Been practicing my local track limerock in a spec miata on iracing, and find when I start to loose control the whole car instantly becomes completely out of control and I can't save it. Now, I have a decent amount of track time typical level 2/3 hpde driver, and a ton of Autox under my belt. I've had tires break loose plenty of times but I'm always able to counter steer and recover. I have not had my s2k snap oversteer on me, but am also running a setup more conducive to understeer then oversteer given my high hp. (275 rear staggered 255 front, huge front sway, and forgot my alignment settings but all geared toward under not over steer) that said, what am I missing. Is it just that it's a video game vs real life. Is it the tires (slicks vs my r compounds), or is it that I'm just not driving anywhere close to the limit. The lack of control I run into in iracing is very scary.

Thxs!

 

It may be partially your gaming setup. Depending on the lag, feedback and delay, it may make it harder to respond and catch up on the gaming wheel.

The other two things are:

1. There are elevation changes on most tracks that a less experienced driver might not adjust their driving for.
2. If you're used to a big front swaybar, you might be "muscle-y" on your turn in initiation. Where you could have gotten away with a jerky "throw" before, a Spec Miata will take a "hold small steering input and lift throttle." Once you put a big rotational input on one of those cars, you are NOT going to be able to "save it." It's not about "saving it," it's about not getting into that position in the first place.

 

My 2 cents:

Yes, you are likely not driving your personal car nearly as hard as the virtual car. This is innate with computer/console sims as there is no fear of injury (nor financial burden of crashing). You can always hit the reset button so you are pushing much harder than you ever would in a real car. Next, iRacing's tire physics leave a lot to be desired. There is a reason they are on their 4th or 5th iteration of their tire model. They still have issues with the physics change over from the high speed grip verses low speed grip. The cars can get into an uncontrollable slide, in which a lot of cases a real life car can scrub off enough speed to be able to regain control. It's just an issue with their tire model (and most older computer tire models) and one of the things that keeps me from using it more.

That's not to say every spin is recoverable.

 

You have named the reason I don't play iracing other than every now and then. Their tire model is very unforgiving compared to real life.

Also, that miata is particularly bad. I find some of the other cars (like the solstice) are a little more forgiving, but still not realistic.

So it's iracing, that's all.

 

Wow ok thank you guys I feel much better about this lol. Felt kinda stupid asking but thought it was important, plus I guess nothing wrong with showing a little humility now and again.

 

As an experienced Gran Turismo'r with seat time in I-racing, I agree with what these guys have said regarding the I-racing tire model. The grip loss is not progressive and unfortunately is one of the weaker parts of iracing that has turned me off. Coming from Gran Turismo and real life, the Gran Turismo tire is more accurate to real life than I-racing, but on the other end, allows for a little bit too much sliding (specifically, you need to slide a bit more in Gran Turismo to be fast compared to real life.) The feel and breakaway of the Gran Turismo tire model is done well though, and I prefer that. The chassis dynamics and other parts of I-racing are a bit more detailed that Gran Turismo however. Each system has it's strengths. I found I-racing did very weird and a-typical stuff at the limit, with even the slightest slide resulting in a possible spin, depsite nearly instaneous countersteer and throttle maniuplation, that otherwise would have been "easily" recoverable in real life.

I use sims for muscle memory and basic practice of proper driving technique. Beyond that, don't be tooo worried.

 

Agreed that Gran Turismo's is better except it goes too far in the other direction, where you have to be a crazy drifter to be fast. Still closer to reality though. Comfort tires especially are pretty good.

The best tire model I've experienced is Live For Speed, and that's old!

 

+1, I love driving on comfort tires in GT. The sports hard/medium are also pretty good

Funny you say the best tire model you've driven is Live For Speed. Many would agree with you and it's often talked about on sim forums! I personally have never driven Live for Speed, but I believe that the designer of the tire model for that game (or Grand Prix Legends?) was (and maybe still is?) the tire model designer for I-racing. What's even more funny is that some folks I have talked to actually preferred the 1st tire model in I-racing, which if my above statement is true, was probably very similar to the the Live for Speed tire model. I autocross with a software engineer at I-racing (who also happens to be a national champion type of driver) and it interesting to hear his perspective on things.

Ideally, if you took the best stuff of Grant Turismo, and mixed it with the best stuff of I-racing, you would have one heck of a sim driving/racing experience. I would pony up the cash for that. As it stands now, though I haven't touched a sim in about a year at this point, Gran Turismo is the clear choice for my needs - cheap, fun and realistic enough to translate to real world fundamental practice.

I did build an STR car in Gran Turismo. It was fun.

 

No sim racing game models surface or tire grip all that well. It doesn't really help sell the game or increase the bottom line, so it isn't given much priority to improve it.

 

I like Forza and Live for Speed tire modeling.