rec.autos.simulators

     Me, I'm the rookie. Prompted by my NASCAR fanatic son who said he
wanted to kick my ***online (He's 35 and lives 8 miles away) I picked up
Sierra's NASCAR 4.  While I am a big PC Game fan I have been playing
military simulations almost totally. For the first time in years I find
myself competing against folks that I cannot blow up or shoot down. I am
having a blast but, needless to say, I have a ways to go before I am
competitive. "Winning", however,  is not my concern for the moment.
     I am confident that, with practice, I will be able to make a
respectable showing in any crowd but in the mean time I need  a place to go
online where I can get some practice against other humans without creating a
hazard for the "Big Boys" and spoiling any "serious" racing they are doing
by accidentally taking one or two of them out of the race by my "rookie
mistakes". Wiping out every competetor  in the room will earn you a lot of
respect in the flight sims but I imagine the racing community frowns on such
events.

    When I went online the other day I had hoped to find races labeled "For
Newbies" or "Rookies" or other such but none of the races I saw had any such
designation. I went into a few of them with the intention of asking the
host: "Hi, I'm  new at this, mind if I play?" but there was no "chat room"
as is usually found with most flight sims. Everyone was out on the track and
it is difficult to chat at 180mph even in a practice run. This left  me the
choice of either blindly jumping into the game and taking the chance of
intruding my rookie ass in on a "serious" race and spoiling it for the Vets
or backing out and going home. This situation may not bother a guy who
doesn't care if he get in the way but it does bother me. I fully intend to
play with the "Big Boys" as soon as I can do so without getting in the way
but in the mean time I need to know where the rookies hang out.
    So where do you guys hang the fresh meat?

Joe, I was on yesterday & last night for about 5hrs... yea 5hrs and I saw
a server with "For Newbies & Rookies Only Please.".. So I believe they
do have them... Also try to find a group of newer N4 drivers {and there
are many} that are willing to help you in the smaller races. 'i.e. 3-5-9. If
they get too *huffy* with you just leave and try another... We all had to
start online one time or another so enjoy!! Cheers Thom_j.

|     When I went online the other day I had hoped to find races labeled
"For
| Newbies" or "Rookies" or other such but none of the races I saw had any
such
| designation.

Cool post.  If everyone thought the way you did, there wouldn't be such a
big problem.  lol

The answer to your question is that there is no organized way of finding
newbie servers.  I do a lot of flight simming, too, and it's basically the
same (unless you join a squadron, etc., which isn't my thing).  Sometimes
you get lucky and find such a server (although experienced guys join anyway
for the easy pickings), other times you just have to take the heat and jump
in whereever you can.

Pardon a few exceptions, it has been my experience that newbies aren't
given a hard time for not knowing how to play any given game, but rather
just for lacking all common sense regarding online play in general.  You
basically know how it all works etiquette-wise based on your online flight
simming and like I said, the fact that you asked is part of the solution in
itself.

It's fine if you can't drive very well.  It's not fine if you try to race
the guys who can into the first turn of the race, or at any time when
they're lapping you.  Let them go, you'll be able to find the other newbies
soon enough as they make their way back onto the track -- hehe.  Pair up
and race with the guys who drive like you, staying ever alert for that
"race leader is coming up behind you" warning, then do nothing else but get
the heck out of the way.  Maintain situation awareness (flight sim term --
 hehe) with regard to the race leaders using F2 and <space>.  If you don't
ruin their race, they won't care if you suck.  In fact, they'll go nuts for
you if they see you making a bonafide effort to just stay out of their way.  
That's really all most people ask.

It's not being terrible that annoys good drivers, it's not doing anything
about the fact that you're terrible and trying to drive like you aren't.  
:)

Good luck,
Rick

Serious races are PW'd
Online is nothing like it was, and it wasnt that great then
Join as many races as you can and just try to stay 'above' the petty ***

A few thoughts for you to ponder...

I have 7 years online racing behind me so trust me, Ive learned the hardway

I dont chat AT ALL while racing
If it dont fit in an autochat msg Im not typing it
After the race, if its important enough, I will make a fair attempt to find
the person in question and either apologize, or, if its someone Ive learned
has infulence, or a LOT of experience, I will try to engage them in
conversation
But Im not there to chat idley (sp), Im there to race
If your going to join pickup races sooner or later your going to tic someone
off
Usually, its some foul-mouth kid, or some arrogant *** you wouldnt think
to invite to your house, so its best to just acquire some thick skin and
move on
The veterans can tell the difference between an honest mistake and an
*** so dont let it bother you

One thing to keep in mind, and this is harder than most people think, but
your racing against 1000s of strangers, unlike any real life racing
WC deals with the same 40+ guys week in and week out, and even then, they
run in packs
Dale Jarret is a great guy and Im a big fan of his clean driving, but watch
a race where he gets caught up running with the back markers and damn if you
wont see tire marks all over his car :)
Racing online is more akin to walking into a 20,000 sqft Gilleys online a
dry Sat nite in Texas wearing a suit n tie...Or worse asking the bartender
for a glass of milk :)

Keep at it, there is no other thrill in sims like racing real life drivers