RDRC S9 Round 6 - Rally New Zealand (12th April - 18th April 2021)

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

DiRT Rally 2.0 suffers from the same issue, unfortunately. The "soft lock" option does not work in my case, and I am pretty sure that modern rally cars, such as the R5, do not feature 1080º on their wheels, otherwise the drivers would not be able to negotiate the turns correctly (most likely, it is around 540º in modern rally cars).

This is something that have frustrated me as well. It worked for me in DiRT Rally, but not in DiRT Rally 2.0. Also, after seeing some onboard clips from Norwegian rallying, I realized that quite a lot of the older cars that are being used aren't entirely at historical spec.
Then there is a whole discussion about DiRT Rally 2 and the historic cars, how historically accurate they are etc.
In my mind, the older cars in DiRT Rally 1 and 2 are not run as FIA Historic class spec. But more like what's allowed in e.g the national classes in Norway, so 540 degrees is inside what the "real drivers" use.
So, ye. 540 is what I use on my BMW. It's enough that I have to manually change button mappings between H-shifter cars and paddle-cars, so I don't bother changing the wheel range for every car I drive

 

[Linkendorf]

Man.. I need to do a lot better in New Zealand. In Spain, first Stage, slammed into the first rock wall to the left in the chicane before the end, popped my left rear tire off and replaced it, lost time there. Then in the second stage, hit an "invisible pebble" on the very edge of the tarmac, flipped my car and lost the right rear tire...but guess what? Like an idiot, I didn't think to take 2 tires before the Rally started, I had to limp through Stage 2 to the end without a right rear tire. Not sure exactly how much time, but best I can tell, I lost about 3.5 - 4 minutes total with tire change and driving like Gramma so I didn't spin out in every corner. Poor car...has to deal with me driving it every week, haha!

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Man.. I need to do a lot better in New Zealand. In Spain, first Stage, slammed into the first rock wall to the left in the chicane before the end, popped my left rear tire off and replaced it, lost time there. Then in the second stage, hit an "invisible pebble" on the very edge of the tarmac, flipped my car and lost the right rear tire...but guess what? Like an idiot, I didn't think to take 2 tires before the Rally started, I had to limp through Stage 2 to the end without a right rear tire. Not sure exactly how much time, but best I can tell, I lost about 3.5 - 4 minutes total with tire change and driving like Gramma so I didn't spin out in every corner. Poor car...has to deal with me driving it every week, haha!

Sounds like it can't get much worse than it was in Spain though?

 

[Linkendorf]

Hah! That's the hope. We'll have to see how the tires wear, from another poster, it sounds like it'll be a rough drive. Anyone have tips for NZ? Also, now I'm curious what Wheel Lock people use, I've been sticking to 540 for DR2, myself.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

x-posting from the Rally World thread
"
New Zealand. Hayden Paddon. RaceM. I had high hopes for sponsors from the land of the non-flying bird!
Ye, right. Seems like I scare them away with running bright... erhm, unique cars. Though, everyone needs food and stuff, or stuff for food... or food stuffings? Idk, but foodstuffs are needed! Oh well, doing the exact opposite of the normal cars for NZ. No need for sunglasses this time!"

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Hah! That's the hope. We'll have to see how the tires wear, from another poster, it sounds like it'll be a rough drive. Anyone have tips for NZ? Also, now I'm curious what Wheel Lock people use, I've been sticking to 540 for DR2, myself.

540 here as well(adjusted from the 520 in the pre-season vid). NZ shouldn't be that rough. Plenty of services, the roads are nice. They do get some ruts after some usage, but that shouldn't be too big of an issue with the 4WD cars. Wear shouldn't be worse than any other rally this season either, while they might wear a tiny bit faster, the loops are in general shorter.
The main challenge of the rally is the time it takes to do it. Using @peg306 as a yardstick, as he is fairly quick.
Monte Carlo: 1hr 04m (5th)
Sweden: 1hr 02m (13th)
Argentina: 1hr 00m (12th)
Poland: DNF (10th position in Poland used 1hr 11m)
Spain: 1hr 01m (3rd)
New Zealand: 1hr 22m

So it takes quite a bit more time. Which can be challenging in terms of concentration.

 

[Spinninggenius]

Good thing the roads are nice and the amount of services are generous then I still believe that the tyre wear actually are somewhat affected of how people drive, so it would be logical that the tyres go off a bit faster in NZ, as the roads are not made for non-sliding driving!

I'm very grateful for the extra services believe me!

Based on some of the previous schedules, it crossed my mind that the rally organisers would send us to New Zealand but keep us on European time, running the entire rally at night

 

[Linkendorf]

Fair enough, maybe I'll just take it a little slow and watch my entries. I'm not used to these longer stints, but I honestly have been enjoying the challenge of it.

I would definitely run into some trees in the dark if that's how the stage were set, lol.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I'm very grateful for the extra services believe me!

Based on some of the previous schedules, it crossed my mind that the rally organisers would send us to New Zealand but keep us on European time, running the entire rally at night

Oooh. That didn't even cross my mind. That would've been epic!
Honestly though, I felt like it was time to have a rally with more services. To make the rally feel different from the previous ones. I've said it before, but I wish we could make rallies like DR1 with more stages. To have each rally be even more unique One can hope for DR3 at least

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Fair enough, maybe I'll just take it a little slow and watch my entries. I'm not used to these longer stints, but I honestly have been enjoying the challenge of it.

I would definitely run into some trees in the dark if that's how the stage were set, lol.

Last season had a bigger spread in the way rallies were run. I think these three are the outliers that shows the huge difference between the Season 8 rallies.

All was a copy of the last real life rally that the stages was based on I really hope the next game will allow for this again!

 

[Linkendorf]

Wow, that Round 6 Itinerary! It seems like there was a pretty steady progression from Round 1 to Round 6. I'd love to do a rally like that.

 

[David Mann]

Oooh. That didn't even cross my mind. That would've been epic!
Honestly though, I felt like it was time to have a rally with more services. To make the rally feel different from the previous ones. I've said it before, but I wish we could make rallies like DR1 with more stages. To have each rally be even more unique One can hope for DR3 at least

Could you run it with two events? So, 12 stages in the first event, then 6-8 stages in the second event? That might work if your system can add the times from the two events for proper scoring. The only "problem" would be that everyone gets a fully repaired car after the first event.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Could you run it with two events? So, 12 stages in the first event, then 6-8 stages in the second event? That might work if your system can add the times from the two events for proper scoring. The only "problem" would be that everyone gets a fully repaired car after the first event.

That would need some manual labor in terms of results. But doable. We'll see what happens in the future

 

[bladechildx]

Are you old enough and have a driving license?

I am/do.

You should definitely use a wheel and pedals if you have them. Granted, it will take you a bit of time to get used to it, but I am sure you not will want anything else afterwards. Simulators cannot be properly used with a keyboard or gamepad, even if it feels OK to you, you are losing out massively. The smoothness of movements, the precision that comes with a wheel and pedals, the force feedback itself, everything is better. And racing simulators are meant to be used with a wheel, they are designed with that in mind.

In case you drive in real life, just imagine steering your car around by clicking on arrows on your smartphone. I am sure you would crash fairly soon or just drive erratically down the road.

Give the wheel a go and do not look back. A few hours should be enough to get you used to it. You will also need to configure it properly, I do not know which wheel you have, but in my case, I use full rotation (1080º) in Assetto Corsa and AC Competizione, while in DiRT Rally 2.0 I use about 450º for quick steering. In rFactor 2 I match the wheel's degrees to those of the car I am driving.

I also have a gamepad (good old Xbox 360 gamepad) and it is great for games such as GTA, where the controls are fairly arcade, so the gamepad is perfect. But for simulators, you want a wheel.

I've been sinking many hours into my G29 in various games since I got it and have been loving it so far.

I've got my wheel set to 540º after following RALLY Technical's setup guide for the G29 and having it at 540º feels way better than having to cross my arms constantly at 900º.

I am going to use my wheel for the event thanks for helping me decide!

 

[Mario Peixoto]

That would need some manual labor in terms of results. But doable. We'll see what happens in the future

I recently did this in another community (Portuguese) where I organise the championships in DiRT Rally 2.0 and the roadbooks. We did a H1 European Legends event in Greece and Scotland via two different RaceNet Clubs. Indeed, damage is gone from one rally to the other, but it is the same in real life, so that's fine. Both events ran simultaneously. In the end, we came up with a spreadsheet that would sum up the times and calculate the difference. And bang, full results there. People had to race in both events to be in the results. I can provide you with the spreadsheet if you want to take a look at it. Works perfectly.

Thanks for the inspiration to run some tougher events, btw! I am currently running an H3 Legends Championship and the first rally (NZL) had one service area (30 mins) and 5 + 5 stages (6 long, 4 short). It was tough, but people loved it.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I can provide you with the spreadsheet if you want to take a look at it. Works perfectly.

Thanks for the offer, but not really needed. We have the tools needed
The manual labor mentioned here would be copy pasting the 2nd-part csv over to the first part so they all are included in the same

 

[bladechildx]

The manual labor mentioned here would be copy pasting the 2nd-part csv over to the first part so they all are included in the same

Sheesh that does seem like a lot of work.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Sheesh that does seem like a lot of work.

Haha, I know Luckily Michael made a little tool for this last season, which he changed up a little to work with DR2.0. Which means that the results-part of the championship is the easiest thing of it all.

Then again, suddenly DR3 arrives, and makes all this "12 stages or more" thinking go away

 

[Mark Gormley]

I always soft lock it to what is supposed to be realistic for the car. The animation doesn't match in some cars because of this which can be confusing, but if you test it in DirtFish you should feel it hit the stops in different places for different cars. It just feels too game-y to me to see people driving Group B cars like they were go-karts. You might as well use a controller, which I know some people do and are much faster than me, but that's not why I'm here.

I also think using the correct rotation (and H-shifter) makes you drive the car more naturally and like it is supposed to be driven, so you crash less. I see people on streams late braking and paddle shifting down old rally cars and they make a lot more mistakes, whereas I need to brake earlier with my right foot, make sure I'm in the right gear and power on gently through the corner. Same with weight transfer, with low rotation you can just turn the car in, but with real rotation you need to learn to throw the car around and steer with your feet.

 

[Daniel Monteiro]

I use 1800º (my wheel's maximum) on AC and ACC because both simulators automatically change the degrees on the wheel to match whatever car is being driven. Sadly, this does not happen in rF2, so I must force my wheel to match the car I am driving, otherwise the wheel goes nuts.

DiRT Rally 2.0 suffers from the same issue, unfortunately. The "soft lock" option does not work in my case, and I am pretty sure that modern rally cars, such as the R5, do not feature 1080º on their wheels, otherwise the drivers would not be able to negotiate the turns correctly (most likely, it is around 540º in modern rally cars).

I remember enabling this option (soft lock) when I got DiRT and I just could not negotiate the turns, especially the hairpins. It looked like I was trying to park the car. No matter what I was driving, the wheel was set to 1080º. Please do not tell me this is realistic, even H1 cars probably do not have as many rotation degrees.

In any case, I do not consider this a driving assist, otherwise it would be listed so in the menu. I would be happy if Codemasters would make the "soft lock" option work across all wheels. Given that this does not happen, I tried to find a good balance between realism and usability. It turned out to be 450º for me. On the other hand, I race without any HUD information (not even co-driver calls) and always in the cockpit. Others will prefer to have the entire HUD or race in the hood cam (no rain there, for instance). Others even prefer to cut across stages (e.g. Poland). I consider this much worse than wheel's degrees.

I am happy with the way my DiRT Rally 2.0 is set up, I have quite a lot of fun and each rally is always extremely demanding on concentration for me. My results here and in other places show I am quite a slow driver, and sadly I am not able to throw the car around and do Scandinavian flicks and all that cool stuff others do, just like real rallying. I end up driving quite "neatly" across stages. But I have fun nonetheless, and that's my ultimate goal in sim-racing. It has been for over 10 years now.

I wrote my post above with all of the best intentions!

Of course, 1080 degrees in all cars is not realistic at all, I agree. The soft lock works fine for me, I definitely have less rotation with the more modern cars than with the historic ones. I know that for the soft lock to work, first the wheel needs to be calibrated again in the game, and then the soft lock option can be turned on, and it will work (see this document, section 3.3).

It doesn't matter what we call it it could be named a "super-power-assisted steering" What wheel do you have, out of curiosity? I also drive with cockpit view and nothing at all on the hud, because I like the realism to the max. Anything other than that is an "assist" in my book, but that's only my book and only I have to care about it others think differently as there are many advantages, and I can understand that. We all have the freedom to play our way

Seems like you drive according to the Loeb school and as long as you have fun, that's the first most important thing! More speed comes after that (and frustration can come with it too...)