Just graduated from rookie and waiting for the start of the season to purchase iRacing content? Don’t know what to do from here? Don’t want to go bankrupt because there’s so much content to buy in iRacing? We know that iRacing can be expensive, especially when first starting out, and we, like you, like to protect our wallets, so we’ve put together this little guide to help you make your first purchases.
First and foremost, we’d like to provide you with some pointers to consider before beginning each season.
- Plan your season first: last week, check what content you have and what series you want to race, so you can make informed purchases. Always keep the following point in mind.
- Try to earn $10 at the end of the season with the iRacing participation program. Remember that if you complete at least 1 race in 8 different weeks in D-C series, iRacing will award you $4 for each of those completed series. If you complete at least 1 race in 8 different weeks in B-A series, iRacing will award you $7 for each of those completed series. But remember that iRacing will give you a maximum of $10 at the end of the season. That is, if you complete 3 D-C class series, (3 series of $4) iRacing will give you $10 at the end of the season, just like if you complete 1 D-C series and 1 B-A series ($4 plus $7 gives you $11, but you will always get a maximum of $10).
- You don’t need all the cars of a series to be able to race, if you have only one of the different cars of that series you can race.
- Try to always buy 6 pieces of content per purchase. This is because if you buy between 3 and 5 pieces of content, iRacing will give you a 10% discount on that purchase. But if you buy 6 or more pieces of content in one purchase, iRacing will give you 15% on that purchase. Also, when you have 40 pieces of content in total, iRacing will give you 20% off all future purchases.
- f you don’t know what to race, or what car to buy from a category, we recommend you use the iRacing test drive page. It is only available during iRacing maintenance hours and you will only be able to test the content you have downloaded (you can download content you haven’t purchased, don’t worry).
Now that we are clear about all these tips, we present you 3 different purchase recommendations so you can continue advancing in your iRacing career. As we always clarify, the decision is yours and only yours, always analyze the whole situation and make the decision that best suits you. You can even discard these recommendations completely and make your own lists if you wish.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR NEWCOMERS
We will always recommend that beginners start with Assetto Corsa (the original) as it is a very cheap simulator, with plenty of official and mods content, and with a pretty good force feedback. But if you are one of those weirdos (like me) who want to start directly in iRacing, we can recommend the following.
Since, in theory, you do not have much practice, you do not fully master the cars and do not know very well where to go, we recommend that when you leave rookie you continue using the cars that come in the base content, in Road are:
- Global Mazda MX-5 Cup
- Formula Vee
- Kia Optima
- Cadillac CTS-V
- Volkswagen Jetta TDI
- SCCA Spec Racer Ford
- Pontiac Solstice Club Sport
All these cars are very different from each other, so you will be able to polish your skills and define what kind of cars you want to race in iRacing. At the same time, they allow you to participate in up to 5 different series between classes D and C, so without investing a single extra penny, you can move up to class B.
Now, as we know that from class D onwards, there are less and less weeks to race in base content circuits, we must buy content little by little so as not to be too short.
Taking into account all this, and the suggestions at the beginning, we recommend you to make these purchases this season to be able to participate in 4 different series, completing 8 weeks in 2 of them and thus obtaining $8 dollars at the end of the season.
- Monza
- Indianapolis
- Sebring
- Road America
- Road Atlanta
- Watkins Glen
With these tracks, you will be able to compete in all these series and complete 8 weeks in Sim-Lab Production and Spec Racer Ford.
OPEN WHEELERS RACING
If you already have some experience in simracing and want to get to where the juice of open-wheeler racing is more quickly, we recommend you make the following purchases:
- Formula IR-04
- Dallara F3
- Red Bull Ring
- Spa
- Watkins Glen
- Suzuka
Unfortunately, with this content you won’t be able to complete the 8 weeks in any iRacing series, but if your pocket allows it you could buy two more tracks for Formula IR-04 and take the $8 season finale. That’s because both F3 and IR-04 have two series, fixed and open, which share a very popular calendar. In turn, with this content and a few more small purchases, you could complete the 8 weeks in some other series that you already have content for.
TOURING CAR RACING
In this case you would only have the option of completing the Ferrari Challenge by buying 6 pieces of content, something that is not so bad either, since it is a very popular series and will allow you to race a lot. In turn, that same Ferrari will allow you to race in both GT3 series (fixed and open) and in IMSA in Class B, so you will have content that you can use later on. Now, if the Ferrari GT3 gives you a bit of fear, or you prefer front wheel drive, you have the two GT4 series and the two TCR series that share exactly the same calendar. That is, with the purchase of a GT4 and a TCR you can compete in 4 series, the bad thing is that if you buy 4 more circuits to reach 6 pieces of content, you could not complete the 8 weeks in any of the series. The content that we recommend you would be the following:
- Ferrari 488 EVO GT3
- Fuji
- Spa
- Hockenheim
- Sandown
- Watkins Glen
With this content, you could compete in all series with the Ferrari, but we leave you the option of GT4 and TCR in case you are interested.
If you value your money and don’t want to waste it, always remember to make wise purchases that you can use to your advantage. Don’t base your decision on what is trending at the time, because the series may experience a rapid drop in participation, leaving you with unused content.
Remember, you can join iRacing clicking here.
See you on the track!
