First ever race review

[David Kingshott]

Well I thought I would let you know my experience with my first ever multiplayer race.

Well I joined up this week and was kindly given my License to race in an event.

I chose the Mini Friday 80min event (Mad man I here you cry) Yes I am and my wife is studying psychology so she may use me as a project not only that I got up at 5am (Bundaberg, Australia) to prepare myself for the event. I have never driven the Mini ( in real life I am to tall - reminds me of Police Academy) and drive the track for the first time also.

Well practice and what fun having lots of cars running around I think 13 in total, and my lap time was 1.51.5 + or - not too bad. I was having a few issues setting up the car, and getting the tyre pressures correct (more reading and practice required).

Qualifying well I was running 10 out of 12 until a rookie mistake. I out braked myself in to the first chicane and went barreling through the sand trap, not keep an eye on my split time I went from 10 to 4 an apology and I asked if I could go to the back of grid in shame.

Race - The nerves where flowing and my t-shirt need a pit stop already, the lights went green and I pulled over to the side to allow everyone past. Coming up to the first corner -- Don't hit anyone was all what was going through my mind -- I didn't as far as I can remember. And I was off up to 11 after the first lap and I think the best I got was 10. I got into the grove and maybe relaxed a bit and weeeee spinning around like Kyle. A few more laps and I was absolutely loving every minute. One thing I need to learn is how to give room when being lapped and not going grass cutting. I think every other blue flag was a spin LOL

Well 45 laps in around 1/2 way I was just thinking of a pit stop as my fuel was getting low and I just touched the gravel on the fastest corner of the circuit OW here comes the wall - Smoke and a nice comment form the pits saying sorry the damage is terminal.

O well happy I got half way at least and I ju8st want to go racing again now, but have to go and mow the lawn for real.


Thank you very much to everyone who has made my first race with Racedepartment and first ever Multiplayer race so much fun, and welcome. I made a few rookie mistakes and need I to learn more about race setups and how to let other cars past without mowing the lawn

My race may have ended with a spin, smash and race ending fire but this was so much fun. Gutted I didn't make the 80mins but got half way (next time).

If anyone is on the fence thinking about joining and worried about looking silly or not being good enough don't be. Join and have some fun. Be sensible and follow the rules and you will have a great time.

Cant wait to do this again soon, and thank you again guys

Dave

 

[Justin Swan]

Great read David and glad you enjoyed racing with us

 

[Nox]

Welcome David! I love the Mini Friday events, they are a blast no matter your skill level. Missed this weeks due to not being well, but next Friday I'll be there, so see you on track and on teamspeak.

 

[Warren Dawes]

(Mad man I here you cry) Yes I am and my wife is studying psychology so she may use me as a project not only that I got up at 5am (Bundaberg, Australia) to prepare myself for the event.

That make two of us David, my insanity has been going on for about 10 years though. I still get out of bed at ridiculous o'clock (Hervey Bay time) to race here. Yep, seems I live just down the highway from you.

Good to see another "local" here, maybe you can hop into GTL with us sometime so we can challenge these Euro's. Or maybe I'll have to give the Race 07 MINI a run, especially since I drive one in real life.

 

[David Kingshott]

That make two of us David, my insanity has been going on for about 10 years though. I still get out of bed at ridiculous o'clock (Hervey Bay time) to race here. Yep, seems I live just down the highway from you.

Good to see another "local" here, maybe you can hop into GTL with us sometime so we can challenge these Euro's. Or maybe I'll have to give the Race 07 MINI a run, especially since I drive one in real life.

Hey Warren

Yes I am only 1 1/2 away form you how good is that.

What time and days do you and the GTL guys race?

Hope to meet up soon

Dave

 

[David Kingshott]

Welcome David! I love the Mini Friday events, they are a blast no matter your skill level. Missed this weeks due to not being well, but next Friday I'll be there, so see you on track and on teamspeak.

Hi Andrew

Look forward to racing with you next week for some more Mini action, Daytona sounds like fun. Hope you fell better soon.

Dave

 

[Warren Dawes]

What time and days do you and the GTL guys race?

Dave,
All the GTL Club events are posted here (similar times but different days):
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/forums/gtl-racing-club.63/

I get to Bundy fairly often, we bought our family car from Ross Gray so we take it there for services. I'm also a member of the Wide Bay Mini Owners Club, which is mostly comprised of Bundy members, so we have regular get togethers in and around the area.

Cheers,

Warren

 

[Dennis Phelan]

David, We're all glad you had a great time and as you might guess your experience was typical for a driver that's never been online. I guess we had you going full tilt from the git go as we made sure you had pit commands available? Of course, it got worse, lol!

It's important to remember that a blue flag is not a death threat. You will not[should not by the server setup] be penalized for not responding. You will only incur the wrath of the upcoming driver. Having said that, it is incumbent on the lapping driver to make his way around the lapped car. The job of the lapped driver is to not get in the way by crossing the track or blocking. There is no rule saying that you even have to slow down, but this certainly makes life easier for everyone. The preference in club racing seems to be don't hold up the fast guys and I think that's great as we have no teams and no team rankings, it''s just about fun.

My plan is to always be aware that lappers are coming up using the virtual mirror, rear view and driver nametags. Hopefully I'm not in a battle myself and then I can give away time without worry. Never wait until the last moment. On a straight I pull offline early to tell the river it';s OK to just keep going. If it takes him a long time to catch me I slow at the corner and stay inside and let him in the corner first. If it's going to happen in a corner, I make it happen on the way in, slowing quite a bit so I can stay on the pavement and on the outside until he has passed. It's important that when slowing down you don't do it abruptly. It's also nice if you're on TeamSpeak so you can say "I'm staying outside" or "go inside". Once you start driving consistently, the lapping drivers will get accustomed to you and in no time their passes will be cleaner and you will be losing less time.

 

[PaulH]

Nice read David, cant fault you jumping into an 80minute race on your debut! Hopefully get my licence soon, we can race at the back together

 

[Arne Dopudja]

You have some real balls to get into an 80min Mini race for your first MP venture. I find minis way more frustrating than the tourers.

Come this week for Daytona! Simple track, and sould be interesting.

Oh and for getting lapped - dont panic, as others have said. If im lapping someone and the person isnt ridiculously slow but still warrants moving aside, i always flash my lights to tell them when im ready to pass them.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

@Arne Dopudja nice to race with you this afternoon at Monza. I was introducing another RD driver to multiplayer racing and we all happened into the same public server. The finish of R1 had RD drivers in positions 1,2 and 3 though I did not do so well in R2, lol!

 

[Shawdad]

Nice review Dave!

One of these days I'm going to have to work up the nerve to try one of these things...although I don't think my internet is fast enough.

 

[Arne Dopudja]

@Dennis Phelan Hehe, yeah. B. Kosir was also with us but he had less luck, as always.

 

[Justin Swan]

Nice review Dave!

One of these days I'm going to have to work up the nerve to try one of these things...although I don't think my internet is fast enough.

Contrary to popular belief. It's not how fast your internet is. Usually 256k upload will suffice. It's how clean your internet is. I know of people with fibre optic broadband with download speeds of 30MB PLUS and lag all over the show. It's all about PING and packet loss. If you're seeing ping rates under 100ms then you should be good to go. Even rates slightly higher than that would probably cause you no issues.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

Yesterday I introduced a driver to multiplayer racing on the internet. We actually spent about four hours at RD servers and public's. The first bit was getting TeamSpeak up and then getting a connection to last. I think he finally resolved that his Norton was cutting him off after a bit of time. He drove well enough a learned quite a lot about what goes on and I think he;ll be ready to go racing whenever he's free at race time.

Once you can get onto a server and it's not much different than picking any other event, Time attack or whatever, just get into an RD practice early enough and that means before the session goes official at 20:00GMT, that there are only a couple of drivers there. Keep driving as long as you're comfortable and if you decide to stay longer, sign up for the race and just stay as long as you're having fun.

If you can drive, you have a good reason to race online. TeamSpeak is a BIG friend at your first race and all of us there on it, are ready to help.

 

[Shawdad]

My internet is 1 meg down and 256k up. Locally ( in the U.S.) my ping is usually around 65-80ms but I did a test with Europe where many race department members are:

 

[Justin Swan]

My internet is 1 meg down and 256k up. Locally ( in the U.S.) my ping is usually around 65-80ms but I did a test with Europe where many race department members are:

Best thing to do is try. Join us in practice one evening (euro) and we'll let you know if you're lagging at all. It may be OK.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

From Connecticut, USA. I usually see pings of 66-166 on servers

Just try it. go multiplayer!