Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone has time to look at a replay I saved from last night. I _hope_ it's just one race (I'm not entirely sure how the multiplayer replay system works!) but if it saved the whole night, er, sorry, and look at the last race . In the interests of being a better driver, I wanted to get the opinions of experienced drivers on the battle I was having with a driver called Daziz or possibly dazjz, it's quite hard to read names on my TV screen (that's his in-race name, his 'real' lfs name is dazjz69). I started quite high on the grid then got shunted to near the middle of the pack in a T1 pile up (sigh). Driving with some damage to the car (suspension's just a bit damaged but something else was broken - I don't know what it _is_, but whatever makes the wheel pull strangely when turning in one direction, to the right in this case) I was lapping 1:35s and starting catching daziz quite fast - I think I caught him by lap 4.

From now on is where I'd like others' opinions. My recollection is this...

The first time I really caught him I exited the esses significantly faster than he did, giving me a run on him up the short straight to the next turn. I'm fairly sure I could have passed him here normally, but when I pulled out of the slipstream there was someone driving very slowly around the inside of the corner. Being committed to the pass, I broke intentionally late and too much and went right around the outside of the corner, giving the place back to daziz but not causing anyone to crash. There _was_ a yellow flag for the slow driver so I probably shouldn't even have pulled out of the slipstream, but you do get a lot of yellow flags at that corner when someone's just overshot the exit or something, it's often something that wouldn't really affect an overtaking chance.

The next time I had a chance was through the first set of turns on the final lap. I feel he was clearly in the wrong here. He exited the hairpin much too slowly, and I was able to get around the outside of him with higher speed, leaving us side by side (me on the left, him on the right) through the chicane (I was clearly alongside him before we entered the chicane, in my recollection). Following proper rules I left him a clear car width - I didn't try and drive right over the kerb on the right hand side as you usually would. Since I had the right to the inside as we went through the next part of the chicane, I kept the throttle down and drove right over the kerb on the left hand side, and he turned straight into me - obviously also trying to drive over the kerb, instead of leaving me space as he should have done - causing us both to lose control. I kept it in a straight line and was ahead briefly down the straight, but he wound up with a better exit speed than me so got past me before the next turn. I followed him through the next set of corners, which he drove okay but slower than I would, right up to the second last corner of the lap (same place I'd first tried to overtake him). I didn't have a run on him this time so I just followed him along, intentionally braking quite early (around 70, I'd usually brake at 50) as is good practice when following someone slower than you closely, hoping he'd misjudge it and run wide allowing me to get through on the inside. He braked way too hard, must have been taking the corner at 55 or less, which took me by surprise and I ended up just touching his right rear end, sending him sideways and giving me the place.

Anyway, the way I see it is I made two minor mistakes (I probably shouldn't have tried to overtake the first time after seeing the yellow, and I should have been even _more_ alert to his erratic driving in the final incident), but he made one major one (trying to drive straight through me in the chicane). If anyone has time to look at the replay I'd appreciate their letting me know if my recollection seems accurate, and any advice they have for how I could've handled the situation better. Thanks a lot

The way I see it he should have left room in the chicane while you should have avoided Speedy in the first lap and Dazjz in the second to last corner of the last lap. If you weren't able to avoid him, you should have let him retake his position before finishing.

Thanks, bal. I only remembered the incident with Speedy on re-watching the replay just now: it looks terrible from replay cam, it didn't look that bad from my cockpit! It's completely my fault, I agree. Unfortunately it was a product of the damage to the car - for whatever reason it was most problematic in the esses (you'll notice I had a lot of trouble through the esses on the next two laps as well) and I'd almost lost control of the car by half way through the corner on that lap. It was very very light at that point and I really didn't know what would happen if I touched the brakes. Check the cockpit camera and watch me wrestle the steering...But yeah, the result was nasty, if Speedy's in the forums I'm sorry about that one :\.

On the other hand, watching the replay I now see the yellow flag came well before the corner where I actually tried to overtake dazjz for the first time and had disappeared by the time I made my move, so I'd say that one was OK.

I also agree about the last corner, to be honest I just kept the place because a) it was like 8th or something anyway, so not too important, and b) I was pee'd off about the chicane incident! I probably _could_ have avoided him theoretically speaking, but the odd thing is he slowed down drastically way after making the corner, which is what took me by surprise. He was clear of the bend and could easily have hit the accelerator, I've no idea what he was doing...

Thanks for the suggestions