It's a good idea to spend a lot of time on Time Trials imo, especially if you are a bit new to racing and need to get your SR up. Time Trials will give you plenty to focus about and will raise your consistency considerably, that and they add safety rating if you drive well! Just remember to not be at 100% pace constantly (not in Time Trials, and definitely not in Races unless you are trying to put pressure on a direct opponent) unless you're very familiar with the track and car - some offs will happen regardless though, unless you're a machine

Disaster-races will also happen, but you can try to minimize damage by being a consistently fast driver. Even if you can't get laps of 1.05, you can still drive a great race if you drive 1.06 consistently! Some people might 'ruin' it for you unintentionally, but the more consistent you can drive, the better you'll become at recognising and avoiding bad situations, it also comes with experience

raaaaggeeee.

It seems that after the first race, no amount of speed or consistency can help me get another good result. This time around I started in 3rd, and the person in 1st "missed his start" - I clipped him while trying to get around him, got slowed down as a result, and at this point I naïvely thought I'd get away with a loss of position and a bit of manageable damage - wrong! someone behind me obviously missed what was going on and slammed into me at full speed, I spin out and instantly reset.

I then drive my hot-headed ass around the track and spin out before start-finish again (my own fault this time obviously, but like I cared at this point :razz - resetted again, drove my hot-headed ass out of the pits and crossed the yellow line - stop and go! I served it 2 laps later and from then on I drive balls to the walls with good consistency but it mattered nothing.

Sh*t happens... I guess?

Quote from spanks :

I am NOT I repeat NOT an oval racer

I'm decently fast for the field I was in, 16.45 was my qualifying time I believe...but that just wasn't fun at all.

2 laps in, I'm on the inside going for third and 4th place comes down and runs into the side of me. (I watched the replay, I held the inside).

lap 3, first place spins right in front of me and I T-bone the ever living hell out of him.

lap 10 or whatever after resetting my car and going a lap down I get too far onto the apron and get sideways, rear ended and then plowed into...and thats probably the last time I'll ever race on the mini ovals lol.

I can't wait to see how many incident points I get...I was racking up those 4 pointers

I'd go again if I were you! I got a few good laughs out of the story

Quote from Crommi :

Just noticed that qualify times for Adv. Solstice suck balls. They are scheduled 10 minutes after race start, so you have to skip race if you want to run 4 qualify laps. On the otherhand Adv. Legends qualify sessions are 10mins after the race so you can finish the race, grab a cup of coffee and go get some hotlaps done while waiting for road race session.

Hmmm, well qualifications are every hour, and races are every 2 hours, so you can always pop in for a qualification 50 minutes before a race starts, and be left with 20 minutes of break-time before the race

Quote from Linsen :

That's because you always jump to 3.44 as soon as you get above 3.0. It's that way on purpose to keep you from jumping back and forth between license levels.

Oh, well no big deal then

Eee-gad! I just gained 0.5 SR on a time trial session
I went from 2.86 to 3.44 after completing 26 laps with 3 incidents at lime rock

Maybe I should drink a glass of alcohol more often before time trialing :|

I still find it very tough to find time after 1.04.50 though, I don't know how the faster guys can get low 1.03's or better

I'm sure that guy has quite an interesting heart-rate and blood pressure at that particular moment.

Quote from Mackie The Staggie :

Because it does'nt

Following the other cars in the road racing car, you don't see you're opponents brake lights under braking.

Game-breaking. I'll just go ahead and miss out on the best sim since LFS until they fix that because I keep slamming into other drivers since I don't see their brake-lights come on

Honestly... I hadn't noticed, and since they work fine on my car in replays, there must be an easy fix somewhere.

Quote from AMB :

right, then how come Raikonnen didn't spin as much as Massa? like you said, there's a difference between a bad driver (Massa) and a bad setup.

Massa wasn't exactly driving a well-balanced car. The thing understeered like hell on turn-ins, and oversteered everywhere else, this can very clearly be seen on the on-board footage. The shunt in practice just gave him a lesser package to drive with than anyone else.

Quote from diablo21 :

Massa was ridiculous. Certainly doesn't deserve a WDC, at least this year...

Because Massa can really help that his car goes sideways for no reasons on a straight. There's a difference between a bad setup and a bad driver.

Why does everyone keep saying the sim doesn't have functioning brake lights?

Zzzz... 2nd race and I start in 3rd position, get overtaken on the short straight after T2, and the guy tried aggressively taking the line when he was barely 75% past me, so we both end up spinning out, resetting and ending in 7th and 8th with second and third fastest race-pace. Some people just have no spatial awareness or what?

Quote from Crommi :

Solstice Summer season 12 weeks long and it's split into three 4 week series called A, B and C.

Sweet, that clears some things up

However, do the A, B and C series have their own separate results? or does it all add up to season 12 in the end? Cuz as far as I know this week is the start of series C? So am I 'competing' now, or do I have to wait for the next season to start, and then compete for 12 weeks straight?

Ahhhh! qualifying time, I almost forgot

Hmmm, I've got a question.

Under my career it now says I am in division 1 of the solstice summer c series, uhhh does this mean that I'm in the same boat as the top 25 racers for my second race? a bit too soon if that's the case

The whole series system is a bit confusing still...

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Play spot the oil flag...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_dWaY-mtig

Und dann... poing.

Yay, started off pole position with a reasonably slow time of 1.51.3, and so I could really lean on my strong point, which seems to be driving in the lead for long periods of time without losing it! :>

0 errors/incidents, a new PB in the 2nd lap! I'm quite happy, but it's a bit of a shame that I had noone to race directly, except for a stubborn backmarker

First race starting in 10 minutes for me! I'm quite excited, I hope I'll be able to keep focus for the entire race with the amount of sleep (or lack thereof) I've been getting the past 2 weeks :>

Quote from Scawen :

try looking at a globe, from one angle it seems to be almost entirely Pacific ocean, and there just aren't that many potential customers in the sea!

Nobody told you about the secret undersea fish-people yet? You're missing out!

...

Good job though ;>

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

He hasn't exactly been inspiring this season.

Neither has Hamilton.

Just did my first rookie solstice time trial

I wasn't doing so well in practice, since I couldn't find much focus, but when I had to drive at least 4 clean laps in a row things became a bit easier :>

Had 2 incidents in the outlap I think, but after that it was 13 laps of constant improvement. Pretty funny if you realise that I went into the time trial, saying to myself: "I'll just try to do 4 clean laps" - and that I had a chat with my brother when he walked into my room during lap 3.

What's a good time for the rookie solstice on LS though? I see room for at least a low 1.49, but I honestly have no idea what the guys online are doing, since I haven't raced yet.

Yay, updating content right now

Can't wait!

Edit: I signed up on June 28th, if anybody is wondering... but as I've sent George pm's I don't know if this invite came from the site or from him. Hope more of you lot get it soon though

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

http://www.videobeta.net/gifs/8142.gif

Football pansy-ism at it's finest

I just found that as a new tab, but I don't remember opening it I ROFLed when I saw it anyway

I got this version of that ;D

Harsh as it may sound, learn to develop a shield for all the shit that happens in the world. Know that it happens, know that it's bad, but try not to care so much. If one person starts worrying about everyone's problems then yes, they'll lose their minds at some point.

Keeping yourself sane is the only way to stay sane, if that makes any sense.

I'd love to go, since I studied there and know Jyvaskyla reasonably well, but I think I'm a bit late with the whole trip-organising this year :\

Quote from rc10racer :

Guessing i am late but has anyone got any spare invites?

Seconded!