Sim Titles That Don't Quit and the Intricacies of iRating

What makes a sim feel alive isn’t a flashy launch; it’s teams that keep building, communities that keep showing up, and drivers willing to grow beyond hotlaps. We kick off with a heartfelt farewell to Eric, swap travel notes, and then head straight into the spicy stuff: Max Verstappen’s GT3 win at the Ring. Was it proof of elite, transferable racecraft—or a PR-boosted outlier? We disagree (loudly), but agree on this: Chris Lulham’s path from top sim racer to real GT3 is a powerful signal that sim-to-real is no longer a footnote.

From there, we spotlight two sims that simply refuse to quit. AMS2’s 1.6.8 update drops fresh Lamborghinis, AI and single-player polish, plus physics/FFB love—and teases more endurance content. Raceroom quietly launches one of the best values in sim racing: an Online Racing Pack with 12 cars and 27 tracks (Bathurst, Suzuka, Imola, Indy, Silverstone, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, and more) for about $30/€30. If you want robust offline and clean online without subscriptions, that bundle is a gift. We also talk hardware timing with Simucube 3 on the way and why patience could save you serious cash as SC2 prices shift heading into Black Friday.

The heart of the episode is our plain‑English guide to iRacing’s iRating and Safety Rating. We explain strength of field, what actually counts as “official,” how a late practice exit can nuke your iRating, and why longer races are the fastest way to grow SR. You’ll leave knowing how incidents, corner multipliers, and session types really affect your numbers—without letting those numbers run your race. Our take is simple: stop protecting stats, start building racecraft. Use endurance to bank SR, pick healthy splits for better racing, and practice proximity until pressure feels normal. When the math stops surprising you, you can focus on the only thing that matters: passing the car in front.

If this convo helped, follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review. It helps more sim racers find the show and keeps us diving deep into the gear, games, and grit that make this hobby so damn fun.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:06 Announcements
• 12:54 Main Discussion
• 56:20 Closing Remarks

Transcript

Jason: 0:00

This episode is brought to you by Trophy AI, the ultimate performance coach tool for simracers. Hello, and welcome to the Chicane Podcast, where we discuss all things in this in-racing world. I'm your host, Jason Rivera and I'm joined here by Mr. Jeff Smart. How's it going, Jeff?

Jeff: 0:43

Dude. How was your weekend, bud? Dude, life is just whipping by. It feels like, you know, we're we just record when we get here and record again, and it's like, man, it's been a week already.

Jason: 0:53

I know, man. And especially you that you've been on some world traveler here we have here, man. It's kind of awesome.

Jeff: 1:00

Uh yeah, I uh I am separating from the the military here, the Air Force, and uh the first day of you know, the the the vacation you get or the time you saved up, uh my wife and I spent on a little little uh trip. We went to um to Bangkok Thailand and then to uh Taipei, Taiwan. So we had a couple days in each location. Awesome to just you know get away, no kids, um, just cruise around, eat a lot of good street food, um, just kind of disconnect. So it was great. It was a lot of fun. So, but I'm ready to get back to it. I've been missing, missed the rig uh while I was gone, ready to get back into it. And uh, I think we got a pretty banger of an episode here. But uh what you been up to, buddy?

Jason: 1:41

Yeah, I mean, just uh it's it's it's crazy because this happens to me, man. I go on vacation, and you would think that, hey, I I I'm gonna enjoy myself and step away from the daily routine of things, but then you start thinking, or a video pops up, or a post, and you're like, man, I want to try this and I'm not home right now. And then this was Jeff, by the way, texting me, let back and forth. Um, I'm trying to get him into GTPs because I think GTPs is the next best thing. Um compare comparing it to a formula car, right? Because formula grids are kind of low on not just iRacing, just in general, Formula One specifically. I know formula cars are pretty healthy, like the F4 car or the F3s or the Super Light, whatever. Um so yeah, I'm trying to just uh teasing him with some GTPs. Then he comes over and I threw him in another GTP, and he was he was like, yo, this thing is crazy. And I was like, Yeah, there's this fast cars too, man. Like road cars, you know.

Jeff: 2:47

Bro, that car, the moment you get in that car, it's trying to kill you. Yeah, it's a handful. It's a handful.

Jason: 2:53

It very much like you know, the was it the W13 weiter, you need to be on your A game all the time, all the time 100% precision, but uh yeah, I mean, as you could tell, um it's been two weeks and Jeff's been away on vacation, and we've been a little behind on the news just because of the way the show releases episodes. Um, and we have some news for you. Um, Mr. Eric Kelly has decided on taking another another another path, right? Um, and on his journey as a in the content creator world. So he has decided uh to no longer be a part of the Shicane podcast. And I want to say on behalf of Jeff and I now that we appreciate everything that he's done up until the last day. And I wish him luck. I want him to succeed, I want him to prevail on on all his endeavors. So show him some love, follow him on his on his YouTube channels. Um, he has two of them. He has the uh the tech gentleman and he has tech gent gaming and show your love and appreciation on on that side of the world. And that's really on that side of the, you know, on his side, if you may. So he will be missed, but the show must go on. And the Shakeane Podcast will be here to deliver content every single Monday, just as just as much as it did um since it started. So that is my announcement for today. Jeff, what do you got?

Jeff: 4:27

Oh man, that's about uh you know, Eric, we wish you the best, buddy. Uh, we'll miss you. Um, no, man, just kind of you know getting back into it. Uh kind of what you uh to double tap what you said about the uh formula grids running a little light is uh had a couple races yesterday, last night that didn't go official, just didn't have enough people. Super disappointing. Um, you know, the was it the SF 23 on the Red Bull ring? Super cool car on a great track, and just didn't get enough people to make a grid.

Jason: 5:00

I mean, bro, think about it. So we have a topic today, specifically you're covering. And you gotta think that the the splits on these cars is carnage, you know, and a lot of people get scared, they don't want to ruin their I rating by going in there, you know what I mean? Because it's it's a handful of a car, you know what I mean? And it's kind of like, man, do I really want to put my you and I are here for the thrill. That's the thing. You just want to go in there and and do your thing and and take care of business. But some people like, you know, some people we just interviewed a 10K driver, you know, he's he's not afraid of anything, you know. And shout out to Cam. That man, that man's not afraid of nothing, but there's not a lot of people like that, which is why there's not a lot of 10Ks out there, you know what I mean? But we'll get more into that. Um, yeah, I think uh I think you had an announcement, Jeff, real quick. Uh it was uh something to do with uh Max and Chris, you know.

Jeff: 6:02

Yeah, so uh, you know, some people may have heard, some people uh maybe may have not, but uh Max Verstappen, maybe you've heard of him um from time to time. Most maybe you have, maybe you haven't, you know, who knows? But uh if him and his if we're paying for it. Turns out maybe uh maybe people have heard of him. Uh but yeah, him and I'm probably gonna mess up his last name, but Chris Lullum uh raced in their first GT3 race at um uh god, I can't think of uh pronounce it or uh think of it on the case. So Nurberg, right? Nurberg, excuse me. Yeah, I the ring, bro. The green hell. I I saw the the the the the shape of the track, it just wouldn't come out. Um yeah, it it turns out those two SOBs are pretty good at driving damn near anything. Okay, they went out there and won it.

Jason: 6:51

All right. I'm gonna say something rather controversial right away.

Jeff: 6:54

Uh I I I'm gonna say something caught pretty controversial, probably the other way, is let's hear it. Like or hate Max, that you it's hard to hate on him when he just appreciates and likes racing anything, right? He he obviously the dude is above average racing his Red Bull car in F1. Um but he gets out of there, drives to the sim till like midnight, gets back in the F1 car the next day, but then like on an off weekend, jumps into GT3 and wins the race. You know, it I I'm starting to like him just as a dude that is like just a dude's dude that just put me behind a wheel or anything. I don't really care what it is, I'm gonna drive the piss out of it, and I'm probably gonna beat you.

Jason: 7:37

I I'm telling you now that mine is a hundred percent left field, bro. Okay. So he he he wins the race and everything, but he didn't set any records. And he um, and I'm extra hard on him because I can't stand Max Verstappen. This is not uh a secret, you know. Uh he he is who he is, and he's a great driver when there's no one in front of him, sure. Yes, in the clean air, he is a speed demon. So it, you know, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna I'm gonna take some some some comment uh karma for this, but uh yeah, I believe that you know IMSA racing is not the richest sport, right? It doesn't bring numbers like formula does, in my opinion. I think you can agree with me here. Um what we do need is like a drive to survive IMSA.

Jeff: 8:31

That would be cool to see behind the scenes and to the garage. And so I think go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. I was gonna say it's probab these dudes probably have to those. You think that all those guys are full-time drivers? They probably have like real, I say real jobs outside of so I maybe. Yeah, I don't know. Um, but yeah, I drive to survive behind the scenes for Imza would be freaking badass. It would be dope, right?

Jason: 8:57

And this, you know, and it's kind of like they don't get that there's a lot of talent in in those cars, and that in that, you know, on that side of the fence, right? So then I I see it like they sent Max an invitation because they want you know the the fame, they want the spotlight on it, you know, more, and they want it more so when he wins. That's all I'm gonna say. That's all I'm gonna say.

Jeff: 9:23

If you know, yeah, but he so he had to what qualify or not qualify, but uh is it uh and I'm gonna get probably roasted here for not do knowing the details here, but he qualified the day before, the weekend before, right, to get his license for the track. Um it was yeah, it was quick. So he did legitimately qualify for the race.

Jason: 9:46

And well, I didn't say he's not competent to drive one, I'm just saying that for him to beat out people that are doing this every single year, it's a little sus, you know, just a hint of sus on that. You know, you know what I'm saying?

Jeff: 10:01

All right.

Jason: 10:02

Well, let us know in the comments what you think of uh you know, because Cam, Cam, Cam, the the real pro driver that we interviewed here, he said it himself. He's like, if I got into a peacup, that's not 10k driving, bro. You know what I mean? You see what I mean? And that's a real answer. So it, you know, Max is Max is a young, he's still young in a career. He he still has a lot to me. He has a lot to prove. You know, he's not the phenomena that we think he is. I hope he is, because we always need that guy, right? We always need, we always need that guy. It now it's yeah, it's it's Max. Before Max, it was Schumacher. Before it was Schumacher, it was Senna, and so on and so forth. They hated them. They hated them until they've, you know, something happened to them, and then they're like, yo, that was a legend, you know, gotta respect them. But so they were racing, bro.

Jeff: 10:57

Fair. I think we're glazing over, we're missing a point here, too, is that Chris, uh, you know, his co-driver is, or I don't want to say was, because he's not a he does definitely have some background in real life racing, I think carding and some F4. Um, but this dude predominantly the last couple years has been a sim driver. You know, he I think he drives with Max on his team. And then this dude got back into you know a GT3. I mean, that's that's a big jump from sim racing to a real GT3 race. So um super cool. Um, I think we're gonna only see more of these, right?

Jason: 11:31

As dudes that are predominantly sim racers, they're legitimizing it. You know, that's what they're doing.

Jeff: 11:36

100%. And I think that's I I definitely want to make sure that we brought up that point that uh, you know, that is the main point. Don't listen to me.

Jason: 11:43

I'm just uh I'm just angry that he wants and it's been a while too. It's been a few days to sleep it off. I still haven't slept it off.

Jeff: 11:52

But uh big gulp of hater aid uh max there. Yeah, but yeah, it's cool. We'll so hopefully we'll see more of this sim racers turning real car real world race drivers, race car drivers.

Jason: 12:04

Okay, so today um we have a uh simdistry update. Again, Jeff is taking the uh the honors here, and I I'm happy. I'm happy to hand it over to you, sir.

Jeff: 12:16

Yeah, you know, there's this there's this game out there, AMS2, that's been a good thing. They don't quit, bro.

Jason: 12:22

They're not quitting, they don't quit.

Jeff: 12:24

Keep pushing out updates. Um, so we got update 1.6.8. Uh came out early October. I think it was the third. Don't quote me on it. But, anyways, they released an update for Autoballista 2, along with the Lamborghini Dream Pack Part 2 DLC. Um, they added four more new Lamborghini cars, notably the Merced R go uh R GT, a preview of the upcoming GT1 2025 class with more endurance content to arrive in late October. So here we are. Um probably getting another update from AMS in a couple weeks.

Jason: 13:02

So we got a roadmap. That's crazy.

Jeff: 13:05

Yeah. So the update also brings improvements to AI behavior, enhancements to the single player, um, and ground uh laying the groundwork for a 2026 career mode. So that's pretty cool. Um, provides multiplayer stabil stabil stability and force. Stability, stability, stability, uh, as well as with some physics and force feedback updates. So um super cool stuff that they're providing and updates. You know, this game's just like I I think I've always said if I had to pick one sim to play and I couldn't play anything else forever, it's probably a tie between AMS2 and uh the original AC content manager.

Jason: 13:46

Wait, content manager, yeah.

Jeff: 13:48

It has to be content manager.

Jason: 13:49

Um, but yeah, the VR experience in AC is unmatched, bro. I need to get in there more because I drive the shit out of the uh how is it that I can get out of a I I know we've said this many times. Just the other day, I you know, I just the other day, which is great. Thank you for providing this information, bro. Appreciate you. But just the other day, I hooked up the VR headset just because I was like, man, uh okay, I'll I'll spill the beans here. Uh, we're not ready to talk about it just yet, but we will get to it. But Jeff and I, probably the two souls in Hawaii that ordered a bell tensioner, the two souls. They were probably looking at what is these two packages going to Hawaii?

Jeff: 14:32

You knuckleheads couldn't have packaged us together and shaved shipping? No.

Jason: 14:36

You know, it's funny, and I won't mention, I won't mention the the name because you know, but I I spoke to the guy on the phone, and I was like, hey, you know, just I was I was talking about some something that he's that he had at the expo, and it was like these cushion belts, right? And they were custom ones. He was he was bragging about them. He was like, hey, you know, these are custom, and and and I put them on, and I'm like, wow, that's really freaking comfortable. So I called him up, and then he was laughing on the phone. He was like, bro, you you you you were the guy that ordered from Hawaii? Do you know the other guy? I was like, Yeah, I do. You know, he's he's on the show with me. We we met you at the expo. He's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember. Then he's like, bro, you know, we had to cancel all shipments to Hawaii when we seen what it cost us, what it really cost. And I was dying, yo. He was like, it was like, he's like, whatever you paid, we paid like almost double the price. I was like, God bless Jeff. Jeff was like, Jeff influenced me to order the belt tensioner. And we won't get into the details, but this is funny as shit, and I gotta say it here on the show because this this is straight no chaser, always. But Jeff is like, I love the belts, right? He's he's using them and he's trying them out and he's tweaking them. And then he's like, dude, my my my harness is I I got the wrong harness. He says, I need I need one. Uh I need you know where I'm going with it, Jeff. He's like, I need one that hugs the crotch area, but in a very different term. I almost had a damn heart attack when I heard what he said. And then he says, Yeah, dude, it really grabs you there. And then I was like, he's like, You want to come over and try it? And I was like, Hell no, that link just became freaking personal as shit. I ain't going over there. I was like, listen, I'd rather pay the money and get it over here. And I believe you, I trust you, I trust you. We we speak every week on the podcast. You're good. We we use them, we're good, we're good. So more to follow on that. I mean, that was I thought that was kind of cool. So, yeah, but we kind of for you other Hawaii sim racers out there, uh, yeah. If you happen to find this particular dealer, the prices might go up a little bit for shipping. You might want to order it right away if if you haven't already.

Jeff: 17:02

So no, I think that that that episode is gonna be uh a banger of that episode when we give you know kind of some feedback on the belt tensioners. I think it's we'll look forward to that one too.

Jason: 17:12

Oh, yeah. We're gonna have some deep dive discussions about it. Um, but we're safe to move on from AMS too, right? Or do we want to cover anything else?

Jeff: 17:21

Yeah, I mean, just real quick, I'm not gonna get too much into uh they just did do some, I guess, uh bundling, DL DC, DLC bundling uh a little bit differently. So they're just bundling um some of their new uh not the some of their new, but all of their tracks and cars. So it may, if you get into Steam and you know get in there and look at their DLCs, uh, it might look a little bit different. Um, it is. They are have not added any new tracks to it um or games outside of or excuse me, uh cars outside of the recent update, uh, but it might look different. They're just bundling things a little bit differently. They're putting, you know, IMSA bundles um and things like that. So uh just a small ad there. That kind of wraps up our simdistry news for this week, unless Jason, you got anything else to add?

Jason: 18:07

No, I think that's fair enough. I I do want to just do a hard update on just the loss of time here that we've had, just you know, from the weeks uh we came back from the expo, and then Jeff had a trip. So we it all worked out magically in the background. Um, but you know, Simicube on our last episode we mentioned that there was a uh surprise unveiling, but it's no surprise, it's actually confirmed. There's a Simicube 3 coming out, and you can sign up on the Simicube website, I believe, um, for emails, and you can actually watch the unveiling happen at the German expo, which uh the uh the Sim Racing Expo in Germany. Um I think it's on uh October 9th. So by the time this airs, it'll still be relevant news, making sure of that, making sure we don't go over. Um, but yeah, it is a Semic3 base, and I'm very curious because we asked the CEO the question, and he said one day, and this is that one day, and it wasn't too long, right? That's why, that's why he had that long pause. Ah, I see.

Jeff: 19:19

It's like I'm not gonna knock not let this one go public.

Jason: 19:23

While he was saying uh he was he was he was envisioning it in his head, like, yeah, I know what it looks like. Everything was flashing by all the destruction manuals and everything was just going through his head. Like, I know what it is, but I can't tell you.

Jeff: 19:36

It didn't get leaked too far after too far after that.

Jason: 19:39

I don't think the leak was supposed to happen. I think that it got it got leaked, and that basically put the finger on them to say we need to respond about this now, you know what I mean? Like right now. So yeah. So that's just a quick catch-up.

Jeff: 19:57

Um I'm still a little sore about not getting in on the uh the ultimate change.

Jason: 20:04

On the deal, bro. So at the expo, I don't know if we covered this, but so dude, I'm still salty about this. They unboxed Simicube 2's pros, not the sport, the pros. Uh left all the stickers on them, kept all the boxes, kept all the everything, even the warranty, bro. Even the warranty.

Jeff: 20:27

It was what how many sim race, how many uh rigs did they have just for the racing or the you know, the uh uh maybe it was like 30 something rigs, bro.

Jason: 20:37

Yeah, we're not talking like five or six, yeah. It was like 30 rigs, you know, and on top of that, they had simicus across the the floor space, you know. They were being used, it was way more than 30, bro. It was like 50.

Jeff: 20:51

I wouldn't say it was up there, but anyways, yeah, they were simic was like, Yeah, we ain't bringing these home 690. What was it? 690, 650, something like that.

Jason: 21:01

It was like half off. It was like 600, it's like 599 or something.

Jeff: 21:04

Yep. Um take them in, take them home with you.

Jason: 21:07

And I was like, I hate that morning. Yeah, dude. And I'm so sorry, bro. And even if you couldn't have taken it, they would have shipped it for you, they would have packaged it up in its original packaging, shipped it, send you an invoice, like if you would have purchased it brand new, meaning that has a hundred percent warranty. You know, semicolons is smart because they knew that that three was coming out. That was a good way to offload these quickly.

Jeff: 21:35

Well, if they want to offload a couple more at that point, let's do it. Please, by all means.

Jason: 21:40

Well, I'll tell you what, um the semicon three coming out, and if you guys were thinking about a semicube two, if you were in that range, I would still suggest a semiconduo. It's not that because the three is here that you're gonna have to run to get the three. The two is amazing, however, comma in this house, you already know what's going down, Jeff. So we might have one for sale for you. Okay.

Jeff: 22:10

You know, because we have this argument all the time, uh, you know, the the Simicube, you know, versus you know, everything else. And I was like, it's not worth it, it's not worth the the premium price that they have on it. And you know, um, Simicube is unapologetically, hey, we are not the entry point into Sim Racing, we are the premier. When you're ready to invest into the high-end product, give us a call and we got a product for you.

Jason: 22:36

100%. They tell you that straight up, they're not riding it.

Jeff: 22:39

Yeah. I mean, I got to jump into I don't know how many rigs at the expo, and damn near every single one was a simicube. And I was blown away. And I've gotten to Jason's, but a lot of times when I get into Jason's rig, I'm overwhelmed by all the other shit going on. Oh but uh no, I would I am a simicube believer now in that it that they really are. Yeah, this is news to me. That's why I was so I'm still so frustrated about you know getting not getting missing out on the deal, is because like it's it's something else.

Jason: 23:08

It really is what happens, Jeff. Let we'll talk.

Jeff: 23:11

Yeah, it's a really, really nice piece of gear.

Jason: 23:13

So unless you're trying to go with the three and you're trying to go boss of the wall with me on the three.

Jeff: 23:18

I'm just hoping that they're maybe a black.

Jason: 23:20

Let's see what the three has first, guys. I mean, you're probably gonna see a lot of semicubes up for sale for close to being new price-wise. You know what I mean? Like if it's 1200 or 1300 new, you're probably gonna see them for a thousand new. As a fellow sim racer, do not buy right now. Do not because when that three comes out and the market is there for the three, that price is gonna go skyrocketing down. And you know, we're in October. Next month is the buying month of the year, at least in the United States, which is Black Friday month. So just hold the horses, hold, hold, hold. We're definitely gonna have a coverage on that, like we did last year.

Jeff: 24:06

It's like it's it's like Braveheart. Hold, hold.

Jason: 24:11

No, yeah, for real. Um, but, anyways, another piece of news. Um, this one's gonna be a little bit uh just a quick deep dive here. Sims that don't give up. That's probably gonna be the title of this of this video. Yeah. Race Room. You know, even Cam Ebon was like we have three he tried to race there, and there was like maybe three people online, which he's probably kidding. But race room, let me let me pull out my notes here with this. So everybody knows race room for being the free sim racing uh game on Steam, right? Because you don't need a subscription, you just need the content. But the content is similar to iRacing prices, however, they came up with an idea uh to bundle now to bundle a pack that comes with 12 cars with 27 tracks, and it's called the online racing pack. And I'm gonna I'm gonna list out the cars that you get. Oh, and guess what? For the price of where is it? Um I think it's like $30 US. You get all of that. Um, you get a Formula Race Room 3, you get a Porsche 911 uh GT3 Cup car, and also an endurance version of that same car, uh Hyundai Lantra TCR, BMW M2, uh TADIS M4, TATUS, uh BMW M4 GT3, and NSU TTS, Audi TT Cup, Opel, Calibra. So as you can see, guys, Mazda MX5, Volvo S40 Super Touring, McLaren 570S GT4. So you're getting a mixture of cars. Like I'm looking at TCR cup cars, um, the BMW has its own, it's its own class, right? The M2, uh, and Formula, you know, for for one price. And the track list, bro, Bathurst, Zandvert, Zolder, Lostrazing, Daytona, Dubai, Hawkenheim, uh, Hungaro Ring, Imola, Indianapolis, Motor Speedway, Interlagos, Macau, uh Mid Mid-Ohio, okay, Wanza, Aragon, Arsha Sliben, Norris Lifa, Norris Ring, uh Nori, Norris Ring, Nurberg Ring, Red Bull Ring, Road America, Satch Ring, Slasburg Ring, Silverstone, Suzuka, Watkins Glen, and Laguna Seca for the price of $29.99 right now. So, I mean, if you guys were tinkering around with race room, you like the racing. The racing in there is actually pretty good. The physics and and the tire model there is actually pretty decent. For $30, if I'm reading this correctly, let me just make sure. Because we don't want to do a Save Round Alibi, right? We want to just keep it moving.

Jeff: 27:30

Um, that's a hell of a list of tracks there.

Jason: 27:33

Yeah, you get all of that for $30, if I'm not, if I'm not mistaken here. Um, yeah, it's priced at 30 euro, 30 dollars, or 25.76 pounds, which represents a 92% discount if you were to buy these on their own. So to for those who bought this on their own, I am so sorry about this. I I apologize. But for me, this is an easy $30 just to mess around and to see what you know, to see what the content is like, right? The their paid content. So that's a quick update for for Race Room. These are sims that just don't die, and it's a good thing, man, because honestly, the new stuff that's coming out is not really the greatest stuff. Like LMU just had an update, and it didn't really change much. Um, from what they added driver swaps. You should have had that from the start. Don't get me started. Here we go. Don't get me started. You should have had that from the started. This is a Laman's game, you know. Where's the 24-hour racing with the swaps? Come on, you know. That should have been part of 1.0. So, what I'm trying to say is it's not so much a bash to LMU, it's use what you already have. We already have great sim racing titles. I think we need to stop chasing for the brand new thing and continue using the old thing and perfect the old thing, right? Want to have a live coach available on demand? With Trophy AI, you'll be able to practice with Manso AI at your convenience, a real-time coach in your headphones to navigate and guide you through the track, helping you achieve race pace. This tool is awesome as it provides full brake, throttle, and steering telemetry on screen with a live review getting you ready for your next big race. Check links to Trophy AI in the description and also use Chicane 12 in all caps for a 12% discount. Get better at the old thing, at the at the things at work on our rig without having to spend, get a 50 90 or something like that, or 40 90 or 40 or 50 80 or trying to upgrade your PC. You already have plenty of fun racing on your rig right now. So that's kind of my take with. That's why it's a blessing to have these Sims still care and still provide updates because they're so they don't have to, you know, they don't have to. But uh yeah, that's that's my topic for this week. Um, I'll pass it over to Jeff to see what he got for us.

Jeff: 30:17

All right, Jason. Hey, thanks. Uh so mine is gonna kind of be this will should be a just a I guess reminder to some, and then hopefully some other people can be, you know, maybe the first time they hear it, but we're gonna talk about iRating and your safety rating on iRacing. You know, a lot of these uh categories are, you know, you people know a lot about them, um, or they've you know think they know how they work. Um, some people probably know exactly how they work, but I wanted to kind of touch on these and we're I'm gonna pull some of this. All this data I'm gonna talk about will be from iRacing, uh, the website there, and the um the official sporting code uh that was released here, just uh the newest one here in September. So um yeah, Jace, you want to talk about you want to hit anything before I jump into this?

Jason: 31:05

Or no, I I'm just you know, guys, honestly, uh no one knows it all, and it's good to have a refresher. You know, we had Cam on the show last week, and he was talking, he was breaking down what it's like to be a 10K driver. And sometimes, you know, it's it's a good refresher on how things work, or if you're new to i racing, then pay attention. Um, but let's hear it, Jeff.

Jeff: 31:29

I'm good to go. All right, so I'm gonna share a screen here, and this is gonna be from the actual um sporting code. So, Jason, you good to go? You can see it there. Yeah, so we're gonna first we're gonna cover here is i rating. i rating is measured of a racing skill and proficiency and exists to ensure competitive racing in championships by maximizing the chances that similarly similarly similarly skilled drivers compete against one another. Every driver has a separate I rating for each racing category. So your uh your dirt, oval, formula, and uh road car will be all different uh ratings. Each category-specific I rating is automatically calculated and updated to reflect the driver's performance in any race joined in that category. Only races in given category impact I rating in that category. There is no cross-category influences. So if you have a you know shitty race in Oval and then you jump into formula, your rating will not be impacted in formula from that crappy race in Oval. I ratings are prime are primarily factor in assessing a driver's uh for division for each series in which they compete, maximize comp to maximize competition and allowing members to advance to higher divisions as their skills improve or return to a lower division if the competit competition provides too difficult. I ratings are also are also used to gauge the level of difficulty of a given race, influencing the calculation of championship points to be awarded for each finishing position based on the strength of field. So that's a big portion here we'll talk about here in uh straight of field. The higher degree of difficulty, the more points are available to each driver in the race. I ratings are not visible to members in the rookie class. So you have to get out of cloud rookies and get your D license before you can officially get an I rating.

Jason: 33:19

And that's a great this is a great tip because I started NASCAR racing and I'm I'm starting a series. It's very casual. It's called Road to NASCAR, and I just stream on over the weekends. Sometimes we'll be in the NASCAR with the guys having fun. And I noticed I'm like trying to do well at the rookie and trying to be safe, and then I I think I P1ed a race, like like podium, P1. Get didn't get nothing for it, bro. Nothing. Didn't get nothing for it. So just keep that in mind. And and I want to ask you before you continue. Sure. This is official documentation.

Jeff: 33:59

This is the official sporting code from iRacing. I just read iRacing.

Jason: 34:04

Bro, this looks like a military instruction. Look at this.

Jeff: 34:07

If you haven't read the sporting code, jump in there and give this thing a read. We'll leave a link. We'll leave a link to it. There is everything about everything you can possibly want to know about iRacing and a lot of things you probably don't give a shit about about iRacing. And it's there you are.

Jason: 34:21

It's so it's kind of cool though. It's kind of cool. A game has a sim, excuse me, has a manual to it.

Jeff: 34:27

If you're not looking at the screen, there's 48 pages to this thing.

Jason: 34:31

So oh yes, sorry.

Jeff: 34:32

Thank you, Jeff. So back to what changes your i rating? This is 4.2. As i rating is a measure of competitiveness performance skill, it is only adjusted up or down whenever an event that is demonstrated such skill is completed. Only ranked events, which we'll get here in a second, that are official adjust competitive uh competitors i rating. In order for a ranked event to be official, it must include enough competitors to present a challenge. If enough competitors are present in that session, the event will become official. You probably I'm gonna break here from reading. You probably have heard that's what happened with me earlier or last night was uh just couldn't get enough people to make a competitive race in the formula race. So there was like two of us that were on the track and it didn't happen. Sure, go ahead.

Jason: 35:16

So does the race happen and it becomes unranked, or does it not happen?

Jeff: 35:21

So at all. It technically happens, like you end up on a grid after you qualify, um, and then immediately whatever happens after that is most people just quit out and go back to try to find another race. But there is cars get dropped on a track. There technically is a race, it doesn't impact safety or your I rating.

Jason: 35:43

Um, but you can still race though.

Jeff: 35:45

You can if you want to. I mean, I did two laps with three people and then so okay, so for me, and then I quit and then we were gone. We were done.

Jason: 35:51

So when I used to race ACC on LFM, the server would just completely cancel. It wouldn't even it wouldn't even let you go on track. You know, yeah, or it wouldn't even it would just say zero or one out of two or whatever, like, or you know, one out of thirty drivers, for example. So that I think that's kind of cool. If you you know, what if you meet up with some people in there and you end up doing laps with them? You never know, so but continue.

Jeff: 36:21

Okay, all right. So ranked events, which I'll get here in shortly, always impact your safety rating, which well, safety rating is separate, but we'll get into that. I rating is only adjusted if the ranked event also includes enough participants to go, like we said, official. So I'm gonna go, you can I'm gonna scroll here and you're gonna see what affects your I rating and then what affects your safety rating, which we'll cover here shortly.

Jason: 36:42

Oh, this is awesome. Thank you, Jeff.

Jeff: 36:43

This is so yeah. So anytime you're gonna go, basically, I'm gonna paraphrase here. If you're gonna go into an iRacing official race, anytime you jump into the technical practice, not an open practice, but just a practice, everything after that is gonna affect your i rating. Now, it will affect it more in races than in a practice session. And uh subsequently with your safety rating, which I'll get to here shortly. Um, but anytime you're gonna basically anytime a race goes unranked or unofficial, doesn't affect anything. Anytime it's a you're in a ranked event, anytime you get dropped into a practice that is tech that has enough people to be considered ranked, it's gonna affect your your I rating and your safety.

Jason: 37:30

Your safety, though. As well, yes.

Jeff: 37:34

It says here um driver rating adjustments yes, i rating only affects an actual race.

Jason: 37:42

Yeah, but this is important, and it's not the best, Jeff. But this is important because sometimes you think, oh, I can just go off track and it's practice, and it doesn't count, right? Oh, it sure does. It sure does, man, because safety rating is important too, it's just as important as our i rating, but yeah.

Jeff: 38:01

So how your rating changes here. I'm gonna I'll stop sharing for a second. We can chat about this. So your I rating changes depending on where you finish the race. You finish higher than where i Racing thinks you should finish, you gain I rating. If you finish below where you think they should where they think you should finish, you lose I rating. Your I rating is what you is used to put you into the appropriate field with the strength of um was it strength of field? Yeah, strength of field. You're racing similarly skilled racers as you, so it makes it more competitive for you. I don't want to get dumped into with a 10k i uh uh i rating, dude. It's not gonna be any fun for me, right? But you do, but you do, I do, right?

Jason: 38:50

Because racing faster people because if you do well in there, you're gonna get a shit ton of i rating for that, you know, because you're not supposed to be there, you know. They rank you by divisions, that's what they call it. They call you divisions. If you're if you're the number one driver in the in the excuse me, in the session, based off the the SOF, the strength of field, you better win that race. That's like Camp, bro. Poor Cam if you let the number 10 overtake you and beat you, oh man, bro. You know, I think I love that system. That system makes sense, you know. It's not just yeah, go ahead. Sorry, yeah, so you got me started.

Jeff: 39:34

I wanna it it it works great, but what also I didn't learn, didn't know is so uh I kind of talk a lot of you know in the past about hey, I can qualify, I feel very high, you know. I feel like I qualify five or above traditionally, but when we race, my race pace is not the same as well, most people aren't. But what I find is that when I either come up and I am in proximity to another car, I drive overly conservative, is probably the right word.

Jason: 40:10

You're being you're being cautious and cautious.

Jeff: 40:12

And or if somebody's coming up behind me, and I think part of that is I just don't want to take somebody else out, but I also don't want to ruin my own safety rating. Um so what I've been what I did for the past like two weeks was I was like, oh, I'll use these practices to drive to to be comfortable a passing people or driving in proximity to other cars. And if I take them out, they take me out. It's we lose a little bit, like I mean, it's like my microscopic levels of safety, not really enough to even articulate to show when you race, it will be much more, which we'll get into here in a second. But what I didn't know until the like the 10 days had gone by, and I don't even know how many of these uh things I was doing, that if you do not exit that event or that you have registered for two minutes prior to qualifying, you technically are in the field. And if you quit out right before qualifying, because I was thinking, hey, I'm gonna go back and find another practice so I can keep working on this to get faster. Here I am thinking of being the responsible one, right? I don't want to ruin safety, I don't want to you know, ruin I ratings. So I'm just going practicing with in other fields, you know, I'm talking to people you know in the practice and stuff like that. Well, like a week and a half goes by, and I somehow look at my I rating, and that's when I learned that if you race all the way up to qualifying, even if you don't qualify, you still technically are in the field. And I was coming in last place. I mean, this is a little bit showing, you know, um, you know, this is a little embarrassing, but here it was a learning thing. And if anybody else can learn from this, you know, and not have to do it, because of Meyer, I'm I'm here for you guys. But uh, so you took a crash of an I rating the last 10 days. So you're probably mad as hell. Like, what am I doing wrong? Well, the good, I mean, the good part is is when I realized this and I started like, I was like, oh, I gotta race now to get out of this, you know, this the men dug out the mail and say, what's going on with this? This is kind of easy racing because I was you know artificially had dropped into a lower strength of field than I probably deserved to be. Oh, you were smoking then. Oh, I was smoking, yeah. So uh it was a bit of a dumpster fire. I learned about it. If you're gonna exit, you have no intentions of racing, you're just getting into practice, you need to get out of there two minutes prior to qualifying, or you're technically gonna be part of that field and it's gonna affect your i rating.

Jason: 42:52

That's a very good tip, man.

Jeff: 42:54

A little bit of humble pie, but if anybody else can learn from it and not have to do the same thing as I'm racing uh strength of fields that are not so good.

Jason: 43:03

And you know, we're breaking down i rating and numbers and safety and all this stuff, right? And Jeff and I, when we started iRacing, I I mean, I had an iRacing account, but I really started with him. He started racing almost the same time, and I wanted to race with him, and I was like, uh screw it, I'll jump on there with you. I don't have anybody racing right now on ACC. So then I go over there and blah, blah, blah, and then we start the ride the i rating grind. Like a year later, Jeff and I have a conversation, and I was like, what's the point? Like, what's the point of paying so much attention to this? Just get on the track, do your best. You know what's illegal, you know what's not illegal, right? And and do your best. Don't try and you can't cheat this system. We we've just we've tried. You can't cheat it. You know, it Jason, if you if you know. You and I talk all the time, Jeff, and you're like, you we were saying, yeah, if you don't, you don't really have to, you don't really have to push on the quality too much, and you know, for me or or for you, you don't really have to push too much in the beginning because that's how things happen. And I'm like, sometimes it's just better to approach an event. This is out of rookies. If you're a rookie, forget about i rating. We just told you that it don't count, and we showed you. Just get out of rookie, get out of there. It's ASAP. It's more than if you P last, P last will get you safety. I promise you. P last will get you out of i rating, not first place. You know, Jeff and I, we speak and we talk all the time, and I'm like, dude, why don't we just relax and race the best you can to the maxim of your abilities? Don't do anything crazy on track, like trying to follow a line that you know you can't do, but then push as hard as you can too to have a good spot, and you'll automatically be moved into a category where you're supposed to be, which is strength of field.

Jeff: 45:07

That's that's you know 100%. Yeah, it just freak on in all honesty, just get in there and have fun. Yeah, get in there and have fun. Don't read the rules, you know, drive safe, right? But don't don't really don't get in there to get a high rate, don't go sim racing to get a high high rating or safety rating. You're I think you're missing the point.

Jason: 45:28

And the license, remember, Jeff, we were talking about this. Jeff was like, I want that A license. I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it. I want to drive the formula car. And I'm like, but you're having a blast with this F4 car, you sure? You know what I mean? And then we start to know. Yeah. Well, not just you. I did the same thing. I wanted to rush all the way up the field so that way I can race different things. And then I noticed that I don't even do that. You know, I'm uh Porsche Cup is a C class event. You don't, it's irrelevant. Okay, you got a B, you got an A, good, good for you. That's great. You have a license to drive other things that are not being driven often. Now, GTP, that's another, that's another saga, right? We gotta get you up to A license to do that.

Jeff: 46:14

As you should, that's a death trap.

Jason: 46:16

Yeah. So I'm I mean, I think it's no, you're good, man. I'm just I'm just closing in on that that we we basically did a mini guide here to i rate i rating. Yeah, mini guide on how to find it, how to gauge it. But then I also want you to don't worry about it too much, you know, in a way, you know. Just know know what's gonna happen, but how do you prevent from how do you prevent the unpreventable? You know what I mean? If you're not at pace, if you're not at that pace, then you don't belong there. You don't belong in that strength of field yet. But when you start racing and learning and pushing, then you're gonna get back there and then you're gonna excel and you're gonna go over that. You're gonna, then you're gonna turn back like Jeff now. He's like, Yeah, I'm with these strength of field now and I'm smoking them. You know what I mean? That's that's kind of how it works. It's a balance to it.

Jeff: 47:12

Yeah, and from somebody that was paying attention to safety and your i rating, it I was putting so much value into the race of whatever I went up or down in, not my position or how much of fun I had. And you know, don't miss the forest for the trees. So all right, Jason, I'm gonna move on to safety if your rounds complete with i rating.

Jason: 47:32

Yeah, I think i rating is um I think we're good on i rating. If you guys have any questions, email the show at the shicanepodcast at gmail uh.com. That goes without saying for any topic. Sorry, Jeff, go ahead, continue.

Jeff: 47:46

All right, so okay, all right, we're gonna move into uh say your safety rating. After a session that has impacted a safety rating, iRacing will do a calculation to determine each driver's new safety rating. Safety ratings, uh calculations look at three things. How many incidents did you receive, how many corners did you complete, and what type of session it was. Incident points are the 1x, 2x, and 4x values that show up the screen when driving. This is like the biggest distraction ever. Like I'm like, oh shit, did I go off? Did I go off track? I like take a peek up and I'm like flashes, and I'm like, damn! I'm like, throw it away. Yeah, it does something. I wish it stays on there for so long. I know. I just wish it didn't tell you until the end of the year. Like you mess up. I digress. You messed up.

Jason: 48:30

You messed up.

Jeff: 48:31

These are added, these are added together to determine your total incident count for a session. Sometimes incident points will say 2x with an arrow and then a 4x. This means there was a 2x in it assessed, but it was followed very quickly by a 4x incident. In this case, we do not want to pile on incident points, so iracing ignores the 2x and simply assesses a 4x penalty. Since it is the greatest of the incidence values as seen during a short time span, it is not possible that you can be given more than a 4x for a single incident. So just make sure you know that. So if you bump, you know, a car, go off the track, and hit another car, you're only getting one 4x for that incident. All right, back to it. The following situations will negatively impact your safety rating by occurring racing incident points, driving off the racing surface off the track, losing control of your car, so if you lose the back end, contact with another object, the wall, contact with another driver, another car. The full table of incidents can be found at the, you know, here into the iRacing Code. The more incident points you rack up during a race, the more negative your net safety rating from that race will be. But if you drive a clean race and avoid these racing incidents that we spoke to earlier, the more positive your safety net rating will be from that race. Keep in mind, incidents are assessed to be involved driver individually on a no-fault basis, no matter the circumstance. So what that means is if you get rear-ended in the first corner, you're just as guilty, unfortunately, as the guy behind you. And if you want to know why iRacing did that, go back to our the episode where we talked to Nimcross, and he does a fantastic job of covering why iRacing does it that way.

Jason: 50:14

The Chief Steward, too. The number four. That's the employee number four, iRacing. So he'll tell you real quick.

Jeff: 50:22

And it makes sense once you hear it. So it it initially it's like yeah, that's pretty stiff, but you he he does a great job of explaining it. So jump back, jump back there and listen to that episode. So I'm gonna keep going, Jason.

Jason: 50:32

And a lot of people, and just real quick, just a quick plug. A lot of people that we've interviewed lately since we had that are kind of nodding to the same thing. Like, hey, there's a there was something that happened on track I probably could have avoided. You know what I mean? Now I understand the one when you start on the starting line and somebody hits you on the side of the door, but things happen.

Jeff: 50:55

Moving on. It's a racing racing incident. It you know, it kind of is what it is, right? Okay. So I alluded to the things that affect it is corner count. Corner count, each track configuration in eye racing has a determined, defined corner multiplier. When assessing was when assessing your safety rating, we look at this corner multiplier combined with the number of laps that you completed to determine the total number of corners you completed. Corner multipliers that are assigned based on the complexity of the track. So with the relative impact of an incident on a short track with six corners is roughly equal to that of an incident with an extremely long track like the Nuremberg Ring or North Life with dozens and dozens of corners. This also applies to ovals and short tracks with lower corners multipliers that have intermediate or super speedway tracks. So really, this is just to kind of say that you know, uh this is a way that iRacing baselines the number of incidents that you have at a very complicated track and a short track to make it same same. Does that make sense, Jason?

Jason: 51:59

100%.

Jeff: 52:00

Okay. Last thing here session time. When race session incidents will have their full effect be applied to a driver's safety rating. Not all sessions operate the same way. Sessions with pre-raced practice qualifying warm-up and time trials have multipliers applied to the reducing impact of the overall incident points received from those sessions. For example, time trials multiply your total incident points received in that session by 0.35 before applying them to your safety rating calculations. Then we can, if you dig into the bottles of the iRating Sports Code, and you can find those. But what this is basically saying, that I think Jason, you alluded to earlier, is if you crash into somebody or go off track in practice andor qualifying, qualifying would be more off track. You hit somebody in practice. It's not gonna have a huge impact to your safety rating, but it is going to impact it at a microscopic level. There will be an impact to it.

Jason: 53:04

Right.

Jeff: 53:04

And another thing in a race will impact it a whole lot more than so. If you hit somebody in a race, it's gonna affect your safety rating a lot more than it will in practice. Go ahead, Jason. Sorry.

Jason: 53:16

And no, you're good. You're good. I'm interrupting, my bad. So um another thing that is probably in the manual, it's probably buried somewhere in there. But you also got to think of the length of the race. If you're trying to grind safety and you do 15-minute races, it's not enough. You know, safety is calculated by the amount of clean laps that you do lap by lap. If it's a if it's a the 24-hour event on there on bro, we had we got so much safety from that. I also did a three-hour um rent at Charlotte Rovell, and I got 1.67, which is a lot of safety.

Jeff: 53:58

That's like that's a big job. A whole number?

Jason: 54:01

A whole number, no, like almost two, like you know, one almost two.

Jeff: 54:06

Oh one point, yeah, sorry.

Jason: 54:07

1.67. And it's because of the the the ratio, right? The the amount driven, the lapse driven, and the incident counters, the ratio is like way high. So it'll it'll calculate that way too. I rating as well. I rating will be warded. You'll get a lot more I rating on endurance races than regular racing. So just so you guys know. You don't have to grind those 15-minute races like we thought we did. That's why I'm mentioning this.

Jeff: 54:39

So safety is important. Obviously, it helps to do the biggest thing is probably your uh promotions and demotions, which you know is kind of we can maybe hit that with another topic here in the future. Uh, you know, I just wanted to kind of additionally touch on to what affects safety uh and your I rating, but it definitely your safety is a big portion into your promotion into uh going up and down license classes.

Jason: 55:04

Yeah, yeah, man. And to me, it's just as important. Um because again, if if you have a high safety rating, and now you know we have Daniel Newman racing dashboards, lovely dashboards as well, show this data, and they will show you the I rating of the car that's behind you. And if that guy is like it's badass, if he's like a one, you better watch out with this guy. He's a little reckless. But if the guy behind you has like a three or a 3.5, then that gives you a little better idea. Also, crew chief will tell you if the if the driver behind you is reckless or not. I didn't say it. It was you know, Jim said that, Jimbo. So I think um, I think uh I think we're pretty much good with this, huh? What do you think, Jeff?

Jeff: 55:55

Yeah, I think I've uh uh I've covered it. If you guys got any questions, you know, either uh send an email uh or a comment and we can uh get back with you. But I think everybody get in there and read the um sporting code for iRacing. We can link that in the description.

Jason: 56:09

Okay. Um again, guys. Um, next episode we will be covering uh question that was sent to us. So for though for that recent person that did send us an email, um, we will definitely address that. And track of the week is still here again, just a lot of moving things, you know. Um we've had Jeff on travel and Eric's departure. So I've been trying to catch up with with everything, but today was a great episode. Um, thank you so much, Jeff, for for providing all the info today. And yeah, man, if you guys have any more questions about anything that we cover today, just send us an email at the shikanepodcast at gmail.com or leave a comment below and we'll address that right away. Um, as well in live streams. If I'm on live stream and you catch me, feel free to just as you know, ask me a question. I'm I'll answer you right away, live and in the flesh. So again, uh Jeff, thank you so much. Yes, um, I appreciate everything. And guys, stay tuned. Uh, we'll have we have a lot more planned for you, uh, especially now as the holidays approach. We definitely have some more things coming. And October is known for the month of reveals and product reveals in the simracing world. So please keep it locked tight here. And uh, yeah, we'll be back here next Monday. Thank you so much, everyone, and have a great start of your week. Thank you.