Racing Sim Thread, Part II

[Gurantsu]

I have a class B road, so I'm really looking forward to this!

[Naples39]

Just an iRacing noob question; last week the venue changed every day on the Mazda racing series, and there were no time trials. Now it's back to "race weeks" being an actual week. Is this the norm?

[Gurantsu]

Yeah, you jumped in during the popular "Week 13". Its sort of a free for all week between normal seasons, where they do some special races, many of which allow you to race cars that you don't have a liscense for yet. Often the races won't affect your safety rating either.

Now starts the real deal. It's probably best to stick with one series, but I always end up jumping around, especially if I don't have the track a particular series is racing on. Of course, thats happening less and less often.

[Gurantsu]

Well, I just filed my first ever driver protest in iRacing.

Wanting to run some oval races to get my level up, I jumped into the street stock race at South Boston this morning. About halfway through I had a little contact with this smacked ass named Chad, his car already a smoking pile of crap at this point, and I guess he decided to make me his whipping boy. On the last lap as I'm going high around him, he turns right into me, destroying my license level (although I did still finish fifth). He then laughed and made a berely legible comment in voice chat. When one of the other drivers told him to knock it off or he might get banned, he logged out quickly.

Sad thing is I had a strange feeling he was coming after me. His actions a few other times as I passed him were very odd, and luckily as I was near other cars he was never able to get to me. On the last lap I was all by my lonesome, and he had a clear shot at me.

People can be complete dumbasses.

[Gurantsu]

Well, after putting up with poor sportsmanship in the morning street stock race yesterday, I was able to jump into the Grand Am race last night at Watkins Glen, the Cup layout.

Had a terrific race. Even though it's a mixed class series, my race was full of 23 Daytona Prototypes only, no Mustangs. I qualified 10th, and had my only contact of the race on the first lap just after turn one, as there was a bit of a traffic jam and me and a few others had to go wide (thank god that it's not sand out there anymore!) Had some good battles with various dudes, and for the first time in a while felt fast. Not alien fast, but at least enough to hold my own. I stayed out of trouble, and ended up with a fifth place finish. My fastest lap was a 1:08.9. My license went up by .12, to a Class B 3.67, and iRating went up by +52 to a 1303. Loads of fun, and I'm starting to get a much better feel for the DP cars. I know I'm losing speed at the track though, in my entrance to the chicane, in the sweeping right just after the chicane, and the final turn before the main straight.

Oh, and an interesting thing about my protest. The confirmation e-mail I got form iRacing was from a guy named Nim Cross. He is (or at least was) from York, and used to come into the Electronics Boutique I worked at all the time, and he and I would talk about sim racing. I remember him telling me about teaching Jeff Gordon how to run the NASCAR 2003 simulator they would take to various tracks, and how Bristol didn't have a bad seat in the house. It's cool that he still works with the old Papyrus crew.

[GB_Simo]

Had some good battles with various dudes, and for the first time in a while felt fast. Not alien fast, but at least enough to hold my own. I stayed out of trouble, and ended up with a fifth place finish. My fastest lap was a 1:08.9.

I've just been doing some solo laps there without having seen your post. The only lap I did without getting my foot stuck between the brake and throttle trying to heel-toe was a 1:11.somethingorother, running the default medium downforce setup. I know I'm losing time everywhere - never tried the DP at the Glen in iRacing until tonight and I don't seem to understand cornering speeds or braking points, which is a bit of a handicap - but 1:08s and 1:09s sound like pretty good race pace. Nice run, mate.


I fancied trying something at the Glen in iRacing after giving the Lotus 49 a whirl there in GPL. Had a great scrap with Denny Hulme which ended with me sitting on his outside all the way through the left hander before Big Bend and finishing the move at the end of the next braking zone. With wings and downforce it'd probably be a 'so what?' of a move but doing it in GPL made me so happy I let out a little involuntary cheer.

I tried the same move on Clark for the lead a couple of laps later, got distracted by a backmarker and accidentally removed two thirds of the Lotus interest from the race, but that's not important and I'm sure everyone would have laughed about it afterwards.

[Gurantsu]

Had a fun race in the iRacing late model series this afternoon, at Thompson Speedway. Started 9th, finished 5th. The last few laps were nerve wracking, as my tires were going away and I had a guy breathing down my neck. I was able to hold him off though, and clean racing all around.

Long way to go on the oval license, but these cars will make it fun.

Until maybe Bristol...

[pk500]

The iRacing Sprint Car was released. Pray for me, as I'm about to give it a whirl ...

[pk500]

The Sprint Car is a BEAST. Redefines the need for progressive throttle application exiting corners with an iRacing oval car. But at least you don't need to worry about changing gears -- only one gear!

Massively challenging. Big fun and very satisfying when you find a semblance of a rhythm.

[Gurantsu]

Sweet. Any idea what class it will be?

[pk500]

Sweet. Any idea what class it will be?

B. It should be A, as it's the toughest oval car to drive in iRacing, hands down. Very fun and very rewarding, though!

[Gurantsu]

Wanting to get this weeks iRacing Grand Am race in before we head off to Disney, and because I'm a glutton for punishment, I ran tonights race at VIR.

That is a track that drives me nuts. It almost feels like the DP cars have no business running there. Very narrow, and every turn seems to be off camber and at the top of a hill. Still, I jumped in with only minimal practice time (maybe 15 minutes or so).

I started 14th, and finished 10th, more because of atrition than anything else. I ended up a lap down, last of the DP's (there were a few Mustangs in the mix also).

I'm amazed at how some drivers on iRacing still don't know how and where to pass, especially on a track lke VIR. I had guys charging up to me in the middle of turns, trying to pass in the uphill esses, just crazy stuff. Maybe they figure intimidation would get me to run off the track, but luckily that didn't happen once, although a few of the would-be passers did take a grass ride. (most of whom ended up passing me again later anyway!) About halfway through the race it finally started to click for me how to drive the various parts of the track. My fastest lap was a 1:49.9, the leaders was a 1:42.8. Not great, but closer than I thought, and I know with more practice I could bring that down.

Still, I kept my nose clean, only a couple of minor offs for cutting a few curbs too close. My safety rating went up by +.75, so I now have a class B 4.42 license. I assume that will become an A soon, but how are promotions handled now (since its been a while since I raced). Is it weekly?

I'm hoping to get a Late Model race in tomorrow if I can, as I'd like to run all of those races this season also.

[pk500]

Nice going, Grant! I despise VIR, too.

[DChaps]

....Still, I kept my nose clean, only a couple of minor offs for cutting a few curbs too close. My safety rating went up by +.75, so I now have a class B 4.42 license. I assume that will become an A soon, but how are promotions handled now (since its been a while since I raced). Is it weekly?

I am fairly certain that with the fast track promotions it is immediate. Have you met the MPR? 4 races and/or 4 time trials for the current class (in your case B) in the current season. For example, my MPR currently states:

Class C
• You need 4 more Races or 4 more Time Trials.
• Your SR is below 3.0.
• NOT ready for promotion.

3.9.1. Fast Track: Drivers having earned a 4.00 Safety Rating at any point during the season and having met the MPR will be promoted to the next higher license level.

Good job by the way on making an A Class license. I have been stuck at C for almost 2 years.

[Gurantsu]

Ah, thats it, haven't met the MPR yet. It says I need 4 more races or TT's. No problem, I'll get them in soon enough.

The DP cars really seem to suit me. I like the weightier feel to them, I feel like it gives me more feedback on how its handling.

[DChaps]

Similar to the iRacing Indycar Premier Series that was recently announced, now iRacing has unveiled a similar Premier series for Grand-Am. Just like Indycar, this is a series in addition to the normal 12 week Grand-Am series.

http://membersmedia.iracing.com/pdfs/Pr ... Series.pdf

GRAND-AM Road Racing and iRacing.com are pleased to announce a new online premier racing series that will feature virtual GRAND-AM racing! The new premier series will feature Daytona Prototypes and Mustang Challenge race cars, competing at many of the same venues as the real world GRAND-AM Rolex Series. There will be two champions crowned at the end of the ten race season – one in the DP class and one in the Mustang class. Race results and standings will be reported on both http://www.GRAND-AM.com and http://www.inRacingNews.com and there will be cash prizes for champions.

2011 PREMIER SERIES SCHEDULE*:
Homestead – Sunday February 27th – 90 minutes
Barber – Sunday April 3rd – 90 minutes
VIR – Sunday May 8th – 90 minutes
Lime Rock Park – Sunday May 22nd – 90 minutes
Watkins Glen (Long Course) – Sunday June 5th – 120 minutes
Road America – Sunday June 19th – 90 minutes
Mazda Raceway – Sunday July 3rd – 90 minutes
Daytona – Sunday July 17th - 144 minutes
Watkins Glen (Short Course) – Sunday August 7th – 90 minutes
Mid Ohio – Sunday August 28th – 90 minutes
All races are timed events.
*Premier Series schedule is subject to change

PRIZE SUMMARY:
DP Championship:
-1st place - $1,000 cash, trophy awarded at Mid-Ohio in September, VIP passes for GRAND-AM race weekend at Mid-Ohio, Invitation for champion and a guest to attend Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series banquet (2 tickets to event)
-2nd place - $500 cash, trophy
-3rd place - $250 cash, trophy

Mustang Championship:
-1st place - $1,000 cash, trophy awarded at Mid-Ohio in September, VIP passes for GRAND-AM race weekend at Mid-Ohio, Invitation for champion and a guest to attend Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series banquet (2 tickets to event)
-2nd place - $500 cash, trophy
-3rd place - $250 cash, trophy

[pk500]

iRacing free for one month, with all rookie cars and the Skip Barber car:

http://iracing.com/sbrs/

What the hell are you waiting for?

[GB_Simo]

Bundled unceremoniously from the Racing 2011 thread:

Haven't gone thru this thread but I see there is a new nascar game coming out not by EA. What's the word about this? Any changes from EA's titles?

Headline acts so far seem to be an enhanced damage system and AI tweaked to match the characteristics of the real drivers, neither feature being especially new or exciting (Formula One 2001 on PS2 was doing AI that matched the real drivers, after all) but both being welcome. There's also the promise of a victory celebration mode, just as the last-gen EA titles had but with the option to drive full victory laps, get out of your car, do backflips and pretend you're Carl Edwards if you're so inclined.

Eutechnyx are the development team behind it. Some of their earlier work went under a different name in the USA to the one used in Britain, so forgive me if I butcher some of these names, but they've been responsible for Grand Tour Racing, C3: Car Constructors Championship, the F1 World Grand Prix games on PSOne (which are separate from the N64 and Dreamcast efforts, both different games again under the same branding), the PSOne edition of Test Drive Le Mans, Ferrari Challenge and Supercar Challenge. Along with the Big Mutha Truckers games, Pimp My Ride and, I think, 007 Racing, none of which we need detain ourselves with here...

What you're sure of with a modern Eutechnyx release is eye candy and solid handling. Ferrari Challenge and Supercar Challenge had those, while the early signs with NASCAR 2011 are good. You'll see some videos on YouTube of tracks being driven by Richard Towler, an English sim racer who is the big dog of iRacing's NASCAR championships, so while his lines look tidy and convincing already, you can feel fairly confident that any major handling issues are being flagged up well in advance of release.

Those last two games I mentioned also had very basic AI, whose idea of defending the line was to arrow diagonally across the track before a corner regardless of whether you were already on the inside or not, arriving at the turn glued to the inside of the track at a slow enough speed for you to just drive around the outside instead. From memory, they were also scared to overtake. In a NASCAR game, duff AI would be my main concern and I'd want to see more footage of the cars reacting to player presence to gauge how far Eutechnyx have come in that regard.

Though the game is being developed 30 miles up the road from me, it's not getting a PAL release and I'll have to import instead, so I'm looking forward to further impressions from you lot once the (delayed) release comes around late next month.

[Lancer]

thanks for the info gb. One game EA had gotten right was Nascar, especially the last one where you could create custom cars, i though that was very fun.

I wish someone would release Nascar Arcade like the ones you'd see at Dave and Busters or any local arcade place. That game is simple and fun.

[Rodster]

Lancer EA did release two arcade Nascar games one for the PS2 (Nascar Rumble) and Nascar Kart for the Wii. Both games got good reviews.

[GB_Simo]

I wish someone would release Nascar Arcade like the ones you'd see at Dave and Busters or any local arcade place. That game is simple and fun.

This one?



I played it once in an arcade about 60 miles from me (arcades in Britain are usually found in seaside resorts and they've really died out in recent years so you have to go looking hard for a good one) and really enjoyed it. I do remember thinking the AI had stiffed me with some sort of nasty give-us-all-your-money catch-up logic at Daytona, which is more an indication of how long I'd been away from playing proper arcade games than anything else, I guess...the Sega one from about 10 years ago was fairly good fun as well.

The EA console games disappeared here after NASCAR 2000 and its horrible, nasty, tight default handling model, then for reasons unknown came back again with NASCAR 06. I really enjoyed that one and thought they were within an ace of nailing NASCAR 09 on the current consoles - the road course bug and the ridiculous dominance you could assert on superspeedways once you levelled that car up to around 70 spoiled things a bit, but it probably only needed one more year.

[Gurantsu]

So I've been trying to get every race in for 2 series this season, the NASCAR Late Model series and the Grand Am series (not the Premier one though I may try to run a Mustang in that one).

I've met my MRP for the Late Models, just need to get the safety rating up. But my MRP for my road license hasn't moved. Turns out the Grand Am is a class C series, so they don't count. DOH! So I'll have to sneak in some time trials in a B class to finally get my A Road license.

By the way, the Late Models are a real hoot to race. Did one earlier tonight at Richmond (night race!) and had a lot of fun. For the most part everyone runs pretty clean. Not so apparently for the Grand Am's this week, as folks are saying Lime Rock is a wreck fest. Still, after my early exit from Spa last week (through no fault of my own amazingly) it'll be a welcome change!

[pk500]

By the way, the Late Models are a real hoot to race. Did one earlier tonight at Richmond (night race!) and had a lot of fun. For the most part everyone runs pretty clean. Not so apparently for the Grand Am's this week, as folks are saying Lime Rock is a wreck fest. Still, after my early exit from Spa last week (through no fault of my own amazingly) it'll be a welcome change!

Agree on the Late Models. I think they're the closest cars in iRacing -- physics- and feel-wise -- to the Cup cars in NASCAR Racing Season 2003, which was Dave Kaemmer's last game for Papyrus before forming iRacing with John Henry.

I think I raced for six hours last Saturday night with iRacing. A mixture of Official and Hosted races. Big fun!

[fletcher21]

I picked up World of Outlaws for 360 brand new. 10 bucks. I played it for half an hour last night. I won my first 4 races (heats and the main event) and it just seems off to me. I know WoO came out for PS2 nearly 10 years ago. Something just does not feel right about the game for 360. I don't know if it's the same but feels different to me due to the 10 year gap, but the cars don't seem to handle right. I also remember the track degrading a lot better on the PS2 version. Anyone on here have the game or know what's up? Is it worth my time? I only spent 10 bucks, so if it sucks I have no problem ditching it. I am going to pick up WoW 2002 for my PS2 if it really is the superior game. I had more fun with that game than I can remember.

[GB_Simo]

A year ago now, Fletch, but you asked a fairly similar question in the game-specific thread and some folk who've played it more than I have gave you an answer. Here you go, mate:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14207

Rodster was kind enough to send me an NTSC copy (I was told the game was region-free. It's not. Some months later, while a little drunk, I bought an NTSC console just in time for WoO's official PAL release...) which I've played a little but not as much as I'd like. It's a very, very similar game to the PS2 release - feels like the same engine, as Terry mentions in the above-linked thread - which has a very easy Career mode for at least the early stages, a very challenging and realistic racing experience in the Arcade mode and some moderate frame rate issues which will probably become gamebreaking if you're really sensitive to that kind of thing.

Certainly, if you liked the PS2 game you'll enjoy this, but I don't think the 360 game is really any better.