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How to Make Iracing Run Smoother

Need to know how to make iRacing run smoother? This practical guide for iRacing drivers explains stutter causes and gives step‑by‑step fixes to improve FPS fast.

If you’re dealing with “how to make iracing run smoother,” the fix is usually to stabilize frame times: cap your FPS to a number your PC can hold and lower the heaviest graphics settings. You’re in the right place—use the steps below to remove stutter, hitching, and input lag quickly.

Quick Answer: how to make iracing run smoother

Cap your FPS, run Full Screen, and lower the biggest hitters (shadows, mirrors, reflections, and number of visible cars). Close background apps, update drivers, and use a wired connection. Stable, consistent FPS beats chasing the highest number.

What’s Really Going On

“Smooth” is less about peak FPS and more about even frame times—each frame taking about the same time to render. Stutter happens when your CPU or GPU has spikes (too many cars, heavy shadows) or when background apps interrupt the game. Network hiccups can look like stutter too (cars warping), even if your FPS is fine. The fix is balancing iRacing settings to your hardware and cutting anything that causes spikes.

Step-by-Step Fix

1. Set a steady FPS cap
   In iRacing > Options > Graphics, set Max Frame Rate to what your PC can hold everywhere on track. For 60 Hz screens, pick 60. For 120/144 Hz, try 90–120. Use Full Screen, not borderless.

2. Tame the heavy settings
   Lower Shadows (Low/Off), Reflections (Low), and Mirrors (reduce distance/detail). Drop Car Detail to Medium and limit “Number of Cars” visible to ~15–20. These are the biggest smoothness wins.

3. Use VRR or VSync wisely
   If your monitor supports G‑Sync/FreeSync (VRR), turn it on and keep VSync off. If you don’t have VRR and you see tearing, enable VSync after setting your FPS cap.

4. Clean up Windows and drivers
   Update your GPU driver, set Windows to Best Performance (Power & Battery), turn on Game Mode, and close overlays/recorders (Discord video, browsers, GeForce/Adrenalin overlays, telemetry dashboards) before launching iRacing.

5. Set low‑latency in your GPU panel
   NVIDIA: Low Latency Mode On (or Ultra), Power Management to Prefer maximum performance.
   AMD: Anti‑Lag On, Power Tuning to high performance. Keep texture filtering quality at Performance.

6. Fix your connection
   Use wired Ethernet, not Wi‑Fi. Stop downloads/streams on your network. In iRacing’s network options, choose the connection type that matches your bandwidth (don’t overstate it).

Extra Tips / Checklist

• Reduce screen resolution or render scale one step if you’re GPU‑limited.
• Turn down particles, crowds, and pit objects; they add up in big fields.
• Keep replays simple: avoid auto‑saving huge race replays while driving.
• For triple screens, match refresh rates across all three monitors.
• For VR, lower supersampling/pixel density to 1.0–1.2 and let motion smoothing/ASW handle spikes.

FAQs

Q: What FPS should I aim for?
A: Whatever you can hold everywhere. 60 is fine on a 60 Hz screen. For 120/144 Hz, a steady 90–120 feels great. Stability matters more than peak numbers.

Q: How do I tell if it’s graphics or network?
A: If cars “teleport” or jitter while your FPS looks steady, it’s network. If the whole image hitches when many cars or shadows appear, it’s graphics load.

Q: Is VSync bad for racing?
A: With VRR, skip VSync. Without VRR, VSync can remove tearing but may add a bit of input lag. Try it both ways—pick the one that feels steadier.

Q: Do I need to reinstall iRacing?
A: Almost never. Settings and driver tweaks fix smoothness issues in most cases.

Short Wrap-Up

To make iRacing smoother, lock in consistent frame times: cap FPS, lower shadows/mirrors/reflections, reduce visible cars, and clean up background load. Do a quick test race after each change and keep the first setup that stays smooth in traffic.