NASCAR Road Racing + Plymouth XNR (Sunday Classic Racing) Pimiki Double Champion!!!Finished 

Do you have any of these cars? Information check for future race series

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TonyLomas
indianapolis-road-course_2-jpg.410591
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Hey that's me! :D great photos by the way @TonyLomas! Captured some great angles!
 
TonyLomas
I think it's you in the last picture too, racing GKGamer.
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Yes, it definitely looks like me... even though I fell asleep behind the wheel a few hundred meters later...
great pics @TonyLomas
was good to be able to jump in for the races on Sunday, like I said before, it is highly unlikely that it will be the same every Sunday so I am glad I could join in for the opening round.
I'll try to tune the beasts as well cos' running them on stock (almost) everything was a real challenge.
That being said, I did much better than I expected and I was very disappointed I couldn't save any of the replays...
I had also severe visibility problems as I couldn't see Lex in one of the races and Pimi appeared as a slightly moving obstacle standing on the grid for both races at Monza. I may have gone a bit off the limits in a couple of laps while attacking the chicanes, so if it is not too much trouble to someone who got the replay, you may wanna check my races for penalties...
cheers
 
Sick Cylinder
For those having trouble with the single seater FGT (which includes me!) have a look at Graeme Wight Junior's winning run in his Predator V10 hillclimb car. He stalls the car so skip until 1.28 if you want to miss that and the run is all over by 2.18.

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Fantastic run.

Best bits are after the run...@3:00 he's quite annoyed with himself 🤬 but then the result @3:50 is brilliant!!:lol:
 
bloodyboyblue
bloodyboyblue*
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Made me smile. Sick I know you had lost your reading glasses, perhaps you haven't found them yet. :)
This might help - it's BLOODY not BABY Sick. 👍
(You've put babyblueboy in the results post)


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Now, connection problems. I usually seem to write one of these each series.

Sick Cylinder
I had hoped that Polyphony Digital / Sony would have spent some of the recent marathon maintenance period upgrading their servers, but the disconnections and invisible car problems were back to being as bad as when GT6 first launched.
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PD always gets blamed for it's servers and there can be problems, but in reality with the peer to peer system that a non fixed owner room uses, a lot of errors are down to everyone's individual connections. That said, the online problems did seem to get worse - notably the invisibility - when they introduced the quick match feature! So that's definitely down to PD.

There is some contact with a main server for for general information and this can of course be crucial, but when racing we are not sending all our positional data to a PD server in Tokyo and in return receiving data back - in the main all our PS3's have to "talk" together.

So when on Sunday when I was driving along (towards the back) in my NASCAR my PS3 had to send and receive data to/from not only places around the UK but Mexico, Canada, USA, Japan, Sweden, Hungary Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. And this is all down a bit of copper cable - so there's no wonder there is a bit of lag at times. It doesn't do too bad really but it doesn't take much to make things go wrong.
A fixed host room is much better because all the PS3's then just talk to that one main server PS3, therefore eliminating all the multiple connections. But this relies heavily on the host having a fast (upload) connection and Sick's can't do that - especially with a lot in the room.

There are exceptions, but most DC's are usually individual internet issues. Either because of a problem at your own end or there's someone in the room with a poor connection that throws you out.
The invisible cars are due to poor connections between individuals - quite often those who are DC-ing.
The "pit stop bug" again could be a connection problem since it doesn't seem to happen offline.

Certainly there should be some more robust code in the game that would control things a little better. Having a greater connection quality control function would help for a start.


Possible solutions - The usual really. Make sure your connection is as good as you can get it.

DON'T use WiFi - use a direct cable.

You also really need to be connecting using NAT type 1 or 2 with a high/very high bandwidth

UPnP should be enabled.

And if you are really keen you can have a go with port forwarding.
Mine is also in the DMZ - outside of the firewall - so in theory nothing is blocked!

Turn off all other internet devices in your house - any bandwidth used and information packets lost will cause lag & errors. This might be a problem if you have kids - but the line can only transmit one thing at a time. So turn off your WiFi and make it a GT6 only time. ;)

If you have room/visibility problems, to disconnect from the PD online server always drop back to the main menu. While you are there cleaning the GT6 network cache may also help. No better - try rebooting your PS3 AND your router.
(Actually rebooting your router before you start is a good idea anyway, although I usually forget to do this myself!)

Still having problems - Take a deep breadth, turn off PS3 and and go sit down with a coffee.


@Sick Cylinder - turning the race quality down further would mean less data being transferred around the globe. You could...
1) See if it actually has any detrimental effect on the actual racing. 2) See if it improves room stability.
Reducing the amount of players in the room if it's not going to be full, would also help a lot. Less connections = more stability.
And I've mentioned before, you could try the perhaps more sheltered area of a club only lobby instead of the open lobby.

@LexLathor - I've noticed Miki gets disconnected quite a lot and often others can't see him on the track (myself included). Do you know if he has a poor connection? Maybe he is using WiFi? Or maybe he is just unlucky. :indiff:


Sorry for long post again. I hope it might help someone.
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I'll post again about the FGT's etc.
 
First (as I don't know how to use the multi-quote facility) thanks @Sutsagrd for pointing out what you noticed in the video clip - I had missed that despite watching the clip several times. Graeme obviously thinks that his little slide and application of opposite lock has lost him time so he leaves the cockpit with dejected body language, but when he finds out he has set the fastest time his celebration is a joy to watch. Obviously Graeme Wight is an extremely fast, skilled and fearless driver and as you all seemed to enjoy that clip here's another one of Graeme driving his Hillman Imp. The Imp was designed as a competitor to the Mini, but was spoilt by penny pinching by the accountants and the usual British problems of the time - quality control (or the lack of it!) and poor industrial relations (strikes), but on track it morphed from a Housewife's shopping trolley into a giant slaying race car with three consecutive British Saloon Car Championship titles. Marvel at the little one litre cars performance in the hands of an expert driver and join me in wishing that we had an Imp in the game to battle with a Mini, Abarth and Ford Anglia like they did every week on tracks up and down the country!



Regarding IfAndOr's wise words on connections - this Sunday I will try lowering the race quality from three stars to two stars. If anyone notices anything different please let me know. We used to race with four stars, but dropped to three in an attempt to improve matters and I didn't notice any reduction in the quality of the racing when we made the last change. I believe that the race quality setting works by sending information less often - a high setting sends packets of information more often than a low setting. It will be interesting to see if this makes the movement of the cars more jerky - last time it had no noticeable effect.

Could all Drivers please have their cars ready to race before they enter the room as this can save quite a lot of time. Also, I try to open the room early - if you try to get in the room early it would help. The schedule should be that five minutes practise starts at 17:00 and qualifying starts at 17:05 - it should be possible complete all the racing by 18:50 as we have done this in the past. I don't want our meetings to run on past 19:00 as this causes problems for many people including me. If we are over running I will shorten races and / or cancel race three as appropriate.

Good night all!
 
Sick Cylinder
here's another one of Graeme driving his Hillman Imp. The Imp was designed as a competitor to the Mini, but was spoilt by penny pinching by the accountants and the usual British problems of the time - quality control (or the lack of it!) and poor industrial relations (strikes), but on track it morphed from a Housewife's shopping trolley into a giant slaying race car with three consecutive British Saloon Car Championship titles. Marvel at the little one litre cars performance in the hands of an expert driver and join me in wishing that we had an Imp in the game to battle with a Mini, Abarth and Ford Anglia like they did every week on tracks up and down the country!



Good night all!
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I really wonder why they have those guardrails so close to the road at Goodwood. They drive classics and Super Cars there, right? Would not like to get my car scratched driving there...
 
Cu3e
I really wonder why they have those guardrails so close to the road at Goodwood. They drive classics and Super Cars there, right? Would not like to get my car scratched driving there...
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In the UK Hillclimb courses are shorter and narrower because the tracks used are on private land and were originally built to allow the movement of farm vehicles, hence they are only one vehicle wide - guard rails are presumably fitted to stop the vehicles spearing off into the countryside, buildings and spectators. Some have steep banks either side of the road and therefore don't need barriers. In Europe Hillclimbs are held on closed sections of public road which are therefore wider and longer. This also has the effect of making the sport more relevant to circuit racing so you get a greater transfer of driver talent from Europen hillclimbing to circuit racing. I can only think of one recent British Hillclimb champion who went on to European success - Andy Priaulx who won the title in 1995 before switching to Formula Renault, Formula 3 and then Touring cars where he won multiple titles in the ETCC and WTCC.

Because of the narrow tracks, the cars are built physically smaller - the single seaters are more like 9 tenths scale circuit single seaters - especially the Graeme Wight Junior Predator V10 which was a one off car fitted with the V10 Cosworth engine from an Arrows F1 car.

Probably my favourite hillclimb car is the Mannic Beattie built by Nic Mann on a shoestring budget to defeat the big spenders. It uses Ford Sierra XR4X4 parts and a Ford 1700cc engine with the turbo spun not by the exhaust gases, but by a miniature gas turbine (helicopter auxiliary engine) - this enables it to run at maximum boost (up to 60 psi!) at all engine speeds and have a torque peak which does not fluctuate by more than 20% between 2,500 and 7,500 rpm. Enjoy this clip of genius engineer Nic in action!



There are more pictures, clips and details of this incredible car on the car suggestions thread.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/mannic-beattie-unlimited-class-hillclimb-car-2009.299951/
 
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Go on then - my local track, Loton Park. About 20 minutes away.


And a drivers eye view.


And for those still interested - some action.



eran0004
Is it too late to add a Goodwood hillclimb time trial to this series? :)
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Bring on the course maker. :)


Briefly - The FGT's, although not my favourites, should be given at least another go. It would seem a shame to abandon them after only one event. Let's see how they go this weekend and then make a decision.
 
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Manasseh257NSX
@Sick Cylinder I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it on Sunday or not. I'm going to a family reunion today and I'm not sure how my timing looks. I'll know definitely by tomorrow. But for now, I'm on standby.
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Thanks for letting me know.

We will be doing as IfAndOr suggests - trying the FGT's again on Sunday. We will also follow Bergele's suggestion of having a practise start or two before the qualifying for the FGT to see if we can nail a good start behind the Pace Car.

Other News - Harsk has received his new PS3 so should be joining us on Sunday for the first time in about a year.
 
Sick Cylinder
Other News - Harsk has received his new PS3 so should be joining us on Sunday for the first time in about a year.
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gkgamer
So hyped about having Harsk as a guest...
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Since he has reached celebrity status I'm arranging to become Harsk's agent, so I'll be sending the invoice for the appearance fees to you via PM @Sick Cylinder.

Of course if you want him to join in on any of the three races, that will incur further costs. I'll attach the quote for this also.

He has other events to attend later in the evening so please don't detain him any longer than necessary. As you can imagine he's in great demand and we don't want to disappoint anyone.

:mischievous: ;) :D


Be good to "see" you @Harsk100 👍
 
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DVArt
I might miss the race today because I got a uncontrollable urge to by a car I saw in an add, so if I don't join you tonight, you know I'm on a adventure buing a awesome car! :D
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Good luck with the car buying DVArt. When I should have been practising this morning I went to a car show and saw some awesome cars - I'll post up some pictures later. One of the cars I wouldn't have minded trying out (on a track) was a Caterham Seven style car fitted with the 3.2 litre straight six from a BMW M3.

Must dash - cars to tune, circuits to practise!
 
Well I didn't buy the car (yet) but I needed some cash for it so I decided to sell a motorcycle on blocket.se, and the phone started to ring just as the race began, couldn't ignore the chance to sell a bike way to sheap just to buy a crappy car that might not even make it through the car inspection. But I have a good reason, it's all about the looks! I need a Rat looking pickup to drive my Ratbike moped to the biggest moped meet this summer, so tomorrow I'm going to look at the car, and hope that I didn't sell my bike in vain! :)
 
Race report: The XNR was fantastic to drive, as always. I like the new Verde Muschio paintjob on my car, makes it even better to drive from the driver's eye view :) I qualified as 6th and I can't remember exactly where I finished (too busy watching that paintjob :lol:) but it was somewhere in that neighbourhood.

The Nascar race was a little messy. The race was pretty laggy for me, from about the 8th lap and to the finish. That, plus the fact that these cars doesn't have any brake lights, meant that I got hit by other cars quite a few times. At one point I just had enough and took a five minute pit stop break to cool down, which is why I was three laps behind at the finish... I don't know if the lag was because we lowered the race quality, or if I just had a bad connection today. Did anyone else have the same experience?

FGT: Great race! Even though only 4 of us remained at the end. I qualified as 3rd, and after mistakes from the leaders I had the privilege to spend about half the race in the lead :D Then it was my turn to make a mistake, and unfortunately it was at the worst possible place on the track, right after corner one. I got wheelspin on corner exit (should have stayed in a higher gear) and spun off the track and dug into the sand. Lost 15 seconds before I've dug myself out again (need to bring a bigger shovel next time) and then I spent the rest of the lap in limp mode while my tyres were slowly recovering from the chock. Finished 3rd in the end, so that's my second podium finish in the FGT league so far :)
 

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