Yeah, with a few Jettas thrown in the mix.
markg wrote:
Yeah, with a few Jettas thrown in the mix.
An automatic diesel, the best kind of racing car
Still loving this game. Mostly just driving the Mazdas and the spec racer Fords so I get to use my h-pattern shifter and toe and heel my way down the gears, feels so good. Also was sharing a track practicing with Carlos Sainz Jr. the other day. At the time I thought it was probably just someone else called Carlos Sainz but it was actually the McLaren F1 driver.
Yep, I’ve been in the same session as Rubens Barrichello before. And raced in a V8 Supercars championship with BTCC driver Ash Sutton.
I hope you’re using the H pattern on the correct side for the car, else you’ll be putting your hand out the door.
I hope you’re using the H pattern on the correct side for the car, else you’ll be putting your hand out the door.
Gear stick on the left but I can't say it bothers me when the car in the game is LHD. Much prefer to just use my cack hand for shifting gears and the right one on the wheel.
But teh reelismz
Just learned an ex-teammate of mine won the sprint car world championship last year and is in a good position to win it again this year! Alex Bergeron. We mainly drove NASCAR together for Apex Racing UK.
https://www.iracing.com/bergeron-extend ... rnerville/
https://www.iracing.com/bergeron-extend ... rnerville/
Reupped for 3 months. Downloading 40GB of updates.
Installed SODE Fuel Calculator, Crew Chief, Trading Paints, and irFFB.
Let’s go!
Installed SODE Fuel Calculator, Crew Chief, Trading Paints, and irFFB.
Let’s go!
Boo: the NASCAR A and B cars have now been replaced with the new versions
Yay: iRacing has given me $15 credit to put towards them
Yay: iRacing has given me $15 credit to put towards them
Yay!
I was on the other night actually having not played for a month or two. Really enjoyed it, just need to find the time to work up a track/car combo to the point where I can race again.
I was on the other night actually having not played for a month or two. Really enjoyed it, just need to find the time to work up a track/car combo to the point where I can race again.
markg wrote:
Yay!
I was on the other night actually having not played for a month or two. Really enjoyed it, just need to find the time to work up a track/car combo to the point where I can race again.
I was on the other night actually having not played for a month or two. Really enjoyed it, just need to find the time to work up a track/car combo to the point where I can race again.
I would not stress about too much practice. Of course it helps, but as long as you’re safe and your race craft is good, you should finish well.
I don't hate practicing and racing my ghost, though. Also I just find that the nearer I am to actually quick then the closer the racing is. If my braking points are still a bit inconsistent and I'm racing with people the same then more accidents will tend to happen.
markg wrote:
I don't hate practicing and racing my ghost, though. Also I just find that the nearer I am to actually quick then the closer the racing is. If my braking points are still a bit inconsistent and I'm racing with people the same then more accidents will tend to happen.
The more practice the better, but if you have limited time then try to do at least one race a week in a couple of series. That way you’ll get participation credits and not have to spend real money on more content
I’m doing the Road to Indy starting from next week. First up the 175bhp Tatuus USF-17 in the US F2000 series. A mix of road and oval courses.
I’ve never really driven open wheelers before so it’ll be something a bit different. If I do well this season I’ll move up to the second rung of the ladder next season, which is the Indy Pro 2000 series featuring the Tatuus PM-18 that outputs 275bhp! If not, I’ll stay at the entry-level series until I feel I’m ready to move up.
I’ve never really driven open wheelers before so it’ll be something a bit different. If I do well this season I’ll move up to the second rung of the ladder next season, which is the Indy Pro 2000 series featuring the Tatuus PM-18 that outputs 275bhp! If not, I’ll stay at the entry-level series until I feel I’m ready to move up.
Mr Chonks wrote:
I’m doing the Road to Indy starting from next week. First up the 175bhp Tatuus USF-17 in the US F2000 series. A mix of road and oval courses.
I’ve never really driven open wheelers before so it’ll be something a bit different. If I do well this season I’ll move up to the second rung of the ladder next season, which is the Indy Pro 2000 series featuring the Tatuus PM-18 that outputs 275bhp! If not, I’ll stay at the entry-level series until I feel I’m ready to move up.
I’ve never really driven open wheelers before so it’ll be something a bit different. If I do well this season I’ll move up to the second rung of the ladder next season, which is the Indy Pro 2000 series featuring the Tatuus PM-18 that outputs 275bhp! If not, I’ll stay at the entry-level series until I feel I’m ready to move up.
I am very slow in these cars.
Just had a 2nd-place finish in the NASCAR trucks at Chicacoland. Stuck it on pole, led for the first 7 laps and then three other drivers got past me as I was saving tyres. No yellow flags at all in the race so I was able to repass 2nd and 3rd and had a ding-dong fight to the end with the leader! Sadly I lost time twice trying to pass him (second time on the last lap) and had to settle for second.
I can still do this apparently!
I can still do this apparently!
2nd place is 1st loser.
Trooper wrote:
2nd place is 1st loser.
True, and I’m a bit gutted I didn’t win, considering I was faster, but it’s the best result I’ve had since coming back (a lot of 12ths).
My first win on tarmac where you have to turn right as well as left - only took 134 starts! Quite an eventful race. I qualified on pole, then on the (rolling) start, P2 and P3 jumped it when the pace car went in and got black flags. I then got first place back on lap 2 and didn't give it up again. I had a close call when running wide at one corner on lap 5, but apart from that I kept a nice gap to second place until the end.
Excellent stuff, I've not won one yet. Had every chance twice and blew it.
I need to get back into this, I think it might be more of a winter thing, though.
So, it appears I’m back into this properly. I’m not a very good road racer so I picked the newly released low-powered USF2000, which is considered the first rung on the Road to Indy ladder. I wanted to learn how to drive an open-wheeled car as my experience has mainly been driving oval tintops (aka NASCAR). They run a mix of road and oval courses at North American tracks, so I thought my oval experience would also help in this series.
I started the season very slowly, and while I still wouldn’t consider myself fast, I’m definitely making progress and getting increasingly better results. In 23 starts I’ve had one win (at the Homestead-Miami roval), 10 top 5 finishes, and 15 top 10s.
They’re only 15-min sprint races so my strategy has been to keep out of any carnage on the first lap and then just consistently run decent lap times while not trying to overheat the tyres. Wear isn’t an issue, but I was finding I was losing a lot of grip if I got the back end sliding too much. You can’t really spin the tyres as they’re so low-powered (175bhp), but you can really throw it into the corners with off-throttle oversteer, which seems fine until you can’t keep it on the track anymore. So I learnt to be smoother with my inputs. I’ve realised it doesn’t need a lot of steering input at all, and max 60% brakes or the fronts lock up. It’s a fun car!
I’m still driving NASCAR, focusing on the C-class trucks this season, plus the ARCA feeder series. I seem not to have lost any of my race craft or tyre-saving skills in these cars in the two years I was off the service. I’m catching people fast at the end of a run. My technique isn’t as useful in these shorter races, but if I decide to enter the NASCAR iRacing Series again, those races are 50-100% race distance, so I should do reasonably well.
TL;DR, I’m enjoying iRacing again.
I started the season very slowly, and while I still wouldn’t consider myself fast, I’m definitely making progress and getting increasingly better results. In 23 starts I’ve had one win (at the Homestead-Miami roval), 10 top 5 finishes, and 15 top 10s.
They’re only 15-min sprint races so my strategy has been to keep out of any carnage on the first lap and then just consistently run decent lap times while not trying to overheat the tyres. Wear isn’t an issue, but I was finding I was losing a lot of grip if I got the back end sliding too much. You can’t really spin the tyres as they’re so low-powered (175bhp), but you can really throw it into the corners with off-throttle oversteer, which seems fine until you can’t keep it on the track anymore. So I learnt to be smoother with my inputs. I’ve realised it doesn’t need a lot of steering input at all, and max 60% brakes or the fronts lock up. It’s a fun car!
I’m still driving NASCAR, focusing on the C-class trucks this season, plus the ARCA feeder series. I seem not to have lost any of my race craft or tyre-saving skills in these cars in the two years I was off the service. I’m catching people fast at the end of a run. My technique isn’t as useful in these shorter races, but if I decide to enter the NASCAR iRacing Series again, those races are 50-100% race distance, so I should do reasonably well.
TL;DR, I’m enjoying iRacing again.
Not seen that car before, it looks great. I love racing the Skip Barbers but the wings feel more decorative than anything, that looks more like a proper wings and slicks car. Got a new GPU coming tomorrow so once that arrives I'm going to get back racing.
It’s new for this season. I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s at Watkins Glen this week.
Just had a look and I think the only thing that puts me off them a bit is some of the tracks they race on. Not being into ovals I don't really want to buy any only to race on some of the slightly iffy infield circuits. Going to try and get to grips with the Cayman GT4, such a hard car to get quick with. Still love the Mazdas and Skip Barbers, though. Slower cars usually mean better racing.
Yeah it’s an American-based series so they do run some rovals (and ovals). But some of them are really good; Daytona, Pocono, Homestead, New Hampshire. Some are definitely shit though.
Popped my new GPU in last night and fired this up for some AI races in the GT4 Porsche around Brands Hatch. Way better with the new graphics card and I'd forgotten how good it is. Those cars, though. The interval between recognising the back getting loose and an unrecoverable spin is so small but once you get that timing down they're really fun around the corners.
What GFX did you get? Geeks need deets!
A Gigabyte RTX2060 Windforce 6G. I ended up in a right fucking rabbit hole of YouTube reviews and Reddit threads for two straight evenings, it was awful. I wanted something that was decent for VR and it seems Nvidia is the preferred option due to the game engine some VR titles use. Also it seems like there are "gaming" versions of most cards (like wtf else is everyone buying them for?) that have three fans and wouldn't fit in my case, they're meant to run a bit cooler or something and cost an extra seventy quid. But I've always had decent luck with things not overheating so I just went for the cheaper one and am hoping for the best.
I get a free copy of Death Stranding with it too so that swayed me a little.
I get a free copy of Death Stranding with it too so that swayed me a little.
markg wrote:
like wtf else is everyone buying them for?
Crypto mining.
Grim... wrote:
markg wrote:
like wtf else is everyone buying them for?
Crypto mining.
It’s not even worth it anymore.
Mr Chonks wrote:
Grim... wrote:
markg wrote:
like wtf else is everyone buying them for?
Crypto mining.
It’s not even worth it anymore.
Yeah, my last card was a retired miner. There were loads of them on ebay at the time.
Mr Chonks wrote:
Grim... wrote:
markg wrote:
like wtf else is everyone buying them for?
Crypto mining.
It’s not even worth it anymore.
Sure, but that's a good chunk of the reason.
I appear to have stumbled across a car/track combo I am somewhat good at.
Attachment:
good-week.png
So yeah, USF2000 at Milwaukee has been somewhat of a success for me this past week. Some stats:
Races: 16
Poles: 11
Wins: 6
Fastest lap: 7
Top 5: 13
Top 10: 15
I had some decent battles, had to deal with a dirty driver or two, and some wins leading from flag to flag, but I'm most proud of my last race: I started on pole and it looked like I'd have a good battle with the guy in 2nd, when I hit some debris on the track which gave me enough damage I had to pit for my fast repair (you get one of these in rookie and D-class series). From there I charged through the field to take 5th on the last lap around the outside.
Here's the video of that race. I've sped it up during the middle so it doesn't bore you quite as much. I'm the green and yellow #2.
I'm probably still going to drive this car occasionally next season, but I think I'm going to move up to the Indy Pro 2000, which in lieu of Indy Lights not yet being on the service, will be the final rung of the Road to Indy ladder before I get to IndyCar proper!
https://www.indypro2000.com/about/tatuus-pm-18
Races: 16
Poles: 11
Wins: 6
Fastest lap: 7
Top 5: 13
Top 10: 15
I had some decent battles, had to deal with a dirty driver or two, and some wins leading from flag to flag, but I'm most proud of my last race: I started on pole and it looked like I'd have a good battle with the guy in 2nd, when I hit some debris on the track which gave me enough damage I had to pit for my fast repair (you get one of these in rookie and D-class series). From there I charged through the field to take 5th on the last lap around the outside.
Here's the video of that race. I've sped it up during the middle so it doesn't bore you quite as much. I'm the green and yellow #2.
I'm probably still going to drive this car occasionally next season, but I think I'm going to move up to the Indy Pro 2000, which in lieu of Indy Lights not yet being on the service, will be the final rung of the Road to Indy ladder before I get to IndyCar proper!
https://www.indypro2000.com/about/tatuus-pm-18
I was just in a race with Max Verstappen.
Actual Max? Nice, did you win? How do you know it was really him?
Malc wrote:
Actual Max? Nice, did you win? How do you know it was really him?
It was either him, or someone who bought a prepaid credit card fraudulently in his name (you have to use real names in iRacing as per your bank card), signed up, put his official website in his profile along with the real cars he drives, then proceeded to get really good at sim racing and get a Pro licence and road iRating of nearly 9,000 (mine is 1,700). So I’m inclined to believe it’s him, on balance. My mate raced with his dad the other day.
However this was the NASCAR Xfinity series at Talladega where raw pace is irrelevant and our oval iRatings are not as far apart anyway (3,300 to 2,300). Sadly I got sideswiped on the back stretch at the first restart minding my own business and ended up eating wall. He was at the front for a while but must have got involved in an incident as he finished 12th.
My race went from bad to worse when on the last lap I was pushing someone else down on speed due to damage and their engine blew up, so I smashed into them and spun out again. A race to forget.
Luckily I’ve already got a 4th and a 6th in top split this week, so i was bound to have one bad race this week.
It certainly sounds more likely than the 100 Tiger Woods/Nick Faldo/etc people I see playing Golf Clash
it would be interesting to see a Jos v Max race. At the start of lockdown, sky sports showed some virtual F1 races, was that using this game? There were some real drivers in that among some celebs too, but I was less interested in that as I am in current F1.
it would be interesting to see a Jos v Max race. At the start of lockdown, sky sports showed some virtual F1 races, was that using this game? There were some real drivers in that among some celebs too, but I was less interested in that as I am in current F1.
No, they were using Codemasters F1 2020 I believe, which putting it kindly is simcade at best.
NASCAR and IndyCar were using iRacing for their virtual seasons during lockdown though. And some others.
NASCAR and IndyCar were using iRacing for their virtual seasons during lockdown though. And some others.
This is what happened to me.
I should've had better anticipation and awareness!
I should've had better anticipation and awareness!
Oval racing sometimes looks like motorway driving until suddenly it doesn't
DavPaz wrote:
Oval racing sometimes looks like motorway driving until suddenly it doesn't
Only on the superspeedways. But yeah, it's a 200mph game of chess on the M25.
You got screwed BTW. I see that the other two drivers just kept on trucking
DavPaz wrote:
You got screwed BTW. I see that the other two drivers just kept on trucking
It happens. It was surprising and disappointing at the time, but I soon got over it
You'd need to have been pretty cautious to have avoided that really.
markg wrote:
You'd need to have been pretty cautious to have avoided that really.
I already was being pretty cautious considering I had dropped off from the lead pack slightly to better anticipate wrecks up ahead. Oh well!
This week it's Charlotte roval so I jumped in and recorded some laps of practice from my cockpit view for your enjoyment. My good mate Max is there again.
Your pseudonyms keep getting weirder
