Standards in iRacing events

[popabawa]

I'm pretty disappointed by that comment Rob, seems that type of attitude might be at the root of some of the problems we've been having.

[Burtoner]

Hmm, I wouldnt say less carefully, races are more competitive, in leagues than official races based on irating, with no SR/iR it is off your back bit. People like Brian Kerr are like good 5-6 secs faster, which is not a problem its just like I feel I have to push even harder to get a good result, which is more out of your "safety zone" and may cause incidents.

[popabawa]

How can "being out of your safety zone" which "may cause incidents" possibly be "no less careful"?

Look at your results and incident count Rob. If you're having to push harder, it certainly isn't getting you good results.

Sorry to single you out here but I want people to start treating this a little more seriously seriously so we can all enjoy the racing to it's full potential in iRacing.

[Darren Seal]

I also find some of the comments above very worrying.  Attitudes like this certainly explain the problems we are currently seeing on the track.

Just because there is no SR or iRating points at risk doesn't mean drivers have the right to take more risks...  This is not a game of AI drivers.  You are racing real people; who have taken time out of their busy lives to be on the track.  If you hit another car, chances are you have ruined their race and maybe even their whole season...

I personally pride myself on my safety.  I will never race without practise beforehand.  I will never make a move unless I'm certain it is safe to do so..  If someone happens to lose control in front of me I would rather bin my own car to avoid contact...

I used to think SRouk was a place I could find like minded people...  After recent races I'm not sure now.

[Brendan]

Without wishing to fan the flames too much, I must admit I have been surprised at how discrete the moderation for iR events has been.  Back in my GPL days, races were picked over with a fine tooth comb and virtually every incident was analysed and feedback given to those involved.  This often resulted in penalties for infringements and a deeper understanding of the standards required was the result.

Of course this was very time consuming and required a huge amount of dedication from the mods.

I don't wish to denigrate the role of the mods here, as I think the work that goes on behind the scenes to make UKiR a possibility is fantastic and very much appreciated.  However, the ramifications for poor driving are not as harsh as they perhaps should be. 

[Paul Richards]

Not allowing any wouldn't be the end of the world, but I personally would feel very bad if I screwed up and unintentionally caused damage to someone else and they had no way of continuing through no fault of their own.

Nail on head hit! This sums the whole point of why having no resets will automatically make the whole standards instantly better. Re-Read what you said and reverse it. Presently if you screw up now its not as bad because that person has a reset. Fine by itself but it doesnt necessarily encourage you to drive safer because both yourself and the person's race you have ruined have a second chance. Take away that second chance and its more likely you will drive safer knowing the consequences for both yourself and more importantly the victim and there is a good chance the incident wont happen in the first place.

I dont mean you Ross literally by the way this applies to all of us.

[ross.mcw]

Well, I'm easy either way as I'm all for cleaner racing and personally speaking I'm always aiming for as clean a race as possible myself - certainly in terms of avoiding car to car contact.

Cheers, Ross.

[Paul968]

Normally I like the idea of a reset because online racing is always more messy than the real thing and it only takes one person to spoil it for several others. The tow takes such a long time that it isn't a great help a lot of the time. For that reason I'm bothered whether it stays or goes.

[ross.mcw]

Perhaps the top 3 inc point scorers should be the ones to pay for the next week's practice & hosting?

...or maybe a cash fine is levied and collected at the end of the season that goes towards hosting costs?

...or the next season's hosting costs are split proportionally based on previous season's incident points?

Obviously hard to enforce though I guess.

[Don]

My thoughts on this are that it could be an attitude problem People might be being far too aggressive.
I always race with the mindset that it's a real race, I don't want to crash hit anybody or end up in the wall, so I try drive with that in mind all the time.
Take away the saftey curtain of the reset, it's race over anyway if you have to reset.

[Kerr]

A lot of the errors I'm seeing are down to lack of control which can catch anybody out, but often most mistakes are coming from the guys who join the server late.

It may be an assumption but that appears to be lack of practice.

Not flaming anyone and not wanting to start arguements so need to defend youself, but over the last couple of races at Brands in the Indy car and Skip I've found myself at the centre of incidents.

One was purely a slight error that caused the car ahead to spin and there just was no space for me to pass without contact.

The next was a driver who lost control and still kept his foot in and travelled across the track.

The last a driver was caught up in an accident which was not his fault. He had to reset and to do it as quickly as possible he stopped as soon as he could forgetting he was over a blind summit.

Guys seem to have completely forgotten simple things such as rejoining safely after an off.

I fully understand iRacing cars are harder to drive than the likes of GTR2 but I fail to see how that has changed the driving attitudes on track as it has.

Simple basic things now seem to have been forgotten.

[popabawa]

Well said Brian. My feelings exactly, hence the reminders at the top of this post.

Can I remind everyone that driving close to 100% for 40 mins is a very, very difficult task in these cars, I'd venture to say that there's only a handful of drivers here who are capable of doing that.

Sometimes slower IS quicker, especially when you don't fall off.

There's absolutely no way I should be finishing top 10 in these races, I'm usually around 20th quickest in laptimes, but I seem to be managing it. With very few incidents too, maybe there's a link there....

[Ken Murray]

I'd be loath to see the short tracks dropped completely. As someone else commented, they are a "busier" experience and I think they suit the Skip better than droning round somewhere like Silverstone. And the tracks aren't the real root of the problem.

I do think removal of the tow/reset will be the answer in the long term. I'd like to think my record is pretty decent on average (no incidents at all in the last race that has prompted all this discussion), but I have been known to make the odd howler (sorry Pete/Brendan). But if there was no reset I'm sure my subconcious control would not have let me get in to those situations, which were both as a result of running too close behind another car.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I think we should have just one reset, it isnt much to ask for. I think also we or I do tend to race more harder and more faster because we dont have to worry about SR and IR.

Maybe we should implement divisions?

Divisions won't help - you'll be racing exactly the same people you're racing now.

The serial overdrivers - and I certainly count you amongst them, Robert - need to learn how to read the subtle clues that they're beginning to overdrive and back off a little. Missed apexes, locked brakes, little slides under power - that sort of thing. If you ignore the signs and just keep pushing it's a matter of when - not if - you crash, and then it's a matter of luck as to whether you take anybody else with you.

[Kerr]

Is there anyway we can attach setups to our posts on here?

Just to make things really easy I think it would be helpful to have a selection of setups at hand.

Although I don't think setups in the Skip will help drastically but in cars like the Dallara you can tune the car to drive nice or right on the edge.

Also can we have some method of posting videos of laps etc?

I actually hate posting videos to be judged and trying to give advice to other drivers on how to drive but I would like to help.

I'm pretty sure we all have different driving styles and from what I read I'm one of the very few drivers that drives the Skip using right foot braking only.

My target is to see things progress here and will do what I can to help, if it be share setups, replays or anything else I can do, I'm more than willing to offer my time and assistance.

Lets not turn this thread into a personal bashing session and concentrate on how to improve things.