CKRC Forums

Now that winter has officially come with the cold and snow, racing can come indoors. Anyone else with an iRacing.com account that would want to do some online racing?

John K

Hi John,

I've got a racing simulator at home, and have never tried iRacing, but have been curious. The one thing that I've read/heard is that it can get very expensive if you become addicted. Is there any truth to this? It's definitely something I'd be interested in, if it wasn't going to adversely affect my 2017 karting budget.

SteveO wrote:Hi John,

I've got a racing simulator at home, and have never tried iRacing, but have been curious. The one thing that I've read/heard is that it can get very expensive if you become addicted. Is there any truth to this? It's definitely something I'd be interested in, if it wasn't going to adversely affect my 2017 karting budget.

I had this iRacing conversation with John a week ago and you might be surprised that I am thinking of emerging from the rock I have been hiding under these last few years and get back into some karting. Plus I am presently subscribed to iRacing for the next 18 or so months and it might be fun to turn some laps with my fellow CKRC iRacing peeps.

To address your concerns, iRacing is not cheap. It costs money in the form of a monthly or annual membership, plus any additional content (tracks or cars) that you may buy. In fact it's more a case of leasing the cars and tracks with a one time payment as they can only be used in iRacing while your membership is active. But the good thing is even if you let your membership lapse, if/when you come back to iRacing at some future date, all the cars and tracks that you previously had in your account (including your paint schemes) are immediately restored. You will never lose your cars and tracks as long as your membership is active.

There is a lot of really cool iRacing content (I am about at the 50% mark which includes oval and road racing cars and tracks). But my recommendation is not to go too crazy with the content (especially the cars) when you first sign up. It's better to concentrate on one or two cars and race/drive them at the specific tracks (right now the two cars I concentrate on is the Porsche RUF and the Formula Renault cars). It's easy to fall into the "Jack of all trades, master of none" traps regarding iRacing cars and tracks. Plus as far as what John is referring to, which is getting together in some privately hosted sessions with CKRC peeps, we could easily have fun driving the default cars on the default tracks. No additional content is needed if not everyone has the same car or track (plus mixed class racing is possible in iRacing). Oh however with that said, iRacing has Nordschliefe which in my opinion is the best track in the world. Perhaps not the best for racing, but I never get tired of turning laps on the Green Hell. It's a must have in your inventory as far as I am concerned.

I will leave it at that for now. There are pros and cons to iRacing and if you have any questions about the service, ask away and I will do my best to answer them. I have had an iRacing account since 2009 and I even let it lapse a couple of years ago. But when I heard they added Nordschliefe and now iRacing supports VR with the Vive and the Rift, I renewed my account almost immediately a good six or eight months ago.

Other than the fees you pay for iRacing, you also need a computer, a steering wheel with pedals, may be a playseat as well.

At this point, for the purposes of some online fun, I am just interested in racing some other CKRC members on the included tracks and with the included cars. This will keep it affordable and everyone will have the same track packages to start off with. I got in on their Black Friday sale which was a 1 year membership at 25% off. You can go monthly too if you don't want to commit to a whole year.
I have been practicing on most of the included tracks and in the organized practices with other drivers but I am still getting up to speed. I have started playing with some of the settings to optimize it for my laptop which is able to run this with no problem on the lowest graphic settings. I am also using a Logitech MOMO Steering wheel which is pretty low on the driving sim scale but it is still fun. I have adjusted the field of view setting and found that the narrower the setting (45 degrees) the slower the car feels. 85 degrees is the stock setting. I seem to like it at about 110 degrees on the Mazda MX5 Miata. The car seems to turn better and you can see out of the car better for approaching the apexes.

John K

iRacing is currently running a 50% off membership and I just signed up for three months to give it a try. It took about 45 minutes to set up everything and started driving on the track. After 8-10 laps, I found the iRacing is extremely realistic and one can addicted to it easily.

Hi CKRC members. I will give anyone who wants one, a free 90 day iRacing membership, The 90 day promo has limited content and limited tracks but there are a few gems in this package. The Global Miata is a fun car to drive, you also get the 2011 Dallara Indy car, some stock cars, a few great tracks. Anyway, if you want a free membership, give us a call at The Race Room, 403 460 6775 to arrange a pick up!

Hey Guys,

I've been on iRacing for a number of years and personally wouldn't run any other sim. I also know of a few fellow members who have been/are on the sim too including Brendon Sanguinetti, Nathan Bartley and Josh Stretch. I think it would be great to get together for some fun especially during the winter months and I'd up for something for sure!

If people are new to it and want to ask any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to seeing you on the virtual track soon

Nige.

Resurrecting this thread from last year!

If anyone is interested in running some laps through the winter, post here. I could host something on a Wednesday night (or other evening if that works better for the majority) so we can get together for some 'Fun' racing in the virtual world while we wait for spring!

Im on there now and would be in!