PC Racing Simulation

lactose wrote:

I stick almost exclusively to road courses. Practice is key. Once you can get around the course safely I would suggest jumping into practice sessions with others. I rarely finish in the top 3, but I almost always make it to the end of the race with few or no incidents. What I find is that about a quarter of the field ends up disconnecting so as long as you can make it to the end you are likely going to improve your rating.

You definitely need to check your ego at the start line though. There are a lot of really strong racers out there.

And you can usually get a good laugh and several spots by hanging way back through the first turn.

Spoiler:

Everyone wrecks

Just recently joined a league on iRacing. It's called: S.M.I.L.E. Sunday Morning Indy League for Everyone. They run early Sunday mornings and are usually done by noon central time. Fixed (iracing) setups at both road and oval courses. This past Sunday was my first outing with them @ Sonoma (finished 3rd). Very respectful driving and passing. If you're interested, let me know or give them a shout via the iracing leagues tab. We had about 16 racers online with us so there's certainly room for more.

MountaineerWR27 wrote:

Everyone wrecks

I don't wreck, I just get a little behind in my steering.

Nyxs Optare wrote:

Just recently joined a league on iRacing. It's called: S.M.I.L.E. Sunday Morning Indy League for Everyone. They run early Sunday mornings and are usually done by noon central time. Fixed (iracing) setups at both road and oval courses. This past Sunday was my first outing with them @ Sonoma (finished 3rd). Very respectful driving and passing. If you're interested, let me know or give them a shout via the iracing leagues tab. We had about 16 racers online with us so there's certainly room for more.

MountaineerWR27 wrote:

Everyone wrecks

I don't wreck, I just get a little behind in my steering.

I can't say too much. I've been part of the infamous turn 1 wreck more than once.

Hanging back in turn 1 is key at the lower lic. levels. I have even started from the pits just to be sure.

In general I find that people are very respectful. Incidents are going to happend and 9 times out of 10 the guilty party apologizes and those involved just laugh it off as part of the experience. You will get the odd person that goes on a tirade, but from what I have seen on the road side, people treat the race as though they are on a real track and want to avoid unnecessary contact. I always thought that it would be interesting to add in a repair timeline, whereby if you are in a wreck (depending on the severity) your car becomes unavailable for a few hours/days. Controversial, no doubt.

I just had a horrible thought of iRacing "allowing" you to buy multiple cars of the same type in case one is rendered unavailable... no one tell them

It's funny, sometimes my 15'ish years of pc racing experience will give me a sixth sense and I see it all before it happens.....

I did one of the fun runs this weekend in the Corvette. Interlagos with that giant mixed bag they've been throwing around for the past week with Vettes, Cadillacs, the V-8 Supercar, Mclaren.... and one more I think... anyway, Interlagos has 2 corners that are tough to get through on the first lap. T1 which is really tight and with the S/F line so close to it, it seems like everyone is on their toes for it. The second one, the one where my prediction came true, is T4. You come out of T2 and 3 with your foot to the floor and everyone is making a mad dash down the 2nd fastest straight on the course. I'm holding the outside line approaching T4, but kinda cheating to the left in case I see anything open up... What do I see in my left hand mirror, but another Corvette who's gotten a KILLER launch out of T3 and is determined to be in 1st coming out of T4. I slide back to the right, tapped my brake to alert the guy behind me, and watched the 'fast guy' take out positions 3 through 7 in one fell swoop. After seeing it coming and taping my brake, I hardly had to adjust my line through the turn as everything got swept to the outside of the course.

Easiest 5 positions I ever made.

lactose wrote:

Hanging back in turn 1 is key at the lower lic. levels. I have even started from the pits just to be sure.

In general I find that people are very respectful. Incidents are going to happend and 9 times out of 10 the guilty party apologizes and those involved just laugh it off as part of the experience. You will get the odd person that goes on a tirade, but from what I have seen on the road side, people treat the race as though they are on a real track and want to avoid unnecessary contact.

Yeah, honestly that's the part that worries me the most. I have no ego in on-line gaming. As a gamer on the high side of 50 I know I'm going to get my ass handed to me in just about any on-line game; my reflexes are crap now and I know it. What I don't want to do is ruin things for everyone else; I don't want to be that guy to took out positions 3 thru 7.

I'm just having fun, usually with a mouse in one hand and a beer in the other. I'm just looking for the casual league.

I definitely am more interested in road racing; oval racing is boring to me (but I can understand how others enjoy it) compared to the fun of mastering a technically challenging road course, and then you throw in other cars on that road course and it just becomes crazy challenging and fun.

After spectating some of ChrisLTD's oval races I gained an appreciation. It's some enduro racing to be sure, but staring at someone's trunklid and spoiler and not much else is nerve wracking. But yeah, I'm definitely more a fan of the road side. GWJ IRACING LEAGUE! Seriously though, take advantage of the 3 month free trial. If we host sessions there's no safety rating penalty for any accidents so it's just all fun.

And tanstaafl, I don't know that reflexes are so much a key as is good situational awareness. Racing is much less twitch based than an FPS by far. You need to be smooth and calm and just predict how other people are going to react. Reflexive actions are more likely to end up in pirouettes.

LiquidMantis wrote:

GWJ IRACING LEAGUE!

Wait....wait, is this a thing? IS THIS A THING?!?!

Sure, I'd pay the $10 fee if there's any benefit. But as far as I know all that iRacing leagues grant you is a calendar and private hosting really. We could easily have the same benefit from just planning here and hosting password protected sessions. Like I said though, I'll gladly pay if there's benefit.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Sure, I'd pay the $10 fee if there's any benefit. But as far as I know all that iRacing leagues grant you is a calendar and private hosting really. We could easily have the same benefit from just planning here and hosting password protected sessions. Like I said though, I'll gladly pay if there's benefit.

I'm in

Will gladly contribute to the cause as well

We should figure out a good day and time for everyone. I'm really flexible so I'll see what works for other people. I'm Mountain time. I also vote we start with basic stuff so some of the new people can get it for free. So I'd suggest an MX5/Solstice event at Lime Rock or Summit Point.

I propose Tuesday nights at 9PM EST

Of course you would. I forgot to mention that Tuesday is the only night I can't make. We just moved the GWJ D&D session to Tuesday.

Well I'd be up for any time but I'm at the will of a newborn, so unfortunately my schedule is pretty sporadic. If everyone else agrees on a date and time, I'll do my best to get there.

The 9pm time works great for me, but I would probably have to do Monday or Wednesday. I tend to enjoy watching the DWC which is every other Tuesday at 9 and my oval A class league races Thursday nights at 8:15

EDIT: What car/cars are we thinking? The ones that I have for the road side are:
Cadillac CTS-V
Dallara Indycar
MX-5 Cup & Roadster
Pontiac Solstice
SCCA Spec Racer Ford

Say When!

I'm good with Mondays

I'm hoping to jum into some racing once I get my freetrack setup.
I know this isnt in the same league s iRacing but this video of Dirt 3 with the FreeTrack just got my heart racing

I've used head tracking for several years in my flight sims, but can never get it right in a car. The problem stems from having no G-force to tell you what your car is doing. So, I use the A-piller(?) and it's relationship to the moving terrain outside the car to tell me if I'm in a slide and how to correct it. If I'm able to move/turn my head from inside the car, it keeps me from 'feeling' the slide, usually until it's too late.

YMMV

Anyone interested in trying out a hosted server tonight? If there are enough people I will set one up to see how it works

groan wrote:

I'm hoping to jum into some racing once I get my freetrack setup.
I know this isnt in the same league s iRacing but this video of Dirt 3 with the FreeTrack just got my heart racing

Great video. I had a TON of fun with the Dirt series! Not so much with Dirt Showdown, but 1-3 were all awesome!

Thought some of you may enjoy this. Filmed from my chair this morning:

Nice! That'd be an enjoyable vantage to watch it live

Hah, for a moment there I thought that was the game. I was even thinking, "That's the best chainlink fence I've ever seen in a game."

Nice. That definitely makes things easier.

Finally picked up a gaming PC and really considering iracing. Would it be worth it to start now with an old Microsoft wheel and pedals, or should I wait until I can buy something a little better?

Always better to start with what you have AND THEN BUY MY FANATEC CSR AND PEDALS.

Couldn't find the pedals, so I'm tempted to use my 360 controller for now. Mind sending me a PM with some info and price on that set up?