iRacing

[Tom Servo]

Good lord, I definitely am remembering why I stopped for a while. I suck. Really bad.

[Cam]

Do you feel like drivers in the same car with a fixed setup are driving away from you like you are in a slower class car? I feel that way sometimes. I watch the replay and as far as I can tell, I'm not doing anything different. Yet, faster dude's car brakes better and accelerates better than mine. :erm:

[Tom Servo]

I pretty much always feel like that, but it's really clear that I'm hugely out of practice. I was taking the 488 GTE around Sebring and thinking "Oh man, I might be able to get this under 2 minutes" when turning 2:02 laps. Then I checked what everyone else was doing and they were all in the 1:57s :/

[Rare White Ape]

Once you reach a certain level of pace, the difference to the fast guys falls to the tiny things. On the brakes a little bit better, a little bit more mid-corner speed, on the power a little bit earlier, a little bit more speed on the straight, and so-on. It all adds up.

It’s down to learning those tiny things, which is why we do lots of practice. Watching replays is a good way to knock a second off your lap time. Can you overlay a ghost in iRacing? Do it if you can. Then while mastering that, you have to learn to do it every lap. And not ever crash or spin out!

I always remind myself that there may be a gap between the players who are 2-3 seconds slower, but that gap is much smaller than the gap to the guys 1.5-2 seconds slower. That next 1/2 second may take weeks or months to overcome, and it might become frustrating and you may never get there. If you do, then there is an enormous gulf to the guys in the next 1/2 a second ahead of you (and infinite time to CudaMan).

I remind myself this because it can quickly stop being fun, and you don’t want it to not be fun! Eventually your iRating will reach a level beyond which is an insurmountable peak. But that’s ok, because the quality of racing you’re having will be fantastic. Just keep racing and having fun in those intense races.

[Cam]

Jeez, I just raced with the worst bunch so far. SLPC race and I was in a Solstice. I was being held up by several drunken MX-5s the first half of the race until I got taken out by... you guessed it, a drunken Mustang. WTF? My SR has taken a big hit this week. Douches. :mad:

[Cam]

I need to buy a Mustang. Considering the quality of drivers, I could get a podium every single race. :lol:

[Tom Servo]

I did have a surprising amount of fun doing the NASCAR Truck race at Daytona. I didn't bother with any setup, so I didn't qualify well, but just staying out of trouble ended me in 5th. Those things really start dancing around once they get above 150 or so, harder to hang onto than I expected.

[Cam]

I find it kind of funny to see Gran Turismo billboards at Tsukuba. :lol: I guess iRacing does not see GT as a competitor.

[Rare White Ape]

ACC (which features the full Blancpain GT3 license) has a pair of Nissan GT-Rs covered in red PS4 and Gran Turismo liveries.

But I’d be interested to see if the iRacing version of La Sarthe has Forza Motorsport logos at Tetre Rouge, as every game bar Forza itself replaces them with blank signage.

[retsmah]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d68hXF_FV94&feature=youtu.be

I think this guy was trying to let me pass...?

[Cam]

Idiotic way to do it. It’s stuff like this that makes it so hard to keep your SR up. :mad:

[Cam]

I just spectated Freude during a race. It's kind of exciting to watch someone you know compete. I do not know if he was seeing my sexts of encouragement. :lol: I was like, "Just stay clean. Guaranteed top-five." He stayed clean. Got a top-five (in class.) :D OMG, there was a crazy crash that he literally went under a car that was flying through the air. :eek: I meant to save the replay, but forgot. Most insane thing I've seen in the sim yet. :lol:

[Freude am Fahren]

:up:

I did not see your notes but I have quite figured out where to put stuff in VR yet.

I jumped out forgetting to save the replay. I was sure someone was going to rear end me at full throttle while I was slowing waiting to figure out where that car was going land :lol:

That's something they need to improve still (and I think it's better than it was) is the physics of cars bouncing off stuff. Sometimes you just can't make sense of where they're going to end up.

[Cam]

I was seriously laughing at the absurdity of it. :lol:

[Cam]

Huh. :cool:


iLetYouWin - Road
Beat an iRacing employee in an official road race. This award may not be earned while participating in a team event.
Cam finished 4th ahead of iRacing employee Nim Cross Jr.

[FaultyMario]

:cool:

[Cam]

More Mustang Mayhem! There I was, having a good race at Charlotte roval with a fellow Solstice driver. Here comes a Mustang to lap us. He passes on the outside, then chops across my nose on the banking and wrecks all three of us. :smh:

[retsmah]

Had my first Skip Barber win, feel like I'm starting to get the car figured out! Set my personal best lap in qualifying, then beat it again in the race once I got in the lead.

This was in the 3rd split of 4, so still a ways to go!

[Cam]

:cool::up:

[Cam]

I need to form a band called The Mustangs, because they keep coming out with hit after hit! :lol:

Pretty much an identical situation to the last one. I was having a good battle with a fellow Solstice driver and we got side-by-side on the banking. Mustang about to lap us didn't like that though and simply plowed into my competitor, wrecking us both. :mad:

[Cam]

And here I thought the Advanced Mazda Cup would have better quality drivers. They're all crashy too. :rolleyes:

[FaultyMario]

Merry Christmas, iRacers!

[Cam]

Yup, Advanced Mazda Cup is actually worse than rookie. :smh:

[Cam]

Fanatec Global Challenge race in the Kia Optima. Threw my qualifying lap to start near the back of 25 cars, 12 of them were Kias. I was still mid-pack. :rolleyes: Decided to start from the pit, as did another Kia. I came out of the pit in last place. I was not fast, nor did I catch any other cars. I still finished 15th, 5th in class. :lol:

I've been submitting a lot of protests. :smh:

[Cam]

Normally, Dallara Dash is on oval tracks. It is classified as an oval series, but this week it is at Laguna Seca. I decided to try it just for laughs, as it does not affect your ratings. I got into a field of 21 cars with the 2011 car. I never drove it before and it was crazy different than the production cars that I have been driving. It took me a few practice laps to get used to it. Half the field was the newer faster, DW12. I managed to qualify fifth, ahead of many DW12s and the top 2011. :hard: I feel it is easier to drive than the Radical and the SRF. Of course, someone ahead of me lost it going into turn one and collected me. I got going again and was in fifth for a while. I was even catching the DW12 ahead of me. Alas, I spun it out of turn one and stalled it with two laps left. Had to get a tow, then basically finished my last lap, two laps down. I would probably do that again.

[Cam]

Is it wrong to enjoy watching yourself rally? I look professional! :lol:

[retsmah]

I feel it is easier to drive than the Radical and the SRF.

This was my experience in Formula SAE cars, my lap times were closer to our fast drivers once we started building cars with a lot of downforce, vs. the car with no wings.

[retsmah]

Had a shockingly clean race in the skip barber cars, went from 2nd > 1st > 2nd > 3rd > 2nd with no incidents, and the lead group of three were able to pass a bunch of lapped cars pretty cleanly.

I've got a C Class license, but my SR is high enough to run some B Class races, so need to decide if it makes sense to move up to a different series. I'm generally right in the middle of the skip barber splits, definitely a lot of room to go faster in this car!

[Cam]

I jump around to different series. I enjoy rally cross and dirt trucks, even though I am not particularly fast. I race whatever is available to me in road/dirt road. This week, SRF is at Silverstone, so I can actually race it. Radical has not been at a track I own since week one. :(

Getting ten clean races in a row is proving to be extremely difficult.

[Cam]

I am so freakin’ livid right now. I just needed one more clean race to get the ten clean dirt road races in a row award. The last lap of the tenth race, some dork ahead of me just stopped dead in the middle of the track! :mad:

[retsmah]

I'm new to Road Atlanta and struggling with it, so I put myself at the back of the field. Still ended up in like 8th at the end of the first lap due to crashes. Feel like I was starting to get it figured out by the end of the race, being in a race was a little stressful but having cars to follow helps a lot with learning the track faster!

Had this incident on lap 15 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGMGOyEWe9Y&feature=youtu.be) that fortunately did not damage the car, was pretty confused at the time about who hit me!

[Cam]

Wow.

I finally got my road and dirt road SR back up to 4.99. I am leading my division in the Sim-lab Production Car Challenge after week four. :hard:

My dirt road iRating is higher than my road iRating. Maybe I missed my calling.

[retsmah]

Is 4.99 the maximum?

I haven't tried anything other than road racing so far!

[Cam]

4.99 is the max displayed. I read that it may go above that, but it just does not show it.

[Cam]

:hard:


Time for an Intervention
Participate in at least one official race or time trial 60 days out of the last 84 days. Tracked by GMT.
Award completed. 1/10/2020

[dodint]

:lol:

[Cam]

I just had two horrific production car races in a row. I got wrecked twice in each race. My SR dropped from 4.71 to 4.12. :smh:

[retsmah]

Skip barber is at phillip island this week, which is a mess. Lots of high speed corners, which can be kind of challenging in that car on cold tires. It worked out in my favor last race, big crash at the second corner put me from 8th into 2nd, and took out a big chunk of the field. Had a good run chasing the first place car, although we were dodging a lot of lapped cars from first lap wrecks that had once again spun off the track, and were not particularly careful re-entering.

[Rare White Ape]

Plebs

[Cam]

SLPCC is at an oval this week. Ugh. :(

[Cam]

Nevermind. I qualified 16th overall in the Solstice, 3rd in class, out of 24 or 25 cars, I think. Mayhem on the first lap! multi-car pile ups all around. Another car tagged me, but I didn't get wrecked, luckily. It was not long before I was running 5th overall! :eek: I just stayed out of trouble for the rest of the race and finished 7th, 1st in class. :D A couple of cars that wrecked earlier caught and passed me. Having never done an oval race in iRacing before, that was very satisfying. Looks like I'll be keeping my lead in the SLPCC division 4 championship. :hard:

[retsmah]

I was not racing much for a couple weeks, got back in and ran a few C class F3 races to get bumped up to a B license. The F3 cars are fun, but I think I need some more time in the skip barber cars, I'm really slow in F3!

[retsmah]

I spun in qualifying at brands hatch, I got mixed up and got disqualified for driving the wrong direction. Unfortunately I spun near a section of road that I think makes up one of the alternate track configurations and that made everything really confusing. In any case, turns out getting disqualified from qualifying also disqualifies you from the race.

Since the race just started I don't know exactly what the result is, but I suspect RIP my iRating!

[Cam]

Oh noes!

I’ve been doing some start-from-the-back MX-5 races just to get my SR back up after a few crashy races. It is perplexing how competitive people can be for last place. :smh:

[Rare White Ape]

Are they doing an "i hanjo" and trying to come last?

Or are they just shit and don't want the dishonour of being the guy in last place?

[Cam]

They are just hyper-competitive and give no shits about ruining their SR if it means being ahead of me, even if we're fighting for last.

[Cam]

Intentionally tanked my Q lap in an SLPCC race. Literally half the field failed to Q. :erm:

[retsmah]

Intentionally tanked my Q lap in an SLPCC race. Literally half the field failed to Q. :erm:

That's the worst, when you think 'I'm happy starting at the back' and then realize you've got like ten clowns behind you that couldn't put in a single clean qualifying lap, but are for sure going to drive like they can win the race in the first corner!

[dodint]

This is why I liked it when qualifying was set for the whole week instead of before each race.

[Cam]

I started from the pits.

[retsmah]

Had a great race today at Watkin's Glen in the F3 car, decided to do another later... should have skipped it! I'm the green car :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFxYcD89iIM

[Rare White Ape]

Ambitious!

[CudaMan]

... but rubbish. :lol:

[retsmah]

I watched this dudes race from the start (that crash was on the first lap), seemed like he was like high on overtaking. Had a good start then got a good draft on the back straight, I guess by that point he felt like he was just going to keep passing cars two or three at a time!

I initially felt like I was a little slow through that corner (although that obviously doesn't justify someone running into you!), I didn't realize until watching the replay that it wasn't even the car behind me that hit me!

[Cam]

Wow, I hope you protested that divebomb.

[retsmah]

My understanding is at least in iRacing only intentional crashing or retaliation is protestable (or blocking, or like racism/language/whatever in the chat). I think this was just exceedingly bad judgement.

It would be nice if there were some quick review system that would just give you back your SR and iRating points. Or better yet just get some AI to do it automatically.

Back in my SCCA Pro Racing days I for sure would have been asked to get the video from that car for review by the stewards, as I'm sure Bryan can attest! I actually remember an incident exactly like this, where a guy who usually did not do that well found himself catching up to the car in front of him, and the first chance he got he divebombed so hard he hit the car in front of the one he was trying to pass.

[dodint]

I should be back in the cockpit soon. Feels good.

[Cam]

I protest horrifically bad driving like that, as iRacing claims they keep a record of the protest and are monitored, even if it is ruled unintentional. The way I understand it, a repeat pattern of poor driving can result in action against the driver.

[Cam]

Aw, man. Someone relegated me to second in the SLPCC points standings for my division. :( I did not realize that it only counts 8 of 12 weeks for the season's standings. I could do better if I bought a higher class of car, but I'm not willing to commit to paying extra money on it at this point. Maybe in a few weeks.

[retsmah]

I decided to go back to MX-5 this week since there is nothing else I can race in... was a bad idea! I actually qualified pretty well both races I entered today, but got taken out on the first corner of one race and the second lap of the other.

[Rare White Ape]

iRacing meets Wreckfest?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWyVt2AZOUI

[dodint]

Just reupped. Was smart enough to do it in the morning during work as I have to update iRacing, SimVibe, and probably Trading Paints. iRacing has an hour and a half of download (19GB). Makes sense since I haven't been in the sim since August 16th, 2019. :lol:

[Cam]

See you on track? :D

[FaultyMario]

ThIs. ThReAd. Is. WoRtHlEsS. wItHoUt. ViDs.

[dodint]

See you on track? :D

Not if I see you first.

*finger guns*

[Cam]

:lol: Sweet.

[dodint]

Sim rig is up and running now, did some laps at VIR in the Pro Mazda to iron out the kinks.

Transducer was a pain in the ass. Mostly because I couldn't figure out why the hell it wasn't working. The amp was turned down all the way. :lol:

Sim Commander is super fickle software so I thought it was a software based problem. Oh well.

Having a party at the house this weekend, it will be up and running. Took a friend to VIR last year to watch the SCCA Runoffs and intend to take him to a track night there this year. Looking forward to getting him some VR laps.

[Rare White Ape]

Noice :up:

[dodint]

Are you guys running anything in particular in 2020 S2? I'm going to race the full Pro Mazda Championship and then moonlight some other series on featured weeks. Not sure yet for the other series.

[CudaMan]

I renewed my iRacing sub as new PC parts are arriving in batches this week. :) I have no idea what races will grab me but I'm definitely going to be checking out some new content. I used to have everything on the Road side but that was a few years ago. Not sure how much I want to drop on content right away, especially considering I'll probably buy AC/ACC too.

I may or may not do something funky/unique for a "cockpit" of sorts. I'll spill the beans if it works. :lol:

[dodint]

Nice, hope to see you out there.

Anyone run Lime Rock Park - Chicanes? I had not seen this configuration yet. Jumped in today for some practice. They've really mangled the thing. The second chicane feels more like autocross than a race track. It's a shame, LRP used to be one of the highlights of any season for me. I hate to take a bye my first week back but it's not fun being in the car.

[retsmah]

Really got away with one here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84VOXClmfaY

Was running third on lap 4, pushing pretty hard to keep 2nd from pulling away from me and then I did this... somehow the car was not too damaged, managed to hold on to 3rd for the rest of the race.


Undecided on what I should be running this season, last season I started out in skip barber and ended mostly running F3 with a couple races in the Mercedes GT3 car, in the past few days I've run both of those and MX-5 a little.

[retsmah]

Also, recently won my first race in the F3 car! Maybe doesn't really count for much as it was bottom split, week 13, and as you'll see if you watch the video racing against a bunch of clowns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQepDe85h2M&feature=youtu.be

The ghost car on the oval at 56 seconds in is pretty weird though! At that point I was in first so I'm not sure where that thing came from.

[Cam]

I race whatever road and dirt road races are available to me. Although, I have certainly cut back on the amount I have been racing. I have not even turned the computer on for three days. I hoped to buy some new content soon, but cannot justify the cost right now.

[dodint]

I was thinking about tring those goofy BMW 12.0 races soon. They sound like a recipe for disaster, honestly.

[Rare White Ape]

Also, recently won my first race in the F3 car! Maybe doesn't really count for much as it was bottom split, week 13, and as you'll see if you watch the video racing against a bunch of clowns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQepDe85h2M&feature=youtu.be

The ghost car on the oval at 56 seconds in is pretty weird though! At that point I was in first so I'm not sure where that thing came from.

Hahaha! Look at em! So adorable :D

[Cam]

The ghost car on the oval at 56 seconds in is pretty weird though! At that point I was in first so I'm not sure where that thing came from.

You can go straight through from the start/finish line. It was most likely a car that just cut straight through instead of taking turn one.

[Cam]

My new salutation on iRacing, "Good luck and clean racing. Peace and love." :lol:

[Cam]

Ugh. My SR just took a big hit. I had a few drinks earlier and I tried the SRF at Laguna. Could not keep it pointed straight. Don't drink and drive. :lol:

[Rare White Ape]

You need to practice it man.

[Cam]

Drinking? I’m on it.

[retsmah]

I pretty much never race completely sober.

I tried out the pro mazda, it's pretty tough to drive compared to the dallara F3! I need a little more time in it before I actually enter a race. So D class Formula Sprint series for me tonight!

[dodint]

Sad about the Pro Mazda I decided Dallara at Carolina could be fun. It was, but I got collected in two incidents by other people and that ended my night. Will give it a go a few more times this week I am sure.

[retsmah]

I did a race in the C class Radical series, not super sold on that car either. I think I still like the Dallara F3 the best! It looks like after this race the C class series would actually require purchasing less tracks for me than the D class series this season.

[Cam]

I was so mad after a SLPCC race last night. I just wanted to increase my SR. I was racing a clean race near the back. The penultimate lap, the guy ahead of me wrecked the guy ahead of him. I could not avoid the spinning car and I got 4x. I looked at the results and the dude that caused the wreck had 0 incidents and gained SR. Of course, I lost SR. :mad:

[dodint]

Formula Mazda is at Spa this week. Ran my first race since August. Qualified mid-field. First lap carnage happened right at pit out, promoted to 4th. Ran there for half of the race, then someone ahead had an off and I finished 3rd. Had 0x incidents and improved my SR by +.84. Gained back most of what I lost running a season in the SRF.

Felt good, plan to run a bunch of these this week.

[Cam]

I sold an art piece yesterday, so I used the dough to buy 22 tracks and two cars*. :eek:

*Supercars Ford Mustang and Lucas off-road trucks

Oh yeah, and Nathan generously bought me the Pro Mazda for painting a car for him. Thanks again! :D

[dodint]

That's one hell of a purchase. :lol:

[Cam]

Did my first Pro Mazda race. Lost control passing another car a third of the way into the race. (WTF? I started from the pit and did not expect to pass any cars because I was so slow.) Another car hit me when I spun. I had to get a tow. Waited nine minutes in the pit for repairs. I exited the pits once all repairs were completed, supposedly. I got down to Eau Rouge to discover that no, not all of the car was repaired. I spun and wrecked the car because one of my wheels was at an odd angle. :rolleyes: I just quit out after that. :(

[dodint]

Login to iRacing and go to: https://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3702478.page

Grab 'solidwith less df.sto' and use that as your setup. Stable but decently quick.

Sucks that you got collected. I dodged the L1T1 carnage and had a perfect race. Just lucky.

[Rare White Ape]

Avoiding the lap 1 carnage is an art.

I raced in a public lobby in F1 2019 yesterday that a friend of mine was hosting. I’d completely forgotten how bad it gets in the world outside of GTS :D

We did a 25% race at Silverstone and the safety car came out during lap 1. I’d held back but found myself in 2nd place when all the damaged cars went into the pits :lol:

But then got rear ended multiple times over the next few laps and came 15th :rolleyes:

[Cam]

Grab 'solidwith less df.sto' and use that as your setup. Stable but decently quick.
Thanks. I was losing a lot of time on the straights with default setup.

[dodint]

Thanks. I was losing a lot of time on the straights with default setup.

Yeah, I accidentally loaded my Lime Rock Park setup in practice. Went to qualifying and swapped to Sutton's 'solidwith less df.sto' and my split indicator was showing me gaining several tenths just driving down the straightaways. :lol:

[Cam]

I looked at the adjustments in the garage. WTF, 3 separate DF adjustments for the front and 4 for the back with gobbledegook names? That’s just too much for a layman to understand. :rolleyes:

[dodint]

Yeah, I'm not a big setup guy at all. The ones I run are setups I found on the iRacing forum and then do very minor tweaks to. It's just not worth it to me to do endless testing, at least not until I get closer to being near the tip of the spear.

That said, the Pro Mazda is a great platform to learn on.
Check out this thread here: https://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3568811.page
That PDF Setup guide is pretty great. It explains the basic theory of the different parameters.

Or, if you don't want to get that into it, check out the attached flowchart and you'll at least have an idea of where to start making tweaks.

http://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=3519&d=1585235837

I used that flowchart and the accompanying PDF last year as kind of a Beginners Guide to Race Car Setup last year. I'm rusty on it but hope to be dialed in again by the end of the season.

I'm having so much fun being back in the Mazda, that season in the SRF was really stressful. :lol:

[Cam]

I just tried “coldfastest.sto” and went 5+ seconds quicker than default set. :lol:

[dodint]

Nice. :up:

[Cam]

Did a semi-successful Pro Mazda race. I spun once and had a few 1x, but I finished without crashing this time. I coasted the last lap though, as I did not have enough fuel to go full-throttle. Car sputtered over the finish. :eek:

Then I tried a Radical race at Road Atlanta. Spun it half-way through the race and wrecked. My SR took a hit this week. It's such a struggle to increase the SR, only to have it completely tanked by one race. :(

[dodint]

Most Pro Mazda races do not have pit stops. Just this one and the oval, probably.

The way to do the ProMazda fuel is to load it with 4 gallons. Then once you have burned down at least two gallons come into the pits and only take 2 gallons and do not change tires. You can map this pit command (2 gallons no tires) to any button, it's already setup as an Auto Text Chat:

http://www.eksimracing.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=3a0a0c744d5feba68f0364959201b5 7f&action=dlattach;topic=3204.0;attach=6209;image

Change 'Alt-4' to whatever button you want on your system. I have it mapped to a toggle switch on my button box labeled as 'Splash.'

To have it take full effect you'll need to ensure your pit commands are not reset when you pit out.

Go to your 'Documents\iRacing' folder and open app.ini.
Make sure that: autoResetPitBox=0 ; Automatically request full pit service once your vehicle exits pit road
is set to 0, not 1.

Sounds like a hassle but really only takes a few minutes and will help.

I'm going to try and be in the 6pm Pro Mazda race. Have to see if I can get dinner cooked in time.

[Cam]

Nate and I just did a Pro Mazda race together. That was pretty cool. Alas, I binned it half-way through the race. I was feeling good and confident, but just lost it in a spot I did not have trouble in before. Oh well. I’ll get you next time, Gess! :)

[dodint]

You had me, you were closing in on me and had already done your pit stop. Went back and watched and yeah, you lost in in a really odd place, crazy snap oversteer. Must be that slippery setup. ;) It must be doing some good because you're 3 seconds a lap faster than me.

Some guy clipped me in T1 for a 4x, and then (not sure if you saw it) the chicane before start/finish the guy in the Red Bull car bombed the dude in front of him and took them both out, 4x for me as I tried to get by.

But, overall, we both left with safety rating increases so it wasn't all bad. I need to figure something out because I'm a boat anchor out there. Maybe I'll open that setup PDF for myself.

[Cam]

Try the "coldfastest"? :D

Did another Radical race directly after. Again, I was just driving within my limits, not trying to push the car. I was super-slow. With two laps left, I spun and tagged the wall. I know you're not supposed to do this, but I limped it around for another lap really slow to let the leaders by simply so I could finish without pitting. :o

[Cam]

Finished a Radical race with 0x! I feel like that is an achievement. :D

[dodint]

Nice, I don't have much familiarity with the Radical. I have no fast laps history for it but I've painted it so I must've taken it out for some test laps very early in my ownership. How is it as a platform?

As for the Pro Mazda, rather than jumping into a completely new setup I did some modifying of my own. First thing I did was change the gearing so I'm hitting the top of 6th gear right as I'm coming to the final chicane. Then I took off both front a rear aero by reducing the wing angle and reducing the Gurney flaps down to the lowest (but not off) settings. This got me down to 2:18.1 with a optimal in the low 17s. I'm going to keep tweaking it through the weekend. My goal is to get my B license back this week so I plan to hit Spa a good bit through the weekend since it's a car/track combo that I like a lot.

My second race yesterday was a lot more fun. I was closer to the top of the split and started 3rd. I was tapped from behind at Bruxelles and ended up sitting against the inside wall as the field went by. Powered my way back up to 4th before my pit stop. Three laps left I had just tracked a guy down, his car was setup for turns and mine for straights so we swapped the position back and forth before I finally got him. Half a lap later at coming out of Les Combes I left too much left rear tire on the curb and it got super twitchy under throttle, did the same as you and snap oversteered into the outside wall. :( It was so quick and abrubt I actually screamed. :lol: Was a really fun race, I'm usually outclassed so I rarely get to actually practice racecraft and dice it up with people like that.

I have to be careful with the Rift. I ran the race with you, then did that testing before the second race. At one point in the middle of the race the headset actually froze, luckily I was on a straightaway and it came back soon enough for me not to hit anything, did get a 1x out of it. I need to give it some rest between sessions.

Hoping to run two races tonight, depends what Ash is up to.

[Cam]

Text me if you are going to get online. Chances are good that we will be in the same race. :cool:

Setting up a car with simple adjustments is fine. Setting up a car with an outrageous number of adjustments only an engineer can understand is more than I am willing to take on.

“coldfastest” is working well for me. The only place I normally have trouble is entering Pouhon. I just leave it in sixth gear there now, after spinning several times there.

I think my best time is a 2:16.8 so far.

[dodint]

Most likely it will be the 8pm and 10pm races so Ash and I can scrounge up some dinner together.

I'll text you from my good messaging number. The one you used last night is my actual phone and I almost never look at it. The good number goes to all my devices and computers.

For Pouhon I've been tapping the brakes just enough to upset the car forward and downshifting into 5th. Then very early I go full throttle and don't lift for the back half. I have seen a lot of folks spin there lately.

I'm going to take a little aero off before tonight and see what happens. Hopefully nothing too outrageous. I'm really working on SR right now so I'm not going to work the car into being too tail happy if I can help it.

[Cam]

The Radical is challenging to drive. I think it is similar to the SRF, but with way more power. It can easily bite you if you are not careful with the throttle. It is a fixed setup series. Alas, I got lapped in the aforementioned 0x race, as I was tippy-toeing around. I just wanted to finish without crashing.

[Cam]

Just did a pretty crazy Pro Mazda race. Qualified third with a 2:16.5, a PB. Got into second place after turn one. Chased the leader (#1) for a lap or two, with third (#2) place hanging close. Briefly took the lead for a sector. I pitted early and put in reasonable laps. About 2/3s of the way through the race, I got the "Leader's pitting now." message for #2, letting #1 back in the lead. #2 came out of the pits just ahead of me. We changed positions a couple of times, until #1 pitted with about three laps left. #1 came out of the pits just ahead of me. I just could not close the gap though and #2 breathed down my neck until the last lap and I got taken out by a lapped car at Pouhon. :mad:

[FaultyMario]

Man, that sounds frustrating!

Got video of that?

[dodint]

I should start saving them.

He was unjustly murdered. The lap car changed his line to squeeze Cam out, so stupid.

Also, Cam, my paint shows up for me. Not sure why you couldn't see it.

[Cam]

OK. I forgot to mention that I did a 2:15 flat during the race, 1.5 seconds faster than my Q time. I was exhausted after that race.

Mario, I will make a video later.

[FaultyMario]

Yay!

Thanks!

[Cam]

The second race tonight, Nate and I were in different splits. I started dead last, 15th. I pitted early and only got close to one other car after my stop. Finished 7th. It was a pretty boring race. I simply survived attrition. I managed a 2:14.9 though, thanks to the draft. i was doing 2:16s by myself.

[dodint]

I botched my pit and had to come in twice, came in P4 when I should have been P2. Sad!

[Cam]

Aforementioned incident:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFsPtc0YFD0

[FaultyMario]

What does the jury say? Deliberate or clumsy?

[Cam]

Drunk, IMO.

[Rare White Ape]

Jeeeeez.

Looks like he actually turned into you.

I’d have been livid.

[Cam]

Yes it does. I think he just did not know or care that I was there.

In other news I had my most enjoyable race in iRacing yet. I may make a video of the highlights. Pro Mazda at Spa again. Nose-to tail action with several cars the whole race. Several position changes along the way.

[Cam]

Aforementioned race highlights. I am the red, white and black #21. This race boosted my confidence.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm1gvTCPn0o

[FaultyMario]

:up:

[dodint]

Cam is a legit quick racer. :up:

[Rare White Ape]

Cool race! That pass at 5:50 is a ripper!

[Cam]

Noteworthy things that I did not mention: At about 3:29, we both slowed down to let each other go, letting the two cars behind us to catch up. :lol: At 4:36, I do not know how the black #8 didn't get an "unsafe pit entry" penalty for that move. I had planned to pit then, not knowing that the other two guys would pit also. At 6:45, I decided that it would be better to follow #8 rather than pass because he was slightly faster than me. I was going to let him tow me around the track. The draft is good for almost 10 km/h on Kimmel and Blanchimont. I decided to go for it again later. At 9:22, I took too much curb, had a bad bounce and lost it. At 11:46, I had slight aero damage, which hurt my top speed, but did not affect the handling much. The dude I hit apologized in chat for spinning in front of me. I knew I did not stand a chance to defend against the red and black car on the last lap because of the damage. Really fun race regardless. I was one of the lowest-ranked drivers in the room. I qualified 15th and finished 9th. I am very happy with that performance. :)

[Cam]

Just finished another Radical race where I was the lowest-ranked driver in the room, the only one under 2000 iRating. It was very satisfying to survive attrition to finish tenth out of 18. :D

[dodint]

I'm going to run the Radical in week 6 at Watkins Glen.

I just crashed out of that Pro Mazda race. It was my seventh race of the week and up to that point I had completed every lap. I was doing something I never do, drive in my mirrors to see if I was about to be punted. I put left side tires on the grass and launched the car up over a curb. Came back down on the edge of the track surface and would've just had a 1x for overrunning Campus but the guy behind me object fixated and ran right into the back of me. He didn't even turn in for Campus, just ran into me. I was in second at the time, but broke the rear suspension and it wouldn't drive even after full Optional Repairs. He had some front wing damage and was in third last I looked at the board.

It's a shame as that likely would've been a podium for me. I would have rather been the lowest guy in your split than the top guy in the second split.

[Cam]

My SR took a hit. I forgot to put it in gear at the start and caused a wreck. Oops. Never done that before. I'm getting old. :lol: Then some dude who was behind me accelerating out of the chicane just blatantly rammed me. He could have gone to the side, but no. :mad: I had a few minor offs as well for a total of 11x. Ouch.

[Cam]

Just surpassed 2000 iRating thanks to the last few Radical and Pro Mazda races. :)

This is kind of cool:


Season Race Division
Awarded for finishing in the top 3 of any division in a season race championship in any official series.
2020 Season 1 Sim-Lab Production Car Challenge Division 4 Race Championship, 3rd Place

[dodint]

:up:

[Cam]

Just did a race where I spun on lap one and got stuck on high ground. Did not damage the car, thankfully. It took me about 30 seconds to get unstuck. There I was in last place with no one to draft. I pushed hard anyway. Made up a few spots when others pitted and only passed one car, until the finish line. I came into the final chicane with a car limping ahead of me with major damage. Just passed him by 0.4 to take tenth. I did my best laps in the last 3-4 laps of the race. Lesson: keep pushing! :D

Earned SR and iRating, so I am OK with that result, considering the spin.

[dodint]

Hah, I did the opposite. Pole sitter spun and I broke out all alone to an open track, led about half the race. Then he caught back up and got by, then I ran alone the rest of the race. Big IR and SR gains.

[Rare White Ape]

Lesson: keep pushing! :D

Yep. Never rage quit. You never know who else is going to come to grief and you might salvage a result that you're proud of.

I have another mantra in a similar vein: if you're pushing and it's the last lap and the next guy is 5.01 seconds ahead and it seems pointless to push, always keep them honest. Keep them within 4.09 seconds. They might fuck up the last turn and recover and you'll have the chance to beat them by 0.01 seconds.

It has happened to me before.

[dodint]

Cam, do you have the Lotus 79?

I am thinking about competing in this on Sunday at 12:30pm:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8noMeXLDc7I

They're at Spa this week. I haven't ran the Lotus 79 in a long time.

[Cam]

No. I have considered it though. I would like to have it. I just ran out of dough. :lol:

[Cam]

Radical is at Mt. Panorama this week. Yikes! I'm going to grind my teeth away. :lol: Just did a race where I was just trying keep it pointed straight. Alas, I had a stupid low-speed spin and crash with two laps left. Eight minute pit stop for damage, so I just quit out. :(

[Cam]

At 7:57, I decided to race Pro Mazda at 8:00. I always look at who is in the race when I enter the track. Oh lookie, Robby Unser is in the race. "That can't be who I think it is." I thought. I looked him up later and it, indeed, appears to be who I thought it was. He finished 12th. I finished 5th. :hard:

I am using a set I got from iRacing's forums. It was the first one I found with a cursory search. It seems OK to me. Maybe not the fastest, I don't know. I qualified 8th with a 1:31.1, about two seconds off the pole time. There are two big straights at Interlagos, so I figured I could just sit in a fast guy's draft and have them pull me around track. I managed to get in behind a dude named Michel. He was faster than I, but he basically towed me around for 45 minutes, flag to flag. I was driving BALLS OUT to keep up. When he pitted I pitted. At one point, I got right under his wing for about two laps. I thought that if I could stay there, I could maybe pull off a last lap draft pass. I was doing 1:29s. Unfortunately, I made slight mistake, allowing a gap before the end. It was a very satisfying race. :D

[dodint]

Very cool. :up:

I'm really glad you like the Pro Mazda. It's a bit of a hidden gem in the sim, it's always been my favorite car in iRacing.

I'm not going to get to race much this week. Mostly on Thursday and Sunday. Most likely scrapping my plan to moonlight in the Classic Lotus Series this week as well.

[Cam]

Just did a SRF race. Qualified 11th out of 20+ cars. Early in the race, I was as high as 6th place. Alas, a dude lost it in front of me and I could not avoid a collision. It ripped the front of my car off. There did not seem to be any suspension damage, so I just kept racing with no nose. I lost speed on the straights, of course. By drafting a lapped car, I managed to salvage 7th. :hard:

[dodint]

Nice! SRF can be a tricky beast. Needs lots of attention.

[dodint]

I'm really glad you like the Pro Mazda. It's a bit of a hidden gem in the sim, it's always been my favorite car in iRacing.


And....It's discontinued. Fuck me.




Indy Pro 2000 and USF2000.

Utilizing the same chassis, the Tatuus USF17 and Tatuus PM18 represent the first two steps in the Road to Indy program. After conquering the USF17 in USF2000 action, drivers get to play with 100 more horsepower, more aerodynamic options, and larger tires with the PM18 in Indy Pro 2000.

Upon release, the USF2000 will be used in Formula Sprint races at the D-class license level, where it will replace the Dallara F3. The Dallara F3 will remain in its own series at the C-class license level.

Upon release, the Indy Pro 2000 will replace the former Pro Mazda car at the C-class license level. The Pro Mazda will be renamed as a "Legacy" car and removed from official racing. Any user who purchased the Pro Mazda within the last two years will receive the Indy Pro 2000 for free!

Finally, future seasons at both levels will see the addition of short ovals run in real life to more closely replicate the real-world Road to Indy ladder.


Not only are they replacing it, but the replacement series will feature more ovals.

[Cam]

:(

[Cam]

I have to work on my mental game. I was leading a Pro Mazda race on the last lap. I saw the second place guy get close. I lost it and wrecked us both. :o He salvaged third. I salvaged sixth, after taking 8x on the last lap trying to keep my busted car on the road. just so I could limp across the finish. Another big hit to my SR. Embarrassing. :(

[Cam]

Doing a Radical race. Barely touched the wall with the car, 0x. It required me to make an eight-minute pit stop for damage. :erm:

[Cam]

I gained +1 iRating for finishing 5 laps down. :lol:

[CudaMan]

A lot of iRacing ratings improvement comes from learning all the ways to stay out of trouble, including reading other drivers' behavior. It's hard to stop that competitive urge to gain the position, but the more you recognize who is likely to crash (either you, themselves, or others) and how, the better your chances. It's kind of similar in real life, except there are far fewer drivers who are actual dangers, and typically you learn a small group of people you're racing around fairly quickly rather than a seemingly random group of different people every race.


Last night I did the Fanatec time attack challenge thing where you try to beat Broadbent's time at LRP GP in the Global MX-5. I can't find what his time is/was, but I wanted to see how close I could get to the top. About a half hour before the competition closed I did a lap I was really really happy with. A lap that, had I done it in real life, I'd have parked the car after that, gotten out, and said "that's everything she's got." At the time that lap was good for 3rd on the leaderboard, half a tenth off the fast time. I couldn't even figure out where that half a tenth would be, based on how many laps I'd done, my best splits, and keeping an eye on the relative display in various corners (and phases of corners). But I figured it was possible to go half a tenth better if someone figured something out that I didn't. Anyway, today I looked to see where I ended up and they extended the competition. I'm 12th now, at least 4 tenths off the lead. I can't even imagine. It's too bad we can't watch the top replays like in GT Sport. I'd like to know what bizarre technique those guys have figured out in iRacing, which previously didn't seem to reward unrealistic driving. Not convinced it does now, but something has been figured out. Maybe taking craptons of curb in just the right way, getting a lucky bounce, etc. Every time I tried that it went pretty badly. :lol:

[retsmah]

Haven't had a chance to race all week, entered a 33 lap F3 race at lime rock. Qualified 12th or 13th, by lap 25 I had made it up to 4th with no incidents and a car about 1.2 seconds back, figured I would be cruising to a 4th or 5th place finish... then the guy says "you've got about five laps of fuel left." D'oh! The lap estimate really let me down, it said I had enough for like 45 laps.

[Cam]

Just did a satisfying SRF race at Legacy Charlotte Roval. Qualified fourth and fell in behind the leaders at turn one. Ran fourth for a while, keeping up with the battle for first. Managed to get into second and the leader crashed in turn one about half-way through the race. It was a three-way battle for the lead for a while. Second and third place were battling, and occasionally challenging me for the lead. I kept it until the last lap. Dude behind me was able to draft-pass for the win by 0.058. Gained a bunch of SR and iRating. :)

[dodint]

Should've turned into him and put him in the wall.

[retsmah]

Ran another F3 race, in 2nd, about 10 seconds back from 1st with a few laps to go so I'm trying to just cruise to the end, had a little oh shit moment though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcEfnPok-ZI&feature=youtu.be

(I'm the red car, the rest of the cars on screen are a lap down.)

[Cam]

Pro Mazda race. Someone spun in front of me and I could not avoid a collision. Rolled my car and totally wrecked. Tow back to pits. Wait 16 minutes for "repairs." Attempt to exit pits. Car is undriveable. So much for "fixing" damage. I had to quit out. :smh:

[dodint]

That's one of my biggest complaints with iRacing. If the car can't be fixed that's fine, just tell me.

[Cam]

How do you prevent snap oversteer in the SRF? Don't lift. :hard:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHpOqhQSdyk

[CudaMan]

Beauty! And yes, that's the proper thing to do in a low-powered mid-engined open-diff car. :)

[Rare White Ape]

Big rawks there!

[Yobbo NZ]

I've just jumped into this.
First thing I've noticed, coming off console "Sims", is how easy the cars I've driven so far, are to drive.
2nd thing, the user interface is so confusing.
I did a practice session last night in an MX5 series.
That session ended with no qualifying after nor any explaination on how to find it if there is any.
Am I missing something there?

[dodint]

Practice sessions are staggered and there are usually three or so at a time. They're just practice. Safety Rating doesn't count, it's basically a multiplayer test session.
Qualifying sessions as a stand alone have fallen out of favor and do not occur in most (all?) series.
Race sessions are races. The MX-5 Cup has a short qualifying session directly before the race, in the same session. You can sign up for a race 30 minutes early, join practice from the registration screen, and then you can free practice until the race starts and you are called to the race session. That may be what you're most familiar with. So, register for a race, jump into the offered practice session and wait to be called. Join from your practice session, run a 2 lap qual, then grid for the race. That qualifying time is only good for that race. If you happen to find a series that has dedicated qualifying sessions your best time of the week will carry with you.

Time Trials are you by yourself trying to get the best average of four laps with no incidents. They start every two minutes.

[Yobbo NZ]

It was wierd, I finished the practice, then spent maybe, another 2 hours doing other things in the game. The lobby disappeared also.

[Yobbo NZ]

They must just be practice lobbies.
Just had another one with the legends car.
Practice finished, nothing else happening afterwards.
Still enjoying the driving though.
Finished 2nd in my first proper race, the Pro 2 lite truck. Had a wrecker in that race which I reported.

[Cam]

I was confused at first also. It does not take long to become accustomed to it. I use the beta UI, but there are missing features and bugs. I understand it's a beta. I've noticed bugs get fixed and I hope more features will be added eventually.

[dodint]

The best function of the Beta UI is the 'favorite' feature for tagging racing series. I still use the old one though since I do not hop around much.

Are you running Suzuka this week, Cam? Might be another week of diminished wheel time for me. Personal stuff going on.

[Cam]

Yes. I did an unsuccessful cursory search for a setup last night. Maybe I will just beg for one in my first race. :lol:

[Cam]

I think I am getting the hang of the SRF. Just got a 3rd place, and 0x, after qualifying 6th. I was #7. Gained plenty of SR and iRating.

[retsmah]

This crash seemed weird at the time, was concerned I caused it although I wasn't sure how. Looks like it was probably a netcode thing though. That was kind of a satisfying thing in my rear view mirror to see a car spin off and into the wall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXntLlR6Sug&feature=youtu.be

[Cam]

Lag, probably. Unfortunate for the other guy.

[Yobbo NZ]

I think I've figured out where I'm going wrong.
I have to wait till the practice session is finished, as in be in the session when the time is up, for it to progress.
Otherwise if I back out, say 10 mins once I'm happy with my time etc, I lose the session, right?

[Yobbo NZ]

Nope, it appears so much easier to work out in the old UI.
Click race now, then select the session you want.
Still not an easy thing to work out.
Oh and took my first win today, in only 4 races so far.
Had a 2nd as well yesterday and was on for a 2nd place in the legends car at an oval, but for a crashed car, I finished 5th.
Loving this so far.

[Tom Servo]

You can also withdraw from a session to leave it before it's over. E.g., if you want to practice in an open practice for like 15 minutes, then join a race, you join the practice, quit out, hit "Withdraw" on the interface about where the "Join" button usually is, and then once you've left the previous session you're free to join anything else.

[Cam]

It seems I cannot figure out the Radical. I get lapped by the leaders when I drive it. :(

[FaultyMario]

Sounds like a setup issue. If Nate's appraisal of your driving is to be believed.

[Cam]

It's a fixed setup series. I think I am just too afraid of it because I find it very tricky to drive. The Formula Mazda is a dream to drive by comparison. I get clobbered by the fast guys in the MX-5 series too.

Oh well. I don't lose sleep over it. :lol:

[Cam]

The last Radical race I did, I was #23 out of 24 cars. I intentionally qualified last. Only two others did not post a qualifying lap. I started 22nd and let everyone go. I thought to myself that I could pick up a few spots from attrition. I did eventually, but only two or three cars dropped out. I was dead last. The notable thing was a dude that spun off track, then caught back up to me... four times during the race. :rolleyes: Last lap, he was right behind me coming out of the final corner, but he spun. :lol: At least I am not as bad as that guy.

[Cam]

My last two Pro Mazda races, I was crashed out on lap one by dudes that lost control of their cars. :mad: The thing is, I could not even see them before they hit me because of the field of view.

Edit: I lost a truck-load of iRating because of it. :|

[dodint]

That sucks Cam. That's part of the reason I don't drive from cockpit view in GT:S, I can't keep my awareness up well enough.

My transducer project is complete and my rig is back together. It's pretty cool. I went to Suzuka in the Pro Mazda and purposely took too much curb through the S's each time and you can now feel the lateral input. Very nice.

I mounted the rears right on the hip, which is about perfect:

http://nathangess.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/transducer-rear.jpg

I mounted the fronts in the front crossmember that the pedal plate bolts to. I didn't want to risk bolting them directly to the pedal base:

http://nathangess.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/transducer-front.jpg

I repurposed a 20 year old home theater receiver I had laying around and am running in direct input mode. I added two sound cards to my system. One sound card runs my existing Buttkicker transducer which has its own amp, which I've directed to only send signals that are felt through the sim cars seat. The second sound card is setup in quadraphonic configuration and runs to the receiver and then the four smaller pucks. Short of getting a motion rig this is about as good of feedback as I'm going to get, I think. The pucks were $10/each on Amazon and the receiver was already on hand so this is a really great cost effective finishing touch for this part of my system. Very happy.

[Cam]

Yowza. :eek:

In other news, took myself out of a Pro Mazda race this time. Went too wide exiting Spoon, caught a bad bump over the rumble strips and put it in the wall. :( There goes more SR and iRating. I guess Suzuka is cursed for me.

[Tom Servo]

My last two Pro Mazda races, I was crashed out on lap one by dudes that lost control of their cars. :mad: The thing is, I could not even see them before they hit me because of the field of view.

Edit: I lost a truck-load of iRating because of it. :|

Sounds like someone just got an excuse to buy an Oculus.

[Cam]

I'm broke. :(

[Yobbo NZ]

Rookie MX5 series is like playing public lobbies in Forza.
I haven't made a 1st lap without getting divebombed, rear ended or shoved off the track yet.
Had a race Friday night in the Pro lite 2 trucks, was joined by our former WRC driver, Hayden Paddon.
He proceeded to wipe the floor with everyone. Still can't find the extra second the aliens get on that Daytona rallycross course.
Loving the speedway stuff too. Had a great race in the street stock, started 9th and finished 4th with no panel banging there.

[Cam]

With the Pro 2 Lite trucks, it is actually better not to slide too much or have too much wheel spin, especially on the paved bits. It is a fixed setup series, but you can adjust the brake balance. I set it to 40%, default is 23%. Just don’t try so hard. A fast guy in the trucks said, “Slow down to be faster.” I also set a button on my wheel to be the handbrake for really tight corners.

In MX-5 races, I just start at the back.

[Yobbo NZ]

I've already adjusted the brake bias, makes it much easier to brake late for the first corner.
I find the hairpin in front of the grandstand is where I seem to lose a lot of time. Haven't found the perfect line as yet.
Just had an MX5 race, started last, and left a gap of around 2 seconds into the first corner.....couldn't have predicted it better if I tried.
2 cars into the trees before the corner, another 3 spun out after.
Came home 4th out of 12 after all that.

[Cam]

I’ve said it before:

How to get a top five in rookie: 1. Start last. 2. Finish race without crashing.

[retsmah]

That perfectly describes my bump in iRating this week in the D class F3 series at Brands Hatch, I most recently I started 9th and finished 2nd, only making one real pass. I think that was actually the first pass I've had all week actually, not including crashed or lapped cars.

The F3 car would also benefit from a VR headset I think, I like using the realistic POV but without being able to move your head the steering wheel can completely block your view at times.

[retsmah]

Hah well good example of the above the very next session out. Obviously the main problem here is how this guy decided to reenter the track, but I couldn't see him at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTehRHhL5us&feature=youtu.be

[Cam]

Wow, protest that. :|

[retsmah]

I should have added that was official practice, so it did hurt my iRating but at least it wasn't a race I guess.

[Rare White Ape]

Nice crunch sound.

[Cam]

A car I can't seem to drive effectively is the Kia Optima. I went into Nurburgring GP thinking that I would just earn some SR. I was ~four seconds off the pace. :eek: Not only that, I only got 3x, but my SR went down. :erm: I guess maybe because my lap times were so inconsistent.

[Cam]

In other news, I just got my B dirt road license. Alas, it is irrelevant because I have not seen any B class dirt road races.

[Cam]

I had a laugh when I saw someone recently call iRacing, “iRenting.” I had not heard that one before. :lol:

[dodint]

IceRacing is the new one I heard recently; on account of the slippery tire physics. Which is gaining notoriety with NASCAR/Indy drivers saying their real life cars are more forgiving.

[Cam]

Ouch. :lol:

[Blerpa]

IceRacing is the new one I heard recently; on account of the slippery tire physics. Which is gaining notoriety with NASCAR/Indy drivers saying their real life cars are more forgiving.

Yeah, that's the word of mouth right now around also in communities of other racing/sim games.
It seems it travelled quickly and spread widely. Ouch indeed as Cam says.

Papyrus, former software house of Dave Kaemmer and all the iRacing gang, got during the years, in the past, a lot of grief about the unforgiving and very difficult nature of Grand Prix Legends: game got a cult following, its difficulty was considered like the high price necessary to be in the Olympus of sim motor racing, to sublimate the legends (apt name!) of 1967 glorious F1 season.
Thing is the game suffered a lot in sales because of its unforgiving nature; Kaemmer was the culprit, Sierra asked him to at least put there a difficulty slider, he opposed and was uncompromising, creating a game without almost any driver aid (Basically just the reset button, IIRC, and it could be deactivated as well).
Sim aficionados didn't mind but... after few years some people, that had the chance to really race those cars or cars akin to those in the game, happened to try the game.
And they all agreed on one thing: the cars in the sim were unrealistically difficult to drive.
The grip in real life would have been way higher, the cars way less prone to sudden rear drive snap and so on.
Game fans spent time trying to debunk or at least justify these claims.
And the 1966 Season Mod paved the way to a new consciousness: the king was naked and the king was simulative but a liar made so to be challenging.

Years after happened the same with Richard Burns Rally: truly unforgiving rally sim (Dirt 2.0? Fffffttt!) and people got miffed when someone cracked its code (I go by memory here) and find out the game had no related direct physics to reality. Basically it was all coded casually but to mimic what the cars "should be handling". (I dunno if I managed to explain myself).

So Kaemmer is back at it again. Bah.

[Tom Servo]

I've done a few practice rounds slowly getting back into it and have found that I can at least push pretty hard in the MX-5 now without losing control at all, it feels like grip levels are far higher than they were a few years ago. I can't even imagine what these people would be saying if they'd been on the service back then.

I wonder if the Radical and SRF are any easier to drive than they used to be...

[dodint]

On another forum I frequent there is an attorney that represented Kaemmer back in the early 2000s in a lawsuit. Every time it comes up he spouts off that iRacing is just an updated version of GPL as if it is some kind of badge of honor. I don't get it. Seems to be some kind of stubborness to pretend it isn't a NASCAR game at its core.

[dodint]

I ran SRF last season and it cost me two licenses. Still too twitchy even after a season of actually tuning the car to my driving. Good community, bad car. And since it's an SCCA car the SCCA is featuring its eSports effort around it. Meh.

[FaultyMario]

On another forum I frequent there is an attorney that represented Kaemmer back in the early 2000s in a lawsuit. Every time it comes up he spouts off that iRacing is just an updated version of GPL as if it is some kind of badge of honor. I don't get it. Seems to be some kind of stubborness to pretend it isn't a NASCAR game at its core.

So it's daddy is Nascar 2003 and not Indycar Racing 2?

[Cam]

Pro Mazda is at Sebring this week. I was excited, as I am very familiar with the track, having done well at it in rFactor. My first race out, only 8 cars showed. Huh. They were getting ~40 cars a race at the last three tracks. I qualified third using the default "medium downforce" set, almost two seconds slower than the pole sitter. I got a good launch, and went outside into turn one. I left lots of room on the inside. Alas, P2 ploughed wide and knocked me into the tires. FFS. :rolleyes: I could not even see him. Car was wrecked. Towed to pits for four minutes of repairs. Left the pits and the car is nearly undriveable. Limped it around again and pitted. Three more minutes of repairs. :erm: Left the pits again. The car was driveable, at least, but still out of alignment. I pitted again, but no more repairs available. Limped it around to finish sixth. Brahs make it SO difficult to get SR. :mad:

[dodint]

I loathe Sebring. My schedule has me in the Radical this week.

[Blerpa]

So it's daddy is Nascar 2003 and not Indycar Racing 2?

I was there when iRacing was born: it all started with the cease and desist warning Papyrus and Kaemmer issued to the guys of the GTP mod for Nascar 2003.
How I know? Me, Brian, Alan, Ayrton and others of the long dead Gumball forum and gang were often privately beta testing the mod together with the mod official beta tester, a guy named John Prather.
What happened? GTP Mod was egregious and fun but Kaemmer HAD to clamp down the new and fresh mod community of Nascar 2003, especially since the GTP mod totally exploited the game and was not necessary Nascar 2003 to run it (at least in its first form): basically they managed to take Nascar 2003 and make a brand new, and free, game out of it.
Kaemmer was readying the iRacing future and he had to seal any weak part in Nascar 2003 licenses and code: iRacing barebone structure and netcode IS Nascar 2003.
It was intentional and well known back in the day.
Now it has evolved into something else, but the first years of the motorsport simulator were basically that: an evolved Nascar 2003 with a website front and launcher.

EDIT: Almost forgot. The group of people that created the GTP Mod is the famous Redline team: yes, the one of the legendary alien sim racer Greger Huttu (to some the best sim racing driver in history) and the one that employs, as official racers, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Richie Stanaway as well.

[Yobbo NZ]

Woohoo, took a class win in the Sim Lab production car challenge, driving a Solstice from the back. I missed qualifying as the wife rang me...
The last few laps I had to hold off a C class dive bomber, he was around a second a lap quicker than me.
He got me on the last corner, on the last lap, but ran wide. I got a little target fixated on him and ran a little wide too, but still had enough drive to beat him to the line.
Was great having a multiclass race and having to watch the timing to see the faster cars coming up quickly.

[Rare White Ape]

I was there when iRacing was born: it all started with the cease and desist warning Papyrus and Kaemmer issued to the guys of the GTP mod for Nascar 2003.
How I know? Me, Brian, Alan, Ayrton and others of the long dead Gumball forum and gang were often privately beta testing the mod together with the mod official beta tester, a guy named John Prather.
What happened? GTP Mod was egregious and fun but Kaemmer HAD to clamp down the new and fresh mod community of Nascar 2003, especially since the GTP mod totally exploited the game and was not necessary Nascar 2003 to run it (at least in its first form): basically they managed to take Nascar 2003 and make a brand new, and free, game out of it.
Kaemmer was readying the iRacing future and he had to seal any weak part in Nascar 2003 licenses and code: iRacing barebone structure and netcode IS Nascar 2003.
It was intentional and well known back in the day.
Now it has evolved into something else, but the first years of the motorsport simulator were basically that: an evolved Nascar 2003 with a website front and launcher.

EDIT: Almost forgot. The group of people that created the GTP Mod is the famous Redline team: yes, the one of the legendary alien sim racer Greger Huttu (to some the best sim racing driver in history) and the one that employs, as official racers, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Richie Stanaway as well.

That’s a fascinating story Blerps. I’d love to read more.

[Cam]

Yes, fascinating, Blerpa.

[Freude am Fahren]

I was thinking when all this pro-sim stuff started happening, we're going to see a lot of excellent feedback, and that iRacing might be a completely different sim in a year or two, with all of that feedback. I hope so.

Even Nicky Thiim, who did iRacing streams all the time was spouting off on the new tire model being horrible and ruining the game. He was enjoying ACC though I think. And now he's kinda disappeared from streaming at least.

[Cam]

Here I am in the pits again, waiting for repairs. I am in a Radical race at Watkins Glen. My first time racing at the Glen in iRacing and it is at night, doh. I was not fast, but things were going well. I just wanted to finish for some SR. I was not even pushing hard and the thing just snapped away from me in a low-speed corner. :( I cannot imagine this car being more difficult to drive. :erm:

[Cam]

Third Pro Mazda race in a row where I’ve been taken out. :rolleyes:

I pitted for damage. Got back on track, but my alignment was effed. Nursed the car around for 12 laps. :rolleyes:

[Cam]

Had a much easier time driving the Caddy at Spa. I am not fast, but it is easy to drive.

[Cam]

That makes five Pro Mazda races in a row that I’ve been taken out. This race I was taken out twice. :|

[dodint]

Sebring sucks.

[Cam]

:lol:

The track is not the problem. :|

[dodint]

And yet...

[Cam]

I keep forgetting that being ahead of me is more important than SR. :rolleyes:

[Cam]

It is disappointing how many dudes are like, “I MUST WIN PRACTICE!” :rolleyes:

I finally finished Sebring with 0x. How did I do it? I started on the back row of about 15 cars. I made my way through the field and finished fourth. :erm:

[Cam]

I've been avoiding the Advanced Mazda Cup series, considering how crashy it was the last few times I tried it. I decided to try it again, as it is at Road America this week. I like RA. I was not disappointed; just as crashy. However, it worked to my advantage. I started from the pits, a whole 20-30 seconds down from the rest of the 27 car field. I steadily made my way to 13th, despite a dude I just passed bombing me. I saw it coming and stayed wide. Had 0x by the end of the race. I am pleased with that result.

[Cam]

I've also been avoiding the Rookie MX-5 Cup. Just wanted to work on my SR, so I started at the back, 12th. I finished 5th.


How to get a top five in rookie: 1. Start last. 2. Finish race without crashing.

[Yobbo NZ]

This irating thing is confusing.
Had another race in the production car series, again in the Solstice.
Finished 3rd in class with 3 incidents and lost irating.
The two ahead of me had 7 and 5 incidents each, but gained irating.
Thought it was all about being clean.

[Cam]

I think it really depends on who you are racing against and what their iRating is. Also, incidents are not used for iRating.

[Cam]

In other news, I had a great finish in a truck race earlier. Used my joker on the last lap to pass four trucks to take 2nd. I started last out of 9 trucks. :hard:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2AUCBhM2-w

For those of you that do not know, the joker lap is kind of like a short cut (or long cut) you have to take a specified number of times during a race. I've only ever seen one per race though.

[Rare White Ape]

Haha!

What’s with the guy doing the full-on corner cut through the parking lot on the last turn?

[Cam]

I do not know. Looks like he is simply trying to cheat.

[Cam]

They are having a 50% off new memberships drive again.

[Tom Servo]

This irating thing is confusing.
Had another race in the production car series, again in the Solstice.
Finished 3rd in class with 3 incidents and lost irating.
The two ahead of me had 7 and 5 incidents each, but gained irating.
Thought it was all about being clean.

Like Cam said, iRating is supposed to be a numerical score for how fast you are, and is completely separate from incidents. Kinda like a chess rating, how much it goes up when you do well depends on the iRating of the people you beat, and vice versa when it goes down. SR is entirely based on the number of incident points you've racked up in the last some-number of corners and has nothing to do with how fast you are/where you place in races. SR affects which series you're allowed to race in via your license, iRating affects which split you end up in if there are enough participants in the race, in an attempt to keep you in a group where you're all competitive with each other.

[retsmah]

This may be a thing most people knew, but I recently learned that in official sessions your car number is assigned based in iRating, #1 has the highest iRating.

I've found this kind of helpful, if I'm in a session where I'm like #20 and I'm running like 10th I don't feel as much need to either try to push hard to catch the car in front of me, or worry about one or two cars passing me during the race.

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah iRating is like an ELO system, which has been used in countless competitive games such as Rainbow Six, Gran Turismo, Overwatch, etc...

Put simply if you beat people who aren't as experienced as you, you'll only gain a few points. If you beat people more experienced than you, then you will gain a lot of points. Vice-versa if you lose to people less experienced than you, you'll lose a lot of points.

It's a great way to really quickly sort people into their 'true' ranking... assuming all goes well without incidents. For example if an experienced sim racer is starting out in iRacing for the first time, they can very quickly climb the ladder and see themselves placed against racers with similar ranking points. From then its a matter of the driver being consistent and trying to improve which pushes them further up.

The trouble comes when the curve starts to flatten out and the gains come more slowly, or not at all. The driver will be used to winning or finishing up the front with relative ease, but suddenly they'll find themselves mid-pack or lower, and it will be very frustrating. This is not because they're slow, it's because everyone else is faster. They have reached their ceiling for now, and won't go any higher unless they put in a lot of effort.

Safety rating is different. I don't know how it works in iRacing but in Gran Turismo (a game that has taken a lot of inspiration from iRacing's rankings) your SR gauges how safe you are - not cutting corners, or hitting other cars, etc. In GT you will actually lose a lot of your driver rating if your SR drops below a certain level as a way to punish bad behaviour. You'll have the ability to gain it back, but that takes a long time, plus you'll be put in splits against other drivers with poor safety ratings as well. Not fun!

[Yobbo NZ]

I'm almost over the MX5, thing is bloody hard to drive consistently fast.
One lap is good, next lap it's sliding all over the place.
Also doesn't help with dipshit drivers who can't use mirrors or their spotter instructions.
On another note, I like the Cadillac.
I've only been running TT and practice sessions so far to work myself into it, slowly getting faster, but Spa is pretty brutal on track limits.

[Cam]

Don't go off-track? :p

I bought a few more cars last night. There is a group I want to race with who use the 911 GT3 in a weekly meet. They also do endurance races regularly. Today, they are doing a 12 hour race in the 718 GT4. I was doing some fun practice with them last night. I turned off TCS/ABS/ECM, but could not keep the car on the road. I had to turn it back on. :o I also bought the Lotus 79, Nissan GTP-ZX, and Ford GT 2017.

[retsmah]

Check out this guys first lap. I'm the red car that he knocks off the course in the first corner, but he's got another one up his sleeve. I went back to see how this even happened, I started like third from last, didn't have anyone right behind me and wasn't even having to check up much on the first corner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiJgxv0nt_4&feature=youtu.be

On a related note, is there a way even after a race to figure out if your car had any damage? It seemed like my car was handling not so great this race after getting hit on the first lap, I was having a lot more oversteer than usual. I came into the pits after the race and they didn't try to make any repairs though. Maybe I was just driving poorly.

edit: I always forget to save replays, including this one :( This would have probably been funnier to edit from the point of view of the cars that got hit.

[Cam]

Yes, it is possible that your car was damaged and the crew declined to fix it. It has happened to me in the Formula Mazda. I do not know if there are any damage indicators that you can look at in-game.

[Cam]

FFS, I joined an hour race in my new Ford GT. I am way off-pace, but I expected that. The very first car to lap me wrecks me. :smh: I intentionally went wide in a corner to let him take the inside and he just drove straight into me. :mad: 25 minute stop for repairs.

[retsmah]

Had a similar situation, we'll see if I can file a protest, I tried to on a race a few days ago and haven't been able to. Left the inside wide open for a dude behind me and he just drove into the back of me. Watched the full replay and he did the same thing to another car, and side swiped a third.

I've had so many crashes but I don't drive aggressively at all, I think I've probably caused 1-2 of them in my entire iRacing career, and had another maybe 3-5 that were just racing incidents. Most are some idiot deciding that because he has a draft he's now some superhuman that doesn't have to brake for the next corner

[retsmah]

Figured out what my problem was with protesting, there is a 30MB limit on attachment size, however if you exceed that the error message it gives you is that there is an error with the system, try again in a few minutes. Anyway I protested my last race, and then protested an incident I just witnessed a few days ago of intentional blocking.

[Yobbo NZ]

Does it confirm you've sent the protest? Two I've done, hit done/submit and it doesn't seem to do anything, no error or confirmation.

[Cam]

I normally get confirmation e-mails acknowledging receipt of a protest.

[Cam]

I might be doing Nurburgring 24h next week-end with some guys I know from rFactor. They finished Suzuka 12h today.

[dodint]

iRacing: The Ultimate Windows Update Simulator

[Cam]

I just finished another one-hour endurance race with a mere 2x for minor offs. Made a good gain on my SR. It's comical how dudes about to lap me are flashing their lights despite the fact they are not even close to me. :lol: Do you expect me to just stop on the track to let you by? :rolleyes: I am using default set. I am the slowest car on the track. I qualified 26th, because everyone else behind me did not set a Q lap. I finished 29th out of 36 cars. I was playing with the map settings to see the difference in fuel economy. I didn't write anything down, so I've kind of forgotten already. :lol:

Edit: Oh yeah, my fuel stop was about 1.5 minutes because I had to pee. :lol:

[Cam]

Did another one-hour race to earn my A license. I got wrecked a couple of times and had a few offs. My SR before the race was 4.5. After the race, my SR is now 2.8. :eek: :lol:

[Cam]

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to start from the back. Every. Single. Race. Otherwise, idiots just crash me out. :|

[CudaMan]

It's comical how dudes about to lap me are flashing their lights despite the fact they are not even close to me. :lol: Do you expect me to just stop on the track to let you by? :rolleyes:
Sometimes I'll flash just to make myself known. You might be surprised (or then again you might not!) at how many drivers don't have much situational awareness, including their mirrors. For me it's more of a "hey I'm back here, please use your mirrors and see me when I get close" kind of thing most of the time. I don't always flash when I'm approaching a lapped car.

[Rare White Ape]

I flashed at a player in GTS the other night and he totally missed his braking marker!

This was after three laps of Monza with me bump drafting and staying within 0.2 seconds.

With two laps to go I thought it’s time to pass this guy and hit the flash button. He then gracefully sailed into the gravel trap outside the Parabolica :D

[FaultyMario]

I usually get nervous by the second lesmo.

[CudaMan]

I ran my first off road truck race tonight. Man these things are a hoot! The air time, the slides, the body roll, dirt flying, surface changes, the feeling under braking... It's a new iRacing license category so I'm a Rookie and of course I started trying to get my SR up. In 3 races so far the pattern is thus: I qualify on pole and these guys turn into me in T1 like I'm not there - I get my requisite 2x for the race and run away from them, being cautious lapping the guys who pinball themselves around the track. :lol: The first race was entertainingly weird as people rammed each other, flipped each other, and yelled at each other in voice chat. The other two were more 'normal' levels of carnage.

I don't have a handbrake so I mapped my H-pattern shifter's 3rd gear to that function. I just have to remember to pull it back into Neutral or I'll come to a dead stop. :)

I tried the RallyX Beetle for a few laps offline and that thing is a little rocket. And it won't turn. :lol:

[Cam]

Noob. :p Yeah, I enjoy the trucks too. I get owned in RallyX. I cannot figure it out.

[Cam]

In fact, I can't figure out a lot of cars. :lol: Formula Mazda seems to be my jam. I can't do well in anything else, except the rookie truck. It could have something to do with the fact that I always use default setups. That does not explain the fixed setup races though. I'm old and slow. :cry:

[Cam]

I had the wacky idea tonight to stream the Nurburgring 24h to YouTube. I have not tried it before, but I will test it before the week’s out.

[Cam]

I think the live stream worked, but I had no one to watch it to confirm that it worked. :lol: My machine did not seem to have any trouble with it once I figured out the software.

[Cam]

It appears my test was successful.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvhKyZGgbfc

[Rare White Ape]

Nice lap Cam :) Video quality is good.

I understand this is on this weekend ya?

I’ll add you to my round of streams that I’ll check in with: top split stream, shed racer stream, and your stream.

[Cam]

The race starts at 13h00 (all times GMT) We have seven drivers doing one-hour stints. I am tentatively (anything could happen) scheduled to be in the car around 15h00 for my first stint, then again at 21h15 and 11h10 Sunday.

[Cam]

Nurburgring 24 Hours, live at 9:00 am Eastern!

https://youtu.be/-qQLi_NK0DY

[dodint]

Good luck Cam!

[Cam]

In other news, I felt I had unfinished business at the ring. I wanted to do a lap under 8:50 in the 911 Cup. I tried another three-lap race there this afternoon, before the weekly track switch. Some dude caught me at the end of lap two. He continually flashed his lights at me for the entirety of 3/4 of a lap, for like six minutes, despite the fact that we were fighting for position in the same car. I am reporting him just for being a dick. :rolleyes: He did finally pass me. I started 17th and finished 4th. My best lap was an 8:51. :(