Racing Sim Thread, Part II

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:36 am

GB_Simo wrote:Me too - was out watching Haye vs Valuev last night. Am good for some racing pretty much any night for the next little while, though.

As much as I love boxing, staying home to play a $9.99 budget racing title would have been better entertainment than that fight!

Nice to see one of the Eastern Euro giants crippling the heavyweight division toppled, though.

Take care,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:20 pm

Well, I did a Time Trial in the Skippy at Infineon this morning, and that will close the book on that track as I head off to VIR. In the TT I got a fast lap of 1:52.924 and a fastest 4 lap average of 1:53.413.

VIR is a whole different animal, as compared to Infineon it's pretty flat, so you can't use the valleys to help stick your car, I foresee many spins in my future.

I like the week-long schedule at each track. It really gives the feel of a race weekend, as you can race, time trial, qualify and practice and just worry about one track at a time. It helps me stay focused on working on how to get faster. Then the circus moves on to the next track.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:00 pm

Wow, when I downloaded the Daytona Prototype Riley for iRacing, I had no idea I could paint it like this:

Now I just need to be able to drive it...

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:14 pm

Nice paint job, Grant!

Note to The Donald: Any time you want to roust up a private, hosted race, I'll try to be there!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:42 pm

EXCELLENT hour-long podcast with iRacing founder/guru Dave Kaemmer about the future of the sim. Some really cool content and features in the pipeline:

http://psrtv.com/podcast/index.php?p=ep ... on_e23.mp3

Enjoy,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:34 am

Well I ran a Skippy race at VIR. I had a few spins but finished 6th, and actually had a good pass on one guy. And here is how close I came to being lapped on the final lap (I'm the blue and yellow car):

This track drives me nuts though. The more I think I'm going faster, the slower I am; the slower I feel like I'm driving, the faster my times are. It's like the track was made in bizzaro world. I can get into the 2:18's, but some of the guys run in the 2:10's, thats just crazy fast.

I think I'm worrying about the wrong corners. The ones I think I need to go fast on usually spin me out, and probably wouldn't help my lap times anyway. I now know that Hogpen, and Oak Tree are the biggies, and it's all about exit speed. I need practice, and to not get frustrated as I pirouette through the grass...

I did end up getting the book called "Going Faster" by the Skip Barber Racing School. I saw it on the iRacing store but I got it through Amazon. Very interesting stuff, and goes a bit more into the physics of whats happening in the car than other books I've read on driving. Well worth the price.

My D class SR for road courses is now above 4, but has not been upgraded to a C class. I'm not sure if I'm qualified for the fast track yet, or if I need to do 4 races/TT's in a C class car now that I'm able to drive them, I've read conflicting posts on this in the forums. I want to continue the Skippy season, but my ultimate goal is to get into the Daytona Prototype series, so getting there faster would be cool. However, getting there and knowing how to drive would be cooler.

Decisions decisions...

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:50 am

Grant:

You need to have a 4.0 Safety Rating and complete a certain number of time trials or races before you're Fast Tracked.

Congrats on being on the cusp of C! I need to plug in my wheel for about the first time in three weeks and get going! Tonight is as good a night as any!

Take care,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:48 am

Ah, now I see it. I need one more class D race or 2 more time trials to meet my MPR.

Maybe I'll have another go at VIR tomorrow. I race mostly in the morning, so I race a lot of guys from Europe. Even from across the pond they kick my butt.

The podcast is very interesting, its cool to hear about all of the mechanics going on behind the scenes. And I love the intro with Paul Page announcing the start of Indycar Racing 2, man I played the hell out of that game! I still remember a full race win I had in Toronto in it, playing with a little 2-button joystick in the middle of the night; wow it must have been 15 years ago? Wow, I'm old...

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:09 am

To quote my friends who play World Of Warcraft... "DING!"

I just ran another race at VIR, and upon it's completion I now have a Class C Road license with a SR of 3.63.

No wrecks or spins, but man that track just perplexes the hell out of me. I see where the other guys are getting speed on me, but damned if I can replicate what they are doing! It will be an interesting puzzle to figure out though, I'll definitely run some more practice sessions there to see if I can get it right. I know what I want the car to do, I just can't make it happen... yet.

So now the question is do I run the Mazda series in tandem with the Skippies? The cars are different enough that I don't think it would be much trouble. I ran a SRF race the other day and did horrible, because the cars are similar and it was tough to get the Skippie out of my mind. The Mazda's however have a lot of downforce so it's a completely different mindset for me. I'll have to run some practices in them and see what I feel like. I do want to continue the Skippie season though.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:23 am

Well done, Grant!

Take care,
PK

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 10:24 pm

Gurantsu wrote:I just ran another race at VIR, and upon it's completion I now have a Class C Road license with a SR of 3.63.

No wrecks or spins, but man that track just perplexes the hell out of me. I see where the other guys are getting speed on me, but damned if I can replicate what they are doing!

Well done, mate!

I can't stand VIR. It's not the kind of track I'd particularly enjoy even if I knew what I was doing, but at the minute I just can't pick a line. Every corner feels like a temporary diversion from the serious business of spinning pathetically.

The Mazdas are really pleasant cars to drive, decent downforce allied to not quite enough power. Good training for the IndyCars, I'd have thought, and different enough from the slippier Skippies that they might be worth running at the same time; one isn't a feeder series for the other or anything like that, at least to me.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:41 pm

Well I've decided to run both series at the same time, dividing each week in half instead of jumping back and forth day by day. I ended last week with a Mazda race at Sebring, so I figured I'd stay with them for the first half of this week.

Todays race was at Lime Rock, which had me nervous as the talk in the forums was that it can be treacherous for new drivers due to its small size and the fact that there is so much traffic. Add to that the fact that I had no idea how much fuel to put in the car, and poured a bunch in just before start (after vainly trying to remember how many liters go into a gallon, as someone gave the fuel setting in liters) so I ended up lapping a lot slower than I was used to in practice.

Having said all of that, I ended up with my first podium finish ever in iRacing, with a 3rd! Now it must be qualified with the fact that I was 2 laps down at the end, but so was the second place car; also only 5 cars ended up finishing the race. Still, I didn't even have one incident, and it was strange to see people actually pull aside to let me through, certainly a change for me!

The race was won by a Pro driver named Brian Kerr, who was very cool to those who finished and shared his setup with us. It pays to stick around folks!

So I wish I was faster, but I kept it together even with some hairy moments, and ended up with a solid race. My SR is at 3.98 now, so 2 more decent races and I should be sitting on a B license, although the fast track is almost getting too fast for me! I sometimes feel I'm advancing quicker than I'm learning. I just need to pace myself and I'll be OK I think.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:19 pm

Far out, Grant! That's fantastic.

Take care,
PK

Smurfy · Post by **Smurfy** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:04 am

I've got my new rig running and iRacing looks pretty sweet.

I did 14 laps of Laguna Seca in a rookie Solstice. On a clean lap, I was in the 1:55 zone.

I'm having lots of trouble figuring out how to enter turns. I tend to either rotate the car too much and spin it or I find I didn't slide it enough and had a bad exit.

Either way, I'd love to join you guys (at the back of your grid) to watch and learn.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:01 pm

Glad to hear you get everything working.

Check out this thread for help with the Solstice at Laguna:

http://members.iracing.com/iforum/threa ... 4&tstart=0

However, at 1:55 you are already way ahead of me and I have run a lot of laps there in the Solstice.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:33 pm

Smurf:

Glad you're aboard the iRacing train!

Here's an EXCELLENT video guide for finding more speed at Laguna in the Rookie Solstice. The guy does one fast lap and then breaks down the second lap into segments, describing all of his braking points, apexes, etc.

You can see his shift, throttle and brake indicators the entire time you watch the video. It's brilliant:

http://blip.tv/file/1242033

Your lap time already is quite sharp. Good job!

EDIT: Don linked to the same iRacing forum thread that contains the link I posted! Guess I should check next time.

What are your initial impressions of iRacing compared to other sims you've run?

Take care,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:51 pm

My best in the Rookie Solstice at Laguna Seca was a 1:54.785, so I'm sure you'll be finding a lot more speed in them!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:50 pm

Another target, Smurf: My best at Laguna in a Rookie Solstice is 1:53.186.

And what's your real full name so I can add you to my iRacing Friends list? I'm Paul Kelly.

Take care,
PK

Smurfy · Post by **Smurfy** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:51 pm

Thanks for the links guys. The videos are great!

I have to make one thing clear about my driving: I use the paddles to shift gears. I only use the clutch for upshifts and starts. But I do have auto clutch/blip DISABLED. So I think I'm already gaining time just by avoiding the stick-shift.

As for my impressions it's pretty hard to say because I never ran rFactor and NR2003 at such high resolution with such frame rates and image quality. But the steering wheel feels much better so far. It may be because I had to install everything fresh since I bought Windows 7. Either way, the steering feels way better. It's night and day compared to all the troubles I had in NR2003 on my old computer.

Driving the rookie Solstice around Laguna Seca reminded me a bit of driving the cars in GPL. Pointing the nose of the car in the correct direction and carrying maximum speed through a turn are of utmost importance. Well, I guess that was the same with NR2003? It definitely wasn't as important when racing the Meganes in rFactor.

The biggest challenge for me will be keeping my safety rating above zero

Smurfy · Post by **Smurfy** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:53 pm

pk500 wrote:Another target, Smurf: My best at Laguna in a Rookie Solstice is 1:53.186.

And what's your real full name so I can add you to my iRacing Friends list? I'm Paul Kelly.

Take care,
PK

HAH! I already added "Adam Simpson", "Paul Kelly", "Don Chapman", "Grant Sharp", and "Terry Crouch" to my friends list a few days ago

I'm "Ferhad Dadabhai" - Don't choke when trying to pronounce the surname fellas.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:58 am

Smurf:

Are you running in Test sessions or official iRacing Practice sessions? I added you to my Friends list and see no stats for your performances.

If you're running these laps alone, get the hell out of Test and run some Practice sessions! Your stats will be registered, incidents have zero effect on your Safety Rating in practice, you can run in traffic, follow and get setup tips from better drivers, etc. You also can meet some cool dudes.

Plus I've found that people are way more chilled about incidents and dumb moves in practice than in races since mistakes cause no hit to your Safety Rating.

Take care,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:14 pm

I take it I can remove Dan Skiver from my friends list?

Smurfy · Post by **Smurfy** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:22 pm

pk500 wrote:Smurf:

Are you running in Test sessions or official iRacing Practice sessions? I added you to my Friends list and see no stats for your performances.

If you're running these laps alone, get the hell out of Test and run some Practice sessions! Your stats will be registered, incidents have zero effect on your Safety Rating in practice, you can run in traffic, follow and get setup tips from better drivers, etc. You also can meet some cool dudes.

Plus I've found that people are way more chilled about incidents and dumb moves in practice than in races since mistakes cause no hit to your Safety Rating.

Take care,
PK

Guilty as charged. I've only been running test sessions. I haven't read the instructions yet on official practice sessions. I don't know when they are held and how much they cost.

Do you use voice chat or keyboard chat?

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:01 pm

Smurfy wrote:Guilty as charged. I've only been running test sessions. I haven't read the instructions yet on official practice sessions. I don't know when they are held and how much they cost.

Do you use voice chat or keyboard chat?

I use a combination of voice chat and keyboard chat, but voice chat usually works fine. Now that you are subscribed to iRacing --> Practice, Qualifying, Races, and Time Trials do not cost you anything as long as you have the car and the track you wish to race. Practices and Time Trials are always going on. Rookie races are hourly and 24/7. You can configure the "What's Hot" widget in the iRacing Dashboard to show you a quick view to sessions that you are eligible to run.

Check out the new users guide for more detailed info:

http://membersmedia.iracing.com/pdfs/iR ... _11_18.pdf

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:46 pm

Gurantsu wrote:I take it I can remove Dan Skiver from my friends list?

Yes! No alias anymore. I'm out of the iRacing closet, using my real name.

Take care,
PK