5 Most Common Mistakes People Make on iRacing Ovals

[@JDMcHaley]

I'm amazed at just how complex "driving fast and turning left" is. Should I save tires... or push hard? The strategy is a lot of fun. I definitely agree with #3. Turn as little as possible. It adds up!

[@DJYeeJay]

Very true! Tire gambling makes for an interesting dynamic in races. It can definitely be frustrating to think you’re on the right idea then an untimely caution comes out

[@kevinlittrell3407]

I know a lot of people complain about the tire model, but to me it’s like running a 5k or longer. At no point are you really trying to sprint. You run a pace with the distance in mind. I really doubt it’s all that different in real life besides being able to feel the tires.

[@dfcteamracing]

wait till you can push hard and save tires.....thats where it is at.

[@Kwashior]

That's a very interesting point JD, but do you know what a Fig Newton is?

[@JDMcHaley]

@@Kwashior I'm STILL not sure...

[@RawGator]

before this video i was a measly 1 irating driver but now I am up to 5k. thanks for the tips

[@DJYeeJay]

Now that’s a true Arca Farmer!

[@Joemamahahahaha821]

Wait so I shouldn’t just drive around scraping the wall the whole time?

[@DJYeeJay]

Let me introduce you to arca @ usa dirt

[@Joemamahahahaha821]

@@DJYeeJay I run 5 minute lap times at Daytona with my strategy

[@rosscrashtain]

Unfortunately the hail melon is not allowed

[@scotttruehart8024]

Oh, you mean the Ross Chastain line?

[@bahe_4058]

Kyle Larson would like to know your location.

[@JonathonBarton]

7:19 A Real World exercise from SCCA Autocross school that you can repeat 'at home' that demonstrates this principle... Load up Centripetal Circuit in several different freebie cars - the Kia, the VW iRX car, the VW Lite IRX car, the Pro2 Truck, the Miata, etc. Pick a spot on the track where you can hold the wheel EXACTLY 90* to the Left or Right and find the spot where you can go around the middle of the track evenly. just be nice and smooth and fairly slow.. Once you find that speed, move your hands to 9-3 WITHOUT centering the wheel. Now your hands are at 9 and 3 on your body, but at 12 and 6 on the actual wheel, and you're going around in circles tracking one of the lines on Centripetal Circuit. If you ADD throttle now, your circle will get larger. If you REMOVE throttle now, your circle will get smaller. It's the same principle as my other comment about only being able to describe Radius Y at Speed Z with Traction X. When you add throttle, you add speed (Z). Traction (X) doesn't (can't) change, so *Z+ = Y+* = Go faster, turn wider, with the EXACT SAME STEERING INPUT When you remove throttle, you remove speed (Z) Again, Traction (X) doesn't/can't change, so *Z- = Y-* = Go slower, turn tighter, with the EXACT SAME STEERING INPUT

[@TChapman500Gaming]

Rookie: Gains 15 MPH in the corner at USA. Also Rookie: Spins mid-corner, wrecking everyone.

[@strovich]

This is great. I find myself learning more every video. I raced Texas last night and completely see how this benefitted. Whoever is uploading free C class setups weekly now to OS Racing is making some solid front running setups.

[@kdrewmorris]

Great vid! As someone who identifies as an intermediate oval driver, I feel like I kind of knew all of these but still am working on how to consistently implement them all at once. These videos are great for people like me who might know what we need to do to get faster but need someone to present it in another way to get more out of it.

[@paulsprague120]

great video that reenforced what I was beginning to figure out the hard way, trial and error.

[@SamKatakouzinosRacing]

Very much enjoyed the advice given here! I've been an oval racer and really enjoyed it. Turning in by pedal use rather than steering use, and sustaining neutral steer throughout the corner (both front and back slip the same amount) are what gave me better tyre to fight the finish.

[@irongoatrocky2343]

A thing I've found and is always been there since the NASCAR 94 racing days is the track coloration.....if you can practice to keep your car in the grove of that you will learn the fastest way around the track.....now this will change when you get other cars around, but if one can learn where the fast line is had how to use it to your advantage you will learn a lot!

[@weekendthreat5576]

"Using the wheel to turn too much" -- what you explained just gained me 3 tenths on my PB lap around Miami (ARCA) as well as 3 tenths off my average lap time in the race! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us

[@mikcampbell1098]

Really getting myself into Oval racing now, have been able to get myself to 2.1K just by being consistent and avoiding trouble. These video's are really helping me try and get myself more speed.

[@tonymiklos6345]

Hey Justin, thank you for making this video. I hopped back on the sim for the first time in 2 years, and these tips you outlined in this video helped me improve a ton. I ran a few ARCA races and earned a couple top 5s and a win at Charlotte. I owe it all to your tips, especially the "proactive, not reactive" ideology with the banking. Once again, thanks a ton and keep up the phenomenal work!

[@djbenihana88]

Thanks for this! I've gotten into NASCAR and oval racing this year and am having a blast. Your 5 tips are things that I've had to figure out by myself, so it's nice to see that I'm on the right track. I've been working on lessening my steering inputs and finding the right balance for partial throttle :D

[@VaethOjK]

I'm another "converted" here :) And I'm from Europe :D I just got sick of F1'22 at some point, and came back to iRacing with an intent of driving road stuff. I've ended up turning to the left for hundreds of laps and I think I never enjoyed sim-racing as much as recently. Slowly falling in love in oval racing. And Your tips and lessons are soooo good, that I can see instant improve in my driving. To the point, I actually won two in a row yesterday night in Gen 4 Cup at Charlotte :) What I would like to see next is a bit more in depth about lane choosing in race condition. How often should I stay to ideal line for lap times. How often should I "ease off" on a outside line to balance the tire wear/temp between front and rear. General idea of choosing the lane in "a traffic" or while battling. Thanks for everythin Justin!

[@TheRacingEnthusiasts]

Great video very relatable and informative. I personally relate to the turning radius the most as I used to struggle with it many years before I began Esports recently. Nowadays I think that if I can rotate the car without turning past the A post, I’m doing something right lol. And with the initial turn in, I think a perfect example of how to do it right is your guide of Arca at Atlanta. I found that an earlier turn in put more work on the right rear before the middle of the corner where you want to turn as little as possible. All of these things I applied because of what I’ve learned from you Justin. Thank you so much for all the things that you’ve put out for us. Really appreciate it!

[@DJYeeJay]

No problem! It’s fun to make these and fun to help people

[@godbob4551]

The biggest thing for me was learning to control the throttle. Not just stomping on it, bleeding off/on turned my races around. I’d lose my tires like 10 laps before everyone else AND I’d be slower

[@brockwestmorland3685]

This is what I’m realizing bow as well... I’ve always been a light switch type driver so I’m struggling to learn how to modulate the throttle without having any feeling

[@acrock21]

sounds like you need to run some laps at Dover that is an amazing throttle control track.

[@Foxracing1205]

Dover is good but practice at Darlington

[@acrock21]

@@Foxracing1205 i use to run a lot at darlington... i hate that place lol.

[@Foxracing1205]

@@acrock21 it helps with throttle control

[@k9burnouts544]

I thinks this was your best video, this shows how much of a mental game oval racing is, my main problem is I start out good then fade but I think this will help me a lot ,

[@craigf1tz]

I'm relatively new to oval racing and your tips have been really improving my races. I might not be the fastest on track, but often run the most consistent laps. A few months ago I had no idea how to save tyres. The last thing I've got to master is the loose car - I've just raced gen4 at Charlotte and I had a death grip it was so loose!

[@hessZL1]

One of the most important tips I've learned was a while ago when I was watching a VRS tutorial and it was regarding practice. I don't remember exactly who said it, but I think it was Bobby Zalenski. "The good thing about iRacing is that when you're practicing you don't have to worry about damaging the car, so you can make mistakes and destroy the car because all you have to do is reset. Use this to your advantage so you can learn through trial and error and learn faster ways of driving around the track."

[@mrvaultguy1118]

Just started iracing 1 month ago. Awesome video! This will help me a lot.

[@TheRealerArbor]

One of my main issues with finding speed is figuring out which track to hug the bottom, and which one to be just above it, which one to ride the middle and which one the ride the top

[@kalebbryan4012]

The last tip in particular, learning to drive a car loose(and getting a car loose intentionally in a way) gained me nearly 900 iRating last week at Michigan. Even if I still have a tendency to overdrive entry lmao

[@GP_Alessio15]

These vids are awesome, thank you! Recently re-started oval racing and I'm understanding it sooooo much more now.

[@DJYeeJay]

Awesome to hear!

[@Kultivater]

Everything you're saying here is second nature to road racers. I've been a road racer for years, and never once did any oval stuff until I got bored recently, mostly because it seems boring. I got on track in the street stock, and after practicing for a few minutes to feel out the car, I was hitting top lap times with ease. After 4 races, I was class D and was winning most of them. My point: Momentum, the racing line, what is fast versus what is good for your tires, all these things are drilled into your head like second nature when you learn on the road side of things, and the ideal line will always follow the same concept across all racing disciplines(even dirt). Start wide, apex in, exit wide. Road racing is all about shaving every possible 10th on a track that actually challenges you(has more than left turns). If you can become good on tracks like Suzuka, you'll find oval racing to be child's play. So, go turn some road laps if you're looking to improve your oval lap times.

[@DJYeeJay]

You’re at the part of the “road racer tries oval racing cycle” where your driving experience obviously carries you against rookies in rookie series who just bought a steering wheel. Soon you will reach the part where you drive against people with similar overall driving experience and you will come back complaining about how you get wrecked every race and everyone sucks that’s why you don’t win anymore. You got a lot to learn my friend and that’s okay!

[@Kultivater]

@@DJYeeJay It's week 13. There are people from all license classes, otherwise you'd be correct. The splits I ended up being in after a few races were second and top, usually. But anyway, I'm sure if I decided to continue on to the top end oval series, I'd be challenged. The skill set most useful in oval races revolves around driving in traffic. Draft, wheel to wheel precision, etc. I don't have much problem with that, but it at least means the racing will be close, regardless of how fast your lap times are, being that 1st place to 20th is usually less than a second apart.

[@unrealisticgaming1577]

​@DJYeeJay hes got 8 oval starts and 0 wins btw. So he's lying

[@BilobateDrip]

I use "proactive driving" vs. "reactive driving" as a relation to either the difference in natural driving ability or as a transition of understanding in learning. Proactive is knowing when the car is about to lose the rear or front and Reactive is only reacting after and usually too late. Nice to hear the same terms, albeit for a different reason

[@brandon42054]

One thing I notice a lot of ppl struggle with is what I call the d**k measuring contest You can be saving tires and making ground then you get next to a guy who wants to race as hard as he can on lap 12 of a 100 lap race and they get caught up in the moment and burn tires up or crash trying to get that one spot

[@JonathonBarton]

2:44 When I was autocrossing, one of the instructors put this eloquently. Physics dictates that you have X amount of traction available in the tire. You want to navigate a corner of Y radius. The traction limit of X means you can navigate radius Y at a maximum speed of Z - go faster than Z, ONLY one of two things can happen. A: You turn the wheel the 'right' amount, then navigate the corner at radius Y++ (whatever radius doesn't exceed the traction limit). This is slow(er than Radius Y), and that's bad. If radius Y++ _also_ intersects a wall...(or otherwise goes off course) Ya Done. B: (more common) You turn the wheel the 'right' amount, see you're not turning enough to be on Radius Y...and *_turn the wheel more_* This uses your front tires as brakes, and then you _slow down_ until you _can_ navigate the corner at Radius Y as you intended. _Lesson Takeaway:_ *_Brake Pads are cheaper than Tires_* - so while you're learning, being slow because you're overbraking is miles better than being slow because you've used the rubber brakes more than the asbestos brakes.

[@illdeletethismusic]

oddly, the 2000s Formula 1 Renaults had to be driven in the way you call "braking with the tyres" Alonso won both his titles driving like that. A year later, at McLaren, it looks like a completely different driver watching his onboards

[@roybolling6719]

Why I didn’t check this video before, great help and a big notable improvement. Thanks

[@thomasclavinjr.3817]

This is great for me. I don’t irace but I’m getting into watching NASCAR and good to know how the racers really drive

[@roddyeskew3909]

Thanks for the tips, I'm not very fast but have managed to plateau around 2.8k oval by driving safely and avoiding the big one. Definitely lacking speed so might schedule a coaching session!

[@rolandholt7851]

Wow!!!! Justin this video is going to help a lot of people man.Good Job

[@uknowwho214]

Great videos and awesome tips. Im slowly getting better in short tracks and ovals but now im having issues securing a pole position but failing to keep pace and getting comfortable having the pack behind me

[@revanevan]

Fantastic video, great explanation.

[@zednos]

I have a nit pick on how you dismissed widest arc. It’s not just a road thing, the fact that the widest arc allows carrying the most speed is just a fact of physics! But, you say, hey the lap time is lower following the banking. True. The reason is this - the widest arc just means trying to maximize the cornering radius. What banking does is just increase the effective radius of the path you are traveling. Think of it like this - if you drove a 90 degree banked corner, you wouldn’t have to turn at all. The radius becomes infinite. So, widest arc in oval is true, it just looks wrong if you check a 2d track map. You need to think about how the third dimension of banking affects effective turning radius. Sorry that this is really a nit pick, it just joshes my whistle when people pretend there is some magic difference in race car dynamics between oval and road. A lot of the older road course tracks have significant crowning in the road and the lines can look really weird there as the outside can sometimes have negative banking compared to significant inside banking. But even then, thinking in 3 dimensions widest effective arc is still the best.

[@tamaslichtenberger8529]

great tips, thanks! but, I'd like to add one more, what - honestly - personally I'm struggling with. I'm doing a ping-pong between 1300 and 1600 oval, and the reason is simple. don't race when you're tired OR don't have high expectation when you're doing so! I can sit down only around 9 PM, after a long day, with work, kids and so on. and my most struggling point is that I know that I could be much faster, but simply when I'm tired I have much worse reflexes (not reacting quickly enough for a crash, or simply I'm not fast enough and doing constantly -.2-.3 worse lap times compared to those where I have a bit of chance to do races daytime).

[@WRCSeb]

This was a good watch because I’m considering getting iracing and I’m interested in ovals I can’t wait

[@johnreams3182]

Learning to brake at mile and a halfs is almost confusing to some drivers. I have won a few races by about 5 seconds, and people asked what I was doing, and when I said, "Using the brake to rotate the car" they were confused. It's something I have a lot of trouble explaining how to do because it is a feel thing for me. And it is hard to explain feel.

[@FloosWorld_AoE]

Playing a lot of AoE 2 besides iRacing, it's somewhat interesting to see the similarities between learning a Build Order in AoE 2 and racing on an Oval.

[@cdotcizzle6268]

The issue with the “be close to the wall” is that every race I’ve been in, especially on superspeedways, is that everyone races hugging the yellow or white line at bottom of track. If I were to run a proper lap hugging walls on straights I would finish last every time

[@metalvinnyofficial]

I use Max Verstappen's method: engine noise audio turned down, tire noise turned up. Listen to what the tires are doing and again, be proactive. Catch the slide before it happens.

[@connorbingel7134]

I had a weird time with legends cars. Sliding on corner entry and trying to rotate the car lost me like 3 tenths. Staying griped up actually gained me time even though it felt way slower. I figured it out. The tires will heat up to much if you slide. Even though you have a faster entry your exit and mid corner speed is shit

[@TheNanofiber]

Can you make a video on how to drive on worn tires? Tips and tricks and such. That would be very beneficial to a lot of people, including me hehe. There are a lot of videos on how to save tires but couldn’t find any on how to drive/survive on worn tires.

[@AHunnaRacing]

Much appreciated video. Thank you.

[@blue90teg]

VR helps alot with wall awareness

[@marksutherlandjr.2121]

Justin is driving "Loose" that floating feeling I have when I'm on the Limit? Usually it's on my exit. Its like floating. Idk how else to describe it.

[@-ix3mo]

How do I get the replays from iRacing into a video format so I can post to KZbin?? Ik how to save and trim clips obviously but past that I’m stuck. Want to share stuff with fam too. Do I need a capture card or??

[@BLKBRDSR71]

My most common mistake in racing is not knowing how to lead. Following other cars is easy. They turn, you turn. They break, you break. But when I finally get that illusive P1, I can't keep it cause I have nothing to follow.

[@taylorbertrim7625]

I tried arca last night first time.... Wow, you can't even touch the gas, I was spinning out with zero extra turning input at half throttle

[@BeagleBageler]

Hey ma! I’m in a thumbnail!

[@BScalise97]

Such a good video.

[@keskesportsandgaming524]

Would these tactics work for me in other oval racing games?

[@yodudechase3326]

I'd love coaching but the hourly rate is 3x what I make hourly 😭

[@aaronarmstrong9776]

I feel like ive hit a ceiling. I cannot get any more speed out of the car. A lot of stuff in this video is counterintuitive. I'm gonna try it.

[@Bmaser]

I love seeing people burn tires in one corner and bombing it down into the next corner and losing it. It took me a while coming from console to realize that I had to let the tires come back to me.

[@down-n-outinNC]

Fixed setups are way to loose for me outside of late-models and street stocks

[@justinkrizenesky]

$35/hr?!? Damn, I need to get into that!

[@DJYeeJay]

I may not be the absolute fastest, but I’m pretty confident in my ability to explain things to people

[@TheFelloMello]

@@DJYeeJay We love a teacher who knows his worth! I'll stick to teaching music and being mid on the track. 😉

[@DJYeeJay]

@@TheFelloMello Cool cause I was mid at music 😄

[@scottleitner4801]

I'm definitely in the "neutral" category....loose scares the crap out of me

[@69Sev96]

Valorant and iRacing? Me too! Ill trade you val coaching for iRacing coaching haha

[@DJYeeJay]

I’m unfixable in valorant unfortunately

[@simonolsen9995]

Aussie learning ovals... its about as simple as cricket.

[@kane1701e]

hit the pacecar you done hit evrything else

[@hi_im_sota]

Game… GAME?! Did you just call my racing simulator a GAME?!? I’m unsubscribing! I can’t believe you’d say something so offensive!

[@DJYeeJay]

I DARE YOU!!!! :D

[@ming454]

But not all of it works for flat tracks...

[@adamjensen8112]

fuck yeah Valorant is great

[@patrick247two]

Turning sucks energy.

[@YaM0MsAh03]

Tell us you’ve never been in a real car without telling us.

[@chungusamongus519]

35 an hour... ffs bro that's more than my wage.

[@beanmula4676]

Wait so ur telling me right after I wreck not to pull up into traffic asap

[@scottymiller93]

The people who can’t drive an oval track are the same ones who say nascar is boring

[@DamianVega00]

If you want to go fast just get a better wheel lmao

[@DJYeeJay]

I’m on a g920 🤷‍♂️

[@DamianVega00]

@@DJYeeJay as a tmx challenger I’ve went against Goliath with 10k rigs and came out victorious, but against guys like briar lepradd, I’m getting a professional c-section and then some. I just think it ain’t worth it to literally drive the soul out of that car, specially in gen 4 cup. That shit is made for guys on DD and up. Dirt is also tricky on a terrible wheel, but that’s just me.

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

Meanwhile Jacques Villeneuve with an Xbawks controller: SKRRT SKRRT

[@MrMW3tricks]

Why are people coaching for a turn left simulator