Quote from RIP2004 :

You can push those cars hard without always counter steering. If you drive slow, everyone can go around the corners. If you push them you have to work a bit harder A lot snappier and grippier than LFS, where e.g. road cars feel still a bit like driving in the wet.

Yes, I agree on that. In LFS, if you push a little bit too hard, I find you often end up needing an armful of opposite lock. A small mistake can get sketchy rather quickly. A big mistake in LFS I find to be not much worse than a small mistake, if you know what I mean. If you get sideways, as long as you can get the opposite lock on quickly enough, you can almost always avoid spinning. If you run onto the grass, usually you can get back on the track and have no problems.

In iRacing, a small mistake or pushing too hard is less of an issue than in LFS usually. It's not punished so badly and you usually don't need much correction, just slow down a little and try to stay on the track. However, a large mistake can be more costly. Touch an outside wheel on the grass and it's hard to avoid a spin at times. Get sideways at high speed after bumping over a curb and you have to be very quick with the opposite lock if you want to avoid spinning.

I am enjoying it so far. I came into it without any real expectations, I honestly didn't know how it was going to be. And I must say I'm pleasantly surprised.

Initially the Solstice felt a little dull and lifeless, but as I started pushing it harder, I really began to enjoy the way it drives. It comes alive when you really start going for it, and you're constantly in four wheel drifts in the turns trying to get the best out of it. The setup is nice and neutral, with no nasty surprises unless you hit a bump badly or take too much curb, or heaven forbid, touch the grass with your outside tires The car feels to have a good weight to it, you can feel the momentum (especially once you're on the grass! it's not easy to avoid the wall sometimes). There is some real substance to the driving experience, something that is not there in LFS, but it is hard to put a finger on it.

After getting my laptimes down to the 1:04s at lime rock in the solstice (and managing a couple of 1:03s too) I had my first race this evening. Started 1st, had a little spin on the 2nd lap which put me down to 2nd place, and remained there a few seconds behind the leader for the rest of the race. I like the 20 lap races. I would much prefer having one good 20 lap race in an evening than a handful of 5 lappers, so this works well for me. But I can imagine it's frustrating if you get damage or get knocked out of the race and have to retire, given that there may not be another race for 2 hours, which could mean you end up waiting until the next evening...

I also did a race in the legend car on the small oval, which was fun too. Don't think I'd get too hooked in to the oval racing, not enough to buy any more cars, but it's good fun. The netcode seems solid so far, and overall I find it all easy to use. No real complaints with how it drives or how anything operates so far. Just need to learn more about the system as a whole and figure out what I like and don't like. So far I am enjoying it and really liking the 'career' focus of it, and looking forward to improving and getting onto some faster cars and different tracks.

I'm actually surprised I'm this positive about it to be honest. I was quite negative about the pricing initially, so much so that I wasn't even going to bother trying it at the moment. But as soon as I got the invitation I decided it might be worth a try and I'm glad I did. Perhaps the positivity is partly just because it's something new and shiny, but whatever, I'm having fun so far....

Quote from Migz :

Edit: oh and i made the background myself You like?

That's very cool, what program did you make it with? Was it a lot of work?

Ok don't get too carried away Dustustin.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Here's my protest to your picture.

HA! I can play that game too. Here's one with my lady friend

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

No Using Photo Booth!

I'm lazy, give me a break!

Here's another photo taken with photo booth, except this one looks extra shitty due to the 'flash' if you can call it that. This is just to piss you off Dustin, haha

Last edited by Michael Denham, Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:32.

Quote from Riders Motion :

o rly? do the comparison, they are totally opposite:

That was uncalled for. I am eating my breakfast here!

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Yeah, I'm sure he chose that pose, too, and not the McLaren publicists or the photographer they assigned to the shoot.

Yes I understand they will have told him how to pose, it's just the look that's in his eyes

Quote from durbster :

Don't worry, you can counter it with this one which never fails to make me laugh:

Haha, thanks, that's more like it

Ok here's another one. I'm sure yes that they told him what pose to make, but did they also tell him to look like the most smug bastard on earth? If they did then I apologise, but somehow I doubt it. I think he actually IS just a smug bastard.

Last edited by Michael Denham, Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:16.

Until about 5 minutes ago I still kinda liked Lew1s. Then I saw this picture of him and just can't stand the smugness. All through last season I was really rooting for Hamilton and I can't believe it now but I have to say I really don't care how well he does.

Hahaha. Yeah people seem to think the drivers at the back of the grid are 'slow' but in reality it's just not true. Put them all in the same car and I bet the laptimes would be closer than many people would think. Maybe there's the odd exception, someone who has got there thanks to money, but for the most part they are all very very good at what they do. Just that some can push that little bit harder over a race distance, allowing them to successfully pull off different strategies, and also without beaching the car in sand traps or running red lights

I really enjoy the analysis of Schumacher's driving style. It's interesting to see how other drivers figure he was so fast, and to see what MS thinks himself about his driving.

Quote from DevilDare :

way too bump a year old thread

What's the problem with that? People complain when someone starts a new thread when there was an old one that could have been posted in, and then people complain when a discussion is continued in an already existing thread, just because it's more than a month or two old. Makes no sense to me...

Hadn't even heard of Setup Grid until just now! Usually take one from setup field and then tweak considerably.

Ahhh, it was about time this thread was started. I have been getting anxious lately, just WAITING for someone to start it, now it's here I can relax again....

And by the way.... "I hope the devs are hard at work and not vacationing on my money" I don't even have any polite words with which to respond to this idiotic statement, so I will just let out my frustration with a meaningless noise. ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

Last edited by Michael Denham, Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:45.

Quote from Ca18Slider :

I'd assume keep the tires flat so you're not rubbing a single edge raw, and be as smooth as possible.

If it is the case that you're wearing the insides of the rear tires more, try reducing rear camber perhaps to even out the temperatures and wear.

I'm busy doing things OUTSIDE in the sun :P Kayaking, hiking, going out on the motorbike, etc... Although having said that I've not spent much time on LFS over last winter either. Just lots of other stuff going on right now that takes priority.

Quote from G!NhO :

i think sabine is faster but i dont know for sure

I'd be absolutely shocked if she wasn't. VBH really isn't that good of a driver.

They're both cool until they start talking, then they're both really really annoying.

How about the new TANK MOD for rFactor? Apparently it was a bit of a rush job and the devs didn't spend enough time on the physics for the caterpillar tracks and as a result the beyond limit handling is not exactly satisfactory. However, it has been tested by real life tank drivers, and they say it handles JUST like the real thing, so they're not making any changes.

Well it is now, but there was some left in that picture Just hard to see :P

This is the most recent picture of myself, taken five minutes ago in fact. Looking a bit rough after a long night last night. Had a little wine left so figured I should finish it off.

I have been away from the RSC forums for several years. I think I'm going to try and set up an international event in honour of my return

I think the series will gradually improve as it has done so far. But just when you get to the stage where you're starting to get convinced that you're driving something close to reality, you will go back to a good sim for the PC and realise that GT just lacks 'something'. I actually had some fun on GT4 with a DFP, zooming around the 'Ring in road cars, but as soon as you go back to something decent for the PC, you soon realise GT is very plastic and fake feeling. I don't think that feeling will change anytime soon.

I find if I've played a lot of LFS, I get to the stage where I don't really feel like I'm driving a car. I don't really think about the fact that I'm driving something with four wheels and a steering wheel and pedals. I guess I just kind of get 'lost' in what I'm doing, or zone out, something like that, and just not really relate it to driving a car. Anyone else kinda understand where I'm coming from?

I think some people are fine doing something that they find just okay, but some people really need to be doing something they love to be motivated. I used to tutor high school math but when I finished my degree I stopped tutoring. Since then I've had three different jobs, and although I've been reasonably good at them, I've just lost motivation after a few months and ended up quitting. I'm not the kind of person who can just suck it up and do something I'm not that into. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing to be honest! In a way I admire people who are able to keep motivated and productive when in a job that is not perfect for them. At the same time, I admire people who know what they REALLY want to do in life and are able to go after it. After getting completely bored of my recent jobs, I have decided to go into tutoring math full time. I know it'll be a lot of work and it'll take me a while to get started up again, but I just loved it so much when I was doing it that I don't see myself doing anything different. Suddenly I am more motivated in life and just excited about my future. Not everyone needs to love what they do for work, but I think I'm one of the people who does.

As for you amp88... I agree with the people who have said that there are many ways to find a purpose in life. For some it is through their work, and for many people work is very much a primary focus in life. For others, they work as a means to an end and their sense of purpose and enjoyment comes from what they do other than work. And as I said, some people are happy working as a means to an end, and some people really need to do something they enjoy in order to be productive and happy. One thing I realise now is that there is no big hurry in finding out where we fit into all of this, and figuring these things out is just a part of the journey...

Last edited by Michael Denham, Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:33.

I wouldn't worry too much about being banned for whatever reason. I was on a server that was entirely composed of a team of guys and got kicked right after I qualified for a race infront of all of them. I had a good laugh about the 'outsider' whooping them all in quali and then being kicked because of it, and then found another server to race on. No big deal...