to rub together. And I suspect it's not relevent for the vast majority
of r.a.s. regulars. But I need to get it off my chest.
Yeah yeah, I know. Join a league for clean racing. That's true, and I
will, but in the meantime I want to practice against live opponents.
There are a number of VERY basic blunders that can only be classified
as idiotic that people continually make. Some suggestions (in order of
importance):
1. DON'T try to pass ANYONE in the first two-three corners. Everyone
can see the obvious sense in this idea, but so few practice it. It's
at the point where I wish GPL had a feature to penalize/boot anyone
not following this rule, or pace laps or something.
2. If you are catching up to someone, then logically one can conclude
that they are moving slower than you are. The next deduction - and I
admit we're moving into advanced philosophy here - is that if you keep
pressing 100% [without regard for intelligent passing] you WILL rear
end them. As in real life, such an accident is 100% your fault.
2 a. Passing. This isn't "Need for Speed", though many drivers seem
unaware of this. You need to PICK your spot for a safe pass.
Surprisingly, the best way to pass is NOT to force a slower driver off
his line.
2 b. Passing. A note to the fast of foot and slow of wit: you cannot
drive directly through other cars. You must go around them.
3. Here's another novel idea. LOOK AT THE ROAD. Can't count the number
of times I've slowed a bit to avoid an accident (usually early in the
race, when you should be EXPECTING accidents) and some moron with
pedal to the metal rear-ends me. Getting annoying.
3 a. After an accident. Before wildly flailing back onto the track
with wheels spinning and control lacking, LOOK AT THE ROAD. If there
is a car coming up behind you let him pass (even the computer's smart
enough to do this when you press shift-r, so a human should be able to
manage it).
All this really boils down to is an ounce of common sense and a pinch
of common courtesy.
Joe McGinn
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Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network
http://www.racesimcentral.net/***.com/
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