The online racing simulator
STCC Round 4 Broadcast [RELEASED]
(108 posts, started )
Just watched it solely because of the .sig advert (watch an STCC video or die a horrible death...)

It was great! Watched it on YouTube - grainy / hideous as hell but despite the low video quality the immersion was tremendous. I liked the banter between the presenters (and I think the commentating must have been so much harder than you made it seem - so well done there lads), the real-world touches like making reference to performance in previous rounds and qualifying, guys being unlucky for various reasons and so on. The on-screen graphics were really good, as well as the in-car footage and replays, the parc ferme... Perhaps a bit more in-car footage would have been great, but from memory F1 broadcasts were just the same, so it felt very "real".

The fact that both commentators knew all the aspects of LFS meant that it was hugely involving - commentary about the heavy RB4, and the pounding of the front-lefts hampering the FXOs (without spelling out that FXOs are FWD...) - it really felt real. Even the mis-matched styles of Becky and Tristan worked very well - one doing the majority of the talking, the other providing the odd counterpoint. What we need is for Tristan to think up really incisive and pertinent comments while Becky adopts the saying what's going on style... more cutting dry wit Tristan!

I was amazed by the pace car, too - such a professional touch.

Just a few points:

* it was hard to tell where the battles were taking place. I'd appreciate some more on-screen graphics flagging up where abouts in the race the particular cars were
* no mention of people setting fastest lap - that might be a nice thing to put in
* think about some use of slo-mo during the crashes?

But basically you guys are doing *great* - well done - more of the same please. The weirdest thing is that I always thought that "Becky" was a "Rebecca"...

Cheers

Rakhsh
Some sort of cool OutGauge telemetry overlay F1 style would be awesome Great broadcast, will definitely be watching any subsequent ones
#78 - Jakg
Quote from Becky Rose :They are .

i meant PROPERLY overclocking them

My card is a 7950GT, which is just an overclocked 7900GT - a 7900GT starts off a 470 MHz (Core speed(, and my "Factory overclocked" Gainward Golden Sample arrived at 580 MHz. Just using the standard cooler it went to 625 MHz
#79 - Vain
Great suggestions. I like those.
If you enjoyed the broadcast, please consider placing a small thread in other forums (even those not sim-racing related) to advertise the STCC. The STCC is made for the viewer's pleasure, and the more viewers there are the better.

Vain
Quote :The weirdest thing is that I always thought that "Becky" was a "Rebecca"...

Yeah I know, there's all sorts of reasons I sound butch, from dodgy microphone, to a facial injury, to my body size, to just being naturally in-efiminate, the biggest reason my voice sounds butch though, is because i'm quite butch. I am however, a "Rebecca". Quite weedy, no beardy bits without a Brazilian haircut, a monthly dose of PMT and an irrational craving to nag.

Your other suggestions are good though, and I have been working on them - although they've been on the back burner for a while (on account of not working and me not knowing why). I have a whole position ticker style thing planned, but it's buggy at the moment, i'll return to work on it soon though.
#81 - Davo
Another great broadcats for all the reasons Rakhsh mentioned. I especially enjoyed the commentary for this one. I also agree about showing lap times and relative splits between the drivers would be nice.

Regarding video quality I think when it comes to rendering it at the PAL reolsution thats where it's losing quality and the antialiasing seems to go out the window. Also it's weird that you're strugglign recording with 2 7600GTs because I only have one plus a 3800+ and not overclocked can record at 1280x960@25fps with 15 cars on the grid, that's also with 4xAA and 16xAF which looks heaps good. If you need some tips on optmising performance I'd be glad to help out. The latest, greatest and most powerful isn't always needed to go fast
Thank you.

The extra cars hit the processor, and my processor is 2/3 the speed of yours, there's the hangup for going 32bit. Anyway next race will be a huge improvement, and one of the things I am changing is mastering in PAL - I did NTSC previously to save on speed (smaller capture area), but now i've reduced all car skins to 1024 it isn't necessary. Texture sizes had got a little carried away without me really noticing, there's quite a few subtle graphics tweeks for next race, overall it makes a big difference
#83 - Davo
Am I missing something, isn't your processor a dual 4400? Mine's only dual 3800+ so yours would be faster I think 16bit with dithering looks fine and the difference going to 32bit is unnnoticable especially with lots of movement.

Also I'm pretty sure 720x576 and 25 fps is pal, NTSC is 720x480 at 28.97 fps and all the videos I've downloaded have been the PAL variety. I really think this conversion to PAL/NTSC is hurting the quality, especially adding unnecesary interlacing and squashing of the pixels to make them non square.

Keeping the video at the original 800x600 would look a ton better, or resizing it without distorting and adding interlacing.
#84 - Smax
#86 - Davo
Quote from the_angry_angel :I have, however, devised a new drinking game. When any of these phrases are said, you take a drink:
* "Moving out"
* "Switchback"
* "Evens-Stevens"
* "Cooked (front|rear) tyres"
* Any interesting corner anecdote
* "All over the back of"
I'm sure I've missed one or two.

I must say, after only doing it half way through this race, I'm quite pissed

Quote from Shotglass :
* "kirk´s off"

I have to shay, I have jusht washed the rashe and I can't understnah, unshternan, work out what you mean!


<falls over>:drunk:
#88 - SamH
:drink: hehe
Sam, I order you to get piss drunk tomorrow, so then I can beat you in a race :P
#90 - SamH
Dustin, the day I sober up will be the day you *might* beat me in a race
I'm enjoying this broadcasts a lot! Watched all of them plus all replays for all the rounds. I'm really getting into STCC. Fantastic!

Now regarding the video quality, I read this whole thread, and I was wondering what is the difference between the teasers and the featured race. The video quality of the teasers is supperb!
Sheer workload and production time. It's easier to boost quality on a 1-2 minute trailer, getting high quality over 30-40 minutes is harder, but next race will be MUCH better

I'm glad you're enjoying the series .
Quote from SamH :Dustin, the day I sober up will be the day you *might* beat me in a race

No wonder I always win
Really cool vid, loved it!

My suggestions are:
-Some crossfading for sound when camera changes.
-An outro, even if it only lasts 5-10 seconds: just put some music (like at the beginning).
Nice.

Just wondering, when you guys named the racing series, you were aware that there is a real-life FIA racing series called STCC, right?
If you expect the series to really go places, that might be a problem down the line.

Steve
#96 - SamH
In this context, "Sim Touring Car Cup" is the league, the acronym for which is "STCC". There's no conflict with the FIA-associated STCC even if the acronyms match.. like with "WWF" relating to both wrestling and wildlife.. the matching acronyms co-exist in the world
Well, perhaps, the difference being that wildlife and wrestling has nothing to do with each other while racing and racing... well, does

Personally I'd feel pretty stupid calling myself "STCC champion" since it'd be misinterpreted... but on the other hand there is no risk I'll ever have to wrestle with that problem.

Steve
#98 - SamH
Hmm.. well, I see what you mean about wrestling and wildlife.. but I'm a geek, playing a computer game with a plastic Logitech Driving Force Pro. What are the drivers in the other STCC doing?
Point taken. You should be playing with a G25 instead
Anyway the difference between virtual and real racing might be shrinking. There are official FIA-associated virtual racing leages now, i.e. "virtual" is now a "real" motorsport. Live simracing on Eurosport soon? Not impossible.

Eh, I blew this thread way off topic, didn't I?
Quote from SamH :In this context, "Sim Touring Car Cup" is the league, the acronym for which is "STCC". There's no conflict with the FIA-associated STCC even if the acronyms match.. like with "WWF" relating to both wrestling and wildlife.. the matching acronyms co-exist in the world

No, the World Wildlife Fund sued World Wrestling Federation and won - the men in swimwear playfighting had to change their names to World Wrestling Entertainment.

STCC Round 4 Broadcast [RELEASED]
(108 posts, started )
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