As you guys know, I spent a ton of time online racing with Gran Turismo. That scene is dying out with the delay of the new game and players defecting to other games. So I finally broke down and bought a subscription to iRacing. It's the online racing simulator (don't call it a game) that tons of professional drivers use as well as thousands of amateurs. They offer road racing, oval racing, and dirt track career paths where you race against drivers of similar ability and safety ratings. They have spec miata events on an hourly basis with revolving tracks for rookie drivers but advanced drivers participate as well. The safety rating system is very strict and making contact with other cars will drop your rating quickly so drivers try to keep things clean. In the rookie rooms, it's more about avoiding drivers and waiting for them to crash themselves. However, everyone is pretty serious and competitive and they expect you to be checking your mirrors.
Last night the track for spec miata changed over to Limerock Park. It's the old track before the paving job. The fast drivers could lap the track under 57 seconds. I was stuck around 1:00 until I had a breakthrough and started seeing mid 58s. The track is extremely intense even in a video game. There are no breaks and every corner is fast and on the edge of grip. The old pavement throws the wheel around worse than any other track I've driven in a game. You know all this, you've been there. Maybe because I've been there it adds another level of intensity. Every crash I've seen in person I have now seen and/or experienced myself in just 4 hours of virtual track time. The game handles unexpected oversteer in turn 1, the imbalance of the car transitioning from the lefthander to no name, the loss of traction cresting the uphill, and the way you get shot out of the final turn onto the straight exactly like being there in real life. It's emotionally draining to keep the car at the limit and flowing around all the corners for 20 laps. There are no heavy braking zones, just slight lifts and light scrubbing of the brakes to get the car to rotate without breaking traction, and if you brake even slightly too much the guy behind you comes right up on your bumper like you're standing still. I have a new found respect for this track and the drivers that can pull off 2+ hour stints.
I also dabbled in the late model street stock 3/4 mile oval racing. It's a bit of a s*** show with drivers all over the place at the start, but once you get into a rhythm it can be fun. You just stay on someone's bumper until they make a mistake, even the slightest bobble or hint of over/understeer from your opponent and you need to be ready to pounce.