Some programs interact with the Windows audio systems in a way that cause issues for the sim. This will result in a red C and S bar on your FPS Meter.
Media Player Exclusive Mode
Many new media players, such as Amazon Music and Tidal, support an Exclusive Mode that takes over a speaker and means no other program can use them to play back sounds. Enabling this on an audio device that is being used by the sim (for either sounds, chat, or spotter) will result in either:
- No sounds being heard in-sim. This is how Exclusive Mode should work.
- Massive glitching and stuttering will occur as the sound processing hits continuous errors. This will result in a spike to red in the C and S bars in your FPS meter.
Solutions:
If you want to use the same speakers for music and iRacing you need to disable Exclusive Mode.
If you still wish to use Exclusive Mode, you must select different audio devices for iRacing and your media player such that they are not shared.