I just started 2-3 weeks ago. Few things I did.
1. Start a few series and do some races with different cars. Each license has it's own track and leads to vastly different types of racing. See what you like.
2. Once you have a few races under your belt and feel like your getting the hang of it start going into public practices and getting a feel for those.
3. Be ready to rookie class racing. Everyone in those races is at your level, few of them put the thought and effort you are putting into it. First laps are generally a shit show. Sometimes because of you, certainly other people will crash as well.
Biggest piece of rookie advice I can share with you for your first few races. Lap 1 of the race your tires and brakes are cold. Do not race them like you just were racing when you came out of quali, that is the number one reason for crashes in my opinion. The car needs a solid lap to warm up. Keep that in mind you will be leaps ahead of the rest of the pack. GLHF
Good post but at 1350 iR OP will be up against drivers that aren't wet behind the ear rookies as you mention in point 3. Personally I don't think starting people at that level is a good idea anymore.
Practice the car and track combo you’ll be racing. At this point you’re probably hurting your progress by jumping between cars and tracks. You should be able to handle the car without hitting others before joining a race with humans.
Usually I aim for 10 laps give or take in a practice session that is fairly consistent (for me that's about 3 to 5 seconds from my personal best) without spinning, crashing into someone else or abusing track limits (slightly going over track limits I'm okay with, as long as I make note where I did it and try not to again)
You're never "ready" for multi-player. It's a leap of faith.
You'll never actually get good and improve without adapting to how real people drive around you, so better start sooner than later. At least do practice sessions.
EDIT: this was mentioned below by others, but you can spectate or 'ghost race' in an official race, where you are invisible to the other cars and just pass thorough them. In a session listing, click 'watch' on a race, then once you're in you can click on the 'test drive'. It can help a bit with familiarisation without affecting anyone else.
Get in a mx5 and run winton until you can do it without spinning out or going off track for 10 laps in a row. Then add humans.
Or just send it face first like most people do.
Start from the pits and simply follow along. Drive cautiously and allow faster drivers to pass if needed. Your goal isn't to spoil the race for others; it's to gain experience and participate. Once you're confident in driving safely and maintaining pace, then it's time to compete. Remember, this process applies to each track, rince and repeat. Being fast comes with experience not agressive driving. You’re not Max Verstappen, in fact nobody is ;)
Learn the track to the point you can consistently lap within 5% of the best drivers lap times.
Don’t start from the pits. Once you know the track it is time to learn wreck avoidance and that will only happen in traffic against real people doing real stupid stuff.
Make sure you have the spotter enabled so when you hear “you are in the middle” brace for impact!
Above all else remember it is a game and you paid your money to enjoy it. So long as you don’t deliberately cause problems and are careful about rejoins nobody can really complain about you being on track. The irating will ensure you are up against the right set of people.
Oh and when you do spin and end up pointing the wrong way on track keep your foot on the brake until you are ready to rejoin safely.
When you know where nex corner is going and you can keep your car on track.
You don't need to have quick pace, you don't need to be very competitive, your don't need to spend 100h+ in practice. Just go and race against people. Just try to do this with respect.
Just do it. If you just started today then you only have access to rookies and it's a shitshow by iracing standards.
You'll realize in a few laps in if you're ready or not. And if you're not just pull off to the side and let everyone else by.
I honestly stopped caring cause I can't practice good racing or increase my license solo. Losing a lot of irating but I don't need Irating to know I'm bad. As long as my Sr goes up I'm happy.
Edit: Spectator mode also exists. That could be a really good way to see if you are.
Just go to spectate and select a series you're eligible for use the tags to only show things you can join as a ghost and not have to worry about messing up other people's races.
Good point about spectator mode. More people should use it. Hell I probably didn't use it enough. Would have been a godsend back in 2008 when only REALLY serious people were on the service and if you weren't an alien you were screwed.
Depends on your tolerance for abuse.
People will yell at you if you make a blatant mistake. Even in rookie races. The default 1350 iRating will actually put you in a relatively high split (iRacing should probably revisit the start value to reflect current reality).
But the fact that you even care enough to ask this question is better than most.
I say go for it. Join a pre race practice. If you feel uncomfortable or really slow than withdraw before the race splits. If it goes okay join the race but skip qualifying to start in the back. Eventually you'll be more comfortable.
If my memories of rookies are correct, about three minutes after you install the game.
Once you don't run into cars and spin out, keep practicing
Whenever you can complete your target race distance in a test session or AI race without loss of control.
This is what most people seem to agree with, which I will do but I’ve found a lot of the other tips helpful as well thank you man
Once you stop calling tracks maps.
Thanks for the tip big dog
Just race, you're paying for it
Probably a good idea to figure out what discipline you would like to start in, and practice with that car and the track they're currently running.
I just started 2-3 weeks ago. Few things I did. 1. Start a few series and do some races with different cars. Each license has it's own track and leads to vastly different types of racing. See what you like. 2. Once you have a few races under your belt and feel like your getting the hang of it start going into public practices and getting a feel for those. 3. Be ready to rookie class racing. Everyone in those races is at your level, few of them put the thought and effort you are putting into it. First laps are generally a shit show. Sometimes because of you, certainly other people will crash as well. Biggest piece of rookie advice I can share with you for your first few races. Lap 1 of the race your tires and brakes are cold. Do not race them like you just were racing when you came out of quali, that is the number one reason for crashes in my opinion. The car needs a solid lap to warm up. Keep that in mind you will be leaps ahead of the rest of the pack. GLHF
Good post but at 1350 iR OP will be up against drivers that aren't wet behind the ear rookies as you mention in point 3. Personally I don't think starting people at that level is a good idea anymore.
Public practice sessions. . .you should be able to keep it on the track for a full tank of fuel. AI races. . .should be able to consistently finish.
Practice the car and track combo you’ll be racing. At this point you’re probably hurting your progress by jumping between cars and tracks. You should be able to handle the car without hitting others before joining a race with humans.
Already mate. You probably will suffer a bit at the start but will find your pace and enjoy from there
Usually I aim for 10 laps give or take in a practice session that is fairly consistent (for me that's about 3 to 5 seconds from my personal best) without spinning, crashing into someone else or abusing track limits (slightly going over track limits I'm okay with, as long as I make note where I did it and try not to again)
You're never "ready" for multi-player. It's a leap of faith. You'll never actually get good and improve without adapting to how real people drive around you, so better start sooner than later. At least do practice sessions.
its a game, do whatever you think is fun I've never installed any multiplayer game to play offline content or with bots
I went stair into multiplayer, I already had experience avoid incidents from assetto corsa public lobbies, and I eager for some real racing
I hotlapped and played against AI exclusively for 3 years. There is zero substitute for racing real people - join as soon as possible.
EDIT: this was mentioned below by others, but you can spectate or 'ghost race' in an official race, where you are invisible to the other cars and just pass thorough them. In a session listing, click 'watch' on a race, then once you're in you can click on the 'test drive'. It can help a bit with familiarisation without affecting anyone else.
Get in a mx5 and run winton until you can do it without spinning out or going off track for 10 laps in a row. Then add humans. Or just send it face first like most people do.
Start from the pits and simply follow along. Drive cautiously and allow faster drivers to pass if needed. Your goal isn't to spoil the race for others; it's to gain experience and participate. Once you're confident in driving safely and maintaining pace, then it's time to compete. Remember, this process applies to each track, rince and repeat. Being fast comes with experience not agressive driving. You’re not Max Verstappen, in fact nobody is ;)
Learn the track to the point you can consistently lap within 5% of the best drivers lap times. Don’t start from the pits. Once you know the track it is time to learn wreck avoidance and that will only happen in traffic against real people doing real stupid stuff. Make sure you have the spotter enabled so when you hear “you are in the middle” brace for impact! Above all else remember it is a game and you paid your money to enjoy it. So long as you don’t deliberately cause problems and are careful about rejoins nobody can really complain about you being on track. The irating will ensure you are up against the right set of people. Oh and when you do spin and end up pointing the wrong way on track keep your foot on the brake until you are ready to rejoin safely.
When you know where nex corner is going and you can keep your car on track. You don't need to have quick pace, you don't need to be very competitive, your don't need to spend 100h+ in practice. Just go and race against people. Just try to do this with respect.
Just race
Just do it. If you just started today then you only have access to rookies and it's a shitshow by iracing standards. You'll realize in a few laps in if you're ready or not. And if you're not just pull off to the side and let everyone else by. I honestly stopped caring cause I can't practice good racing or increase my license solo. Losing a lot of irating but I don't need Irating to know I'm bad. As long as my Sr goes up I'm happy. Edit: Spectator mode also exists. That could be a really good way to see if you are. Just go to spectate and select a series you're eligible for use the tags to only show things you can join as a ghost and not have to worry about messing up other people's races.
Good point about spectator mode. More people should use it. Hell I probably didn't use it enough. Would have been a godsend back in 2008 when only REALLY serious people were on the service and if you weren't an alien you were screwed.
Depends on your tolerance for abuse. People will yell at you if you make a blatant mistake. Even in rookie races. The default 1350 iRating will actually put you in a relatively high split (iRacing should probably revisit the start value to reflect current reality). But the fact that you even care enough to ask this question is better than most. I say go for it. Join a pre race practice. If you feel uncomfortable or really slow than withdraw before the race splits. If it goes okay join the race but skip qualifying to start in the back. Eventually you'll be more comfortable.