Red Bull Air Race & Competitive Flying

[ITALynx11]

Hi Racers!

This group is for everyone who loves air racing, speed, precision, and competition in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

With the arrival of RBAR challenges and increasingly close leaderboard times, it’s clear that a strong and passionate air racing community is growing. This space is meant to bring that community together.

Here we can:

• share results, screenshots, and videos

• discuss techniques, and setups

• talk about competition formats and ideas

• exchange feedback on air race content and challenges

• help each other improve while keeping the competition fun and fair

Air racing is at its best when every run matters, when precision counts as much as speed, and when pilots push the limits without penalties. Whether you’re chasing hundredths of a second, training for cleaner runs, or just enjoying the thrill of flying between pylons, you’re welcome here.

Feel free to jump in, share your experience, and help grow air racing in MSFS.

Smoke On! Fly fast, fly clean, and enjoy the race.

[ITALynx11]

RBAR: when the leaderboard tells a story, everyone within ONE second

With the release of the RBAR add-on, it’s great to see how active and competitive the community already is.
What really stands out, though, is how close the competition has become across multiple tracks.

Below are just a few examples from different RBAR circuits:

• Chiba
• Abu Dhabi
• Budapest

Despite very different layouts, environments, and technical demands, the result is always the same:

1. Top positions separated by just a few tenths of a second
2. Very often, the entire Top 10 is within one second

This clearly shows that:

• the overall skill level is high
• pilots are pushing for clean, optimized lines
• RBAR is already generating real competition, not just casual time attacks

At the moment, with unlimited attempts available, many runs naturally turn into a “retry until perfect” approach. While fun, this also removes some of the pressure that made real-world air racing so intense.

Seeing how close we already are, it feels like RBAR has the potential to evolve even further into a true competitive experience, where precision, consistency, and risk management matter as much as raw speed.

This post is meant as a community-driven observation and wishlist idea, based on what is already happening organically on the leaderboards.

Feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, or experiences and if you agree that RBAR is bringing a level of competition that has been missing in MSFS, please consider upvoting and commenting so the devs can see how strong the interest is.

I’ve opened a wishlist item to gather feedback from the community.
If you agree, feel free to upvote or leave a comment here:

A More Competitive Red Bull Air Race Format

With the release of the RBAR add-on in MSFS 2024, it’s great to see how active and competitive the community already is. Leaderboard times are incredibly close, often separated by just a few tenths of a second, which clearly shows how skilled and committed RBAR pilots are. Because attempts are currently unlimited, many of us naturally end up flying in a “nothing to lose” mindset: retry, push harder, retry again. While this is fun, it often leads to very aggressive trajectories and removes the …

[Jummivana]

Thanks for starting this thread as well as for your feedback/wishlist on the activity!

[ITALynx11]

RBAR aircraft balance: Edge 540 V2 vs V3

While flying the RBAR add-on, I noticed that the Edge 540 V2 currently appears more performant than the V3, particularly in terms of lap times.

From a real-world RBAR perspective, this feels somewhat counterintuitive. In the later years, the V2 was mainly associated with the Challenger Class (eventually replacing the Extra), while the V3 was specifically designed for high-level air racing and ultimately became the standard aircraft in the Master Class.

In the current implementation, the V2 seems to retain more energy through turns compared to the V3. A clear indication of this is how much easier it is to reach and sustain over-G/DNF conditions with the V2, especially in tight turns. This additional energy retention provides a noticeable advantage when pushing lap times.

While there were a few highly modified V2 aircraft in real racing history, the majority of competitive pilots ultimately transitioned to the V3 because it offered better overall race performance.

As an alternative approach, one possible option could be to align the current V2 more closely with the highly optimized aircraft flown by Paul Bonhomme, the most successful RBAR pilot.

At the same time, it might be worth considering whether a dedicated Challenger-class aircraft is necessary at all, unless the intention is to introduce separate Challenger and Master leaderboard in the future. In the current setup, having the Challenger-class aircraft outperform the Master-class one can feel slightly inconsistent from a realism and progression standpoint.

This may simply be a detail worth reviewing, as addressing it could further improve realism and better reflect the intended hierarchy between Challenger and top-tier racing aircraft.

I’d be interested to hear if other RBAR pilots have noticed similar differences in energy retention or G-loading between the V2 and the V3.

[AiMPRON]

New record! I think it’s improvable though…

[AnPetrovich777]

You guys rock!

@ITALynx11, thank you for starting this topic and for sharing your thoughts.
It was really a pleasure for me to compete with you last weekend, I have a lot of respect for your skills!

I’d also be very interested to know what kind of hardware everyone is using. I’ve seen one guy achieved impressive results with a gamepad, which honestly blew my mind.

As for me, I use an FFBeast joystick in my home setup (full-size floor-mounted stick, up to 15 kg per axis), VKB rudder pedals, and a Quest 3 VR headset.

By the way, here’s a short video of one of my best attempts in Rio:

MSFS 2024 - Red Bull Air Race - Rio - World Record (Quest 3 VR + FFBeast)

Looking forward to new videos and records - this is going to be great fun to race!

S!

[Chewwy94]

Proud of 11th spot on the Global Leaderboard on True to Life at Spielberg!

I’m personally preferring the Edge 540 V2 over the V3, although I do find that the V2 is more susceptible to “over-Ging” in the vertical loops if you pull too hard on the joystick.

Interesting to see some of the more creative routings taken that may not officially be in the rule set!

[ITALynx11]

Hi @AnPetrovich777 nice to see you here!
I’m currently flying with an old BRD Baur joystick, VKB T-Rudders, and TrackIR 5.
I’d really love to try your force feedback joystick, 15 kg per axis is a lot! That must feel incredibly precise and demanding.

My PC definitely needs an upgrade, so no VR for now.

Great lap in Rio, really nice flying!

I really like the idea of growing an air racing community here. Let’s keep training, sharing tips, and pushing for faster times!!

[ITALynx11]

Hi @Chewwy94! congrats on your run! 11th on the global leaderboard at Spielberg (True to Life) is a solid result!!

To keep improving, I’d really recommend watching some of the original RBAR race videos online. They’re still extremely useful to understand where time was actually gained or lost. look this VIDEO

A good example is the vertical turns: many of them were not flown as pure vertical maneuvers, unless there was a specific track-limit line forcing a fully vertical maneuver. Very often, pilots used slightly inclined or blended trajectories to carry more energy and reduce time loss. Those details really add up once you’re fighting for tenths.

By the way, I’m also noticing that the Edge 540 V2 is currently significantly faster than the V3 in the sim. From a realism standpoint, that’s something that probably deserves a look, since in real RBAR the V3 became the reference for top-level racing.

[Chewwy94]

I love the video, thanks for linking it, and interesting to see that there are options for some of the vertical turns to take it more so horizontally (for lack of a better term)!

Later today we’re hosting our first Red Bull Air Races Creator Challenge livestream on our Twitch channel. I’ll post the links below with more information if you’d like to tune in and watch!

[Official] Red Bull Air Race Creator Challenge - Community Content Hangar / Community Events - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

[ITALynx11]

I agree, it was improvable…

[AnPetrovich777]

@ITALynx11

I really like the idea of growing an air racing community here.

Thank you, @ITALynx11, yeah, that was not an easy fight!

I totally agree with your idea about growing an Air Racing community here. That really resonates with me.

I honestly have no idea how you manage to do that in Monument Valley - I’d also love to see some video maybe and your racing line. I p̶u̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ pulled hard to get close, but couldn’t quite manage it… And by the way, I really like your idea of races with a limited number of attempts, that would be great fun!

My joystick profile for the Edge 540 obviously doesn’t use the full 15 kg of force, otherwise I wouldn’t have survived even half of the attempts, haha. But you’re absolutely right: the feeling you get with this kind of joystick is incredible realistic. The aircraft feels very sharp and really “planted in the airflow”.

Let’s stay in touch, and see you on the track! Smoke on!

[GloomyLake935]

Hello. I’ve been using Flight Sims since FS 95! Using MSFiminterested

[ITALynx11]

Hi @GloomyLake935, smoke on!
Welcome to the RBAR Group!

Feel free to jump into any track and share your times, it’s always great to see new pilots joining and pushing the competition

[ITALynx11]

New RBAR World Record – Budapest

00:50.470
P1 by just 0.007 seconds.

Seven milliseconds.
That’s the margin between first and second.

This is exactly where RBAR gets exciting:
precision, clean lines, and no room for mistakes. Every input counts, every gate matters.

If anyone still doubts how competitive this add-on already is…
just look at the leaderboard.

See you between the pylons, Smoke On!

[AiMPRON]

I found out 2 alternative chicane executions, but are they permitted in real life?