The Most Confusing Motor Racing Event of All Time

  • Thread starter Zolon32
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Guys,I appreciate the humor in this thread. 7 days on and I'm still with COVID but on the mend. For whatever reason I thought I'd be the only person to never get it. Foolish

Thank you @Napalm_LT for the invite Monday to the practice session. At that point I hadn't told anybody. I wanted to spectate two races because I was feeling well enough to watch just not feeling well enough to race.

I didn't want to directly message anybody and disrupt you while you were racing. But, please would you consider an invitation for next Monday?
 
Guys I won't race tonight.
It is the end of the year and I am crowded at work. Even more - my colleague has retired today and it is unknown when (if) new colleague will come. So I need to stop racing for a while.
 
That's bad news, you'll be missed in the grid! In any case, hope your workload eases as soon as possible so you can resume your racing! :cheers:
 
Well I suppose having extra work is better than having no work, but nevertheless you'll be missed @Napalm_LT.
Hope to see you back soon. 👍



Tonight I think I'm taking the 72D and the Alpine.
 
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So I need to stop racing for a while.
Very sorry to hear that Napalm. As Mario and Paul have said, you will be greatly missed. I too hope you'll be able to resume before too long.

Have I messed up again by making the Porsche the default car?
 
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Have I messed up again by making the Porsche the default car?
I think the Alpine might be a little slower but I found it slightly easier to hustle around Spa. Same situation with the 72D. Other viewpoints may vary.

(I might change my mind on the Porsche yet!)
 
The Lotuses were about the same for me. For Group 6 I did an AI race against 6 AI, 3 in each car. The Porsches were around 3 to 4 seconds per lap quicker than me and the 3 AI in Alpines. My laptime was about the same as the AI Alpine drivers'.
 
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Well, I'm looking forward to putting them to the acid test.

Don't have a clue why I decided on a wet start to the Lotus quali, but that should be interesting. I think (🤞) that my result for the first race will probably be better than the second, where I expect to be seeing Porsches disappearing into the distance. But I do love the onboard view from the Alpine. Don't know why.
 
Standings after Spa.

Race 1 was a time trial session for me. I had a spin on lap one and never caught up with anyone; way off the pace for some reason.

Race 2 was no fun. The way PC2 simulates the Alpine's handling is just silly - I know Zolon got a great result and times with it (best lap of 2:19.6 vs my 2:21.5 and raeggee's 2:22.4; Paul might have been in the Alpine? If so he got 2:23.5); this is my experience. Going straight in top gear with no steering input it would just start swerving in random directions, as if there was a puncture. That meant any attempt at accuracy was futile; you'd hug the edge of the track approaching Les Combes and the next moment you're on the grass having made no inputs. Going around Pouhon and down Blanchimont every lap would be different; as if the car was on castors instead of wheels. Not so much driving as pointing and hoping. Glad to see the back of it.

Monday.jpg
 
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Race 1 was a time trial session for me. I had a spin on lap one and never caught up with anyone; way off the pace for some reason.

Race 2 was no fun. The way PC2 simulates the Alpine's handling is just silly - I know Zolon got a great result and times with it (best lap of 2:19.6 vs my 2:21.5 and raeggee's 2:22.4; Paul might have been in the Alpine? If so he got 2:23.5); this is my experience. Going straight in top gear with no steering input it would just start swerving in random directions, as if there was a puncture. That meant any attempt at accuracy was futile; you'd hug the edge of the track approaching Les Combes and the next moment you're on the grass having made no inputs. Going around Pouhon and down Blanchimont every lap would be different; as if the car was on castors instead of wheels. Not so much driving as pointing and hoping. Glad to see the back of it.
Half! Man, I am so sorry.



That's it, I typed that and then couldn't think of anything worthy of saying.



On the subject (sort of) of motors being of a truculent disposition, I've discovered this morning that Sakkito is like Greenland in the winter. It's impossible to get heat properly into the tyres. First settings I tried automatically put studded ice tyres on the LMP2s!

Therefore, I think I need to move that meeting to a spring setting, 28th May, at 2:00pm. Heavy cloud, light cloud, clear, for both quali sessions and races.
 
Good grief, back to 2nd place! And I did my best in the Alpine to get out of the top 3. 🙂

I too had a couple of lonesome races, but that's how it goes sometimes. There's often a tighter scrap on another week, swings and roundabouts etc.
as if the car was on castors instead of wheels.
Bout sums it up. I spent most of my race fiddling with the FFB settings trying to give it a better feel. I was unsuccessful. Oddly it felt better during my practice session.


Looking forward to Sakitto. I like the LMP2s and I like the Clio. Although there's a great deal of difference to the way they both handle. That'll be a shock for those who haven't tried the Renault.
 
@half_sourly I think your totals aren't considering Sonoma. I was wondering why @richroo had been deducted points (we were going neck and neck until yesterday)then I noticed my own points tally had increased just by 2 points (instead of 32). And THEN I noticed something was off in the entire table. After reviewing the previous tables I think the problem is that although the Sonoma results are in this latest table, they aren't counted in the sums

If I'm not mistaken ... you are still at the top of the table, with @Zolon32 close and raeggee 3rd

Here's my calculation (pen and paper made so excuse any mathematical blunder)

  1. @half_sourly ------- 207,4
  2. @Zolon32 ----------- 204,2
  3. raeggee ------------- 199
  4. @IfAndOr ----------- 181,4
  5. FLAT_TWELVE ------ 174,6
  6. @richroo ------------139,8
  7. @beachboy66 ------ 119,8
  8. hartur --------------- 121,8
  9. @Oldbass47 -------- 100
  10. @Madbigdog --------- 91
  11. @Don Mejillone ------ 82,2
  12. @Napalm_LT --------- 59,4
  13. jmpa_PREGO_f ------- 68,2
  14. @slthree -------------- 13

A short quick recap

Race 1 - The Lotus 72 being clearly quicker than the 49C we had effectively a two-tier race, with all top guns seriously handicapped. I started from pole and tried to get as much distance as possible from the following group. After getting an advantage of about 5 seconds over 2nd place I noticed I was getting worrying levels of engine damage so I started to save the car, shifting well bellow the redline. This allowed João in 2nd place to close the gap towards the end of the race (with very good pace, he claimed the FL for this race) but I was never in danger, unless I did a serious mistake, something I fortunately didn't do.

Race 2 - Again I had the benefit of pole position and of driving the faster car (Porsche), although it was a nearly impossible one to drive. My aim was simply to survive the race without a serious mistake (that should be enough to get me a win) , but @Zolon32 made me work very hard for that to happen, he mounted a impressive charge (and chase) with the Alpine, achieving laptimes I didn't even know were possible with that car. Great race and great battle! 👍

See you all next monday! :cheers:
 
latest table
You are quite right. I fixed a mistake present in the previous table (running average finishing position) but in the process redid Sonoma and forgot to add it back into the total. Will fix it later.

Thanks for spotting it.

Edit: note the totals won't add to yours because of mentioned error in previous table.
 
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Fellas, I'm gutted that some people had disappointing races; I had a cracking time.

First race I was in a battle with Reaggee and Hartur for lap after lap, until I made an unforced error with two laps to go, dammit.

Second race, I couldn't believe that I wasn't just drifting down the field in the Alpine. So, there I was, chasing Mario. Two old men, like a decrepit lion in a wheelchair, hunting a wily old gazelle on his motability scooter :)

Gazelle wins, lion goes hungry. Roll on Sakkito!
 
Not sure if I want to be the wily gazelle in that that old gazelle/old lion duo ... but I guess you were hunting me down so I'll accept the role of prey in that race. Roll on Sakkito indeed! ;)

Guys I'm going off on a tangent now because last night I finally played GT7 (raeggee lent me his game discs, wasn't interested in keeping them) and I'd like to share with you all my impressions (no better place than here). So here's my first night review:

My first impressions of GT7 is that this is the IKEA version of gaming. For those of you that don't know the IKEA stores, we're treated like cattle, following a pre-determined route (more like a maze) from shop entry to shop exit. You have to go to wherever they want you to go and it's futile (although fun) to try to do some cross country or reverse the path, you'll end up either lost or confused.
While the game loaded/installed fully I had access to some stupid (but entertaining) musical game about how many miles you can do until the end of a particular music. Ok I guess, kept me busy for a while ...

When the game proper started first thing I was directed to do was to visit a used car dealership to get a low budget car, followed by a visit to a virtual café where I would get my gaming objective (related to that car, what a surprise), all while being entertained by some annoying virtual hosts with smiley faces.

Still puzzled but trying to understand where all this would lead me I tried to see where I could race my one and only car and I was presented with 3 small arcade races, follow the rabbit style. finishing 3rd was enough to get one prize car and ... surprise surprise ... the 3 cars were exactly what I needed to complete my "objective"! Oh my oh my, this is so exciting for any person with a 5 year old brain ... I wonder what my next game objective will be!!!! :rolleyes:

Well, details here get fuzzy because I was quick browsing and quickly dispatching the annoying smiling hosts trying to understand where I would find the modes I wanted to check: online and offline/career (like we have it so simple in PCars2) ... but no such luck.

But (I think it was) after those 3 races the license tests opened up and that was what made my first night of playing. I still remember the license tests as my 1st introduction to GT3 and, although this still isn't proper racing the truth is that they are entertaining and at least we can try a whole variety of cars and visit a whole vairety of tracks with that mode.
I found them to be very easy, most were "golded" at the first try. I did National A very quickly but after a while in National B I understood that I had the times from my friends listed there, which made me try just a litle harder to be up there with them. Many familiar names, some others I suspect have chosen different "nicknames" to play this game (@half_sourly, are you 2CC ?). So I did National B, National A and International B before calling it a night. Before leaving and since I got a notice that I had unlocked Brands Hatch and Goodwood I went in to see what they looked like. But ...

... don't have the cars to race in the races available in those tracks ... :dopey:

... and also still no sign of online mode, I kept being directed to the café, its annoying smiling host and the bloody menus I'm supposed to fill up by buying cars. Now the game wants me to buy 60's cars (Fiat 500, Mini and some other equally uninsteresting vehicle). Should I? Shouldn't I? Well, I guess it's like IKEA, I must obediently follow the herd of costumers into the kitchen section to be able to reach the room where the office chairs I wanted to check are on display ...
So, herd-like litle me thought that by then and with all the money from the licenses I had above 200.000 Cr. I could check if I could buy them and get that hurdle out of the way.

But no ... the used car dealership (and its also stupidly grinning host) didn't have any of those cars.

So all I could do was to turn off this (supposedly racing) game. I may try to end the remaining License tests tonight just to see if more of the game unlocks itself but my patience is running very thin already.

About the physics. All I can tell comes from the license tests and my impression is favourable. Also forgiving but in a way that is different from PCars2. The FFB is much smoother that PC2 but this isn't necessarily bad, I find it detailed enough and I do think sometimes we go for "harder/stronger" FFB to "feel" more, and that in itself maybe isn't realistic, at least not with road cars.
Glad to say that my old and trusted T500RS wheel works perfectly with the game and is in fact one of the wheels that shows up in the "controller menu". Didn't try the shifter (unplugged because I was charging a controller in its USB port) but see no reason for it not to work.

That's all for now, I'll try to finish the License Tests tonight and see if this opens up the game or not.
 
@Hun200kmh once you have gone far enough through the cafe (many people have poor opinions of it) all tracks eventually unlock.

However, once you've unlocked Brands Hatch you CAN race there without having the cars they want you to have. You only need those specific cars if you're participating in the actual preset events.

If you go down you'll see an option for "custom race" and you'll be able to use any car you want/have to race there. You will even be able to choose what cars you want to race against.
 
Thanks for the advice @slthree! 👍

@Zolon32 I'm still to pick up PCars2 again since last monday so haven't checked Sakkito. Will try to find some time this weekend to check that out. In any case and just to be sure of this, we will be doing different tracks in races 1 (LMP2) and 2 (Clio), right? All dry? I know it'll be winter, therefore cold, but have you decided time of day?
 
All dry? I know it'll be winter, therefore cold, but have you decided time of day?
A change of mind...
I've discovered this morning that Sakkito is like Greenland in the winter.

Therefore, I think I need to move that meeting to a spring setting, 28th May, at 2:00pm. Heavy cloud, light cloud, clear, for both quali sessions and races
👍
 
Standings after Sakkito.

Better evening for me. Race 1 there was some bumping and grinding in turn 1 and I lost a few places, but nothing too serious. Into the esses I messed it up and was last and over 20 seconds behind everyone. Managed to make up some places and end 4th, with the 2nd fastest lap (1:32.624) behind Mario (1:32.596). Race 2 saw pole-sitter Zolon slide out of sight around turn 1 leaving Mario and me in a battle at the front. Mario overtook me about a third of the way through and got a gap of about 4 seconds, but must have made a couple of mistakes as I caught up and then overtook him as he made an error through the tight twisty left-right section. However, I got a time penalty of 1 second and Mario stayed close enough to take the net win. Again he had the best laptime (1:18.380) ahead of mine (1:18.397).

Merry Christmas all; see you in the New Year.

Monday.jpg
 
@half_sourly @richroo @IfAndOr @Hun200kmh @tal @Madbigdog @Don Mejillone @Oldbass47 @Napalm_LT @slthree

Chaps, Mario has already mentioned that it is unlikely that he can make the meeting on 2nd January, and I suspect that there might be others who will find it inconvenient.

Therefore, I would like to propose that we extend the christmas break from the series until Monday 9th January, and those who wish to race on the 2nd get together for a casual evening of short races with something really easy to master, to promote close scrapping.

Please let your thoughts on this matter be known, and we'll go along with this plan, so long as there isn't a revolt.
 
January the 2nd may be a good date for one of those one-off endurances huh @Hun200kmh? Both to test endurance driving and endurance to overcome possible hangovers still standing from the new year's :D

Sorry everyone for being absent in these last few races! Work has been keeping me pinned at the office for longer and the one time I managed to escape in time to race, at the sonoma event, the game decided that I should be at the office instead and kicked me out of both races :scared:

Anyway, hopefully will be back for the 2nd's chill out event in whatever form it may take, and hopefully for the post christmas break races!
 
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@Madbigdog I'm going to be away from Lisboa that day (and so should you btw :P )

About that one-off endurance event, I guess we could try to come up with something to celebrate the New Year, I'm returning to Lisboa (and so should you btw :P) either monday (Jan 2nd) night or even tuesday (Jan 3rd) so we could maybe do something for Wednesday January 4th?

Are there any takers for a endurance event to happen that day?

And also, any suggestions? We already did:

- Daytona Road Course with LMP2 (humans and AI) and GT3 (AI-Only)

- Nurburgring Nordschleife with GT3 (humans and AI) and GT4 (AI-only)

If we "save" Le Mans Classic for the spring and modern Le Mans for the summer, I guess next up from the mythical 24 hour racetracks could be Spa-Francorchamps.

Since I didn't give any thought to this I'm open for car class(es) suggestions.


So, yeah, let's all consider a go at a Spa-Francorchamps 2 hours enduro next Jan 4th, as realistic as possible (check the Nurburgring thread linked above if you don't remember what settings we chose for that one).

And you guys - the ones that can use the night of Jan 2nd - take advantage of that and offer yourselves a free trial run or practise with those settings.

Any takers?
 
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