rec.autos.simulators

Dave, thought someone would have you answered by now.  Here's my take on it:

1) Go to  http://www.racesimcentral.net/, & pick a # not already in use.
Read the suggested rules, peruse the other pages, & paint a car, or use one of
the in game cars & change the driver info (your name, etc) & save it as a unique
car file (i.e. mine is 15_bfarmer.cup.car)

2) Download the appropriate carset(s) from:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/, including the *Rascar.lst*
file

3) Upload your.car file to:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/;including in
your post your
  Name
  Sierra ID
  Country

4) While there, also get any newer .car files not included in the carsets you
have already downloaded. (checking  the Rascar.lst file is the easiest way to
figure out which cars you don't already have)  Also, make sure that any (1) that
appear in the .car file names are removed.  Going back at least 90 days &
reading some of the older posts will explain more.

5) Show up at Sierra's East Lobby 9 a little b4 4pm Eastern (US) Time, & join
the fun
    Server is RASCAR
    Password is ras

Simple, huh?    ;-)

Brian

ps  Others will have to fill in things I'm sure I've missed.  This all assumes
you are familiar w/ N2002's Opponent Manager.  If not...

--
Richard "ZZ" Busch

Member:
Screamers Racing League
CORS
RASCAR
GPL Rank + 17.46
MoGPL Rank + 349.43

http://www.ZZBusch.com
----------------
Busch Motorsports:
Remember racecar is racecar spelled backward
-----------------
Busch Carpentry:
A good carpenter can nail anything
-----------------

I took Larry and ZZ's advice and got some serious offline practice in
traffic. That place is deadly! In the draft it's like skating on ice to hold
the chosen line and if someone drifts up on you it's all over. I booked an
early visit to the pub in expectation.

Come the race however, the quality of driving was superb overall - never had
so much fun on a SS before. In traffic all the way and (where I was) never
came close to a touch. Well done guys and well done Ed for a fine piece of
strategy. Can't wait for next week now :0

cya

--
Richard "ZZ" Busch

Member:
Screamers Racing League
CORS
RASCAR
GPL Rank + 17.46
MoGPL Rank + 349.43

----------------
Busch Motorsports:
Remember racecar is racecar spelled backward
-----------------
Busch Carpentry:
A good carpenter can nail anything
-----------------

Too bad for Mike G. and Jan though. Jan's engine blew up again (he's having
my kind of luck lately) and Mike had some weird damage. Watching him try to
take the turns after his damage was amusing. :-)

David G Fisher

Brian Oster

Have to admit I had a bad feeling about this one, but it turned out alright.

I only tried overtaking once... car just went over the front axle as I
turned in on the low line. Good thing it re-stuck itself or I would have
wiped out big time. Scary place, let's back away from it slowly, whistling
some inane tune and make a break for it when we get a head start (Scooby Doo
style! ;-)).

On the contrary, my luck is definately improving. Been some time since I've
been involved in an unavoidable collision. The motor is just the car telling
me it didn't like the way I drove it.

Jan.
=---

However upon watching the replay it's become quite clear to me that we
*must* have some sort of rulebook for RASCAR.  Just this race alone I've
found atleast 3 or 4 issues that, IMHO, should never have occured.

We must have some sort of rulebook that make us all play by the same
rules...

It does not have to be big at all (I'm thinking 5-10 paragraphs/rules max)
and it can be posted here along with the race information before each event.

I've also taken the libery to make a draft:

RASCAR RULEBOOK Rev. 0.5

1. All races are run with the following settings: 40% lenght - Fixed setup
("fast") - Yellows on - forced smoke - *forced***pit* - single file
restarts. Weather is fixed at 70 deg F. / no wind.  For now, yellows are
turned off on roadcourses. Also, if things improve we might revert back to
double-file restarts.

2. No passing until backstraight:
You are not allowed to pass the car *in front* of you until you reach the
back-straight. This is done in an attempt to make driver relax more on
restarts and to avoid over-aggressive driving/diving into turn 1 on start /
restart. You may on the other hand pass the car above or below you on the
start, but you cannot change line until you reach the back straight.
NOTE: The only exception to this rule is if you know the car in front of you
is heavily damaged or in other kinds of troubles. You may then switch lanes
to pass it - providing this can be done safely.

3. No racing back to the line during yellows:
When a yellow is waved racing should stop and everyone should ease off and
safely make their way across the S/F-line and behind the pace-car. Be
prepared to avoid any stranded cars if needed. When there's 10 laps or less
left of the race - racing back to the line *IS* permitted.

4. Accidents:
Drivers involved in any accidents have 2 priorities:
First and formost; "Stop" or do whatever it takes to avoid causing any
damage to other cars. Secondly get their car back across the S/F-line and
into the pit without making a mess of it all.  Meaning that if you
crash/spin/etc.: You have stop and let the whole field pass you - IF that's
what it takes to gurantee that you wont hit anyone once the yellow is waved.

5. During cautions/pacelaps:
Pace speed is to be uphold at all times. Every driver should try to keep
within 2-4 car-lenghts of the car infront. Pitting on restarts is *not*
permitted unless you are the *last* in line.

5. Chatting:
Everyone *must* have in-car chat enabled.
Chatting during racing is to be kept at a very minimum. However informative
chat messages/autochat that's relate to action on the track is permitted.
Chatting during yellows is permitted too, but not encouraged unless you are
comfortable with doing so.

6. Other:
All rules as enforced on us by N2002 counts...  To get the full
understanding of what they are,  watch the 'driving lessons' in N2002. When
in doubt - listen to your spotter and follow his directions and you cant go
wrong.

7: Every (registered) driver must use the car-number given to him upon
registration and the "approved" paint-job he has provided to the RASCAR
roster.

8. Last but not least; think fast, be patience and drive safely.  Use your
mirrors and the 'F2-box' [F2 + Space] to keep track of your fellow
competitors.

Remember: you don't win on the first lap - you win on the last!

What do you guys think?
Comments and views are very welcomed.

--
ed_

Single file has been working out pretty well... then again I have not
found myself in a position where it might hurt me.  Wish we could make
double file restarts work, though.

I have to disagree here.  We have not been having problems on
re-starts lately.  This would probably be ok IF we were all about the
same skill level.  I think this would just cause more problems then it
would fix and would eliminate a very important part of racing.

Fine with me.  Also, if you are in the middle of a pass when the
yellow come out, go ahead and try and complete the pass.  Also, I
would allow lap down cars the opportunity to try and get their lap
back AND the leader the opportunity to try and prevent them.

With regards to pitting on restarts, I guess I don't understand A) Why
you would do this and B) what would be the problem if you did.

Cause (cause, not involved in)  2 or more incidents and you should
probably park it.  We are gonna have to call our own fouls for this to
work.

On re-starts with less then 10 laps to go, lap down cars should drive
through the pit lane when the 1 to go is given so that only lead lap
cars will be at the font.  (I saw this one on a league's rules.
Sounds good in theory, but I don't know how well it works in
practice.)

Brian Oster

you are really letting this racing stuff distort reality, nobody is gonna do
that nonsense

in fact, you may be insane

--
Richard "ZZ" Busch

Member:
Screamers Racing League
CORS
RASCAR
GPL Rank + 17.46
MoGPL Rank + 349.43
----------------
Busch Motorsports:
Remember racecar is racecar spelled backward
-----------------
Busch Carpentry:
A good carpenter can nail anything
-----------------

Looks good... two things.

1) I'm not too keen on the force***pit option. Although I use***pit view
exclusively to drive, the other views are good way to asses damage under
yellow and the roof view comes in handy to line up correctly in one's pit
stall in a tight pitlane. At Sears Point, e.g., a couple inches either side
of dead center decides whether you get 4 tyres or not.

2) not racing yellows... I'm as ok with that as with the current all-out
option. However, I would like to point out this carries a danger of people
slowing erratically and thus for knock-on incidents.

Jan.
=---

[snip]

Agree with all of this

Not sure on this one as I've never had a problem but I can see the sense of
it. Vote = yes :)

Don't agree with this one. I feel it's much safer to keep the pace up to a
point where everyone knows for sure you'll be backing off, i.e. the next s/f
line.

waved.

Don't agree. If you're damaged, for sure this is the way to go. If you've
just spun a 360 it's way safer to stay high and get back up to speed and
carry on. I wouls agree that you must pose minimum danger to other
competitiors but an enforced pit is not the way to go I feel - too
artificial.

Rules 5-8:

definitely agree with all.

Just my 2 cents

Regards

Hmm, I think I've seen this rule before, somewhere....... :-))))

I absolutly do NOT agree with forced***pit, and for the following
reasons:

A) There is a rear-view mirror for all driving views while racing (at
least for***pit, roof and chase.  (This was not the case for GPL, as
the only time you could get mirrors was in***pit mode.)

B) If your hood gets pushed up and you can't see,there is NO WAY you can
safely take the yellow and make it one lap around to enter the pits.

I'm hesitant to agree with single-file restarts because the black-flag
characteristics and damage model in the sim is such that a car a lap
down isn't necessarily going to be any slower than the lead lap cars.  
They deserve a chance to try to get their lap back.

Forcing smoke on is good in that people will always see ***happening
on the track long vefore they get there, buit it's bad because some
people's systems may simply not be able to handle the graphics load. I
don't mind it being on because I already have it turned on.

Don't agree with this one at all.  Who determines where the backstretch
actually starts?  How can you determine if the car in front of you has
"other kinds of troubles"?  Nope, too much room for self-interpretation,
and unrealstic besides.

You CANNOIT have an exception to a rule - either they can race back to
the yellows, or they can't.  

This is "common sense" - not a "rule".

If everyone is obeying the pace speed, this shouldn't be a problem.

Free-form chatting should be completely prohibited, and auto-chatting
should be limited to pit entry/exit or pass high/low stuff.

In other words, no matter what else happens, obey your spotter.

Alright!

By the way, what's wrong with the draft I have on the roster page?

--
=========================================================
Redneck Techno-Biker & "programming deity"
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/
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