As the unpredictable year of 2016 was just hours from its conclusion, there was one more surprise in store, at least for the iRacing community. A new license had been signed with Porsche — a feat once unthinkable since the German automaker for years had exclusivity with a different game company.
Instantly, the anticipation kicked into overdrive for the debut of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, the newest version of which would be making its debut in both the real and virtual world in the coming months.
As a longtime driver of the Ruf C-Spec, iRacing’s knockoff version of a GT3 Cup car prior to the Porsche license, I was as excited as anyone to finally get a proper version of that car. And when the Porsche finally arrived, it was every bit as good as expected.
Elliott Skeer, a former Carrera Cup USA champion, lauded its realism.
“Every tendency that I’ve picked up to drive this car properly works exactly as is on here,” he said.
With data directly from Porsche, it seemed that my favorite car on iRacing had gotten even better.
Racing side-by-side with teammate Karl through the carousel.
The Shakedown
In my first laps in the Porsche, I noticed a few differences compared to the C-Spec. Namely, the Porsche handled bumps and kerbs with much greater ease. While it still suffers from occasional exit oversteer, that tendency seems easier to detect and adjust for in the new car.
That’s not to say it’s an easy car to drive, though. I suspect that new drivers will struggle most with the braking. In this car, it’s incredibly easy to lock up the brakes, scrubbing off speed and overheating the tires.
Of course, that’s by design. Porsche kept driving aids such as traction control and anti-lock brakes off the car to better identify driving talent. Likewise, there are few adjustable setup options both in the real and virtual versions.
While that makes it tougher to optimize a setup, it also makes the car that much more approachable. The baseline setup with fuel removed and the brake bias adjusted is a viable race setup, as are setups shared on the forums or on services like Virtual Racing School.
When I drove this car in both pre-season warmups and on the latest leg of my Summer Road Trip, I did very limited setup tuning and focused on the driving — solid advice for anyone hopping into this car for the first time, since no matter which setup you choose, you’ll still have to adapt to this car’s characteristics.
Locking up under braking is particularly easy in the Porsche.
Finding a Race
With so many things working in its favor — a realistic, fun-to-drive, easy-to-setup premier Porsche — this car has managed to avoid the drop in participation that has historically accompanied many of iRacing’s new releases.
Now in the third season after its debut, the Porsche Cup series still attracts a solid number of drivers, with at least two splits in most timeslots. Although the races are on the short side, lasting 25 minutes or less, even that time can feel exhausting if you’re locked in a close battle, as is common with this car.
A solid schedule certainly helps this series as well, with popular tracks from Le Mans to Bathurst to the Nordschleife. Another common favorite — Watkins Glen — was the site of the latest stop on my Summer Road Trip.
With official races going off every other hour all day long, one of my goals was to assess the competition during various time slots, including primetime races in Europe and in the Americas.
I also hoped to do some racing against my teammate Karl Modig. Although we’ve been working as endurance partners for more than three years, we’ve hardly raced head-to-head at all. And during the few races we have entered together, our direct competition always seems to be cut short by a crash or another car getting between us.
Perhaps, we thought, the Porsche could finally afford us the opportunity for a friendly fight from start to finish.
Our first race of the week gets underway.
The Pressure Builds
Our first race was in the 7:45 pm EDT time slot, which is after midnight across the pond but still featured a strong European contingent.
We qualified in 4th and 5th, with me barely edging Karl. Despite my advantage on the grid and more recent race experience with the Porsche, I knew I’d definitely be in for a fight.
After working with Karl for so long, I even knew where he’d probably be stronger than me: through the bus stop. (Of course, that’s probably not surprising given my struggles through Daytona’s bus stop in the Mustang.)
Following a smooth start and opening few laps, the cars in front were slowly pulling away and the cars behind were falling back. Karl and I, though, were locked in a tight battle, rarely separated by more than half a second.
A close four-way battle entering the boot.
I could tell he was strong from the bus stop through the boot section, but my runs through turn 1 and up the esses — aided, no doubt, by clean air and less aero push — were enough to keep him behind.
As the laps wound down, we caught the pair of cars ahead of us, which put Karl right on my bumper and within striking distance as we entered his best part of the track. However, his spin in the toe of the boot with two laps to go ended our battle, leaving me to fight for a podium position alone.
I had a chance on the final lap and I even made it side-by-side with two turns to go, but I couldn’t make the pass and settled for a fourth-place finish. Although I finished where I started and never passed another car all race, the close fights throughout made it feel like a well-earned result.
Side-by-side on the final lap while racing for third place.
Porsche Cup - Race 1
Wednesday, June 28 at 7:45 pm EDT • Strength of Field: 2813| Finish | Start | Interval | Laps Led | Fastest Lap | Incidents | Points | iRating | Safety Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | -7.339 sec. | 0 | 1:49.264 | 1 | 146 | 4490 (+31) | A 4.13 (+0.04) |
The Heat of the Day
We squared off again the next afternoon in the 5:45 pm EDT race — one of the top times for European drivers. In fact, I was the only US-based driver in the top split.
Despite the added competition, Karl and I again started side-by-side on the grid. This time, he had the edge in qualifying, putting him 6th and me 7th. Thanks to a better standing start, though, I again was ahead by turn 1.
That’s also where the craziness began around us. The race leader and the car ahead of me both spun on corner exit, which set up a minefield for us to navigate as we entered the esses. Fortunately, no early crashes would doom our race together this time, and we both made it through unscathed and inside the top five.
Chaos all around us at the start.
Karl applied the pressure well, and on lap 4, I overdrove the exit of the bus stop and surrendered the position. However, his advantage was short-lived, as on the following lap, he made the same mistake and gave the position right back.
As we ticked off the laps and he remained glued to the back of my car, we eventually ran up on a car that had been a few spots ahead but was falling back with some rear wing damage. I caught him on the frontstretch but didn’t want to divebomb him into turn 1, so I backed off and planned to wait until the backstretch to make the pass.
However, he braked extremely early, which forced me to lock up my brakes to avoid hitting him. That sent my car sliding sideways into the inside grass, and while I saved the car, I lost two positions, including one to Karl.
My skid entering turn 1 cost me two spots and ended my battle with Karl.
It didn’t take long for the positions to change again. Two cars ahead of me, including the one with damage, tangled entering the boot, which gave me those spots right back. By this point, Karl was several seconds ahead and in his own battle with another driver, which meant our one-on-one race to the finish would have to wait yet again.
In the end, Karl just lost out in his fight for second place while I cruised home in fourth. That finish was a nice improvement from where I started in a strong field, but I couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if I hadn’t been so patient with the damaged car.
“Maybe I’m too nice of a driver,” I told Karl after the race, second-guessing my decision not to attempt a pass entering turn 1.
Gaining back positions after a crash ahead of me.
Of course, given some of the other incidents in the race, it seems that patience is scarce among many top drivers in this series. The close competition facilitated by the Porsche almost invites aggression, which caused several cars to spin or tangle with one another throughout the race.
So while my patience may have cost me a position or two in the end, it probably kept me from losing plenty more if I had forced marginal moves earlier in the race.
Porsche Cup - Race 2
Thursday, June 29 at 5:45 pm EDT • Strength of Field: 3430| Finish | Start | Interval | Laps Led | Fastest Lap | Incidents | Points | iRating | Safety Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 7 | -15.602 sec. | 0 | 1:48.776 | 3 | 176 | 4538 (+48) | A 4.10 (-0.03) |
Into the Night
A few hours later, I ran my third and final race of the week at 9:45 pm EDT. By this time, most of the Europeans — or most of the fast ones, at least — were gone, and while there were still two splits of mostly American, Australian, and Asian drivers, the competition level was nowhere near as high.
I had almost double the iRating of the second-ranked driver in the top split, and while that certainly didn’t guarantee a win, it definitely established that expectation.
The victory seemed within reach after qualifying in first, but I faced a surprisingly strong challenge from the Brazilian driver in second place. I slowly pulled away from him, but any mistake — a cut corner, a spin, or a bobble behind a backmarker — could have easily brought him back into the fight.
With the lead in hand and no lapped cars in sight, I decided to see how consistent I could be, and I was pleasantly surprised by the result. In the final 10 laps of the race, just three tenths of a second separated all of my lap times, including four in a row within half a tenth of one another.
Buoyed by those consistent laps, I came across the finish line with a 6 second lead and scored the first win of my Summer Road Trip. Although it didn’t come in the strongest field or after a close battle with my teammate, it did give me confidence as I continue my weekly whiparound journey from one series to the next.
Crossing the line to win for the first time this summer.
Porsche Cup - Race 3
Thursday, June 29 at 9:45 pm EDT • Strength of Field: 2021| Finish | Start | Interval | Laps Led | Fastest Lap | Incidents | Points | iRating | Safety Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Winner | 13 | 1:49.038 | 1 | 119 | 4570 (+32) | A 4.15 (+0.05) |
No Substitute
After a few races in the Porsche, I can see why so many drivers keep coming back to this series each season. It provides the sort of challenges that racers live for: a slightly temperamental car that’s fun to drive, and as such, is easy to battle with but tough to pass.
My past experience in this car and its predecessor made tackling those challenges slightly easier, so I wondered throughout the week whether a driver fresh out of the Mustang could successfully make the leap into the Porsche.
With a bit of practice, I think they could. While the Porsche does have more power, it requires the same sort of adjustments for exit oversteer as in the Mustang. Again, the braking is likely to be the main hurdle for anyone jumping into this car, but that’s true whether you’re coming from the Mustang, the Mercedes, or pretty much any other car.
To make the transition up the ladder a bit smoother, perhaps iRacing could benefit from an intermediate car like something from the GT4 class.
But would anyone race it?
Even three seasons after its initial release, the Porsche remains a popular choice for racers, many of whom forego cars like the Mustang to jump straight into the Porsche Cup series.
And given how fun this car is to drive and how close the racing can be, who can blame them?