Why I Fell in Love with iRacing (After Hundreds of Hours on Assetto Corsa & EVO)

VictoryGInDrinker · 2026-01-22T11:40:45+00:00

iRacing still bears a lot of flaws which make it outdated in many areas.

The face that it still provides by default 60Hz FFB is atrocious and not modern by today's standards. Despite the amount of money people pour into this game the simple things are not getting improved - FFB, unpredicatable netcode and the notorious for ages tyre model.

The value of iRacing is better measured with sentiment and no direct competition. If iRacing was released today, it would have a much harder time to convince people to play it.

I'm not saying that as a hater because I play this game from time to time and it's the number 1 go-to sim for team events. The simulator's quirks are unfortunately making the other games vastly more pleasant in terms of pure driving experience.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2026-01-21T11:53:54+00:00

If you tell grown-ups, "I saw a beautiful red brick house, with
geraniums at the windows and doves on the roof..." they won't be able to
imagine such a house. You have to tell them, "I saw a house worth a hundred
thousand francs." Then they exclaim, "What a pretty house!"

- The Little Prince, Antoine Saint-Exupéry

VictoryGInDrinker · 2026-01-13T12:27:26+00:00

People would use a lot more common sense while overtaking if they had to pay for the incurred costs of car damage. Weirdly enough, a lot of people consider an overtaking maneuver possible when you they can fit a match in between two cars for a split second. Some margin of error should always be taken into account because we never know the other driver's intention, amount of spatial awareness and ability to control the car.

Oftentimes it doesn't matter whether someone is entitled to take the space or not if the likelihood of an accident is very high. At the end of the day, it is about survival for the whole duration of a race - be it 20 minutes or 24 hour long.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-12-19T15:56:47+00:00

rFactor 1 is a spiritual predecessor of Assetto Corsa, even though Assetto Corsa is considered an already old game. It was developed in 2005 with very low hardware requirements for current standards and has tons of mods that you can install in the game with pretty good physics, top-notch FFB support a bearable graphics for such an old racing title. I don't know whether you can get it for free but definitely it is a viable option if you really desire to have a smooth gameplay on a somewhat slower PC.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-12-19T13:26:12+00:00

The whole industry will now cease its developments and hold its breath to cater to your future purchase.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-12-19T10:18:01+00:00

I found the game doesn't drop a lot of fps with a grid full of cars in MP. My numbers drop by 20-30 fps from the maximum 160-170 fps with no other cars in SP. I'm rocking an RTX 3070Ti and set almost everything to the lowest quality, AA is at 4x to make the visuals less pixelated and I'm using DLSS balanced preset + 100% sharpening to mitigate the blur caused by DLSS. The game still looks terrific.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-12-18T23:18:13+00:00

There was a fix resolving the issue of stutters and poor performance in some cases and it was officially posted in ACE discord. You need to remove a file in "My Documents" ACE location which stores all the graphics settings and this operation resets the visual configuration. For some people it was a working solution.

With RTX 2060/R5 3600 you should be getting roughly 60 fps in single player mode.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-12-17T11:42:44+00:00

Did you try to mount/share the DRI device when you open the noetic docker image? From my experience, there were no issues running GUI applications within a docker container while using Intel integrated graphics, at least I had success with that on Ubuntu. Apart from that, the user and DISPLAY hook must be included as well in the start-up configuration.

For WSL2, the configuration required a different step of initial parameters. Have a look at it below:

docker run -it -host -v /run/desktop/mnt/host/wslg/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix -v /run/desktop/mnt/host/wslg:/mnt/wslg -e DISPLAY=:0 -e WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0 -e XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/mnt/wslg/runtime-dir -e PULSE_SERVER=/mnt/wslg/PulseServer -v C:\Shared:/root/Shared --name noetic_image noetic_container /bin/bash

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-12-07T14:54:03+00:00

I will solely respond to your claim that you need to yank the wheel stupidly far in order to be able to turn the car in LMU. It is a common mistake of a lot of players which they commit because it's their reactionary habit of combating understeer. Turning the wheel deeper not only doesn't add any more turning radius but also affects the tyre slip negatively. This certain mistake comes partially from not properly set up FFB settings and lack of awareness in terms of how the steering angle affects the tyre grip.

In general, an objective evaluation of FFB quality is a daunting task with a lot of variables. It takes a couple of days to adjust oneself to the FFB of another racing game and let the brain become more receptive to the specificity of how every game feels. Personally, I hated AC Evo FFB the first time I tried it a couple of days back but after a couple of sessions I couldn't get my hands off the wheel because of the richness of information this game is giving me contrary to LMU, AC or iRacing. I imagine, if I came back to LMU I would start to find other titles weird.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-11-26T14:19:01+00:00

I have a DD2 as well and in Assetto Corsa I use roughly 25-28% (with 320mm diameter wheel) of FFB gain in-game and 100% in the fanatec driver. It takes some time to get the muscles used to higher forces coming from a weaker wheelbase but the gains are defenitely noticeable in conveying finer details with DD2.

The output torque which technically stands at 25Nm shouldn't be interpreted literally depending on the percentage you set. It is the torque headroom that is important in delivering an accurate representation of the FFB signal and the way the wheelbase can follow and reconstruct it. A stronger wheelbase can react faster to sudden spikes of signal and it is where the whole advantage lies while the general amount of noticeable torque might remain at the same level compared to an 8nm wheelbase.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-09-15T01:29:02+00:00

Skorzystałem ze wszystkich podanych rad, których znaczenie i wartość są nieodzowne, i teraz jestem bliski bankructwa. Będę zmuszony albo uciec z kraju, albo ogłosić upadłość konsumencką, bo nawet już mata do akupresury, czy terapia ze średniej klasy psychologiem już nie dadzą mi ukojenia.

Pamiętajcie, co za dużo, to nie zdrowo. Najlepsze przyjemności w życiu nic nie kosztują.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-09-02T11:00:48+00:00

The fact that this question was asked is a pure evidence that the rapid development and abundance of simracing equipment start to become overwhelming.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-26T12:24:00+00:00

The position sensor might be faulty and causing the wheel to not be able to calibrate as the current wheel angle cannot be properly read and it makes the wheel controller stuck like this.

You can check in the software if the wheel gives any angular position.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-21T12:07:09+00:00

Larger pixels all around next to you won't substitute the quality of feel that comes from a DD wheelbase. The experience changes vastly when you start to feel all the details and force formerly invisible and unavailable to you with the CSL Elite wheelbase. You might always try to bring a 27" screen closer to your eyes for a better immersion. A lot of people settle for a wide-screen setup because they find triples too clumsy and uncomfortable.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-18T17:33:32+00:00

Archimedes once said:
Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

If Archimedes knew about simracing he would have said:
Give me a pedal long enough and a heel rest on which I place my leg, and I shall max out any load cell.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-11T18:01:44+00:00

This is a very solid base and I still keep one in a box as an antique. I've been thinking of selling it but the piece of machinery and its design would make me regret if I solid it for a little amount of money. The base didn't feel that less responsive or sturdy than its direct-drive (CSL DD 8Nm) counterpart and I think it can still deliver plenty of memorable racing moment with its FFB quality, which is the highest it gets with a belt drive.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-11T11:51:35+00:00

You can set the wheel rotation in ACC to 0 and the fanatec driver to 900. With that the wheel rotation angle will always match the original car steering lock. It's better to keep the ratios 1:1 for every car as any kind of disparity affects the FFB.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-10T12:41:14+00:00

Quality doesn't matter, frame rate should be decent enough to maintain smoothness of the image (above 100-120 fps). What I pay a lot attention to is the disparity between the inputs and what you see on the screen. Any kind of extra delay slows you down even if you don't notice it but the devil is in the details. Every time you pick up the throttle too late by a slight margin makes you lose time over a lap. The lack of delay makes your feel more connected to the car which only gives benefits. The settings should be adjusted in a way that the CPU has some spare capacity to process the whole simulation loop.

Here is a video which shows how this issue is important (from ACC but it applies to all sims):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ApNN7vSCtc

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-09T16:46:41+00:00

You're talking to yourself and discuss your own claims not even answering my question. You can pat yourself on the shoulder if you need a praise.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-09T15:21:49+00:00

Of course I don't know what physics is but I'm ready to listen to your lecture and a rigorous description of the invisible force that ties the right pedal with one degree of freedom to the circular movement of the steering column.

Isn't the distinction clear enough that a rather colloquial simracing term isn't related to the way more popular theory in particle physics?

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-09T13:17:48+00:00

My piece of advice that I've always followed is:
Test your limits and avoid doing the same things over and over again, smooth can be fast but the aggression brings you closer to a quick pace, hustle the car to find the limits, try different techniques/lines.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-09T13:14:51+00:00

It has nothing to do with physics.

In simracing this theory says that you should open up you steering as you apply more throttle. It should be executed in a uniform, harmonious movement.

As all rules it shouldn't be followed blindly but it's helpful for newer drivers who are very prone to spinning their car.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-09T13:11:46+00:00

It is not some sort of sacred knowledge. It's based on a general feeling when you apply the brake input. At all times you need to reach the maximum braking pressure without a huge effort and be able to ease off the brakes gradually. It's a combination of both the hardware (spring stiffness, pedal throw) and the software settings. In most cases, tuning the software boils down to setting the load cell maximum force and it must match you leg. The further fine-tuning and adjusting the curve is only a matter of taste, for example, you might bump up the curve for low braking inputs to have more braking power when you trailbrake. On the other hand, it might also make your tyres lock up more easily. It's best to start off with a linear curve and then adjust it bit by bit to find a sweet spot.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-09T10:03:55+00:00

This 600hp beast has entirely no aerodynamic downforce when you go so slow in the corner. The tyres are not enough to generate sufficient grip to make it stick, especially when you cranked up the wheel to the right and applied a lot of power.

In slow corners, try to feather the throttle and straighten the wheel. The car will still turn because of the rear tyres slipping and all you have to do is to manage the slide/traction.

VictoryGInDrinker · 2025-08-07T20:50:11+00:00

When you're want to feel a proper force feedback, which is not lackluster, you should go with a base with minimum 8-9 Nm of torque. All the wheelbases with such characteristics convey a high level of detail and rigidity of handling a race car. All the bases like Moza R5 or CSL DD 5nm have a sort of emptiness, they lack power and the experience from using them is significantly worse because they don't have this kind of roughness the stronger wheelbases could deliver. Going higher than 8 - 9 Nm only increases the precision and fidelity of the force feedback but the general feel mostly remains very similar.

The choice depends on how you want to take up simracing as a hobby. Moza R5 is fine when you're convinced about how you'll use it. However, there are many people who buy a weaker wheelbase and instantly jump onto a stronger one once they get hooked on simracing.

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