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I finished my first race at Barcelona in the Extreme GT class...6th place or somewhere in there. Here's my impressions: It was a blast! It was a great race. My top thoughts right now is that the start was smooth...from my 9th position start I saw no crashes, no punts, very little bumping, and excellent race spacing. On a downside there's some people that haven't read the Codes and Regulations More specifically section: 25.4.1 - Passing / Being Passed
Being Lapped
This is not permission for a car being lapped to contest lead-lap cars, or cars in a different class. This policy is in place so slower cars stay predictable when a faster car approaches. Altering your normal racing line is unpredictable and the faster cars are unaware of your intentions. Allow the faster car to make the decisions. The Exception
And section: 0.3 - Headlamps
What I was seeing was drivers in front of me pulling over...even onto the grass in the corners to allow me to pass. If it was not intentional then my mistake, but it looked like they slowed down right in front of me as if allowing me time to pass. Unfortunately, I had to slow down as well, which meant that it took me longer to pass them than it would have if they had followed the rules...it also meant that the cars in back of us were catching up which makes things more complicated. Slowing down and pulling over when a faster car approaches or the blue flag comes out is fine for public servers, but is confusing to those of us who read the rules here. I also did not see any use of the headlights by drivers in front of me even though I flashed them mine just before a long straight. It's not in the rules, but if a driver behind me flashes his headlights I flash them back to indicate my acknowledgment of their intention to pass. Consequently, when a faster car came up behind me I stayed on the race line. What happened made me feel bad because some of them tried to overtake me in corners and wrecked, or tried to accelerate too fast on a corner before a long straight and wrecked, or tried to pass when there was not enough room and again...wrecked. Apparently they expected me to pull over for them...again they didn't read the rules. However, there were also drivers who followed the rules and I am very thankful for their courtesy in that matter. Some of them successfully passed me in long straights, and at corners if I swung out too wide. Overall it was good racing and nobody rammed me, nor punted me, nor ran me off the road. I did pass several cars who stayed on the race line and it was very satisfying...a couple of them went a bit too wide in a corner and I took advantage of the opening. Interestingly enough I didn't pass anyone on a long straight mostly because when I first get behind someone I recognize that that is not the best moment to pass. I think it's best to follow carefully with safe distancing until I get a good run on the corner before a long straight or the car ahead of me makes a mistake before flashing the lights or attempting to pass. In fact, unless they are much slower and can be safely passed right away, I prefer to follow someone around the track perhaps one whole lap just to see how they are driving before thinking of passing them. That way I can do it safely and they are aware of my intent and ready for me to make my move. Keep in mind that the driver in front of another car should wait until the car in back of them flashes their lights and makes their move before they do anything like slow down or pull off the race line. I hope this doesn't sound like a rant because I did have a great time! I just think some of the drivers should read the Codes and Regulations...perhaps making that a requirement...even imposing a test. I think it would make racing more fun, satisfying, and more enjoyable for all. |
So let me get this straight, you own a Vette, but you entered a Ferrari??
Good talking with you on TS. Wish more people would join the TS channel for the races. Oh, and one more reference to your previous blog entry. I signed up a week ago, and I'm hooked like nobody's business. After my first race I couldn't click fast enough to send Tim & Todd some money. They got the biz goin on here. Yes I'm married, no it's not a problem ... yet. One day I'll grow out of my toys. | ||
Steve, you are my "ideal" kind of sim-racer. One who reads the documentation before attending events. I went out of my way to keep our CC&Rs very short so they can be read and digested in a matter of minutes. They are all geared around SAFETY and CONSIDERATION for others on the track . They are there not to limit, but to enhance an event. I am very happy to have you here Steve. You did great this evening and your future at R2P is going to be bright! | ||
Sounds like you have the perfect idea there Steve. I've made a few mentions in post race threads about how annoying it is when lapped cars try to do the work for me. I have accidentally wrecked numerous drivers who have been trying to get out of my way or slow down for me over the years. I dont think I've ever wrecked a guy who has let me do the passing, and I dont think I've ever been held up to badly either, as long as they assist with the pass once I've already initiated it. | ||
It really depends on the situation and what car I'm driving. For example, I'm more prone to come up short on the exit of a turn so I can exit far to the inside if I'm in an open-wheel because I don't have headlights to give the faster car a clear signal that I want him to initiate the pass. If the track's clear and I can clearly see that the car behind me is one of the leaders, I'll very slowly drift off the line while flicking my headlights. This is especially true if I know a long sequence of turns is coming up. The problem comes up when your fellow racers force the situation with very abrupt, unpredictable moves. Once you've become experienced enough to gain a fair sense of situational awareness, I think you can bend the rules a little bit to help out the leaders. | ||
hehe...thanks for the tar TC, but before you follow up with feathers... :) For one thing the GTR2 Vette is in the G2 class and although it has about the same acceleration as the F550 it just doesn't handle as well in the simulation. I found the same problem in GTL...the programmers at SimBin just don't like the vette enough to make it drive the way a real vette drives...perhaps they haven't driven them enough or aren't used to the overpowered feel, and I don't blame them because most people use traction-control. But, in the real world I prefer the look, sound, and feel of a Stingray with a raw 350cc with side pipes over something that goes faster. But, all of that aside, for racing I choose a car by it's performance and how it feels on the track. Chevrolet didn't make the vette in GTR2, so I don't think I deserve the feathers for picking the F550. :) Anyway, it was great talking to you (glad Tim didn't try singing...people without TS just don't know what they are missing). And, yeah...I saw the signup for the next Extreme GT event and the 6 day wait until I could sign up and immediately promoted my membership to premium. I even went to the rscnet.org forums and posted a notice about Race2Play.com since that was the main place that I had been looking for a league with decent race schedules. It's so strange, but most leagues want to race on a work/school night...so hopefully Tim will get some more reqruits in the next few days. Also, they won't even be able to pry my toys out of my stone dead hands after I die...I'll put it in my will to be buried with my momo. Thanks for your support Tim and Scott...I'm hoping not to ruffle any feathers, but I can't help but say what I'm thinking. I look forward to the next event at Brno, and I've signed up for the GT Open series as well...I'm a happy camper! Point well taken Ray. I admit that I'm new to the sport and in the future will be able to recognize situations and react better to them as I gain experience. It just rattled me to feel like I was causing wrecks by following the rules. | ||
Oh, it wasn't meant as a direct statement towards you, Steve. I was speaking in general terms. | ||
Update...after my 7th race I've fallen into pulling off the race line when a faster car is approaching. I feel this is like following cars on the highway and finding myself speeding. Not only has my lap times dropped during races, but I feel I'm stealing part of their fun of racing...I mean what fun would it be if everyone in front of you just pulled over? Boring right? I'm going back to following the rule of staying on the race line and allowing the drivers in back of me to pick their spot and do an actual pass. We are all here to have fun, and part of that fun is passing, so I'm going to try to keep that component in my racing attitude. So, if you are one of those aliens that I have no hope is racing with at the time being then just flash your lights when you come up on me and then start your pass and I'll slow down for you, but I intend to keep my race line so that I won't drop 3 laps down like I've been doing. | ||
The worst thing about the blue flag in GTR2 is the annoying voice that constantly comes over the radio telling you to "PULL OVER!...PULL OVER!...PULL OVER!" I have to remind myself to keep my racing line, ignore the voice, and calm down. Anyway to turn that voice off. Most of the time I wait till a long straight and move to the right and slightly let off my speed so the other racer can pass. It's annoying when my tires are shot and I'm working my way around a curve or chicane and a leader punts me. One time 2 guys blew past me, one on the left and one on the right as I was struggling to maintain my line on a tough curve. That kind of stuff doesn't happen too often though. I think as a rookie I tend to freak out when a leader is about to lap me and I loose my concentration. I'm getting better though. | ||
Ah...yes...those annoying blue flag warnings. What you can do is browse to your GTR2 folder and into the GameData\Sounds\PIT folder (example: C:\GTR2\GameData\Sounds\PIT) and replace those files with something else. What I did was open up sound recorder in the Windows Start Menu under: All Programs | Accesories | Entertainment...unplug microphone, then click record then stop and save it as blueflag_warning1_pTc_mine.wav or something like that. Then rename the original files and replace them with copies of the blank wav file you just recorded. I'm going to check with Tim to make sure that it won't give us an automatic stop-n-go after the third warning like it does in the single player. Edit: Nope...there's absolutely no penalties for staying on the racing line and allowing the blue flag indicator to stay on your screen. If you get a blue flag just remember it's there to remind you that a faster car is behind you and might flash his lights or try to pass...hold a stable racing line and wait until they pull alongside you then slow down so they can pull back into the racing line. |