Curtis Carr

Alright after reading through all of these 1 and 2 star reviews that are completely misleading about what iRacing is, here it goes. For context, I've been a PC racing gamer/sim user since the 90's with many years in iRacing among other race games. iRacing is built to be the closest simulation you can get to the real thing. Does it replace it? No. Does it take away from the enjoyment of other racing games? No. Does it use systems (irating, safety rating, phyics) that other systems don't use? Yes. It's for those that want to be a part of a community that enjoys racing. All types of it. You can race on asphalt, dirt, ovals, and road courses - running a number of different cars and trucks. Is it perfect? No. But the development team is top notch and works as hard, if not harder, than anyone else in the industry to bring constant updates and improvement to the platform. Why do you have to pay? The fee helps insure we get the best product and experience available. It also filters out users that don't plan to take the experience seriously, leading to better racing. Yes, it's a bit costly, but what hobby isn't? Real racing costs way more $$ What is iRating? iRating is your skill level. You start at a base (believe its 1200) and you go up and down based on how you finish. It is a ZERO SUM SYSTEM. Meaning, if you gain 10 points, someone lost 10 points. If you consistently finish well, you'll go up in iRating. If you finish in the back, you go down in iRating. It's similar to matchmaking that you find in other games. The entire goal is to put equally skilled drivers on the track together to increase the fun and enjoyment of the game. Is it ideal? Probably not, but it's better than being last in ever race because you're not as fast as the others with more experience. It does mean when you first start you tend to be among those that wreck a lot. Well, learn to drive safe, control your car, and you'll easily move up until you get to where you should be. Is it overnight? No. It takes time. It can be frustrating to some, but it also keeps everyone's race as enjoyable as possible. What is safety rating? Safety rating is iRacing's system built to balance out clean driving and wreckless driving. It's based on your incidents per corner. It's a no fault system. Is that perfect? No, but it's not easy to come up with a better solution. You can safety rating if you don't hit others, they hit you, run off track, spin, etc. It teaches wreck avoidance, it teaches you to practice driving the track, not over your head, it filters out wreckless driver's that are always taking the enjoyment away from others. Does it suck when someone hits you and you get a 2x or 4x, of course, but that's how it works. Learn to spot wreckless drivers and avoid them but also understand it's racing. If you're getting DQ'd from a session because you hit the incident limit, that's on you for not taking the time to practice or you're driving over your skill level. I will admit there are times when it doesn't pan out (ie: NiS race at Bristol or Martinsville) but 9/10 times, the system works. It deters drivers that don't want to take it seriously to leave or be demoted and keeps the community the best it can. Have you ever been in a console online race? There are always people driving backwards, trying to crash others, etc. Isn't a safety rating a better trade off? I'll take a few extra incident points that are not my fault over that any day. If you run into someone that is harassing or being malicious, report them. The staff will take care of it.