As always here at Boxthislap, we’re eager to hear your thoughts and concerns — because iRacing is shaped by the community. This time, a new user has reached out to share their perspective on the division system in the sim. It’s a fresh take from someone just starting to navigate the competitive side of online racing.
Let’s be honest: iRacing’s division system is broken. And I’m not saying that because of a bad race or a bad week. I’m saying it after racing across all five disciplines, grinding through countless seasons, and watching the same mess unfold over and over again.
What once seemed like a promising way to group drivers by skill has turned into a playground for manipulation, frustration, and fake achievements.
The Elephant in the Room: Tanking, Smurfing, Sandbagging
Pick your word. The result is the same: drivers intentionally drop their iRating, fall into Division 4 or 5, and destroy the field like Verstappen dropping in on a local kart race.
And iRacing? Handing out titles like they mean something. A diploma, a badge, a “champion” title — when everyone watching knows exactly what happened.
The Frustration of Competing Seriously
If you’ve ever spent an entire season training, improving, pushing yourself to level up, only to be crushed by one of these “fake champions” — you know the feeling. It’s not just defeat. It’s feeling like your effort means nothing when someone can cheat the system and walk away with the reward.
The core issue? Divisions are locked in before the first race. One single snapshot of your iRating at the start of the season determines who you’ll race against for the next 12 weeks. That’s it.
No matter if you drastically improve — or tank on purpose — you’re stuck. So what happens? People end up racing against ghosts of their former selves, or against opponents who clearly don’t belong there.
Solutions Already Exist (And They Make Sense)
The community isn’t clueless. Many solid ideas have already been proposed, like:
- Mid-season division updates
- Use iRating trend instead of a fixed number
- Time-slot-based leagues, just like real-world racing
- Smurf detection through performance patterns
- Tiered championships: AM, PRO-AM, and PRO
None of this is rocket science. It’s just about willingness to change.
Let’s be real: outside of Division 1, nobody takes results seriously. Not the drivers, not even iRacing.
You won Division 4? Congrats! Hope you enjoy your PDF certificate. Print it, frame it, and hang it next to your online Excel course diploma.
But when Division 10 champs didn’t even run a single official race, or ex-Division 1 drivers dominate Division 5 for fun, the whole system loses credibility. And with it, motivation dies too.
Real Competition or Just a Facade?
I’m not here to fight for P18. With all due respect to those who are, I race to compete. To improve. To win something real.
When the system rewards manipulation over training, it stops being a competitive simulator. It becomes a trophy collection game with no actual merit behind it.
If iRacing wants to remain the gold standard of simracing, it needs to act like it. Prioritize fairness over appearances. Reward effort over exploitation. Stop handing out meaningless titles that fool no one.
Until then, some of us will keep racing, keep improving, and keep saying what many are already thinking:
And for those of us who live for real competition — that hurts more than losing.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
- Remember, you can join iRacing clicking here.
Happy Racing!
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Wow! Great article. Sounds like Dan Tipton. Lol. Posted an article on the forums that blew up this week. Thanks for shedding light. You guys are awesome
Thanks for reading us!
I had a really good race in old VRS and came 2nd but was totally smoked by P1. Sometimes happens with new racers with genuine skill but this guy had been on iRacing for two years. Checked his stats after race, he was P1 in almost every VRS he didn’t crash out of but failing to finish every race in every other series they drove. Clear and obvious manipulation and they had been doing it for some time with no consequences. I reported and I think they got a one week ban. The people that are smart about it are probably never getting caught.
It’s the points difference in the same devision that’s not right with the different splits. A top split winner in devision 5 is gonna gain more championship points than a second or 3rd split driver that wins their race just because your in a lower split because of your current I rating shouldn’t put you at a disadvantage points wise. I like the idea of AM, Pro AM etc within the same devision as it should work out to be a fairer system. Of course there’s always gonna be sandbaggers and tankers the solution to that remains elusive for now.
Had a 426 irating guy, yes you read that correctly, 426 IR, racing with us older(55+), slower, using full force feedback/ motion sim guys like me who linger from 800-1200 IR completely smoke us by over 3 seconds PER LAP, yes, PER LAP on Watkins Glen last night. Interesting this is in my feed today.