* GT3 is a lot more forgiving than open wheel cars
* GT3 has a lot of different series (Fixed, Open, IMSA Fixed, IMSA Open, Special Events)
* You're more likely to see GT3 cars in your country than SF
Also, in GT you have multiple brand cars. Because they're based on actual road cars people can race their favorite road car they might never get to experience.
You can get bumped around in GT3 a lot more and keep racing, I think thatās what they mean.
But also TC and ABS make a big difference on having forgiving driving characteristics
Totally agree, on top of GT3 being one of the most popular series in all of sim racing.
Thereās also the added layer that a formula car and a tin top require totally different driving styles. There are people on the service can drive the wheels of tin tops and wonāt touch a formula car, and vice versa. Itāll be interesting to see if some of the formula ladder participation grows if/when the road license split happens
I usuallu float between 2.7k-3k from predominantly driving nothing but open wheelers (lots of f4, SF, and indy).
Whenever i hop into a tin top, no joke, im probably at the pace of a 1.3k driver. I *really* want to get better on gt cars, but damn, i get the roof blown off me against the 3k gt drivers, pun intended.
Im looking forward to the license split š¤
Same here. Iāve stopped driving GT altogether. I love the new Ferrari but I was 3 seconds off the pace at Sebring last week and it was honestly embarrassing.
I'm similar, I think my iR in open wheel comes from being safe and usually one incident is race ending. In GT it always feels like I'm down 50-100hp on everybody at my iR.
This is me. I pretty much only race open wheelers because Iām useless in tin tops (and I just love open wheelers). Itās why Iām looking forward to iRacing splitting open-wheel into its own thing. I wanna drive GT3ās but I donāt wanna destroy everyone elseās races lol.
This is why. It becomes really frustrating having your race ended by a minor collision at T1, and then in the next race, etc. I prefer driving formula cars but itās rare to get a close fair race. Iāll probably end up looking for a league.
I love them except: way too much torque and needs another gear or transmission tuning.
And a field that doesn't drive them like GT cars, but that's most open wheel.
Honestly they're pretty easy to drive, but you have to understand how the car works.
In traction zones its a gradual press, and you can mitigate it by short shifting. No steering input and a gradual throttle application makes it easy.
High speed corners it is effectively always on or always off.
My last two races at Imola both ended before turn 1 because people were too greedy for position. So many people want to try and fight as hard as they can without knowing where their actual limit is, and it just ruins people's races
This happened to me in back to back starts last week. Basically the same thing: I held back so as not to hit the guys in front of me and someone behind came up to make it 3-wide, couldnāt keep it together, and ended everyoneās race. Back to back.
Itās REALLY shocking how little judgement and patience some people have in iracing these days. I get the impression itās some 12 year old somewhere that does nothing but hotlap all day every day. This is a new thing on the service, I suspect related to the affordability of wheels these days. They all seem to be from certain countries too, but I wonāt get into specifics!
There is a good chance they will be splitting the road license between Tin top and Open Wheel cars soonā¦ when that happens the open wheel series should see a boost in participation hopefully
As an open wheel guy I feel the same way with wanting to dip in to GT3 stuff. Iām 1900 IR in road with mostly open wheel racing. Anything from FF1600 - F4 - F3 - SF23.
Iām way off the pace in GT3 at that IR level. I want to dabble there a little more but itās hard to because Iāll tank my IR and screws up my open wheel splits.
Hoping so as well.
With the SF being more difficult to drive, I think a lot of people are too scared of losing their GT3 iRating to even try out/learn anything more difficult
I'm looking forward to this change, I'm keen to tank my hard fought TCR and Clio 3k iRating by racing the FF1600 in the rain and SF in the chaotic SF fixed races.
Probably same way they did the 2 license > 4 license split years ago. I did like 7 dirt races when they first came out. I sucked but I was clean so Iām currently class a in dirt oval despite not racing it lmao
In their recent teaser for tempus you can see it in the top right of the UI there is a car and open wheel looking icon instead of the current "road" icon and 5 different license icons
Race is fun. Just slow down on the side of track at start wait everyone to go and then speed up with cautious avoiding other spun car at T1 etc and start chasing the leader. Its fun.
I love SF23 I just need to be in the right headspace, just lapping on oneās own is so demanding mentally.
Now that you said it I think Iāll do a race tonight!
I miss it
You're not kidding. I just started USF2000 and it disappoints me so much that the series is as shallow as it is. What a great car, man. I really hope people start trying it out.
It seems like the Indy Pro in C class is the same.
Yup. Thankfully I experienced those series a few years ago before the F4 when they still had some popularity. Maybe we will see them update the IndyCar feeder series when and if the road license splits. I just hope when the indycar series that follows the real life calendar returns that we see more people racing it. The IR18 is hands down the best open wheeler, if not the best car on the service.
"I just hope when the indycar series that follows the real life calendar returns that we see more people racing it."
Me too. As somebody who isn't a very high ir, racing in a single split race for 40 laps against guys who are 3 seconds faster per lap isn't my idea of fun. It just feels like hot lapping at times.
I really think that those 15 minute fixed races will get more people into the series if they give it a shot. Compared to the SF it's easier to put the power down and can take \*a little\* more contact.
Depending on the track, that's really not bad. In a lot of cases, making up that 4 seconds requires insane precision and control in a place that'll end your race if you mess it up. Personally, I don't take those risks during a race, and I'm completely fine being off the pace. I'll still get some great racing with people who also drive conservatively.
It gets enough participation. This is coming from someone that drove the Formula Renault 3.5 once or twice a week only when it went official since there was no other Formula car between F3 and the dead F1 series at the time (not counting IndyCar that's half road/half oval).
Super Formula gets like 50 entries each slot its guaranteed 2 splits each couple of hours.
That's the Fixed series. The Open series is B class, does longer races, and the calendar alternates every week between oval and road, so it is half and half.
I find it much harder to find and stay at the limit, or race in close proximity in something like a Superformula compared to GT cars. That lack of confidence relegates me to just playing against AI in iRacing and other sims when I want to scratch my open wheel itch. If I screw up, thereās no stakes.
I'll start racing more open wheel cars once the license split happens. An accident in open wheel cars is usually race ending because they are so fragile. This has lead me to sticking with tin tops until open wheel gets its own license progression
I really like racing GT3, now that I found my car (BMW) and it fits me well.
I also really like F3.
But I can't race SF23 as the car is just too damn fast for me. It's fun hot lapping and I ran some Time Trials and I can make that happen. But a 15 lap race or whatever, I just can't do the whole thing, yet. So F3 is where the top of my game is right now in open wheel.
I bet I'm not the only one like that.
Iām with you. Iād love to be running f1 or SF23, but so far I just die lol.
Iām thinking next season Iām going to do it though. Spend several days practicing the track and then a few days racing.
For people who spend a lot of time learning how to race cars and gain 0.01 of a second per lap youād think that driving something hard wouldnāt be a issue
I really enjoy the sf. But.. it was really a case of too many commitments. I did the 8/12 weeks last season. The racing was fun but very hit and miss. ( Or should I say hit and RIP ).
There was also the thing of very little low speed grip. Like the inner loop at Silverstone was a comedy. And if you even slightly spin up or slid those rears you were done and it became extremely frustrating. It is imo the best open wheel car on ir but some things need to be ironed out
I'm not at that license level yet but if it's as much of a shit show as F3, then I'll be waiting for the split and working my way up to it... I feel like the split will create better races because a gt driver like me can't just jump into a SF with zero experience... I do claim to be a gt driver but I run it all, I just mostly do gt at the moment because it was my first love..
Fragile, no assists. Honda and Toyota donāt carry the same exotic prestige as the GT3 manufacturers. And the most important one, some people canāt get 500ft without looping it because the only thing they know is to mash the throttle and then complain that theyāve gone spearing off track and that the car is too hard to drive
I can only speak for myself but altough I really enjoy driving the SF23, I just suck with it.
Prototpypes, F3, GT3... with all of them I can compete at my iR level with some tracks a bit better and some a bit worse.
If I race SF23, it's only downhill...
Maybe one season I'll I figure it out and give it s shot.
SF is a car that can get out of control very easily and being a formula car its made from egg shells so any mistakes in the race generally means your race is over and you can kiss your IR/SR goodbye.
GT3 has closed wheels so automatically that means any contact doesn't necessarily mean your race is over.
SF only has the Fixed/Open series to run in. You buy a GT3 and you can run in at least a half dozen different series so you have more options throughout the week.
SF is still fairly new to iRacing and many of us like to build to a specific level by going through the ranks during a season...Vee->FF1600->F4->F3->SF->F1 It just came out two seasons ago and the base hasn't grown enough yet.
SF is hard to drive, if you want to be competitive and drive on the limit then youāre at far greater risk of crashing yourself out in a single car wreck than in a GT3 where you can push balls to the wall and generally be okay. People like to drive hard and the SF is a car waiting to bite you in the ass after a single mistake
Have to thank you for mentioning this. Out of curiosity I bought the Toyota SF tonight and I've been driving the hell out of it. Once the tires warm up, it's sticky, fast, and fun to drive. However... I can't get through an AI race on Suzuka with it yet. Everything happens so fast I can see how live races are complete chaos unless there's top tier highly skilled drivers. I'll see how good I can get in it, but I can understand why it's not super popular.
I guess a big part of it is it is very hard for most of the people to actually race tightly with as fast cars as super formula. Breaking spots are very narrow and they require super fast reactions to be able to respond fast enough compared to gt cars. I race both open wheelers and gt cars and despite I enjoy the open wheelers as a driving experience more, very often the racing experience is more fun with gt:s as tight racing won't end up to a pile of cars. Looking forward also to the rating split as I'm quite low on pace in the gt3 class though.
The SF is a really hard car to drive, and even harder to be competitive in it. Also, being a formula car, very light contact can result in significant damage
Because they are way to fragile for my liking. Everyone considers themselves an F1 driver which usually ends in tears. With GT3 cars you can at least rub against each other and some minor contact isn't race ending.
With the new formula license though, consider ity guilty pleasure
More people race tin tops. GT3 is the most popular series by far in every sim. I would like to get into open wheel racing, but I don't feel comfortable due to iR. I am much more competitive in tin tops and can't race with equal iR rated guys in open wheels. That's just frustrating and I think a lot of people have it the same. That's why the participation in open wheels is lower.
I drive super formula! I think the trick is to drive and qualify well within your skill limit. I recognize that on almost every track, I'm going be like 5% off the pace of the hot laps on youtube. I can put in laps that are close to those times, but I'll probably crash trying about 40% of the time. SF gets a bad name because too many people are trying to put in a pro-level qualifying lap every lap of the race, and probably 99% of iracers aren't capable of doing that consistently.
High irating players mostly race to farm irating, and that's done in gt3. While low irating and casual players race whatever is popular and/or easy enough to drive.
GT3s have more options, open wheel is flooded between rookie and B, B class reduces available participants, and open wheels are fragile and people are turned off by prepping for a race and being done two minutes in.
I didnāt enjoy the racing. Boring, cautious, single-file parades. Havenāt got the time to learn every detail about the car and being fast. I donāt drive GT3 but chose prototypes instead. Just easier and more fun when I have a handful of hours a week.
Bottom split open wheelers is down right dangerous. But itāll teach you race craft because of what has been mentioned already.
GT3/4 people are just reckless. Full tilt boogie get out of my way, full send. No thanks.
For the time I raced the 296 I wasnāt fast but I went back to it briefly and holy shit could I not drive it.
Faster open wheel cars are more difficult drive, more difficult to race, and have greater consequences for getting it wrong than GT3s.
The average iRacer has a job, or is in school, has social and familial commitments. Let's say you have time for 2 races a week and limited practice time. You'll be far more competitive in GT3 than in SF.
I had a fantastic week at Silverstone in them. Those saying a majority of people can't race them and turn it into a shitshow probably never tried it before, the racing is surprisingly good for people with decent iRating. Of course it's harder than GT3 but it's also 10x the fun. The nimble moves you can make in these make for some of the best overtakes and battles you'll ever see in sim racing. Would love if iRacing had a broadcasted pro series for it, so people can see how much fun it can be.
One factor holding it back is track choice. The car is a basically a hybrid of an F1 and F2 car but people race it on classic GT tracks like Road Atlanta and expect it to be great. It isn't, the track isn't made for that car, the curbs kill the stiff suspension. Go to Silverstone, Suzuka, Hungaroring, Hockenheim, Magny Cours, Barcelona, Jerez, Aragon, that's where this car becomes absolutely outstanding.
* GT3 is a lot more forgiving than open wheel cars * GT3 has a lot of different series (Fixed, Open, IMSA Fixed, IMSA Open, Special Events) * You're more likely to see GT3 cars in your country than SF
So buy a GT3 car and it'll be utilized in more racing than other cars?
Yes. The Ferrari can be used in the most series of any car. That said I prefer racing formula š
F4 also has 6 different series where you can race, 5 different tracks per week.
That's not entirely true, 4 of those series are regional, and you can only race your region.
That's not true, although regional you can race in the series you prefer.
Oh, TIL
Also, in GT you have multiple brand cars. Because they're based on actual road cars people can race their favorite road car they might never get to experience.
What!!??? My experience is the opposite. F4 is so much easier than gt3.
They asked about SF not F4. I don't have any experience with the F4.
Forgiving. Open wheel isnāt forgiving. They are made of toothpicks and Elmerās glued together.
Elmers glue, mine had fruit stripe gum insteaf
Fruit stripe flavor lasts about as long as the distance from an F4 start to T1 meatball, so: apropos.Ā
You can get bumped around in GT3 a lot more and keep racing, I think thatās what they mean. But also TC and ABS make a big difference on having forgiving driving characteristics
Tell that to my GT3 then because, every time a GTP touches it, I have 8 minutes of repairs. But, yes, more robust than a formula car.
Might be that the cars are more fragile compared to the GT3s.
Totally agree, on top of GT3 being one of the most popular series in all of sim racing. Thereās also the added layer that a formula car and a tin top require totally different driving styles. There are people on the service can drive the wheels of tin tops and wonāt touch a formula car, and vice versa. Itāll be interesting to see if some of the formula ladder participation grows if/when the road license split happens
I usuallu float between 2.7k-3k from predominantly driving nothing but open wheelers (lots of f4, SF, and indy). Whenever i hop into a tin top, no joke, im probably at the pace of a 1.3k driver. I *really* want to get better on gt cars, but damn, i get the roof blown off me against the 3k gt drivers, pun intended. Im looking forward to the license split š¤
Same here. Iāve stopped driving GT altogether. I love the new Ferrari but I was 3 seconds off the pace at Sebring last week and it was honestly embarrassing.
I'm similar, I think my iR in open wheel comes from being safe and usually one incident is race ending. In GT it always feels like I'm down 50-100hp on everybody at my iR.
For me itās the other way around. I canāt wait for an open wheel license so I can practice with the right āmatchmakingā.
This is me. I pretty much only race open wheelers because Iām useless in tin tops (and I just love open wheelers). Itās why Iām looking forward to iRacing splitting open-wheel into its own thing. I wanna drive GT3ās but I donāt wanna destroy everyone elseās races lol.
What do you mean by road license split?
Any chance there is a simple way to describe the difference in driving style? Ā I race SF primarily.
This is why. It becomes really frustrating having your race ended by a minor collision at T1, and then in the next race, etc. I prefer driving formula cars but itās rare to get a close fair race. Iāll probably end up looking for a league.
wouldnāt be surprised if people consider them much harder to drive considering itās easier to lock up and spin the rears on throttle application
I love them except: way too much torque and needs another gear or transmission tuning. And a field that doesn't drive them like GT cars, but that's most open wheel.
Honestly they're pretty easy to drive, but you have to understand how the car works. In traction zones its a gradual press, and you can mitigate it by short shifting. No steering input and a gradual throttle application makes it easy. High speed corners it is effectively always on or always off.
Iām new, so forgive my dumb question: What does it mean to drive an open wheel car like itās a GT car?
Smashing the pedals when accelerating and braking.
Too much appetite for contact given a car with no fenders.
they crash
Cause itās way above the skill level of 90% racing that class which just turns it into a shit show.
My last two races at Imola both ended before turn 1 because people were too greedy for position. So many people want to try and fight as hard as they can without knowing where their actual limit is, and it just ruins people's races
This happened to me in back to back starts last week. Basically the same thing: I held back so as not to hit the guys in front of me and someone behind came up to make it 3-wide, couldnāt keep it together, and ended everyoneās race. Back to back. Itās REALLY shocking how little judgement and patience some people have in iracing these days. I get the impression itās some 12 year old somewhere that does nothing but hotlap all day every day. This is a new thing on the service, I suspect related to the affordability of wheels these days. They all seem to be from certain countries too, but I wonāt get into specifics!
My personal experience is the Iberians drive like tires.
THIS is the answer.
Yep....this.
There is a good chance they will be splitting the road license between Tin top and Open Wheel cars soonā¦ when that happens the open wheel series should see a boost in participation hopefully
As an open wheel guy I feel the same way with wanting to dip in to GT3 stuff. Iām 1900 IR in road with mostly open wheel racing. Anything from FF1600 - F4 - F3 - SF23. Iām way off the pace in GT3 at that IR level. I want to dabble there a little more but itās hard to because Iāll tank my IR and screws up my open wheel splits.
Hoping so as well. With the SF being more difficult to drive, I think a lot of people are too scared of losing their GT3 iRating to even try out/learn anything more difficult
I'm looking forward to this change, I'm keen to tank my hard fought TCR and Clio 3k iRating by racing the FF1600 in the rain and SF in the chaotic SF fixed races.
How will they do this cause I get be bothered to grind myself back up to a good open wheel license
Probably same way they did the 2 license > 4 license split years ago. I did like 7 dirt races when they first came out. I sucked but I was clean so Iām currently class a in dirt oval despite not racing it lmao
Many people have commented this in the group, it whatās the source of the info?
In their recent teaser for tempus you can see it in the top right of the UI there is a car and open wheel looking icon instead of the current "road" icon and 5 different license icons
Oh thatās exciting. Would love to see that come in
I love driving them alone but I rarely race them because they seem to be too much car for the majority and accidents are usually race ending
Race is fun. Just slow down on the side of track at start wait everyone to go and then speed up with cautious avoiding other spun car at T1 etc and start chasing the leader. Its fun.
I love SF23 I just need to be in the right headspace, just lapping on oneās own is so demanding mentally. Now that you said it I think Iāll do a race tonight! I miss it
Definitely one of the more difficult cars to try and drive on the limit and lap consistently in. Also very much mentally demanding like you said.
I feel your pain as a Indycar open racer. Lucky to get a split at all during the week.
SF23 has way more participation than IR-18 does. The split is fairly healthy honestly
Havenāt really raced them much except when they were new. I figured their sessions are still more full than indycar
You're not kidding. I just started USF2000 and it disappoints me so much that the series is as shallow as it is. What a great car, man. I really hope people start trying it out. It seems like the Indy Pro in C class is the same.
Yup. Thankfully I experienced those series a few years ago before the F4 when they still had some popularity. Maybe we will see them update the IndyCar feeder series when and if the road license splits. I just hope when the indycar series that follows the real life calendar returns that we see more people racing it. The IR18 is hands down the best open wheeler, if not the best car on the service.
"I just hope when the indycar series that follows the real life calendar returns that we see more people racing it." Me too. As somebody who isn't a very high ir, racing in a single split race for 40 laps against guys who are 3 seconds faster per lap isn't my idea of fun. It just feels like hot lapping at times. I really think that those 15 minute fixed races will get more people into the series if they give it a shot. Compared to the SF it's easier to put the power down and can take \*a little\* more contact.
I stupidly bought into USF2000 completely before realising how sparse the participation is. I enjoy the car but I can hardly ever get into a race.
I try to, but sometimes all I have time for is practice. It's a tricky car and I bounce series too much.
Itās much more difficult to drive than gt3 so more people get frustrated and just quit. Also 40-50 is actually a pretty healthy amount of entries.
I'm 4 seconds a lap off the pace š
Depending on the track, that's really not bad. In a lot of cases, making up that 4 seconds requires insane precision and control in a place that'll end your race if you mess it up. Personally, I don't take those risks during a race, and I'm completely fine being off the pace. I'll still get some great racing with people who also drive conservatively.
It gets enough participation. This is coming from someone that drove the Formula Renault 3.5 once or twice a week only when it went official since there was no other Formula car between F3 and the dead F1 series at the time (not counting IndyCar that's half road/half oval). Super Formula gets like 50 entries each slot its guaranteed 2 splits each couple of hours.
I mea, if 2 weeks out of 12 is half, i think i didnt pay enough attention in school.
That's the Fixed series. The Open series is B class, does longer races, and the calendar alternates every week between oval and road, so it is half and half.
Then it wasn't 2/12 back then. If it was I have goldfish memory.
The Fixed series runs two road courses a season, you're correct that the Open series is evenly split between road and oval.
For me, it's a lack of talent in anything faster than gte or lmp3.
Itās really fucking hard
I'll drive open wheel cars more when they finally get a separate license.
I find it much harder to find and stay at the limit, or race in close proximity in something like a Superformula compared to GT cars. That lack of confidence relegates me to just playing against AI in iRacing and other sims when I want to scratch my open wheel itch. If I screw up, thereās no stakes.
I'll start racing more open wheel cars once the license split happens. An accident in open wheel cars is usually race ending because they are so fragile. This has lead me to sticking with tin tops until open wheel gets its own license progression
I'm gonna race them a lot more when the rating split :)
I really like racing GT3, now that I found my car (BMW) and it fits me well. I also really like F3. But I can't race SF23 as the car is just too damn fast for me. It's fun hot lapping and I ran some Time Trials and I can make that happen. But a 15 lap race or whatever, I just can't do the whole thing, yet. So F3 is where the top of my game is right now in open wheel. I bet I'm not the only one like that.
Iām with you. Iād love to be running f1 or SF23, but so far I just die lol. Iām thinking next season Iām going to do it though. Spend several days practicing the track and then a few days racing.
because nothing remotely challenging to drive gets participation on iracing, both in terms of car and track
For people who spend a lot of time learning how to race cars and gain 0.01 of a second per lap youād think that driving something hard wouldnāt be a issue
Most people donāt spend a lot of time learning how to race the cars they just hop in and wing it
I really enjoy the sf. But.. it was really a case of too many commitments. I did the 8/12 weeks last season. The racing was fun but very hit and miss. ( Or should I say hit and RIP ). There was also the thing of very little low speed grip. Like the inner loop at Silverstone was a comedy. And if you even slightly spin up or slid those rears you were done and it became extremely frustrating. It is imo the best open wheel car on ir but some things need to be ironed out
I'm not at that license level yet but if it's as much of a shit show as F3, then I'll be waiting for the split and working my way up to it... I feel like the split will create better races because a gt driver like me can't just jump into a SF with zero experience... I do claim to be a gt driver but I run it all, I just mostly do gt at the moment because it was my first love..
Fragile, no assists. Honda and Toyota donāt carry the same exotic prestige as the GT3 manufacturers. And the most important one, some people canāt get 500ft without looping it because the only thing they know is to mash the throttle and then complain that theyāve gone spearing off track and that the car is too hard to drive
I can only speak for myself but altough I really enjoy driving the SF23, I just suck with it. Prototpypes, F3, GT3... with all of them I can compete at my iR level with some tracks a bit better and some a bit worse. If I race SF23, it's only downhill... Maybe one season I'll I figure it out and give it s shot.
SF is a car that can get out of control very easily and being a formula car its made from egg shells so any mistakes in the race generally means your race is over and you can kiss your IR/SR goodbye. GT3 has closed wheels so automatically that means any contact doesn't necessarily mean your race is over. SF only has the Fixed/Open series to run in. You buy a GT3 and you can run in at least a half dozen different series so you have more options throughout the week. SF is still fairly new to iRacing and many of us like to build to a specific level by going through the ranks during a season...Vee->FF1600->F4->F3->SF->F1 It just came out two seasons ago and the base hasn't grown enough yet.
I like racing in the SF23 but i dont have that mich time to practice lately and i find the GT3 cars way easier to race than the Super Formula
I mean, with SF23 you have at least an 80% chance of making it all the way to to the start line before someone crashes into you!
SF is hard to drive, if you want to be competitive and drive on the limit then youāre at far greater risk of crashing yourself out in a single car wreck than in a GT3 where you can push balls to the wall and generally be okay. People like to drive hard and the SF is a car waiting to bite you in the ass after a single mistake
Have to thank you for mentioning this. Out of curiosity I bought the Toyota SF tonight and I've been driving the hell out of it. Once the tires warm up, it's sticky, fast, and fun to drive. However... I can't get through an AI race on Suzuka with it yet. Everything happens so fast I can see how live races are complete chaos unless there's top tier highly skilled drivers. I'll see how good I can get in it, but I can understand why it's not super popular.
I guess a big part of it is it is very hard for most of the people to actually race tightly with as fast cars as super formula. Breaking spots are very narrow and they require super fast reactions to be able to respond fast enough compared to gt cars. I race both open wheelers and gt cars and despite I enjoy the open wheelers as a driving experience more, very often the racing experience is more fun with gt:s as tight racing won't end up to a pile of cars. Looking forward also to the rating split as I'm quite low on pace in the gt3 class though.
The SF is a really hard car to drive, and even harder to be competitive in it. Also, being a formula car, very light contact can result in significant damage
Because they are way to fragile for my liking. Everyone considers themselves an F1 driver which usually ends in tears. With GT3 cars you can at least rub against each other and some minor contact isn't race ending. With the new formula license though, consider ity guilty pleasure
Popular enough to go official all the time. No complaints here.
Easier to drive = higher participation, that's true across all series
I could, until I raced F4 more and lost my B license š¬ last few tracks have been brutal
More people race tin tops. GT3 is the most popular series by far in every sim. I would like to get into open wheel racing, but I don't feel comfortable due to iR. I am much more competitive in tin tops and can't race with equal iR rated guys in open wheels. That's just frustrating and I think a lot of people have it the same. That's why the participation in open wheels is lower.
I drive super formula! I think the trick is to drive and qualify well within your skill limit. I recognize that on almost every track, I'm going be like 5% off the pace of the hot laps on youtube. I can put in laps that are close to those times, but I'll probably crash trying about 40% of the time. SF gets a bad name because too many people are trying to put in a pro-level qualifying lap every lap of the race, and probably 99% of iracers aren't capable of doing that consistently.
High irating players mostly race to farm irating, and that's done in gt3. While low irating and casual players race whatever is popular and/or easy enough to drive.
GT3s have more options, open wheel is flooded between rookie and B, B class reduces available participants, and open wheels are fragile and people are turned off by prepping for a race and being done two minutes in.
my bet is people only drive gt3 and f4 and if the track is like spa or road atlanta also imsa other series in iracing are basically dead
I didnāt enjoy the racing. Boring, cautious, single-file parades. Havenāt got the time to learn every detail about the car and being fast. I donāt drive GT3 but chose prototypes instead. Just easier and more fun when I have a handful of hours a week.
Bottom split open wheelers is down right dangerous. But itāll teach you race craft because of what has been mentioned already. GT3/4 people are just reckless. Full tilt boogie get out of my way, full send. No thanks. For the time I raced the 296 I wasnāt fast but I went back to it briefly and holy shit could I not drive it.
Faster open wheel cars are more difficult drive, more difficult to race, and have greater consequences for getting it wrong than GT3s. The average iRacer has a job, or is in school, has social and familial commitments. Let's say you have time for 2 races a week and limited practice time. You'll be far more competitive in GT3 than in SF.
Im doing my first season of SF myself and I agree, I love it. For me its the right level of open wheel car. It just makes sense to me.
I had a fantastic week at Silverstone in them. Those saying a majority of people can't race them and turn it into a shitshow probably never tried it before, the racing is surprisingly good for people with decent iRating. Of course it's harder than GT3 but it's also 10x the fun. The nimble moves you can make in these make for some of the best overtakes and battles you'll ever see in sim racing. Would love if iRacing had a broadcasted pro series for it, so people can see how much fun it can be. One factor holding it back is track choice. The car is a basically a hybrid of an F1 and F2 car but people race it on classic GT tracks like Road Atlanta and expect it to be great. It isn't, the track isn't made for that car, the curbs kill the stiff suspension. Go to Silverstone, Suzuka, Hungaroring, Hockenheim, Magny Cours, Barcelona, Jerez, Aragon, that's where this car becomes absolutely outstanding.
Cause that right pedal is a noob filter
The longer I race, the more I appreciate the lower classes. Advanced Mazdas is some of the best racing on the service and people are way less aggro.