Earlier this month, several prominent racing gamers and racing drivers gathered for a mega-event. They were all going to race in a virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans on the rFactor 2 simulator game. However, it would be a gross understatement to say that it was an utter disaster. The event unfolded so badly that it successfully p***ed off reigning F1 champion, Max Verstappen. Now, another big sim race event has come up, the 24 Hours of Daytona, on the iRacing platform, and NASCAR fans were hoping that there would not be a hitch.
One racer pointed out what was supposed to be a glitch, but did not expect a massive response from the Twitter community. According to the gamer, bump drafting was really difficult, as a tiny bump could result in a massive crash. However, people on Twitter insisted that something like this was relatively minor, compared to what went down at Le Mans. Verstappen even went on a rant about the issues and declared that he would uninstall the rFactor game.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
How did NASCAR fans react to the supposed Daytona issues?
Some people acknowledged that iRacing does have its issues. However, they also said that there were nearly 15,000 players competing at Daytona. Meanwhile, rFactor had issues with just 160 players, leading to a couple of long red-flag periods. Some did note that in the real world, bump drafting is not exactly looked upon very favorably.
Room temp iq https://t.co/8cv8CL6hsd
— Bricks (@Tbr1cks) January 22, 2023
Can’t really find any words for that just though😕 https://t.co/OhZzF9IRI6
— Jonas Wanner (@jonnydoubleyou) January 21, 2023
iRacing may have some weird netcode from time to time, that said there are 15,000 drivers racing the 24 Hours of Daytona right now. rFactor had 2 red flags when only 160 drivers were loaded in. There's a massive difference. https://t.co/goEPkYTrgu
— Forza Alex 🏎 🇮🇹 (@FormulaRacer420) January 21, 2023
I mean tbf I'm pretty sure you'd get penalized for bump drafting irl but I see your point https://t.co/13wYj3FCtI
— Martin 🏳️🌈 (@RobergMartin41) January 22, 2023
Few people even declared that it was hilarious that something as trivial as bump drafting was being criticized. The consensus was that getting bump-drafted into spins and crashes was at least somewhat tolerable. On the other end of the spectrum, getting disconnected from the server frequently was not going to fly at all. Other observations concluded that bump-drafting the car ahead while exiting a corner was never going to end well.
Arrogantly complaining about how bump drafting in a 24 hr sports car race didn’t work right is pretty damn funny.
Big time sim racing is delightfully awful. https://t.co/4Z9HKhkAuq
— Matthew Burroughs (@MJBurroughs) January 22, 2023
i'll take this shit over getting dc'ed from a race randomly over 4 times https://t.co/vn2gw9tI9S
— Eli🇵🇱🇺🇸 / ASCENT (@Draid___) January 22, 2023
Maybe just don't bump draft in the corner during a sports car race 🤷♂️ https://t.co/e1b1tdsDzv
— Noah Duister Designs🇨🇦 (@NDD_01_) January 22, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Not many people are dumb enough to bump draft in the turn and then blame the game when it goes badly, but there's always someone out there who will make any excuse they can to avoid taking responsibility for their own stupidity https://t.co/aRW3VeZSIW
— Brian Fletcher (@Brian_Fletcher) January 22, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
WATCH THIS STORY: NASCAR Made The Season Opener Even Special as Wiz Khalifa Will Take The Stage at The L.A Coliseum
One response read, “Don’t bump draft in the corners It’s a dangerous move to in NASCAR, why would you even think about in sports cars”. In a way, fans have a point, because when NASCAR drivers attempt a bump draft, it is usually on a straight. Getting into the back of another car while heading into or exiting a corner, is always going to end badly, just ask Denny Hamlin.