Great community so far Thanks All for the help this is what I was looking for

Lazy Thanks for the links

Andrew thanks for the offer I will take you up on it, but first I want some solo time under my belt for a few days

McGonigle Thanks for the detailed ifno that brings me up to speed on many levels.. no pun intended
RaVe

Just remembered this bit of important information: Use the F3 key to give you information about cars in front and behind you. It will also tell you if you are around lapped cars. You will then know if you are in a fight for position, or if the other car is a lapped car. Very useful information and it helps build situational awareness.

Ok its been 5 days since I have joined up with Iracing.

As you know I have zero race experience.
I have thanks to your posts picked up a few tips to help keep me on the right track, but have a long way to go in keeping the car on the track, Literally

some questions....

I'm I missing something... I rarely see more than 1-3 people on at any given time in practice, qualify, time trial, or race??
Is there enough interest in this sim??

I think the sim is really great and would think there would be morethan 3 folks online at any given time .
Perhaps im not doing things correctly or in the right area.

I join practice sessions the most, well almost always.
I need to learn how to drive the car around a track.

Sadly im ashamed to say the best time I can muster in rookie sol is a lowly 1.08 on lime rock full


from what I see that's really SLLLOWWW... I need practice so that's were I go most of the time...

That said seems that would be a place were I can at least run with traffic.... if there was some, and get to know folks.
is that how I should be using iracing at this stage??

Also do I have to run the rookie sol or can I drive the other one.

I'm not sure how to progress.
were do I read about that?
I cant seem to find that info.
Thank in advance
RaVe

1.08 is not so bad for someone coming in with no previous racing experience at all. With more experience of the track and the car you should be able to make a steady progression, and bear in mind that some of the guys and gals are insanely fast so don't get discouraged if you see drivers that are 10 seconds faster than you. A consistent 1.03 is pretty competetive if you just stay on the track.

iRacing rewards clean driving by adding points to your Safety Rating (SR), so take your time getting the feel for the car and what you can do with it. When you reach an SR of 3.0 or more, you'll also be able to drive the Advanced Solstice which is basically the same car with a better set up, and once you reach 4.0 you get to try the Formula RT2000 Skip Barber car.

For the ovals the same principle applies. SR = or > 3.0 and you can drive the Advanced Legends car, SR = or > 4.0 and the Late model becomes available.

To earn SR you have to join Qualifying, Time Trial or Race sessions, but you don't necessarily have to do them all, or do them in any particular order. If you want to go straight into a race you can do that, you don't have to qualify or do a time trial. From what you write it sounds like you are doing the right thing regarding looking for and joining sessions.

The number of racers seem to vary depending on day of the week and the time of the day. The day of the week with the least number of drivers seem to be Wednesdays, with the week-ends attracting more drivers. From my experience it seems like most drivers are online in what in Central Europe is the evenings, and I suspect that the US racers are starting to come online as we Europeans have to go to bed!

At the moment I think the membership base is relatively small, accounting for some races not being full. At the same time there are really too many races and too many series for the amount of current members but that is to make sure that members won't have to wait hours for the next race to start. We must also consider that iRacing is very new and was only launched about a couple of months ago.

It might be an idea to look in the iRacing forums, or post there for someone who would like to run practice sessions at the times you are online. I've had a few practice sessions with some of my good iRacing friends and it is generally very good fun and can also be a great learning tool when you start talking about how to shave those seconds off your laptimes. We've run in the practice sessions and if someone from outside our group joined the session we'd generally tell them what we're doing and that they are more than welcome to join in the fun.

Which Club and time zone are you in? we might meet up on a practice server and I could give you a tip or two if the personal schedules and time-zones permit.

On the iRacing.com web-site main page there is a menu bar called "Reference" and under that menu you will find user guide, which is, well, a user guide. You will also find the sporting code there, and that one explains a bit more in detail about how to progress. For example it mentions that there is a minimum participartion criteria of two races or 4 time trials in any given season to advance to higher licenses.

I hope this helps somewhat and if you got more questions, never be afraid to ask!

Thats great info, concise ... spot on for what I was looking for. Thank you!
Ill go take a peek at the sporting coad now that I have some free time.

Rave

Practice sessions rarely have a full grid worth of drivers, but i've only had one race in which it was made unofficial because of only 5 entrants. And the only reason for that was because it was 10am UK time!
I probably do 1 or 2 races per week and it can be at a random time when i feel like it, and i've never had a problem finding a full race. Get used to what times the races are aswell, so you can then hop straight from quali to the race if you wish.

VIR full in the skippy has shaved quite a bit off my SR in the 2 races i've entered this week! Lol.

Off- and on-topic, iRacing just received cover treatment in the November issue of Grassroots Motorsports magazine. There were a few "techie wannabe" goofs in the computer buildup sidebar, but an overall decent look at the sim.

Still not enough to pull me away from RFactor...

For my month I was with iRacing, I hardley ever saw anyone on practice, and just a few cars in quals. The races I entered though were always full. Heck, sometimes I even just waited for race time to join up to allow my SR to grid me rather than starting way up front if I got a lucky lap...lol. I wouldn't worry about not many drivers in an actual race very often. Most join up at the last minute and usually fill the grid.

The key is to drive your own race at first and keep it clean. Staying on track and off of other cars will boost your SR every race you do and in no time you can get the better cars and licenses.

BTW Striker, on one of the SCCA forums I visit there are some real drivers who are using iRacing to keep them occupied now that the real racing season is over (up north). They're quite impressed with the courses that they drive in real life that are included in iRacing. Maybe if they'd mod Mid Ohio, Road America, Nelson Ledges I might go back to it...lol.

well I'm on the start of my 3rd week. I have a SR of 4.88 rd and have a 2.80 for oval, only did 1 oval race so far I must have received points out of thin air .

Over all This sim is great I really like it allot.
I race 3-4 times per night there is always action.

For now I am just trying to learn how to drive and stay on the rd.
Thanks to some great advice from you all here I get out of the way of the fast guys.My lap times are well less than fast but that's not what its all about for me at this point it says as a rookie I should learn how to controll the car first so that's what I'm doing and my SR shows that.
seems like a good system I can tell they thought it out.
I would highly recommend this simulation it is worth every cent.
Thanks to all of you for your help and support


Some screen shots I made wiel licking my wounds.
http://picasaweb.google.com/8RaVe8/IracingFun#slideshow


iracing rookie Driver
Chris Taloomis

Those are very lovely screenshots.
Btw; I trust you noticed that the article on driving the Solstice at Lime Rock Park is now up on the main page?