Where's all the racers?

[Vaughn Stegeman]

Now, i haven't been around here very long. But even in the short time I HAVE been here, I've been noticing a fall-off in the numbers of club race entries.
Why is that? Have I bought a dead (or dying) game here?
Race 07 is a lot of fun!! It was hailed as getting the most out of the physics engine. Its graphics still look fine to me (tho, as often noted, a bit lacking in the perception of speed) and SimBin apparently has a good reputation for their force-feedback and tracks and cars ...
What's going on here?
Is it the new games coming out? I don't quite get that, since both Asetto Corsa and rFactor 2 are still not yet actually released.
Why do people appear to be abandoning Race 07??
I just don't understand.
C'MON people!! Get in on these races. They just aren't that much fun with grids of 5 people.
To me, just because a game was released 6 years ago doesn't make it 'old' or render it somehow 'unplayable'. And I don't understand how ANY racing game could ever become boring. After all, it's about you vs. the other drivers. Or you vs. the car and track vs. yourself. What's boring about that?
HELL!! If I could get it to run right, I'd still be playing Sports Car GT!!! That was and still is a great game.

 

[Yves Larose]

well for me the answer is this one, first i'm part of 2 leagues (GTL and rFactor) that run every 2 weeks so i need to practice for them so it limited my club racing time. second i'm now into GTL more cause the cars suit me more (RWD), i know lots of the Race 07 serie cars are also RWD cars but i've been playing the game for many years now and done alot of racing club races so i kinda got bored with them. i'm not a big fan of the GT classes or the WTCC except the WTCC 87 ones, the cars that i love to race in Race 07 serie are not often use or not use at all, i love the caterham(race 07), the US muscle cars(Race On) both street and race version, the Retro Cool and Max(Retro Expension), the gen 4 and 5 Camaro Cup(STCC 1 and 2) and some mods like the V8 Supercars so basically you can't see that most of the events posted doesn't fit what i love to race.

 

[H34d5h07]

I became a member of RD a couple of years ago. Ohh man, it was the best time ever. Online racing everywhere. And the were always new mods to be found. It felt like Christmas. Everyday.

Stock content was mixed with new tracks, and cars, from the best mod ever created.

Then all of sudden RD decided to pretty much just run stock content for this game. And to me, (and many others I bet) that was like getting a stab in the back. I left, becuase I was really tired of the stock content. And I am pretty sure many others did the same. Few weeks ago I came back again, and RD still use the good old tracks with the same good old cars. A few tracks, may be added from time to time (Like SPA). And I guess that is why. People are getting tired of the old stuff. I always check the racing club on daily basis, hoping something fresh will show up.

Im pretty sure people are just tired of driving the same old cars on the same old tracks. It does not mean they are tired of the game, or the cars, or the tracks.
I mean I play Race07 several hours each day. With new mods and tracks.

 

[Leon Charmant]

I always check the racing club on daily basis, hoping something fresh will show up.

Im pretty sure people are just tired of driving the same old cars on the same old tracks. It does not mean they are tired of the game, or the cars, or the tracks.

THIS! I wasn't even here a couple of years ago.. but where are all the mod events?! I genuinely appreciate the work the guys are doing for the Race07 club, but to be honest the racing club has to step up its game.

I've actually said this quite a few times already.. but we need new, fresh cars to drive! Fortunately we occasionally see wonderful add-on tracks, but never add-on cars.

It's hard to predict which car and track combo will do very well in terms of sign-ups, but there are definitely classic and golden combo's out there (can anybody name a few examples?)

Then it's just a matter of advertising the event on the RD frontpage.. the current ''This Week In The X Racing Club'' format doesn't seem to attract a lot of attention. It's kinda tucked away beneath all the major headlines. It needs to be more visible, I think

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Since you have been away, there was a major hack and cheat issue that destroyed online public racing in weeks. Someone had a crutch against SimBin and some of the major sites (not just RD, it was an attack on the whole community) and released a hack that made invincible, no-rules full-on-cheat F3000 available on any race, regardless of server settings (they could go 200km/h and just fly all cars off the track and not get affected by mass, collision...drive reversed, move before grid was formed etc etc..). That and the whole skidrow pirated and hacked version that at the same time released thousands of anonymous idiots on the loose, making every league and site to inspect their own gamers and their legitimacy, causing a backlash and horrible workload for admins.

At these times RD was transferring to new forum software, making Race07 archives disappear (it was necessary, i know, this is way better than what we had before). Then there was the no-modded-content-racing period and surprise surprise, it was ALSO on these same months making a lot of legal content vanish. This all was truly a horrific chain of events, all unrelated to one another but combined them all in short period... Race07 was almost destroyed.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Steam made some dents on the dwindling userbase: they made a horrible update mess accidentally updating Race to move from steamapps\[user]\Race07 to common\Race07.. Tiny detail but we had to install the game every other day, got endless checking cache, loosing customskins and settings etc. I personally know a few who uninstalled the game and haven't looked back since.

 

[Yves Larose]

Leon Charmant from memory when i was staff here some mods tthat had some success in the racing club, the DTM, the Porsche cup and the V8 supercars.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Sorry, posted this on the wrong thread, remove please.

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

Thanks for the responses everyone!
That is interesting: Mods. Why ARE there no mod races here?
I would LOVE to run some DTM, Porsche, Porsche v Ferrari, LMP ... S'up with that?
The recent Radical race seemed to attract a decent number of folks.
And regarding the hack, steam issue, forum rearrangement. That is a sad story. Sucks indeed that people decided to abandon the game because of that. I've seen no hackers in-game. Ever. Even on public servers. Crashers yes, but no game-hacks (that I'm aware of)
Anyhow, let's keep it goin here. Let's address the issues that have been causing Race 07 to die here.
I also race on Race2Play, and we generally get pretty good grids over there.I bet we can do it here as well.

 

[Leon Charmant]

May I suggest some awesome car mods and tracks to drive on Dennis Phelan and David Buxton?

- DTM (2008-2010)
- Escort V8 Challenge 2009
- V8 Supercars 2010
- Porsche 997RSR vs. Ferrari F430

But why overlook some of the best work of RaceDepartment's own members? Here are my personal favourites:

- Super Touring '95 - '00 by AndreasFSC
- BTCC '01 - '04 by AndreasFSC
- Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 by FuNK!

Here are some, in my eyes, magnificent combo’s:

DTM 2010 @ Istanbul
DTM 2010 @ Hockenheim
DTM 2010 @ Nürbürgring GP
DTM 2010 @ Sebring 2005
DTM 2010 @ Norisring 2005
DTM 2010 @ Silverstone 2011
DTM 2010 @ Surfers Paradise 2004 (newly released)

V8 Supercars @ Sebring 2005
V8 Supercars @ Watkins Glen
V8 Supercars @ Sandown Raceway 2012 (newly released)
V8 Supercars @ Pukekohe 2013 (newly released)
V8 Supercars @ Surfers Paradise 2004 (newly released)

Porsche 997RSR / Ferrari F430 @ Catalunya (Barcelona GP 2007)
Porsche 997RSR / Ferrari F430 @ Sebring 2005
Porsche 997RSR / Ferrari F430 @ Nürbürgring GP
Porsche 997RSR / Ferrari F430 @ Silverstone 2011
Porsche 997RSR / Ferrari F430 @ Hungaroring 2011
Porsche 997RSR / Ferrari F430 @ Valencia Street Circuit

Escort V8 Challenge 2009 @ Sebring 2005
Escort V8 Challenge 2009 @ Laguna Seca
Escort V8 Challenge 2009 @ Hockenheim
Escort V8 Challenge 2009 @ Oschersleben
Escort V8 Challenge 2009 @ Charade 2011

BTCC 2004 @ Brands Hatch
BTCC 2004 @ Donington 2011
BTCC 2004 @ Silverstone 2011

(I’d recommend the 2004 season since it has the most cars)

Super Touring ’97 @ Istanbul
Super Touring ’97 @ Spa 2008
Super Touring ’97 @ Jarama GP
Super Touring ’97 @ Laguna Seca
Super Touring ’97 @ Brands Hatch
Super Touring ’97 @ Silverstone 2011

(I’d recommend the ’97 season since it has the most cars)

Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 @ Vayline Motors Raceway
Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 @ Croft ‘07
Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 @ Hungaroring 2011
Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 @ Monaco 2007
Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 @ Zandvoort Club
Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 @ Hockenheim Short
Toyota Corolla Cup 2012 @ Brands Hatch Indy

 

[Hiroshi Awazu]

Leon Charmant, wow!

I'd be nice to see True 2 Life Racings Toyota AE86 Club and Clio Cup 08 being used once in a while here too.

I, like Yves would also like to see some of the U.S Muscle cars being used, the Volvo 240 Turbo, and how about the Formula Masters cars?

 

[Leon Charmant]

I'd be nice to see True 2 Life Racings Toyota AE86 Club and Clio Cup 08 being used once in a while here too.

I, like Yves would also like to see some of the U.S Muscle cars being used, the Volvo 240 Turbo, and how about the Formula Masters cars?

Yes, we need more cup mods!

Honestly, and I'm gonna make a bold suggestion here... the Mini Friday needs to make way for an awesome cup mod for trying out. A car similar to the Mini, like the Clio or Toyota Corolla. I remember that, a long time ago, I asked a staff member (forgot who exactly) who was then organising Race07 club events about the Clio Cup. He said that it wasn't possible to run the Clio's since there were some conflicts between the creators and some others, or something. But perhaps such issues have been resolved (and time has passed by, so why not use it)? Anyhow, it's about time to start using some cup mods.

And, most important of all: Advertise the event clearly! Get people interested

 

[Dennis Phelan]

There is already an IFM race in the cue, coming up shortly!
Great handling cars, easy to setup and they drive like stink.

 

[James Fellows]

Left ages ago because of stupid changes no one wanted or asked for. Some people are still around and a couple of guys sometimes make an appearance but because of the availability of league racing elsewhere and due to the lack of non-stock racing, there isn't much incentive to return.

 

[Rui F. Martins]

I have the same problem That Yves, i'm in the GTL league and the rfactor league, plus the semester's ending so i have few free time to do club races, if it wasn't that i would do more club races, especially retro nigths and touring cars,

As Leon Charmant said the DTM and V8's would be great, unfortunatelyu the DTM doesn't seem to have a good attendance, i've signed up for a couple of DTM races and there were only a ouple of sign ups, but i think that it can create good races. Regarding V8's it would be really cool if we have a special event, longer than usual, as we did some time ago at Mid-Ohio, I had to sign out form that race, but there were a good amount sign ups

 

[Yves Larose]

if the V8 Supercars mod is going to be use may i suggest that the 2010 version instead of the 2009 in my opinion they are the most enjoyable to drive and thats the version that was use in the V8 Supercars IronMan events that i put up when i was staff.

p.s. if the staff decide to put up a V8 Supercars IronMan event i am willing to help with everything that is required to be done for the event

 

[Leon Charmant]

Yves Larose There is also a 2011 version. I vaguely remember that the 2010 version is preferred because the 2011 cars have horrible stripes across the windscreen? Might be a number of other reasons, but I've changed it in my list.

I sincerely hope the racing club organisers will look at everyone's suggestions and host an awesome event soon.

 

[Yves Larose]

Leon Charmant the stripes across the windscreen in the 2011 have been remove if i remember correctly (might only be the crossbar). the big problem with the 2011 version while Gunthar claim it's the same physic as the 2010 version the 2011 are much more understeering then the 2010 version.

 

[James Fellows]

V8 Supercars IronMan

yes yes YES

 

[H34d5h07]

LOL this is great. As soon as we started to talk about mods, ppl are gathering like bees around honey! AWESOME!

 

[Guus]

Just did some of the combos Leon mentioned and damn, DTM is fantastic! I had that mod sitting in my game all this time but never tried it out