Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Solstice :

The Solstice uses the GM Kappa platform, which also underpins the Saturn Sky and Opel GT.

Surely some of you Euro guys heard of Opel GT.

I am blown away with it.

The physics feel more realistic than LFS. You can really tell in the braking. In LFS you just slam on the brake pedal as hard as you can at first...that's not how it works in real life. Most people are using the max lock on their wheels, instead of the 240-270 people use in LFS. It feels natural in iRacing...it doesn't feel so great in LFS.

The service aspect of it is great I think. Once the game launches I think we'll see more frequent race sessions. The complaint about there not being too many people to race is more of an obvious statement than a complaint...the game hasn't launched and it's only beta testers. There's only so many of us right now. Once the game goes live I think we'll see full grids.

The fact that the sim is coupled with the iRacing service gives a strong community feel. Everyone is practicing the same combos and you can always compare yourself to the fast guys in your series.

The Rookie Solstice is a lot of fun. Look at the XFG/XRG in LFS. The CTRA server is one of the most popular servers out there, but it runs the "boring, slow cars." There are 2 versions of the Solstice: Rookie and Advanced. The Rookie is the car you race at first. It's fixed setup, so you can't change anything. It lets you focus on your driving and know how you stack up. The main point of the Rookie series is to build your safety rating and get acclimated to the sim.

Speaking of safety rating, that's partially how they judge which cars you can race online. If you run clean races, your rating will be high enough to run the Skip Barber car within a couple of weeks. You have a license in iRacing. Rookies start with a Rookie license. If your safety rating is high enough, you can "race up" to the next license level (for the Rookies, that's racing the Skippy). Periodically, they update the licenses and if your safety rating is high enough, you get the next license up. I'm not sure when they do the license promotions. The safety rating works great to encourage clean racing, and I don't think we'll see any problems with wreckers in iRacing. All of the people I've interacted with in the sim have been clean racers and nice guys (and girls). One thing I really like about iRacing is that you can't use a made up username - you have to use your real name. There's no hiding from your actions, and it really promotes accountability. Plus it's nice to see "Dale Earnhardt Jr." on the entry list and know it's really him.

Also, note that you can drive any car that you've purchased on any track that you're purchased at any time, but only offline until your license is high enough.

The tracks are great, by the way. It's very nice to be racing real cars on real tracks. They're laser scanned so they're very accurate.

I know the cost of the sim is going to be more expensive than what people are used to, but to me, it's worth it. As of now, this is the most realistic sim out there. There's lots of real racers out there using it, too. The development process is going to be similar to LFS. It will likely never be "finished", but instead will be continually improved over time.

I'll probably post more stuff as I think of it.

What about the damage model? Is it good?

Here's few I posted in RSC too:

Small pieces:
Live groove: unknown
Animated pit crews: unknown
What are the garage options on the different cars: unknown

Are there day to night transitions: unknown
Is a spectator mode included: unknown
Weather - is rain included: Not at launch

Changeable weather: unknown
Clutch support: unknown
Driver changes: unknown

Ability to join in qualy: unknown
Ability to rejoin mid race: unknown
Are non US character sets supported: unknown

Is telemetry included: unknown
What kind of driver stats can be displayed: unknown
Can engines catch fire, drop oil etc.: unknown

What Copy Protection System Is In Use?

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How good are the pings and racing from europe?

From what I can tell, yeah. It's harder to judge than LFS because you don't get the equivalent of the F10 readout (nor F9, for that matter). But if you hit a wall it damages the suspension, seemingly in a realistic manner (I haven't crashed enough in real life to know :P).

The damage model is one of the things I don't really pay too much attention to, outside of the fact that it exists. Maybe someone else can chime in with better info. I'm not sure exactly what sort of damage is simulated.

Quote from SamH :

What about the damage model? Is it good?

Oh, I've crashed lots in real life! I'm singularly responsible for ~20% of everybody's insurance premiums

Okay, how about body deformation? Have you crashed and written your car off in iR?

Small pieces:
Live groove: Don't know what that means, sorry.

Animated pit crews: Not yet, just a lollypop man. No pit stops yet outside of serving penalties.

What are the garage options on the different cars: Depends on the car. Rookie doesn't have any. Skip Barber lets you adjust ride height, camber, and tire pressures. I don't know what 1/2 of the stuff on the Radical means. I haven't played around with setups much because they haven't been that big of a factor yet, due to the cars I've been racing.

Are there day to night transitions: Not yet.

Is a spectator mode included: In practice/qualifying yes. In a race, I'm not sure because I haven't gotten out of my car during a race yet.

Weather - is rain included: Not at launch

Changeable weather: Not yet.

Clutch support: Yes

Driver changes: Not yet

Ability to join in qualy: Join what? There is qualifying if that's what you mean.

Ability to rejoin mid race: I believe so, if you get disconnected, but not positive.

Are non US character sets supported: unknown

Is telemetry included: Not yet.
What kind of driver stats can be displayed: In what sense? The sim keeps track of all official sessions, listing PBs for each car/track/session type (e.g. you have a practice, race, and qualify pb for each combo.) The sim keeps track of each race you do, and provides statistics like Starts, Wins, Top 5s, Poles, Avg Start, Avg Finish, Total Laps, Laps Led, Win %, etc. At the end of every official session (practice, race, qualify), you get a "scorecard" sorta thing. The sim keeps track of all of these and as far as I can tell you can retrieve the score card from any session you've ever done.

Can engines catch fire, drop oil etc.: No, there's currently no engine damage.

What Copy Protection System Is In Use? You launch everything from the website, so whatever you do has to be authenticated through there (including launching offline testing sessions).

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How good are the pings and racing from europe? Can't comment personally, but haven't heard any complaints.

I just ran the Rookie Solstice into the wall hard to test, and I don't think there's any body deformation. You can see the damage in the suspension though and that the wheels/shocks/control arms have obviously been knocked to hell.

Quote from SamH :

Oh, I've crashed lots in real life! I'm singularly responsible for ~20% of everybody's insurance premiums

Okay, how about body deformation? Have you crashed and written your car off in iR?

http://www.insidesimracing.tv/ ... amp;id=148&Itemid=206

An SRT review. Not sure if this is new? I'm watching it now, but it's pretty long, must be in depth.

Shit. What happened to my big post?

I may have just previewed it due to wine intake. Sam - post my big post! And where's my lolly?

Kev's big post:-

Quote from Hyperactive :

How good are the pings and racing from europe?

No idea of the pings actually, that's something i didn't think about when i played it. I'm not sure it even says anywhere, as its not like a normal lobby system. You just sign up for the race you want to participate in and join it all from the browser interface.

I saw a car disappearing and reappearing a few times during races, so its not perfect. No warping or stuttery car movement at all though. The netcode looks pretty damn solid.

The main problem was the lack of racing in European evening times, so in 5 days i got to see very little actual racing. And the racing i did see had very few participants.

This is anther reason I'm hanging back for a long while before even thinking of taking the plunge. I want to see a massive European uptake before committing to monthly payments.

I can hotlap a top quality hardcore sim (nKPro) for free thanks

...and many of those positives brianmcd made about iRacing (nice community, nice sensible clean racing guys, using real names, accountability) are all great, certainly what i look for in sim racing, but I've had all that for the last 2 years of competing in GPC's netKar pro league, for the massive outlay of £25
Obviously that's all good stuff, certainly for people that haven't had that kind of experience before i suppose. It's not offering me anything new in that respect though.

It does show pings when you're in the sim. I think once the service launches you'll see racing all around the clock. Obviously during the beta there aren't many people racing, so the sessions won't be packed. That being said, the races from 7-11 PM EST always seem to have full grids.

Quote from The Moose :

No idea of the pings actually, that's something i didn't think about when i played it. I'm not sure it even says anywhere, as its not like a normal lobby system. You just sign up for the race you want to participate in and join it all from the browser interface.

I saw a car disappearing and reappearing a few times during races, so its not perfect. No warping or stuttery car movement at all though. The netcode looks pretty damn solid.

The main problem was the lack of racing in European evening times, so in 5 days i got to see very little actual racing. And the racing i did see had very few participants.

This is anther reason I'm hanging back for a long while before even thinking of taking the plunge. I want to see a massive European uptake before committing to monthly payments.

I can hotlap a top quality hardcore sim (nKPro) for free thanks

I've experienced all of that stuff, too, participating in MoE, IGTC, and LOTA. I guess the reason I focused on that stuff is that a lot of people are unsure of what the service will be like, and it's hard to tell people how the sim feels through the wheel, you just have to drive it and experience it. I drive on real race tracks pretty often, and I can say the iRacing is the closest thing to real life. My "home track", VIR, is in the game. It feels just like it does in real life, except for some small bumps in T1 that they said they would fix.

Quote from The Moose :

...and many of those positives brianmcd made about iRacing (nice community, nice sensible clean racing guys, using real names, accountability) are all great, certainly what i look for in sim racing, but I've had all that for the last 2 years of competing in GPC's netKar pro league, for the massive outlay of £25
Obviously that's all good stuff, certainly for people that haven't had that kind of experience before i suppose. It's not offering me anything new in that respect though.

Quote from brianmcd :

It does show pings when you're in the sim. I think once the service launches you'll see racing all around the clock. Obviously during the beta there aren't many people racing, so the sessions won't be packed. That being said, the races from 7-11 PM EST always seem to have full grids.

Ahh,ok, i never saw the pings displayed.

I wasn't sure how many people were in the beta testing, i heard the number 800 banded about, I'm guessing the majority were American though. It was very quiet in Europe at peak times from what i saw.

It's going to need a significant takeup on this side of the pond to provide full grids every evening.

Quote from brianmcd :

One thing I really like about iRacing is that you can't use a made up username - you have to use your real name. There's no hiding from your actions, and it really promotes accountability. Plus it's nice to see "Dale Earnhardt Jr." on the entry list and know it's really him.

On the other hand, I could go play iRacing, act like average LFS demo server wrecker and no one could connect my real name to my nickname because you have never heard it. In internet nickname is the calling card.

Quote from The Moose :

I want to see a massive European uptake before committing to monthly payments.

Er, duh! That's going to happen almost immediately with the promise of a Pontiac Solstice that you can't adjust!

Quote from brianmcd :

it's hard to tell people how the sim feels through the wheel, you just have to drive it and experience it.

That's the truest thing in this thread. That's why some people like rFactor and some say it's a bag of shit. The proof is in the pudding. Or the racing. Whichever. Depends whether you're evaluating a pudding.

Quote from brianmcd :

I drive on real race tracks pretty often, and I can say the iRacing is the closest thing to real life. My "home track", VIR, is in the game. It feels just like it does in real life, except for some small bumps in T1 that they said they would fix.

Er... OK. How the **** did they end up with some unrealistic bumps from laser-scanning a track?

You just made their unique selling point ****ing worthless in one simple sentence.

Quote from brianmcd :

it's hard to tell people how the sim feels through the wheel, you just have to drive it and experience it.

Very true, and it does indeed feel great, though as i mentioned i couldn't feel the tires as well as i do in nKPro, which was slightly disappointing, but overall the feel is excellent. There's life in them there cars! (well, the Skippy and the Radical anyway :razz

Have you driven nKPro? I'm interested in other peoples comparisons of the feel of both sims. They both feel excellent to me, but i didn't find iRacing significantly better in feel than nKpro like i was hoping. I think that just shows how good nKPro's physics and FF really is.

Damn, i really want iRacing, (well, bits of it ) I just don't want to be confined to racing it it in their system. If only the system was an additional extra rather than compulsory I'd be in there like a shot.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Er, duh! That's going to happen almost immediately with the promise of a Pontiac Solstice that you can't adjust!

ROFL. If only we'd known it was an Opel ..or for the Brits should i say Vauxhall. That's right folks, rent and race a virtual Vauxhall for a minimum of $13 a month. Surely you cant resist!

Heh well they said it has something to do with different racing lines crossing. There's 2 different lines that people take through there, and the bumps are in the part where they cross. The rest of the track is 100% perfect, though. I've driven hundreds of laps at VIR, so I know that track very well. I was so amazed when I took my first lap around there in iRacing.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Er... OK. How the **** did they end up with some unrealistic bumps from laser-scanning a track?

You just made their unique selling point ****ing worthless in one simple sentence.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Er, duh! That's going to happen almost immediately with the promise of a Pontiac Solstice that you can't adjust!

Now that the NDA is lifted we should start seeing more information. I'll start with this aspect.

You start in the rookie solstice with a safety rating of 2.4. You get 0.2 for every incident free race and 0.1 for an incident free time trial or qualifying (assuming you do enough laps in those sessions)

With your rating at 3.0 and higher you can race the advanced solstice which you can change the setup on (it also has a softer front arb, so it's much more fun to drive). It took me 2 nights driving to get to that stage.

With your rating at 4.0 or higher you can start driving the next license level up cars, which are the Skip Barbers (which are a lot of fun to drive) It took me a further 2 nights to reach that point.

So although the rookie season is 4 weeks long, it only takes 4-5 evenings and you have 3 series to compete in.

The advanced solstice and the tracks for it's series come in the base subscription. It cost $48 to get all the content needed for the Skip barber series. Easily covered by the $60 free credits you get with a 12 month subscription

Obviously they would have had wider appeal with an MX5/Miata over the Solstice, but it's still a fun car to race.

Quote from The Moose :

Have you driven nKPro? I'm interested in other peoples comparisons of the feel of both sims. They both feel excellent to me, but i didn't find iRacing significantly better in feel than nKpro like i was hoping. I think that just shows how good nKPro's physics and FF really is.

I've driven nKPro a fair bit and I've been in the iRacing beta. To me iRacing is where netKar PRO would be if it were ever finished and had the extra polish that a larger dev team and budget could bring.

screenz 'n' shit: http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthread.php?t=320821

That's not true. It's not as cut and dry as that. I think it's based on how many turns you complete versus how many incidents you get, but I could be mistaken. I do know that I've run 0 incident races with no change to my safety rating, and I got a big increase in my safety rating during a race where I had 4 incidents. I just race cleanly and let the safety rating do it's thing, and it seems to work out.


Edit: Also, different licenses have different requirements for attaining a given safety rating. Once I got the Class D license (the first license after rookie), my safety rating dropped 1.0. This is because the class D license requires fewer incidents per...whatever they base it on, to maintain the same safety rating. Some of the guys who have been in the sim longer kept their 4.9s (maxed out safety rating), because they had few enough incidents to qualify for that.

Hope that made sense...

Quote from DarrenMarsh :

You get 0.2 for every incident free race and 0.1 for an incident free time trial or qualifying (assuming you do enough laps in those sessions)

I drove nKPro a long time ago, I guess when the first demo came out? It didn't wow me but it seemed like it had potential, I just never tried it again for whatever reason. So, I can't really compare iRacing and nK.

Quote from The Moose :

Have you driven nKPro? I'm interested in other peoples comparisons of the feel of both sims. They both feel excellent to me, but i didn't find iRacing significantly better in feel than nKpro like i was hoping. I think that just shows how good nKPro's physics and FF really is.

Quote from brianmcd :

That's not true. It's not as cut and dry as that. I think it's based on how many turns you complete versus how many incidents you get, but I could be mistaken. I do know that I've run 0 incident races with no change to my safety rating, and I got a big increase in my safety rating during a race where I had 4 incidents. I just race cleanly and let the safety rating do it's thing, and it seems to work out.

Yes, it's corners per incident. The numbers I stated were just what I, and other people in my club, were getting in the early stages, so it's what people can expect when they start.

In later stages when I had some incidents on my record it got harder to get ratings increases in time trials and qualifying as it took more laps to keep the average down.

Quote :

Edit: Also, different licenses have different requirements for attaining a given safety rating. Once I got the Class D license (the first license after rookie), my safety rating dropped 1.0. This is because the class D license requires fewer incidents per...whatever they base it on, to maintain the same safety rating. Some of the guys who have been in the sim longer kept their 4.9s (maxed out safety rating), because they had few enough incidents to qualify for that.

The rating always drops 1.0 when you go up a license. While the maximum displayed is 4.9, the rating is continually calculated above that internally, so those that were still at 4.9 after the license upgrade must have had 5.9 or higher internally in the system.