GitGud Racing Academy is an online sim racing coaching and driver-development platform founded by Marian Barbieru. We help drivers improve in iRacing, Assetto Corsa Competizione, Le Mans Ultimate and Automobilista 2 through structured sim racing courses, weekly lap reviews, coach-reviewed drills and live coaching.
I started GitGud Racing to explain what makes a driver faster and how to practise it. The Academy turns that approach into an online sim racing coaching platform, combining structured lessons, focused drills and personal feedback from our coaching team.
Marian BarbieruFounder
iRacing results
Top 1% on one of sim racing’s most competitive platforms.
iRacing is one of the most competitive sim racing platforms in the world, with a global field of skilled sim racers, real-life drivers and esports professionals. Every number below was earned against that field.
99.66PERCENTILE
Formula Car · 5567 iRating
99.30PERCENTILE
Sports Car · 5010 iRating
85%Top-5 finish rate
72%Podium rate
56%Win rate
FORMULA CAR IRATING DISTRIBUTIONTOP 0.34%
All-time field · mean 1,365 · median 1,273
SPORTS CAR IRATING DISTRIBUTIONTOP 0.70%
All-time field · mean 1,373 · median 1,267
“
When I join a race, the chance of finishing near the front is very high. That consistency is what built the iRating.
MARIAN BARBIERU
REAL DRIVERS. A HIGHER STANDARD.
Where it started
I wanted to get faster.
Then I wanted to share what I’d learned.
My journey in sim racing started with wanting to understand what made the quick drivers so quick. I became fascinated by the details behind a lap: how you release the brake, get the car to rotate, and carry speed through a corner.
As I worked my way into the top 1% of drivers in iRacing, I started sharing what I was learning through my YouTube channel, GitGud Racing. I wanted to explain the techniques behind the lap time in a way other drivers could take into their own practice.
That grew into coaching, structured courses and eventually this Academy. But the part I enjoy most is still the same: helping someone understand something about their driving that finally makes it click.
The next challenge was making other drivers faster.
Before GitGud existed, I coached drivers one-to-one on Fiverr and became the platform’s Top Rated sim racing coach: 70 reviews, every one of them five stars. I have since used the same method with real-life F4 and GT3 drivers and more than 1,000 sim racers.
★★★★★
“Gained 0.7 sec after only lapping for 10 mins post-coaching. More gains to come!”
Mmatt_fiverr_United Kingdom
★★★★★
“He is very knowledgeable in sim racing and helped me improve tremendously after only one coaching session.”
HheisenburgurrUnited Arab Emirates
2018 · FIVERR
Coaching one-to-one
Started coaching sim racers on Fiverr. 70 reviews, all five stars, and Top Rated on the platform.
REAL-LIFE DRIVERS
F4 and GT3 drivers
Worked with real-life F4 and GT3 drivers on technique and data.
GITGUD COACHING
1,000+ sim racers
Built the GitGud coaching brand and scaled the same method from one-to-one sessions to the Academy.
OUR TEAM
The team
What started with me grew into a team.
As GitGud grew, I brought in drivers and coaches with experience across GT, Formula and prototype racing. Each brings a different perspective, shaped by their own racing and the drivers they’ve helped along the way.
Together, we turn that experience into the lessons, drills and coaching inside the Academy, giving you more people to learn from as your driving develops.
Meet the team behind your training.
Formula Specialist
Leo Ovtcharov
Formula Specialist · Delta Esports Driver
8.5k iRating in Formula cars (top 0.01%)
Multiple world-record lap times in iRacing
Race winner in top-level esports leagues
Specializes in open-wheel driving technique
Founder • Lead Coach
Marian Barbieru
Sim Racing Coach & Course Creator
Creator of the GITGUD Racing Courses
Expert in driving technique & performance training
Personal coaching for 1,500+ sim racers worldwide
Built a system used by 5,000+ course students
Sim Racing Coach
Adrian Kulleseid
Sim Racing Coach · 8.5K iRated Driver
8.5K iRated — competing in the top 0.03%
Coaches both real-life drivers and sim racers
Turns complex problems into practical, repeatable improvements
GT3 Specialist
Matteo Kuenzner
GT3 Specialist · Williams Esports Driver
10.1k iRating professional GT3 driver
Williams Esports GT3 competitor
Real-life racing driver
Specializes in GT3, GT4 and prototype technique
Formula & GTP
Bradley Leenards
Formula & GTP Driver · BS+ Competition
10k iRating across Formula & GTP
Formula & GTP main cars
Driver for BS+ Competition
Real-world karting background
Our approach
We want you to understand the next lap better.
Everything inside the Academy should help you understand your driving and know what to try when you get back in the car.
Courses
Understand the technique
Our courses explain the techniques and how they fit together.
From the Hairpin lesson: apex early (blue) and the car still points at the outside of the track; apex later (red) and it already points at the exit.
Drills
Practise with a purpose
Drills give you a focused way to practise them.
Turn in later than feels right. Pass: on a replay, the entry line stays pinned to the edge, then turns.
Workshops
Work through your questions
Workshops let us explore a topic together and work through questions.
From the workshop on finding the right speed in each corner: points along the line, and the brake and throttle shape each one should produce.
Tools
Investigate what needs adjusting
Our tools help you investigate specific problems and make informed adjustments.
The Setup Tweaker’s plan for a Formula car that won’t turn: diff preload down, brake bias back, more front toe-out, one change at a time.
Personal lap reviews
Personal lap reviews connect that learning to your own driving.
We explain where a problem starts, how it affects the rest of the corner, and which change deserves your attention first. A missed apex might begin with your braking. A slow exit might start with the line you chose several seconds earlier.
The line the car tookThe line the coach drew over itGT3 · Road Atlanta · iRacing · from a 9-minute video review
What the coach noticed
“Your problem here is your car positioning… look at your track usage as you first turn the wheel, because this is the track usage that matters.”
Why it matters
“It doesn’t matter that now you have the perfect best inputs in the world. You’re going to still be slower than someone that doesn’t have perfect inputs but is using all the track.”
What to practise next
“You must turn a bit later than you think and cut this kerb a bit later.”
In our drills library: When to Use Big Kerbs (and When Not To).
Why we built the academy
More practice doesn’t always mean more improvement.
Sim racers can spend hundreds of hours driving without knowing whether they’re practicing the right things. We built the Academy’s training system to remove the guesswork — and the guides that come out of it are written to a standard we publish.
Diagnose
Find what’s actually costing you time.
Train
Use focused drills, courses and coaching to fix it.
Review
Get feedback from experienced drivers and coaches.
Repeat
Track your progress and move on to the next weakness.
Who it’s for
You don’t have to be fast to take your driving seriously.
Maybe you’re building your first consistent laps.
Maybe you’ve been racing for years and can’t work out where the next improvement will come from.
The Academy brings together drivers at different stages who want to understand their driving and put time into improving it.
What we ask of you
Bring your questions, be open to feedback, and give yourself room to practise.You don’t need an impressive lap to start.
Get started
Ready to find your missing seconds?
Structured courses, weekly lap reviews from professional coaches, live workshops and a private community — everything inside the Academy, built to find your missing seconds.
REAL DRIVERS. A HIGHER STANDARD.
