I think the feel is quite good, though the 'tug' you get when one side of the car hits standing water is stronger in real life. The visibility is worse in real life, though.
I think rain is definitely a top 5 best additions to this sim of all time, Starting the sebring 12 hour (which I was on your outside in to turn 1 for, fun coincidence) was the most fun I have ever had playing. It really rewards the people who are super adaptable like you said, and can find the edge without going over it. Also, ive noticed, at sebring 12 and now watkins 6 hour, the rain provided much more respectful racecraft from some of the more dangerous folks, which is really nice. Heres hoping IMSA Esports has rain, amirite
Iracing could make it more enjoyable by lowering the amount of SR you lose when it's raining as well as extending the amount of incident points you're allowed.
Yeah I kinda feel the same. It feels like you need more iRating for good wet weather results and less iRating loss for a crash, and the same both ways for SR as well. The only way people are gonna get better in the rain is if they're incentivised to keep trying.
My only issue with rain is it's only been until the end of this season that they've calmed down with tsunami conditions. I think it really turned people off that every time rain week came around, it was ALWAYS the stuff that real life red flags the start over. Now near the end of this season they're doing alot more transitions or normal rainfall, it's much more approachable. They got a bit too excited at launch and flooded the tracks all the time basically.
Yeah that's true, but over-excitement gets the best of us one time or another. :D They worked on it so hard so wanted to show it off I think, but went a bit too crazy.
@@duck74UK it’s funny you say that because I’m fairly new to iR and when the rain first came out, I could barely complete a full lap without going off course or spinning. Never picked it up again, and didn’t realize they’ve toned it down. Lol
I agree that rain makes racing more difficult but, I truly enjoy it. They shouldn’t make any changes. People choose iracing for it’s realism and competitive multiplayer player. Therefore, I think they should keep it as is.
I don't want simulated engine failure either (except for abuse of car) so no, I don't really care to race in the rain. It's bad enough with bad drivers as it is so no interest in anything that makes that worse. Fine if some people like it, just if they add it too much they will find me leaving the service.
@@BigMeanyVids Rain is rarely added to races. Plus, there are plenty of other racing series offered if rain is not your thing. That said, I completely understand the reluctance to join a rainy race. I sometimes won’t join a race with rain depending on the track. That said, I don’t think the developers should change a thing. Variety is a good thing in sim racing.
@@fan2hd277no sim racing game gets everything right. That said, IRacing offers the most in terms of physics, braking, rain physics, track data, competitive racing, etc. There’s a reason real life drivers choose IRacing to practice and prepare for their events. Nothing comes close. That said, I love playing other sims such as AC, AMS2, ACC, and Lemans Ultimate.
My issue with rain is only that they enable it too rarely. If people would be forced to get used to it, we’d see a better learning curve. You also shouldn’t be able to see if it rains beforehand, so participation doesn’t drop
People need to worry less about ratings. iR and SR will always go up and down. Especially if you are fighting for positions. Things happen. If you have a hard time in the wet, try to practice more if you can. And accept you will maybe not do as well as normal. Just like in real racing, not every driver is awesome at everything. You are going to have races and conditions that are more challenging.
"The top split pace to the bottom split pace gap is way bigger than it is in the dry" It's exactly the same in real life. Nothing to do with spending hours and hours a day testing in wet weather. In real life the gaps in pace when it rains are huge even in F1.
Because the more something requires skill to do good, the more gap will be between pro and noobs. Works not only in iracing, but everywhere. And, obviously, drive fast in the wet takes a lot more skill than in dry
I think the rain is absolutely accurate but people don’t necessarily want to put in the time to get better at it. A lot of the community are casual racers and therefore want to jump on and race competitively not spend the time spinning and losing hard earned SR and IR
@@itsstubro yeah but it’s basically the same as dry conditions. U can’t jump on a new track+car combo directly into a race and expect to be competitive and race well. I also think that they should add something to incentive practice sessions like a small sr gain (maybe in the firsts 3 entries) if u do an N number of laps without crashing but without the sr loss if u do crash cause right now I think most people like me just do the test drive in the same condition or look for an empty practice session
I think what I struggle with mostly is that it’s hard to spot all the details in IRacing, see the puddles and read the track conditions. It’s pretty hard to see
I hated rain in every sim since I started simracing in ~2017. But iRacing rain is the first rain I can get behind. In PC1/2, AMS2,... rain was "just" no grip, and I always hated everything about it and avoided like a plague. I'm not a fast man, 2K, ~2s off the pace of the aliens. I don't know why, but the first time I tried rain in Iracing, I could drive, didn't spin out just because "no grip", and it somehow made sense. Even 15min race I did yesterday at Intelagos was fun and I liked it .(I wasn't expecting rain.) They should adjust SR in rain. And as someone pointed out, at the start of rainy days, there were tsumanis everywhere. They should have started official races with very light rain, and made it more random months later. But, obviously, they did the opposite.
The most fun I've ever had in simracing is probably this year's 6hrs of the Glen. Once that track got wet I had a smile on my face for my entire stint. It was so intense - the iracing rain is SO good. We sent my team mate out on dry tyres on a drying track a little too soon and ruined our race, but I didn't care..it was so good to have that strategy involved.
Yes, the participation may drop for rain sprint races. But is that any different in other sims? I can see doing quick races in AMS or ACC by myself with AI drivers just to have fun, but is participation in online lobbies for these other sims staying high with rain? In addition to your point of not loosing IR and SR, I might not participate if I haven't had much rain practice so I don't become the one that bowls the whole field
It’s been a long while since I played ACC on LFM but participation also dropped there despite less complex rain. In the end people have limited time and they usually practice in the dry, so that’s just natural to see a drop for rain
SR loss would be the biggest reason for lower numbers. I feel a good solution would be for SR earn per corner to be more based on how wet it is (not lower the amount of SR lost from incidents), like a multiplier . This makes sense as you need to be more safe to make it through and doesn’t detract from the mentality of being safe as the deductions are still the same. Being rewarded with more SR for a clean wet race than a dry race makes sense.
@@SurfsideStraganov if sr would only matter for matchmaking and not limit what kind of cars and reaces you can drive, people wouldnt cry that much about it.
@@AdmiralCox it's near impossible to get demoted. You would have to be a really really bad driver and if that's the case then you really shouldn't be a higher licence class anyway. People moan because they like moaning rather than putting a bit more track time in.
@@SurfsideStraganovActually, I’d disagree. On the oval side of iRacing, for example, safety rating system is pretty horrible. As I understand, you recieve SR corner by corner, and on most big ovals you basically have from 2 to 4 corners, which means less corners to gain SR per lap, and if you’re collected in a big one and recieve 8-10x, you can lose up to 0.7 SR points, even if you do long races, just because you might need a tow or have a lot of damage. And you practically can’t avoid it, because when you fall out from the draft, you lose up to two seconds per lap at superspeedways. Short tracks are much more manageble, however I personally think that this system needs some fine-tuning, both for rain and big ovals. It’s manageble now, but it definitely could be better.
I personally really enjoy it, last week at VIR in IMSA with no rain but a wet track starting on dry tires in the LMP2 just survuvung the first few laps until the grip came in was such an awesome expirience, unless you are a pro in the iracing series i dont understand why people are so precious about their irating.
Honestly, i've found rain to be extremely challenging - but not too difficult. Figuring out, just how much extra grip you have off the dry line is a revelation, and i still see lots of drivers struggling, mainly because they stick to the dry line. IMO, iRacing's rain has done something, that noone else has managed to do: make it intuitive to drive, and thus fun. 10/10 on the job.
The biggest issue in my opinion is that the weather now is too predictable. The forecast should be much more random so people don´t know if a race is wet or not. just deal with it and do it. Most people are afraid of driving in the rain.... But if you dont get into it because you dont drive it, the participation can´t get better over the time.
It definitely adds more elements to races although that really comes into play for endurance races. I haven’t done many wet races but I’ll definitely look to do more next season.
When I started our car in the rain during the Sebring 12 it was one of the most intense and satisfying moments I've had in sim racing. I'll never forget how awesome it felt. iRacers will test drive for 12 hours to find the perfect GT3 car but won't do 30 minutes of rain practice, so I don't think the community is the best judge
The physics are good but graphically it needs some updates. The spray is basically the same all the time regardless of speed and volume of rain. Also the puddle implementation is still over the top IMO Just some fine tuning and it would be amazing
I don't really agree with this. Yes the "thickness" of the sort of cloud behind the car doesn't change much but the spray gets more and higher the faster the car is going.
Is good fun. Right from the get go I felt competitive every time I drove under the rain, more than on dry. I just feel more naturally comfortable on driving at the limit under the rain.
Rain that treats rubberlines as low grip is mixed because unlike real life racing, sims tend to simulate based on a fixed racing line, irl u see a lot of variation in each driver's line to the next driver. So sims with rubber grip reduction make for a memory game over a skill game. Pair that with how most racers practice for peak conditions and nothing else and overoptimize their setups, and suddenly rain throws a wrench they cant do. Its kind of funny. Cause the only game I think would likely do rain justice is raceroom BECAUSE it avoids rubber corners and more focuses on things like marbles and surface roughness, which affect rain a lot more.
The main thing I'd like to see changed is how moderately wet track still looks kind of dry with little visual indication of just how slippery the track actually is. If they made the track appear shinier in damp conditions, people would be a bit more cautious.
Few weeks ago laucnhed Automobilista 2, cranked up the rain. It was easy, no rubbered line, even easier. Jump into iRacing, some rain, enough to see the rubbered line... hard to drive, find grip, or stay alive. clear winner Uninstalled Automobilista, played it for fun for years.
As a slow driver who doesn't have a lot of time... I do love the rain. But sometimes, the risk to SR has to be considered and that might mean I shy away from rain events. Maybe if they reduced the loss (mostly on off tracks) for rain affected races, it will see increased participation.
I really enjoy the rain mostly. I should spend more driving time in it!! I'm especially glad that the TCRs got rain tires which has enabled IMPC for rain now.
people are generally not affectionate towards racing in the rain, and i think it requires a different mindset than what ranked ladder racing encourages. It has to be the mindset that you want an exciting, dramatic, or challenging race, rather than the mindset that if you don't win the race you'll be unhappy.
We see this as a massive improvement to the sim. Our drivers are encouraged to tackle all weather conditions. It is the only way they will improve as drivers. Having iRacing make accommodations for people who dont want to lose iR or SR would be counterintuitive to having the rain be there. It is about developing your skill. Whether you are a casual racer or a competitive racer, the more you can master the differing conditions, the more you will actually enjoy your racing experience. The longer you put off tackling the wet, the more advantage you are losing to those who haven't put if off.
The fact that people avoid it says absolutely nothing. 90% of the iRacing userbase avoids anything a little bit hard because they have a skill issue. They would rather go drive GT3 at Spa for the 100 millionth time than to learn something mildly challenging.
One major thing is optimisation of the rain. For myself I drop from 120-144 to near 60-70 just because of Rain. You could argue “get a better GPU/CPU” this would solve it but that’s not the answer.
Rain is awesome. Additionally, drivers can just watch a lap guide or follow AI to find the best line. I come from a rainy city so my natural instincts have pumped up my irating nicely. Occasionally, my SR tanks but I get the same or worse driving the GR.
I kinda think actually the wet tyre model is more predictable and drivable than the sometimes totally bizzare regular dry iracing tyre model which often feels like it cant handle any slip at all
I've been through the whole Rain Master season and I love it. I am still not very fast in the rain but I definitely am more safe than many others and it helps a lot. Even though the races are only 15 min long, thinking of them as of endurance (get to the end) changes the whole attitude. However I don't think I'll race Rain Master next season as I want to try smth new
The true success of the rain in terms of its realism can be measured by how many drivers dislike, or altogether avoid, it - just like irl. Success in terms of how it’s implemented can’t yet be measured because they’re still tweaking that part. Imo it’s a massive success, but I treat this as a sim and appreciate how difficult it is to master.
Everyone in here complaining about SR; myself and everyone I race with have had absolutely no issue with maintaining a A license 3.0 and higher SR ranking with rain races. I really don't think they should make changes to the SR system when rain in involved. I think people need to take rain more seriously and properly prepare for it. The amount of people I see trying to drive primarily dry lines while in the medium to heavy rain is a bit worrying.
I started out being scared and staying away, but I have completely changed my mind and now enjoy wet races. Multiclass racing is a bit of a nightmare at my irating in the wet though. I also have a bit of a hard time seeing the racing line, and some tracks like Virginia are extremely tricky at even lightly wet conditions. The only improvement I would like to see is a slightly more relaxed SR system in the wet. Currently it seems extremely hard to keep an A license, and I have a feeling that is the primary reason for less participation.
I wonder whether there is correlation between rain participation and irating. Not that there is rain...interesting to go oval racing in the sim. It would take some extra work to deal with the banking and drainage physics, but could be fun to see how good or bad it is. Indycars probably need street track aero to be somewhat driveable. F1...maybe are sort of fine in Monza spec? Might need to put in some crosswinds to get rid of the spray :)
I see on streams that in the rain other cars "float" to the top. So people will feel asked to buy another car to be at their best in the rain. Also their favorite car may be very difficult in the rain.
I feel like safety rating should be handled differently in wet races. Real life drivers go off track in the rain a lot more to and except losing time there not really losing anything, thats why i think they should change how much sr you lose
Driving in the rain is pretty good, I was actually surprised about this, I tought the tires will be like in the dry with the overheating bullshit and consequent passaneger slides, but the wet tires can handle some slides. I kinda still feel that static iRacing way of driving in the rain though. For example rF2 or LMU or even AC feels more dynamic to me even in the dry than iRacing in the wet. Its because of the tire model. Also why is there always a rubbered in line? IRL it happens a lot, the track is green, maybe it rains for a few days before and on the event pretty much washing away any leftover rubber buildup. In that case there would be no wet line, the normal racing line would be the wet line too with less kerb usage. never seen that, don't even know if its possible. The puddles are completely off the charts though, there are puddles everywhere, literally every corner and multiple places. Maybe in some places puddles can form but race tracks usualy have pretty good drainage designed to prevent exactly that. I have been watching motorsport since 20+ years, I have even visited some tracks irl but never seen anything to that extend on any track ever. The spray is cool, I love (and hate) the low visibility but the issue is there is way too much spray at low speeds or on a drying track. My biggest issue is how it runs in VR. Its not good. For example for Portimao or Mugello I would literally need to make a completely different graphics config because it runs very poorly. I don't even know how would I do that without constant menu diving which I absoluetly hate, so I avoid those tracks in the rain completely. All that with current gen hardware running a 15 year old game. Yeah VR is heavy but there are better looking games that also run better so I don't think thats an excuse. The new engine can't come fast enough as far as I am concerned. The game is just not scaling properly with new hardware. They also way way over used it in the first season, I am glad its toned down a bit now. Its good fun for a few weeks but every week or every other week full wet is just way too much for my taste.
I don't think iracing will do anything about it just because they know it's a sim. Not with the purpose to enjoy it. But to race it and be as realistic as possible... So they know the ones who really wwnt to race, will do those races. I've personally never had a lower participated rain lobby in my endurance races i've been running Good vid :))
Most Drivers prefer dry weather conditions, at least me. Although I’m interested in driving in rain, as a new experience, I wouldn’t do it regularly. Supposedly that’s why most companies don’t put a larger amount of money in to developing true wet weather conditions.
My problem is some races the visibility gets so bad that if it were a real race it would be red flagged so that is the unrealistic part of it. I feel the weather should never get past that point in the sim.
Maybe something they could do is increase the iRating rewards if the rain is declared wet, and reduce the penalties as well - or even remove them altogether for lower series
First season experiencing the rain was gt4 hockenheim. Crazy how bad people are in rain and just race as normal. Think I gained 20 spots in the open by racing at around 90% of my best pace in rain. It adds to a simulator which is emulating the real world conditions. Maybe go to arcade games if you don’t want rain in a sim 🤷♂️
They need to get rid of extremely wet track conditions, they are awful to drive in and really probably aren't raceable conditions. Make very wet the wettest and I think it's in a great spot.
I wish each session each week was a little more random. Nothing more frustrating than a good car and track combo and you're stuck in rain EVERY SESSION.
iRacing rain is like an ai generated image, it comes across as realistic, it has all the features on paper but when you drive it and study its flaws it unravels quickly and can't be unseen. I personally feel like the devs did the best they could and you can see the work put in but it feels nothing like what I have experienced in reality. Also the over saturation with rain on release put me off even more. I personally find rain in a sim like rFactor2 much more enjoyable. Is it less realistic? Yes because it's more simplified but that seems to be it's advantage as it's built on a game that has better physics and tire model.
The rain is a superb technical achievement. I think they overdid the severity n the beginning with a high proportion of red flag weather but I think that was also part of Iracing wanting to show off what they had done. But no matter how good it is implemented participation will drop for rain events. In real life do you prefer a sunny day or a rainy day? Even though crashing in Iracing costs you no money it does hurt your IR and SR, those with less time to practice may simply choose to race an event in a different series if their favourite is rained out that week.
I have different feelings about the rain update. Technically, they did a great job with it. It feels the most like in RL of all sims. Yet alone you need to drive another racing line in wet. I really like this part and it is great and a big update in the simracing games. What i don´t like is the racing. Years ago I was racing a lot. But the last years I become more of a casual, sometimes I only have time for a few hours in the week to race. So, i don´t have time to train in dry and rain. And I think this happens to a lot of people in lower splits. Rain just kills the racing in this splits. Even in dry people crash and have different speed, but rain makes this even worse. That´s why I don´t race in rain anymore. It´s just a waste of time. I don´t care about SF or iRating, but I wan´t some great and close racing. And this isn´t possible in rain around my iRating. So, I think for higher splits or pro events rain is really great. I enjoy watching good wet racing on twitch in the topsplit. But as I said, for casual guys in iRacing it is too much and difficult. I mean, if there would be rain in 1 out of 10 races I would say, ok, let´s do it. But not in a week where every race is wet or like a monsoon.
Just put the time in and learn like everything else. Its not that big of a decision. Do laps to get better or keep complaining about how "unfair" it is. Its actually a good opportunity to gain iR once you get it down because people dont practice, go in and start diving full speed with no brakes on lap 1.
Thank you for makong this video. Only the hardcore core forum lurkerswere vouching fpr the rain. At the end of the day i want gpod racing and rain doesnt really produce that.
Every sim should have rain but personally I find sim racing in the rain boring - and same goes for track days I've had in the rain also. So I'm glad iRacing has rain but I avoid wet sessions - apart from endurance events of course.
First I agree with @duck74UK about them showing off the power of rain and those beginning races were extremely difficult. The calming down has an impact but also the setup changes during the pit like rear wing changes have helped allowing some setup changes with tire changes. I almost exclusively do endurances and find the rain improve it. I have had cars slower in the dry but made up for it in the rain. I say it is successful because of the execution and give zero weight to the acceptance.
Even with the hardware problem i would run in the rain all day. It was an extreme sucess! I'm dying to race again at okayama with formula ford under the rain🤤 The rain is also, what many people online need to learn the risks of racing 🙄
iRacing could be optimized a bit more in the rain... its VERY VERY VERYYYY GPU intensive but my 4070 Super handled it like a champ. Although not everyone has the money to stay uo to date with the latest graphics cards. Needs to be optimized for those still using 1080Ti, 2080Ti, 3060Ti, Etc.
im somehow really fast in the rain but i dont unmderstand why bc all i do is just stay off the rubbered parts but it just works. i can beat much higher irating players than in the dry
If I had iRacing (I don't mostly bk its too $$$), I definitely would be less likely to join a wet race, but if I did, it would be a class that didn't use rain tires. Like the Miata, FF1600, and Fornula Vee. Those cars are more forgiving when sliding, and I wouldn't have to stress about slick vs. rain tires.
Personally I love the rain they shouldn’t changes anything, if this is hard to drive then there is lot room for improvement which is good, I see people complains about the “X” that shouldn’t be the same as dry race, again I’m not Okai with that just drive slower to make zero mistake you will be slow but with training, speed will come, and for the argument of a game more playable for everyone would destroy iracing I thing we buy it for it’s realism and difficulty and it’s great how it is
It doesn't take a genius to forecast (haha) that racing in the rain will be difficult for most people and therefore less fun for most people. I think GT3 is more popular than F1 because it's more accessible - especially with peoples limited time each week to get on the sim and practice - and are seeing the same with dry vs wet weather. The implementation of rain is excellent from an engineering perspective but not so much for the average simracer. Basically: +1 - I agree with everything you say.
Rain in iracing is close to real imo. Puddles etc are very nice and real so is the spray of the Rain en the feeling. 100x times better then Rain in ACC for example.
I didn’t hate the rain, but they took it to far. It seemed like every race I was in that allowed rain, it seemed like it was always raining and it just became an annoyance.
I dont think the participation dropped off due to how difficult it is but more because of safety rating. The way i see it, most play Iracing cause its a proper sim that's hard with good multiplayer content, So hard to drive in dry or harder in wet doesn't really matter. In my opinion people avoid it cause its a huge risk for sure, I think Iracing maybe needs to slash the safety rating effects in half for rain races and the participation would probably increase again.
I enjoy the rain and I don't at the same time. and what I mean by that is there have been too many times that we have had to race in Yellow Flag and Red Flag conditions. 12hr of Sebring and the 6hr at the Glen in iRacing are too primary examples. Ponding everywhere on track and the game has no Yellow Flags or Red Flags systems for road racing. When the very next week at the irl 6hr of the Glen the race was Red Flagged for less rain than what we had to drive in in iRacing the weekend before. We also had the 24hrs of LeMans & 24hrs of Spa under yellow flag for several hours due to treacherous conditions...so why are we running green flag in iRacing under these same conditions?
Having >50% chance of rain in the gt3 or imsa is just annoying. They should lower the probability for these. I don’t mind it in the special events but if I only have like 1 or 2 hours after work I don’t want to end up exclusively driving in the rain.
What do you all think? Was it a success and do you like driving in the rain?🌧️☔️🤔
i absolutely love it
I think the feel is quite good, though the 'tug' you get when one side of the car hits standing water is stronger in real life. The visibility is worse in real life, though.
I think rain is definitely a top 5 best additions to this sim of all time, Starting the sebring 12 hour (which I was on your outside in to turn 1 for, fun coincidence) was the most fun I have ever had playing. It really rewards the people who are super adaptable like you said, and can find the edge without going over it. Also, ive noticed, at sebring 12 and now watkins 6 hour, the rain provided much more respectful racecraft from some of the more dangerous folks, which is really nice.
Heres hoping IMSA Esports has rain, amirite
Iracing could make it more enjoyable by lowering the amount of SR you lose when it's raining as well as extending the amount of incident points you're allowed.
Good point. They shouldn't make the physics easier, just allow more mistakes
Exactly…
Yeah I kinda feel the same. It feels like you need more iRating for good wet weather results and less iRating loss for a crash, and the same both ways for SR as well. The only way people are gonna get better in the rain is if they're incentivised to keep trying.
Just turn it off completely in wet weather.
@@underSTATEDexcellence turning off will create a legitimate crashfest.
My only issue with rain is it's only been until the end of this season that they've calmed down with tsunami conditions. I think it really turned people off that every time rain week came around, it was ALWAYS the stuff that real life red flags the start over. Now near the end of this season they're doing alot more transitions or normal rainfall, it's much more approachable.
They got a bit too excited at launch and flooded the tracks all the time basically.
Yeah that's true, but over-excitement gets the best of us one time or another. :D They worked on it so hard so wanted to show it off I think, but went a bit too crazy.
Always better for most things to go a bit extreme on the first go, then trim back and make proper adjustments to refine the final product.
@@duck74UK it’s funny you say that because I’m fairly new to iR and when the rain first came out, I could barely complete a full lap without going off course or spinning. Never picked it up again, and didn’t realize they’ve toned it down. Lol
I agree that rain makes racing more difficult but, I truly enjoy it. They shouldn’t make any changes. People choose iracing for it’s realism and competitive multiplayer player. Therefore, I think they should keep it as is.
I don't want simulated engine failure either (except for abuse of car) so no, I don't really care to race in the rain. It's bad enough with bad drivers as it is so no interest in anything that makes that worse. Fine if some people like it, just if they add it too much they will find me leaving the service.
Iracing is not realistic. Tyres is still the biggest issue when on the edge.
@@BigMeanyVids Rain is rarely added to races. Plus, there are plenty of other racing series offered if rain is not your thing. That said, I completely understand the reluctance to join a rainy race. I sometimes won’t join a race with rain depending on the track. That said, I don’t think the developers should change a thing. Variety is a good thing in sim racing.
@@fan2hd277no sim racing game gets everything right. That said, IRacing offers the most in terms of physics, braking, rain physics, track data, competitive racing, etc. There’s a reason real life drivers choose IRacing to practice and prepare for their events. Nothing comes close. That said, I love playing other sims such as AC, AMS2, ACC, and Lemans Ultimate.
I LOVE rain and I've done my bit to help others try and see it that way
Yes you have, amazing and mega approachable tutorials over here people, thank you Danny!
My issue with rain is only that they enable it too rarely. If people would be forced to get used to it, we’d see a better learning curve. You also shouldn’t be able to see if it rains beforehand, so participation doesn’t drop
People need to worry less about ratings. iR and SR will always go up and down. Especially if you are fighting for positions. Things happen. If you have a hard time in the wet, try to practice more if you can. And accept you will maybe not do as well as normal. Just like in real racing, not every driver is awesome at everything. You are going to have races and conditions that are more challenging.
"The top split pace to the bottom split pace gap is way bigger than it is in the dry" It's exactly the same in real life. Nothing to do with spending hours and hours a day testing in wet weather. In real life the gaps in pace when it rains are huge even in F1.
Because the more something requires skill to do good, the more gap will be between pro and noobs. Works not only in iracing, but everywhere. And, obviously, drive fast in the wet takes a lot more skill than in dry
I think the rain is absolutely accurate but people don’t necessarily want to put in the time to get better at it. A lot of the community are casual racers and therefore want to jump on and race competitively not spend the time spinning and losing hard earned SR and IR
I agree. Same with new leas known tracks being ghost towns. They don't want to learn a new track.
@@itsstubro yeah but it’s basically the same as dry conditions. U can’t jump on a new track+car combo directly into a race and expect to be competitive and race well. I also think that they should add something to incentive practice sessions like a small sr gain (maybe in the firsts 3 entries) if u do an N number of laps without crashing but without the sr loss if u do crash cause right now I think most people like me just do the test drive in the same condition or look for an empty practice session
I think what I struggle with mostly is that it’s hard to spot all the details in IRacing, see the puddles and read the track conditions. It’s pretty hard to see
Rain is awesome, I love how tricky it is. Weeds out a lot of the non-serious competitors and has grown our respect for real drivers immensely
Yeah the amount of times I’ve heard iracers realise how hard it actually is is insane haha😮
I hated rain in every sim since I started simracing in ~2017. But iRacing rain is the first rain I can get behind. In PC1/2, AMS2,... rain was "just" no grip, and I always hated everything about it and avoided like a plague. I'm not a fast man, 2K, ~2s off the pace of the aliens. I don't know why, but the first time I tried rain in Iracing, I could drive, didn't spin out just because "no grip", and it somehow made sense. Even 15min race I did yesterday at Intelagos was fun and I liked it .(I wasn't expecting rain.) They should adjust SR in rain. And as someone pointed out, at the start of rainy days, there were tsumanis everywhere. They should have started official races with very light rain, and made it more random months later. But, obviously, they did the opposite.
The most fun I've ever had in simracing is probably this year's 6hrs of the Glen. Once that track got wet I had a smile on my face for my entire stint. It was so intense - the iracing rain is SO good. We sent my team mate out on dry tyres on a drying track a little too soon and ruined our race, but I didn't care..it was so good to have that strategy involved.
Yes, the participation may drop for rain sprint races. But is that any different in other sims? I can see doing quick races in AMS or ACC by myself with AI drivers just to have fun, but is participation in online lobbies for these other sims staying high with rain? In addition to your point of not loosing IR and SR, I might not participate if I haven't had much rain practice so I don't become the one that bowls the whole field
It’s been a long while since I played ACC on LFM but participation also dropped there despite less complex rain. In the end people have limited time and they usually practice in the dry, so that’s just natural to see a drop for rain
SR loss would be the biggest reason for lower numbers. I feel a good solution would be for SR earn per corner to be more based on how wet it is (not lower the amount of SR lost from incidents), like a multiplier . This makes sense as you need to be more safe to make it through and doesn’t detract from the mentality of being safe as the deductions are still the same. Being rewarded with more SR for a clean wet race than a dry race makes sense.
More difficult = more reward period
Crying over sr is so dumb 😂😂
@@SurfsideStraganov if sr would only matter for matchmaking and not limit what kind of cars and reaces you can drive, people wouldnt cry that much about it.
@@AdmiralCox it's near impossible to get demoted. You would have to be a really really bad driver and if that's the case then you really shouldn't be a higher licence class anyway. People moan because they like moaning rather than putting a bit more track time in.
@@SurfsideStraganovActually, I’d disagree. On the oval side of iRacing, for example, safety rating system is pretty horrible. As I understand, you recieve SR corner by corner, and on most big ovals you basically have from 2 to 4 corners, which means less corners to gain SR per lap, and if you’re collected in a big one and recieve 8-10x, you can lose up to 0.7 SR points, even if you do long races, just because you might need a tow or have a lot of damage. And you practically can’t avoid it, because when you fall out from the draft, you lose up to two seconds per lap at superspeedways. Short tracks are much more manageble, however I personally think that this system needs some fine-tuning, both for rain and big ovals. It’s manageble now, but it definitely could be better.
I personally really enjoy it, last week at VIR in IMSA with no rain but a wet track starting on dry tires in the LMP2 just survuvung the first few laps until the grip came in was such an awesome expirience, unless you are a pro in the iracing series i dont understand why people are so precious about their irating.
Honestly, i've found rain to be extremely challenging - but not too difficult. Figuring out, just how much extra grip you have off the dry line is a revelation, and i still see lots of drivers struggling, mainly because they stick to the dry line. IMO, iRacing's rain has done something, that noone else has managed to do: make it intuitive to drive, and thus fun. 10/10 on the job.
The biggest issue in my opinion is that the weather now is too predictable. The forecast should be much more random so people don´t know if a race is wet or not. just deal with it and do it. Most people are afraid of driving in the rain.... But if you dont get into it because you dont drive it, the participation can´t get better over the time.
It definitely adds more elements to races although that really comes into play for endurance races.
I haven’t done many wet races but I’ll definitely look to do more next season.
It's flippin' awesome!
When I started our car in the rain during the Sebring 12 it was one of the most intense and satisfying moments I've had in sim racing. I'll never forget how awesome it felt. iRacers will test drive for 12 hours to find the perfect GT3 car but won't do 30 minutes of rain practice, so I don't think the community is the best judge
Its amazingly accurate, love it
The physics are good but graphically it needs some updates. The spray is basically the same all the time regardless of speed and volume of rain.
Also the puddle implementation is still over the top IMO
Just some fine tuning and it would be amazing
I don't really agree with this. Yes the "thickness" of the sort of cloud behind the car doesn't change much but the spray gets more and higher the faster the car is going.
Is good fun. Right from the get go I felt competitive every time I drove under the rain, more than on dry. I just feel more naturally comfortable on driving at the limit under the rain.
Rain that treats rubberlines as low grip is mixed because unlike real life racing, sims tend to simulate based on a fixed racing line, irl u see a lot of variation in each driver's line to the next driver. So sims with rubber grip reduction make for a memory game over a skill game. Pair that with how most racers practice for peak conditions and nothing else and overoptimize their setups, and suddenly rain throws a wrench they cant do. Its kind of funny. Cause the only game I think would likely do rain justice is raceroom BECAUSE it avoids rubber corners and more focuses on things like marbles and surface roughness, which affect rain a lot more.
If you ended up concluding that it wasn't a success, I would have been pretty dang mad. :D I love it! Def hard to master, but worth it!
I've raced a Formula Ford for real in the rain and it was the hardest and scariest thing I've done in a car, iRacing has done an amazing job with it.
The main thing I'd like to see changed is how moderately wet track still looks kind of dry with little visual indication of just how slippery the track actually is. If they made the track appear shinier in damp conditions, people would be a bit more cautious.
Few weeks ago laucnhed Automobilista 2, cranked up the rain. It was easy, no rubbered line, even easier.
Jump into iRacing, some rain, enough to see the rubbered line... hard to drive, find grip, or stay alive. clear winner
Uninstalled Automobilista, played it for fun for years.
As a slow driver who doesn't have a lot of time... I do love the rain. But sometimes, the risk to SR has to be considered and that might mean I shy away from rain events.
Maybe if they reduced the loss (mostly on off tracks) for rain affected races, it will see increased participation.
I really enjoy the rain mostly. I should spend more driving time in it!! I'm especially glad that the TCRs got rain tires which has enabled IMPC for rain now.
people are generally not affectionate towards racing in the rain, and i think it requires a different mindset than what ranked ladder racing encourages. It has to be the mindset that you want an exciting, dramatic, or challenging race, rather than the mindset that if you don't win the race you'll be unhappy.
I think it has been a huge success! I had the most fun ever when IMSA when to mosport in the wet a few weeks ago. sure it was chaos. but so much fun
We see this as a massive improvement to the sim. Our drivers are encouraged to tackle all weather conditions. It is the only way they will improve as drivers. Having iRacing make accommodations for people who dont want to lose iR or SR would be counterintuitive to having the rain be there. It is about developing your skill. Whether you are a casual racer or a competitive racer, the more you can master the differing conditions, the more you will actually enjoy your racing experience. The longer you put off tackling the wet, the more advantage you are losing to those who haven't put if off.
The fact that people avoid it says absolutely nothing. 90% of the iRacing userbase avoids anything a little bit hard because they have a skill issue. They would rather go drive GT3 at Spa for the 100 millionth time than to learn something mildly challenging.
One major thing is optimisation of the rain. For myself I drop from 120-144 to near 60-70 just because of Rain. You could argue “get a better GPU/CPU” this would solve it but that’s not the answer.
rain in racing games is always such a meme. everybody wants it for some reason but when they get it nobody wants to race in it :d
Rain is awesome.
Additionally, drivers can just watch a lap guide or follow AI to find the best line. I come from a rainy city so my natural instincts have pumped up my irating nicely. Occasionally, my SR tanks but I get the same or worse driving the GR.
First time seeing @soholmgaming on the channel, safe to say he's a good addition.
I love rain and if there's a track with rain scheduled, i will always do it.
I kinda think actually the wet tyre model is more predictable and drivable than the sometimes totally bizzare regular dry iracing tyre model which often feels like it cant handle any slip at all
I've been through the whole Rain Master season and I love it. I am still not very fast in the rain but I definitely am more safe than many others and it helps a lot. Even though the races are only 15 min long, thinking of them as of endurance (get to the end) changes the whole attitude. However I don't think I'll race Rain Master next season as I want to try smth new
The true success of the rain in terms of its realism can be measured by how many drivers dislike, or altogether avoid, it - just like irl. Success in terms of how it’s implemented can’t yet be measured because they’re still tweaking that part. Imo it’s a massive success, but I treat this as a sim and appreciate how difficult it is to master.
Everyone in here complaining about SR; myself and everyone I race with have had absolutely no issue with maintaining a A license 3.0 and higher SR ranking with rain races. I really don't think they should make changes to the SR system when rain in involved. I think people need to take rain more seriously and properly prepare for it. The amount of people I see trying to drive primarily dry lines while in the medium to heavy rain is a bit worrying.
I started out being scared and staying away, but I have completely changed my mind and now enjoy wet races. Multiclass racing is a bit of a nightmare at my irating in the wet though.
I also have a bit of a hard time seeing the racing line, and some tracks like Virginia are extremely tricky at even lightly wet conditions.
The only improvement I would like to see is a slightly more relaxed SR system in the wet. Currently it seems extremely hard to keep an A license, and I have a feeling that is the primary reason for less participation.
I wonder whether there is correlation between rain participation and irating.
Not that there is rain...interesting to go oval racing in the sim. It would take some extra work to deal with the banking and drainage physics, but could be fun to see how good or bad it is. Indycars probably need street track aero to be somewhat driveable. F1...maybe are sort of fine in Monza spec? Might need to put in some crosswinds to get rid of the spray :)
I love the rain personally, but they REALLY need to fix the slowdowns. Since they changed how they’re calculated, they’re really messed up in the dry.
I see on streams that in the rain other cars "float" to the top. So people will feel asked to buy another car to be at their best in the rain. Also their favorite car may be very difficult in the rain.
I feel like safety rating should be handled differently in wet races. Real life drivers go off track in the rain a lot more to and except losing time there not really losing anything, thats why i think they should change how much sr you lose
3:00 is that the replay im thinking it is
Felix's magic lawnmower
Driving in the rain is pretty good, I was actually surprised about this, I tought the tires will be like in the dry with the overheating bullshit and consequent passaneger slides, but the wet tires can handle some slides.
I kinda still feel that static iRacing way of driving in the rain though. For example rF2 or LMU or even AC feels more dynamic to me even in the dry than iRacing in the wet. Its because of the tire model.
Also why is there always a rubbered in line? IRL it happens a lot, the track is green, maybe it rains for a few days before and on the event pretty much washing away any leftover rubber buildup. In that case there would be no wet line, the normal racing line would be the wet line too with less kerb usage. never seen that, don't even know if its possible.
The puddles are completely off the charts though, there are puddles everywhere, literally every corner and multiple places. Maybe in some places puddles can form but race tracks usualy have pretty good drainage designed to prevent exactly that. I have been watching motorsport since 20+ years, I have even visited some tracks irl but never seen anything to that extend on any track ever.
The spray is cool, I love (and hate) the low visibility but the issue is there is way too much spray at low speeds or on a drying track.
My biggest issue is how it runs in VR. Its not good. For example for Portimao or Mugello I would literally need to make a completely different graphics config because it runs very poorly. I don't even know how would I do that without constant menu diving which I absoluetly hate, so I avoid those tracks in the rain completely. All that with current gen hardware running a 15 year old game. Yeah VR is heavy but there are better looking games that also run better so I don't think thats an excuse. The new engine can't come fast enough as far as I am concerned. The game is just not scaling properly with new hardware.
They also way way over used it in the first season, I am glad its toned down a bit now. Its good fun for a few weeks but every week or every other week full wet is just way too much for my taste.
I don't think iracing will do anything about it just because they know it's a sim. Not with the purpose to enjoy it. But to race it and be as realistic as possible... So they know the ones who really wwnt to race, will do those races.
I've personally never had a lower participated rain lobby in my endurance races i've been running
Good vid :))
Most Drivers prefer dry weather conditions, at least me. Although I’m interested in driving in rain, as a new experience, I wouldn’t do it regularly. Supposedly that’s why most companies don’t put a larger amount of money in to developing true wet weather conditions.
My problem is some races the visibility gets so bad that if it were a real race it would be red flagged so that is the unrealistic part of it. I feel the weather should never get past that point in the sim.
Imo they should put like a 0.5x "harshness" on sr and irating in wet sessions
Maybe something they could do is increase the iRating rewards if the rain is declared wet, and reduce the penalties as well - or even remove them altogether for lower series
First season experiencing the rain was gt4 hockenheim. Crazy how bad people are in rain and just race as normal. Think I gained 20 spots in the open by racing at around 90% of my best pace in rain. It adds to a simulator which is emulating the real world conditions. Maybe go to arcade games if you don’t want rain in a sim 🤷♂️
I avoided the rain but then I actually tried it and it was alot of fun. I've been doing better in the wet races ir and sr wise than in the dry.
They need to get rid of extremely wet track conditions, they are awful to drive in and really probably aren't raceable conditions.
Make very wet the wettest and I think it's in a great spot.
I wish each session each week was a little more random. Nothing more frustrating than a good car and track combo and you're stuck in rain EVERY SESSION.
Can't wait to give it a try 🙌
iRacing rain is like an ai generated image, it comes across as realistic, it has all the features on paper but when you drive it and study its flaws it unravels quickly and can't be unseen. I personally feel like the devs did the best they could and you can see the work put in but it feels nothing like what I have experienced in reality. Also the over saturation with rain on release put me off even more. I personally find rain in a sim like rFactor2 much more enjoyable. Is it less realistic? Yes because it's more simplified but that seems to be it's advantage as it's built on a game that has better physics and tire model.
The rain is a superb technical achievement. I think they overdid the severity n the beginning with a high proportion of red flag weather but I think that was also part of Iracing wanting to show off what they had done. But no matter how good it is implemented participation will drop for rain events. In real life do you prefer a sunny day or a rainy day? Even though crashing in Iracing costs you no money it does hurt your IR and SR, those with less time to practice may simply choose to race an event in a different series if their favourite is rained out that week.
That‘s why it should stay random!!! And the weather changes should be realistic. Rain is not the same in Brazil compared to France for example.
6 months in and I still feel like a complete noob in the wet despite picking up my first wet weather win this past season.
This is sim racing, nothing else matters but as close at it gets to the real thing, you want easy rain, go play something else.
Yes, thank you🎉
I have different feelings about the rain update. Technically, they did a great job with it. It feels the most like in RL of all sims. Yet alone you need to drive another racing line in wet. I really like this part and it is great and a big update in the simracing games.
What i don´t like is the racing. Years ago I was racing a lot. But the last years I become more of a casual, sometimes I only have time for a few hours in the week to race. So, i don´t have time to train in dry and rain. And I think this happens to a lot of people in lower splits. Rain just kills the racing in this splits. Even in dry people crash and have different speed, but rain makes this even worse. That´s why I don´t race in rain anymore. It´s just a waste of time. I don´t care about SF or iRating, but I wan´t some great and close racing. And this isn´t possible in rain around my iRating.
So, I think for higher splits or pro events rain is really great. I enjoy watching good wet racing on twitch in the topsplit. But as I said, for casual guys in iRacing it is too much and difficult. I mean, if there would be rain in 1 out of 10 races I would say, ok, let´s do it. But not in a week where every race is wet or like a monsoon.
I race enough in real life in the rain living in the pacific northwest. It is fun at times, but for me it has no novelty to me anymore
Just put the time in and learn like everything else. Its not that big of a decision. Do laps to get better or keep complaining about how "unfair" it is. Its actually a good opportunity to gain iR once you get it down because people dont practice, go in and start diving full speed with no brakes on lap 1.
Driving in the dry is just more fun and better for racing, same story IRL.
Thank you for makong this video. Only the hardcore core forum lurkerswere vouching fpr the rain. At the end of the day i want gpod racing and rain doesnt really produce that.
Every sim should have rain but personally I find sim racing in the rain boring - and same goes for track days I've had in the rain also.
So I'm glad iRacing has rain but I avoid wet sessions - apart from endurance events of course.
First I agree with @duck74UK about them showing off the power of rain and those beginning races were extremely difficult. The calming down has an impact but also the setup changes during the pit like rear wing changes have helped allowing some setup changes with tire changes. I almost exclusively do endurances and find the rain improve it. I have had cars slower in the dry but made up for it in the rain. I say it is successful because of the execution and give zero weight to the acceptance.
I think success, but I didn't drive in rain myself yet (and I'm not sure if I should for now, 'cause my wheel doesn't have force feedback)
Even with the hardware problem i would run in the rain all day. It was an extreme sucess! I'm dying to race again at okayama with formula ford under the rain🤤
The rain is also, what many people online need to learn the risks of racing 🙄
iRacing could be optimized a bit more in the rain... its VERY VERY VERYYYY GPU intensive but my 4070 Super handled it like a champ. Although not everyone has the money to stay uo to date with the latest graphics cards. Needs to be optimized for those still using 1080Ti, 2080Ti, 3060Ti, Etc.
im somehow really fast in the rain but i dont unmderstand why bc all i do is just stay off the rubbered parts but it just works. i can beat much higher irating players than in the dry
If I had iRacing (I don't mostly bk its too $$$), I definitely would be less likely to join a wet race, but if I did, it would be a class that didn't use rain tires. Like the Miata, FF1600, and Fornula Vee. Those cars are more forgiving when sliding, and I wouldn't have to stress about slick vs. rain tires.
More little rain, less Tsunami. Like if the yanks spent a few weeks in the English weather, they'd know how to mix it :D
absolutly happy in the way it is!!! who doens't like can always join ACC ora mario kart XD
To me the rain itself isnt bad, but what makes it terrible is this tire model. These cartoon tires need an overhaul.
Make a “Wet” IR when it’s more then 25% race is wet “it’s a wet ir race
I think participation would increase a lot if they tweaked the safety rating to be less punishing in wet conditions
Personally I love the rain they shouldn’t changes anything, if this is hard to drive then there is lot room for improvement which is good, I see people complains about the “X” that shouldn’t be the same as dry race, again I’m not Okai with that just drive slower to make zero mistake you will be slow but with training, speed will come, and for the argument of a game more playable for everyone would destroy iracing I thing we buy it for it’s realism and difficulty and it’s great how it is
It doesn't take a genius to forecast (haha) that racing in the rain will be difficult for most people and therefore less fun for most people. I think GT3 is more popular than F1 because it's more accessible - especially with peoples limited time each week to get on the sim and practice - and are seeing the same with dry vs wet weather. The implementation of rain is excellent from an engineering perspective but not so much for the average simracer.
Basically: +1 - I agree with everything you say.
Such a beautiful thumbnail
Thank you so much✌️
Rain in iracing is close to real imo. Puddles etc are very nice and real so is the spray of the Rain en the feeling. 100x times better then Rain in ACC for example.
On some tracks I hope for rain ...
I didn’t hate the rain, but they took it to far. It seemed like every race I was in that allowed rain, it seemed like it was always raining and it just became an annoyance.
The lack of grip on the rubbered line is exaggerated. You shouldn't spin off like it's ice every time
I dont think the participation dropped off due to how difficult it is but more because of safety rating. The way i see it, most play Iracing cause its a proper sim that's hard with good multiplayer content, So hard to drive in dry or harder in wet doesn't really matter. In my opinion people avoid it cause its a huge risk for sure, I think Iracing maybe needs to slash the safety rating effects in half for rain races and the participation would probably increase again.
When you have a fixed and an open race in the wet you lack options in a series which I think is a big mistake
Absolutly succesfull.
They shouldn’t track SR for any wet weather racing. Everything else is perfectly done in their wet weather sim setup.
When I clicked on this video I thought: "Well the rain isn't bad but nobody likes losing heaps of iR and SR"
Why would it cost you IR as it is raining for everyone in the sim?
I enjoy the rain and I don't at the same time. and what I mean by that is there have been too many times that we have had to race in Yellow Flag and Red Flag conditions. 12hr of Sebring and the 6hr at the Glen in iRacing are too primary examples. Ponding everywhere on track and the game has no Yellow Flags or Red Flags systems for road racing. When the very next week at the irl 6hr of the Glen the race was Red Flagged for less rain than what we had to drive in in iRacing the weekend before. We also had the 24hrs of LeMans & 24hrs of Spa under yellow flag for several hours due to treacherous conditions...so why are we running green flag in iRacing under these same conditions?
I'd love to race in the rain but my PC implodes when I open iRacing now :l
I juts hate getting taking out from a guy that didn’t took time to practice and takes out 5 to 10 cars in turn one
Having >50% chance of rain in the gt3 or imsa is just annoying. They should lower the probability for these. I don’t mind it in the special events but if I only have like 1 or 2 hours after work I don’t want to end up exclusively driving in the rain.
Succes is not graded by the driver standards of racers
I barely have enough time to get good in the dry, never mind the wet. I don’t like the rain cos of the massive sr impact