rec.autos.simulators

It's the only license their publisher would pay for after the disaster
of GPL.

I'm assuming you mean the Rookie Legend?  Remember that car has a rev
limiter at 8000, so you're not getting anywhere near the power the car
is capable of.  Try the Adv Legend with decent gearing, imho it's
harder to drive than the Lame Model (and heaps more fun, too).

Yeah, I ran the advanced Legend.  I wish they could run some sessions that
include a road course or two.  I just can't forever sink myself into the
immersion of circling a .035 mile oval countless times.

The Solstice with Laguna Seca was really tortuous at first but got more
interesting as I started to learn the track.  I must have spent four hours
or so on it, my rating rising maybe .50 in that time.  With the Legends, it
took me two hours maximum to get an over "3" rating.

(I might add, that my times at Laguna are still very slow.)

But again generally people these days have very little patience.  It has
probably always been this way but there is little doubt that watching 15
hours of TV a day for five years has to have some sort of effect.  (Okay, so
15 hours is a bit high; but 8 is certainly not.)

Alan

What YOU are missing is some really great racing though...  Even a slow fart
like me is having fun.

-Larry

Also, they seem to hate the incident system as much as I do / did, so
it's kind of comforting I'm not alone on this one ;-) We've discussed
the issue on our mailing list, and maybe an adaptive incident system
that gets a bit more lenient and sophisticated as you progress from
the lower classes might be the way to go.

All the best, Uwe

--

The most common misconception when starting iRacing is that the incident
system is being too severe. Stick half the car off the track, have a
spin, or get entangled in someone elses accident and the incident points
will appear on your screen.

In the early days it can be easy to become obsessed with safety ratings
as this is what determines your licence advancement. Note that
performance in races is measured in your irating - the two are
completely independent.

You will therefore see drivers complaining they cannot race through fear
of damaging their safety rating.

In reality the safety rating is quire lenient and you can have several
incidents and still improve your rating if the rest of the laps are
clean. Drive off track to avoid a spinner, get spun around from behind,
these are not the end of the world if most laps are clean.

What it will hold back are over aggressive drivers regulary going off
track or having accidents and new drivers venturing into sims for the
first time who struggle to complete a lap. We all have to learn sometime
and it can just as frustrating for the newbies being intimidated by fast
experienced sim racers as it can getting held up behind the new drivers.
Limiting the advancement for these two groups makes sense.

For the clean racer who has experience of online racing advancing will
be a breeze.

As drivers get used to the system in practice the concerns melt away and
the real issue of losing track position and time through an incident
take priority over safety rating obsession.

The system has been developed over a considerable amount of time but its
does take a little while to believe in it.

Think of it as the stewards noting your little off. Most times nothing
will be said but if you get their attention too regularly in a race they
will pull you in for a word.

Regardless of experience everyone starts from the same position in
iracing and has to earn their licence. This comes a bit of a shock for a
seasoned sim racer but it doesn't take long and the faster cars will be
available.

Cheers
Tony

Ed

You can already drive the Advanced Legends car.

So although you have received incident points that were not your fault
your progress looks suitably rapid.

I think the ratings are misunderstood in that any incident will mean you
  won't progress which is far from the truth.

If iRacing have a problem it is this common initial reaction to the
system, not the system itself. No clean racer is going to have an issue
with it even if you get involved in a few people's accidents on the way.

Cheers
Tony

-Larry

It would be nice to see assignment of fault, but I can undestand why that
would be extremely difficult to program.

-Larry

That makes good sense. It was the Advanced Legends that I got my first
incident points in.....:-). I continued and finished the race without other
incidents and really didn't lose anything. I guess it all works out in the
end. The Solstice at Laguna is a real challenge since I don't know the track
at all. I can't see me racing an actual race there this week because I won't
have enough practice laps to do so without looking a fool......:-).

Ed

A bit like soccer where a player commits fouls and the ref mentally
notes it. Rack up enough and he gets a yellow card otherwise he walks
off with no penalty having been applied.

The ref will let the player know he has noted the fould by a glance or
maybe a quiet word. The iRacing incident is your quite word. Rack up a
shedload of incidents and expect the call to the stewards - or in
iRacing's case a negative impact on your rating.

Cheers
Tony

Like Allison said, the purpose of driving the Solstice is to get OUT of the
Solstice :)

-Larry

And into what?

        Ah, you take this seriously. Lol. -- Mario Petrinovich