Starting out....

[Cavetastic]

Hi,

I am not entirely sure if I should be posting here or if there is something I should first read but anyway apologies if that's the case.

I am entirely new to racing sims. I tried out R3E about 8 weeks ago and loved it enough to buy a wheel and the '92 DTM pack and one or two tracks. I pretty much spend my time in R3E playing with the Audi quattro on a short Monza layout with Adaptive AI. I would like now to race with other people and try and learn properly as I am not entirely sure what I am doing. Club racing seems to be the way to go so I have signed up here and now have a few questions.

1. Which cars and tracks should I buy first to start my club racing journey?

2. How do I learn? I assume i dont just jump into a race. I guess I should race with others of my very humble level until I get better or practice with others better than me. I am not sure how I can put that together.

3. is there something I should maybe be reading or studying

I appreciate your patience.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Cavetastic]

Hmm just read my welcome email. All the info I want seems to be there! Sorry about that. Off to read.

 

[Cosmic]

Welcome aboard!

Be sure to check out the forums @ http://www.sector3studios.com/ as well.

Also I highly recommend the "crew chief" add-on by Mr Belowski

 

[mr_belowski]

Yeah, Crew Chief is entirely awesome and it'll make all the girls want you

Don't get bogged down trying to learn how to do stuff before actually doing it. The only way you learn is by actually doing it.

Buy one of the packs (maybe DTM 2013 as it's probably cheap and has a few tracks), then test drive a few cars. I suggest buying one of each type you like (e.g. a single WTCC 2014, one GTR2, one ADAC 2014, one Group 5 - these tend to be the most popular ones). This will allow you to race the car you own against AI / online drivers with cars in that same class even if you don't own them. There's some new content coming soon (Spa, ADAC GTM 2015, DTM 2015) so save some money to buy stuff in a month or two. Have a rummage through the Race Room store for the best value in terms of number of tracks in each pack.

Also, and this is *very important*.... if you buy packs of content, get them in separate transactions. You get a discount for a pack if you already own some of that pack's content, but as far as I know it's only applied if you've already completed the purchase on that already-owned content.

Before racing a car / track combo online, it's a good idea if you've done a little offline practice so you can string some laps together. Give other racers some room, expect them to brake early, and strive to keep out of trouble

 

[mr_belowski]

Oh, and if you do check out Crew Chief, make sure you get it from the Sector3 forums, in the Community Workshop thread. This will be the latest version and the first post in the thread contains lots of useful info (and the correct download link)

 

[xnorb]

Club races usually take place on tracks i don't own

I wouldn't mind too much trying to catch up with the fast drivers, it simply will not happen.
They have years of experience in their legs and arms and will always beat you by seconds.

Just keep your personal race clean while watching better drivers how they drive and get used to the racing atmosphere. I've had my races at the far back of the pack. It's not much fun that way, but there's nothing like wasted time. You keep on improving and learning all the time.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Welcome to the club @Cavetastic
Great to see you here in the RaceDepartment forums mate, look forward to seeing you out on track with us soon buddy, its a great place to race and have fun with other like minded members and frustrated racing drivers

All the advice above is very good advice fella, as mentioned by mr_belowski, you only need 1 car from a pack to be able to race against the other cars from that pack, both offline and online. For example you could buy the 2014 Chevy and still race against the Lada, Civic and Citroën in single player and here in the club races.. be warned, buying content gets addictive because its all soooo good!
Personally I would recommend snapping up as many of the tracks as you can afford, as these are masterpieces and each one is recreated in such fine detail, they are all worth a purchase.... be aware that some packs also contain tracks (ADAC and WTCC 13 and DTM 2013/14 for example), so some good discounts can be had with those purchases.

Regarding racing in our club, or most prominent cars we use are the WTCC 2014, GTR3, DTM92 and ADAC.. so if you have something from those you usually have something to race with us (assuming you own the track of course!).
We run 1 track per week with different cars each day, further details can be seen <here>.

Please take the time to read our club racing rules <here> for a better understanding of how we operate..
I would agree with the above post from mr_belowski, try and run some offline laps to get a good understanding of where the turns are, what your car is doing under you etc... but to be honest the best way to learn (and have fun) is to come along to some races with us (its a friendly atmosphere) and do some racing... I've learnt loads racing here, in our club events its about having fun without the emphasis on times and being competitive.. just come along and enjoy!

Any questions mate, always feel free to shout up and someone will be more than happy to help you out

Cheers buddy, and welcome once again!

 

[mr_belowski]

Final piece of advice from me is to keep focused, keep pushing, and finish the race. Don't get into the habit of quitting as soon as things go south. Drive each and every lap like it really matters and even if your pace isn't great and you're a long way back, in many races you'll reap unexpected and very satisfying rewards

 

[xnorb]

Ya - finishing the race under all circumstances should be a habit.
No matter how often you get lapped or how much time you lost in that damn spin, always race until the end. Else you'll lack the experience later on when it counts.

 

[Cavetastic]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I will pick an event next week and start practising for it and try my best to keep out of the way.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[M.Bohlken]

And not to forget: watch out for the regular Sales from Raceroom so you can complete your selection of tracks...than you won't have any problems with the Club Races

 

[Sean Kenney]

I started a year ago....it takes time. I went through so many different iterations and styles of racing in the growing periods.

 

[Keith Joyce]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I will pick an event next week and start practising for it and try my best to keep out of the way.

Cheers,
Alan

LOL - 'keep out of the way' is what I try to practise too!!!

 

[Kenny Paton]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I will pick an event next week and start practising for it and try my best to keep out of the way.

Cheers,
Alan

Tag me for the race you enter and that'll make sure you don't finish last.