Why Climbing iRating Gets Harder: The Dunning-Kruger Trap

[@zachhaight1779]

Best way to break free is to just race and not care.

[@fatih_a]

Thats so difficulty to do sometimes. Dont know why

[@aronf279]

Stay out of trouble gets you far more ahead as you might think

[@fatih_a]

@ believe me I try to but F4 does not want to😂 I gave up on iRacing, thats really sad

[@matthewbyrd398]

@@fatih_a no, you gave up on yourself.

[@fatih_a]

@@matthewbyrd398 not really, still driving other sims. I will come back at given time😂

[@robadams1645]

All of this is true and good advice. HOWEVER, everyone has a level they will probably never get past. There's a reason there are only a few guys over 10k. It's because they're really really good. If you get "stuck" at 2k or 3k or whatever, it's possible it's because that's where you belong. Irating is a measure of race success. Assuming lots of splits, it puts you in the split that you belong in at the time. And "the time" could be forever. It's good to try to improve but it's also sometimes good to accept that you're probably as good as you're going to get. I spent most of my 10 years in Iracing right around 3k. Upon self reflection, that's where I belonged. I wasn't fast enough to take that next step and that was fine. In the end it's not a score. It's a matchmaking system. Use it for that and enjoy racing. If you improve, your irating will reflect that improvement.

[@datdonedude8765]

i dont fully agree with that statement though, i think everyone can always improve if they have the passion, dedication and time to do so. but it will take a lot of time working on minute changes to do so. there's always an upper limit for everyone. but my belief is that this limit isn't static. your theoretical limit today wont be the same two weeks from now and i believe thats always the case, up to the point that you actually extract everything from the car. (the iracing aliens is definitely on a different level though)

[@quazster]

In general if you are happy as you are you stop improving. Improving is hard work and sometimes you really go backwards before moving again forward. Of course some are naturally better than others but there is no such thing as skill ceiling. Everybody can always improve, but we all can not be esport aliens ever as we can not be 100m sprinters too.

[@robadams1645]

@@datdonedude8765 improvements become more and more marginal though. Eventually you reach the point where one bad race erases all the IR progress from the past 5 races. That keeps you at your "level" indefinitely unless you have some kind of major breakthrough.

[@robadams1645]

@@quazster of course there is a skill ceiling. Nobody can improve indefinitely.

[@10mmGR]

Idk I find that most of the time if a driver can get to 3k they can prob match pace up to around 5k. It's those 6k+ drivers that feel out of reach. Idk why it always feels around 6 that the drivers are just so insanely faster. It goes from I might be a tenth or 2 off to I'm a second and a half off all of the sudden. When it hits that's 6k its another level I swear.

[@DanDiMaggio]

I don't even want to be this good but you've still convinced me to buy whatever book or how to guide your selling. Good job lol

[@LordBritishTTV]

I know, right?? I watched it all the way to the end and didn’t even get an offer code to redeem somewhere, to some driving school or setup shop! I feel cheated.

[@DanDiMaggio]

@ Exactly lol

[@isocuda]

1) Have your primary series that you only run once or twice while targeting the strongest SoF timeslots to register. With in depth reviw 2) After that, have a different car and series that you find fun. Goon it and just be mindful of your 10 lap averages. 3) If you're "stuck" at a certain rating then you're exactly where you should be RIGHT NOW.

[@aronf279]

Stay out of trouble gets you far more ahead as you might think

[@DoubleTeaMedia]

Yes. It does. Can’t win the race if you don’t finish it. This is more advanced stuff though

[@jassonco]

G.I. Joe says "Knowledge is half the battle.". Go Joe!

[@celofficial101]

*Knowing

[@geoffreynenninger]

Reminds me of the saying my guitar teacher always says: practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes PERMANENT. Only PERFECT practice makes perfect!

[@RacingAnt]

The other factor to remember is that iRating is a zero sum system. Not everyone can have a 5,000+ iRating. So, if everyone improves, then everyone's iRating will stay the same. It's not like racing against AI where everyone can get to 10k.

[@helmetculture]

It used to be. Until the road split. Before if you took every account and multiplied by 1350 that was the total iRating available. Now that it's split. It is no longer zero sum. This is why we have the current issue of 'irating inflation' look at top split SOF from Daytona before the split, and look at what it will be for this year. It will be nearly 8k SOF. iRacing messed up, during the split. Instead of taking accounts that had 5k road. And giving sports car / formula car 5k each. It should have SPLIT them in half. Making it 2500 sports car 2500 formula car. This is the problem now that 7k is the new 5k.

[@RacingAnt]

@helmetculture only if you add road and open wheel. We've always had a split. Dirt and oval have their own iRatings. You don't add that to the road, do you? We've still got accounts x 1350 as total rating. It's just now in open wheel and road. My iRating hasn't suddenly jumped.

[@Rhythmic_Hammer]

Don’t throw this around at all but you sir deserve more sub. Quality stuff! 💙🙌

[@FuseMS]

Interesting... feels like this is exactly where I have been at recently, so the timing of this video is perfect. been watching your M4 GT4 @ Daytona video to help for the Roar

[@hnmontes]

Fantastic video. Your content is excellent, much appreciated!

[@ming454]

I'm around 2K on ovals and I never hit that wall. First of all, I never thought I'm high split contender just because of my success in rookies and second there were times when I was stuck and couldn't move up but it was because I got higher than my actual level by people in front wrecking too often, but I knew I was still improving by my lap timing, tire wear etc. The main thing is to look at your actual skills and understand your level and not judge your improvement by irating, also when you focused on your rating you might become one of these desperate drivers who can't battle for irating they want and just start to wreck people for positions or look for ways to cheat the system, when you focused on getting your racing skill better instead you just won't see a point of doing any of that.

[@tamaslichtenberger8529]

i'm also running ovals, around 2.2k now. when i'm trying to run hard then i almost instantly started to make mistakes. and if you're running ovals, you know the ARCA car. it immediately punishes for mistakes. 2024 S4 i started around 2.3k and felt great confidence. result? finished the season around 1.7k... as 2025 S1 started i also changed what i'm focusing on. and that's the racing. and then the results started to come. ~3k SoF podiums, pole row quals. yeah, races are different, still learning the tyre wear but yeah. as i'm not focusing "die hard" on irating i also started to enjoy much more the races. still, sh*t happens, like last week in Trucks at New Hampshire where i've been divebombed out from the 5t place. but watched the replay and started to notice things how i MAY be able to avoid these kind of things. anyways, good luck with the "left turning" :)

[@canozkan6406]

Thank you very much for this video, always learning from them, I was exactly in this valley of despair with slightly below 2k point until I noticed that GT4 races have open setup, let's see when will I hit another one :) a video with all the useful in terms user friendly layers & tools (telemetry, replay etc.) (especially free ones) would be highly appreciated.

[@benbrown7004]

Ive been an iracing member for 4 years, with lots of long breaks between going back to the sim. I broke the 2k barrier after 3 years and now stuck at 2.7k. morale of the story from my learnings is very similar to the video. Dont go for desperate overtakes Dont race over aggressive drivers Watch the replays this will help on how to deal witb situations in other races and see how much more lap time you can eek out. Accept there will be people faster and don't waste time defending if the driver your racing is clearly faster. Last just enjoy it, if your racing frustrated and purely to gain IR and SR and it's not going your way have a break. Oh and lots of practice.

[@rynosraceroom66]

Great video 🤘🏻🏁

[@jamesmccaul2945]

I 100% agree it’s just that racing is so much more fun than studying lol.

[@Left-Foot-Brake]

Umm, yeah, no. It's more a question of whether you have a life outside of iRacing, and whether you can join the extremely unhealthy 20% of players who become obsessed with this video game and spend ridiculous amounts of time on the game because the use it as a proxy for their real life ambitions, and those who can be bothered to go past 3000 iRating. Most people give up before this point of mental imbalance.

[@crisbivolaru819]

Right on point !

[@garage6947]

Lol

[@M1sterF1sh]

This video has some great advice but I just wish it didn't make me seasick. Everything is so wobbly!

[@matthewbyrd398]

Great video and 100% accurate. However, this doesn’t apply just to iRacing. What you discussed applies to all competitive sim racing.

[@DLXIRON]

brilliant work!!!

[@TheRealEvilSink]

I think its because people are too afraid to experiment. Mess up, make mistakes, just correct it and move on. Mistakes can be a great learning opportunity, but when one never explores the options, it will never improve either.

[@underSTATEDexcellence]

I just broke 2.4k after my 6th month on iRacing, I wish I could say I race not caring but that would be a complete lie. I feel that doing repetitive AI (Skill set at last Pro slot before Alien)race starts has helped me improve a lot by making me extremely comfortable with what to do in the first lap which is usually when things get rough. At least for myself the starts are where I ran into the most issues.

[@stijnhandgraaf3914]

Good tips! But quite ironic that you show a graph that does not show the Dunning-Kruger effect correctly haha

[@recarsion]

Exactly, I was looking for this comment

[@EasternEuropeanSurvivorBoy]

I feel personally attacked haha Great video 👍

[@Bmoncrief]

Same here haha

[@elGringo69]

nah, this video is a much greater example of Dunning-Kruger than a literal bell curve in reference to irating. The "invisible wall" is just the skill ceiling of the average hobbyist, thats it, a standard bell curve. You dont need to pseudo intellectualize everything my man.

[@allenpaley]

Interesting analysis! I don't disagree but I would also like to point out the incentive that iRacing has (as a monthly subscription model) to design an algorithm that strings the customer along. Gamification and cynical psychological manipulation are part of the DNA of making money online.

[@TaoDen]

I've been learning so much lately. Thanks! 🏎️🏎️🏎️

[@GitGudRacing]

Letsgo!!

[@nighttrain1565]

All driver rating systems are broken and none of them really matter. What matters the most is who is the fastest with the least amount of time on the platform. That's it. Those are the real drivers.

[@DLP_Racing_505]

I rewatch all of my races my biggest thing is I drive and battle people at 1,300 irating like they’re higher so they end up hitting me bc they’re not expecting me to commit and they hit me even while giving space

[@10mmGR]

Yeah that sucks. I have a friend in a similar position where he's probably at a 2k drivers pace but keeps getting killed in T1 by idiots that think they can win lap 1. At first I asked him if he was at all at fault because he was the common denominator. I proceeded to watch 6 of his race starts. 4 of them he either got destroyed or spun to the back of the grid. None on him. I swear he has the worst luck.

[@tristiandasher973]

I like to wait for the lap 1 shenanigans to take place before actually going for any pace. Besides, lap 1 is a warm up lap for the tires to really settle into a nice temperature and for you to still feel where the grip will be in the tires and on the track. I’d recommend the friend to look further ahead and read the cars around him to gauge how to proceed safely through the first lap. T1 is always a cluster, T2 isn’t much better, but by T4, the people who know how to stay alive and make the tires warm will be in the top 5 likely.

[@10mmGR]

@tristiandasher973 oh he's not stupid about it. He actively takes evasive action sometimes and still gets killed. It's just the rating he's at. When we can get a clean t1 he can run away from the pack and get an easy win.

[@Toptechitsimracing9601]

Thanks makes sense

[@AznKido336]

I dont try to be the fastest. I try to be the cleanest. Only had my sim rig and iRacing for a month and able to climb the ranks quickly. Qualifying bottom 5 to being top 5 because the field take each other out.

[@x65gurr93]

Very good video, deserves a like and sub hope more people see this video :)

[@F0eN_459]

Nice now people watch there telemetry for 3hs and there replays and dont know what to Look for

[@PrimalBlue-l6o]

Unconscious Incompetence, Conscious Incompetence, Conscious Competence, Unconscious Competence......yup.

[@bbogdanmircea]

Or just don't try to move up and just enjoy your races for fun ... 😂 😅

[@seijaandwayneglew6979]

Not everyone races for the same reason, for some its watching themselves improve rather than the racing itself

[@crisbivolaru819]

Stupid video to push people to think that you need to progress in iracing and feel the need to buy your useless courses and coaching . The only thing that matters is the enjoyment and the fun that you get from racing with other people that are on a similar skill level like you this can happen at 1k 1.5k 2k 10k irating it doesn't matter .don't fall for this trap people you don't get paid for grinding you will only get more lonely and unfullfilled .Enjoy the human aspect of this game more in the end we are here to race eachother so use the chat more be respectfull share your ideas more and don't loose yourself in a perpetual grind without any final goal. Enjoy the ride not the destination