iRacing

[Zear0]

My CSL DD has finally shipped. It was the sodding quick release for the wheel I'd ordered that wasn't in stock. Should be here by the end of the week! Extremely excited. 

[Zear0]

Right, had the kit for a few weeks now and I'm utterly obsessed. 

 

Just the strength of the force feedback and changed my experience of the entire sim. Going from a 2.2nm torque wheel (G29) to just an 8 on the CSL DD is a massive uptick for me. So much more fidelity in the sensation you get over curbs. Allows you to really find the limit of grip and its so responsive and tactile I've been able to make some great corrections. The wheel is great, I got the McLaren GT3 wheel as I'm 6ft 4 and my preferred wheel (Podium F1) was reviewed as being not usable for big hands. Having a GT style wheel is great on hairpins. Few corners such as the one at Hockenheim, Long Beach and Donnington where an absolute bastard with the wheel, but this has helped. Also having 10 buttons, 2 switches and 3 dials is great for mapping stuff. 

 

Pedals are also superb, got the club sports v3 and they've made a difference. Having the hall sensor on the pedal allows actual fine control so you can hang around on the limit before Abs bites so much easier. Do need to adjust the set up as not quite happy but all in all great. 

 

I will say, I do wish I'd gone for a stronger wheel. Problem is, you stump up the extra for a DD1 or a Simucube pro and you've then get to get the more rigid frames so you get stung twice. I'll keep this for a year then probably upgrade again to a full rig. 

 

It's blooming marvellous. 

[Trumpet]

My gaming time has been limited recently and I’ve spent most of it in MSFS because it’s much easier to afk. I’m itching to get back in the rig. Got a very dusty set of HS Sprint pedals looking at me 

[Beliall]

38 minutes ago, Trumpet said:

My gaming time has been limited recently and I’ve spent most of it in MSFS because it’s much easier to afk. I’m itching to get back in the rig. Got a very dusty set of HS Sprint pedals looking at me 

dust them off, grab a hyundai veloster and take it to sandown. great fun

[Zear0]

Give the new Radical a go too, fantastic fun. 

[Zear0]

So after getting my eye in with the CSL DD, I've concluded that it doesn't quite have enough umph and therefore, being a sick individual, I took delivery of the Podium DD2 yesterday...

 

As I moaned about a few posts above, due to the cruel cost cycle of these things, the frame I had the CSL DD for wasn't up to the DD2 loads so I got further fingered and stumped up for the Sim Labs P1-X and an actual chair for the rig which had been lacking for some time.  The oak dining chair was never the ideal solution.

 

Only had it working since last night so not got loads of feedback to share, but the whole set up and kit is much much better.  I do actually have arm ache from the 2 x VRS GT3 series races I did last night with the FFB on slightly too high.  The new wheelbase is perfectly smooth and the higher feeback refresh rate makes the sensation on the kerbs uneringly accurate (in particular the Vee at Charlotte and IR-04 at Atlanta).  I did also buy the brake performance kits for my V3 pedals which have made a big difference.  Realised I was braking more on pedal displacement than force which is something I need to get used to.  The 400 drop in IR is proof of that, but it'll be better in the long run.

 

Only final thing to complete on my "road to being single project" is the monitor stand and set up.  Currently using my desktop monitor with a swing arm, but it's not quite close enough to get the proper FOV and be playable.  I'll let the wallet recover prior to going into that next folly.

 

The missus is delighted...

[Zear0]

Any of the iRacing degenerates tried the new Cadillac V-Series R LMDh?  I usually struggle in the LMDh cars but this thing is a joy to drive.  Been doing lots of IMSA series at Watkins this week and had more fun in this than I've had in ages.  I did dabble in my usual GT3 VRS series, but that car at Lime Rock is just daft.

[Trumpet]

On 15/06/2023 at 11:13, Zear0 said:

Any of the iRacing degenerates tried the new Cadillac V-Series R LMDh?  I usually struggle in the LMDh cars but this thing is a joy to drive.  Been doing lots of IMSA series at Watkins this week and had more fun in this than I've had in ages.  I did dabble in my usual GT3 VRS series, but that car at Lime Rock is just daft.

I haven’t, mostly driving the Formula Ford at the moment which I think is great fun. Too many cars, not enough time! 

[Zear0]

2 minutes ago, Trumpet said:

I haven’t, mostly driving the Formula Ford at the moment which I think is great fun. Too many cars, not enough time! 

Yeah the new car per season is getting too much. Think they've put themselves in a corner with that being the expectation. 

[Trumpet]

Had a few races this week, last nights was solid, x0, running in 3rd place and 30 seconds ahead of 4th. Thought I was going to catch 2nd on the last corner and got a bit carried away 

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1857285713?t=4687s

[Beliall]

i have given up iracing. we're moving house so im selling my sim racing stuff to help pay for it. got a VRS direct drive, a cube formula rim, a porsche rim for sale with quick releases. DM me if you're looking for upgrades, can be boxed and posted via courier

[Zear0]

1 hour ago, Trumpet said:

Had a few races this week, last nights was solid, x0, running in 3rd place and 30 seconds ahead of 4th. Thought I was going to catch 2nd on the last corner and got a bit carried away 

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1857285713?t=4687s

Nice one (aside driving into a tyre wall). Oulton Park probably is my favourite track on the service. 

[Trumpet]

3 hours ago, Zear0 said:

Nice one (aside driving into a tyre wall). Oulton Park probably is my favourite track on the service. 

I like to think if I didn’t have such an advantage over 4th I’d have been more cautious, but for a moment I thought I’d meat balled myself out of the race on the last corner 

 

Love Oulton, definitely my favourite track. Seem to be able to get into a good rhythm around it. 

[Trumpet]

My biggest win last night in a 1568 SOF. Was on the defence in 3rd for most of the race, the leaders had got way ahead. They ended up taking each other out with 2 laps to go. 
 

I think this is me done for the week, I’ve had a good iR haul and I don’t want to push my luck.

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1859119332

[PhillippaT]

I'm thinking of getting a Steering wheel for my PC for both racing a trucking simulators...  I don't drive, but like these type of game and although I can use KB+mouse or gamepad, I'm starting to think I'd prefer a wheel.  Not sure which one to get, though.  Seems to be a decision between the cheaper T150, middle-ish G923 or more expensive T300...  (I'm not interested in a direct-drive one, at least for now )  What do you lot think? Am trying to get as much feedback as I can...  (I'll probably try some proper racing sims, too, like iracing/raceroom/assetto corsa etc., (along with some rally games/Forza etc.) but I know I'll probably suck at it for a while  )

[Zear0]

15 minutes ago, PhillippaT said:

I'm thinking of getting a Steering wheel for my PC for both racing a trucking simulators...  I don't drive, but like these type of game and although I can use KB+mouse or gamepad, I'm starting to think I'd prefer a wheel.  Not sure which one to get, though.  Seems to be a decision between the cheaper T150, middle-ish G923 or more expensive T300...  (I'm not interested in a direct-drive one, at least for now )  What do you lot think? Am trying to get as much feedback as I can...  (I'll probably try some proper racing sims, too, like iracing/raceroom/assetto corsa etc., (along with some rally games/Forza etc.) but I know I'll probably suck at it for a while  )

I started with the G920 before getting the CSL DD and finally the DD2. 

 

G920, basically the same as 923, was a great start for my entry into this complete folly. One thing that really made a difference was a stand for mounting pedals and wheel to. 

 

Welcome to the club... 

[PhillippaT]

1 hour ago, Zear0 said:

I started with the G920 before getting the CSL DD and finally the DD2. 

 

G920, basically the same as 923, was a great start for my entry into this complete folly. One thing that really made a difference was a stand for mounting pedals and wheel to. 

 

Welcome to the club... 

The only reason I'm not sure about the G920-whatever is that I hear Logitech's build quality these days isn't great? Do you know if that's true?

[Zear0]

1 hour ago, PhillippaT said:

The only reason I'm not sure about the G920-whatever is that I hear Logitech's build quality these days isn't great? Do you know if that's true?

Hard to say as only had the one which worked fine. The main thing that made me upgrade to DD was I didn't like the play in the wheel on the Logitech. With belt driven gear drives that's just something you need to accept but lots of people think it's a product fault.

 

There's a company called Moza who do cheap(ish) DD and they get great reviews. Worth a look as not sure what the price difference would be. 

[PhillippaT]

6 hours ago, Zear0 said:

Hard to say as only had the one which worked fine. The main thing that made me upgrade to DD was I didn't like the play in the wheel on the Logitech. With belt driven gear drives that's just something you need to accept but lots of people think it's a product fault.

 

There's a company called Moza who do cheap(ish) DD and they get great reviews. Worth a look as not sure what the price difference would be. 

I know about them, but my setup is and always will be, necessarily, 'temporary' (on my desk) so a 'proper' rig like the Moza (esp. pedals) requires isn't going to happen...

[Trumpet]

I’ve had a t150 wheel for years and it’s been fine. Certainly good enough as an entry level wheel, but in my case I’ve not really felt the need to upgrade. Pedals are most important in sim racing, so you’ll likely want to invest in some better pedals eventually, but as with the wheel, learning on entry level kit initially will do you no harm.

 

Oh and @Zear0, I saw the message of support last night, it’s just a pain in the vr headset to reply . Cocked the race up a bit, think I’ll be on tonight but purely for the SR 

[Zear0]

1 hour ago, Trumpet said:

I’ve had a t150 wheel for years and it’s been fine. Certainly good enough as an entry level wheel, but in my case I’ve not really felt the need to upgrade. Pedals are most important in sim racing, so you’ll likely want to invest in some better pedals eventually, but as with the wheel, learning on entry level kit initially will do you no harm.

 

Oh and @Zear0, I saw the message of support last night, it’s just a pain in the vr headset to reply . Cocked the race up a bit, think I’ll be on tonight but purely for the SR 

Ha, completely understand. Slightly OT but been learning the F/A-18C radar system and flitting between VR, my phone and desktop is an absolute pig as I can't make out the manual words in the headset.  I don't even need to type fortunately so don't blame you for the silence.

 

Did the VRS GT3 3 hours endurance last weekend which was an SR farm so rarely I'm >2 for once. 

Edited 31 July 2023 by Zear0

[PhillippaT]

2 hours ago, Trumpet said:

I’ve had a t150 wheel for years and it’s been fine. Certainly good enough as an entry level wheel, but in my case I’ve not really felt the need to upgrade. Pedals are most important in sim racing, so you’ll likely want to invest in some better pedals eventually, but as with the wheel, learning on entry level kit initially will do you no harm.

 

Oh and @Zear0, I saw the message of support last night, it’s just a pain in the vr headset to reply . Cocked the race up a bit, think I’ll be on tonight but purely for the SR 

I didn't like the look of the pedals on the T150, TBH, so I got the T300RS on order for later this week    (I bought a pedal stand too, since I thought it would help me with my ickle legs  (I've got room for it under the desk...))  I've got American Truck Simulator, Dirt 4 and F1 2018 to try it out on before I buy anything else, (And I might re-download Forza Horizon 4 to try it out, too, though I kinda overdid that the last time I played it (with a gamepad). (Probably buy Assetto Corsa to start with?)

Edited 31 July 2023 by PhillippaT

[Trumpet]

12 hours ago, PhillippaT said:

I didn't like the look of the pedals on the T150, TBH, so I got the T300RS on order for later this week    (I bought a pedal stand too, since I thought it would help me with my ickle legs  (I've got room for it under the desk...))  I've got American Truck Simulator, Dirt 4 and F1 2018 to try it out on before I buy anything else, (And I might re-download Forza Horizon 4 to try it out, too, though I kinda overdid that the last time I played it (with a gamepad). (Probably buy Assetto Corsa to start with?)

I’d recommend iRacing. It’s a monthly subscription and they charge for additional cars and tracks, but the base package has more than enough to keep you occupied for a good few months.

 

If you do go with iRacing, let me know if you wouldn’t mind as there’s a referral scheme where I’d get credit for referring you . If you’re set on ACC, I think I have a key I picked up from a humble bundle which I haven’t used and have no plan to, so you’re welcome to take it free of charge.

[PhillippaT]

6 hours ago, Trumpet said:

I’d recommend iRacing. It’s a monthly subscription and they charge for additional cars and tracks, but the base package has more than enough to keep you occupied for a good few months.

 

If you do go with iRacing, let me know if you wouldn’t mind as there’s a referral scheme where I’d get credit for referring you . If you’re set on ACC, I think I have a key I picked up from a humble bundle which I haven’t used and have no plan to, so you’re welcome to take it free of charge.

Is the base game enough, or should I stick to getting the full version for £25 or so?

 

Edit: I'm also seeing what else I can get for free - Raceroom? Automobilista 2 demo? 

Edited 1 August 2023 by PhillippaT

[Trumpet]

1 hour ago, PhillippaT said:

Is the base game enough, or should I stick to getting the full version for £25 or so?

 

Edit: I'm also seeing what else I can get for free - Raceroom? Automobilista 2 demo? 

It’s a flat monthly fee for iRacing, so what I mean by the base game is basically you paying the monthly free but not immediately buying extra cars or tracks. There’s more than enough included to get you started.

 

Not so sure about the others you’ve mentioned. I’ll find that ACC key and send it over.