10 iRacing Bad Habits You NEED TO STOP

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[@DJYeeJay]

I’ll also be holding weekly group lessons with Goat Locker Racing’s Discord focused around their Arca development series Saturdays at 3ET. This will be free for all active duty service members and veterans! discord.gg/nsangCuQWD

[@thesunnynationg]

...ohhh I am always off the track when i learn a new car/track combo. at about Lap 50 I'm starting to chase Time's or practice for qualifying. It depends on skills but I think after 1 or 2 hours with the same combo, you should be ready for a Race. after like half an hour and about 15-20 Laps I start getting cleaner and cleaner. I take breaks and look at my replays, rethink lines and breaking points. sometimes even take multiple long breaks off the SIM completely to get my head clear. but only when I get stuck with a good time and then cant beat or replicate😅😅😅.

[@thesunnynationg]

and what many ppl don't think of is fitness in the moment. I mean like being hydrated, having something to eat and being awake and focused. being healthy in general helps.

[@Azeria]

Rookies is so much better than it used to be since they allowed non-rookies to race there as well. One of the best changes iRacing has made in recent years.

[@DustinJames-mk1gl]

I'm not a huge fan of it to be honest. When I finish 2nd place and lose to a Class B racer, it feels unfair.

[@jmccoy96jm]

​@DustinJames-mk1gl higher license class is just a better safety rating. But you were placed in that race based on your skill the same as the other driver.

[@DustinJames-mk1gl]

@jmccoy96jm That part I do understand, opening it to other licenses makes the rookie class more active and that part I do like But as I'm just beginning the game, it feels weird to be matched into races with people whove been playing for years I've got a total of like 12 races under my belt on a real sim 1450 irating for rallycross, 920 for dirt ovals Still working on getting out of rookie for road/regular ovals

[@kai325d3]

@@DustinJames-mk1glYou are looking at it negatively. If you instead look at a positive spin. It means that 1. You came second to someone with a lot more experience which is good and shows your speed and 2. You can learn from them by being in the same car on the same track.

[@DustinJames-mk1gl]

@kai325d3 I'm not gonna lie I do like to chase and watch their movements, more than I like winning You may have me convinced

[@seanberry1]

One of the worst rookie habits to deal with as a non-rookie is when they're being lapped and they try to be helpful by moving out of the way at the last second. They don't understand that the car coming up behind them has already made their decision on how to go past them, and suddenly moving in that moment is the worst possible thing they could do.

[@DJYeeJay]

That’s so true haha

[@user-vb6kk3vy2g]

@@DJYeeJay maybe non rookies shouldn't be in rookie races , I'm all about C ,B, and A mixing but rookies should be for rookies , should be looked at as the poor rookie has an experience driver on his but expecting them to know what there doing , cursing them for making rookie mistakes , well it's a rookie , you joined a rookie race , leave the poor driver alone they trying to learn at their pase not yours

[@YaM0MsAh03]

@@user-vb6kk3vy2glearning how to not be in the way as a rookie racing around faster guys is part of being a rookie whether it be on iRacing or racing irL. Go be mad higher licenses are allowed to race in rookies somewhere else.

[@user-vb6kk3vy2g]

@@YaM0MsAh03 the rookies are not in the way , it is your job to make the pass safely, that's the kind of attitude that causes chaos on track

[@davecarsley8773]

​@@user-vb6kk3vy2gIt's always funny to see someone like you who is so wrong and misinformed plaster your wrong and misinformed opinions up and down a comment section with such passion. Lol

[@probablyrandom4557]

my top bad habit is losing SR 🤠🤠

[@tysen_ellison]

Went down from high 3's to 1.4 over the weekend. Four races at Daytona.

[@KyoOnTheInternet]

I’m kind of a rookie when it comes to iRacing, I can say a piece of advice is to try racing the legacy trucks whenever you can. Like DJ said, we rookies tend to get into the habit of abrupt changes in throttle and braking. And when you drive those trucks it really comes back to bite you. This week they are running at Charlotte and racing the trucks has been really helpful to learning to drive smoothly. I may not be getting the fastest lap times from it but I’m learning how to control cars better

[@dennisbowen452]

Man, the legacy trucks remind me of nr2003 physics wise when you described it.

[@SodawarsGaming]

I'm more of a road driver but honestly, one of my issues after getting out of rookies was consistency. The short races combined with the often chaotic nature of rookie races mean you just don't notice that you're not really making lap times consistently or hitting the same line every lap, as well as masking car control issues. It really wasn't until last year, nearly a decade after joining iRacing and after many years of being the weak link on every team in every endurance race, that I put in the work to start practicing with purpose, learning how to be consistent, keep my car under control, and drive within my limits and to a target time rather than hotlapping. And it shows - I went from 2300 iR to 3600 in about 6 months, and while I'm still not the fastest guy on my team, I'm often the most consistent now when we do endurance races together.

[@MrNascarfan1]

My bad habit is stop iRacing for months cause I get lazy to race

[@kaizer2k2]

LOLLLLL, guilty. I stopped playing for a few months and then when I finally got the urge again my subscription ran out so I had to buy another year xd.

[@tamaslichtenberger8529]

doing iRacing since end of 2022. I cared waaay too much about IR. the first time when I could race in top split, I was really proud and after 3 laps I realized how slow I am :( what these days I care about is the LF/LR "health" after the end of the race, and try to adjust my driving based on this. sometimes works, sometimes i just don't have any clue what I'm doing wrong :( funny is that after ~12k laps in 2023 how defensive driver I became in real life. watching for different things on a highway for example in heavy traffic. the things I've learned on oval helped me to avoid some huge wrecks. watching how drivers and cars behaving and not only looking for what is happening exactly before me, but looking 4-5-6 cars ahead.

[@scottleitner4801]

Spacial awareness is a constant problem for me.. I don't have an issue so much with Daytona or Talladega, but as soon as I ran the Xfinity cars at Atlanta, I kept hitting the wall when people were passing low.

[@sprolyborn2554]

To your point about avoiding side-by-side racing being bad, I think diving a bit deeper into that would be helpful. In that a skill that comes part and parcel to that is picking your battles. If you drive side by side or defend with your life against a driver that is quite a bit faster than you, you're likely going to get turned whereas if you had just let him go, you'd still be in your race and maybe even gain a little time in his draft for however long you can hang with him. Don't fight everyone but also don't avoid fights altogether.

[@kaizer2k2]

Buddy Jay this was an amazing video!! I love how you called me out at 5:30, when I started Arca I was a hotlap hero. By the end of the race I would be dead last cause I didn't know any better about tire savings or what lane is best to keep tear wear low. I eventually got tired of not being able to hold my position and keep my tire wear low. I went on youtube and found Gavin Ropchan and started watching his videos and boy I learned so much from watching him race. A reference is so goddamm useful its a shame I didn't start with one. Glad you made this video for newcomers!!!

[@Metal_junk]

When I practice, I typically crash 5-10 times before I get into a rhythm. It took me years to learn how to save tires and my iRating climbed over 5,000 after doing it properly.

[@tquiring212]

I crash constantly during practice myself. Push too hard here, oversteer there. Always seems to help when I get to the actual race session to know what not to do

[@ecyor_]

@@tquiring212fastest way to get up to speed is to go slow -> fast, but you’ll never get those last bits of time and speed without pushing beyond the limits of the car! When learning a car for the first time it takes me like 6 attempts to even complete a lap clean haha

[@codyjarvis]

I think the most important thing is race craft. People are way to obsessed with who’s at fault and not making it to the finish line. Yeah I get it you had the line and the guy turned into you. But you have to recognize when that will happen because at the end of the day right or wrong your race is finished if you don’t. To finish first you first must finish.

[@zurggriff481]

These were really good points you made. I know I was bad about not racing side by side in road races early on and it turned into a missing skill when I was up to the task of racing for positions.

[@strovich]

Nice video! Definitely needed for people coming into iRacing.

[@Soonjai]

9:00 I feel like learning to not coast at all is often completely overlooked when it comes to rookie tips. I don´t remember where I read this, but it was most likely in the book "Ultimate Speed Secrets" (great, and highly recommended read even if your are "only" a Sim Racer), but the idea is that if you aren´t either on the brake or the gas pedal, you are wasting time by letting the car naturally slow down to the speed you should have braked to and then maintained with the gas pedal.

[@OCinneide]

coasting is only for fuel saving on longer races

[@Soonjai]

@@OCinneide For Endurance races I can get behind that, but in a Sprint race or during Qualy you really should avoid doing it. I mean, if you learn how to drive a track fast with no coasting you can always take it slower and do some fuel saving if needed, but if you learned to drive the track like that in general you have no chance to ever be fast.

[@GIVIDIOS]

Nice video also still love that larson poster 😊 also I think I don't drive thw cars hard enough I get loose then I try to find away to drive smoother but I only seem to be better on the long run by then the race is over. I would like to be faster on short runs to but it's loose for me in any car. If I could understand what I'm doing wrong to make that happen then I don't mind trying to start up front.. like my Qualifying has gotten better. But for race I'm trash 🗑 on short runs

[@oleskool6259]

I’ve been waiting for you to make this video. And yes I’ve got every single one of them it’s a miracle I can do as good as I do it’s just nobody ever told me any different but I’m finally adjusting because I know I’m screwing up and it’s getting better I just wish it would hurry lol. Thanks Again 👍 ps The irating worry is the worst it actually keeps me from racing more races a lot more.

[@DJYeeJay]

Just think about racing more as an investment into your long term irating

[@oleskool6259]

Yep I dont plan on quiting thats for sure..So you said you teach how does that work? As for me I just have tons of questions. Ohh the curse of being an Over Thinker..

[@stevied721]

It was great meeting you at Daytona by the simulator in the fan zone!

[@konnorparks6955]

May I ask, how might I go about finding where to get a light up Nascar sign just like the one in the background of this video on your wall??? I LOVE IT 🙂🙂

[@TheC2Gaming]

Honestly I never test the cars limits in practice, and it shows. That's so vital. How did I miss doing that? I really gotta push it. Thank you. Great video too.

[@WillSmith-26]

great video!!

[@LanceWolfe]

Good video. I request you branch out into dirt oval!

[@eclark9965]

I don’t care about my Irating to a fault. I will always choose the cooler racing scenario than safety. Does it kind of suck being on lower splits when i can destroy most of the field? Yeah. It’s getting a little boring. But damn those racing moments where you send it and hope the other guy holds his line are so fun. As far as practice goes. One week i decided it was finally the week i would conquer Darlington. I turned 350 practice laps to get it done before i even touched a race. It payed off. He’s also correct with hot lapping. Much better to work on tire saving in practice so you’ve got your entry and exit feeling really nice

[@CD-rt8wj]

A big one that I see is something you covered in a different video. Where drivers will apex corners like road racers instead of thinking about the corner in “lanes”. This may work in solo running, but during races it can make side-by-side running feel very awkward. It is something that I had to unlearn, coming from predominantly road racing

[@RyanLikens]

Starting to do a lot more iRacing. Thank you for the tips 🙏🏼 Edit: Also used a lot of your tips for the 500. Lol

[@TrazioneIntegraleVRacer]

I think some dangerous habits i can recall, is people most of the time don't look their surroundings, i saw people merging at last minute, causing you to lose seconds, or people merging when there is a car. btw one bad habit i'm sinful that you mentioned, is avoiding quali, i do it yes mostly because of Saftey rating, but also because most of the time quali for me means ending up easly in a wall :')

[@davecarsley8773]

Then you're not good enough to be racing on that track. You should be practicing by yourself until you can drive fast and not hit the wall all the time on that track before racing with others on it.

[@YaM0MsAh03]

One habit i got in to was driving too deep into the corners but i wouldn’t consider that a bad habit as i learned how to drive faster cars easier by finding their limit quickly. One thing i like to do if i have alot of extra time is run whatever car/track combo im really struggling with in an AI race with them at 100+% and treat it like an actual race.

[@kalebbryan4012]

Another thing that is kind of related to "mindset" aspects of racing is for those are easily finding the limit, but not backing down enough. I still struggle with this now, but it was so much worse months and months ago. I never had an issue finding the limit/raw speed that was available, but was(and still am) prone to driving at something like 85/90% when it should be closer to 75/80%. Early in my time here, it left me prone to self spins and tire shredding, and now it leaves me prone to walltaps and the occasional powerslide off the corner, which hurts long run pace.

[@peternauta8502]

I find turning off the suggested line helps, especially on ovals

[@bjarulez]

I have been on iRacing for a bit over 2 years now, I am mainly a road racer but have enjoyed the odd oval race, I have progressed to D license in the last season and purchased a couple of items to continue progressing, I don't worry about where I finish, I just focus on getting the least incident points I can while going as fast as I can and try not to wreck

[@quickford]

There's one exception for coasting and that's clutch coasting to save fuel in longer races. It's rare that it comes up in official races (depends on when cautions come out) but slightly more often in league races and it can work really well to avoid a late splash. But there's a whole technique to it that could almost warrant its own video :)

[@simonolsen9995]

Great wisdom here for simracers of all disciplines.

[@thetruth1446]

Can I use anti stall clutch if I dont have a clutch pedal without key binding it?

[@Tyler_Evans0411]

The hardest part adjusting for me has been side to side racing Say I am on the bottom coming out of 4 and I exit a lane off the wall, a lot of arca/rookie drivers might not exit to the wall and hook me into it Or I’m top out of 4 and the inside car exits to the wall and stuffs me into the wall These scenarios have happened a lot less in trucks(and xfinity now that I have my B license) but do you have any advice on how to feel more comfortable in these scenarios? Its different when it’s IRL and you race with these guys every week and know how they’ll run you, but these races are just blind faith sometimes

[@JohnnyV76V]

Definitely a coaster in the corners here. I have so little coordination in my left foot that its way more hurtful to my times when trying to trail brake.

[@eclark9965]

My mistake was trusting the outside line at Daytona last week…over and over. C’est le vie

[@DJYeeJay]

I’m a big proponent of being the 1st or second car on the bottom for the majority of the race

[@eclark9965]

@@DJYeeJay for sure. I saw your last video. I was 8th or worse so wanted to get to that bubble and then drop down. During the Sunday nis i passed for the lead with 60 to go, dominant car. I was able to work the draft and move up 15 positions in about 4 laps. But guess what. My game froze just as i was completing my first lead lap. I did get one win this weekend so it’s not all bad. It was an epic move. I should have saved it

[@SimRacer101]

I was shocked how much more fuel you burn in the lead. I realized why the leaders in the real race were at 50% throttle. But you can’t get away with that in iRacing. One race where the leader didn’t want to move back, even when a teammate offered to trade, had to pit way early alone.

[@peternauta8502]

Some road races I would purposely start in the pits because 6-10th place would always plow into everyone first corner. But yea I agree with you, yo won't learn how to drive safer and predict incidents if you are so far behind

[@RonStLouis]

The worst habit I picked up in rookies is hanging back on starts/restarts to avoid turn 1 wrecks. Screws you in higher series

[@noahgray5229]

Being a road guy, I always fall into the trap of loosening the car up so I can get to the bottom whenever, but turns out that isn't always what you want, it's great i can over/under everybody, just means nothing if I the rear goes on exit. It's such a tight balance you want to be competitive, in road I can easily drive around a super loose setup, even understeer is manageable, but on ovals it is all exaggerated and the issue just keeps compunding

[@Averageracingfan]

2:14 if you practice and qualify you can gain .2 extra sr per session so practice and qualify and on the starrt straight pull to the inside lane and just let people past

[@phenomrobb4518]

I feel so attacked right now lol but I’m trying hard to unlearn those bad habits, I have issues with middle and exit on ovals, also I think fov really matters

[@dannyleeracing]

I never drive oval, but if I did, I'd be coming to your videos for tips

[@howiieb]

Hi YeeJay, weird place to be asking but I know you'll read it and respond: if I want to book a coaching session, do you prefer reviewing replays or live races?

[@DJYeeJay]

I usually do 1 on 1 hosted session with people but have done both race reviews and live race coaching before

[@Ethankowen0928]

Practice is the simplest thing it crazy the amount of people who just hop in a race every time I go back to a track I’m good at I still run 80 laps of practice and hit the wall and spin out so I know what the max is or get on that edge then find a race pace

[@neblolthecarnerd]

Would you consider caring too much a bad habit? Back when I was doing ranked in gt7 I found I did much better when I was racing more casually and not caring about driver rating.

[@DJYeeJay]

Caring about just the number is bad but caring just as much about improving your driving technique is good

[@tadydrift]

I am actually grinding so hard this week's on USA Speedway on rookie. Lost a lot of iRating but hey I managed to get into the 22.69, Still need to progress but Yeah love the street stock

[@Apcoolcharles]

Easily avoiding race combos because I would lose Irating and go down to the lower splits. Especially combos that require me to tire save or really loose.

[@NickWheeler]

Since they opened up rookies to all licenses, you can progress up to higher iRating fields and learn a ton from some of the C-A drivers. Some of the cleanest driving I've had this season were in high split rookie races.

[@CaptRedBeard39]

@DJYeeJay do you offer one on one coaching?

[@DJYeeJay]

Yep check the description of this vid for a link!

[@iBolt07]

I'm extraordinarily guilty of "not bothering to battle" because "they're faster" and "I'm still a rookie in a sense and don't want to piss anyone off". Yeah, my incident count was low, but that's because I was taking almost no risks. Good watch! I also was one of the ones to learn "just stay at the back for safety and let everyone else wreck out". Yeah there's SOME truth to it if you want to casually approach iRacing and want to just unlock everything as fast as possible, but you sacrifice your racecraft with this method. You never will do well in upper series because you aren't racing, you're just catching attrition.

[@jeff119990]

im in-between. be smart about it but also race when its appropriate. like if someone is near over rotating on corner exit constantly dont be around them on corner exit, if you can get past before the apex fine if not wait for them to over rotate and drive past. but if youre in second and the leader washes up the track feel free to stick your nose in as long as you can do it safely.

[@down-n-outinNC]

I won Southern National once with a 10x and it was all door banging with the leader on restarts

[@VestigeV47]

Can you do a video to help people who can’t add sim rig and have to uses controller

[@peternauta8502]

It's good to try and do an entire season on one of the rookie leagues, gives a better appreciation later on in other higher leagues

[@Bartaaron04]

I was so guilty of no. 3 until a couple months ago, albeit in road, not oval. Ironically, since I stopped worrying, my iRating increased to the highest it’s ever been 😂

[@DJYeeJay]

My motto is “the best way to raise irating is to get better” lmao

[@hotdoglover1573]

Well the practice before qualy I hate seeing people crash on purpose because safety rating counts then.

[@wattsd12]

Trying to hard. The main league I race in has grown to the point where only 43 drivers make the race. I work had all week on practice laps and qualifying and get decent numbers but when it gets time to qualify I find that I overcompensate due to nerves or whatever but I don't get the qualifying numbers that I did during the week.

[@MCKL8]

Even if i don't have iracing, i really enjoy just learning this

[@tysen_ellison]

A rated here. SR was around 3.9 before Daytona. Raced 4 times over weekend. Now I'm down to 1.4. Was involved in other people crashes. Worst race was a 12x. Super frustrating because now I'll be demoted to B. After I worked so hard to get to A. SR is jacked up on super speedways.

[@PegassoGaming956]

I think my biggest problem is not pushing the car to the limit. Sure I learn how not to spin come race time, but that also means seeing everyone else in the league drive past me in the corners because they have better momentum than me. I also need to lear to use the brakes to rotate the car better.

[@sasquatch5577]

A bad habit of mine is losing complete motivation to continue. I've been a customer for 9 years off and on and so tired of trying to improve my irating, when people will intentionally take out the entire field on the final lap because they don't care.

[@brandon42054]

The biggest thing I see is guys coming out of rookies and haven’t gained much irating and they get put in lower splits and rack up a few wins in a row they get it in their head they should be running up front and winning every race and they start to drive over their heads especially as they move into higher splits and instead of learning they focused on just that

[@sargentodapaz]

11 - If you want to earn iRating and Safety Rating consistently on the oval, don't play on the superspeedways.

[@DJYeeJay]

I wish there was a superspeedway license tbh

[@bonzibuddy8423]

11. should be; DONT CARE ABOUT THEM, THEYRE FAKE INTERNET POINTS

[@bonzibuddy8423]

They split the road licenses why not oval. so dumb that they dont@@DJYeeJay

[@gdubia]

DJ, I looked for Goat Locker Racing under the league tab in iRacing and I am not finding anything. What am I doing wrong?

[@DJYeeJay]

Hey there iracing league tabs are screwy, start with this site and join their discord for more info since they have a lot of leagues. www.goatlockerracing.org

[@gdubia]

@@DJYeeJay will do, thanks

[@mojmoj3763]

When in doubt, put the brake all the way in the rear!

[@strovich]

A big one is taking x's in practice while waiting for qualifying to start.

[@Salod7806]

man I do a lot of these....but I do use every race to learn something such as overtakes or defending. Also any rookies out there try finding a discord community for the cars you race the most plenty fast drivers out there who will help if you ask. im in the 2.7 to 3k range just from willing to learn from better or more experienced drivers

[@HistorysRaven]

The only reason I still use auto clutch as C license is because iRacing doesn't register my clutch pedal as the clutch. It registers it as the brake. I just can't afford another pedal set up right now. (It's the only game that registers my clutch as the brake. I have another racing game and don't have that issue.)

[@JCGStealth]

Yee's bad habit. Not running the Northwest series often enough with myself, Lake, etc ;)

[@vortex8877]

Most satisfying feeling is losing the lead and passing the guy with 10-15 to go because you saved your tires 😁

[@Khosumi_]

I honestly dislike a LOT when people say "I'm here for SR". They never learn how to race, the only that happens is they have to go through all the wrecked cars which means more chances to be wrecked themselves

[@robbyc408]

I was hoping "not getting nose pointed early" would be here... i guess I'm just an oddball.....

[@DJYeeJay]

Nah it’s common but not someone thing people particularly learn from rookies

[@degradedanimationandgaming6722]

im nit a iRacer (yet) but im not good at quali at all. but in the race im usually decent

[@Skreezilla]

It is amazing how these mistakes just carry on and on and on well into things like trucks and cup cars. I think the biggest bad habit is not listening to advice.

[@looseouttaturn2]

Practicing qualifying and hot laps is like the guy benching 1000 lbs once at the gym!!

[@Roggie249]

Me with an old PS3 wheel and no clutch pedal: Welp, forever slow.

[@DJYeeJay]

Luckily for nascar the clutch pedal isn’t needed

[@Nickyy64]

What does this guy know? He’s an arca farmer! I love u yee :)

[@carblazer31672]

Its hard to learn anything when everyone after position 4 is wadded up turn 1

[@nathanielbarkley7452]

calling me out rn skipping rookie legends this week cuz oxford plains

[@DJYeeJay]

I’ve never run a race of Oxford plains before I give you a pass

[@nathanielbarkley7452]

@@DJYeeJay its a fun track but too much throttle and your totally out of the banking onto the opposite side its really technical

[@switch2086]

Well that sucks I’m a coaster 😂 dang it!

[@OkieDokieSmokie]

I have a hard time believing I’m learning anything about tire wear over 20 laps in rookie ovals. I wish the races were longer, I genuinely don’t think tire wear has an effect on the race unless you spun out or something.

[@DJYeeJay]

You’re kinda right, but tire heat management is still pretty important. If you slide you will have less grip for the following turns. That’s still valuable.

[@ogpeekhal]

i can tell hes got kids, bros got a room full of toys and stuffed animals...lol

[@wild_bill25]

Why qualify…or even practice for that matter? Really…why??? So you can be taken out on the first lap by some maniac? Yeah…that’s a good reason to. 🤦‍♂️

[@rosscrashtain]

Practice? Whats that?

[@speedtracker9556]

I don't have any of these habits. And I will NEVER stop them, and you can not tell me otherwise!

[@Ekbim]

Yee, i have a question: why nascar ? Not gt series or other series

[@DJYeeJay]

I like nascar. Been watching it ever since I got hooked on it at a friends house when I was a toddler

[@jamesjanik5878]

Coaaaaaastinggggggggg

[@DJYeeJay]

Made me shiver