iRacing Just Changed Rookie Street Stocks FOREVER 

I noticed this last night in the UI and thought something was bugged. I am glad they finally changed this. I agree with you that it will improve oval racing overall as people will race with better drivers earlier in their iRacing career. YAY IRACING

I raced a rookie street stock recently. Blew their minds when I explained how you can get a car to turn with the brakes. I think it’s a good idea letting rookies mingle with higher licensed drivers.

You don’t even want to know how depressed I was that I got out of rookies and couldn’t race this anymore. This is a HUGE change and hopefully brings about a better introduction to rookies like you touched on. Rookies exclusively racing rookies to just grind and get out of rookies made it FUN but still a wreck fest lol. I loved whipping around for a handful of laps and the closest I got to keeping it alive was running ARCA as my main until I hit an a license hahaha. So happy to see this open up to me again!!

You make some really good points. I didn't realize that anyone would race rookie street stocks enough to get such a high iRating before moving on. If they do that now, they will get placed with people at that iRating, and either learn from them, or at least not keep inflating their iRating to level that they probably don't deserve yet. The thing that turns me off from doing it myself is the fact that the series runs at only 4 tracks.

I thought this was just for week 13! I'm overjoyed to know that I can race Rookie Street Stocks again. My absolute favorite :)

Time for me to show the youngsters how you drive at a short track >:) (by being clean and driving fast)

I understand the 'being scared to race' thing - I built my oval iRating based on running lots of Indy Fixed and before I took some enforced time away I was scared to try NASCAR series or short track stuff because I was paranoid that my hard earned 2.1K iRating would fall. Came back last month post-IndyCar licence fiasco and so decided that I'd prioritise stock car stuff on the oval side so started running Open Late Models (also a D class series, no yellows) and found that not only was it generally pretty clean and great fun but that I was wrong to be scared: my irating has only gone up since I started running despite taking eighteen months off and switching from a superspeedway-based high speed high downforce single seater to a stock car with no downforce almost exclusively on short tracks. Perhaps there's something there on the universality of racecraft (I find that I'm that guy that races pretty consistently without winning a lot but I tend to get to the finish) or its just luck and I sink like a stone going forward. Had I noticed this I actually might have done Rookie Street Stocks over the Late Model; might still relive my roots from eight years ago and go back to it. I actually remember it being shockingly clean and great fun but perhaps I got lucky.

I love this change, and can't wait to jump into a race! I don't look at it as "rookie" Street Stocks, I look at it as an opportunity for quick short track races, every hour, with no cautions. Hopefully the toxicity that is C Street Stocks stays in C, and these are more fun!

I've been racing in the Mazda series and having the A - C rated drivers mixed in is great to learn from. Just interacting with them and being in a position to follow and observe. I'm starting Rookie Street practice today.

Believe it or not, the Rookie Street Stocks (or the Rookie Legends which had that slot before the Street Stocks came out) did not always lock out people Class C and up. Looks like that change happened around 2013 or so. The main goal for the change was to stop people farming the rookie series to gain iRating, as I recall. Also to benefit the then-newly created C Class Street Stock series.

I was honestly baffled with the fact about D class having least incident count but then you explaining with it being open to all levels made a lot more sense.

So glad this is a thing, i've been requesting this for years. I don't plan on racing, but go in practices to help the rookies. I was off work today, so i was spending lots of time today helping rookies learn race craft and learn to be around cars. Sure I got wrecked more times than I could count, but I was happy to get wrecked, because it was helping people. They could finally race close to people and hit them/wreck them without that person screaming at them. Which is why i've been requesting it for years. Just to help people learn to race and be faster. I just wish more people would do that.

Tip for new drivers and drivers trying to improve…When you see someone in your mirror who’s faster don’t freak out and just run your line and if you’re uncomfortable just let them go on by. So many times I get behind someone and they immediately start to overdrive their car instead of maintaining the line and pace they were running before I caught them. A faster driver will know how to cleanly(usually)pass you without much need for you to worry about them hitting you or taking you out. Stay smooth, give room if someone gets position on you, and try not to get nervous if someone is in your mirror. It shows you’re a confident driver and helps to build trust when you’re not erratic around others. Also, set your rear view mirror FOV in options to 83 degrees for a more accurate visual of how close in proximity another car is to you. And most import of all…please run the relative black box to see how close someone is. Just press F3 hot key while in car to bring it up.

I had a very similar experience in that I won my first 5 races on iracing in the rookie mx5 series and as I progressed I was getting upset that I was being put against drivers exponentially better than I was and it made me not want to race at the time. I had to kick myself out of that mindset and just start racing

I know why they don't include it BUT I still argue that cautions should begin at D class. No cautions Rookie through D lead to people learning to not check up for trouble and curates the mindset that you have to drive through it to not lose touch with the field. THen when they get to C with yellow flags they are the people who don't lift and instead run over the people checking up.

Excellent observations

This is an amazing change. When I started racing on iRacing, I stayed in Rookie Street Stocks long enough to participate in a complete season (while it was 2 tracks) and got up to a 3k irating and maintained a D4.99 SR despite the reputation for races being wreck fests. I wanted to participate in the other oval racing series but knew I would miss out on the caution free races I had so much fun with, particularly Charlotte. The ARCA cars didn't have the same feel as Street Stock and the cautions in the Class C Street Stock made some races unbearable. The rating drop I experienced when leaving didn't bother me and was temporary as I improved with more races. I look forward to seeing how this affects the races in the series and the rest as new drivers progress.

I’ll probably do rookie street stocks the same reason so many people do rookie Mazdas. It’s an easy schedule that always runs, always has good participation, and it’s okay if you’re not the fastest. As long as you’re clean. I miss racing them, as it felt like winning or losing didn’t matter as much. As a euro oval driver, I either drive late in the evening, or get single or double split races, which aren’t very exciting to do. And having to learn multiple tracks is also something I sometimes just don’t have time for.

This is a great change, people thought it would have seal clubbin but that is what irating is about and license level is about safety rating. In ovals the differences in laps isn't even as big as the MX-5 Cup series and their rookies race with everyone too which is much harder as you have to learn and get proficient at like 5-6 tracks and way more corners instead of 2-3 with 4 corners each.

I kinda wish it had been like this when I first subbed, I got out of rookies in a couple of days by not dying but didn't actually feel ready to progress. Not feeling like I was good enough to move up meant I found Advanced Legends and SK Modified which are series I feel like I could just run forever and always do when I resub. Both those series had drivers from D to A and I felt like I learned a lot from them.

I love this change. I asked them to do this weeks ago in a email. I only have base content and never wanted to try new stuff for fear of going beyond class D and losing access to this series. Now I can without having to worry about the class I'm, just like road. If you check the forums, they said that now with the high number of drivers the splits should be much better than before and that's why they made the change, and also to have consistency with the road rookie series.

i know this video is two months old but i started racing competitively with a new ACTUAL gaming pc (still just racing in my free time) and i've realized that a) i always have been trying to let drivers that ik are better than me let them pass me so i can run their line and understand grooves and went to brake went to get back into the gas and stuff. for me personally this is very very helpful to not only race against these higher ranked opponents but also to be able to study their moves and take a little from this drive and a little from that one and kinda perfect my own craft. i've also always tried to race clean and this is definitely helping me not only race clean but also competitively. i usually tend to just try to not wreck other people or touch other people which led to me putting myself into the wall or just not racing other racers at all with the fear i was going to get frowned upon accidentally wrecking someone. I did four rookie street stock races tonight (first online races btw) and not only had fun but was competitive and up front especially when i was watching the great guys run the perfect line. i did try crossing the leader over and got underneath him and accidentally spun him and don't get me wrong i feel terrible about it but that was me just being too over aggressive but yet again there was two laps to go. anyways this new change to put higher ranked racers with rookies like me has been helping me and definitely something i wish other racers could experience as well!!

I'm loving street stocks! Been on iracing for a week - 33 for the week and top rookie. The competition got so much better and got away from the squirrels after I got my irating above 1600

Honestly, I like it. I am new to iRacing but race in real life so I had a decent idea of what it would take to be fast. I've been at it a month, have made it up to C class and won a handful of races. I'm currently at a 1880 iRating and was placed in a Rookie street stock race with someone who had and iRating of 7799...he of course won the race and I was 3rd but it allowed me to realize that I have a ways to go to be at that level of iRacing. I enjoy the challenge and once I saw that he ran a 14.90 to my 15.07 that just made me want to learn how he was going to much faster.

I decided to get into ovals a few days ago, my only experience being a few months ago in the trucks. I didn't know what to expect since I'm usually road only but I'm glad this happened right as I started to try it, because it's the only thing I've been doing since! I'd heard they could be intense but Jesus, some of these races are on a different level with how much focus and thinking you need to maintain or gain positions. Still have a long way to go though, I only just managed to get into a 36 on Charlotte during qualy in my last race

I LOVE IRACING!!! I have all the sims and by far love the experience provided by the team at iRacing. I even have two hoodies and a toque, I’m a cheerleader 😊

Kind of excited to run maybe a few pros sometime as I'm planning on staying oval in iRacing. It'll really elevate the play field and help people learn by just being behind the fastest cars on the track.

I noticed this on day 1 and every NASCAR fan will understand what I say when I had this first thought: *WE CAN GO BUSCHWACKING! lol*

i was wondering why i was able to race rookies again! so much fun at charlotte.

Can't wait to run Charlotte!

I ended up with more than 2k irating from street stock rookies and the process after reaching C class was enough to make me drop the service for a long time.

Oh my lord finally !!! Really happy about this.

i like this change cause it will lower the incident rate and won't be a demo derby cause i remember get wrecked all the time at charlotte cause of people with no racecraft i will definitely race these again the short tracks may be better now

Rookie street stocks used to be open to everyone when I started. Rookie street stocks were completely different, more competitive and definitely harder to win when even if you were a new rookie almost every single race you’d be against an A class driver. Where it sucked was when you were an a class driver who liked street stocks and had to race against rookies, which is why they made the c class series which just never got the traction that it should have (granted haven’t been on in a few years that might’ve changed) I’m interested to see if it still has the same effect

Im new to iRacing, so ive only ever been exposed to racing this way in stock racing. But bringing in better racers it absolutely does bleed into the over all decorum of the track. This will clean up Rookies which in turn cleans up all racing on the way up. I can only speak to my own experience but the ONLY difference between me and the next generation of incredible Stock car drivers is time. I know this for CERTAIN, because this hobby has its barbs in me pretty good. It owns all my free money and time already lol. My kids are grown so I have a little to spare now lol.

Didn't realise they made this change, might have to get the street stock out again.

I lost 143 irating in my first race, 10/10 would recommend

it's not new to me. I was promoted D license like a year ago, but I never bought the ARCA or any other car for ovals and I kept racing the oval series casually. both legends and street stocks, rookie series. I get your point and agree about rookies learning from experimented players but I don't see the change

I love this because it gives rookies like me a chance to learn from veterans, I might not win but it would make me a better driver

I think this is a good change, although arguably the point about learning racecraft may not be entirely valid as those who really need to learn are typically going to be out of the race by lap 5 and learn nothing. Or they will all be stuck in bottom splits with drivers with equally poor racecraft.

I like the change but wish they would change C streeters to open setup and or/add an open an open class along with the fixed

I like these street stock in road circuits

An a class driver held of the dirty drivers and gave p2

My heart says go race a Charlotte street stock race my SR says no. Charlotte is about the only race I run with the C class street stock cars it's like a mini super speedway race.

We’ve only had street stock like 10 years and they locked it up like 8 years ago I’m pretty sure… unless I just ignored it when I was younger. Swore legends was the only thing we had at the time… idk I’m probably wrong

i went from rookie street stocks, to d class late models, to c class street stocks, to xfinity to cup, ik its weird, but its how i went

I’m glad they opened up the rookie Street stock. My only issue is how bad they penalize A or B class drivers when you get for example, a 4x you will lose point .2 safety rating it’s just simply not worth it

One thing that helped me is the AI format. It helped me get used to being around other cars before getting into the real racing.

Last time i did a rookie street stock someone got mad at someone else and tried to take me out once then parked in the middle of the racing line corner exit of a short track making me t-bone him Goodish race tho Still finished 2nd

i love hopping into a rookie ss at charlotte every so often. So glad i can now cancel my 2nd account just for that.

Seems to me if pros can come down to rookie races and hurt rookies chances of winning then rookies should be allowed to race pro races and hurt their chances of winning as well.. I can see better drivers wanting to race withe new drivers to pad their win stack.. I ve never played this game but I've been looking at it for a month now and as I'm a seasonal worker I'm planning on setting myself up with a sim rig and iracing this November..

Proves why Kyle Busch should be able to run xfinity and trucks freely

Wow I don’t know that if you’re not a D class or rookie you can’t race in those series Just got in class c so I’m lucky lmao

Race craft is the biggest issue across the board, everyone thinks they are the next pro because that's how it is presented to you when you are joining. But they dont give other then a small pdf any rules for new people to follow. I grew up around racing so I have a different view at race craft and the "unwritten rules" around racing, I think if they had videos that covered the different types of racing they offer and go in depth of the series and its tendencies. For example, you might let new people to oval racing know that slight contact can and will happen throughout a race. If all i have ever raced is rookie Miata's I probably wont be happy when I join rookie street stocks and people start bumping me. Just my 2 cents, a lot more can be done both on the community side and the development side of iRacing. R6 Siege has implemented a "reputation" service where you can commend someone for helping you or your team do well, why not add something like that to iRacing?

I just started with street stocks, think this change is more than welcome 😊

I’m trash… I’m clean and safe, but just terrible at racing and very slow. Should I drop back and join rookie SS? Would that help someone like me?

I wonder how Irating will work for A class drivers....Im super pumped for this

i dont know what the hell you're talking about but i used to pop in as a B class racer, all you had to do was turn the "meets mpr" filter off

I don’t think this will change much. iRating is at play even in rookie class, so it’s going to still be mainly rookies against rookies due to them all having the same starting iRating. I might be wrong though. Who knows

This is a huge money saving opportunity. No more paywall for oval drivers to keep running stock cars after promoting out of rookies!

Eh all the rookie race is raced with them some were clean but most were wreckfests so I probably won’t be going back

always thought it was weird iracing did this. When I was in the Mazda rookie series it was cool to see As with high iratings and trying to follow their line.

Sure it's great but what they do to your SR racing I'm this series isn't worth it , Won't be fun at all ..and these cars are fun ! They really need to work the incident penalties before this is worth it

I think anytime they open up series for everyone, its a win... Though I do enjoy multiple series across the licensing.. Like the way miata's are. Rookie series open to higher level drivers shouldn't hurt anything with irating keeping it somewhat at bay... But I would enjoy seeing street stocks and ARCA move into C territory at times to incorporate Longer events and cautions.

It was a complete wreck-fest with only limited to rookies and D class. This is a massive step up!

I race everything, which I know is kind of a bad idea, I dont like racing modified's because though

But people just farm this for iratting and wins

I don’t envision many experienced drivers bothering. I generally dread dropping a series or two to race with a buddy. Rookies is a trial by far. If you can get out you’re showing people that you can stay clean enough to move on. The more unpredictable drivers in there the better. Shows you that you need to drive defensively or accept the ramifications. It doesn’t take long to move on and then it’s over.

The Whole Point in Iracing Is SEPERATION of Class -i completley disagree , seems like another copout from iracing to not have to create and matain these races for higher classes aka being cheap , it also will rob rookies of most of there chances to win races or place high not to mention the caos that will incur from rookies on track with pro drivers , this seperation is the main reason people play iracing , its also a great way to hide the fact that rookie series are getting empty due to less new people on iracing , all in all this is a teriable move for iracing