F1 2013 Race Night

[TCrouch]

Yup...in.

[J_Cauthen]

I'm in... and yes, this race should be a tribute to John the cat!

[pk500]

I'm there.

[Zeppo]

I'm there.

Do you want to select the cars and tracks, PK?

[pk500]

I'm there.

Do you want to select the cars and tracks, PK?

Certainly. Thanks.

Race one: Current cars at Spa

Race two: 90s at Brands

[Zeppo]

I'm there.

Do you want to select the cars and tracks, PK?

Certainly. Thanks.

Race one: Current cars at Spa

Race two: 90s at Brands

Awesome.

[DChaps]

I will try to be there, but I have never been able to resolve my NAT issues (or at least that is what I think they are).

[Zeppo]

I will try to be there, but I have never been able to resolve my NAT issues (or at least that is what I think they are).

When you check your network diagnostic on the 360, does it indicate a restricted NAT?

[GB_Simo]

Hoping to be there. Currently working my way through a can of KX energy drink (the Jason Plato special edition. Wonders never cease) in the hope of wiring myself up. I've never actually licked a dentist's chair after rinsing, but imagine this to be a similar taste sensation.

[XXXIV]

I've never actually licked a dentist's chair after rinsing, but imagine this to be a similar taste sensation.

You paint the pretty picture. hope you make it!

I should be practicing Spa before go live but Im GTAVing instead. No discipline.

[pk500]

Good fun tonight, as always, fellas. This game is a gem -- the rare title worth twice its full retail price.

Appreciated your fellowship tonight, too. Needed a good night of racing in the John Memorial Trophy to ease some of the sting of this day.

Thanks.

[GB_Simo]

I wouldn't have missed the John Memorial Trophy for anything, mate.

By the way - and I mean this - your drive at Brands was a gem, a genuine spectacle. 10/10ths the entire race, using all of the road and whatever else you could get hold of. Absolutely spectacular driving and I really, genuinely enjoyed watching it.



There are several people to whom apologies are owed...:

- To you all, for taking the full force of my Teesside accent when I asked Paul if he'd got a penalty at Brands. I was busy dodging Fittipaldi and didn't have the spare capacity to put my telephone voice on. Paul understood but as a Newcastle fan, he deals with even less comprehensible voices on a daily basis.

- Paul, I don't quite know what happened at Spa. You called for me to pass inside, I acknowledged and went inside but on my screen, that's where your car went too. There was daylight between us, I braked and suddenly you were off into the stratosphere - it didn't show as contact on my screen but your car behaved like that time I fired you clean out of the game world on rFactor. If my racecraft let me down or I failed to exercise sufficient caution, my apologies.

- Terry, sorry about lap one. I was slower than you out of the first turn and got Eau Rouge wrong too, so I don't know how I came to pass you in the first place. Once I got there, I knew I was going in a bit hot, knew you'd seen me and expected you to switch back while I flew off the road - it surprised me both that I got it slowed down and that you were still braving it out around the outside. I gave you as much room as I could but I took a bump into the second part of the chicane, so if it wasn't enough space for you or whoever got into me, I'll hold my hands up. Ultimately it did my race more damage than yours, so justice was done, but still...a cack-handed pass in a situation where I'd like to think I normally race cleanly.


This thing remains f*cking awesome at all times, doesn't it?

[Zeppo]

That was mega fun. I'm really glad we tried a third time to keep PK in the room. It worked!

Fun race at Spa. What other game can provide the kind of satisfaction I got from fighting to build a gap of at least ten seconds in front of the car behind so that I would finish ahead of him even with the ten second penalty I earned? To finish in 7th place? And his was the car I bumped when I pulled the Maldonado going into the pits with him right beside me.

And the more we do races in the 80s cars, the more fun I have in them. I do wish there were a bit more balance among those cars. I don't know them well at all so I can't remember what the quick cars are and what the slow tubs are. And with only ten total cars, there's not a lot of options. But still, those things are so fun. We have yet to drive them on modern tracks. That should be something we try soon. Maybe at Bahrain? I know XXXIV hates Suzuka, but that could be epic in the old cars. Maybe Malaysia? Would that be stupid? Austin?

Also I think it'd be fun to drive the modern cars at the old tracks next time, mix it up next week. Think about it.

[TCrouch]

Nothing to apologize for, Adam. That's racing. I don't know if you changed the quick setup to get more speed at Spa or not--I didn't, but I thought about it considering the long stretches of flat-out you have there. Maybe that factored into it, or maybe it's just drafting. You weren't that far behind me coming out of Eau Rouge. It's totally conceivable you just caught a sniff of the dirty air behind me and it sucked you right up down the straight.

As far as getting into the corner, I just hung around out there knowing you'd hit it inside, and then when you took off I could fall back in line and hang around behind you. Then I saw your wheel in my face. There's nothing really wrong, we were just going at it on lap 1 attempting to establish superiority haha.

I'm actually sorry to Alex in those blasted tugboats we were driving at Brand's. I had followed him for a few corners and figured I'd take my shot after Druid's Bend on the way down Graham Hill. The problem is, with my screaming son from time to time I have to mute my mic, and I was sitting there going "on your left..on your left..." and then BAM. We tagged each other hitting the left into Cooper Straight. Hopefully I didn't send you too far out of whack, sorry.

But the moment of the night to me was comical. I don't remember what lap it was...13? And I had seen the distance shrink a bit to Adam and Paul, but I still had an outside chance of catching up. Instead, I forced it a bit too much and wheel hopped the inside kerb at the Paddock Hill Bend. As soon as I did that, like any self-respecting racer with digital balls (easy to have them when there's no fear of death and/or maiming), I just stayed in the gas and figured I could saw the wheel to straighten her out. Instead, it settled just as it was clipping the outer kerb instead---and that actually shot the entire nose of my car into the air, at which point the rear end followed.

I went on a nice little airborne joy ride that was so fast I actually sailed OVER all of the sand/concrete out there, until my car came to an instant stop nose-in to that outside retaining wall. You know, the one that's like 20 yards back from the track? Yeah, I flew from the kerb to that wall.

If you're going to end your race early, that's the way to do it. I was in total wreckers or checkers mode, which made the flub even funnier to me. It's a good time when you can trash your race and do it smiling from ear to ear.

[pk500]

Thanks for the compliments about the 80s race, matey. Something about that 1986 Williams and Brands clicks for me. As I said last night, I know exactly where the limit is in those cars and can dance on that lightning bolt pretty well. I have no clue where the edge is in the modern cars.

I created the problem at Spa in the current cars. I told you to go inside while I was running in the middle of track. A total dipsh*t move by me. Next time I'll say "left" or "right." Not your fault one bit.

[XXXIV]

Not
I'm actually sorry to Alex in those blasted tugboats we were driving at Brand's. I had followed him for a few corners and figured I'd take my shot after Druid's Bend on the way down Graham Hill. The problem is, with my screaming son from time to time I have to mute my mic, and I was sitting there going "on your left..on your left..." and then BAM. We tagged each other hitting the left into Cooper Straight. Hopefully I didn't send you too far out of whack, sorry.

You kidding me?! Never a problem!

That was so freaking cool last night!

Thanks to JC for coming out so I had a human to race with at the back. Does add to the fun.

Paul, John will always be the official cat of DSP.

[pk500]

Paul, John will always be the official cat of DSP.

[Zeppo]

Race, race, race, race, race, race!!

It's Tuesday, so for better or worse that means it's race night.

10pm EST is the time and here's hoping we can get on the track before 10:30 this time.

I have yet to buy the DLC tracks, but depending on the response here I may buy them this evening because I remember really enjoying Imola back in the day. I'm thinking we could do modern cars there. Try something different.

But if even one single person doesn't want to pony up the dough at this time, that's enough for me to say "screw it" and stick with the basic content. There's plenty still for us to enjoy in the basic content.

In which case I'd love to start with 80s cars at ... at ... at ... Austin? Is that too crazy? Maybe Malaysia? I'd like to hear votes and potential other modern tracks that would be fun to try in the 80s cars.

If we survive that race, then we can do modern cars at Jerez. We've yet to race at Jerez. I found it very challenging when doing the The Donald challenge a while back, but it could be a lot of fun in the modern cars.

I think that having rules and flags set to Reduced worked just fine last week, so we will stick with that setting.

I noticed the other night that Vader was playing this game, which is great news. I'm hoping he can join in tonight. More people! It's such a great game!

Who's in?

[TCrouch]

In. Don't care on the tracks or cars, as I don't really know which is which anyway. I just point and shoot.

[pk500]

Questionable. Attending a Christmas party. Unsure when I'll return. Maybe I'll be around for a second race, if it happens.

[pk500]

Revise: It's looking pretty certain I'll be there. Looking forward to it!

[Zeppo]

Revise: It's looking pretty certain I'll be there. Looking forward to it!

Sounds great pk! I hope we get a few more guys though because I'm not sure three of us really does it for me.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, if it's not enough, don't stress trying to race with a small head-count. I'll be perfectly happy staying on Forza tonight if we don't have enough to race. Tried to use the TX with the 360 and it doesn't work, so that means I'll have to swap my wheel stands out and reconfigure my little racing area to play on 360. Not a huge deal and I'll gladly do it if we're racing, but if you don't want to run with just a few of us, you won't catch any grief from me.

[vader29]

I was hoping to be able to join in the weekly races but after spending a few hours with this game over the weekend trying out all kinds of different setups, car views, switching between controller and wheel, I just could not find any fun in the game. I just have no control whatsoever with the cars and end up constantly spinning out or slamming into walls so there is no way I would even try to go online with this game and ruin anyones race. I guess this series is just not meant for me, way too frustrating.

[GB_Simo]

My daily dosage of meds has been doubled this week and it's kicking the sh*t out of me, so I'm on the questionable list. I've been having serious short-term memory issues since yesterday afternoon (a known side effect, though not a common one, according to the leaflet) so while my alarm is set, there's a chance I'll wake up and not know what it's for.