FAQ

Short(ish) answers to your most burning F499 questions.

TDi99 Discord

Q: What the heck is F499?

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Only the biggest thing in iRacing since rain! We all know that online racing can be frustrating - divebombs, “punt to pass”, “netcode”, horrible rejoins. Win or place at all costs, right? Drivers seem to be rewarded for good results on each race (positive IR), while there are limited rewards for safe racing (postive SR). There are only 6 license classes. For many drivers, an A Class license is not really needed - there are very few series that even require an A license.

So, we sim dentists came to a conclusion: Rather than sacrifice SR for IR, we decided the innovation of F499 would be to prioritize safety and good racing hygiene. We want to be better racing drivers, not just drivers with large collections of fake internet points. We chose SR as our driving metric. Our goal is A4.99.

Disclaimer: this stuff is heavily philosophical, as is befitting gentlemen (sim) race car drivers. The views are ours alone and do not necessarily reflect those of TDi99

Q: Yeah, but why F499?

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Good question. The original idea hatched by the sim dentists was to challenge each other (as well as any other clear racing enthusiasts they could recruit) to achieve 4.99 SR running only in the dangerous, shark-infested waters of the F4 series. What environment could be more challenging? The great name “F499 Challenge” just fit. F4 is a well populated series and provides ample opportunity to learn to race with sharks of all levels. The perfect training ground!

Q: Is this a gang or a club?

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Neither. We are just like minded sim racers living out our sim dentist fantasy. We draw our inspiration from the best racers on the service. You have seen them: 8k 4.99 SR. They are not only fast but they race clean. These are the breathtakingly fast “aliens” that still have exemplary racecraft and respect for others on track. We will point out those drivers we see in the wild. We will also try to make it fun using GIFs from the Big Lebowski or Magnum PI on discord. You’ll find us referring to “sim dentistry” as another often mentioned reference to good racing hygiene. We prefer the OG dentist-mobile, the LMP3. We want to lift up the safe and clean driver, not just the fastest one in the split, while encouraging and supporting others that share our values.

Q: Wait, sim dentist?

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Let’s face it, we are all living out our rich dentist fantasy™ with these pretend race cars. The gentleman dentist driver was/is much maligned by the iRacing peanut gallery. We admit: mistakes have been made by IRL LMP3 drivers. We are just taking the badge back for all of us sim dentistry enthusiasts. The pursuit of safe, clean racing even at the expense of a higher result is the ultimate in good racing hygiene and a step on the road to racecraft. What better connection than to our hero, the dentist, who always tells you to floss? You know you should. You feel better when you do. That’s how we feel about clean racing.

Q: How do I get started?

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Race! And race clean. You might be interested in our “racing hierarchy of needs”:

Keep these steps in mind and you will be well on your way to being a sim dentist. Start keeping track of your SR. Always strive for a 0X race. Find ways to identify sharks on-track and avoid the carnage in T1. Share your progress with us. As you increase your SR, your skill at racing will increase and your results will show that progress. Join us on the TDi99 Discord, be sure to grab the F499 role.

TDi99 Discord

Q: What is the F499 Challenge?

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Starting in 2024, we have run a friendly challenge among our fellow sim dentists to see who can race clean. Armed with a scoring algorithm that rewards safe driving and data from the iRacing API, we have put together as system that will show you your iRacing Road results enhanced with dentist points so you can compare your results with other drivers. This is our alternative to IR. If you want to track your races automatically through the season. Your progress will be tracked automatically and results are available so you can see how you’re doing at any time during the season

F499 Challenge Sign Up Form

We change the challenge each season, so keep and eye on this page or join the discord server to stay up to date.