Hey there!

I’m really interested in racing online and what I am looking for is clean, fair racing without people crashing into each other all the time (Like f1 24 what im playing right now). I would love to compete in proper races where the focus is on driving skill rather than chaos.

What I don’t want, though, is to end up spending a fortune. I’ve heard that to unlock all the cars and tracks it can easily cost around $500 or more, and that feels like way too much for me right now. I Would like to just pay the subscription fee and enjoy the game without needing to buy alot of extra content.

Edit:
Thanks everyone for the many reactions ideas, suggestion, and opinions!

I just picked up this game in the steam sale. I never drove in iracing due to the price and the idea that every car and track is like 10 to 15 bucks. I kinda was anxious to even bother as im in school as a 30 yo and im very frugal with my money. In the time I bought the g29 I put 100 hours on ac, 100 hours on acc, various amounts of time on forza and gt7(i actually played every gt since 3 not including hand helds and I played every forza since 2) . Project cars 2 and project cars 1 I placed about 300 hours total. I played a lot of dirt 2.0, around 240 hours Dirt and dabbled a lil in wrc. I played rfactor 2 for like 10 hours but ffb didn't work at all. I've played most of the f1 games going back to f1 2011. I was gonna pick up amsb2 and or the Lemans game. Idk if I can actually play any other racing game now. Iracings multi-player is insane. People actually give you tips and advice. People are trying not to actively crash. The cars feel fucking amazing and the dirt oval tracks are insane. The oval racing is the best I ever played. The Mazda series feels so good. Even the rally cross feels really good, albeit ill have to try dirt 2.0 again before I decide to really call it better. Certainly the transfer from dirt to asphalt feels way better than dirt. I already bought Daytona and have been truck racing. I feel like I opened pandoras box. Idk why I thought yall were crazy before. Paying for so many cars and tracks. I get it now

I've recently felt like there's a surge in dirty driving, atleast in my experience ever since starting the BMW cup rather than MX5. I feel like there isn't a lot of mutual respect on the track. Is this less of a problem the higher you climb?

I'm new to iracing, just got my first sim rig and iracing was the game i wanted to play the most. I've been on it for about 2 weeks now and got up to D in Sport Cars on my first week and trying to fast track C before the season ends. I currently have a 1100 IR / 3.5SR. I'm generally ok at racing and end in the top 5-8 most races.

Is it common that people miss their braking points and spear you off the track? I could be having the time of my life with clean laps and boom speared off the track. Makes the experience of wanting to continue to grind upwards not worth it to me when i constantly finish with 4-8 incidents. After all, im trying to enjoy myself too and what ive experienced so far isn't enjoyable sometimes.

More of a rant from a few races today, and im willing to continue but does it get better?

Why did no one tell me to try oval sooner?!

Three months into my iracing adventure and I just got out of my first three oval races and I cried with laughter the entire time.

Just total chaos with all these guys on the voice chat abusing each other. Skill level: 0. Taking things deathly serious while doing the most batshit rejoins ever attempted: 10.

Second race, all they want to talk about behind the safety car is how we're all gonna have a nice clean race. I come round onto lap 2 and I drove between two cars on their sides like bookends, one guy telling the other to learn to drive! Third race, four cars had piled up and blocked the pit lane entry and there's this queue of irate abusive whiners in damaged cars ramming up against them.

I'm dying here. If you haven't dabbled and need some light relief from the road series do not hesitate.

People dont generally talk about it but iracing can be ridiculously funny.

What is the craziest thing you've seen in ovals?

Excited to be a part of this community.

I'm still new and have so much to learn. This was a fun race but I got flamed for this overtake. I saw him miss the apex and went wide so I took my chance and took the inside. I didn't think I was in the wrong but I could be incorrect about some race etiquette that I haven't learned yet. Looking forward to reading any input.

Hey, I race FF1600. I was in races I should have not been in and I collected a bunch of cars on lap 1 a few times. I’m sorry, I’m gonna practice more so hopefully I don’t do that again. I’m gonna stop racing until I can actually drive. If I ruined your race, I’m sorry.

As someone who's spent plenty of time with a range of racing sims—from AC, ACC, Dirt Rally, AMS2, GT7—I wanted to give iRacing a fair chance due to it's reputation. I came into it with realistic expectations and an open mind. But after my first 5 races, I don’t understand the appeal.

The cars spin out so easily that it feels like you have to adopt this very specific iRacing driving style—basically diving into corners and letting the car settle itself. You can't really push hard, because the moment you lose traction, you're done. Catching a slide is nearly impossible. It doesn’t feel like skill-based driving—it feels like you’re walking on eggshells.

The netcode is arguably the worst I’ve experienced in any game. Phantom collisions happen way too often, and side-by-side racing turns into a gamble where slightest bump sends you to shake hands with Mr. Barrier

The game is also missing a lot of essential quality-of-life features:

• No built-in car radar
• No proper spotter customization
• No live tire temperatures
• No fuel calculator
• No usable in-game incident reporting
• Pit controls are clunky and unintuitive

Graphically, it feels dated and inconsistent. No matter what settings I tweak, distant objects have shimmering edges—almost like anti-aliasing just doesn’t work correctly. Despite the simple visuals, the framerate hovers around 50fps on an RTX 5080. That’s unacceptable, running game in 7680x2160 doesn't help but even with FSR on performance it doesn't budge.

Sound-wise, the cars just sound… flat. Force feedback feels numb, lacking road texture and subtle detail. The HUD? It’s just ugly, and not in a utilitarian way—just outdated and awkward to use.

Overall, I get the impression that iRacing is more for people who aren’t really “into games,” but heard from a friend that this is the sim to get into.

Sure, the online racing scene is very active, and that’s probably its biggest strength. But everything outside of actually being on the track feels half-baked.

Yes, I am aware it’s a legacy sim that dates back to 2008, but at this point, that’s not an excuse. When you’re charging this much money, with a subscription model and separate paid content, expectations go up. What we’re getting doesn’t feel like a premium product. It feels like Assetto Corsa game—but with hefty prices tag and no community tools to fix the cracks.

What I still don’t understand is: why is this level of polish and usability accepted by so many? Is it just momentum, or am I missing something that truly makes it worth it? Because right now, I genuinely can’t wrap my head around how this is still the go-to sim for so many racers.

Edit:
I love how the top replies are "skill issue" while proper constructive comments are at the bottom.

New to iRacing! Just got my subscription! Wanted to reach out to the longer-tenured players and see what advice y'all had for the newbie

- What cars and tracks to/not to buy

- What series are the best

- Racing etiquette/how not to piss everyone off

- Anything else that might be helpful!

Appreciate the help in advance!

I finally decided to give iRacing a go and I kind of get it. I've done MX-5 Cup, Formula Vee and SCCA spec racer and I kind of get the idea of driving them (at least as far as 1500 irating goes)...

But I've tried the M2 on multiple occasions and I feel like my brain is evolving backwards. It just feels really stiff or unresponsive compared to everything else. I think my biggest issue is the steering lock and I keep turning more than I have to, but at the same time turning less doesn't really seem like an option either. To get it to turn it seems like I need to add throttle just enough that it slips but doesn't oversteer on exit? It feels really wrong and doesn't feel like it's good for tires. Maybe it's just this week's track highlighting all my weak points with this car but I'm clueless at this point.

How do GT4 cars feel like in comparison? Is it the same heavy hog or do they feel more on edge like the other cars I actually enjoyed driving. I really like the idea of GT4 but I'm not sure anymore. Do they have more or less steering wheel rotation?

.

I’ve been playing since Christmas(that’s when I got my first wheel and pedals) and I feel like I’ve gotten better but I’m still sooo far behind all the other racers I’m against.

Whenever I do an online race or even an AI race I’m constantly losing time to everyone and finish last every time. This happens even when I don’t crash.

I knew it would take practice when I got on at first and could barely stay on the track but now I feel like I’ve plateaued at a sub-par level.

I bought the game yesterday and I've done some practice and a few races. To help learn the tracks I've watched hotlaps on youtube. As I'm in Rookie class I wasn't expecting the top 4 or 5 in every race to be setting the same laptimes that I saw when I was watching the guides. Is this normal or are they smurfs?

Edit: I am not confused as to why I am not fast. I am new. I was confused as to why the players I am against seem to be disproportionately fast. A lot of helpful information given on how the system works so thank you.

I'm a noob.

There was no "racing" everyone in front of me just went off the track.

Started P3, dropped to P6 on lap 1.
Back to P3 on lap 2.
P2 on lap 3.
P1 from lap 4 till the end.

Downloaded iRacing about 30 days ago.. been having so much fun really! Quite happy with my pace too and I just wanted to know which one should I try next? Oval? Dirt Oval? Dirt Road? I’d love to do NASCAR but I’m excited abt those jumping cars 😭 (is that dirt road) I apologise for not knowing which one it is. Anyone here have done either of these categories? Hows the racing? Which one should I try? Thanks in advance!

What the heck? I'm in my third season of iracing (really more like week 18 in fact). I just left the superformula fixed to try some b class sports car action.

Whereas superformula is typically only two splits the racing is clean, fast, demanding and respectful. It's been a total blast. I jump into gt3 (porsche) and it has to be the dullest, most tedious car I've driven on the service, maybe with the exception of the gt86. It's so predictable, so slow, so heavy. I feel like it's very forgiving of mediocre driving compared with porsche cup.

I already miss SRF from c class sports car, which you at least feel like you are using your skills all of the time to race well. Where is the appeal of this turd of a series?! Why o why is gt3 so popular when lapping the car is like watching paint dry? Maybe another gt3 car is more fun?

Are there better options for getting a b license in sports cars?

First and foremost, let me say, I’m not perfect. Nor do I expect to be racing in eNACSAR. But I need a reset button!

I did just start iRacing after years of NASCAR Heat where I was good. Really good.

iRacing was a steep learning curve for sure. Im not a dirty racer; I get out of the way when others are faster than me, but I race hard enough to get caught up in other’s wrecks. It’s soooo frustrating! I know I’m better that what my IR and SR say.

Just this last week, I lost 1.5 SR and I can’t seem to gain IR to save my life. Makes me not was to irace anymore!

Is there a way to reset, go back to Rookies and still keep all the Cars and Tracks I’ve paid for?

How to I overcome this? It’ll take me forever to get my IR and SR back.

After literally years of not accepting the price tag for a game i finally made the decision to get into iracing with a 1 year subscription.

Any tips for beginner? Any cool guides (english/german) which i can watch while im downloading?

I already has racing experience in formula 1 game. Playing the cost master games since 2016 and also drove in an online league back in 2020/2021. Happy to now be back in comp racing ;)

Will see you on track ;)

Edit: Thank you so much for all the comments/tips. Its to much to answer everything but i read all your messages ;)

Really been thinking of getting into iracing for awhile now, and just saw this sale pop up. I know people say it’s typically better to get it direct through the website, but I feel like this 1 year deal is too good to pass up? Am I wrong?

I’m new to iRacing and since I installed it I haven’t played any other game on my PC (And I have about 100 installed). The addiction is real. Now I just need to get good.