rec.autos.simulators

   I hosted, and drove, my virst online F1C race last
night, at Indy.  Great stuff.  

   Despite my frame rate, which is about half what
everyone is used to, everyone seems to have had a
good time.  

   I'm proudest to say, I didn't knock anyone off
the track.  I did get punted from behind on the
first lap.  Probably caused by my overcautious
breaking approaching turn 6, but the guy wouldn't
have been behind me if he hadn't gone into the
gravel on turn 4, so it's not all my fault.  

   Anyway.  Some questions:  

   Are the different strengths of teams maintained
in online races?  With Minardi drivers at a
disadvantage compared to Ferrari drivers?

   Driving nose cam adds tremendously to my
ability to tell what the car is doing.  I've gone
round and round with Dave Henrie about this and we
don't agree.  You've heard the arguments.  Nose
cam is also a substantial boost to my modest frame
rates.  One piece of information that is missing is
the mirrors.  Is there a way to have mirrors on the
nose cam view so I can use it in a race?  

   I seem to be able to host races with no problem,
but getting into other people's races is hit and miss.  
Sometimes nothing happens, I just sit in the lobby
after selecting a race.  Sometimes I can select a
team, but find 8 pictures of Ferrari drivers to
choose from, and am always immediately booted to
desktop when I choose one.  Sometimes I'm booted
to the desktop after selecting a driver when only two
are shown.  Sometimes I get into someone else's race
with no problem.  Any idea what's happening?  

   In the lobby some races are displayed in red, most
in white, some have purple dots, all have something
like "3/16" under "Players".  What do these designate,
and how does the creator of a session manipulate these
values?  

   I just want to thank everyone who helped me get
into this sim.  

                                                Thanks
                                                Larry

Yes, with the default install

However, the Minardi drivers can run with Ferrari physics by copying the
2002_Ferrari.hdv file from the SeasonData\Vehicles\Ferrari\2002_F2002 folder
to the SeasonData\Vehicles\Minardi\2002_PS02 folder and renaming it to
2002_Minardi.hdv

You also need to copy the engine.ini file from the Ferrari folder to the
Minardi folder.

If both the host and player don't do this, then you'll see mismatch
messages.

Not that I know of.

Sounds like you have Fidelity Unilateral Neutralizer set to 1 in your .plr
file. That will show all teams and drivers from all 4 seasons. Don't know
why it would boot you to desktop, though.

The races displayed in red are password protected and in white are not.
Go here to see how to set a password:
http://www.murchisons.net/f1/layout/Multiplayer%20Guide.htm

Not sure what's causing the purple dots, probably a non-standard setting on
the host's installation.

3/16 shows the number of players in the race (3) out of the total allowed
(16).

   Most of the time I have only 2 team members to choose
from, and get to race.  But having 8 drivers, and the boot
to desktop, isn't exactly a rare occurrence.  

   I've never been asked how many drivers I want in a race
I host.  Is this something I set?  Or does the game calculate
the number my computer and connection can support?  

   I know what a "ping" is.  I'm not sure what F1C thinks a
ping is.  I was assuming it is the ping time between myself
and the host.  But refreshing the game search can result in
radically different numbers for the same game from one scan
to the next.  

                                                    Thanks
                                                    Larry