Close Encounter at Laguna Seca (ICR)

To the IndyCar racers out there: While heavily braking and downshifting as I approached turn 8 at Laguna Seca (the corkscrew), the screen on my PC was suddenly filled with flashes of clouds, and broad blue and green stretches. No sign of the track anywhere. The dashboard was frozen at the last RPM and gear, etc. The screened continued to flash the clouds and blue and green colors. What the....I hit escape and successfully returned to the menu. The replay showed exactly what I saw the first time -- one moment I was driving happily into turn 8, the next was a burst of clouds and color. I was nowhere near the wall. There were no other cars in sight (this was a practice session, so there could have been). And, clearly, the PC had not locked up. What happened here? Perhaps a heart attack while driving? Hmmmm. The video on this PC cranks along without a hitch (16M RAM, 2M VRAM, 100Mhz Pentium) and I've never encountered any such effects before (been running ICR on this machine for about four months). Unfortunately, I did not save the replay, so I suppose that this incident will be cast into the "kooks" bin along with UFO sightings. Anyone else have such an experience? Beam me up, Scotty. Michael Vogeley

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> To the IndyCar racers out there: > While heavily braking and downshifting as I approached turn 8 at Laguna Seca > (the corkscrew), the screen on my PC was suddenly filled with flashes of > clouds, > and broad blue and green stretches. No sign of the track anywhere. The > dashboard was frozen at the last RPM and gear, etc. The screened continued to

Snip No, not even close to this experience, but has anybody noticed the skid mark (when you're going up the hill to the corkscrew) that appears to be about 6 inches off the ground? It's kind of bothersome.... Neil

Something just as freaky happened to me last nite at Surfer's. I was racing and hit a wall. I backed up, then forward, hitting the wall in front of me. As I did so, my car FLEW through the wall, across the country-side and back through another wall on the other side of the track!! My RPM's were whinning big-time as I took my little "ride", but the engine never blew. I was running with the damage turned off, and with auto-shifting active. I do have this incident saved, and can uuencode it and post it here if anyone wants to see it. It should be short, only about 10secs or so. Ken

: To the IndyCar racers out there: : While heavily braking and downshifting as I approached turn 8 at Laguna Seca : (the corkscrew), the screen on my PC was suddenly filled with flashes of : clouds, [snip] It is a known "kink" for ICR/NASCAR/ICRII. I read an official post by Papyrus on AOL which stated that since it happens so rarely, it isn't considered a "bug". Sorry Papy, but it still bugs the hell out of me. Especially after spending hours testing, qualifying, and racing only to have the whole thing blow up by the "grace of god"! -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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> Something just as freaky happened to me last nite at Surfer's. I was racing > and hit a wall. I backed up, then forward, hitting the wall in front of me. > As I did so, my car FLEW through the wall, across the country-side and back > through another wall on the other side of the track!! My RPM's were whinning > big-time as I took my little "ride", but the engine never blew. I was running > with the damage turned off, and with auto-shifting active. I do have this > incident saved, and can uuencode it and post it here if anyone wants to see > it. It should be short, only about 10secs or so.

Something like this happened to me at Bristol in NASCAR Racing. I was just driving along, minding my own business, and then my car went crazy. It went from infield to the outside of the track. The speed went so high that my engine blew. Later, Matt

<SNIP> Something even freakier happened to me on the ICR2 demo at Michigan. While trying to pit I hit the inside of the pit wall right next to my crew. The next thing I knew I was spinning around and around with no wheels and engine dead. I spun for atleast 30 seconds. I checked the replay after and it was weird! I checked the TV1 view and frame 1 I hit the wall, next frame I was behind Scott Pruett's car at the Start/finish line! It was too fast for me too tell how fast I was going. I hit Pruett, my nosecone flew off and his rear wing and right wheel came off. He flew into the outside pit wall and went right through it. . . hitting the inside wall at atleast 250 mph. His car just disintegrated! He hit with the back of the car and the entire rear assembly flew off. Engine cover, one wheel, engine, gearbox all flew everywhere. It looked like what was left when Mark Dismore crashed a few years ago at Indy. Nothing but***pit. My car was a mess too. I lost the wing, 3 wheels, the engine cover, the left side pod, the nose cone, and anything that was left was bent really bad. I wanted to save that so bad!!!! But the demo doesn't allow you to save! Dammit! I looked at the replay from the people behind the crash and it looked like an atomic bomb at been dropped when all the debris went flying in the air. What a ride! Kevin -- **************************************************************** Hartsdale, NY http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/~khuang Cloud 9 Internet ****************************************************************

I do have this incident saved, and can uuencode it and post it here if anyone wants to see it. It should be short, only about 10secs or so. <<< Can you e-mail it to me (the uuencoded form)? I'd like to take a look. Rick Genter Technical Lead, IndyCar Racing II Papyrus Design Group, Inc.

>No, not even close to this experience, but has anybody noticed the skid mark (when >you're going up the hill to the corkscrew) that appears to be about 6 inches off >the ground? It's kind of bothersome.... Yes, I have. I noticed that very early on in the demo, and expected it to be fixed in the release version. Tell me you're still running the demo?!! Stuart. -- From the bedroom of Stuart Booth, Somewhere in Guildford, England...

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> >No, not even close to this experience, but has anybody noticed the skid mark (when > >you're going up the hill to the corkscrew) that appears to be about 6 inches off > >the ground? It's kind of bothersome.... > Yes, I have. I noticed that very early on in the demo, and expected it > to be fixed in the release version. Tell me you're still running the > demo?!! > Stuart. > -- > From the bedroom of Stuart Booth, > Somewhere in Guildford, England...

Actually, on further review...the skid mark isn't six inches off the track: the track is six inches too low...when following another car up the hill, it appears that the other car leaves the track for a second...but we all know Indycars are glued to the track, don't we? :) And yes, this IS the commercial version I'm talking about... Neil

> While heavily braking and downshifting as I approached turn 8 at Laguna Seca > (the corkscrew), the screen on my PC was suddenly filled with flashes of > clouds, > and broad blue and green stretches. No sign of the track anywhere. The > dashboard was frozen at the last RPM and gear, etc. The screened continued to > flash the clouds and blue and green colors. [...] > Unfortunately, I did not save the replay, so I suppose that this incident will > be cast into the "kooks" bin along with UFO sightings. Anyone else have such > an experience? Beam me up, Scotty. A similar thing happened to me at the same track while accelerating out of turn 9 (the lefthander after the corkscrew). My car seemed to suddenly explode. When I checked it out in the replay, what had happened is that for a fraction of a second (maybe one frame) my car was transported to c.300 feet up in the air (breathtaking view from the nosecam) then instantaneously back onto the track a few feet to the left of my earlier position. It skidded directly sideways for another frame or two, then exploded into tiny pieces. The chunks of the car splashed waaay up into the air except for the***pit, which slid down the track. I saved the replay. The view from the wing camera is great, it looks like a shot from a flight simulator. I would post the replay, but I don't have access to any binaries groups. I can mail a copy to anybody who wants to take a gander at it (Rick?). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lorne Epp Nanaimo, B.C.

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>> While heavily braking and downshifting as I approached turn 8 at Laguna Seca >> (the corkscrew), the screen on my PC was suddenly filled with flashes of >> clouds, >> and broad blue and green stretches. No sign of the track anywhere. The >> dashboard was frozen at the last RPM and gear, etc. The screened continued to >> flash the clouds and blue and green colors. >[...] >> Unfortunately, I did not save the replay, so I suppose that this incident will >> be cast into the "kooks" bin along with UFO sightings. Anyone else have such >> an experience? Beam me up, Scotty. >A similar thing happened to me at the same track while accelerating >out of turn 9 (the lefthander after the corkscrew). My car seemed to >suddenly explode. When I checked it out in the replay, what had happened >is that for a fraction of a second (maybe one frame) my car was >transported to c.300 feet up in the air (breathtaking view from the >nosecam) then instantaneously back onto the track a few feet to the >left of my earlier position. It skidded directly sideways for another >frame or two, then exploded into tiny pieces. The chunks of the car >splashed waaay up into the air except for the***pit, which slid >down the track. >I saved the replay. The view from the wing camera is great, it looks >like a shot from a flight simulator. I would post the replay, but >I don't have access to any binaries groups. I can mail a copy to >anybody who wants to take a gander at it (Rick?). >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Lorne Epp Nanaimo, B.C.

Wow... can you guys post the phone number of your pharmacist? ;)

I can mail a copy to anybody who wants to take a gander at it (Rick?). <<< Rick Genter Technical Lead, IndyCar Racing II Papyrus Design Group, Inc.