iRacing on Windows 11 – My Review

Many iRacing members using Windows 10 are hesitant to update. So I took the plunge and updated my gaming PC to Windows 11. There are a lot of mixed reviews and concerns about performance or if your game will work. Note that I use my gaming for iRacing and on occasion F1 2022 which are not super high-demand games. Read on to see how my experience using iRacing on Windows 11 has gone.

Note: that this is not a tutorial for how to upgrade your pc to Windows 11, but more sharing the experience with the process of updating and what I saw afterward using iRacing on Windows 11. There are plenty of great tutorials out there that actually walk you through step by step. But if you are not comfortable doing this, don’t do it or hire a professional to do it for you. If you mess up the process you could render your PC unusable.

Background – Why?

I had numerous issues with iRacing locking up on me early in 2023 while on Windows 10. My final straw was on the March 1st edition of Wednesday Night Dash at Atlanta Motor Speedway, I locked up with about 10 laps to go. It was extremely frustrating as you can see from my below video.

After doing quite a bit of research, I learned there was a known bug with the AMD chipset and a fix was quietly released in 2022 so the first thing I did was update my BIOS. Next, moving on, Windows Update (Windows 10) said all my drivers were up to date but that didn’t seem right to me.

I downloaded Driver Easy and my suspicions were confirmed as I had about a dozen outdated drivers. Note: I do not have any affiliation with Driver Easy and I am not being compensated for mentioning them in my post. I happened to see some positive reviews and with the free edition, I was able to identify numerous drivers that needed an update.

About Windows 11 & Issues

Microsoft released Windows 11 as a free upgrade to Windows 10 in October of 2021. There are complaints that the performance of the PC decreased by as much as 10%. Frankly, I was so frustrated with my Windows 10 issues that at the point I said to heck with it, we’re trying it anyway. There does appear to be an option to roll back to Windows 10 if you do not like it or run into issues. Spoiler alert: I didn’t roll back.

My Experiences

In Windows Update (Hit the start menu and type Windows Update) you can find information about updating to Windows 11 and also scan to make sure your PC is fully compatible before updating. If I remember correctly, Microsoft runs this scan before installing the update so you’re going to do this regardless if you’re exploring updating or trying to perform the update.

TPM 2.0

Trusted Platform Module 2.0 needs to be enabled for you to update to Windows 11. The chip exists on generally all newer computers, but it may not be enabled. I had to enable mine on my PC which I built in late 2021. If you’re not a technical person, you may want to hire a company to do it for you as you could cause a lot of damage and make your computer unusable if you don’t know what you’re doing. This alone could stop someone from updating. Enabling Secure Boot was another thing I had to do in my BIOS before I could upgrade. That was a challenge in itself for my setup.

Windows 11 Update

The update itself was pretty uneventful. I have a fairly powerful gaming PC, but not the most powerful PC possible. Not even close. The update itself downloaded in about 10 minutes and the installation took another 15-20 minutes. It was significantly faster than the days when we would wait an hour or longer to update to older editions of Windows.

Post Update

The first thing I did after updating was check my drivers once again with Driver Easy. Only three or four drivers needed to be updated and nothing significant that I could see. Generally, everything just worked post-upgrade. I performed updates to some of the software that is installed on my gaming PC, but that will vary based on what you are running.

iRacing did not require any special kind of updates, but I did go into my iRacing settings at the main menu and run the “Graphics Config” option. That was more due to the fact I had just updated my graphics driver. I don’t think that was necessary, though. I did have to make changes to get back to my normal preferred settings once again. Looking back on it that part probably caused more issues than it solved.

I didn’t have any driver issues either. Everything that worked with Windows 10 has worked with Windows 11 so far. My Simagic racing wheel and pedal kit, my Stream Deck, earbuds, you name it. Everything works just fine.

June 2024 Update – GameInput Service Causes Force Feedback Issues (FFB)

Sometime in 2024, Microsoft released a Windows update patch that added a service called GameInput Service or Game Input Service, depending on who you ask. The purpose of this update is not clear as of this update, but it appears to be related to some Xbox gaming standard and no games are presently compatible with this service.

FFB Stops Working

The key issue users are bringing up no matter who their gaming wheel manufacturer is (Fanatec, Simagic, Thrustmaster, Logitech, and others), is that force feedback (FFB) is randomly lost while driving.

Force Feedback FFB Alt + Tab Issue

Another common issue is if you hit Alt + Tab on your keyboard while in iRacing, then your force feedback could stop working.

Force Feedback FFB Solution

Check out these instructions from Microsoft Answers on how to disable the GameInput Service from Windows. Essentially, Microsoft suggests that you open up Windows Service Manager, shut down, and disable GameInput Service to fix your issue in the short term. As of now, Microsoft is not saying what issues this could cause in the future.

Note: When making changes to your PC, always be careful because if you disable something you shouldn’t, your PC may stop working. When in doubt, always take your PC to a licensed repair technician who is qualified and insured to work on your PC.

Performance

To be completely honest with you, I haven’t had any performance issues since updating both with normal use and iRacing on Windows 11. That could be related to the bios fix, the driver updates, or maybe Windows 11 itself. I haven’t seen any performance drops or required that I update my graphics settings in iRacing. I think I’ve been able to improve my graphics settings in iRacing slightly as a result of the other fixes.

Conclusions

Upgrading to Windows 11, was it worth it? It was for me, but it may not be for you. From the issues with enabling functionality in your BIOS (TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot), you may want to skip the update for now. I can’t say this enough… DO NOT UPDATE IF YOU AREN’T 100% COMFORTABLE WITH MAKING CHANGES TO YOUR PC SETUP. Hire a professional. It isn’t an earth-shattering update, but I do know my iRacing on Windows 11 experience has been stable now going on three months since my upgrade.