I'm finding there's a TON of community based add-ons and tools for iRacing, so I thought I'd start a thread to highlight those which (I at least) have found to be quite useful. Feel free to add your own...

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

iRacing FFB Tool

This tool is for adjusting / setting the force feedback level of your wheel. You'll find that there is an optimal force feedback setting for each car / track.

Here's the issue... When your force feedback is set too high, your wheel feedback will max out and you'll loose resolution. For example, you won't feel a difference between running over a curb and slamming into a wall. The tools allows you to see when you're maxing out your force feedback, and will even suggest a setting that will keep you just below the threshold.

Likewise, if your force feedback is set too low, you'll not be able to feel the more sublet feedback that's available.

The advantage here is that with the optimal force feedback setting you will be able to distinguish between various feedbacks and give you a better idea of what the car is doing.

And it's FREE!

Here's the link to the tool: http://fergotech.net/iracing-ffb-tool/

And here's an iRacing forum link that provides more detail: http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts ... 13166.page

[EDIT: This no longer works since iRacing updated its force feedback physics. However, the current iRacing build has a built-in force feedback meter that can be displayed in real-time, which is useful for adjusting your settings.]

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Where's the plugin to add more free time?

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2005 Forester XT (Daily/B2Tuned), 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS P4WD Class Rally Car, 2006 WRX RallyCross Car (Sponsors: Rally-Tech, Great North Performance, ISI Automotive)
Check out: Rally East, The Ledwidge Lookoff Rally

I'm afraid there is no "plug-in" to add free time but there is a "pull-the-plug" !!!

Simple... don't install baby@home.

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

DIY G27 Brake Vibration

Here's a link Scott sent me a while ago for the DIY force feedback brake pedal mod:

http://fergotech.net/diy-g27-brake-vibration/



This is next on my project list after triple monitors...

Stacy

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The fricton circle for my 911 Porsche resembles more of an oblong... I'm either trailbraking or accelerating while trying to get it to turn!

iRaceDash Virtual Dashboard

Here's something I use every time I'm on iRacing. It's an Android and iOS application that acts as a virtual dashboard. In my case I use my iPad.

Probably the most useful part of the main screen to me is the Gear Shift Indicator LEDs (especially on car that don't have any like the Skippy) and the Fuel Gauge.

It also has Fuel Settings, where you can adjust how much fuel to add at your next pit stop.

Likewise, you can also use it to adjust tire settings.

In the video above, dude has it running on two devices simultaneously. One is an iPod Touch stuck to his wheel for controlling fuel & tire settings. Pretty cool.

Here's the website for more info: http://www.iracedash.com/

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Motion Cockpit View

Although I think it might make me sea sick, this may be an alternative to a $$$ full motion simulator...

http://motion_view.byethost4.com/




For those that may not see the difference here is another video showing a side by side comparision of what the software does:



Stacy

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The fricton circle for my 911 Porsche resembles more of an oblong... I'm either trailbraking or accelerating while trying to get it to turn!

Actually Stacy, after Motion Cockpit View was developed, iRacing added an equivalent feature to its build. So Motion Cockpit View has been rendered obsolete now.

The built-in iRacing feature is referred to as DriverHeadHorizon and DriverRotateHead. I use it myself and find it very helpful in feeling when the car is understeering and feeling the track's camber / elevation changes.

Here's a couple forum links that explain it in detail:

• Undocumented ("Hidden") Feature: DriverHeadHorizon - http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts ... 57504.page
• Undocumented ("Hidden") Feature: DriverRotateHead - http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts ... 90630.page

After experimenting with different values, here are the settings I chose to use:

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I kinda have some mods applied that simulate that "motion cockpit" view... my view "bobbles" around a bit more than normal, and I actually like it. It's easier to sense when the car is able to step out and save it.

EDIT: Yea what McIntyre said.....
BTW McIntyre what's the link to the voice commands feature?

I may try that tonight as well as the "Trading Paint" service.
http://www.tradingpaints.com/

From what I've heard this "Trading Paint" addon for iRacing is supposed to be very good, and (correct me if I'm wrong) is somewhat endorsed by iRacing.

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

You're getting ahead of me! I was gonna wait until I had it up & working before posted about it.

VOICE Crew Chief w/ GlovePie: http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/7206.page

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

TradingPaints



I almost forgot about this one... Once you have it setup, it's so seamless you forget it's there!

Basically you install this 3rd-party application, and it allows you to see other people's custom paint schemes while in-game. Likewise, you can create you own custom paint schemes and make them available for others to see as well.

I have it setup on my machine to automatically launch at startup, download the latest paint schemes, and then quit. So every time I reboot, I get the latest latest paint schemes. I've seen some pretty wild ones on cars during various races. It's pretty cool. I haven't tried making my own paint scheme (yet) but at least with the program installed I can see other's custom paint schemes on their cars. Best of all, it's FREE!

Again, more info can be found at: http://www.tradingpaints.com/

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

iSpeed - iRacing HUD and Lap Analyzer

This is another tool I use every time I startup iRacing. It's similar to iRace Dash in that it'll display various information in a separate window / monitor / device, but it's MUCH more than that.

Here are some of key features:

• Heads up display of pertinent data.
• Supports second monitors, windowed mode, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android, Kindle Fire, etc.
• Voice announcements of Splits / Trap Speeds / Lap Times (via Windows Text To Speech)
• Can show +/- speed and deltas for someone else's lap file - while you're driving.
• Auto-saves your best laps so you can look at them later.
• Lap Analyzer to compare your lap with others.
• Includes a "Datamart" with other people's lap files for you to download / compare with your own (many thousands of laps availble to download).
• Can load save files and looking at user input (brake, throttle, steering angle, gear), drive path, and speed.

Since I already have iRace Dash, I don't really use iSpeed for its heads up display. I do use it for getting my average fuel consumption per lap. This is very helpful for determining how much fuel you need to start the race with. I also keep it running so that it'll save my telemetry, for use in the Lap Analyzer. It automatically uploads your fastest lap, so others can use it for comparison and vice versa.

I haven't fully utilized the Lap Analyzer aspect, but know it's there to help me reach that next level when I plateau. Best of all, it's FREE!

Here's a link for more info: http://www.nessoft.com/ispeed/

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Game Booster 3

While not iRacing specific, this freeware can certainly improve your iRacing experience.

Before I start up iRacing, I always manually shut down any nonessential programs (email, utorrent, media server, instant messengers, etc) beforehand so that iRacing gets as much of the systems resources as possible. Then after I'm done racing, I have to manually restart everything back up again.

Game Booster 3 makes this process (and more) as simple as clicking one button. One click will temporarily shut down multiple background processes and unnecessary Windows services, cleaning RAM, and intensifying processor performance. It concentrates every little system resource for gaming only.

After trying it out last night, I'll be using this going forward. It automates my old manual process, and takes it several steps further for even better performance.

Here's a link for more info: http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Hmmm...will have to try that out...

Thanks Scott.

iSpeed just put out a new release with some additional features. One in particular I find quite interesting...

Auto-Archive of Setups - new feature to auto-archive setup files. This will auto-save a copy of your fastest setups - if you like making setup tweaks, iSpeed will now save a copy of your setup after you complete a lap, and will save it with a name indicating what your laptime was. Each time you drive faster with that setup, the setup will be renamed with the date/time and lap time. If you change your setup, the old setup will remain. This feature will make sure you don't lose your fastest setups when you're tweaking to try and find a faster one.

I had it running last night while I was practicing & qualifying for the Skip race, trying different setups in search of that one fast lap. I later looked in my setups folder and found that iSpeed had saved each setup I tried and included my best lap time within the file name. Pretty cool!

Did I mention it's FREE?

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

While on the topic of iSpeed, here is an excellent guide to using the iSpeed Lap Analyzer. The author describes how he used the tool to go from mid-pack to a front-runner!

Link: http://www.schulzworld.com/images/iRaci ... a_time.pdf

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Now this tool definitely looks useful. I run a dual screen setup, so the second screen is pretty useless so having something helpful like this will definitely be a good use of space, especially when it comes time to start setting up cars.

Does anybody sell a Brake Vibration kit to add on to a brake pedal ...without going the DIY approach

(I have no idea what a Arduino board is or how to input it's source code, nor do I want to learn...)

Thanks
Stacy

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The fricton circle for my 911 Porsche resembles more of an oblong... I'm either trailbraking or accelerating while trying to get it to turn!

Not that I'm aware of.

An Arduino board is circuit board: http://www.arduino.cc/

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Danger Paint

I think this is an awesome idea... You can paint all idiot's cars with a "danger paint" so whenever you see them on track, you know to "watch out"! I'm gonna start doing this for anyone I protest.

Danger paint is here: http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts ... ge#3572219

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I started using this last night.
I recorded my practice, quali and race laps. Also noticed that it records everyone else's laps in the session too.
So I was able to compare my best lap vs the best lap in the session. I don't know what their setup is sadly, but I was able to compare lines, braking/shifting/ points, throttle application, G forces, wheelspin and more. I only spent a few minutes after the race last night reviewing it but it looks to be good info.

Scott said it's free, which is technically true, but if you want to unlock everything in it, it's $15 (which isn't bad).
For example, the web browser and applet so you can see all your info at a glance while driving doesn't fully work until you buy it.
That's not that important to me, but I suspect there are other things I may want and be willing to spend $15 to get.

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I don't believe iSpeed will record everyone else's laps in the session.

It does record your own laps and will automatically upload your best lap to the Datamart (by default). So if there were others running iSpeed in the same session, their best lap would have been automatically be uploaded too. That's probably what you were seeing.

I personally don't use web interface. I just let iSpeed run in the background collecting data on my native machine. For real-time data, I use the "black boxes" in iRacing and iRaceDash on my iPad.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

After the race last night I compared my 1:51.4 lap against someone else's 1:45.5 lap that was recorded during one of our practice sessions.

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Racing Rivals

This is a neat application that provides all kinda of information about your iRacing career as well as direct comparisons to others.

For instance... Want to know who you've raced against the most?

Want to do a direct comparison between you and a friend (rival) in the races you've shared?

Various stats like highest scoring race, most incidents in a race, riskiest driver raced, etc.?

Which car(s) you've raced the most? Which car gives you the most average points?

Or how about graphing your iRating & license class progression (with higher resolution than the iRacing site)?

Ha ha! Maybe I shouldn't show that graph. ^

Anyway, it shows lots of interesting stuff. See the following link for more detail on Racing Rivals: http://www.samiad.co.uk/blog/?page_id=695

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Seat Adjustment Script

Just recently tried this out and it works great. It allows you to virtually slide your seat forward / backward and adjust the seat height up & down... Even shift your seat left / right. All without changing your FOV (field of view).

It can be helpful if you want to get a better view of your gauges or want to sit higher so you can see the front of the car.

For more details, see the following iRacing Forums thread: http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts ... 09011.page

[EDIT - This no longer works now that iRacing introduced a 64-bit version of the sim.]

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

http://simxperience.com/Products/SimVib ... tware.aspx

This past weekend I installed SimVibe.

I already had two aura pro bass shakers installed on my rig, running off the game sound. While it provided a cool effect, it was somewhat limited. iRacing doesn't seem to have a lot of low frequency sounds, so the vibration was lacking compared to other racing titles.

Simvibe uses the games telemetry data to fire the shakers versus game sound, so you get much more accurate effects. Plus it's highly configurable. With all the hype it's been getting in the iRacing forums, I was excited to try it out myself.

To get it working, I first had to pick up another sound card. The software needs its own dedicated sound output. So if you're using speakers or headphones with a 3.5mm jack, you'll need another card for Simvibe. I got a cheap $30 Asus Xonar DG from Future Shop.

Simvibe has two different modes: chassis and extensions. Chassis provides directional feedback from all four corners and is the ultimate setup, but you need 4 shakers and a 4-channel amplifier. Currently I only have 2 shakers mounted on my rig and a 1-channel amp, so I selected the (non-directional) extensions mode.

There are a number of different effects you can add in extensions mode. I chose engine RPM vibration, gear shift clunk, impact, and road bumps. To get the most out of the software you really need to spend some time tweaking the settings for your particular application. I probably spent about an hour last night getting mine to a decent setting.

Overall, it's pretty damn cool. Much more immersive than using game audio alone. Now the whole rig vibrates in sync with the force feedback of the wheel, plus the extra effects like gear changes, engine vibration, etc. I'd go so far as to say that SimVibe doubles the effectiveness of the bass shakers. And I haven't even experienced the directional chassis mode yet. I do have two more shakers (for a total of four) but don't have a 4-channel amp to run them. Will get one soon.

So is it worth the price of admission? I'd say not. Maybe if the whole setup could be had for < $100, but that's simply not the case. $70 for the software. $30 for the sound card. Shakers are about $40 each. And an amp will be $100 to $300. It adds up quick!

If I were starting from scratch, there's no way I would have done it. But since I already have the shakers (bought them years ago), I figured I might as well make the most of them. And running them off telemetry data is worlds better than just game audio.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Simvibe Part 2

Never able to leave well enough alone, I decided to take SimVibe one step further and upgrade from two bass shakers running mono on 1-channel, to four bass shakers running on 4-channels.

I already had all four bass shakers on-hand, but didn't have a 4-channel amplifier to run them. After lots of time searching eBay / kijiji / audiophile forums, I could not find a suitable amplifier for less than $300-400. So i decided to build my own!

Using this 4x100W audio amplifier board and 350W power supply from Parts Express, I was able to build what I needed for only $100. Plus it's a lot less bulky.

With all the necessary parts on-hand, I attached them to my rig and wired them up.



Now I'm able to run SimVibe in chassis mode, which means independent directional feedback from all four corners. For example, if my virtual car's front left wheel hits a bump or curb in-game, then I feel it in the front left corner of my rig. It's pretty cool!

Here's a recent review Simvibe by Inside Sim Racing if you'd like to learn more. They rated the software a 10/10 and a "must have" for sim racing, especially if you already have (or plan to get) bass shakers.

I'm not quite done tinkering yet though... My rig is constructed of MDF (medium-density fibreboard) which acts like a big sponge and does not transmit vibrations all that well. So my ultimate plan it to build a new rig from tubular steel. That should really liven things up.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

You need to gelcoat that thing and add speed decals!

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2005 Forester XT (Daily/B2Tuned), 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS P4WD Class Rally Car, 2006 WRX RallyCross Car (Sponsors: Rally-Tech, Great North Performance, ISI Automotive)
Check out: Rally East, The Ledwidge Lookoff Rally

Each speed decal is worth 1gb of video ram!

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental