New to PC Racing Sim World

[t.o.]

Hello guys.
Some of you might recognize me from the Forza forums here, maybe not. A strange set of circumstances (involving my Fanatec wheel, my iMac, my homemade racing rig and other events) has led me to PC racing. rFactor, LFS and more over the Race series. I have to say I'm having the time of my life with this. Right now I'm using my practically brand new G27 wheel ,that's been boxed away for well over a year, with my Clubsport pedals connected to my new , more powerful iMac running Windows 7 with an office chair literally tied to a desk (need the stability no matter how I can get it) and I have to say it's great.

I probably won't have this setup for long and my PC experience may be fleeting as I know the wife at some point is going to go from "understanding, loving, supportive and amused" to ... well we all know what that will be. So while it lasts I'm going to enjoy myself and wouldn't mind getting in a few races with you guys. Although from running a series here before I know our time differences are usually problematic.

Questions I have for you guys are you all really using all the features in this game? Like on the fly brake bias and stuff like that? I feel you all will smoke me so bad if you are because I know NONE of that. I'm strictly a console sim racer. Well if you all need someone to lap a few times in some races just give me a shout. I'll be glad to play the traffic role for you guys, possibly 2 or 3 times each

 

[Hiroshi Awazu]

Welcome to the PC side of driving! Its nice to hear that you are enjoying it. I myself don't use any of the on the fly settings but I'm sure the other members here will soon start to respond whether they use it or not and tell you of the pros and cons.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

Welcome to our world!
As close as I come to OTF useage is to have brake bias on the wheel for use in testing. It just makes setup easier.

 

[Mark Gormley]

I do, but not to the extent one sees Michael Schumacher doing in F1, changing it every few corners. I'll wean it back as the front tyres wear down later in the race. I think that's the only on-the-fly setting we get in Race. I know the old supertourers had on-the-fly anti-roll bar adjustment, which would be fun but I assume S2000 cars don't as Race doesn't let one do this.

As for getting better, practice. When I started racing here just over a year ago I was finishing lower than 20th unless I crashed out. Now I can usually get within a second of the leader and have even won several races thanks to a bit of luck.

 

[t.o.]

Thanks guys. Had another great race , against the CPU of course, last night. I love the AI in this game (they do have their ??? moments but name one racing game where the AI doesn't flake out here or there) they really do race hard and realistic. Was racing my new favorite all time track Knutstorp and it was wild. I put the AI on PRO and they were driving like it. I had to break into the 1:03's if I stood a chance to beat those guys. Came in 2nd on the first race and 1st on the 2nd after a million restarts. lol

I really like how the game favors close racing also. Can't wait to try against some humans. Another question, how do guys talk to each other in this game? A friend and I were using Skype the other day but I'm assuming you can't have a group of people on Skype.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

You can have group conversations in Skype but it uses a lot of CPU and bandwidth. There's a few options out there for VoIP more commonly used by gamers; Ventrilo, Teamspeak and Mumble to name a few. RD I think use Teamspeak for their official races.

I'm also very new to sim racing, I've always loved racing games and played the heck out of GT1 and 2, Rallisport Challenge and the Forza series. But I picked up a Logitech Momo racing wheel a couple of weeks ago and am really enjoying time attacks in Race07 ATM.
I'd love to participate in online races some day but I need to work on consistency first.

That said does anyone know if RD runs any newbie races? Races with less harsh rules where crashing into each other is expected rather than frowned upon
Also with some more experienced drivers being on TS and giving tips to us newbies I think it could be great for the sim racing community.
I'd be happy to participate in such races to learn more and faster. I've been pondering on frapsing and maybe even live streaming some of my racing to see if I can get feedback on where I can improve my driving.

Some random ramblings and sorry to OP for going slightly OT

 

[Dennis Phelan]

For club event's we use TeamSpeak 3. You'll have to become a licensed member to get the password. There's virtually no way to communicate in the public servers other than the "chat". You'll find racing against humans to be a lot more fun!

Source, just learn to control your car and your aggression, you'll be fine. Most all new club drivers don't have any problem fitting in. Start soon and don't worry.

 

[t.o.]

I hope we can have some informal races among us. I understand the requirement for real names being used here but I'm ultra guraded with real info on the net. This site gets hacked and some people are in real trouble. A name and birthdate is a great start for an identity thief. But I would like to get in some races with real people who race in a sim fashion. Some organzied stuff would be great.

There's hardly anyone on in any of the servers.

 

[James Woods]

Just use a partially real name, first name real, but use a tweaked last name.

I have some knowledge that could help and i could maybe do something on TS and try that, but I'm definitely an intermediate at best. In the end it's nice to get others advice and tips, but it's quite hard to take that info and put it into practice, and sometimes the tips will be so far ahead of your own skill that it just makes you worse. You have to sometimes accept where you are at that time and abandon advanced stuff for a later date.

Practice and learning, trying new things all the time is really the key imo.

What cars are you interested in? What type of track?

 

[t.o.]

Well for this game I like the STCC cars the most. Tracks don't matter as long as I get some advance notice on which. The only track I can say is giving me fits at the moment is Lime Rock Park. That last turn before the straight is driving me crazy, you touch the dirt while trying to setup for the apex and you're in a spin cycle. That track is driving me nuts. I feel slow around it and know I'm not getting the most out of it but you go off a little and it's all over.

 

[Justin Swan]

hey T.O are you playing Race 07 on Steam? If so, give me an add I'll be happy to join in on some races with you, pretty new to race 07 myself. My steam ID is redscab69

 

[t.o.]

hey T.O are you playing Race 07 on Steam? If so, give me an add I'll be happy to join in on some races with you, pretty new to race 07 myself. My steam ID is redscab69

Hey sorry for the delay, I guess the reason is obvious
We got a small group going I'd be glad for you to run a few with us. Will add you

 

[James Woods]

i have stcc now (bought it while on steam sale), so can join in too. what time you guys race gmt?

 

[Justin Swan]

Is it possible to invite somebody to a race like on Xbox and ps3?

 

[t.o.]

i have stcc now (bought it while on steam sale), so can join in too. what time you guys race gmt?

Well what we have been doing so far is getting on around 7 to 8 ish EST and the "official race" usually kicks off at 9 ish EST. It really isn't a "formal" thing as we're all just pretty much just spontaneously doing this but this has been the m.o. for the past few weeks and it's working.
What we're also doing is using Skype as a comm. device to talk with each other. It's free and no credit card or whatever required and the sound quality is outstanding.

Is it possible to invite somebody to a race like on Xbox and ps3?

I don't know for sure, we just have a server running. I'll pm the guys in this thread the server name and password.

 

[James Woods]

Hmm, might be able to join you some nights, as that's around 2am in the UK.What do you normally call your server, and is it passworded?

*EDIT* I should check my PMs before I post

 

[t.o.]

Hmm, might be able to join you some nights, as that's around 2am in the UK.What do you normally call your server, and is it passworded?

*EDIT* I should check my PMs before I post

lol no problem. I'll be on tonight for sure. If you decide to get a race in today I'll tell the guys to put on their good clothes , we might have company tonight. lol

 

[James Woods]

You all going to be in drag?

I think it's more likely i could join once the weekend hits, 30/70 I make an appearance tonight.

Have fun

 

[t.o.]

LOL naw man. No drag for us unless it's 4 wheels and a straight line. Hopefully you can make it out for a few laps if not we'll see you when you do come through.

 

[t.o.]

Heys guys I'm glad you could make it out tonight. That was some fun racing. I definitly enjoyed as did the others in the room. I figured out what was giving problems. Some guys didn't have the GT Power Expansion whereas they did have GT Evo. That caused a conflict was GT PE adds cars to the packs of GT Evo and that causes compat issues. The guys are going to download GT PE so that won't be a problem anymore

At half the cost of a beer in Manhattan that shouldn't hurt the wallets too much