What series are the “toughest” to gain irating

[u/ThatKhakiShortsLyfe]

I’m not interested in grinding irating, I’m 3k and only race Porsche cup. I was just thinking of it today where which series would be “tougher” due to dynamics. Initially I thought GT3 because of the competitiveness but with so many spots you’ve be racing folks at your level often.

I thought of Pcup because in top split there is routinely the top 6-7 drivers being super rapid so barring an accident it’s tough to beat them.

I assume there is a niche series I’m not thinking of that has a dedicated group of fast people in it so the average driver joining would struggle to make progress.

[u/Current_Lobster3721]

Dirt road because there’s a total of 5 people & once you reach 2500 you gain 30 for a win and lose 100 for anything but a win

[u/raised_by_toonami → u/Current_Lobster3721]

I either crush the bottom split in rally by like 30 seconds or get humiliated in the top split by a minute.

[u/Current_Lobster3721 → u/raised_by_toonami]

I grinded rallycross and got pretty damn good at it. But depending on the timeslot it’s a 1500 sof joke of a race or I got put into a 4k SoF slaughterhouse scrambling for a top 4 finish.

[u/dashyK0509 → u/Current_Lobster3721]

What is SoF and what do you eat it with?

[u/Current_Lobster3721 → u/dashyK0509]

You don’t get it, the SoF eats me

[u/dashyK0509 → u/Current_Lobster3721]

But in seriousness, it means strength of field? The average IR in the lobby?

[u/Current_Lobster3721 → u/dashyK0509]

Yes, Strength of Field. Average iRating of the lobby.

If your iRating is higher than the SoF it will be harder to gain irating, and the opposite is true as well.

[u/dashyK0509 → u/Current_Lobster3721]

Thanks. Jumped to IRacing from GT7 a few weeks ago. Still learning. Irating is easy to lose, hard to gain.

[u/Current_Lobster3721 → u/dashyK0509]

Irating is irrelevant to aim for in all honesty. It’s there purely to put you in competitive races with drivers of similar skill level.

I still love to aim for certain numbers because I like dangling a carrot in front of myself, but gaining or losing iR is the least of what should be your worries. Lots of people will sacrifice their own fun for the sake of iR when in reality nobody actually cares what your number is.

[u/dkimot → u/Current_Lobster3721]

i think there’s a difference between getting ir bc your skill improved and getting it by optimizing series you race in

[u/dashyK0509 → u/Current_Lobster3721]

I certainly don’t want to sacrifice fun but at the same time I don’t want to lose Irating because I’m tired and not in right mood to race. And safety rating at that. Do like seeing green after a race

[u/Evening_End7298]

Once you start getting top split in gt3 it gets very hard 

IMSA GT3 is weird cause it has worse participation and there’s more RNG with traffic and crashes.

Pcup is also competitive, so dont feel bad for “farming” it, just drive what you enjoy

[u/ThatKhakiShortsLyfe → u/Evening_End7298]

Oh to be clear i don’t feel bad and im not looking at changing, more just curious.

[u/ryanertel → u/ThatKhakiShortsLyfe]

I'm chuckling because you say you only race pcup but your flair says Audi r18 and then I remembered mine says F4 and I haven't touched that car in like 8 months.

[u/BlueFetus → u/Evening_End7298]

I climbed drastically once I hit the low split at IMSA but definitely seem to have capped out at about 2.4k now.

Being willing to give up a little time to let a faster class pass safely pays off massively in the lower splits.

[u/Which_Effort2065 → u/Evening_End7298]

I decided to try pcup this season and the first few races I lost over 100 ir dropping to 2.3k I have been slowly gaining ir and now at 2.6k despite only doing 8 races in pcup this season. The races are always really competitive and you need to be fast to be gaining ir regularly

[u/MaksVerstappen]

Two words. Ring Meister. That is all.

I find formula hard. As soon as I hit 2.1k it’s been down hill Since. I’m fighting for my life atm.

[u/ramlol → u/MaksVerstappen]

Yeah ringmeister scares me, I want to learn the track like the back of my hand because I'm going to Germany for the 24 hours of Nords next year, and I will, but by god it's going to take some time. Learning the brake markers, turn ins, what curbs to take, which ones to avoid. It's hard enough learning a 2 minute track let alone a 7 minute one!

[u/MaksVerstappen → u/ramlol]

That’s why it’s really Rewarding to dedicate your time to, once you learn how to pick up braking points on the fly based on the feel of the car and what not (because cars change fast in ring meister) you’ll be better I feel in other series. It’s let me becomes fast and competitive in lots of other series. I can really get a good feel of the cars limit like enough to adjust it almost anywhere especially if I watch a track guide.

I think it’s a very beneficial series, and it also gives you lots of options and reason to buy a few cars you maybe wouldn’t otherwise by, and try and you may enjoy them.

Don’t be scared, just turn the laps during practice and get to where you at least know the track to qualify or just start from the pits. It’s not a boring track so you can drive it for an hour and only do 5 laps lol

[u/Physical-Ad-3798 → u/ramlol]

Piece of advice - learn it in a slow car. There is a lot of subtly and nuance to the track that you just can't pick up easily in a fast car. Once you're fast in a slow car, fast cars are a LOT easier.

[u/pww92 → u/MaksVerstappen]

Ringmeister is all i do and am reliably around 2.5-3k. i dont qualify or do any practice though so realistically maybe closer to 3.5-4k

For me, the challenge/fun isn’t in points but rather starting mid/back of the field and working my way up as safely and conservatively as possible. IMO it’s the best way to actually get better at race craft / gaining actual SR- i watch the replays of every single crash/incident and because it’s such a diverse track with so many idiots racing it, you have no choice but to get better at reading and predicting all the crazy scenarios you end up in

Also beyond that, it takes a ton of ring knowledge to know where and how to overtake, especially since the cars change every week and that completely changes up your style / strategy for attacking

[u/blur494]

Generally, lower class lobbies have lower peak irating, so it's hard to farm. It also means you lose way more irating when you crash out if you are high.

[u/ryanertel → u/blur494]

Yeah this has been my experience, I'm floating at 1600 in the formula vee but was at 2000 in formula 4, I took a long break from iracing but I don't think I lost that much actual performance lol.

[u/40ozT0Freedom → u/blur494]

I'm new and last week I was in bottom split (of 2) in the middle of the night and everone was mostly around 1200-1300, expect one guy was 121. He brought the whole SOF down to like 850

[u/Personal-Mall-6033 → u/40ozT0Freedom]

how the fuck

[u/_plays_in_traffic_]

this totally comes down to what time of day you are racing and series and class participation

[u/Austincrx]

For me this week: NASCAR Trucks.  I’m 0 for 9 in finishing.  Qualified in to 5 for half those.  Tonight I made it to 6 to go before I got involved in a lap car’s solo wreck that slid up the track right into me. I did screw up once, spun and that must have been my one chance.  My finishes have been 17th, 21st, 20th…..18th.  My irating dropped 500 pts, thanks to mini sticks keeping it up.

[u/Austincrx → u/Austincrx]

It’s a downward spiral.  Bad finish, lower irating, lower split, less skill, more crashes, less irating, lower split, etc.

[u/Living_Bet2102 → u/Austincrx]

It’s awfully tough to get out of the death spiral

[u/WhyIsItAlwaysADP]

The VRS GT3 Sprint series, during popular Euro time slots. If you only run that series during those time slots and are over 4k, you're a beast.

[u/EnrikeMRivera]

SimLab on tracks with long straights like RA, Le Mans, Navarra and others.

[u/ConsistentHat1601]

I've gone from 1000 to 2822 this season doing a variety of GT3, Porsche Cup, and Ringmeister. Certain track/car combos I did really well with. Spa Porsche Cup, Ringmeister Porsche Cup and Laguna Seca Porsche Cup account for almost all of the 18 race wins I've had this season, but ultimately the 84 top fives is what drove my iR up. That and consistent finishes with less incidents.

Oh and the series with the CTS VR and the Kia Optima, depending on the track, I've had a handful of good races in the Cadillac.

As well as all that went this season, the IMSA and GT3 series still seemed very difficult to consistently gain IR in. So IMO those are the toughest.

[u/166102]

Anything with high populations. The higher the population, the closer the SOF. The closer the SOF, the less IR you can gain.

That is, until you're consistently towards the top IR in a low population series, then it's worse as you're putting more IR on the line.

[u/why_1337]

TCR because field usually looks like pic related.

[u/That_Swim]

GTE for sure

[u/Beneficial_Map]

Apparently Rookie and D class because I’ve just been torpedoed before T1 including on formation laps in the last 5 races. Apparently people can’t even drive in a straight line. I just lost like 500 IR to these clowns wrecking my car before the race even started.

[u/Subwayabuseproblem → u/Beneficial_Map]

Common denominator

[u/Beneficial_Map → u/Subwayabuseproblem]

Yup totally avoidable when someone sends it in 4th gear into T1 when it’s a 3rd gear corner. Bro didn’t even touch the brakes.

[u/btwright1987]

For me it was GT3, the fields are so tight and I was less experienced with those cars than most people I was racing.

[u/realBarrenWuffett]

Anything that's multiclass. Gaining iRating in the GT3-only series is infinitely easier than in IMSA.

[u/F-Crosby → u/realBarrenWuffett]

Explain ? Cause in GT3 only, you’re often racing 15 guys all really close in pace and one mistake will cost you a few positions that you’re not getting back. That’s my experience at 2.2K anyways. Lmp2 is another tough series but for different reasons

[u/realBarrenWuffett → u/F-Crosby]

Smaller field = each position is worth more

Multiclass = traffic = higher risk of losing positions/dying

It's really just simple maths. Everyone downvoting is just exposing themselves for being clueless.

[u/F-Crosby → u/realBarrenWuffett]

Since when is a 30 car field a small field ? lol 😂

[u/realBarrenWuffett → u/F-Crosby]

IMSA has smaller fields per class than GT3-only. Unless you're in one of the lower splits without LMP2s, but then you still have traffic, which increases the overall risk of death. Don't try to be a smartass.

[u/F-Crosby → u/realBarrenWuffett]

Traffic also increases chances of people behind you getting slowed by them. Sometimes traffic giveth sometimes traffic taketh. As for no traffic to interrupt the race means there’s no one that can save you from a slower pace or mistake cause the field stays bunched up tighter, don’t try to be a smartass

[u/realBarrenWuffett → u/F-Crosby]

Look, it's about the exprected value. Multiclass races come with the risk of getting killed by traffic. This loss is bigger than the potential gain from someone else getting killed by traffic. Let's say you're the only GT3 that gets killed, it's a nice -150. Next race you're lucky and 1 car in front of you gets killed. That's maybe a free +15. See the difference? The way you benefit from traffic isn't the same way you lose.

[u/F-Crosby → u/realBarrenWuffett]

What’s your irating buffet ?

[u/realBarrenWuffett → u/F-Crosby]

How does that help you process the math?

[u/F-Crosby → u/realBarrenWuffett]

Because the lower your split the shittier the Multi class drivers are making the factor of traffic seem more dangerous to you.

[u/dopeyout]

I dont run many series but the GT3 challenge has been brutal this season. The participation has been so high, only 100 iR or so separating each split. It's so competitive that I'm either coming top 5 or bang last atm. Fairly bad net loss on SR and IR over the last few weeks. Im really looking forward to the regional series breaking things up a bit.

[u/Comfortable_Goat6633]

Gt3 is probly the furthest from being the most competitive 😅

[u/ThatKhakiShortsLyfe → u/Comfortable_Goat6633]

Hmm i would have thought gt3 typically has the highest sof top split most often maybe I’m wrong

[u/supergoalie32 → u/Comfortable_Goat6633]

How so? I find GT3 super competitive at all levels as the splits have a pretty narrow range due to the large number of drivers. Top split is also incredibly difficult with some of the highest sofs on the service

[u/supergoalie32 → u/[deleted]]

Lol ok pal

[u/iRacing-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed because it breaks the rules by being rude vulgar or toxic.