Friday Night Fun | Sept. 15th | Nord Track Day | Open LobbyPC 

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OP updated with this weeks specs.

Sareni Camaro mod @ Nurburgring GP. Note that we'll be using the GT3 version of the car, not the "race car" version.

To touch on a couple of things being mentioned...

Track grip - I have it set to 97% at the start of qualifying with 30 laps needed to increase by 1%. So if there are 6 of us out there and we each do 5 qualy laps, the grip would increase by 1%. I also have it set to carry over 50% of the accumulated track grip from qualy to the race session. I'm open to changing these numbers based on your feedback.

Skins - @CC570 is correct in that the only way to get the skin you want is to use booking. For the pickup style shorter races like we're doing, with people coming in and out of the lobby a lot, I don't think booking is worth the troubles it brings with it. If we were to do some more serious league/series type stuff, then booking would be the way to go.

For the style we're doing now, I'd like to offer skin packs for download. I did this for the week with the Ginetta, though I'm not sure how many folks took advantage of it. I don't mind putting skin packs together and putting them on the server. Obvious upside is more variety, but downsides are you probably won't get the skin you want and/or if you don't download the skin pack I believe you will see a bunch of plain white cars on the grid.

Other games - I'd be more than happy to run servers for other games too. I own and play them all from time to time. AC seems most popular at this time and it's the one I gravitate to the most for some reason which is why I chose it for Fridays.

I had an rF2 server going for a while which didn't prove to be too popular at the time, not sure if it'd be any better now. Admittedly I didn't put a lot of effort into it though. GSCE is great as well and I wouldn't mind running some stuff there too.

Too many good games:tup: so little time:tdown:
 
Really good car mod to go with, drove it yesterday at Lake Louise 👍

If you put together the skin mods, I'd download them. All white cars are boring.

Not being able to pick my own skin is no big deal. I'm not even sure if anyone has done extra skins for the Camaro, it's pretty new.

As of now, I'm in for Friday, woot. @TheKitten do you feel a cough coming on ;)
 
I'm fine with mods as long as you put a link in the OP to download them in case we don't have them. Same with skins, I wish we could run the one we like but we can't, so whatever works. I'll download them if there's a link posted, I like diverse looking grids.

The only other game I play is R3E and it doesn't have dedicated servers yet so every room is basically a public lobby. It works ok, but we don't have any control over the race specs or who's attending. I'm looking forward to digging into GSCE tonight, I enjoyed the demo and have read a lot about it, it seems to be one of the best places for club racing right now and has an active community on racedepartment. It seems to have a lot of the options/features I want from a sim, the cars sound great and feel great to drive, there are lots of mods available, and it runs silky smooth on Ultra settings due to being on an older engine (looks fantastic to me, though not "photo-realistic like AC). If you put together a GSCE server, I'll certainly be there. 👍

AC is on the bottom of my list, right above iRacing. The driving experience is nice, but that's about all it has to offer right now unless some of us get a server together like we've been doing. I know everyone seems to really love it, but I just find it a bit bland and boring right now (this is probably because I got more than my fill of hot lapping in Gran Turismo over the last few years and I'm rather bored with that mode of "simming"). The track environment is dead, the sounds are mediocre, the AI is not very good, it's really lacking in options/features, and there's very little sense of speed even at triple digit speeds. Just my opinion though, it currently doesn't scratch many of my itches. But I'll still fire it up for Friday night races. :D
 
and there's very little sense of speed even at triple digit speeds.

Curious. What do you attribute the lack of sense of speed to? Or in the case of a game that you get a sense of speed from what is it? Seems to me that whether I'm driving at 80 on the freeway or 25 in town it feels the same, looks the same, sounds pretty much the same. Is it about FOV? Sounds? Or not something not so easy to pin down?
 
.........................AC is on the bottom of my list, right above iRacing................The track environment is dead, the sounds are mediocre, the AI is not very good.................


I have found AC to be spectacular............................sights, sounds, physics and AI. The sound of the 787b ripping down the back-straight of Silverstone....is...well...just incredible (although not 100% accurate). But then again, I only have GT5 and GT6 to compare it to...........:lol:

I guess I need to get after it and try more PC Sims that are out there ........👍
 
I'm not even sure if anyone has done extra skins for the Camaro, it's pretty new.

I've seen a few but you're right, not a lot yet. I'll wait until Wednesday or so to put up a pack. Hopefully a few new ones will pop up by then.

FYI, Bailey did an amazing job with the Stevenson livery which can be found at over at RaceDepartment. These will definitely be included! :)

0nJjPJs.jpg


 
I installed the Sareni Camaro GT3 base car/skins a few days ago. Is it just me, or do the dynamic reflections on the bodywork seem a bit lacking....giving the overall car a little bit of a cartoon-like appearance?
 
The only other game I play is R3E and it doesn't have dedicated servers yet so every room is basically a public lobby. It works ok, but we don't have any control over the race specs or who's attending.

I tried R3E but got frustrated trying to get the feel right. Profiles were a pain. And like iRacing everything you wanted to race or race on was pay to play.

I'm looking forward to digging into GSCE tonight, I enjoyed the demo and have read a lot about it, it seems to be one of the best places for club racing right now and has an active community on racedepartment. It seems to have a lot of the options/features I want from a sim, the cars sound great and feel great to drive, there are lots of mods available, and it runs silky smooth on Ultra settings due to being on an older engine (looks fantastic to me, though not "photo-realistic like AC). If you put together a GSCE server, I'll certainly be there. 👍

I'll be downloading the GSCE demo tomorrow night. Will let you know how I like it.

AC is on the bottom of my list, right above iRacing. The driving experience is nice, but that's about all it has to offer right now unless some of us get a server together like we've been doing. I know everyone seems to really love it, but I just find it a bit bland and boring right now (this is probably because I got more than my fill of hot lapping in Gran Turismo over the last few years and I'm rather bored with that mode of "simming"). The track environment is dead, the sounds are mediocre, the AI is not very good, it's really lacking in options/features, and there's very little sense of speed even at triple digit speeds. Just my opinion though, it currently doesn't scratch many of my itches. But I'll still fire it up for Friday night races. :D

AC is on the top of my list. The visuals are really good, not that I spend much time in replays or taking pictures. The sounds are okay. The feel when racing is incredible, it's easy to setup and there seems to be a plethora of clean average racer types to get online with (where I have the most fun). I was never into hot lapping, doing career mode isn't fun to me and racing AI in any game is frustrating to me.

rFactor2 is second. The visuals are good and the feel is similar to AC. The sounds are very good. I had a hard time: getting it set up (with lots of digging through .ini files finally got it), using the mod system and finding pickup/club style races. It's mostly hardcore clubs, enduros (1.5 hours +) or committing to a 4 month season.
 
Curious. What do you attribute the lack of sense of speed to? Or in the case of a game that you get a sense of speed from what is it? Seems to me that whether I'm driving at 80 on the freeway or 25 in town it feels the same, looks the same, sounds pretty much the same. Is it about FOV? Sounds? Or not something not so easy to pin down?

I don't know, but in AC I always feel like I'm going 30mph. Doing 75mph on the highway in my car definitely feels and sounds different than going 30. Lots of wind and road noise, little bumps feel like big bumps, small steering inputs result in bigger reactions. In R3E if you're going 150mph it's downright frightening, you feel like a rocket and minor inputs have big effects. You can feel a sense of momentum, I don't get that in AC. In R3E I feel the world moving around me, in AC I feel like I'm on a treadmill watching a movie of someone driving a car.

R3E does take some tinkering to get it feeling right, and never quite feels perfect. Also, the free content has old physics so the cars don't feel as good as newer cars. But it's sounds are second to none, AC doesn't even really compare. And the trackside visuals make you feel like you're at an actual racing event, AC feels like you're at a track day at an empty track. It has a great selection of cars and their classes are very well balanced to each other. You do have to pay for content but it's a helluva lot cheaper than iRacing and once you start owning some content you can get big discounts on other content. And the AI is outstanding, I've had races that were as good or better than a lot of human races I've had.

I can't put my finger on it, but when I get done hot lapping in AC I'm like "eh" and if I race the AI it feels like a chore and I can't wait for it to be finished. When I get done racing in R3E I'm shaking and sweating and sore and yelling "THAT WAS F'ing AWESOME!!".

I'm not trying to bash AC, I realize they're a small team and their physics/FFB feel good but I feel like the rest of the game is an afterthought and the overall experience doesn't really excite me. It's fine for hot lapping on hill climbs, but one of the main reasons I bought a PC was because I was tired of doing nothing but hot lapping in GT, so that just doesn't appeal to me much right now.

I hate iRacing, think it feels terrible and the ranking system is too extreme. GSCE seems to be the best of all worlds (except for graphics, but they're still good), but something is screwy with the FFB on my install so I can't fully enjoy/explore it at the moment. But once it's sorted I could probably give up the other two games (except for the hill climbs). It feels good, sounds good, has a good sense of motion, lots of features/mods, and a good community. Those are the things I want in a Sim and both AC and R3E are lacking in several of those departments. But I still enjoy all of them on different levels (except iRacing. Hate iRacing).
 
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Had a look at GSCE, haven't downloaded yet. Just read an interview with them on RaceDepartment looks pretty cool and it's coming to Steam. I know that's not a selling point for some :eek: but it is for me.

@BrandonW77, seems the RD clubs/leagues for GSCE run at 19:00 GMT did you find any with a North American friendly time?

I may have to give R3E another look, maybe see if there's some setup guides to get my old brain through it.

And agreed on iRacing, fully ...
 
I haven't looked at the clubs much yet, I just see a lot of chatter about it. If there isn't one that fits my schedule, I might just have to create one, or convince Wiz to set one up.

If you check out R3E, bring some patience with you. It takes some tinkering and never feels quite the way you want, but once you get some laps in you adapt to it and really start enjoying it. The sounds and visuals are just so immersive that you can forget that the FFB isn't quite right. There are some threads on RD about how to set it all up, but everyone has their own opinion and it seems to vary a bit from wheel to wheel. Feel free to PM me if you get it and I can share some of my settings. 👍

Anyway, back on topic. :) Looking forward to the Camaro. 👍
 
Good news AC fans! Last night I learned that my wheel was plugged into a USB 3.0 port which apparently is not ideal for Thrustmaster devices (maybe all wheels?). So I plugged it into a 2.0 port and it feels noticeably better and heavier. Did a few laps in the Mini and the Camaro and I could more info coming through the wheel. It's not drastic, but significant and made the experience more enjoyable. I'd been feeling like there was something missing from the wheel and I think now it feels complete.

Also, got the TH8A shifter last night and what a nice bit of kit that is, even nicer than I expected. Drove the Mini with the H-gate and it felt very natural and worked perfectly, such a completely different experience than using a shifter in GT. I could slip the clutch, didn't have to fully depress it, and never missed a shift, felt pretty much just like a real car. I'm slower with it for now because it feels a bit foreign and I'm having to adjust to right foot braking, but I'll get there. Heel/toe isn't really possible because I hit my knee on the underside of my rig/base of my wheel but I'm planning to build a new one once it gets warm so I'll address that issue.

Switched it over to sequential mode and took the Camaro out, very nice. I had the Fanatec CSR (cheapo) sequential shifter before, it worked nicely but was nothing special and had started to wear out. The TH8A has a little bit longer through, a quicker/stiffer return, and it doesn't make that loud clicking like the Fanatec shifters. Really, really nice (though it is a bit fiddly to switch from hgate to seq., takes about two minutes). 👍

So, I still have some issues with AC but at least these things have made the experience more enjoyable and will allow me to overlook some of the other things. :cheers:

@Wiz might want to change the thread title from Mugello. :sly:
 
Congrats on the new gear @BrandonW77 And thanks for the heads up on the thread title. Oops!


Well, unfortunately there weren't any more skins released for the Camaro. At least none that I could find.

Therefore, if you all download the Stevenson pack from RaceDepartment, you should be good to go for tomorrow.
Download it here - http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/camaro-gt3-stevenson-motorsports-livery-pack.4909/

Anyone been able to run any practice yet? I was able to get on last night for a few minutes and turned a 2:01.6xx

Also, look for the Oreca FLM09 to be used next week. Possibly at Spa.
 
@kcheeb I tried it back when I had the GT3 RS but couldn't really figure it out. Then when I found out I had to not only adjust each car individually but also each car to each track, I kinda gave up and just watch the clipping meter on the pedals app. I might give it another go with the new wheel.

@Wiz, I only had a few laps to test out the shifter and didn't pay attention to my time. Love the Stevenson skins though. 👍

Where might we find this Oreca? I've not seen that one yet.
 
Wiz
Congrats on the new gear @BrandonW77 And thanks for the heads up on the thread title. Oops!


Well, unfortunately there weren't any more skins released for the Camaro. At least none that I could find.

Therefore, if you all download the Stevenson pack from RaceDepartment, you should be good to go for tomorrow.
Download it here - http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/camaro-gt3-stevenson-motorsports-livery-pack.4909/

Anyone been able to run any practice yet? I was able to get on last night for a few minutes and turned a 2:01.6xx

Also, look for the Oreca FLM09 to be used next week. Possibly at Spa.
How does it work? So long as I have a Stevenson livery on the car when I enter the room is that the one I get or is it assigned randomly or is there something else?

@BrandonW77, you don't really have to set the FFB clipping app up for every combination. I just used mine to get a general feel and found a level that seemed to work for most cars and that's the level I use now. I leave the app active in the menu but don't pull it up unless a car doesn't feel right or when I'm practicing for a race and running a lot of consistent laps.
 
I believe the ffb app thread has suggested settings for the new wheel. I don't change mine per car per track, unless it's obviously wrong. I leave it where it's set and each car will reveal it's traits, some a little heavier, some a little softer. Will see what I can find.

The Orca is in a multi car pack and is super fun! Will find the thread and post back.
 
How does it work? So long as I have a Stevenson livery on the car when I enter the room is that the one I get or is it assigned randomly or is there something else?

I think we've covered this a few times, the room randomly assigns you a skin based on your pit box position.

@BrandonW77, you don't really have to set the FFB clipping app up for every combination. I just used mine to get a general feel and found a level that seemed to work for most cars and that's the level I use now. I leave the app active in the menu but don't pull it up unless a car doesn't feel right or when I'm practicing for a race and running a lot of consistent laps.


I find the cars are all very different on FFB, at least before I had my wheel plugged in properly. Some I have to add 20-25 to the FFB in the generic settings, some I have to remove 20-25. Last night I drove the Mini and it was fine on the settings I had, perhaps a tad bit heavy. Then I switched to the Camaro and had to turn the FFB down to 65 in the generic settings because it was far too heavy. So I don't think there's one setting I can use that will apply favorably to all cars.

About the Oreca/Gaytona Prototype: I remember trying to download the DP in the past but it took me to some website and there was something odd about the download (don't remember specifically) and I never got it to work.

I believe the ffb app thread has suggested settings for the new wheel.

Would this be on racedepartment or the AC forums?
 
Thought I'd give the Camaro a spin to see what she's like. On Softs I was in the 2:04's and since I knew @Wiz was in the 2:01's I switched to Mediums and dropped 3 seconds a lap. Haven't tried the Hards yet but forget about the 'Softs, they're rubbish:yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck:

I think we've covered this a few times, the room randomly assigns you a skin based on your pit box position.
smiley-sad016.gif
 
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To explain the skin thing a little further....

I'm not 100% sure it's completely random.

When using Pickup Mode (which we are), each skin is assigned a slot. Then whenever someone joins the lobby, they're assigned a slot as well.

Here's a quick vid I just made detailing how to add slots/skins to the server...




Using that video as an example... what I don't know is if the 1st person to enter the lobby would get that #9 Stevenson, 2nd person to enter gets the #57 Stevenson, 3rd gets #34 YACO and so on... or if it's completely random. I haven't paid any attention to it.

I'll try to keep an eye on it tomorrow to see how it works. Though even if it does follow order, it would still be quite difficult to get the skin you want. If the skin you want is 8th in line, the chances of you entering the lobby 8th are quite slim. Tip: if you get lucky and get the skin you want... don't leave the lobby!!

You may notice off to the right, there are input fields for Name, Team & GUID. If we were to use booking mode and I had everyones name and GUID, then and only then could I assign skins. But booking mode brings it's own set of problems that don't really mesh with the quick style racing we've been doing.


Also, thanks for the tip @Johnnypenso I was going to try the softs tonight but won't waste time on it now. Your discovery makes me wonder if hards will be quickest, which could possibly mean the mod team that created the car screwed up one of the files somewhere and something is backwards. I'll give the hards a shot and see.
 
As far as I can tell the tires work like this:

Stated vs. Actual
^..............^
Mediums = Softs
Hards = Mediums
Softs = Hards

There's quite a gap between the tires, roughly 2 seconds per compound. Mediums are the fastest.
 
Not looking good for me tomorrow. PC is in for repairs :-( Not likely to be back in time.

Will let you know.
 
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