rec.autos.simulators

My second race was a lot better. Came 9th, with two others behind me. Had
one off track incident, which also involved another car tailgating me.
Despite this my rating went up and it's now at 2.63, so I now have a better
rating than before my first race disaster.

My lap times during races are really poor, the best so far being a 1:11:903.
I guess I'm just playing it safe and spending a lot of time trying to get
out of peoples way.

The latter seems to be an art. I used to try to get off the racing line, but
after an incident in the first race, where doing this hit another car, I now
stay on the racing line, unless I have ample time to get off it before the
faster car comes through. Lol, the race leaders must really hate me!

My fastest lap has improved a smidgeon to 01:08:620, but is still way off
pace.

The two races have provided valuable feedback as to where I'm slow. It seems
to be the turn after the big hill and the final turn. In fact I seem to lose
loads at the final turn. I'm going to try some Testing sessions to see if I
can get around this final turn without braking, but I'm not so sure.

For me, despite my ability, I think iRacing is the dogs bollocks. Just wish
I could race with other people that go around in the 1:10's. Maybe the
iRacing publishers weren't expecting anybody to be this bad! :-))

Robert Pollard

You like dog's ***? You sick mofo!

Despite a 4+ SR it seems that I can only practise/qualify/TT in the
Skippy, but not race. I guess it's a rookie thing. Oh joy.
Still, practising for the Infineon race I couldn't compete in was the
most fun I've had in iRacing so far, so it hasn't been a complete waste
of money.

And just now I decided to avoid a Solstice at Laguna (what a terrible,
*terrible* combination that is!) and entered a Coupe at Lanier... which
is another *** little merry-go-round of a track, but at least it's wide
enough to have a bit of fun without too much risk to others.

Well, it was until I 'nurfed' the concrete, earning a x3 incident and
wrecked steering. I peeled off the track nicely, pitted, shift-R'd, then
got a speeding penalty on exit because I was building up speed below the
dotted line, trying not to cause other drivers a problem.

By the time I'd served my penalty it was all over. Oh joy... again. :-)
The daft thing is that despite only about ten laps of racing and the
incident my Oval SR went up by .1!  

Andrew McP

*******RAS touchy-feely group-hug settings********
Today Andrew's iRacing mood is: underwhelmed
His subscription renewal is:    still off
His Biscuit of the day is:      digestive
Friends online are:             pissing themselves
**************************************************

I had a penalty in a TT, for 'dangerous pit exit' - I guess for crossing the
yellow line too early? In my case I didn't see the black flag in the upper
left until I had nine laps under my belt, when I decided to pit in. I
checked my lap times and they were all invalidated! Arggghhh! In the end
there wasn't enough time to put another 8 laps together, so as far as my SR
went, this was a waste of time.

Still enjoying the racing, but I sometimes wonder if I will ever improve
enough to be competitive!

RobP

Cheers
Tony

Anyway, earlier I found I could join the 5:15 race and did. Was having a
nice time with some West Coasties until some twonk who I'd overtaken and
then let past once already, spun again. I decided I didn't want anyone so
fast but unstable up my bumper and pulled over to let him past. Chose the
wrong spot, and he followed me. :-)

I got a x4 penalty and had to restart, he drove on unaffected. I love it
when a plan comes together. :->

Never mind. Just another of the many similar complaints you can find on
any iRacing forum. Next time I'll know to leave even *more* room and take
evasive action *much* earlier.

Andrew McP

*******RAS touchy-feely group-hug settings********
Today Andrew's iRacing mood is: I want to punch something
His subscription renewal is:    still off
His Biscuit of the day is:      ginger nut
Friends online are:             Adolf, Joseph, Mao Zedong
**************************************************

It can be tricky working out exactly what you;ve done wrong sometimes. I
guess this kind of thing becomes second nature after a while though. My
oval black flag came as a result of assuming that because I was outside
the pit wall I was on the track and it was safe to start building up
speed before hitting the outside 3 lanes. Apparently not. :-)

As long as it doesn't go down, you've not wasted any time, just gained
experience. The whole SR thing is a pain though. It's a valid way of
encouraging safe driving, but a system full of potential frustrations and
outright unfairness.

Still, them's the rules!

I know I never will be. Ok, I had a GPL rank of -18 at one stage (not any
more, I'm sure! :-) but that was achieved one lap at a time, and it's a
record of your best performances, not your usual ones. So I anticipate
that if I stay with iRacing I'll go through my normal sim phases...

1) Initial enthusiasm as you explore the various cars & tracks.
2) Plateau of experience while you enjoy simply being a safe driver
3) Steady disillusionment as I realise I'm never going to drive fast, no
matter how many different cars/sims I try. :-)
4) Wandering off to do something else instead and never coming back.

In iRacing's case I imagine 3 & 4 will merge a lot quicker than normal
thanks to the fact you're paying for the pleasure.

Of course if the league system works, and we end up grouped with
similarly challenged racers, it might be quite fun. But experience tells
me that I'm at a fairly quiet end of the Gaussian distribution curve, and
it's unlikely I'll find a critical mass or slow racers who can drive the
classes I enjoy at a time I can race.

Still, the journey so far as been entertaining. I think I might go off
now and try to TT the Skippy at VIR. At least then I know it'll only be
me punting me off the track. Plus the fact I get to read a book while
driving down the loooooooooooong, tedious straight. ;-) Bring back
Infineon!!!!!!

Andrew McP

*not a deliberate typo, but I'm leaving it in... that's soil as in 'oh
dear, I appear to have soiled my underwear'.

Late on I joined another. This time I got 'lucky' on lap 1, with someone
in front managing to get sideways in a rather unexpected (by me anyway)
place. Missed him, but took a long detour to avoid.

Later I messed up in a slow corner, well away from anyone else. Then
towards the end I totally***ed up an attempt to get out of the way of 3
lappers racing each other, closing on me faster than I expected. Ended up
with all 4 wheels on the grass and another couple of black marks on my
copy book.

All in all this Skippy racing is a lot more fun, but problematic than the
Solstice. I'm almost nostalgic enough to go back and race the darned
things! At least they move slow enough to be almost totally predictable.

Looking at my results I also see that I apparently had a collision on lap
1 of my earlier race. At one stage I did notice someone getting fairly
close in my mirrors, then drop back quickly, so I'm guessing that was it.
But I never felt a thing.

I suppose it's a testament to iRacing's pretty solid net racing code that
it works so well that you tend to forget you're online where 100%
accurate positioning is almost impossible. That introduces all sorts of
potential glitches.

Andrew McP

Yea, I know that. But tell me one good thing about dog's balls. The analogy
between good and dog's *** just does not apply.

They know.

--

Peter

I'm an alien
email: home at peteward dot gotadsl dot co dot uk
That's really boring. Please make up an interesting anecdote.
- Opus

-Larry