Quote from Michael Denham :

And as for the fact that races are longer in iRacing, well I just need to find the servers in LFS that have longer races. Trouble is, finding a server that has longer races, runs the cars I'm interested in, and has at least 5 people in is often nearly impossible....

That is another point of iR. If they wouldn't have starts only every two hours per each serie, it would be similar. But it's not, because everyone races in that one race and not in 10 different series in 10 different races.

Quote from spanks :

...snip...

You should have read the driver's briefing before hopping onto the server. It says that there will be a few minutes of warm up and that you have around one minute to grid when warm up is done. Also it advises you to use 'F3' during the race. This doesn't only show your current position in the race (the first number), but also how far in front/back other racers are. Different colors indicate whether they're on the same lap or not. I think it's like this (George will correct me if I'm wrong):

red: car is more than one lap ahead
orange: car is one lap ahead
white: car is on the same lap
green: car is one lap down
blue: car is more than one lap down

Since there is no full flag system in place, yet, I feel F3 is hugely important. In my first two races (at LRP) I was held up by back markers for several laps, because they obviously didn't bother to read the driver's briefing and thus didn't use F3.

On a different note: I had my first race at Laguna Seca last night and found out that the steady 60fps I got in offline practice (with vsync on) were absolutely no indication for the fps during the race. I got terrible jumps from 60 down to 30 all the time (due to triple buffering, I suppose). That really made my race a little more challenging than necessary.

I somehow managed to keep the race incident free, though, by going really slooow (set a PB of 1:53 and an average of 1:55, while my offline PB is 1:51.5). Started 7th, finished 5th due to others having incidents and/or needing to slow down. (I'm finding it to be a stupid idea to force racers to slow down to a crawl right on track after cutting the corkscrew, btw).

Overall I really enjoy the Solstice. It's very communicative and hugely involving when driven (relatively) fast, imho. I can feel the tyres much better than in LFS. I feel that Laguna Seca doesn't like the car, however. LRP seems much more the Solstice's kind of track. Haven't driven anything else, yet, so I'm looking forward to Summit Point and wish I had more time to race. It's really fun despite of all the features still missing.

Quote from Technique :

<sarcastic>Yet... an American company is responsible for the best simulation on the market. Amazing how they can accomplish that without any appreciation for said cars.</sarcastic>

Given their choice of cars that form a progression of a racer's career path, it would seem a bit odd to focus on a Caterham at the moment when they already have a perfectly fine base car in the Solstice. But maybe with all of your racing experience they should have signed you on as a consultant.

Shotglass: "ZOMG YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CATERHAM AND ARIEL ATOM YOU NOOBZ. DUMB AMERICANZ"

jesus youre easily ínsulted... pms?

Quote from Linsen :

On a different note: I had my first race at Laguna Seca last night and found out that the steady 60fps I got in offline practice (with vsync on) were absolutely no indication for the fps during the race. I got terrible jumps from 60 down to 30 all the time (due to triple buffering, I suppose). That really made my race a little more challenging than necessary.

I assume that's kind of stuttering effect you get in certain corners, I had that in Silverstone which was completely unplayable (I could barely make it out of the pits).

Here's what I did:
-Find a spot where the stuttering/slow-down is worst.
-Set graphics to minimum with the adjustment slider.
-Start increasing settings one at the time to figure out which option is causing these problems.
-Have patience, you need to restart sim after each change.
-Do not touch FPS limit or v-sync settings just yet (explanation below)

PS. I did this for Silverstone and unless there's some hidden variables tied to graphics slider which are not accessible through UI, only thing that I had to change was setting FPS limit to 51 with no v-sync or triple-buffering. Rest of the settings are the same as ever, max details with no interior shadows.

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 Jertje :

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 :>

Remember, slow and steady wins the race

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

nice race write up Spanks... good job too

I better watch out for you on Laguna

I think the reason for some of backmarker problems is that the racing code seems to be different in ovals. On road races you're expected to let faster guy pass but in ovals I've been instructed to just hold my line, faster guy should be able to make the pass if he is truly faster than you. To me this just seem taking an extra risk where lapper needs to take extra risk for nothing and I usually run wide to let the guy take inside line.

Quote from Crommi :

I think the reason for some of backmarker problems is that the racing code seems to be different in ovals. On road races you're expected to let faster guy pass but in ovals I've been instructed to just hold my line, faster guy should be able to make the pass if he is truly faster than you.

So in other words, there's a lot of Americans trying out real racing.

Well, I wouldn't go into stereotypics but it's just the effect of having oval racers trying out road racing and vice versa. Road races consider this as an successor to GPL and oval guys see it as step forward from NR2003.

Quote from Mazz4200 :

So in other words, there's a lot of Americans trying out real racing.

Come on Mazz, there's no need for that kind of divisive talk. And here's a slice of historical perspective:

Photo.

Quote from jtr99 :

Come on Mazz, there's no need for that kind of divisive talk. And here's a slice of historical perspective:

Photo.

Ahh come on, where would this forum be if we weren't allowed to poke fun at our American cousins....most of em have a sense of humour yunno , (even though they can't spell the word properly)

And yeah, i know of oval racings heritage, but, there's a reason it looks like that nowadays.

Guess i'm just a bit miffed coz i ain't got my invite for iRacing yet. But i'll certainly give the Oval a blast when it arrives, if AJP thinks it's cool then it must have some redeeming features, we'll see...

Quote from Shotglass :

i dont think the united states of americaland have ever even heard of the caterham kind you like... a 500 kilo car? a set of supersized cupholders weights more

http://www.factoryfive.com/chalhome.html

They have something similar. But it weighs a tad more. Instead of bike engine it has a mustang engine

Quote from Hyperactive :

http://www.factoryfive.com/chalhome.html

They have something similar. But it weighs a tad more. Instead of bike engine it has a mustang engine

Even that's a British design.

Quote from Hyperactive :

But it weighs a tad more.

A tad more? At over 1000kg? Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

Quote from TechAde :

A tad more? At over 1000kg? Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

More like few bucketloads

Still, a 427 Cobra with those 400+ horses is something I'd take over anything else really and that factory five thing is a nice beast too. That or the Shelby Daytona coupe or Ferrari 250GTO

Quote from TechAde :

A tad more? At over 1000kg? Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

Rather perversely thats just reminded me of this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/mot ... g/2008/07/05/mrmay105.xml

It's completely off topic i know, but basically, James May from Top Gear fame wants someone to design a car for him :-

"So what I'm now going to do is invite detailed proposals from all you sheddists and mechanical engineering students (to build me a modern light weight car). And I'm not going to make it easy. I don't want air-conditioning or electric windows, but I do want carpet and a radio. Most importantly - and this is the hard bit - I want a properly engineered and finished car that will do 0-60mph in eight seconds, while returning at least 45mpg on the Combined cycle, or average driving around.

Please include projected prices, because if anything convincing turns up I'll pay you to build it for me"

I know we've got a lot of very talented engineers and some extremely intelligent sorts in here. So why not have a think and see if you can come up with something he might be interested in. Who knows where it might lead ?

Quote from Shotglass :

jesus youre easily ínsulted... pms?

eh... I had a few beers and when I got back I read your ridiculous post.. Besides having an american sports car as its base road car what about iRacing's initial road course car selection gives you the feeling they don't know what they're doing?

Certainly there's a "limited" amount of road course cars right now, but they seem to be releasing cars and tracks pretty frequently I'm sure we'll see caterham type cars eventually.

Quote from Hyperactive :

http://www.factoryfive.com/chalhome.html

They have something similar. But it weighs a tad more. Instead of bike engine it has a mustang engine

with that engine i suppose that tad is entirely loading the front axle?

Quote from Technique :

eh... I had a few beers and when I got back I read your ridiculous post.. Besides having an american sports car as its base road car what about iRacing's initial road course car selection gives you the feeling they don't know what they're doing?

which bit of the word humour (aside from the second u) is it that you have problems understanding with?

Quote from Shotglass :

which bit of the word humour (aside from the second u) is it that you have problems understanding with?

Is typing that word legal in Germany?

with or without the u?

Popular verses of modern day bards say you can't live either way.

i dont get that refence but its only safe to do so if youre absolutely sure that your annonymity isnt corrupted... ther internet is full of denunciators (is that even a word?)

That was a nice read spanks, how was your first Race on an Oval?