MSN 1.5hr Manufacturer's Endurance Race Series

[Cold Warrior]

Off topic but since some others chimed in, I would say this about what tracks I would like to see (with explanations):

Daytona (Road and Oval) - The road course creates some great racing. Some people say it's boring but I totally disagree. What it lacks in terms of its layout it more than makes up for in the action it can create.

Sebring - a bumpy and brutal track that punishes man and machine. Home of THE twelve hour race where manufacturers can make a name for themslelves.

Road America - A high speed dream. Only the most fearless dare go through "the kink" flat out.

VIR - Tight, twisty and technical. It's our version of a mini "Green Hell". I would want the old Oak tree in the GT Sport version of it.

Mosport - a fantastic Canadian track. Super fast with little margin for error. My favorite from up north, for sure.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - a proper street circuit named after a driver who always went for it all. A great champion. Salut Gilles!

I personally view Brand Hatch as the mini Nurburgring. It's narrow and hard to pass. Filled with a lot unusual turns, extreme inconvenient elevation changes, straights that are slightly curved. Brand Hatch even has that thick evil grass that just pulls you in if you get a wheel in it.

I haven't driven at Virginia International Raceway in any game to judge. So I can't say myself.

 

[bloodyboyblue]

VIR is in Forza and it’s one of the hardest tracks I’ve ever driven in a game. It’s impossible. It’d take hundreds of laps to figure out properly.

I mostly just want Sonoma and Laguna Seca to complete the desert trio with Willow. I’d have to imagine it’s the new Weathertech sponsorship holding it back, since that’s the only thing that’s happened since it was in the other games.

To continue THAT discussion, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is another track that literally is a bicycle path. I’ve driven around there in real life, you can only drive on part of it in a car (with a 20 km/h speed limit), but bikes can ride around the whole thing. It’s in the middle of a park on an island in the middle of the river, so it is interesting, and feels pretty isolated from the rest of Montreal, which is a mess of traffic and awful road conditions.

 

[fastone371]

I gotta agree with you on VIR, I think the long version of that track would be awful tough to race on.

 

[Clean Racer]

Some of the fun we had at Autopolis.

 

[Rinsky]

So many good tracks left that PD could add but I'm sure we will get another 20 tracks from Japan before we see anything from the USA.

The more I run Autopolis the more I like it and that video from @Clean Racer looks like our 90 minute race here is going to a fun one.

 

[Rinsky]

Just bought my T-GT off Ebay just now.

New + shipping $500

 

[Clean Racer]

I'm waiting for Fanatec DD1 with PS4 compatability.

 

[Cold Warrior]

VIR is in Forza and it’s one of the hardest tracks I’ve ever driven in a game. It’s impossible. It’d take hundreds of laps to figure out properly.

I mostly just want Sonoma and Laguna Seca to complete the desert trio with Willow. I’d have to imagine it’s the new Weathertech sponsorship holding it back, since that’s the only thing that’s happened since it was in the other games.

To continue THAT discussion, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is another track that literally is a bicycle path. I’ve driven around there in real life, you can only drive on part of it in a car (with a 20 km/h speed limit), but bikes can ride around the whole thing. It’s in the middle of a park on an island in the middle of the river, so it is interesting, and feels pretty isolated from the rest of Montreal, which is a mess of traffic and awful road conditions.

Difficult narrow track discussion huh. Then I'll throw in Darlington Raceway into this. The track was built with the idea of making run off room for an Oval. When driver discovered that it was faster run the higher banked narrow run off area a long the wall than what intended to be the main race track. The racing line moved up to the run off area which is now the main race track. Since the run off was not intended for racing the track is now slightly too narrow for two cars to race a side of each other. The inside car most dip the left side tires onto what is now the apron to pass.

The because property bought for the track features a lake. Track was built as for an unusual egg shaped oval. With Nascar's turns 1 & 2 and turns 3 & 4 featuring different radius and degrees of banking. The turns drive very differently making it difficult to setup a car that works well in both turns.

Due to the tracks position to the sun. The late afternoon / evening sun is in the driver's eyes on the back straight making the entry into turn 3 blind at about 180 mph.

Incase the rest of this doesn't sound to bad. Even the pits can be difficult here. Due the extremely wide apron which was the old racing surface. Pits are along the inside wall far away from the race track. Making them easy to miss when come off the track onto the slippery apron trying to slow down to pit speed limit while not losing to much time to the other drivers.

For these reasons many drivers consider Darlington to be the most difficult oval on the schedule.

 

[Clean Racer]

Now that we are getting a "Formula" car. I think this place would be awesome:

 

[fastone371]

Just bought my T-GT off Ebay just now.

New + shipping $500

View attachment 804583

Just got my Fanatec back last night, after almost a month away it comes back and I discover I still have all 3 problems within the first 20 minutes.

 

[Rinsky]

Just got my Fanatec back last night, after almost a month away it comes back and I discover I still have all 3 problems within the first 20 minutes.

That's when I get mad and would throw it in the trash and never buy that brand again.
A failing product with piss poor customer service is enough for me to never look at anything they make ever again. It just sucks that everyone charges a small fortune for their wheels.

 

[Rinsky]

Deleted

 

[fastone371]

That's when I get mad and would throw it in the trash and never buy that brand again.
A failing product with piss poor customer service is enough for me to never look at anything they make ever again. It just sucks that everyone charges a small fortune for their wheels.

If Fanatec were local dont think thought to throw my wheel through their front window has not crossed my mind.
From being involved with diagnostics myself for so long I understand the problem. I'm sure they hook up the wheel and check a few things but the only way they will duplicate the problem is to hook the wheel up and race with it for a while to actually duplicate what I am seeing then they need to find out why it is happening, sometimes that is not a small task.

 

[Rinsky]

If Fanatec were local dont think thought to throw my wheel through their front window has not crossed my mind.
From being involved with diagnostics myself for so long I understand the problem. I'm sure they hook up the wheel and check a few things but the only way they will duplicate the problem is to hook the wheel up and race with it for a while to actually duplicate what I am seeing then they need to find out why it is happening, sometimes that is not a small task.

I'm sure your not the first person to experience this problem with their wheel and I know you gave them a detailed description of the problem and when the said problem occurs.

So they should have sat down and raced with your wheel until the problem started reoccurring again. Sounds to me like they just plugged it it to their diagnostic equipment and ran some test then put it back into the box and shipped it back.

 

[DesertPenguin]

Fastone the more I read your troubles the more I distrust Fanatec and will never buy. Not worth the trouble to me

 

[micantony]

Off topic but since some others chimed in, I would say this about what tracks I would like to see (with explanations):

VIR - Tight, twisty and technical. It's our version of a mini "Green Hell". I would want the old Oak tree in the GT Sport version of it.

VIR is in Forza and it’s one of the hardest tracks I’ve ever driven in a game. It’s impossible. It’d take hundreds of laps to figure out properly.

hmmm VIR huh? I dont think i have ever raced there virtually or seen a race on TV there either. Must research. Looks interesting.

tons of configurations too.

 

[micantony]

Some of the fun we had at Autopolis.

I see you cut it off the lap before you actually got me (thank you). The first half of the track is better for the high speed gr.4 cars, while the second half is definitely for the better handling cars (its fun in the MR cars!).
As soon as the tires started to go on my FF Audi, the last half of the track killed me. I think i was 1-2 seconds faster the first half and then 1-2 seconds slower on the second half. Was definitely interesting to see such a difference throughout the lap.
Still need to learn the track though, i was all over the place

 

[Clean Racer]

Here, watch these last few laps.

 

[QTip8329Wags]

hmmm VIR huh? I dont think i have ever raced there virtually or seen a race on TV there either. Must research. Looks interesting.

tons of configurations too.

Always a favorite to watch. IMSA does the Weathertech Sports cars challenge there and Pirelli has events there too.

 

[fastone371]

I'm sure your not the first person to experience this problem with their wheel and I know you gave them a detailed description of the problem and when the said problem occurs.

So they should have sat down and raced with your wheel until the problem started reoccurring again. Sounds to me like they just plugged it it to their diagnostic equipment and ran some test then put it back into the box and shipped it back.

Surprisingly when I search the interweb looking for people having a lot of trouble with their Fanatec wheel I dont see much out there and when people do have problems they are happy with customer service. The first problem I had with my wheel was at 6 months old, I think the motor that provides force feedback shorted out when I was using the wheel, it made a loud electrical arcing sound and died, when I turned it off and powered it back up it did nothing but blink lights. After they fixed that problem it came back with my current problems, it either will stack shifts up and down or even shift on it's own and the wheel menu will activate on it's own, these problems only happen while racing or driving, especially while turning. I understand 🤬 happens but the next move will see what kind of integrity they have, I think they owe me a new wheel base, I am not ready to condem Fanatec yet. My kid has 2 of their wheel bases, his newer Clubsport he sent in for an update and they rebuilt the entire wheelbase up to current specs and configuration at no charge. The thing that is getting irritating is that out of 12 months of ownership they have had it for 2 months now thru no fault of my own. Only time will tell how this plays out. The only reason I am not sorry yet for buying the Fanatec over the T-GT yet is that I also have Xbox and with a $150 rim my Fantec will work on Xbox too, but that fence is getting pretty close, I may be on it at any time now.

 

[Rinsky]

I really don't understand people's problems with the T-GT pedals they are very nice and come with brake mods.

I really don't see how you guys drive with a wheel but I'm going to keep at it.

Edit: I'm running faster laps with my wheel than I can with the DS4 but being consistent is a whole different story.
Anyway I'm using Infineon's stand with my wheel just for today. I've ordered my Playseat Challenge and it should be here by next week along with the gearshift just for offline fun.

 

[Rinsky]

The rest of my Sim Racing equipment has been shipped and I should have everything by Tuesday. The gearshift arrived yesterday and I ordered it from Ebay the day before.

Spoiler: Photo

I will be starting in the rear of the field for our next race and I probably shouldn't race at all because I'm relearning how to play the game with my new setup. I'm afraid/I know I will end up in peoples way as my transition to a sim racing setup will not be a fast process.

 

[fastone371]

The rest of my Sim Racing equipment has been shipped and I should have everything by Tuesday. The gearshift arrived yesterday and I ordered it from Ebay the day before.

Spoiler: Photo

View attachment 807136

I will be starting in the rear of the field for our next race and I probably shouldn't race at all because I'm relearning how to play the game with my new setup. I'm afraid/I know I will end up in peoples way as my transition to a sim racing setup will not be a fast process.

If you're faster on the wheel already but struggling with consistantcy I think you will transition quickly. When I got my wheel I was slower at first but much more consistant. Remember, above all have fun!!!!

 

[micantony]

It takes about 2-4 weeks to get used to the wheel to be comfortable (getting used to the pedals took me the longest; and then I switched over to left foot braking which took getting used to it all over again); in about 6 months you will wonder how you ever raced with a joystick.

you will find your inputs will be much more precise. That's my experience coming from a ds3 anyway. I hear the ds4 is better, but i dont believe it .

 

[Rinsky]

It takes about 2-4 weeks to get used to the wheel to be comfortable (getting used to the pedals took me the longest; and then I switched over to left foot braking which took getting used to it all over again); in about 6 months you will wonder how you ever raced with a joystick.

you will find your inputs will be much more precise. That's my experience coming from a ds3 anyway. I hear the ds4 is better, but i dont believe it .

I'm already noticing my inputs are much more precise. I'm really struggling with regaining control of the car once it gets loose on me. On the DS4 I can catch the car quickly but with the wheel once it's gone its gone.
I have found increasing the force feedback helps but I still need to work on it.

If you're faster on the wheel already but struggling with consistantcy I think you will transition quickly. When I got my wheel I was slower at first but much more consistant. Remember, above all have fun!!!!

I'm going to have lots of fun.

My Playseat just arrived so I will be having fun tonight.

 

[fastone371]

I'm already noticing my inputs are much more precise. I'm really struggling with regaining control of the car once it gets loose on me. On the DS4 I can catch the car quickly but with the wheel once it's gone its gone.
I have found increasing the force feedback helps but I still need to work on it.



I'm going to have lots of fun.

My Playseat just arrived so I will be having fun tonight.

I dont think you will ever have the same recovery ability with a wheel as the DS4 because of the "help" PD builds into the DS4 and you just simply cant whip a wheel around as quick as a joystick. I know it also took some time for me to really figure out how I wanted my wheel rotation or steering ratio adjusted. The more time I race the more I keep slowing my steering rate so that I now need to turn the wheel more for the same corners.

 

[Rinsky]

I dont think you will ever have the same recovery ability with a wheel as the DS4 because of the "help" PD builds into the DS4 and you just simply cant whip a wheel around as quick as a joystick. I know it also took some time for me to really figure out how I wanted my wheel rotation or steering ratio adjusted. The more time I race the more I keep slowing my steering rate so that I now need to turn the wheel more for the same corners.

I don't think I can adjust my steering rate. If I can I don't know how to yet. But my wheel turns a lot further than my DS4 does and that's causing me to lose control some.

I have my force feedback set at 5 and sensitivity at 2. I'm running constant 2:06 at Nurburgring GP. I know that's not fast but I am getting used to a wheel setup and manual transmission all at once so I'm happy with my progress so far.

Thanks again for any help I might ask for through my transitional period.

 

[Venster]

I don't think I can adjust my steering rate. If I can I don't know how to yet. But my wheel turns a lot further than my DS4 does and that's causing me to lose control some.

I have my force feedback set at 5 and sensitivity at 2. I'm running constant 2:06 at Nurburgring GP. I know that's not fast but I am getting used to a wheel setup and manual transmission all at once so I'm happy with my progress so far.

Thanks again for any help I might ask for through my transitional period.

That’s very decent times for your first laps, it took me ages to get to my DS4 times and to keep it on track, and sometimes I still find things to be easier on DS4. Sounds like you are going to take to it pretty quickly. You’ll find you have to predict the rear stepping out, which sounds wrong but you’ll understand with more wheel time. I actually thought I was going to be a natural given I can drive and all! Ha ha but turned out it wasn’t the case!

My first race where I felt comfortable on a wheel was probably the first one of this series at Interlagos and still trying to improve!

 

[Rinsky]

That’s very decent times for your first laps, it took me ages to get to my DS4 times and to keep it on track, and sometimes I still find things to be easier on DS4. Sounds like you are going to take to it pretty quickly. You’ll find you have to predict the rear stepping out, which sounds wrong but you’ll understand with more wheel time. I actually thought I was going to be a natural given I can drive and all! Ha ha but turned out it wasn’t the case!

My first race where I felt comfortable on a wheel was probably the first one of this series at Interlagos and still trying to improve!

If you only knew how determined I am getting to a point where I'm happy and at least somewhat competitive again. I can already tell the improvements a wheel brings I just have to relearn my brake points and enty speeds to get there.
I feel everything the cars doing through the T-GT and that just awesome. Still getting adjusted to the Playseat Challenge but I'm liking it more and more. Had to raise my TV in the air some though.

Just overlook all the kid stuff but that's my setup for now.

 

[Clean Racer]

Are you practicing in time trial mode?