rec.autos.simulators

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

:-)

RobP

Ok, and the IndyCar Racing review in the same magazine as the Tornado review. :-)

Sky Challenge appears not to have a web presence yet though, from what I can find.
And the iRacing stuff was just the usual Kaemmer blah, blah. Maybe if it's repeated
often enough it'll come true.

That sounds a bit ***y. I apologise... it's a knee-jerk reaction to the iRacing
email I just received telling me about the Silverado. I find it hard to take
seriously any organisation which thinks that racing pick-up trucks is A Good Idea.
Don't your shotguns and roadkill tend to fall out of the back when you corner too
fast?

Andrew McP

Are you drunk? How did you jump from someone racing/driving a pickup
truck to someone who carries a shotgun and hauls roadkill?

Did I touch a nerve there or something? I know we live in serious times, especially
for those in the USSA, but are you familiar with the concept of humour? ;-)

Besides, and let's be totally serious... in which parallel universe is utility
vehicle racing taken seriously? Truck racing is intriguing (I seem to remember a
demo which gave me a grin for half an hour), but a novelty for truckers rather than
a serious format. Pick-up racing is equally insane; a format designed by marketing
types to appeal to pick-up truck drivers and those who'd like to sell stuff to
pick-up drivers. I honestly can't look at one without smiling. It just makes no
sense whatsoever.

Of course arguably no type of racing makes any kind of sense. But watching snail
racing is probably less interesting than even the dullest F1 or BTCC race.
Similarly I'd rate a pick-up truck race (based on my limited experience of a few
race 'highlights', admittedly) as marginally less interesting than watching a game
of Pooh-sticks.

Obviously if you had to race with the pick-up full of tools, bags of cement, or
that contentious roadkill (or perhaps mixed loads with a diving-style degree of
difficulty system), then it might get interesting... I mean then it would be a test
of some kind of useful skill.

Again we may be facing a cultural divide here, just as I was describing on the
subject of oval racing recently. But I fail to see how iRacing is doing anything
other than wasting time trying to chase minority formats like pick-up trucks.

I may, however, be *wildly* underestimating the untapped potential among the
pick-truck racing community. But as I hover over the re-subscribe button this
weekend after a month away, it is decisions like this by iRacing which increasingly
make me wonder how long they'll be around.

Andrew McP

No, if he was drunk, then he'd be a Nascar fan. Growing up in Texas,
part of that time in rural Texas, I'd equate pickup trucks with
rifle and shotguns mounts in the back of the cab. Probably shotguns
because your aim isn't too good when you're drunk. Roadkills where just
bonuses to lousy hunting skills.

Some of iRacings choice of cars seems questionable if the goal is to
attract players rather than punish the ones that do rent iRacing.

"Thanks for signing up to rent iRacing, we start you off with undesirable
cars, but our physics is so good you should ignore that fact, and
eventually we'll be releasing new cars that you can pay fees for so you
can rent them as well." "Hey good news, we just added the Silverado
to our list of racing vehicles".

That social/political slant has nothing to do with reality. Instead
of dumping everything on this recreation group, try venturing out to
a politically oriented group that is better suited and will provide
the attention you crave.

Having vehicles like this is essential to its success and what a big
chunk of the membership have been waiting for.

Cheers
Tony

I never realised that Nascar was political. I think this pretty much
describes the atmoshpere and the type of fan that Nascar was going for,
in this comment on it's first televised race:

"but the big story was the post-race fight on the track's infield between
Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, who crashed together on the final lap."

From Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR_on_television_and_radio

Andrew McP

I'm not sure there's much of a correlation betweens fans of Nascar, much less
Nascar trucks, and sim oriented racing game players, especially if significant
skills are involved.

In my opinion, one of the main reasons that NR2003's restrictor plate track open
servers were so popular, is that just about anyone can win, regardless of huge
disparities in skill level, because of the assists and draft effects. Basically
it worked because it took the "sim" out of sim racing. iRacing isn't doing this
(at least not yet), so it will be a different player base.

Personally I would like to see LM, LMP, and GT type cars in the game, one because
they look nice, and two because unlike F1, passing is still possible.

The issue with F1 cars is that the high amount of aerodyanmics makes passing
difficult. The cars brake extremely quickly so it's hard to pass under braking.
The cars reach their drag limited top speed very quickly, so a higher speed on
corner exit doesn't translate into a passing opportunity unless it's very soon
after the corner exit.

Andrew McP

I got the same way for a few years concerning F1, but the last two years has
been a lot better. This year's finishes have made it even more interesting
for me and I always TIVO qualifying and the race. There are actually 4 teams
that have a chance to win on any given raceday if the stars align
correctly.......:-)

Ed

There is nothing *** or exciting about a car made to look like a pickup
driving around in circles. You are thinking far too American-centric.