Gaming
esports
Getting into team-based endurance races for sim drivers
Watching your favorite sim racing content creators tackle treacherous team-based endurance races? Here’s how you can gather up a group of friends and not only finish well but have fun while doing it.
Sim-racing is one of the fastest growing esports communities in gaming. What’s unique about sim racing is you can compete both as a lone driver or with a team of your friends! That’s where team-based endurance racing comes in.
Endurance races are a test of teamwork, consistency and obviously a great way to spend some time with your friends. These races are typically organized in more simulation-oriented racing games and can run anywhere from two hours to twenty-four. If that sounds like a big shift behind the wheel, don’t worry! These are normally team events where the driving can be shared between two to five drivers! Sometimes in the case of iRacing, events are held to be the virtual equivalent of their real-life counterpart or a homage to racing categories of the past, such as the Daytona 24 and the Road America 500 respectively. Team-based enduros can take place in a plethora of platforms, but since iRacing supports them via official special events, that will be the platform used for reference here.
Racing with teammates is one of the most satisfying things to do in sim racing. Accomplishing a goal as a team is something every sim racer should experience at least once. Running a race that lasts several hours rather than several minutes is incredibly daunting, though. Not trying to dominate the track? Want to gather a few friends and have some fun? Here are a few helpful tips to consider before, during and after the race from someone who’s been there a lot more than once.
Getting ready for the track in iRacing
© iRacing
BEFORE THE RACE
Preparation is everything. The team should be getting ready around two weeks before you plan on racing, at minimum! Life might get in the way, so use this as a very broad estimate, but making sure you have a group of drivers that can commit to the race and all the preparation that goes into it is key. Emergencies happen so being available for the full duration of the race is the best route to take.
Prioritize racing with your friends! Drafting in fast drivers might help your results but having fun should be the main goal. Having chemistry with your team will make hardships and setbacks easier to stomach. Vaguely planning your stints is essential! Rough blocks help to counteract the unpredictability that is endurance racing and makes sure the team is always ready. Don’t sign up to drive six hours straight if after ninety minutes you’re exhausted. Just be honest and communicate so the group can plan accordingly.
Related
ON TRACK! Choosing your class and preparing with your team.
So, you’ve got your team. Time to choose the category! Most endurance races have multiple classes and cars to choose from. Typically, the faster classes are harder to control, but balancing overtaking slower cars will be a lot less stressful. Occasionally getting lapped by cars in your class means you don’t have to focus rearward and you have the control to overtake the slower cars at your leisure. It’s always better to lose a few tenths waiting to pass a slower car than losing several minutes repairing damage in the pits.
Slower classes can be easier to drive but, depending on the difference in pace between classes, you might be watching your mirrors more than the road. Races like the Daytona 24 have three classes all with their own pros and cons. Discuss with your team, but I’ll always recommend the faster class. Either way, choose early! Get a setup for the car where it’s safe for all drivers on the team as well. Fast is cool, but eating a tire wall three hours into the race because someone isn’t comfortable driving a setup on the ragged edge is going to cost the team much more time.
Trust your team to get ahead
© iRacing
The goal of each driver on the team should be to do at least two full stints with no major mistakes. Little off-tracks here and there are okay, but spinning during every stint isn’t optimal. Don’t treat practice like school projects and leave it to the night before. There’s not only the fate of your team’s race at stake but every other team you share the track with. If there are practice sessions with other teams, use those! Traffic practice also helps with confidence on race day. A good system to develop if driving a faster car is a traffic light system. Straightaways are always green lights. Certain corners might be yellow lights, if it’s doable when the timing is right. Red lights are a no-go under any circumstance.
The last bit of pre-race advice is the easy stuff. If your race is twenty four hours long, expect to be awake for a long time. Sleep is hard when you know the car is pounding around the race track and that anxiety makes it hard to get good shuteye. If your gaming setup is in your bedroom, turn off your monitors if you need a nap. Take care of your mind and your body throughout the race, too. Eat healthy and hydrate to stay feeling good when the checkered flag falls.
GREEN FLAG! How to survive early-race carnage!
The green flag is out! You’ve done everything you can to prepare yourself and your team for the race! What’s next?
Main goal? Survive. The wackiest moments on-track are the first quarter of the race and the last quarter. Stay calm and make smart decisions. It is quite literally a marathon, not a sprint. Getting frustrated from minor mistakes or incidents and losing focus could result in not only your race being over, but the race of your teammates as well. It’s a whole war, not just one battle. In the 2023 iRacing Daytona 24, I went from last in-class to 4th overall by keeping the car on track and not making major mistakes. Unplanned pit stops are your enemy, avoid them at all costs!
Got caught up in the early race craziness? Keep your expectations fluid. Instead of shooting for the win, swallow your pride and shift the goal post. Keeping reasonable expectations is key for morale and keeps things loose. If the event has multiple start-times, consider jumping in another one if the team can swing it! If it isn’t an option, never give up! A lot can happen between the green flag and the checkered.
Share the track
© iRacing
CAUTION! Respecting competitors and how to race with class.
Remember, you’re sharing the track with other humans. Humans make mistakes. Anticipate that every car on the track is racing for their first time. Make them earn your trust. This may cost you small increments of time, but a twenty-minute damage repair from an unexpected divebomb is a race-ending scenario.
That doesn’t mean don’t treat the other cars with respect! If you cause issues with another team you’ll have to deal with the consequences for the whole race. It’s always better to make friends with other teams regardless of what class they’re in.
For multi-class specific endurance events, be patient. If you are in a lower class, hold your line when being overtaken and be predictable! It’s the job of the faster cars to find their way around you regardless of what they say on the radio. If you are in one of those faster classes, the same advice applies. Go for smart overtakes (use the traffic light system!) and try to communicate passes early. Use flashing headlines only when needed as it’s incredibly distracting to other drivers. Try to use as much non-verbal communication as you can, but your microphone is always a great last resort. Early on in the race, as a faster car, the slower cars will be in big groups. Be patient. They have a race to finish, too!
Don’t leave whoever is driving alone. Have someone spectate the race and answer questions the driver might have. If you’re a lower class in a multi-class event, let them know when faster cars are approaching. Set up pit stops for the driver so they don’t have to worry about anything else but driving. Even if they don’t need a crew chief, having someone to bounce ideas off of and talk to is calming and comforting.
Lastly, you win as a team and you lose as a team. No pointing fingers, no negativity. Be helpful to your teammates when you’re passing driving responsibilities off. Provide helpful information during the race. Endurance racing always reminds me of sleepovers when we were younger and that mentality is what makes these events such a blast.
Move from the back of the pack
© iRacing
CHECKERED FLAG! Finishing the race with heads held high.
Congrats! Or, better luck next time! Wherever your finish, don’t dwell too much on the result right after the race ends. Worry about getting some rest and then regroup when the team is ready. If things went really well, talk about it and what went right! If it was a disaster, try and analyze it with the group to see what you can improve on for next time. Remember to keep your criticism constructive and don’t point fingers. You’re all friends, or at least you should be after all the preparation and the race itself.
Even if the race was perfect and your team led flag-to-flag, there’s always somewhere you can improve. Growing and accomplishing your goals as a team is what makes this form of sim racing so rewarding and fun and as first-timers this should be your ultimate goal. Leave the race session with memories and a smile on your face regardless of where you finished. Being able to say you had a blast with your friends during an endurance race is a feeling that can’t be matched.
There are always leagues and groups hosting big races too, don’t be afraid to go looking around. iRacing isn’t the only sim-racing platform that hosts team events as well. Even games like Gran Turismo, a platform that doesn’t have the ability to switch drivers on the fly, still find ways to run endurance events that go off without a hitch.
Regardless of where and when, hopefully we see you on track. Good luck!
