What happ to the Pits?

Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years Ive noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few rFactor posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on the best current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and pulled the user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming the next Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can be had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... Happy Thanksgivings folks. Mitch

I'm hoping the guys at RSC will be getting new servers of their own soon. Right now they are riding on someone's kindness I believe. Mitch_A wrote:

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> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years Ive > noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few rFactor > posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on the best > current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and pulled the > user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming the next > Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? > > RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can be > had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. > > Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to be > dropping instead of growing. Go figure... > > Happy Thanksgivings folks. > > Mitch

RSC could be the new leader, but they have just GOT to fix their server issues. I just can't stand to go there very often because of it. -Larry "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:FE%8h.14235$[email hidden]...

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> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years Ive > noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few rFactor > posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on the best > current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and pulled the > user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming the next > Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? > > RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can be > had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. > > Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to > be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... > > Happy Thanksgivings folks. > > Mitch >

Being a dormant member of the Pits Crew, I won't - can't - speak for Jan or anyone else there.. but The Pits is really an rFactor modding group now, which is why you won't find anything about GTR2 or any SimBin product there. Scott Mitch_A wrote:

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> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years Ive > noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few rFactor > posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on the best > current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and pulled the > user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming the next > Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? > > RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can be > had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. > > Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to be > dropping instead of growing. Go figure... > > Happy Thanksgivings folks. > > Mitch > >

-- Scott B. Husted� http://www.Husted.cc ICQ# - 4395450 | AIM - Hylander12871 | Yahoo - sbhusted MSM - [email hidden] | Google Talk - [email hidden]

That makes sense. Too bad though, every joeblow and his cousin is making a mod and no one else has ever been "The Pits" :) Mitch "Scott B. Husted" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Being a dormant member of the Pits Crew, I won't - can't - speak for Jan > or anyone else there.. but The Pits is really an rFactor modding group > now, which is why you won't find anything about GTR2 or any SimBin product > there. > > Scott > > > > Mitch_A wrote: >> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years >> Ive noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few >> rFactor posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on >> the best current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and >> pulled the user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming >> the next Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? >> >> RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can >> be had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. >> >> Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to >> be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... >> >> Happy Thanksgivings folks. >> >> Mitch > > > -- > Scott B. Husted� > http://www.Husted.cc > ICQ# - 4395450 | AIM - Hylander12871 | Yahoo - sbhusted > MSM - [email hidden] | Google Talk - [email hidden]

Tim Wheatley wrote: > I'm hoping the guys at RSC will be getting new servers of their own > soon. Right now they are riding on someone's kindness I believe. > Shame such kindness does not extend to servers that can crunch the data a bit faster eh? ;) >From hanging around a few places recently I think the whole scene hasgot a little quieter. I don't really think this is a bad thing, it is symptomatic of the genre's current vitality. It seems that more people are actually spending their time driving sims than they are reading and moaning on forums about them. This is great in essence but I do find it mildly sad that people do not discuss at length the fun they are having, talk setups or banter about the previous night's race with glee and aplomb... Its not a bad thing, obviously, but it is sad that the time is always found to moan when there nothing out there to drive. Jon.

I wish some of those mods would make their way to nr2003.. even though they can only use cup, cts, pta physics ect... still it would be fun to race the models around. the whelen mod died and I guess the dirt late model mod died as well... "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:4m99h.2789$[email hidden]...

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> That makes sense. Too bad though, every joeblow and his cousin is making > a mod and no one else has ever been "The Pits" :) > > Mitch > > "Scott B. Husted" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... >> Being a dormant member of the Pits Crew, I won't - can't - speak for Jan >> or anyone else there.. but The Pits is really an rFactor modding group >> now, which is why you won't find anything about GTR2 or any SimBin >> product there. >> >> Scott >> >> >> >> Mitch_A wrote: >>> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years >>> Ive noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few >>> rFactor posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing >>> on the best current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits >>> and pulled the user base away with it or are they just focusing on >>> becoming the next Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? >>> >>> RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can >>> be had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. >>> >>> Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems >>> to be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... >>> >>> Happy Thanksgivings folks. >>> >>> Mitch >> >> >> -- >> Scott B. Husted� >> http://www.Husted.cc >> ICQ# - 4395450 | AIM - Hylander12871 | Yahoo - sbhusted >> MSM - [email hidden] | Google Talk - [email hidden] > >

A few theories - a) A lot of people were stung by Simbin with GTR and GTR2 still has a lot of shortcomings - hows the online - how many online per server? b) whether you're a rookie or not, you take a look at rFactor and see a huge mess - too much frigging around to get to the point of sitting at the wheel/pedal set and actually getting to the simming experience. rFactor could be brilliant if they would pay the authors of tracks and mods a token fee, sanction their work after their in house quality testing and then hosting the stuff they give the thumbs up too. I'll be fucked if I'm going to spend hours per week or even per day hunting down tracks and mods and then hunting down the eternal tweaks to those tracks/mods - way too much frigging about. c) Sim racing is a huge mess - it needs a world championship for starters. Which will probably require some sort of "official" organisation. Will iRacing be the answer to all the above? "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:FE%8h.14235$[email hidden]...

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> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years Ive > noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few rFactor > posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on the best > current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and pulled the > user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming the next > Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? > > RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can be > had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. > > Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to > be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... > > Happy Thanksgivings folks. > > Mitch >

Byron Forbes wrote:

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> A few theories - > > a) A lot of people were stung by Simbin with GTR and GTR2 still has a lot of > shortcomings - hows the online - how many online per server? > > b) whether you're a rookie or not, you take a look at rFactor and see a huge > mess - too much frigging around to get to the point of sitting at the > wheel/pedal set and actually getting to the simming experience. rFactor > could be brilliant if they would pay the authors of tracks and mods a token > fee, sanction their work after their in house quality testing and then > hosting the stuff they give the thumbs up too. I'll be fucked if I'm going > to spend hours per week or even per day hunting down tracks and mods and > then hunting down the eternal tweaks to those tracks/mods - way too much > frigging about. > > c) Sim racing is a huge mess - it needs a world championship for starters. > Which will probably require some sort of "official" organisation. > > > Will iRacing be the answer to all the above? > > > > "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:FE%8h.14235$[email hidden]... > > Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years Ive > > noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few rFactor > > posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on the best > > current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and pulled the > > user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming the next > > Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? > > > > RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can be > > had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. > > > > Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to > > be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... > > > > Happy Thanksgivings folks. > > > > Mitch > >

rFactorCentral is pretty much the default clearinghouse for all things rF. User ratings, user files such as setups, etc. Works well IMO.

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> b) whether you're a rookie or not, you take a look at rFactor and see a huge > mess - too much frigging around to get to the point of sitting at the > wheel/pedal set and actually getting to the simming experience. rFactor > could be brilliant if they would pay the authors of tracks and mods a token > fee, sanction their work after their in house quality testing and then > hosting the stuff they give the thumbs up too. I'll be fucked if I'm going > to spend hours per week or even per day hunting down tracks and mods and > then hunting down the eternal tweaks to those tracks/mods - way too much > frigging about. >

I agree, and the only reason I run with rFactor is because I know these tricks, the amount of people I have spoken to who are new to it and having a nightmare is absurd. Though attempts to setup some sort of "modders guild" went awry AFAIK because people railed against the idea that someone might be telling them what is good or not. rfcentral user ratings is all good and well, except that some of the high rated stuff I have looked at sucks. > c) Sim racing is a huge mess - it needs a world championship for starters. > Which will probably require some sort of "official" organisation. > > > Will iRacing be the answer to all the above? I'd say there is a pretty high chance of that. Maybe not to start with, but long term, I'd put alot of money on it (John henry already has!). Jon.

[email hidden] wrote:

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> I agree, and the only reason I run with rFactor is because I know these > tricks, the amount of people I have spoken to who are new to it and > having a nightmare is absurd. Though attempts to setup some sort of > "modders guild" went awry AFAIK because people railed against the idea > that someone might be telling them what is good or not. rfcentral user > ratings is all good and well, except that some of the high rated stuff > I have looked at sucks.

........ > > Jon. I look at it differently, coming from a background of ISI games, so perhaps already be familiar with the various files and ".plr" file edits give me an advantage. It's a balancing act. rF provides the opportunity to race numerous types of cars based on a single platform. It does that well, but at the expense of being somewhat incomplete as standalone game. For example, certainly many of the various edits and fixes that are done via text files could be shifted to click boxes in game. However, there is no other sim out there that offers the versatility of rF. Stock cars, open wheels, gokarts, supercars, etc., all under one roof. As for rF Central, the user reviews may differ as they are opinions.You thought it sucked, but perhaps many other ppl. felt it was good. It's a place to start when deciding whether to dload a file or not. Similar to the GPL Track DB...a lot of tracks "sucked" IMO, but got great reviews. I prefer a certain style of track and if a highly rated track didn't meet those expectations, I simply deleted the track folder. It doesn't the track WAS bad, simply I didn't care for it.

Someone has to be brain dead to struggle with the track issue without rfactorcentral. With it, it's very, very , very, very, very easy to see which mods and tracks are high quality. Fantastic web site. Funny how sims with an abundance of tracks was never a problem in the past, but is now. Seems to me there is an agenda. -- David G Fisher "Byron Forbes" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:45665924$0$4672$[email hidden]... > A few theories - > > a) A lot of people were stung by Simbin with GTR and GTR2 still has a lot > of shortcomings - hows the online - how many online per server? > > b) whether you're a rookie or not, you take a look at rFactor and see a > huge mess - too much frigging around to get to the point of sitting at the > wheel/pedal set and actually getting to the simming experience. rFactor > could be brilliant if they would pay the authors of tracks and mods a > token fee, sanction their work after their in house quality testing and > then hosting the stuff they give the thumbs up too. I'll be fucked if I'm > going to spend hours per week or even per day hunting down tracks and mods > and then hunting down the eternal tweaks to those tracks/mods - way too > much frigging about. > > c) Sim racing is a huge mess - it needs a world championship for starters. > Which will probably require some sort of "official" organisation. > > > Will iRacing be the answer to all the above? > > > > "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:FE%8h.14235$[email hidden]... >> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years >> Ive noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few >> rFactor posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on >> the best current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and >> pulled the user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming >> the next Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? >> >> RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can >> be had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. >> >> Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to >> be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... >> >> Happy Thanksgivings folks. >> >> Mitch >> > >

I don't really mean tracks, and I would hope that if a user review on rfcentral referred to a track as "sucks" it would refer more to the quality of the rendition, rather than the direction the corners go or the flow, for a real world track anyway. I refer more to car mods. I don't mind people having opinions, that is fine, but sometimes people look at the "I like this car" rather than the "Is this car accurately represented? Are the tyres well done? Is this like driving the real world version in any way at all?" To me, whether someone likes something or not is irrelevant, I like Mario Kart, does that mean it's a realistic representation of kart racing? Of course, none of it really matters, because I can just download it and try for myself, I don't get sleepless nights. :) However, experience has taught me to use a separate rFactor installation for such activities, because a few mods have been known to really screw things up. On the whole, there are some very good mods for rF that have had a quite unprecedented amount of work put into them. I would gladly pay $60 for V8Factor, F12005, and the ETCC mod... The Caterham mod is shaping up well and the F179 mod is looking quite simply out of this world in the current beta (Way ahead of the demo, btw), I would pay $100 for this one! It is crazy when you think about it, but rFactor reminds me of MSFS2004 as a modding framework, and if you look at your average FS nut, they have probably invested $100's maybe $1000's of dollars in payware mods, to think that the rFcommunity provides this for free is simply astounding, we're spoilt. Right, I am off to rfcentral to assuage my guilt using the "paypal donate" button! :) Jon.

[email hidden] wrote:

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> I don't really mean tracks, and I would hope that if a user review on > rfcentral referred to a track as "sucks" it would refer more to the > quality of the rendition, rather than the direction the corners go or > the flow, for a real world track anyway. > > I refer more to car mods. I don't mind people having opinions, that is > fine, but sometimes people look at the "I like this car" rather than > the "Is this car accurately represented? Are the tyres well done? Is > this like driving the real world version in any way at all?" > > To me, whether someone likes something or not is irrelevant, I like > Mario Kart, does that mean it's a realistic representation of kart > racing? > > Of course, none of it really matters, because I can just download it > and try for myself, I don't get sleepless nights. :) > > However, experience has taught me to use a separate rFactor > installation for such activities, because a few mods have been known to > really screw things up. > > On the whole, there are some very good mods for rF that have had a > quite unprecedented amount of work put into them. I would gladly pay > $60 for V8Factor, F12005, and the ETCC mod... The Caterham mod is > shaping up well and the F179 mod is looking quite simply out of this > world in the current beta (Way ahead of the demo, btw), I would pay > $100 for this one! > > It is crazy when you think about it, but rFactor reminds me of MSFS2004 > as a modding framework, and if you look at your average FS nut, they > have probably invested $100's maybe $1000's of dollars in payware mods, > to think that the rFcommunity provides this for free is simply > astounding, we're spoilt. > > Right, I am off to rfcentral to assuage my guilt using the "paypal > donate" button! :) > > Jon.

On Nov 23, 6:25 pm, "Rookie" <[email hidden]> wrote: > I wish some of those mods would make their way to nr2003.. even though they > can only use cup, cts, pta physics ect... still it would be fun to race > the models around. > > the whelen mod died and I guess the dirt late model mod died as well... The Whelen mod is very much alive. Check out www.smodified.com.

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> "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in messagenews:4m99h.2789$[email hidden]... > > > > > That makes sense. Too bad though, every joeblow and his cousin is making > > a mod and no one else has ever been "The Pits" :) > > > Mitch > > > "Scott B. Husted" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > >news:[email hidden]... > >> Being a dormant member of the Pits Crew, I won't - can't - speak for Jan > >> or anyone else there.. but The Pits is really an rFactor modding group > >> now, which is why you won't find anything about GTR2 or any SimBin > >> product there. > > >> Scott > > >> Mitch_A wrote: > >>> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years > >>> Ive noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few > >>> rFactor posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing > >>> on the best current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits > >>> and pulled the user base away with it or are they just focusing on > >>> becoming the next Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? > > >>> RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can > >>> be had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. > > >>> Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems > >>> to be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... > > >>> Happy Thanksgivings folks. > > >>> Mitch > > >> -- > >> Scott B. Husted® > >>http://www.Husted.cc > >> ICQ# - 4395450 | AIM - Hylander12871 | Yahoo - sbhusted > >> MSM - [email hidden] | Google Talk - [email hidden] Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

Item B is exactly what has turned me off of rFactor. I barely have time to race, much less spend 80% of the time I do have keeping up with Mods and tracks. -Larry "Byron Forbes" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:45665924$0$4672$[email hidden]...

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> A few theories - > > a) A lot of people were stung by Simbin with GTR and GTR2 still has a lot > of shortcomings - hows the online - how many online per server? > > b) whether you're a rookie or not, you take a look at rFactor and see a > huge mess - too much frigging around to get to the point of sitting at the > wheel/pedal set and actually getting to the simming experience. rFactor > could be brilliant if they would pay the authors of tracks and mods a > token fee, sanction their work after their in house quality testing and > then hosting the stuff they give the thumbs up too. I'll be fucked if I'm > going to spend hours per week or even per day hunting down tracks and mods > and then hunting down the eternal tweaks to those tracks/mods - way too > much frigging about. > > c) Sim racing is a huge mess - it needs a world championship for starters. > Which will probably require some sort of "official" organisation. > > > Will iRacing be the answer to all the above? > > > > "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:FE%8h.14235$[email hidden]... >> Ive been going to the Pits for around a decade and over the past years >> Ive noticed the forum traffic there is gradually fading away. A few >> rFactor posts but nothing on GTR2 or any Simbin products. Why nothing on >> the best current Sim (GTR2?) Has activism gone astray at The Pits and >> pulled the user base away with it or are they just focusing on becoming >> the next Simbin/Corecodec/etc/etc? >> >> RSC while a great source of info is about as painful of a browse as can >> be had on the net due to it's wild swings in perf. >> >> Simracing is technically better than it's ever been yet interest seems to >> be dropping instead of growing. Go figure... >> >> Happy Thanksgivings folks. >> >> Mitch >> > >

Larry wrote: > Item B is exactly what has turned me off of rFactor. I barely have time to > race, much less spend 80% of the time I do have keeping up with Mods and > tracks. Yea, most of the time I'd be happy just to jump into an online race using OW Challenge and one of the stock tracks. You almost never find races like that. So you do end up constantly downloading the latest mod or track. So is that really bad? I'm not so sure as long as you have broadband. Just by installing the Megane or the ETCC mod you can almost always find good racing. It's just the idea that people keep switching from mod to mod, and you have to follow suit just to find races. What would be nice is some sort of internal system in rFactor for keeping up with mods and tracks. Seems like a lot of work went into Racecast but it's almost worthless. I have a friend who used to race sims a lot, but hasn't in years. He used to run full length GP's in concert with the real F1 season. That was all he did with race sims. This was pre-online racing. A while back he came over and tried rFactor, and was impressed and interested in buying it. After looking into it he decided not to bother because of the effort required to collect all the various pieces to put together a full F1 season. That kind of illustrates the problem for rFactor. Pat Dotson

Larry wrote:

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> Item B is exactly what has turned me off of rFactor. I barely have time to > race, much less spend 80% of the time I do have keeping up with Mods and > tracks. > > -Larry >>b) whether you're a rookie or not, you take a look at rFactor and see a >>huge mess - too much frigging around to get to the point of sitting at the >>wheel/pedal set and actually getting to the simming experience.

IMO, it's not that bad. No one says you need to have all the latest, greatest mods/tracks installed. There is plenty of stable material to choose from. Hit up rfactorcentral.com Pick a mod or two that look interesting. DL and install. Find a league running the car(s) and install only the tracks needed. Have fun! RFC is a good source for reasonably stable track releases. This (hopefully) avoids wading through zillions of pages of RSC forum announcements.

What would make this entire problem go away is a button on the online screen that says: "Download and install track" or "Download and install Mod". It downloads it from a central repository and installs it, then allows you to race. If they do that, then I'll re-visit rFactor. -Larry <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Larry wrote: >> Item B is exactly what has turned me off of rFactor. I barely have time >> to >> race, much less spend 80% of the time I do have keeping up with Mods and >> tracks. > > Yea, most of the time I'd be happy just to jump into an online race > using OW Challenge and one of the stock tracks. You almost never find > races like that. So you do end up constantly downloading the latest > mod or track. > > So is that really bad? I'm not so sure as long as you have broadband. > Just by installing the Megane or the ETCC mod you can almost always > find good racing. It's just the idea that people keep switching from > mod to mod, and you have to follow suit just to find races. > > What would be nice is some sort of internal system in rFactor for > keeping up with mods and tracks. Seems like a lot of work went into > Racecast but it's almost worthless. > > I have a friend who used to race sims a lot, but hasn't in years. He > used to run full length GP's in concert with the real F1 season. That > was all he did with race sims. This was pre-online racing. A while > back he came over and tried rFactor, and was impressed and interested > in buying it. After looking into it he decided not to bother because > of the effort required to collect all the various pieces to put > together a full F1 season. That kind of illustrates the problem for > rFactor. > > Pat Dotson >

I've tried this. A couple of times. The odds of you having the right track, version or mod is getting lower and lower as time goes on. Like I said in my other post, if they would centralize the download in the online screen, then I'm all in. -Larry "Greg Campbell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:HeOah.6372$[email hidden]...

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> Larry wrote: > IMO, it's not that bad. > No one says you need to have all the latest, greatest mods/tracks > installed. There is plenty of stable material to choose from. > > Hit up rfactorcentral.com > Pick a mod or two that look interesting. DL and install. > Find a league running the car(s) and install only the tracks needed. > Have fun! > > RFC is a good source for reasonably stable track releases. This > (hopefully) avoids wading through zillions of pages of RSC forum > announcements.

Larry wrote: > I've tried this. A couple of times. The odds of you having the right > track, version or mod is getting lower and lower as time goes on. > > Yeah, mod makers also need to not constantly release updates to the mods. Release it when it is finished, and make sure it is by beta testing with trusted sources! AFAIK The V8Factor mod is pretty solid and so is ETCC and CTDT F1-2005... Tracks wise, well, the latest versions are usually on rfcentral. I think the key is league racing, that way everyone knows what they need because it is the same for everyone. I guess the "mix and match" that is the rFactor community is just not too good for pick up racing. Personally, I have had my fill of pick up racing and would rather race with people I know and that I can trust on the race track not to (virtually) kill me. Jon.

[email hidden] wrote:

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> > I think the key is league racing, that way everyone knows what they > need because it is the same for everyone. I guess the "mix and match" > that is the rFactor community is just not too good for pick up racing. > Personally, I have had my fill of pick up racing and would rather race > with people I know and that I can trust on the race track not to > (virtually) kill me. > > Jon.

This is the key to the ideas mentioned above. A "central repository" is the league home page. Trying to keep up with all the changes for pick up racing is near impossible. However, league will simply select a mod and some tracks, set up a schedule and then run them. They ignore the incremental updates (unless it fixes something critical, I suppose). OF course leagues often have their racing at set times, which may not fit someones schedule, thus the need for p/u races. I imagine that there are enough leagues out there to find ONE that is close to everyones needs. I haven't raced a p/u race in 3 yrs, and my mental well being (as far as sim racing goes) has never been better. What might be more important right now is a central listing for LEAGUES. Kind of a "personal ads" for rF. "SWM seeking rF OWR league, Fri-Sat-Sun after 7pm est." or perhaps "rF COT league needs drivers. Fixed Sets, 50% dist., Tues 8pm est."

> What might be more important right now is a central listing for > LEAGUES. Kind of a "personal ads" for rF. > > "SWM seeking rF OWR league, Fri-Sat-Sun after 7pm est." or perhaps "rF > COT league needs drivers. Fixed Sets, 50% dist., Tues 8pm est." AutoSimSport did run a Classified's section for a while where such a thing could have been possible, but as with the letters page, we got an extremely low amount of interest. I know what you mean about mental health, not sure I have ever actually enjoyed a pick up race, but you are also correct that many people cannot really work a league into their lives... Of course, you are ALSO right that there must be a league out there for everyone! The problem with p/u races is that people use them as practice time. Personally, if I cannot lap a given circuit with a certain degree of competency then I won't go online on that circuit because I will just ruin everyone else's fun. You see, call me a selfless maniac, but I think that if I am either: 1. Trying so hard to stay on the track that looking in my mirrors is out of the question. 2. Doing 50mph through a 140mph Corner. 3. Unable to complete a lap without a spin. 4. braking 400 metres before I should be... Then I need to be offline. Sure, I don't need to be on Huttu pace (Not sure I ever am!) to go online, and pace is not the question. Being able to be within 4-5 seconds of the pace, to drive with other drivers in mind and to be able to complete normal practice laps without spinning or crashing heavily (We all get carried away in races and qualifying crashes can be understandable) I feel should be some kind of pre-requisite for being "let out" with everyone else. Frankly, in real life, you don't get out on track without a licence, and the licence is all about safety, driving with due care and attention and knowing where to put your car on the track. Not about being the quickest person in the world. Of course, it's fairly unlikely these things willchange any time soon, so I will stick with racing people I know. /rant And yes, rFactor could well end up being the author of it's own downfall.

Larry wrote:

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> What would make this entire problem go away is a button on the online screen > that says: > > "Download and install track" or "Download and install Mod". > > It downloads it from a central repository and installs it, then allows you > to race. > > If they do that, then I'll re-visit rFactor.

And you're willing to pay for that service, right? Thought so... Tell that to an FPS player. Oh man, there are thousands of maps for Q3A, I hate that game. I can't decide, which one to play! Somebody should do it for me. Get some backbone and limit yourself to the mod you like. Yikes! ronny

There's a reason why a lot of us can dedicate to leagues. Time. We have real-life problems to address, such as that pesky work thing or house maintenance :) -Larry "Darus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> > [email hidden] wrote: >> >> I think the key is league racing, that way everyone knows what they >> need because it is the same for everyone. I guess the "mix and match" >> that is the rFactor community is just not too good for pick up racing. >> Personally, I have had my fill of pick up racing and would rather race >> with people I know and that I can trust on the race track not to >> (virtually) kill me. >> >> Jon. > > This is the key to the ideas mentioned above. A "central repository" is > the league home page. Trying to keep up with all the changes for pick > up racing is near impossible. However, league will simply select a mod > and some tracks, set up a schedule and then run them. They ignore the > incremental updates (unless it fixes something critical, I suppose). > > OF course leagues often have their racing at set times, which may not > fit someones schedule, thus the need for p/u races. I imagine that > there are enough leagues out there to find ONE that is close to > everyones needs. > > I haven't raced a p/u race in 3 yrs, and my mental well being (as far > as sim racing goes) has never been better. > > What might be more important right now is a central listing for > LEAGUES. Kind of a "personal ads" for rF. > > "SWM seeking rF OWR league, Fri-Sat-Sun after 7pm est." or perhaps "rF > COT league needs drivers. Fixed Sets, 50% dist., Tues 8pm est." >

Actually, yes. I have no problems with a well designed, paid service. I'm willing to put my money where my backbone is. Now, don't you feel silly? -Larry "Ronald Stoehr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:eki40p$j9m$[email hidden]...

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> Larry wrote: >> What would make this entire problem go away is a button on the online >> screen that says: >> >> "Download and install track" or "Download and install Mod". >> >> It downloads it from a central repository and installs it, then allows >> you to race. >> >> If they do that, then I'll re-visit rFactor. > > And you're willing to pay for that service, right? Thought so... > > Tell that to an FPS player. Oh man, there are thousands of maps for Q3A, > I hate that game. I can't decide, which one to play! Somebody should do > it for me. Get some backbone and limit yourself to the mod you like. > > Yikes! > > ronny >

Larry wrote: > There's a reason why a lot of us can dedicate to leagues. Time. We have > real-life problems to address, such as that pesky work thing or house > maintenance :) > > -Larry It would seem to be a contradiction then, IMO. If you have time to race pickup races online, then they ought to have the same amount of time to run in a formal league. As I said, there are so many leagues out there that ONE is bound to be close to a time that suits you. Or not. I don't know what circumstances every sim racer faces, but it's my position that if a driver hates the pickup crowd and their less than mature online etiquette, then either run offline, join a league with like minded, serious racers or quit the hobby and play "Bejeweled".

Darus wrote: > Larry wrote: > > There's a reason why a lot of us can dedicate to leagues. Time. We have > > real-life problems to address, such as that pesky work thing or house > > maintenance :) > > > > -Larry It's a matter of priorities though. Way i see it, I watch every F1 race of the year, most MotoGP races, quite a few NASCAR events, etc, etc... Those events are at set times, I know about them weeks in advance and can easily set aside the time to sit down and watch them, I might miss the odd one or two, these things happen. Of course, in a league unless you are single and have nothing in life to do other than simrace, you may not make every event. Unless you are really keen on winning the championship in the league then this won't be a problem. You see, if my wife wanted me to do some "house maintenance" during an F1 GP I think she knows what response she would get, also, if I tell her a week or two in advance that between 15.00 and 18.00 on a given Saturday or Sunday afternoon that I will be taking part in a race, she should know the same response would be forthcoming. As for work, well, I got plenty of that but everyone needs "happy time!" Of course, I say all this, and I am not part of a league because I don't have time! I would like to remedy this, but racing every two weeks would be far too regular for me. Maybe I will setup a league for busy people! :)

Larry wrote: > Actually, yes. > > I have no problems with a well designed, paid service. I'm willing to put > my money where my backbone is. > > Now, don't you feel silly? What a silly comeback. You can't stand the amount of free content, and blame the game producer for allowing it. For free... The big point about rfactor was it's modability, guess you missed that. Whatever...

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> > -Larry > > "Ronald Stoehr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:eki40p$j9m$[email hidden]... > >>Larry wrote: >> >>>What would make this entire problem go away is a button on the online >>>screen that says: >>> >>>"Download and install track" or "Download and install Mod". >>> >>>It downloads it from a central repository and installs it, then allows >>>you to race. >>> >>>If they do that, then I'll re-visit rFactor. >> >>And you're willing to pay for that service, right? Thought so... >> >>Tell that to an FPS player. Oh man, there are thousands of maps for Q3A, >>I hate that game. I can't decide, which one to play! Somebody should do >>it for me. Get some backbone and limit yourself to the mod you like. >> >>Yikes! >> >>ronny >> > > >

I can <understand> the desire for the ability to auto download/install all new content. And, to be honest, it would eliminate a LOT of the compatability issues when trying to run online race. We have experienced the various mismatch errors, and often enough, have not known why. But in reality, (and this is me only, so YMMV) I keep a max of 3-4 mods installed in my main rF directory. That's enough variety to scratch any itch I may have. Stock cars, F1, go karts and Supercars, pretty varied genres. More than that and something gets forgotten and goes unused. It also makes "keeping up" a lot easier. I need only focus on posts that relate to a mod I am running. If the McLaren F1 mod has an update, then I get it. If I see the Dunebuggy mod has a huge update, I simply skip over it and don't waste any time. As Ronald points out above, the sheer volume of the content available to me (for FREE) is astonishing and I am glad to be part of the experience. There is a LOT of NR2003 stuff too, but primarily tracks and carsets. rF gives me that, plus new physics almost on a weekly basis. I'll tolerate a little patching and file manipulation for that anytime.

You totally miss the point, Darus. Pickup racing means I can race anytime I want, WHEN I want, and not have to stick to a schedule I probably cannot keep. There is no contradiction. -Larry "Darus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Larry wrote: >> There's a reason why a lot of us can dedicate to leagues. Time. We have >> real-life problems to address, such as that pesky work thing or house >> maintenance :) >> >> -Larry > > > It would seem to be a contradiction then, IMO. > > If you have time to race pickup races online, then they ought to have > the same amount of time to run in a formal league. As I said, there are > so many leagues out there that ONE is bound to be close to a time that > suits you. > > Or not. I don't know what circumstances every sim racer faces, but it's > my position that if a driver hates the pickup crowd and their less than > mature online etiquette, then either run offline, join a league with > like minded, serious racers or quit the hobby and play "Bejeweled". >

Larry wrote:

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> You totally miss the point, Darus. > > Pickup racing means I can race anytime I want, WHEN I want, and not have to > stick to a schedule I probably cannot keep. > > There is no contradiction. > > -Larry

Valid point there, I stand corrected. :-)

What the hell are you talking about? The OP tried to put words into my mouth, and made a ass of himself. I was just pointing that out. -Larry "Ronald Stoehr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ekkjp8$lfk$[email hidden]...

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> Larry wrote: >> Actually, yes. >> >> I have no problems with a well designed, paid service. I'm willing to >> put my money where my backbone is. >> >> Now, don't you feel silly? > > What a silly comeback. You can't stand the amount of free content, and > blame > the game producer for allowing it. For free... > > The big point about rfactor was it's modability, guess you missed that. > > Whatever... > >> >> -Larry >> >> "Ronald Stoehr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >> news:eki40p$j9m$[email hidden]... >> >>>Larry wrote: >>> >>>>What would make this entire problem go away is a button on the online >>>>screen that says: >>>> >>>>"Download and install track" or "Download and install Mod". >>>> >>>>It downloads it from a central repository and installs it, then allows >>>>you to race. >>>> >>>>If they do that, then I'll re-visit rFactor. >>> >>>And you're willing to pay for that service, right? Thought so... >>> >>>Tell that to an FPS player. Oh man, there are thousands of maps for Q3A, >>>I hate that game. I can't decide, which one to play! Somebody should do >>>it for me. Get some backbone and limit yourself to the mod you like. >>> >>>Yikes! >>> >>>ronny >>> >> >>