rec.autos.simulators

    ....and to think they are allowed to vote and even run empires! Of
course, the ?owner? who can be heard to say "I knew she'd do that" isn't too
bright either. Mega sin!

I think it feels bad (different) because we are used to driving "race"
cars in sims more so that stock street cars.  When I've had my street
car on the track, it feels a lot like the Solstice.  In a sim that might
seam boring, but in the real world, it is a lot of fun.

I am not so down on the Solstice. The race techniques are the same
across cars (for the most part), and I feel one can learn and have fun
in any motored vehicle ... not to dismiss people's car preferences
obviously :)  I guess I'm just a race nut that given the chance would
race anything.

That's not to say the Solstice is all bad... but after driving it in
seven races now, with plenty more to go before I hit 4.0 and a chance to
buy & race a Skippy, I think I may have to tape my hands to the wheel.
They're developing an aversion to driving that tank. :->

Still, I did have a little fun yesterday. The influx of new *** led to
more incidents for me to watch from my perpetual backmarker's spot, and
one "FU!" (not aimed at me, I hasten to add). I finally felt like I was
racing in the real world rather than the Stepford Wives Racing Club. ;-)

Andrew McP

Not if I repeat what happened yesterday during a push for 4. Racing with
some new rookies (all were faster than me, but a few were a lot more
inconsistent & dangerous) I had several deliberate grass excursions to
avoid trouble, and then a final lap T1 spin, leaving me face on into the
lapping traffic. My SR or *** pressure may never be the same again. :-)

Andrew McP

And tonight's headlines...

Andrew MacPherson survives two more races and somehow manages to get his
SR up to 4.44. A spokesman for Andrew MacPherson said "Andrew is grateful
to those who've recently joined iRacing. Your sideways antics have made
him feel a little better about his embarrassingly slow driving at Lime
Rock. You may be faster than his 1:07-9s, despite all those crashes, but
I get to buy a Skippy now and embarrass myself in front of iRacing
veterans, so ner-ner, ne ner-ner! :-p"

Andrew MacPherson launches a protest aimed at altering iRacing's anally
retentive policy on incidents. "If I finish a race and fancy kicking the
back end out when I'm coming to a halt in the run-off area at T1, I don't
expect to earn a x2 penalty for losing control, ok? I didn't lose control,
I did exactly what I wanted to do! I mean, it's only a sim guys, lighten
up! Neither do I expect to earn a x3 penalty for hitting a barrier once
qualification's over.

Andrew MacPherson gets his credit card out and goes off to buy a Skippy &
track to race it on. He feels exploited and dirty for getting
semi-assimilated into the imm***virtual crack den that is
i-no-swearing-please-we're-easily offended-Racing, but still can't resist
the lure. He even finds himself contemplating the fact that if he
cancelled his monthly payment to Oxfam, he could race iRacing 'for free'.

A spokesman for the governing body of MacPherson Motorsport said: "We are
clearly concerned that the ethical standards of this organisation have
slipped in recent days. However the credit crunch is forcing us to
consider all possibilities when facing future racing commitments."

A spokesman for Oxfam said: "You lowlife! How could such a thought ever
cross your mind?"

Andrew MacPherson's personal assistant replied: "Well maybe if you
stopped sending me paperwork every month requesting more money for yet
another good cause I might still be feeling a bit more charitable."

And finally... I've just noticed that the last race report (with the
kicked out back end incident) shows no incidents reported. Maybe I got
away with it after all. I certainly didn't the other day with the
post-qualification prang though.

Andrew "to Skip or not to Skip?" McP

And bought this week (essential) & next week's tracks. That's 51 more of
those increasingly worthless dollars in iRacing's coffers. I really
should've held off buying the second track, but that 10% discount for the
third item was too much to resist, and... and...

I feel dirty and used. Used to coming last anyway. And dirty from the
virtual exhaust I've been inhaling all week from the back of the race.
Maybe all that carbonline monoxide has left me brain damaged? That's the
only way I can explain this tragic loss of financial control.

Andrew McP

Ah, but the Shelby Cobra used a *Britsh* racing body with a huge american
designed engine so that explains it. Corvette design is good too so
Americans are not complete failures at designing good sports cars.

I know what you mean! When I was a member of Amnesty International every
charity in the world considered me their "friend".

Ignoring that depressing statistic, the Skip Barber 2000 is very nice to
get into. I'd forgotten how claustrophobic those closed***pits are
until someone took the sheet metal cutter to my car frame and delivered
something with a bit more breathing room.

My first impression though was to rip the gearbox out and replace first
gear. I suspect it's kept deliberately long to minimise start line antics,
but it definitely masks the car's performance when you first put the foot
down looking for a little GPL-esque throttle action.

Still, that's the least of my problems. Infineon is a tricky track. It's
one of those annoying places which seems to be infinitely configurable.
So you've got bits of spare tarmac and optional race line everywhere,
ready to lead your anticipation astray. Throw in several *** blind
turns, some unfriendly camber, even less friendly 'grass', and a
surrounding landscape which -- like Laguna Seca -- is clearly suffering
from a bit of premature global warming, and you've got a fairly
challenging experience. It's taken me about 20 laps to feel even remotely
comfortable there... taking me down to about 1:58, which is only about
12s off the pace, I believe.

Ah, now I understand why Max Mosely gets such a thrill out of paying
people to beat him... iRacing is a taking a whip to my backside, and
showing me what a bad, bad, *bad* driver I've always been.

Andrew 've haff means ant vays off makink you valk back to ze pits' McP

Hey Andy,

thanks again for sharing your feelings and thoughts during your
iracing bout. It's always interesting to hear about another viewpoint,
and in most cases I totally agree with you (esp. the *** pressure
part and the bit about having to tape your hands to the wheel).

Not meaning to put a "damper" on your new-found enthusiasm, but for
some reason the novelty and relative fun driving the Skippy after
being forced to drive the milk truck wore off after another week or so
(at least in my case). Hope you'll like it better, because I too
*want* to like iRacing, but in its current form it simply fails to
provide the motviation needed to keep going. My subscription lasts
until December, maybe they'll come up with something new that gets me
going again.

All the best,

Uwe

Still, it salves my wasteful western conscience a *tiny* bit to know I'm
at least trying to help someone somewhere... even if that someone is only
my local postman, who gets to keep his job thanks to all the charity junk
mail. ;-)

Andrew McP

I suspect I will end up with another month to get the most out of today's
purchases. However I fail to see how iRacing is ever going to maintain
critical mass among different skill levels with so many race formats.
Even for free after an initial purchase I think it'd be a struggle for
them.

The fact that you're forced to race on only one track per week will help,
but I think that will put off as many people as it brings together. It's
a very difficult balance to get right.

As for me... well, ultimately I know I will tire of being a backmarker...
I did in GPL despite the excellent community (even before GPL died the
death of a thousand tracks and mods). And this time the 'club' nature of
iRacing is much less relaxed than GPL via VROC. That in itself will
probably ensure that I tire sooner rather than later.

We will see. So far though it's been an interesting, if frustrating,
journey that's cost me a bit more than one full price game release. If it
proves to be a dead end for me, I can easily live with that.

And when all's said and done, I think the sim world's a better place for
having Kaemmer still working in it (unlike so many excellent flight sim
creators of the past). So part of me thinks I should keep on subscribing
just to try and ensure that.

Maybe if they add the 'Ring to iRacing it'll help? Lol! Imagine what that
track would cost to buy, based on the cost of existing tracks... probably
about $200. :-)

Andrew McP

LOL!  Well if nothing else your hard earned money has gone to keeping a
few of us here entertained.  Congrats on the "promotion". Glad to see
driving the slowstice didn't do any permanent damage. ;-)

Let us know if they do come up that "something new".

Ken

Welcome to the skippy. I have almost never run road coarses before iRacing
so this is all new to me. I've been getting ready to attempt my first skip
race this weekend at VIR. So far I'm 8 seconds off the pace so come on in
and you can pass me :)
Don