Whether you’re new to iRacing or a seasoned sim racer, mastering the platform requires more than speed on the track. With its complex setups, diverse race conditions, and advanced features, iRacing offers a range of tools that can give you an edge.
This guide will dive into the 5 best tips and tricks we believe will enhance your experience in iRacing. From the secrets to a clear track in practice sessions to organising your setups, mapping essential controls and using telemetry for analysis, these insights will help you take your racing skills to the next level.
1. Clear Track In Practice Sessions
One hidden gem is getting a clear track during official practice sessions. Many don’t realise that each official practice session has 15 different lobbies or groups to choose from when in the session. When you enter a practice session, iRacing automatically puts you in the next available lobby and you can find the track full of other drivers, but did you know you can manually select an empty lobby from within the session and get the track all to yourself? It’s also good if you just want to practice with friends.
To do this, click “Entries” in the top left side of the menu when in the garage but not yet in the car and select a different lobby. As long as the lobby you choose is empty, you’ll have a clear track, but your lap times will still count on the overall practice leaderboard. This is a great way to practice without the distraction of other cars, especially if you’re trying to focus on specific corners or sectors.
You can still compare lap times with other drivers in the practice session. Everything, including the track temps and session settings, stays the same. We wouldn’t recommend always hiding away in a separate group because you need to get used to driving around others. But when preparing for qualifying, this trick can be a real game-changer.
2. Earn iRacing Credits
Did you know that you can get paid to race on iRacing? By completing a full season (racing in at least 8 out of the 12 weeks in a series) you can earn iRacing credits. For the D and C license series, you can earn $4 USD, while for the B and A license series, you can earn $7 USD. You can get up to $10 USD per season if you participate in one of each. It adds up to $40 USD in credits after four seasons per year, which you can spend on cars, tracks, or your iRacing subscription.
To see your progress, click on your helmet in the iRacing UI, go to your profile, and look at the “Licenses” tab. You’ll see which series you’ve completed enough races in to earn credits and how many left you need to complete to qualify. Make sure you race in at least eight different weeks, as multiple races in one week don’t count toward the season total.
Gain seconds in lap time with our incredible iRacing setups that include professionally developed setups and referance laps for every car available in the official weekly racing series that you can find on iRacing.
3. Map Essential Controls
Any momentary distraction can lead to mistakes or crashes when racing at high speeds, especially in competitive settings. By keeping critical controls on the wheel, you can focus on the road ahead and avoid looking down or away from the track. In addition to basic controls, such as Enter/Exit/Tow Car, Look Left/Right, Pit Speed Limiter or Split Time Delta, there are many less-known but useful settings.
The Single Press Commands are often used to apologise, thank or communicate with others on the track. But they also help to quickly manage fuel and tyre changes by sending preset commands to the pits, which allows you to concentrate on driving.
There are more options for advanced cars in the iRacing Controls section. The Second Clutch helps during standing starts in open-wheel cars for example. We also recommend mapping a second Upshift/Downshift button if you have a wheel with multiple paddles. If your primary shifter stops working during a race, this can serve as a backup.
For cars with multiple dashboards, having a Dash Page Set button allows you to cycle through the different dashboards, depending on your preference for day, night or qualifying setups.
For IndyCar and F1 drivers, the Push-to-Pass/Overtake/DRS buttons are needed to maximise speed on the straights. For other in-car adjustments, the Brake Bias is one you’ll want to tweak depending on the car and track. In F1 cars, you can also fine-tune the Peak Brake Bias and use Brake Magic to manage tyre temperatures during formation laps.
IndyCar drivers should map buttons for Front and Rear ARBs, and for cars with ABS and Traction Control, you can toggle those settings on the fly to suit track conditions. Lastly, if you’re running F1 cars or prototypes, having buttons for Diff Entry, Diff Middle, Diff Exit, Engine Braking and MGUK Deploy Modes will let you extract every ounce of performance from your car during a race.
4. Practice With Ghost Racing
iRacing has an underrated feature that lets you join live races as a ghost. You won’t affect the other drivers, who can’t see you, but you can practice alongside them in real time.
Here’s how it works: select Go Racing from the main iRacing UI, then find a current race session to watch. Once the session has started, click Watch and choose a car to ghost. This is a great way to get a feel for the race conditions, especially if you’re nervous about a particular car/track combo. You can use this to see where others are faster, compare lap times or enjoy a pressure-free race environment.
You can even participate in a rolling start, just as if you were in the race, but without impacting others. And it does not affect your safety rating or iRating, and you can push your limits without consequences.
5. Analyse Telemetry
If you’re serious about improving in iRacing, Telemetry is a tool you can’t overlook. Telemetry records every detail of your lap: throttle, brake, steering inputs, lap times etc. Use the Toggle Telemetry button to record data during testing or practice sessions. You can analyse this data using software like the Coach Dave Delta app, which allows you to compare your laps with other drivers.
This program with a Coach Dave Delta Subscription also helps to skip the hassle of building setups and focus on your racing. The subscription gives access to thousands of setups for all popular cars and series in iRacing. And, with access to the app, installing them couldn’t be any easier with the auto-install feature.
With telemetry, you can overlay your laps with faster drivers to see where they’re gaining time, thanks to the pro reference lap data included in the Delta sub. You can also compare setups if drivers have shared them. This tool can make a massive difference in your performance once you start analysing your data and fine-tuning your approach.
Final Thoughts
Mastering iRacing isn’t just about driving fast. It’s also about leveraging the platform’s many tools to refine your skills and strategies. These tips will help you improve your lap times and deepen your understanding of racecraft and car setups.
As always, Coach Dave Academy’s team can assist you with coaching, the Delta app for performance analysis and setups for the popular open-wheel series in iRacing.
Gain seconds in lap time with our incredible iRacing setups that include professionally developed setups and referance laps for every car available in the official weekly racing series that you can find on iRacing.