Awesome. I'm happy to do some "open practice" online if you want. I've been enjoying driving the WTCC Extreme cars lately, but I'll drive anything. Maybe if Commander actually ever comes online on Steam he can join in.

I've run online GTR servers before... sometimes they fill up fast, sometimes you struggle.
Whatever works, really.

Let me know if you sub to iRacing.

I'd like to see you try iRacing, missingo.

Mmm, not too sure. Depends on the class you're racing.
Rookie class is relatively easy and low on costs.

It only runs 2 tracks on the road series (Mazda MX-5), Laguna Seca and Lime Rock Park.
These are all free with your initial subscription.
Once you get a feel for the driving model, all you have to do is practice a couple hours 'til your driving becomes reasonably consistent and I'd say you're pretty good to jump into a race.

To be competitive, it's all about staying on the track with speed coupled with lap consistency... no diving into corner 1 like a maniac as you see in most other racers.

For the seasons, it's really up to you how much you put in... as only your top few races actually count toward your final spot on the season ladder. So you're not really required to race every waking second of your free time to actually count, which is nice.

As for GTR Evo, hit me up on Steam if you ever feel like doing some laps.
I haven't played in forever, but the WTCC cars are good all-rounders for beginners and experienced alike.

Here's my Steam profile link: http://steamcommunity.com/id/supervillainoutcast

iRacing is where it's at. It's multiplayer only though... and much like real life, you're in a set class, and you race and practice one car per class. Of course you can run more than one, but that makes it hard on you 'cause you can't really get to know your chosen car properly. Races are sanctioned once per hour, with open practice sessions in between. Races in C class and higher are once every 2+ hours 'cause there's more emphasis on practice... as the races are more important.

There's also a safety rating sysem in place to stop people driving like asses without consequence.
The initial monthly subscription fees grant you access to all cars and tracks needed for your Rookie season, then from D-class upwards you need to buy your cars and tracks. It can get pricey if you try and run more than one car. Also, tracks change once per week, so you don't need to lash out lots of money straight up front. It's not too bad if you think about it logically.

If you're not interested 'cause of the costs, you're going to have to wait for GTR 3 and/or rFactor 2.

On the off chance you do get into iRacing, post your profile on here and I'll add you to my friends list.
I'm C-class, but racing the MX-5 series (Rookie) 'cause I love the car.

Also, my personal car suggestions for the first three classes;
Rookie - Mazda MX-5 Roadster
D-Class - Ford Mustang
C-Class - Star Mazda

(...and Hello Commander!)

I won't be around on the 25th for sim racing... that's the day Gran Turismo 5 comes out, so I'll be off playing that.

You're not getting GT5 by any chance, Commander?

I have no problem with 7pm.

Unless it's 'Lynx Dry' or some other kind of anti-perspirant, it's not going to stop body odour... only mix with it to create a new kind of horrible smell.

Either way, I look forward to seeing at least 300 photos pop up in this thread after next Respawn.

I'd have been down for F1 2010, but I didn't get home until 5pm or so.
Sunday isn't good for me unless it's after 5pm.

I'm available to play after 5pm Sunday to Thursday.

Did it again, 1:21.8 -- didn't record it though, as I don't have Fraps installed atm.
That car is SO fucken shit, though... it feels like it just doesn't want to turn, then you give it a little more revs and it tries to slide on you, and its brakes are HORRIBLE.

Yes, GT Sport, I made sure of it... I used the Simbin setup, too.
Might record a lap. (1:21 is also pretty bad, btw... I could see many points where my driving could be improved)

I had a look at the online leaderboard and the record is 1:17... So we're both slow.

I'm not too sure, I'd have to take a look.

I might jump on now and do some laps on the same track/car and see how I go.

Tyre temperatures are important, too. I really hope they go more in-depth with the new GTR that's currently in development.

iRacing has it down-pat... other sims need to take note of their setup and sharing system, and their safety rating system.

EDIT: I did 1:21 on my opening lap and it's an unfamiliar car to me... looks like you need some practice bro.
I can't seem to find tyre wear or temperature anywhere though... I've only ever seen it when I come in for a pit stop on a race.

God, people are so dramatic.

LOVE iRacing... but with its subscription service, I can't imagine enough people around here would be interested in investing that much time and money into a racing sim.

I'd be willing to go as far to say I'm the only person here, to be honest.
But it's good to see it on the list as a potential possibility regardless.

I'd say that's all the general important racers around at the moment.
A good variety.

For DiRT2 and F1 2010, any interested players will need to post their Games For Windows Live ID, for an overall less painful experience... as the GFWL friends system is used to invite players to hosted multiplayer games.

No F1 2010?

Shaaaaaame!

Okay, and how many racers do we have?
As for GTR Evo, what car set/track combo?

Well, I'll take a look at some point.

Any word on more players, Commander?

I just looked it up and it uses the same codec as my Ventrilo (which is set at its highest quality), Speex.

Never heard of Mumble... how is the voice quality?

Online, bro.
I have a 10 slot Ventrilo server if we want to use that, too... as long as it's only used for our organized racing, not for personal use.

I don't have Flatout 2, but I do have another suggestion, being F1 2010... perhaps. Not neccesarily this week, just in general.

Hmm, I don't think I'll be home 'til after roughly 5pm or so. I've just been driving GTR Evo, WTCC (2007) at the moment... so I guess we can race that. Pretty easy for beginners, as all the cars minus the BMW are FWD, which is better for learners. I'll see if I can get anybody I know to join in as well (the people I know are mostly unexperienced and just bought wheels for GT5 ).

Anyway I'll see what kind of interest I can gather up and let you know.

EDIT: One guy has let his friend borrow his G27, another's PC has stopped working and he's too incompetent/lazy to fix it, and the last is just a total lazy bastard.

Could probably set up an open online server though. Last time I did that, it was basically full within 5-10 mins of the prac session..

Anyway, what I was going to say (my previous post was done from my phone), is that I wasn't speaking car-specific, merely generally. It's not hard to understand weight shift on a car (omgzphysics), road angle, etc... and how that is going to affect the handling of a certain situation, coupled, obviously with particular car setup settings... regardless of what car it is.

Hence the dislike for arcade racers such as GRID, or Flatout, and so on... They don't act or respond as they should, and that's my main concern with arcade racers. By default, I tend to try to apply my sim-racing knowledge to the games, and that doesn't work, because they don't drive in a realistic manner in comparison... but it's enough to please at least half the racing game fans out there... and to some that's fine.

To others, such as myself... it's not fine. Which is why I steer clear of them.

Rangers, you're hurting my head... I missed the facepalm and hit my head on the desk.

Knocking into the AI in DiRT2 is nowhere near as dramatic as the game makes it out to be... doesn't really affect much at all.

Also yeah, clutch, haha... I think it works as a brake in DiRT2?

As for Steam, you don't have to race me right away, haha... plus it's all for fun anyway. Not competitive or anything. Just be good to get the whole adding thing out of the way so I don't forget.

Did some driving around Zandvoort today in the 2007 BMW E90 WTCC car (not the 'extreme' one), playing around with Fraps. Just racing 93% difficulty AI. Might upload it soon for fun. Didn't record an entire race, just two or so laps of fighting to get to pole... I almost had it and I went too hard into a corner and come off the track and spun on the last lap.

EDIT: Does this forum have some kind of video embedding feature/option?
Link for now... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3SOWzziNAQ

I slept about 3 hours last night, so I can't really concentrate on racing at the moment, but it's fun to make videos anyway.

Yeah, the AI are fine in GTR (minus the whole "we don't know how to drive around you 90% of the time so we'll just slam into you" thing). Not really any magic AI cheating, most likely it all just comes down to your car setup, racing line, braking confidence, acceleration control/points, etc.


If you're not too confident with doing the car setups yourself, you can always load the Simbin setup, or go "online files" and download car setups on there. People can upload their personal setups and others can download and rate them.

As for DiRT 2... that game is ridiculously easy. Semi-arcadey car physics, so the driving part is easy. You just gotta be a little aggressive when racing AI, and keep it clean and fast in rally/trailblazer.

Look up at the track map often, too... it helps a lot.



You still didn't add me to Steam (as far as I know)!

EDIT: Which car were you using for the 2:27 at Porto?