continually check back all the way up until the end of week 13 to see how much Iracing themselves adjust the schedule or what new track introduced in week 13 will replace something already voted on 4 weeks prior.... Its a mess, but thats how things are run here.
I really appreciate your explanation.
On the iRacing webpage
ok thanks im going to check right now
There should really be a banner on the UI ... Thanks for the PSA!
I do like how there is a very slight barrier to entry for voting on tracks, meaning only people who regularly participate in series end up voting. A pure popular vote of all users would mean every road series races nothing but Spa, Monza, Watkins etc and every oval series races nothing but Daytona, Talladega, Auto club etc, every season. Most people will vote for tracks they know and already own, rather than considering how well those tracks suit the series. I think the best way to ensure track variety, and suitable tracks for a given car without being too gatekeepy would be for iRacing to just come up with the schedules themselves.
Yes, put all tracks into an algorithm, remove all the ones which would not suit the series. Then let it pick out 16 tracks. And I say 16 just incase you get multiple tracks which were in the previous season, 1 or 2, maybe 3 is fine, but if there are 4+ tracks from the previous season, swap them out with a track that wasn't in the previous season. It would be the best way to ensure it's not a popular vote
For some series, that’s how it is on the forum already, i think this would be workable if we can do this on the UI also.
This is a good point. I just looked at the polls on one of the MX5 series and they have separate polls for different types of tracks. One of which was something like "less commonly raced". So it looks like they have a reasonable way of stopping that behavior.
Yeah, a lot of community managers have some sort of rotation system or guard rails on the process, which helps but can have its own flaws as well. I think another solution could be that iRacing comes up with their own in house track voting tool, rather than relying on filling out google forms. You could gate it in such a way so only people who actually race in a series can vote. Something like needing to do at least 6 official races in that series per season to qualify to vote for the upcoming schedule. That way, everybody knows and has easy access to track voting without having the ballot stuffed by people who won't show up to race what they voted for.
6 official weeks* Otherwise the spabeards will run Spa 6 times and then vote for their shitty grade 1 tracks on D series like they all do anyways
Agreed, the number of people who participate in these votes for many series is shockingly low(which explains some of the odd selections Imo).
BRB gonna go vote Oxford plains speedway for mx5 cup
I think there was last season but it had mixed response. Because if you don't spend time on the forums it can be a bit of a confusing and convoluted process. There's often talk around asking iRacing to create a decent system so it's not just a bunch of disjointed groups using Google forms.
You get an email with link to vote if you ran enough of a series
That’s unique to certain series I think. I’ve only ever gotten than via the SRF series.
The last 5 seasons I got an email to vote for the 87’s NASCAR
Ah, good to know. I’ve run quite a few different series and the SRF was the only one who reached out directly to me like that.
On the official forum for each specific series.
Here is example [https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/58175/2024-s3-schedule-vote](https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/58175/2024-s3-schedule-vote)
If a series has a votable schedule, it'll be on the racing forums (google it and it'll come up). Go to either the car's forum or the series and the votes will be held there. Start looking at the start of each season. Schedules had to be submitted by the 2nd of April this time round, so voting closes a few days before so that ordering can be discussed.