What makes a sim feel alive isn’t a flashy launch; it’s teams that keep building, communities that keep showing up, and drivers willing to grow beyond hotlaps. We kick off with a heartfelt farewell to Eric, swap travel notes, and then head straight into the spicy stuff: Max Verstappen’s GT3 win at the Ring. Was it proof of elite, transferable racecraft—or a PR-boosted outlier? We disagree (loudly), but agree on this: Chris Lulham’s path from top sim racer to real GT3 is a powerful signal that sim-to-real is no longer a footnote.

From there, we spotlight two sims that simply refuse to quit. AMS2’s 1.6.8 update drops fresh Lamborghinis, AI and single-player polish, plus physics/FFB love—and teases more endurance content. Raceroom quietly launches one of the best values in sim racing: an Online Racing Pack with 12 cars and 27 tracks (Bathurst, Suzuka, Imola, Indy, Silverstone, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, and more) for about $30/€30. If you want robust offline and clean online without subscriptions, that bundle is a gift. We also talk hardware timing with Simucube 3 on the way and why patience could save you serious cash as SC2 prices shift heading into Black Friday.

The heart of the episode is our plain‑English guide to iRacing’s iRating and Safety Rating. We explain strength of field, what actually counts as “official,” how a late practice exit can nuke your iRating, and why longer races are the fastest way to grow SR. You’ll leave knowing how incidents, corner multipliers, and session types really affect your numbers—without letting those numbers run your race. Our take is simple: stop protecting stats, start building racecraft. Use endurance to bank SR, pick healthy splits for better racing, and practice proximity until pressure feels normal. When the math stops surprising you, you can focus on the only thing that matters: passing the car in front.

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