Why Your iRacing Setups Aren’t Working — and What to Do About It

If you’ve spent hours downloading “pro” setups only to end up wrestling the car lap after lap, you’re not alone.

In the world of iRacing, setups are everything — or so we’re told. But if you’ve ever loaded a setup from a top split driver and felt like the car was barely driveable, there’s a reason for that. The perfect setup for someone else isn’t necessarily the perfect setup for you.

The Problem with Pro Setups

It’s easy to assume that grabbing a setup used by an alien will magically shave seconds off your lap time. But here’s the catch:

• That setup was designed for their driving style — not yours.
• They might be smoother on the brakes, more aggressive on turn-in, or simply faster at adapting.
• It was likely created in optimal conditions: cool track, fresh tyres, clear air.
• And worst of all? It gives you zero insight into why it works — or doesn’t.

So when the car slides through every corner or understeers like a boat, you’re stuck. You can’t go back to the engineer and ask for tweaks — because there is no engineer.

The DIY Setup Struggle

Sure, you could open the garage screen and start changing things. But unless you’ve got a background in motorsport engineering (or hours of free time to experiment), setup tuning can feel like throwing darts in the dark:

• Do you stiffen the front springs or reduce rear rebound damping?
• Is your camber angle killing your tyres?
• Why did that change make the car worse?

Forums and Discord servers are full of advice, but much of it is conflicting, vague, or assumes a lot of prior knowledge. For most drivers, setup tuning becomes a frustrating loop: change something, test it, hate it, revert, repeat.

Real Racers Have Engineers

In real motorsport, drivers don’t fix the car themselves. They describe the problem — “it’s unstable mid-corner,” “it snaps under throttle,” “I need more rotation in low-speed turns” — and the race engineer makes changes based on that feedback.

It’s a conversation. A collaboration.

That’s been missing from sim racing… until now.

Introducing AiDE — Your Personal Race Engineer

AiDE (short for Ai Driver Engineer) is a new kind of tool for sim racers. Instead of downloading a generic setup or guessing at changes, you simply describe how the car feels — and AiDE figures out what to change.

It’s like having a race engineer on call 24/7. You don’t need to understand the difference between rebound and bump, or how to balance aero with mechanical grip. AiDE does the heavy lifting for you.

• Feeling understeer on corner entry? AiDE knows what to tweak.
• Car’s too twitchy on throttle? AiDE adjusts for stability.
• Want to tailor the setup to your unique style? AiDE’s got you.

No more “one-size-fits-nobody” setups. No more trial and error. Just real setup changes, based on your feedback.

Coming Soon to iRacing (and Beyond)

AiDE is launching soon for iRacing, with support for other sims coming next. If you’re tired of guessing, copying, or compromising — AiDE is being built for you.

🚀 Want early access? Join the waitlist here