You don't want to be good at sim racing!

[@bsmracing6592]

One should never forget, it's Video Game

[@Deadbeatbeats]

Honestly, staying in the same split you get to know a lot of people. It becomes a kind of community and I really enjoy it tbf. I race in top split and I try to do the best I can. The fact is, Im about 18 years behind on karting experience so I will never beat the guys at the top, and thats fine.

[@mishak6933]

Great video idea to get other perspective on simracing other than being the number 1. I recently found that I enjoy racing in the midfield more than spending hours to get a few tenths in practice.

[@PowerQ]

Same for me!

[@Farigeri]

Yeah the midfield is really fun, and its an amazing feeling when you once do a really good race for yourself :)

[@combatwombat594]

That's just what it takes to be good at anything. You want to be the best at what you do? That has to be a huge focus in your life. That's not to say people can't just enjoy things. Do you want to be a racecar driver or not? That will determine how serious you take sim racing. Personally, my life long dream has always been to race. Racing is my life, both literally and metaphorically, as I work at race tracks as well

[@DroopyLoops]

Where at? 😀

[@combatwombat594]

@@DroopyLoops When I started I worked at a track called Michaels Mercer Raceway in Mercer PA. I've also worked at Sharon Speedway in Hartford OH. I currently work at Lernerville Speedway, one of the best dirt tracks in the country doing their timing and scoring, as well as general IT work :) This year I started working with their independent streaming service DirtTV running cameras and things as well :p

[@FluppiLP]

I have been simracing since 2011. I only did iRacing for a very brief time. It's just too toxic for me. I have raced in a high level rFactor 2 endurance league at one point and a just for fun weekly GTR2 league before that. Both had very fast people that could give Max Verstappen a fight when he did one or two races in the rF2 league. In both leagues I was always about 1-1.5s behind the top drivers. At the moment I just enjoy Assetto Corsa Competizione multiplayer lobbies. But I have a few rules to go by: rule #1: It's a hobby, you are supposed to have fun. If you dont have fun, stop and change things or at least take a break rule #2: There is only you. Ignore the rest, they don't matter. It's only about you. You are responsible to make the hobby fun and turn it into whatever you want it to be I for example enjoy working on setups in my own time. I like joining an ACC race knowing I don't feel great with the setup but I use it as an extended practice session. But at that point I have already accepted that I won't be one of the faster guys on track and thats ok. rule #3: There is a limit to your ability. Accept that there is one, find the limit and try to drive to the limit. When I finish a race without mistakes, without crashes, driving consistently with every lap within half a second of each other, then I am happy. It's better to be 2 tenths slower every lap but consistent. You would be surprised how many races you can win by being consistent but slower than other drivers. If I want to raise my own limit by investing time into understanding the car, tuning the setup then thats my choice and I will do it when I feel like it because of rule#2. Do things you enjoy when you enjoy them but also accept that there is a lower limit if you don't want to practice. That is ok but you have to consciously accept the lower limit. (btw the limit is track and car dependent so it is perfectly fine that in some cars you will not do very well and some tracks will always make your life hard.) The most important on track rule in my opinion is: Avoid accidents by braking. I see so many iRacing clips of people trying to go flat out past an accident. Take your time, slow down, assess the situation. It costs you 3s but you have a much better chance of making it through. And I think crashing is the single most impactful source of frustration in simracing so better avoid that. You will be much happier, I think :D

[@vpreggie]

Well said. I think more sim racers should think this way. Unfortunately sim racing is not real racing. It’s as close as 99% of us will experience but the mere fact that there are no physical or financial repercussions from racing a certain way you get people who drive “like its a video game”. If someone stood behind you and smashed your head with a 2x4 every time you crashed you’d eventually think twice about the next time you tried to go three wide into a turn, or dive bomb that guy ahead of you or attempt to block someone who is legitimately faster than you. If you had to pay for the damages to your car after your third, or fourth or fifth crash of the week you’d be broke and out of the sport for good. In my mind the number one factor in any competition is fear, specifically the fear of getting hurt. When Barry Bonds stood in the batter’s box covered head to toe with Robocop armor he was removing a major factor in being a baseball player - fear of getting hit by a baseball going 90+mph. No fear of that gave him an unfair advantage. Sim Racing is basically virtual Robocop armor for everyone.

[@bradyhill2136]

100% agree. I will be on iracing for a week straight never playing a game with my friends and then I’ll play a game with them and drop sim racing for a good few days before I touch the wheel again because I enjoy playing with my friends just as much if not more.

[@kevinlittrell3407]

I’ve come to terms with the fact that this is something that I love but will never be good at. That’s okay, I do it because there’s still something out of having good races with people even if we’re not absolutely the fastest split.

[@mbgmadbull1141]

TLDR; sim racing has done so much for me that I have to disagree with how important wins really are. I'm an adrenaline junkie and prefer a glorious battle over an easy win, not only am I kinda bad but I keep climbing the ladder to irl motorsports too. I'm absolute hot dumpster fire garbage at sim racing and even I can claw my way to top split quite easily. I would stay in the same split but seeing as how I kept getting junked I decided to climb the ladder. I'm gonna be chasing the dream we all have here, sim racing kept me from being arrested multiple times. it kept me from doing a lot of messed up stuff. since I started sim racing back in 2016-17 I have had nothing but positive growth as a person. I never cared about results as I know they'll happen when I need them to, besides a hard fought P2 finish is much more entertaining and a better story than an easy win. I'm an adrenaline junkie and sim racing has given me so much to live for.

[@PidorriAirsoftnaGringaEUA]

You have to focus in one class of car. After I focus on TCR for about 6 months now, I increased my Irating from 1800 to 3900 currently. Also I'm an A4.99. I won a bunch of races in this year already, another classes car as MX5, GT4 and GT3 i can win too now. So, my advice, focus in one car and improve your skills with it.

[@mario_lvk]

I'd also add that most of the times fighting in the midfield and engaging in clean duels, following car in front of you waiting to catch him or force him to a mistake, trying to open more space with the car behind you, etc, is far more fun than leading a race. Most of us simracers are not here to win everything but to have a great time while challenging ourselves.

[@pldcanfly]

As someone that is probably on the spectrum, I have no problem to trade personal friends with ones that I meet online. But I get were you are coming from. Getting to the top is brutal and hard. Even expensive if you factor in what gear can cost, and starts to matter more on those high levels. But min-maxing everything is something that is plaguing gaming as a whole. Today you can turn on a stream from a Pro and see what you are not able to do. Back when you couldn't do that, more people played just for the fun of it. Especially in simracing I tend to prefer immersion and that good feeling while playing on my own level and having tons of fun doing it. Fighting for places, and not just overtake to #1 and basically hotlap or an hour. Against AI I most of the time just quit the race when I stomp them because there is no point in driving an empty track, when I could just up the difficulty and fight for my spot.

[@chickentuber]

I just want a good, clean battle. A lot of times I just race AI from the back in Raceroom and I really enjoy it. And I dont have to worry about accidentally taking someone out.

[@ptgfern4588]

Real life before virtual life, that's what we at PTG believe when it comes to family before sim racing. Great video man. Awesome to see you promoting the importance of what it takes and what sacrifices one has to make to be great at sim or anything for that matter. 🙏🙏😎👍

[@Gr00t]

I race for good battles, not for podiums. Keeps it fun for longer, I've gone through the obsessive improvment treadmill with other traditional games before and I ended up hating them in the end.

[@Tia_Bea]

This' a good take. Getting actually good at a hobby is very time costly and requires a lot of commitment. It is not for everyone, and it is perfectly fine to keep being medium level and having fun with the hobby, getting occasional victories and enjoying a jolly good time while racing, playing fighting games, mobas and etc.

[@justpostedagain]

Couldn't agree more. Nice video.

[@magical5181]

1:08 for me, I just want to be the best in the average lobby 😂. For an average lobby in ACC I often fight for the win or podium positions.

[@TheSnaveeelPlaysGames]

Easiest and most logical thing for me to sacrifice is sleep. So my alarm is set for five every morning and four on work days. Not ideal but I get time with my wife and son and still get to practice.

[@racingwithrob]

Dude... dad of 3 here... that's my iracing schedule too... usually practice early am during the week and race early am weekends

[@ploeggamer363]

i get my joy in battling but also in practice(getting faster) and being on the edge of grip. i dont feel satisfied, if i dont do the best i can do. So i will always try to improve.

[@drprzekora]

I love this video:) kudos:)

[@dimitris.4484]

Im playing asseto corsa competitione. For now I just want clean fights, keeping up with other drivers and facing stressful situations.

[@TheCarDoc1]

Such a great video! Mid pack michael

[@slowanddeliberate6893]

I've been sim racing for 8 years, and I've only won 54 races out of over 1,800 starts.

[@polluxsimracing3712]

Yall got friends?😂

[@Bjohn407]

Very philosophical

[@OffWhiteGhost1]

I just want to be kinda good but not that Esports good and i think i can get it. Last Year in my Acc League i had so much fun with my teammate and i spent some hours on the next tracks and i got P2 in both but now i cant get those times back because i dont have that much time left for it but its okay, and its also okay that i spend 1000€ on a Alu rig because its fun. I also met some of my leuge at Austria F1 Race and it was so fun to meet them in real life. But yeah you shouldnt forget to care about your family and friends in real life

[@ceric9516]

totally agree with you

[@lestercombs1871]

I’ve got 1000 races with 24 wins. Hell yes winning is hard.

[@NimCross]

iRacers are my friends! :) Fun video.

[@PowerQ]

I can relate hahah

[@sketch334]

I just want to be good enough that i wont look like a idiot.

[@ettjaevlaliv]

What if my friends also do simracing and happen to think analysing data to gain a tenth is our idea of fun? Imagine

[@dennisparker505]

Is 6 wins in my first 2 months of sun racing and I don’t mean e sports level just racing in competezione

[@vpreggie]

This seems like a passive aggressive way to make fun of people with natural talent for this. It’s like saying, “Yeah, you’re good but you don’t value family and friends.” It might be “alpha” to think “I am going to win every race” but in reality it’s downright simplistic and narrow minded to think that way. If you want to win every race go play Forza, against 80% curious video game nerds, 15% trolls and 5% actual motorsports fans. Racing is competition amongst a vast army of similarly talented people. The truth is that we are all “mid-pack Michaels”, but we make up the vast majority of online sim racers.

[@NoInsurance]

Waiting for some institute to measure the "simracing growth / divorces" rate 😅

[@FukU2222]

Part of the reason I love AC and spent (wheel broken) so much time playing it was because I wasn't dealing with anyone/anything else. I would setup some races against AI sometimes, ofc I wouldn't win much/often - but my favorite times on AC were grabbing a great car/track combo (usually a mod or mods), hopping into a practice/time-trial session and just going to town for ~30m to an hr or more. Go for a few short stints and maybe work on a set up for a race that I was also working on setting up. That other UI addon/mod that records lap times for car/track combo for a 'global' leaderboard was also good fun

[@PowerQ]

I think the most fun I had in sim racing was in AC as well. Just driving wacky car and track combos (mostly mods) with a friend was just a blast!