I think I just had a classic moment of lapped driver fighting for his position. I was 2nd, a bit slower than the driver in the lead and we went 3 wide into the corkscrew . Or almost, the lapped driver finally pulled the brakes when we were 3 wide so it was just 2 wide. Great moment, both of us braking at the very last moment into the corcksrew. I was trying the switchback but naturally it didn't work so hot in a Z shaped corner. The next corner was just few inch between us and I tried to out brake him into the next corner. Didn't quite made it and had to back off slightly allowing him to keep his position. Was a great and disturbing moment at the same time .
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It looks like there is small time adventage if you brake into T1 with 2 tires off the track on the outside. No idea if it is really faster as you can't really brake in straight line if you do so. And the turn 5 is really driving me crazy. The corner is essentially a blind corner with some camber and deceiving turn in. The fastest line is so narrow and allows so little play that it is almost impossible to get right. If you drive just tad bit too hot in the corner you will get understeer and if you brake too much you lose a lot momentum. Turn 6 is all about balls and perfect entry. You need to slide the car just a bit to be able to get back on power before the red dot on the inside. But again the turn in is blind (I just can't get any rhythm on laguna seca, help)
Hah hyperactive. I had a similar incident except all three of us were on the same lap. Two cars were fighting for position in front when I came flying around T6 going much faster. I had a thought of passing them but held back and was side by side with the middle car at the top (I was on his right side). I let him enter the corkscrew first only to find that the front car missed the turn or just stopped halfway off the track. I have no idea and couldn't see him until it was too late. All I know is that I rear ended him so hard his rear end flew up into the air and onto my hood.
Edit... ahhh I got all my turns messed up. Yeah I have problems with T5 as well. I've just started slowing down more otherwise I get too much understeer. I also have issues with T3. I have to really rotate the car there - sometimes getting sideways.
i'd kinda love to try it and see what it's all about but i'd really need the skippy for that. also seeing one of mr. huttu's fast laps on the radical kinda puts me off already..it's really not that much of a revolution (yet) in the physics department. i'll just be keeping my fingers crossed for a year or two until variable racing conditions (and a few other minor things)are introduced..that's what "serious" simracing boils down to for me ultimately i guess..i don't want to sound too negative though, it all looks great and i'll pay for a proper service gladly. the pricing structure they chose is a pretty adventurous IMO, i'd be more happy to train offline and pay a big sum (15€) for a big well organised race than a monthly fee.
gimme a pm and i'll give my promotional code to you.
It went lovely, about... T3 the person in front of m e just... stopped racking me up 4 incident points, and then later on into the corkscrew, I had someone come from behind and hit me, giving me 4, and then going to pits, I went off track, giving me 1, so I gave up.
I'm having so much fun in the solstice! It feels pretty damn good physics wise. I have a decent sense of what the car is doing, and am having a blast figuring out how to go faster. The tracks are awesome. They just feel different than what we have in lfs, can't really put my finger on it...but it feels more like a real circuit than some of the ones we've got. (and not just because they are real circuits! its something else that adds to the immersion)
I probably did 15 laps in the rookie solstice before I got one "clean" one in. First full lap was 1:51.3, not too bad. I'm getting a pretty good feel for the car. The transmission is really bothering me...seriously, there needs to be a gear 2.5 or something.
The thing thats really killing me at the moment is the sense of speed. I know I'm going fast, especially once I'm on the brakes hurdling past my turnin spot into the wall. The hard part is telling HOW fast I'm going. I think this partially has to do with being in 3rd gear for over half the track.
Also I need to get a lot better at braking, and finding better turnins so I'm not running over the inside of the turn all the time.
I'm not a single game kind of guy, don't really get too attached to racing games...I like to have lots (LFS is on top of the list though).
AAAAAAAA too much fun. I think the best way to have fun with racing games is variety. Keep it new and interesting.
It seems half the people who have been on the mailing list for months don't have an invite but some people who have only just signed up in the last couple of weeks got theirs, so it really is a lottery.
Spank - remember that this IS a road car, so for second, you need to be moving a lot slower than going 4th to 3rd. Yeah, it "feels" wrong, but it's actually realistic (from real experience, I often **** up by going from 3rd to 2nd too early, creating lovely engine braking, if it were a RWD car... I might have barriered the car already.) Blipping the throttle also helps huge (in RL and iRacing).
Just for heads up, regarding first licence advancement:
In short: You need to run minimum of two races or four time-trials in Advanved series to be eligible for next license. This applies to both road and oval.
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.
Well, although my "technical difficulties" with iRacing have unfortunately not concluded, I've had enough time on track to consider and evaluate it.
The tire physics (at least while moving) are a decent step up from LFS; although they feel remarkably similar in most sitations. Perhaps not quite as forgiving over all. I like the fact that front tire slip does modify aligning torque in a proper fashion. There is no on/off about that behaviour (ala GTR2) but it's also not almost completely lacking (ala LFS), and it's modified by the setup a lot (I'm no setup guru whatsoever, but I think it's caster that plays a part in this - someone who has a clue correct me please). This makes the 4 wheel drifting necessary sometimes much more intuitive to get right since you can tell much easier what the front end is doing.
Of course, this is made possible by very VERY good force feedback - on par with LFS and nKpro very easily, and probably better in many situations although that could very well be due to the better tire physics of course. All I know is that driving the Skip Barber car (which is nothing short of the most fun I've ever had simracing BTW) is the most compelling and convincing driving experience I've had on a PC. The steering on that car seems to convey every single nuance. I have FF set on 50% and keeping the thing going on the front straight at Limerock is really something. The track "impurities" so to speak cause a lot of ruckus, and the more "interesting" surface undulations really pull the front end around. Clipping a curb is a daredevil maneuver in this car.
The sound is good, pull away from the pits you can tell it's sampled at the super low revs, but since you don't spend much time there I suppose it's not a real issue. It's nice that they sampled different things and have different sound sources. IE, if the camera is set to the Solstice suspension cam for the front, you hear mostly intake / mechanical clutter... if it's set to chase cam or what not then you hear mostly exhast note. This means the sounds is quite dynamic depending on your view point ; for replays this sounds great since the character changes from when the camera is facing the front of the car and transitions to the rear of the car when it goes by. Very good.
The tracks are very well done and very interesting. I never thought I would care about real tracks, and in principle I still don't but I can't deny that Limerock, Laguna, and Summit point are all very interesting tracks and more challenging than LFS offerings for some reason - but I can't figure out why. There seems to be a lot of details in the lines that you have to get just right to be quick, and a lot of altitude changes to consider. Not totally unlike LFS, but somehow it's different. I feel very connected to the car in iRacing, and I do in LFS. LFS feels more like always driving on parking garage cement in comparison - iRacing sure has a more gritty feeling to it. In short, it feels a loT LIKE LFS, but with many of the things I've been wanting in LFS for some time. iRacing is a much less clinical experience, to be sure.
The damage is much more believeable in iRacing, basically a tuned version of LFS's damage really. Can't mess around in the Skippy with risking those fragile looking suspension bars. No idea about engine damage yet.
Graphics are very nice, track surfaces look beauteous, interiors are superb etc. Overall it doesn't look THAT much different than LFS. Driving the XFR at South City is graphically quite similar to iRacing over all. But having cars without ridiculous polygon beams for suspention components is sure a breath of fresh air, as well as wheels with motion blur (we're in 2008 FFS) and nice rotating brake rotors etc. Feels like driving a car rather than a decent cockpit on a phonyass chassis (speaking about the SS and LX cars). Skid marks are more progressive than LFS which is probably more correct and realistic as well. There's also an abundance of ambient details in the iRacing tracks - very nice.
Bullshit I notice:
-Why the hell can't I stall the cars? I thought this was state of the art.
-Why the hell does the car slide sideways slowly when stationary in some places? I thought this was state of the art.
-Why the hell does the car model go above the surface in replays sometimes? I thought this was state of the art.
-Why the hell isn't the shifting method forced per car?
-Why does there seem to be a lack of transmission modelling? (correct me if wrong)
Anyway, overall I love it. I'm not sure if I will subscribe long term just yet mostly because I'm at a low as far as simracing activity / interest is concerned. If I was "into it" more at the moment it's a no brainer though. The only other downside to me is the lack of road car variety. If they were to add say the Porsche GT3 series / Ferrari F430 Challenge etc then I would sub just to lap those cars and probably start seriously competing. Although I dislike open wheelers, the Skip Barber - again - is simply marvellous to drive, and I'm glad I bough it to play with.
That's my 10c worth anyway.
PS Why is Shotglass so quiet? I bet he secretly bought a month to play with and doesn't want to admit it :P
edit: I only briefly proofread this, because I am starving for some Pho. Gotta go. Excuse typos etc.
. Or almost, the lapped driver finally pulled the brakes when we were 3 wide so it was just 2 wide. Great moment, both of us braking at the very last moment into the corcksrew. I was trying the switchback but naturally it didn't work so hot in a Z shaped corner. The next corner was just few inch between us and I tried to out brake him into the next corner. Didn't quite made it and had to back off slightly allowing him to keep his position. Was a great and disturbing moment at the same time 
(I just can't get any rhythm on laguna seca, help)
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