I’m a sim racer and amateur racer with a passion for Motorsport, good racecraft and the technical and setup aspect of sim racing.
Crew Chief V4 is free software developed purely as a sim racer’s assistant – I use it heavily in iRacing, particularly for endurance racing and special events. Crew Chief integrates the most popular sim software, including rFactor2, Assetto Corsa, Project CARS, F1 2021, iRacing, Assetto Corsa Competizione, RaceRoom, and Automobilista.
Crew Chief monitors real-time data directly from your sim racing app’s API, acting as a virtual spotter, with voice updates on key information about the race such as your lap times, gaps between competitors, and race standings.
Additionally, it can provide insight into the car’s current condition, including brake and tyre temperatures, tyre pressures, and other environmental conditions.
The key feature, in my opinion though, is proximity warnings and fuel management.
The main site for Crew Chief can be found here. It’s a huge forum with thousands of contributors. Crew Chief also has a very engaged development team, too so I hope it’ll be around for a long time!
Let’s begin by downloading and installing Crew Chief:
How to Install and Run Crew Chief for iRacing- Download Crew Chief at https://thecrewchief.org/
- Unzip the downloaded file
- Open the installer and follow the prompts
- Follow our Crew Chief setup guide for the best settings
Getting Started
Launch Crew Chief. To update the software with the most recent sounds and driver names, click on any of the green buttons (if they are green – meaning there’s an update available) “Download sound pack” and “Download driver names” buttons for example:
Whenever Crew Chief downloads a sound pack, driver name pack, or personalisation, the software will ask to be restarted:
Once the sound packs and personalisation are updated (and you’ve restarted Crew Chief), you can select your preferred spotter voice. There are several voices to choose from, each with its unique personality and phrasing.
To test the spotter’s voice, you’ll get a snippet of voice playback every time you select a new spotter in the “Cheif Voice” drop-down. But, to really get to know your spotter, click “Start Crew Chief” and start a practice session in iRacing
For voice recognition, ensure your microphone is properly set up in Windows (ensure your desired microphone is set as the default input device in Windows sound settings). Crew Chief will automatically use this setting for voice recognition.
You can test if voice recognition is working by starting the app, and then saying “Chief, can you hear me?” If voice recognition is working correctly, you should hear a response acknowledging your question.
If you’re having trouble with voice recognition, you may need to adjust the confidence levels in the Crew Chief settings. These levels determine how sure the software needs to be that it understands you correctly before responding. Start with the default settings and adjust as needed based on your experience.
My Astro Mix Amp has two separate audio devices, one for the main game and the other for chat (usually on Discord). Crew Chief works really well with that particular soundcard/headset combo so take a look if you don’t have one.
If all the sounds and driver names are updated, and you’re happy with your audio levels, select your preferred sim from the “Game” list, click the “Start Crew Chief” button in the top left and you’re ready to go.
At this stage, you can actually go out for a drive. in iRacing, you’ll want to at least disable the iRacing spotter voice ) I leave the text messages on screen but voice off when I’m using Crew Chief:
This is where a lot of people stop, but there are of course a lot of Crew Chief settings that you might be missing that you shouldn’t ignore.
Auto refueling
Crew Chief will collect data on your lap-by-lap fuel consumption, making a dynamic calculation for when you should make a pit stop and, how much fuel to take on board to finish the race. Setup correctly, this is a game-changing feature.
For every setting change, you need to start with the “Properties” button:
Clicking properties will take you to a view that can be a little overwhelming at first. In fact, there are probably hundreds of controls here. But, thankfully you can search for the setting we need. So, auto-fuelling. Search for “fuel” here:
Firstly, select “Enable iRacing auto refueling when entering pit in race” (or make sure it’s selected). With this selected, when you enter the pit lane you’ll get an in-ear audio message to let you know you’re being fuelled for the end of the race.
Things can go wrong with this setting as it’s really only looking at average consumption. What if you’ve been in another car’s tow this whole race? My “get out of jail free” top would be to set the “Additional fuel to add to finish the race“. 0.7 additional Litres seems to work very safely for me. No need for a fuel calculator, and not to much driver overload thinking about fuel.
Pit box distance
The pit box distance countdown is a little bit of a lifesaver by giving you an audible countdown to your pit pox approach which should make missing your pit slot highly (or just much less) likely.
We’ve lost a race in the worse possible way before discovering this little setting, so, I recommend it!
Minimise on Startup and Run Immediately
When you initially open Crew Chief, you have to manually click the “Start Crew Chief” button. Did you know there’s a setting to automatically start and minimize the window?
Clear your previous search, then using the Category filter drop-down, select “UI, Startup & paths”. Look for the “Minimize on Startup” checkbox and the “Run immediately” checkbox.
These settings will make Crew Chief automatically run without any intervention from you.
Sector reports
I like to get regular updates on my sector timings. In Crew Chief properties there’s a setting that I find particularly useful: “Race sector reports at each sector”
To find the “Race sector reports at each sector” checkbox, select the “Timings” option in the drop-down menu.
Disable rants
Occasionally you’ll get a cheeky message from your Chief, like “maybe try it the other way up” if you roll the car.
Funny, sure but not always the most helpful thing in the world!
Voice Recognition
Provided you have a microphone on your headset, and of course that’s set up correctly in Windows, you can enable voice recognition and ask your Crew Chief questions related to the race, for example, “how long is left in the race?”.
Like Alexa or Google, a trigger word activates a voice answer. In Crew Chief, it’s “Chief…”
Here are the voice commands via the add/remove actions button at the bottom of the UI:
The voice commands I (mostly) use are on fuel, position and race duration remaining. Don’t forget to start each request with “Chief:”
- “How’s my fuel?”
- “What’s my position?”
- “What’s my last lap time?”
- “How long is left?”
- “What’s the gap ahead/behind?”
- “How are my tyre (or tyre) temps?”
- “What’s my best lap?”
- “What’s the fastest lap?”
- “Where am I faster?”
- “Do I need to pit?”
- “Damage report”
- “How’s my [fuel / tire wear / body work / aero / engine / transmission / suspension / pace ]”
Hopefully, this is a useful and thorough enough introduction to setting up Crew Chief precisely how you need it (especially in iRacing!). Let me know if you have any questions or comments below!
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Topic: iRacing