ARCA Sim Racing

It friggin awesome. I'm actually excited about oval racing again :) I've raced with AJ Allmendinger twice this week on public servers. Allmendinger and I had some really fun tight racing. Also saw other real life drivers online like Kevin Swindell and Jeremy Clements. Probably lots of others who don't go by their real names online. Generally speaking, the quality of racing is pretty high for open pick up races. The smaller tracks can be hectic with lots of crashes, but most of the races are pretty clean. I've seen more warping in ARCA this week than in a whole year of beta testing. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the numbers of times I saw a warp during a year of beta. Not sure what's going on there. Maybe the larger field sizes of the public servers. But the warping still doesn't detract much from the racing. I haven't had or seen any accidents caused by warping. It's kind of like the collision detection turns off momentarily or something. The beautiful part of ARCA is the way the tires wear. If you run a pace much more than 96% to 98% of your potential, the tires will go away in 10 laps or less. If you back off just a hair, and keep from spinning the tires, you can go a full fuel load. It really forces a different approach to driving than I've seen before. You could do a bit of tire saving in earlier Papy stock car sims and see some results, but nothing as significant as in ARCA. I've always felt like sims let us drive way too hard without consequences in tire wear. ARCA is hands down the best in this department. Pat Dotson

You could save a LOT of tires and win a LOT of races in NR2003. Ginger used to kick my ass almost every week like that dammit :) -Larry <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> It friggin awesome. I'm actually excited about oval racing again :) > > I've raced with AJ Allmendinger twice this week on public servers. > Allmendinger and I had some really fun tight racing. Also saw other > real life drivers online like Kevin Swindell and Jeremy Clements. > Probably lots of others who don't go by their real names online. > > Generally speaking, the quality of racing is pretty high for open pick > up races. The smaller tracks can be hectic with lots of crashes, but > most of the races are pretty clean. > > I've seen more warping in ARCA this week than in a whole year of beta > testing. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the numbers of > times I saw a warp during a year of beta. Not sure what's going on > there. Maybe the larger field sizes of the public servers. But the > warping still doesn't detract much from the racing. I haven't had or > seen any accidents caused by warping. It's kind of like the collision > detection turns off momentarily or something. > > The beautiful part of ARCA is the way the tires wear. If you run a > pace much more than 96% to 98% of your potential, the tires will go > away in 10 laps or less. If you back off just a hair, and keep from > spinning the tires, you can go a full fuel load. It really forces a > different approach to driving than I've seen before. You could do a > bit of tire saving in earlier Papy stock car sims and see some > results, but nothing as significant as in ARCA. > > I've always felt like sims let us drive way too hard without > consequences in tire wear. ARCA is hands down the best in this > department. > > Pat Dotson

Just out of curiosity, how's the single player? Don't do much online anymore, but still like to spend some time here and there behind the wheel. I'm hoping the ai is at least competitive without being clueless. TIA. Dean <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> It friggin awesome. I'm actually excited about oval racing again :) > > I've raced with AJ Allmendinger twice this week on public servers. > Allmendinger and I had some really fun tight racing. Also saw other > real life drivers online like Kevin Swindell and Jeremy Clements. > Probably lots of others who don't go by their real names online. > > Generally speaking, the quality of racing is pretty high for open pick > up races. The smaller tracks can be hectic with lots of crashes, but > most of the races are pretty clean. > > I've seen more warping in ARCA this week than in a whole year of beta > testing. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the numbers of > times I saw a warp during a year of beta. Not sure what's going on > there. Maybe the larger field sizes of the public servers. But the > warping still doesn't detract much from the racing. I haven't had or > seen any accidents caused by warping. It's kind of like the collision > detection turns off momentarily or something. > > The beautiful part of ARCA is the way the tires wear. If you run a > pace much more than 96% to 98% of your potential, the tires will go > away in 10 laps or less. If you back off just a hair, and keep from > spinning the tires, you can go a full fuel load. It really forces a > different approach to driving than I've seen before. You could do a > bit of tire saving in earlier Papy stock car sims and see some > results, but nothing as significant as in ARCA. > > I've always felt like sims let us drive way too hard without > consequences in tire wear. ARCA is hands down the best in this > department. > > Pat Dotson

Early reports on the AI aren't that great. I haven't yet tried it offline in the production version. In the last beta I had ran some offline races. Usually starting on the tail, I was able to move up through the field without much difficulty. They seemed to be well- behaved enough for some fun. The problem/challenge with ISI-based stuff for me has always been finding the right balance of AI strength to have a competitive and interesting race. Seems like qualifying speeds and race speeds are never balanced so that you end up either too fast or slow in qual, then the opposite in the race. Honestly, assuming a decent internet connection, I think it's easier just to hop online and race rather than try to set up a fun offline race. The multiplayer interface is very smooth. Since the tracks and vehicles are locked down you don't have to deal with mismatches or downloads. Pat Dotson On Mar 19, 10:30 am, "DeanP" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> Just out of curiosity, how's the single player? Don't do much online > anymore, but still like to spend some time here and there behind the wheel. > I'm hoping the ai is at least competitive without being clueless. TIA. > Dean > > <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:[email hidden]... > > > > > It friggin awesome.  I'm actually excited about oval racing again  :) > > > I've raced with AJ Allmendinger twice this week on public servers. > > Allmendinger and I had some really fun tight racing.  Also saw other > > real life drivers online like Kevin Swindell and Jeremy Clements. > > Probably lots of others who don't go by their real names online. > > > Generally speaking, the quality of racing is pretty high for open pick > > up races.  The smaller tracks can be hectic with lots of crashes, but > > most of the races are pretty clean. > > > I've seen more warping in ARCA this week than in a whole year of beta > > testing.  In fact, I could probably count on one hand the numbers of > > times I saw a warp during a year of beta.  Not sure what's going on > > there.  Maybe the larger field sizes of the public servers.  But the > > warping still doesn't detract much from the racing.  I haven't had or > > seen any accidents caused by warping.  It's kind of like the collision > > detection turns off momentarily or something. > > > The beautiful part of ARCA is the way the tires wear.  If you run a > > pace much more than 96% to 98% of your potential, the tires will go > > away in 10 laps or less.  If you back off just a hair, and keep from > > spinning the tires, you can go a full fuel load.  It really forces a > > different approach to driving than I've seen before.  You could do a > > bit of tire saving in earlier Papy stock car sims and see some > > results, but nothing as significant as in ARCA. > > > I've always felt like sims let us drive way too hard without > > consequences in tire wear.  ARCA is hands down the best in this > > department. > > > Pat Dotson- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text -

Thanks for the info Pat! Dean <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... Early reports on the AI aren't that great. I haven't yet tried it offline in the production version. In the last beta I had ran some offline races. Usually starting on the tail, I was able to move up through the field without much difficulty. They seemed to be well- behaved enough for some fun. The problem/challenge with ISI-based stuff for me has always been finding the right balance of AI strength to have a competitive and interesting race. Seems like qualifying speeds and race speeds are never balanced so that you end up either too fast or slow in qual, then the opposite in the race. Honestly, assuming a decent internet connection, I think it's easier just to hop online and race rather than try to set up a fun offline race. The multiplayer interface is very smooth. Since the tracks and vehicles are locked down you don't have to deal with mismatches or downloads. Pat Dotson On Mar 19, 10:30 am, "DeanP" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> Just out of curiosity, how's the single player? Don't do much online > anymore, but still like to spend some time here and there behind the > wheel. > I'm hoping the ai is at least competitive without being clueless. TIA. > Dean > > <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:[email hidden]... > > > > > It friggin awesome. I'm actually excited about oval racing again :) > > > I've raced with AJ Allmendinger twice this week on public servers. > > Allmendinger and I had some really fun tight racing. Also saw other > > real life drivers online like Kevin Swindell and Jeremy Clements. > > Probably lots of others who don't go by their real names online. > > > Generally speaking, the quality of racing is pretty high for open pick > > up races. The smaller tracks can be hectic with lots of crashes, but > > most of the races are pretty clean. > > > I've seen more warping in ARCA this week than in a whole year of beta > > testing. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the numbers of > > times I saw a warp during a year of beta. Not sure what's going on > > there. Maybe the larger field sizes of the public servers. But the > > warping still doesn't detract much from the racing. I haven't had or > > seen any accidents caused by warping. It's kind of like the collision > > detection turns off momentarily or something. > > > The beautiful part of ARCA is the way the tires wear. If you run a > > pace much more than 96% to 98% of your potential, the tires will go > > away in 10 laps or less. If you back off just a hair, and keep from > > spinning the tires, you can go a full fuel load. It really forces a > > different approach to driving than I've seen before. You could do a > > bit of tire saving in earlier Papy stock car sims and see some > > results, but nothing as significant as in ARCA. > > > I've always felt like sims let us drive way too hard without > > consequences in tire wear. ARCA is hands down the best in this > > department. > > > Pat Dotson- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text -

On Mar 19, 10:56 am, [email hidden] wrote: > The problem/challenge with ISI-based stuff for me has always been > finding the right balance of AI strength to have a competitive and > interesting race.  Seems like qualifying speeds and race speeds are > never balanced so that you end up either too fast or slow in qual, > then the opposite in the race. You can actually adjust the qualifying/race speeds independently of each other, and for each track. I'm not sure if it still causes a mismatch online (I think it does in Motor1, i.e. F1C/GTR2/Race07) but I can't remember if it creates issues in rF.

On Mar 20, 8:00 am, jason moyer <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> On Mar 19, 10:56 am, [email hidden] wrote: > > > The problem/challenge with ISI-based stuff for me has always been > > finding the right balance of AI strength to have a competitive and > > interesting race.  Seems like qualifying speeds and race speeds are > > never balanced so that you end up either too fast or slow in qual, > > then the opposite in the race. > > You can actually adjust the qualifying/race speeds independently of > each other, and for each track.  I'm not sure if it still causes a > mismatch online (I think it does in Motor1, i.e. F1C/GTR2/Race07) but > I can't remember if it creates issues in rF.

Yea, I always kick around the idea of revamping rFactor AI speeds so that qualifying speeds match race speeds, but who has the time? Especially now where you'd have to do it with multiple mods. This is an area that has never gotten adequate attention, either from ISI or from mod makers. I haven't looked at the ARCA file structure to confirm that those AI- related files are open for editing. I imagine they would be, but some parts of the file structure are encrypted. BTW, after having this discussion I ran some offline laps with ARCA and Kansas yesterday. I had the AI strength all the way up to 105% but needed to go higher. The AI drives OK, but it was like shooting fish in a barrel. All you have to do is pull to the outside line of the track and you can drive past 5 or 6 cars without even trying. AI strength goes up to 125% or something, so maybe I just didn't go high enough. Pat Dotson