iRacing: Are Pure Driving Series Disappearing?

Why on earth are non-assisted racing series losing participation? Have the pedal gladiators gone extinct? Have we gone soft? Or do we simply want to have fun without feeling like we’re driving a missile with wheels and no insurance policy?

Let’s break this down. Or rather, let’s turn it into a collective confession disguised as an analysis.

1. The Difficulty Curve That Feels Like Everest Covered in Black Ice

Let’s be honest: non-assisted cars are the emotional gym of sim racing.

Your throttle is a chaos switch, braking is a pop quiz on physics, and losing the rear end is as easy as losing your dignity on turn one at Monza.

Many drivers show up enthusiastic:
“I want to learn for real, I want to improve, I want to feel the car…”

Twenty minutes later they’re saying:
“Well… maybe GT3s aren’t that automatic…”

The issue isn’t just that these cars are hard; it’s that they’re hard from minute one.
There’s no gentle onboarding ramp. It’s a door slammed in your face followed by a “come back when you’re worthy.”

And not everyone wants to train for a week just to run ten laps without becoming a spinning top with a helmet.

2. The Entry Barrier: The Car Isn’t the Problem… You Are

This is painful to say, but it’s the universal truth of sim racing:

we all think we’re better drivers than we actually are

You jump in, grip the wheel like you were born with telemetry in your veins, and when the car steps out, you think: “It’s definitely the setup. Yes, that’s it.”

But no. Setups help, of course. But non-assisted cars demand:

• pedal finesse,
• peripheral vision,
• humility,
• and that strange mix of patience and stubbornness normally reserved for assembling Ikea furniture.

Expecting a new driver to start here is like asking someone to learn to swim by throwing them into the ocean while yelling “use your arms more!”

3. Participation Times

Another painful truth:

the few non-assisted series tend to be active at extremely weird hours

If you want to race V8s, for example, you have to:

• live in the right hemisphere,
• have chronic insomnia,
• or be willing to sacrifice your social life.

Most drivers simply race what’s active. A sim can have 500 different cars, but if only one session has 26 people and it’s GT3, guess where everyone goes.

Not because they “prefer it,” but because people want races with rivals, not a guided meditation on an empty track.

4. The Matchmaking Loop: No People, No Splits… No Splits, No People

Here’s the death cycle many series fall into:

1. No drivers
2. No splits
3. The few who enter get mismatched
4. They get bored or frustrated
5. They leave
6. Return to step 1.

It’s like trying to throw a party where no one confirms attendance because no one confirmed attendance.

Meanwhile, assisted series function like supermarkets: someone is always inside, no matter the hour. And that attracts even more people.

So… What’s Actually Happening?

The truth is that non-assisted series aren’t dying. But they are changing.

They’re shifting from massive public arenas to something closer to an enthusiast club. A place for people who want to suffer, learn, improve, and celebrate the miracle of finishing a race upright.

• It’s not a car issue.
• It’s not a sim issue.
• It’s not a skill issue.

It’s simply that most people want immediate fun, while non-assisted cars demand something else:

time, discipline, and a sense of humor strong enough to survive your first spin.

Non-assisted series aren’t disappearing; they’re waiting for the people who genuinely want to be there.

Do they have less participation?
Yes.

Are they more difficult?
Absolutely.

Do they sometimes feel like you’re fighting a medieval dragon every time you hit the throttle?

Without question.

But they’re also the ones that give you that embarrassingly big grin when you nail a perfect lap. The kind of grin only someone who tamed a car with no ABS can understand.

• Remember, you can join iRacing clicking here.

And in the end, that’s worth more than a full split.