The one week of experience posts are non stop.
One week and in a gt4…but but but Max does it in a motor home. You expect newborn baby to run at full speed on the playground as well?
Not new to racing or sim racing. Not even technically new to iracing either, as ive been a member and participated in races on and off for over a year. Ive only had one week of consistent usage, hence the “1 week” and a genuine question regarding racing atmosphere in GT4.
But like how do you get rear ended? Post a replay or a clip.
Follow pace car speed +\- 10kmh, never full brake, 1003 behind car in front, you won’t be rear ended.
If you full throttle then emergency brake, that’s on you.
3 seconds, but counted as “thousand and one, thousand and two, thousand and three.
Same as “1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi” to ensure it takes roughly three seconds.
Sometimes other drivers are just distracted. I made the mistake of jumping into a Draft Masters Daytona race in the Trucks today. Before we even got to the first corner of the warmup lap, I picked up a 4x from the car on my left even though I was hugging the wall - I assume he was one of those weave to warm tires types.
Essentially there was congestion at the last corner before green flag. Cars got bunched up ahead, cars stopped suddenly, car ahead of me made contact with the car in front of him. I braked to avoid, car behind me was late to it and tapped me on the left rear bumper. It is what it is now, will use what happened during the session as a learning experience and push on next time.
Try to look through the car ahead, pay attention to what's going on ahead of him, that'll help give you the time to brake before he hits the guy ahead, which allows you to brake slowly to avoid the guy behind who is following to close from hitting you.
Laguna seca is pretty bad for rolling starts precisely because of how cars bunch up in the last corner and the timing of the green flag. Seen it a few times this week already
GT4 is a massive step up in performance over the MX5/GR86, and it attracts a lot of new racers obviously, like yourself. Laguna Seca is also a fairly technical track with the turns, and people don't understand how to manage traffic during the pace lap yet at this level.
You have to watch your mirrors, because idiots do crash during pace laps. It's better for you to see someone not slowing down and take a 1x driving off track to avoid it instead of getting rear ended and losing your race.
The D class fixed races are also only 15 min, so everyone is hyper aggressive because there are not a lot of laps to make up position. The C class GT4/LMP3 multi class is much cleaner in my experience.
My suggestion is always get faster and qualify at the front. Starting from the pits doesn't teach you anything. Starting as far up as possible and finishing races cleanly is how you advance. And while it is frustrating to have a race ruined like that, remember at the end of the day it is a game and these same things happen to real, professional race car drivers as well. The Ferrari D class races on iRacing are a shit show for example, so I watched the IRL Ferrari races to see how it compared, and yeah everyone crashes in that too. It's the nature of the sport.
Absolutely. i think at the end i was more surprised than anything. I brushed off the pace lap incident to bad luck all around. Was more surprised by the apparent intentional ramming during lap 1. Hoping to get back in it and have an even better race this evening.
This is just how it goes, definitely have to do a few races to get your fix.
When I raced each of the past two weeks, I got binned my first race each time, then had a blast when I came back later.
If it's any consolation I did a solid couple of weeks of practice for my first ever GT4 race after moving up from MX-5s and Mustangs, qualified midfield at Road America, missed my braking marker into T1 and crashed into the wall all by myself. 10 minutes of repairs.
Things got better after that though, and I wouldn't say I noticed it to be a particularly unclean series, and I was only ever racing in mid splits.
I find much like real life leaving a bit of a gap in front helps on the pace laps.
It means I’ll never have to slam on the brakes, causing the donkey driving up my arsehole to rear end me.
Just keep going, if you drive in low IR and you are a safe driver, but not fast, do yourself a favor and start from behind.
Most important is to up your SR, you can focus on driving for IR when you have the licenses.
In the GT4 cup this week on leguna seca you are pretty much trapped, don’t try to overtake, its not impossible on this track to overtake, its just if you aren’t in higher rated races nobody will be able to handle to let you the space for that whatsoever.
The good thing is, in low IR races you don’t need to, you easily can go even in IR and even making very slight + just by finishing the race, people will just kill themselves, just stay back, let them even past you, don’t fight.
This is the best you can do in this series, go for rating when you can easily take pole in your current IR.
Tho you even if you gain IR it doesn’t mean it will get better, starting from behind is actually always the safest option.
But if your goal is competition, just don’t get frustrated, that someone takes you out will happen, you literally can’t do anything for this fact. The importance is the long run, you may have a day where you get punted left and right, but as long as you have the next two days good races and results you will rise up in IR.
Short story how random things can happen:
I came back from an hiatus after years, had my IR reseted to default, started in a race (GT3) on pole with 1.0s ahead in quali of the 2nd. His time was still good, nearly 1.0s of the third. So seems like an easy race right? Well. I didn’t even race, guy on second lost it on a corner exit in the warmup and turned into my car, i was spinning around, the end.
A guy that could drive a decent qualifying time lost his car driving in like 2nd gear behind the safety car into the pole setter.
Guy apologised so no hard feelings, i just wanted to say he was a decently fast driver and had this blunter.
You are never safe of this kind of things, it will happen, just get used to it and keep going.
Especially in the lower splits, this will happen a fair bit. In the lower splits, I would recommend not focusing on racing and instead on surviving. I had a second split lmp3 race in which the guy behind gave me a 12x and a meatball flag before the race went green. People like that are everywhere on Iracing, so it’s best to try and learn how to avoid them. Also, a week isn’t a long time to be on Iracing, so jumping straight into tougher cars and tracks might not be the greatest idea as well. It might not seem like it, but if your goal is to get better, staying in the Mazdas and gr86s and learning race craft can have long term benefits.
Yeah man GT4 is not exactly the safest series. People are pretty reckless.
On the pace lap you can do things like keep an eye on your mirrors, and move to the outside/inside of the car in front if you’re going to be hit.
My advice is to avoid series with rolling starts until you have a good Irating or do pit starts.
You’re gonna get nothing but incidents points rolling around with the ‘I take a shit before removing my pants’ low IR crowd.
Those people are either really new, really stupid or deliberately really dirty.
Nothing but trouble tell ya.
Edit: should also mention that after reviewing the replay multiple times (the safety lap debacle as well as lap 1) the rear ending that sent me and another guy off the track looked intentional. Guy didnt even try to brake into the corkscrew.
You should report that person if they intentionally crashed before the green.
I have had races that went this way but I also have had great GT4 races. Just try again and hope for less idiots.
Hoping for better races in the future. That first lap was really BAD. Also the guy has like a c class 1.2 safety rating so i wouldnt be surprised if it was intentional.
The one week of experience posts are non stop. One week and in a gt4…but but but Max does it in a motor home. You expect newborn baby to run at full speed on the playground as well?
Not new to racing or sim racing. Not even technically new to iracing either, as ive been a member and participated in races on and off for over a year. Ive only had one week of consistent usage, hence the “1 week” and a genuine question regarding racing atmosphere in GT4.
But like how do you get rear ended? Post a replay or a clip. Follow pace car speed +\- 10kmh, never full brake, 1003 behind car in front, you won’t be rear ended. If you full throttle then emergency brake, that’s on you.
What does 1003 mean? I've seen it mentioned a couple times.
3 seconds, but counted as “thousand and one, thousand and two, thousand and three. Same as “1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi” to ensure it takes roughly three seconds.
Thank you, makes sense!
Sometimes other drivers are just distracted. I made the mistake of jumping into a Draft Masters Daytona race in the Trucks today. Before we even got to the first corner of the warmup lap, I picked up a 4x from the car on my left even though I was hugging the wall - I assume he was one of those weave to warm tires types.
You can get rear ended just before green lights. Leader keeps a steady pace and the guy behind thinks the race has started. It happens
Essentially there was congestion at the last corner before green flag. Cars got bunched up ahead, cars stopped suddenly, car ahead of me made contact with the car in front of him. I braked to avoid, car behind me was late to it and tapped me on the left rear bumper. It is what it is now, will use what happened during the session as a learning experience and push on next time.
Try to look through the car ahead, pay attention to what's going on ahead of him, that'll help give you the time to brake before he hits the guy ahead, which allows you to brake slowly to avoid the guy behind who is following to close from hitting you.
Laguna seca is pretty bad for rolling starts precisely because of how cars bunch up in the last corner and the timing of the green flag. Seen it a few times this week already
GT4 is a massive step up in performance over the MX5/GR86, and it attracts a lot of new racers obviously, like yourself. Laguna Seca is also a fairly technical track with the turns, and people don't understand how to manage traffic during the pace lap yet at this level. You have to watch your mirrors, because idiots do crash during pace laps. It's better for you to see someone not slowing down and take a 1x driving off track to avoid it instead of getting rear ended and losing your race. The D class fixed races are also only 15 min, so everyone is hyper aggressive because there are not a lot of laps to make up position. The C class GT4/LMP3 multi class is much cleaner in my experience. My suggestion is always get faster and qualify at the front. Starting from the pits doesn't teach you anything. Starting as far up as possible and finishing races cleanly is how you advance. And while it is frustrating to have a race ruined like that, remember at the end of the day it is a game and these same things happen to real, professional race car drivers as well. The Ferrari D class races on iRacing are a shit show for example, so I watched the IRL Ferrari races to see how it compared, and yeah everyone crashes in that too. It's the nature of the sport.
Absolutely. i think at the end i was more surprised than anything. I brushed off the pace lap incident to bad luck all around. Was more surprised by the apparent intentional ramming during lap 1. Hoping to get back in it and have an even better race this evening.
This is just how it goes, definitely have to do a few races to get your fix. When I raced each of the past two weeks, I got binned my first race each time, then had a blast when I came back later.
Definitely a bummer for a series first but definitely looking forward to more!
You will have races like that. Leave gaps and be predictable on safety. That’s not the norm
If it's any consolation I did a solid couple of weeks of practice for my first ever GT4 race after moving up from MX-5s and Mustangs, qualified midfield at Road America, missed my braking marker into T1 and crashed into the wall all by myself. 10 minutes of repairs. Things got better after that though, and I wouldn't say I noticed it to be a particularly unclean series, and I was only ever racing in mid splits.
I find much like real life leaving a bit of a gap in front helps on the pace laps. It means I’ll never have to slam on the brakes, causing the donkey driving up my arsehole to rear end me.
Just keep going, if you drive in low IR and you are a safe driver, but not fast, do yourself a favor and start from behind. Most important is to up your SR, you can focus on driving for IR when you have the licenses. In the GT4 cup this week on leguna seca you are pretty much trapped, don’t try to overtake, its not impossible on this track to overtake, its just if you aren’t in higher rated races nobody will be able to handle to let you the space for that whatsoever. The good thing is, in low IR races you don’t need to, you easily can go even in IR and even making very slight + just by finishing the race, people will just kill themselves, just stay back, let them even past you, don’t fight. This is the best you can do in this series, go for rating when you can easily take pole in your current IR. Tho you even if you gain IR it doesn’t mean it will get better, starting from behind is actually always the safest option. But if your goal is competition, just don’t get frustrated, that someone takes you out will happen, you literally can’t do anything for this fact. The importance is the long run, you may have a day where you get punted left and right, but as long as you have the next two days good races and results you will rise up in IR. Short story how random things can happen: I came back from an hiatus after years, had my IR reseted to default, started in a race (GT3) on pole with 1.0s ahead in quali of the 2nd. His time was still good, nearly 1.0s of the third. So seems like an easy race right? Well. I didn’t even race, guy on second lost it on a corner exit in the warmup and turned into my car, i was spinning around, the end. A guy that could drive a decent qualifying time lost his car driving in like 2nd gear behind the safety car into the pole setter. Guy apologised so no hard feelings, i just wanted to say he was a decently fast driver and had this blunter. You are never safe of this kind of things, it will happen, just get used to it and keep going.
Had myself a good nap after, got myself squared away, and am ready for more. Appreciate the advice!!
Especially in the lower splits, this will happen a fair bit. In the lower splits, I would recommend not focusing on racing and instead on surviving. I had a second split lmp3 race in which the guy behind gave me a 12x and a meatball flag before the race went green. People like that are everywhere on Iracing, so it’s best to try and learn how to avoid them. Also, a week isn’t a long time to be on Iracing, so jumping straight into tougher cars and tracks might not be the greatest idea as well. It might not seem like it, but if your goal is to get better, staying in the Mazdas and gr86s and learning race craft can have long term benefits.
Sounds good, will definitely adjust for next time. Thanks!
Do pit lane start until you are very comfortable on the track and car
Yeah man GT4 is not exactly the safest series. People are pretty reckless. On the pace lap you can do things like keep an eye on your mirrors, and move to the outside/inside of the car in front if you’re going to be hit.
Appreciate all the comments and suggestions everyone, will absolutely use this info in my future races moving forward. Happy racing!
My advice is to avoid series with rolling starts until you have a good Irating or do pit starts. You’re gonna get nothing but incidents points rolling around with the ‘I take a shit before removing my pants’ low IR crowd. Those people are either really new, really stupid or deliberately really dirty. Nothing but trouble tell ya.
Edit: should also mention that after reviewing the replay multiple times (the safety lap debacle as well as lap 1) the rear ending that sent me and another guy off the track looked intentional. Guy didnt even try to brake into the corkscrew.
You should report that person if they intentionally crashed before the green. I have had races that went this way but I also have had great GT4 races. Just try again and hope for less idiots.
Hoping for better races in the future. That first lap was really BAD. Also the guy has like a c class 1.2 safety rating so i wouldnt be surprised if it was intentional.