iRacing created a great car...then broke it

[swervedriver]

Hello, all. I'm new to the forum, and I joined specifically to vent about iracing (I have to watch what I say on the official forums, for reasons familiar to many here).

A little while ago, iracing produced a gem of a car called the RUF Track. All the RUFs were fun, but this one was special. It had power, grip, predictable handling, and was an absolute blast to drive-in short, it was everything most cars in iracing aren't. And it was (and still is) going to be featured in the first multi-make, single-class category in iracing.

It was a great car. Many proclaimed it to be the best in the service. So iracing did the only thing they could: they broke it.

Last night, they released a build of the car that features a weird, wonky gearbox. Downshifting plain doesn't work. Missed shifts are now common, with the gearbox either slipping into neutral or not shifting at all. Driving the car now requires keeping one eye on the gear indicator, as you can never really be sure what gear you're in.

The car was great. Now it sucks. I can't think of any reasons they changed it, except for one:

Every car in iracing generates a ton of complaints. There were no complaints about the RUF, and we all know how nature abhors a vacuum.

What's worse is that there's a perfectly good build of the RUF out there, but iracing won't switch back to it, because to do so would be to admit a mistake. That doesn't happen often.

This was an idiotic move. There was no reason to try and fix something that wasn't broken. And there was definitely no reason to charge $11.95 for one car, only to turn that car into something else entirely just before the start of the new season.

I used to think iracing was flawed but fun. After this little stunt, however, my opinion has changed to two words: iracing sucks.

 

[Antonio Crinò]

Hello, all. I'm new to the forum, and I joined specifically to vent about iracing (I have to watch what I say on the official forums, for reasons familiar to many here).

I used to think iracing was flawed but fun. After this little stunt, however, my opinion has changed to two words: iracing sucks.

Seriously? I mean... What is wrong with simarcers nowadays?

 

[Richard Pittam]

Sometimes freedom of speech sucks.

 

[William Levesque]

So... he's mad because he can't machine gun downshifts anymore... And then people complain when it's not realistic enough.

 

[muscimol]

Last night, they released a build of the car that features a weird, wonky gearbox. Downshifting plain doesn't work. Missed shifts are now common, with the gearbox either slipping into neutral or not shifting at all.

Actually they've upgraded the transmission to the proper one for GT3 specification cars. Before it used manual sequential with throttle cut on upshifts, now it has fully automated sequential.
Read the Porche 911 GT3R (Type 997) - Technology & Concept - Background, it says:

Moreover, the transmission electronics, featuring an automatic throttle blip control, make it almost impossible to miss a gear and over-rev the engine.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

If it has a fully automated sequential like all other GT3 cars you should be able to rapid fire up and down shifts with it auto blipping perfectly every time.....what is the problem? Are you trying to use an H-pattern with it or something, I don't understand.

I am thinking of re-subbing just for this car so I want to know the good and bad.

 

[Antonio Crinò]

If it has a fully automated sequential like all other GT3 cars you should be able to rapid fire up and down shifts with it auto blipping perfectly every time.....what is the problem? Are you trying to use an H-pattern with it or something, I don't understand.

Maybe he is downshifting too early and too fast, so the ECU do not allow the downshift to avoid the over-revving (like in the mp4-12c).

 

[Rhys Gardiner]

If it has a fully automated sequential like all other GT3 cars you should be able to rapid fire up and down shifts with it auto blipping perfectly every time.....

People often think that's how a sequential GT3 transmission works, but from what I've heard that's not the truth of the matter.

@swervedriver, The ECU in the RUF and McLaren is designed to not allow shifts that will over-rev the engine. That's how it is in real life from what I can gather. Same reason that it will sometimes shift into neutral under brakes... it's a failsafe that is on the car in real life, it's as simple as that. No fixing what isn't broken, no bugs, just reflecting reality like it should. That's not to say that iRacing is not flawed (don't get me wrong, if there was a consistent Aussie community on other sims I'd leave in a heartbeat), and yes, the implementation of these shift aids could be improved, but I find it funny when I hear people complaining about them as if they are the biggest sign of iRacing's pitfalls.

 

[RaceNut]

I tried the RUF Track last night too. I thought my controller was broken when I could not downshift, then I figured I had broken the gearbox so I started fresh but, still could not downshift and it kept getting stuck in neutral. Reconfigured my controller - same issue, tried different cars - no problem. If it is meant to mimic the RL car - it is way too sensitive to be practical IMO.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

I think I will stay away for at least another build or more......I really miss oval racing but after watching a couple races last night have as many caution laps as green it reminded me of why I got fed up and let my sub run out....

The RUF looks promising and hopefully new tire model #5 is a step in the right direction but not sure I could re-learn how to make laps in iracing on the road side again.....I'm not going to debate how realistic iracing is (too tired for that debate today) but I spent over a year just learning how to complete a lap and it never felt at all natural to me....I so miss all those wonderful laser scanned tracks I bought though.

 

[muscimol]

If there is a bug with the transmission it will be fixed with one of the nearest updates.
I've made a few laps yesterday with RUF Track and haven't had even one missed downshift.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Not sure about the C until I change my setup but the T drives wonderful, even more so than it did before, in the T before you could mash the throttle with impunity no fear, now you at least have to be a little more sensible and still get the awesome feeling of RR traction, the gearbox in the T works properly finally as well for me anyway, I hated the way it worked in the release version.

 

[swervedriver]

Thanks for all the responses, guys.

The consensus in the official RUF Track forum is that the new transmission sucks. The biggest complaint, other than the shifting action itself, is the lack of audio feedback when you execute a downshift. This is what forces you to keep one eye on your gear indicator as you drive. The real GT3R definitely lets you know when you've completed a downshift. I assume this is something that will be fixed in a later build.

If this new version of the gearbox is more realistic, so be it. Having never driven a real GT3R, I don't know (and will never know) for sure. All I'm saying is the car was great, and now it isn't (that's the majority opinion anyway, Mark I know you disagree). I was looking forward to driving it in the new GT3 series, but now it looks like I'm going back to the Skip until iracing gets this thing sorted out.

 

[carlos queiros]

Brake first
First downshift should be at halfway point of your braking distance
Problem solved
Car feels great 2-3 laps for tires to warm up then lots of grip

 

[RaceNut]

It's impressive that they model the gearbox characteristics to that extent. The only other game I can remember doing that to some level was NetKar Pro.

 

[muscimol]

Having never driven a real GT3R, I don't know (and will never know) for sure.

I've posted a direct link to Porsche website where it's written what transmission does the car use. Some people seems resistant to the knowledge and won't accept anything that is different that their imagination.

It's impressive that they model the gearbox characteristics to that extent. The only other game I can remember doing that to some level was NetKar Pro.

This transmission model in iRacing exists since 2010 and is much more sophisticated than the transmission in netKar PRO and any other simulation on the market right now.

 

[Dazmaniac]

Thanks for all the responses, guys.

The consensus in the official RUF Track forum is that the new transmission sucks. The biggest complaint, other than the shifting action itself, is the lack of audio feedback when you execute a downshift. This is what forces you to keep one eye on your gear indicator as you drive. The real GT3R definitely lets you know when you've completed a downshift. I assume this is something that will be fixed in a later build.

If this new version of the gearbox is more realistic, so be it. Having never driven a real GT3R, I don't know (and will never know) for sure. All I'm saying is the car was great, and now it isn't (that's the majority opinion anyway, Mark I know you disagree). I was looking forward to driving it in the new GT3 series, but now it looks like I'm going back to the Skip until iracing gets this thing sorted out.

So you're accepting if this update has made the gearbox more realistic, then so be it, only to sign off by saying you'll not drive the RUF until it is fixed.

If the update iRacing did in the latest build has in fact made the gearbox more realistic, you're gonna have a long wait, lol.

 

[swervedriver]

So you're accepting if this update has made the gearbox more realistic, then so be it, only to sign off by saying you'll not drive the RUF until it is fixed.

If the update iRacing did in the latest build has in fact made the gearbox more realistic, you're gonna have a long wait, lol.

Lol, it's going to be a long wait regardless. The site's been down for hours (service has been spotty the last two days), with no real sign of when it's going to be back up.

If this gearbox really is more realistic, then I have no choice but to deal with it. The sound cues still need to be improved, however. That's what I meant by sticking with the Skip until this thing is sorted out. I should have made that more clear. One look at any onboard video of the GT3R will show that downshifts in the real car sound very different from what the iRacing car is doing.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Just hang fire mate, it is a new car and things will no doubt take a while to shake out.

I am not having any problems with the new T car, but I am not ignorant to accept others may have a different experience, I was struggling with the gearbox in the old "T" car.

One thing I would say from what I experienced so far was the that the T car felt like a nice update overall, I really have nothing to moan about, the C car is just a lot different tho, and I will have to adapt some things to get my head back around that one ,the thing I love with the T was you could just jump straight in and drive, and push hard, the C is now requiring more thought than before.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

This transmission model in iRacing exists since 2010 and is much more sophisticated than the transmission in netKar PRO and any other simulation on the market right now.

LOL You really shouldn't believe things just because a marketing team told you so.....A transmission model that won't even let you stall the engine, much less fry a clutch is no where near the most sophisticated available; we won't even get into button shifting with macros.....I didn't hear of any GT3 cars at Daytona last weekend getting stuck in neutral while downshifting and the entire reason semi-auto's have replaced manuals in racing is because they shift several times faster than a human ever could while performing a perfect rev-match every time.