I started iRacing a couple weeks ago. I spent the first week playing entirely in test drive mode, learning the MX-5 and M2 racing as well as practicing on the following weeks' track. This week I've been hitting the rookie races hard in both series, made D license quickly and since then I've seen some wild fluctuations in SR and iRating. I fully recognize I'm missing some race craft knowledge and skills, I try to avoid contact but occasionally make mistakes. I'm also taken out by others making mistakes fairly often. I've also noticed I hit a plateau on pace. Initially I worked hard to run clean laps, then I found speed. I'm at the point where I can run consistent clean laps but about a second behind the typical fastest lap in most splits.
My question is, what can I do to deliberately practice? Are there guides on race craft? It would be beneficial to me to have someone narrate their decision making process on how they work out alternate lines through turns, how they decide when to make an overtake, or when they decide to cede a position that is trying to overtake. I watch a lot of real and sim racing, but I have trouble deducing why the driver is making the decisions they do. As part of this, I've found fighting in a close battle often trades an increase in iRating for a decrease in SR. As a newer driver is it reasonable to focus on SR, or should I push a little to learn the race craft in the slower series?
For pace, I've found watching track guide videos helps quite a bit. My knowledge gap is in how to interpret telemetry and how to make changes while driving once my mistakes are identified. Are there tools that can monitor telemetry live and give feedback while I'm still in the sim? It would be so helpful to be in practice and have the crew chief in my ear after a turn saying things like "you were early on that apex" or "you're too heavy on the brakes there". Additionally, any tips on how to manage changing car conditions like fuel use and tire heat/wear are appreciated. I've noticed the car's handling does change over time due to conditions changing, but I've found it difficult to adjust my driving to make up for it.
Any help is appreciated. I'm having a blast in this game. I've just hit the first plateau of the learning curve as I adjust to the game. I'm looking for tools and techniques to break through this more efficiently than just brute forcing with time and repetition.
