The online racing simulator
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Kodak EasyShare M1033
(SaM)
S2 licensed
He can get absolutely fanatic about cameras, saying this one is the best, whilst on another page he's ranting on and on why this camera, in the same category, is the best.

You just gotta read his website with a grain of salt, keeping your common sense at guard, extracting the info you need. If you do that, you'll be able to make a very well supported choice. I've done that and made my best purchase in years.

And his guide (albeit somewhat different from the others) is what keeps me coming back for more. I've put some of his tips to the test and it made me a better photographer.
Kodak EasyShare M1033
(SaM)
S2 licensed
If you want good quality, I'd seriously recommend the Canon SD880. It's a camera you might pay a little bit more for, but then again, the value of this camera is twice as much as it costs. It's currently $268.28 at Amazon.com.

It's got a really convenient 3" display, 10MP, lightweight, image stabilized and a 5-20mm zoomlens.

Take a look at Ken Rockwell's gallery of SD880 photos he took (unedited).

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/compacts/sd880/gallery.htm
Camera Showoff
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Decided to give HDR photography a try with my D40 and 8 different exposures of 1 stop increments (+ & -). My trusty camera bag was my model.

Although the photo dynamics may look subtle, it's technically impossible to shoot this photo with one exposure, even today's cameras have very limited dynamic range. Multiple exposures blended within one is essential to get something like this.

I'm planning to do some HDR shots outside as well, probably tomorrow. There's alot of snow right now, that would make an awesome HDR shot!
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iRacing
(SaM)
S2 licensed
By the time the oval tracks in iRacing are cheaper than a ride on the merry-go-round, I'll buy them. Till then, I'll ride me wobbly goldplated steed!
iRacing
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from spanks :Can I assume then that you're never raced ovals

You can, but you'd be wrong.
I've done my fair share of oval racing in LFS and iRacing to personally judge it as boring. I'm sure it involves endless effort to munch off the last few miliseconds off of PBs in oval racing and that there's alot of strategy involved... but that's where oval racing stops and track racing continues. Track racing is all of that, including the many different corners and BRAKING that creates a whole new experience.

I guess this just the well known difference between Europe and the USA.
It depends what you grew up with and what tracks are available. IMO, the best racing tracks are in Asia and Europe. The best ovals are in the USA.
iRacing
(SaM)
S2 licensed
If you're going to buy a track, buy the Watkins Glen International. It's the best racing track I've ever seen in a sim.
If you're going to buy a car, buy the Radical SR8, a very fast, light and grippy car that is a blast to drive.
Post Your Face:)
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from hrtburnout :Takumi_lfs looks a lot like this murderer:

Like two peas in a pod.

Like 2 waterdrops. Like 2 hands on one stomache! Dutch expression, don't ask.
Man, he must be the first Dutchman with a mullet I've seen in years! When I'm back in Holland and I see Takumi, I'll seriously cut it off.
iRacing
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Haha, you can get that changed. I e-mailed them to change my full name into my regular name and they changed it the same day.

And yep, the sudden transition between grip and loss of grip is one of the things what makes this sim shine above LFS. And even if you lose grip, you still have control over it, unlike rFactor or GTR, which just activate SPIN™ mode the moment you push your car too far.

They're working on more cars that will appeal to us Europeans more. I forgot which ones, but I got pretty excited when I read it.

Most of the current tracks are a joke. If you look at the tracks overview, you see little example layouts. I see half a dozen of... circles, ovals. None different from the other. I mean, why would you get a 800bhp car and only drive the final gear holding the steering wheel slightly to the left until you reach the finish line?

My guinea pig can do that. And he's dead. And his name is Coco. And he was a lousy driver.
iRacing
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from jibber :Finally got to try it for the first time yesterday evening.

I could write a long and detailed post about how good it is, but i'm sure most of it would have been mentioned in here already. So i'm going to keep it short.

For me, iRacing feels like the first time i've seen/played LFS. It's like something you've never seen before, and it's clear immediately... It's simply the best there is at the moment, without a doubt. Period.

I think it's bloody expensive and that there are no real interesting cars, but still, it's VERY impressive and feels even better. I don't know if i can be bothered to pay a shitload of money for this in the future, but it's quite possible... i feel like i've spent those 20$ for the one month subscription very well (just one day of racing with the solstice was well worth it already).

Haha.. so you tried it after all! I told you it was good but you didn't seem very impressed by the price. Well, as we both know, it's definitely worth it for the while being, until you get bored of it.

I've made a drifting setup for the Pontiac Solstice and the Legends Ford '34 Coupe. The last one is a beast, but it sure is fun to get sideways!
Camera Showoff
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from jibber :I really like the 2nd one!

You should get out there today and get a few shots... there's soo much snow (needed one and a half hour to get to holderbank :razz!

Thanks! But do you mean the 2nd of the 2 big ones or the 2nd of all 4 attached?

And yeah, I'd love to get out again and catch the fluffy white stuff on my sensor, if I had some gloves... Man, After 2.5 hours outside yesterday my fingers were so frozen, I had to ram my fist against the buttons to press them, since my fingers were lifeless ice popsicles. Even better was when it got dark and I couldn't even see where the buttons were!

But it sure paid off! I'm liking alot of the 134 shots I took yesterday.
Camera Showoff
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Went out to the lake not far from my home today and shot some photos.

f/5.3 - 2.5s exposure for the silky water effect. Minor color alterations to bring more life into the shot.


f/5.0 - 15s exposure. Dark foggy hill with a streetlight on the pavement creating a surreal atmosphere I couldn't help but capture.


More to come!
You can say what you like about Bush, but man he has fast reactions :)
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from Dajmin :(SaM)'s post is the culprit. His images seem to be upwards of 1.5Mb each. My biggest one is only 400k.

Mods might want to look into modifying the big ones.

No worries. Took the liberty myself, except for my favorite. I get to keep that one!
Most Frustrating Video Game Moment.
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Super Mario Bros on the NES.

Trying to get past that first goomba had me in flames of fury. Seriously.



Never finished it and sold my NES.
You can say what you like about Bush, but man he has fast reactions :)
Marijuana and me
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from S14 DRIFT :...but legalizing any sort of drug will only end up with us becomming like those crazy Dutch people! Imagine a forum full of Ginhos and hrtburnouts

Maybe I should regard being crazy as a compliment (I'm Dutch), but the Netherlands is far behind the UK and France as for Cannabis usage.

When it's illegal, it's more interesting as it adds a bigger thrill to it. Whereas in the Netherlands it's available legally when you're looking for it.

Source 1
Source 2
Marijuana and me
(SaM)
S2 licensed
As for me, curiosity killed the cat.

I was curious so I let my cat smoke some and well... you know what happened.
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Camera Showoff
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Cutting edge photos Don! As usual.

I really laughed my ass off at the photographer with his mobile phone camera you see on some of your shots... getting really close to the cars for some tight action footage, only to discover at home that his phone made blurry, compressed little postage stamp photos that look a bit like cars in a brown blur.
Anyone want some mad JDM tyte pantyhose?
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Any practical use for tinting your taillights, other than wanting to look like a complete idiot?

I've seen plenty of those (sounds like pantyhose) tinted taillights on crappy Civics and even Puntos in Holland. Beats me why any self respecting car-owner would do such a thing...
iRacing
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from NightShift :
It would make sense if iRacing was not quite the revolution their marketing people wanted it to be

I'm sure they purposely decided to go in this direction. Sure, iRacing is not going to be welcomed by the major community, but it's aimed at those that demand the absolute best sim racing on a computer so far, and have the ability to pay for it.

They have less customers, but each and every customer brings a whole lot more money in the till than just a one-off payment for a licensed copy of the software, like with other sims.

With a relatively small community, I'm sure they have already made more money than the LFS developers in all these years.
Consoles vs PC's
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Been a die-hard PC gamer for about 10 years now, but since I bought an Xbox 360 earlier this year, I've bought 12 Xbox 360 games and I haven't bought a single PC game.

As for me, the best platform for fun games to waste time on are consoles, simply because that's what consoles are made for. You put the disc in, no installation, no configuration, just play it. Exactly as it was intended to be played.
I'm not that interested in modding, since I often happen to prefer paid professionals' content in the original game above amateur mods.

However, I do play iRacing, RBR and LFS on this PC, since those would be worthless on a console, because of the lack of CPU power for physics calculation and lack of support for the G25 (except the PS3). I've bought this PC mostly to be able to do HD video editing and audio/music production.

As been said before, the games/sims I do play on my PC are those that have a long life and are in-depth. All other games go straight into my XBox 360 tray.
Sidekick lx VS. Blackberry Storm
(SaM)
S2 licensed
1. HTC Touch Pro (if available)
2. DingleBerry Storm
???
99. Sidekick LX
The GTA IV thread
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Yeah, I have my Xbox 360 hooked up to my LCD monitor through HDMI.
Now of course my monitor isn't going to produce any sound, so for sound, I inserted the AV cable next to the HDMI cable by just taking off the right plastic cover of the AV connector. They fit fine next to eachother. If your screen doesn't have HDMI/DVI, just buy an aftermarket Xbox VGA cable with stereo Cinch plugs. Alot cheaper and does the job just as good.

About GTA IV, the developers down at Rockstar North must be shitting their pants right now. Such a failure on a release this big is not going to make the big boss very happy. It's devastating for them I'm sure. I haven't the foggiest why they never spotted this during testing...

It's not like they had hardly any time before the release.
The GTA IV thread
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from Hyperactive :After reading the fine print on installation requirements (it requires internet explorer to be installed as well as games for windows live :really I'm very tempted to cancel my order simply because of that. Dunno, wait and see. The order shows still as empty so I might change it to Fallout 3... looking forward the forum explosions tomorrow...

...especially when I have an ATI machine I'm a bit doubtful that should I even open the package. The earlier GTAs ran without any glitches so I trusted and pre-ordered. I really hope it isn't that bad as it looks now...

Buy an XBox 360 and play GTA IV (half-price/full-framerate) and Fallout 3. ;-)
The GTA IV thread
(SaM)
S2 licensed
It's funny. This topic got spammed to shreds the days before the release, and now that it is released, it's amazingly quiet!

Is that a good sign (everybody's playing) or a bad sign (it's pure shit)?
Inevitable picture thread
(SaM)
S2 licensed
Quote from Crashgate3 :

:O

Seems like the dude's not the only one getting foxy. That chick's bellybutton/finger/hand is ready for some action too.

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FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG