Online Racing

[Rory]

Ron,

You raced Iracing before? I've never tried it cause of the expense of it. It's been tempting to me but I just can't get past the $$ thing. I hear peeps that play it like it. I hear there is better racing cause of their career system. Also heard they have a good anti-cheat system. Those are the two things that have tempted me.

What kind of mods do you like to run over there?

I mentioned Assetto Corsa in Scott's thread and once they finish that I think it will be a good one. I think they are presently working on their multi player. Rfactor 2 is coming along so slowly as far as different mods. Some leagues are just starting to switch over to it. But they aren't all rushing over to it.

Rfactor after 10 yrs is still prolly the most popular mod wise. It has so many different ones it's mind boggling. If it's been raced there's prolly a mod for it somewhere. 99.9% of em are free. There are some pay leagues to help pay for the servers and such. But most work on donations.


Here's one to check out for rFactor. They have an rFactor 2 league as well. But they have a career mode where you can be a driver or a team manager in one of the divisions. A driver contracts system as well as an R&D program for the top tier. The races are broadcast on youtube with announcers. I just registered with this group as a driver so I'm headed to the Open League(rookie league) and then drive til someone offers me a contract to drive for their team in one of the 3 upper divisions. Kool stuff.

GPVWC

[roncollins]

Hey, Cory.

I was deep into GPL for some time and raced in a pretty tight-knit league (the VOR) for some time, then moved over to iRacing. The cost can be a tiny steep, but you can usually find deals, and the racing itself is generally pretty interesting. I liked the "race anytime" thing with iRacing, but I also miss the strong sense of community you get racing with the same guys all the time.

It's been a year or two since I last ran over there, though. Contemplating rejoining because a good friend of mine (John Bodin--my Indy 50-0 story collaborator) is still big in it.

Mostly, I like the open wheel cars with limited or no downforce, and road courses. Maybe that's my GPL background coming out, but it's also reminds me of "real" racing back when I was a young kid sitting on the back porch and listening to races on the transistor radio with my grandfather.

[Reg]

Glad to hear some of you have also done some online racing!

[Reg]

I figured you guys would appreciate this.

It took me two days, and just the right amount of Whisky in my system, but I finally managed a (semi-decent) lap around the big, bad Nürburgring in a Lotus 79

[roncollins]

Very, very cool. Nice work. You got a touch sloppy in the last mile or two in a couple places, but overall a slick cycle. There is very little that is cooler than a clean, fast lap at the Ring.

The track looks awesome, too. Though I miss the old 1967 scenery. That imagery, in tandem with the old zero-downforce cars, always felt so ... uh ... serious. :)

[roncollins]

Knowing there's another PEBA-ite in the iRacing clan makes me re-think joining again. My rig (slight though it is relative to others) made the trip to Arizona with me.

[Reg]

Thank you Ron

Though I miss the old 1967 scenery. That imagery, in tandem with the old zero-downforce cars, always felt so ... uh ... serious. :)

I have to agree with you there. The GPL/NASCAR 2003 version had an air of danger to it.
Crazy to think that even in the late-60s, the track was largely untouched and just about the same as it had been when it was built in the 20s. Thankfully they eventually realized that hedges and mounds of dirt weren't very good at stopping cars from falling off cliffs.

[roncollins]

There is a reason so many young men died racing in those days. Very dangerous. But also a romantically glorious period for the sport.

[Reg]

The most fun I've ever had in online racing was actually not on iRacing, but using a program called "Live For Speed".

They had mastered how to include driver swaps (before iRacing did ), and so for quite a few years, it was the place to be for online sports car endurance racing.

The biggest series that was run at the time was the "GT World Series" (which ran, over different seasons, open GT1 and restricted GT2 rules, or both). They ran 3-hour and 6-hour endurance events. Minimum 2 drivers, maximum 4 drivers, and you would share a car.

A friend and I decided to start a small team, we recruited another local guy, and a Hungarian friend of ours we met while racing, and just dove head-first into it with little-to-no experience.

We weren't very competitive, since it featured some of the best from around the globe, but it was a hell of a lot of fun.

We achieved what we set out to do : we never failed to qualify for an event (fastest 29 teams qualified) in the 3 years we raced, even though we normally sat near the back of the grid.

This is what the series looked like:




Our team:




The starting grid for one of the events, to get an idea of what the field looks like:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl6w2g ... videogames



Every January, they even ran a massive 24-hour endurance event, which was quite the experience! We had teamed up with a Hungarian team and ran a total of 6 drivers. It was absolutely brilliant fun!

[Rory]

Thanks some good stuff there Reg.
And I believe Ron's right foot is getting itchy.

[Bill]

I figured you guys would appreciate this.

It took me two days, and just the right amount of Whisky in my system, but I finally managed a (semi-decent) lap around the big, bad Nürburgring in a Lotus 79

Nicely done. Been a while since I conquered the Nurburgring on anything. Never was much good at it.
I have been a big Gran Turismo fan for a number of years. Though haven't played much since GT6 came out (2 yrs maybe?).

[Reg]

Just to get Ron's foot a little itchier.... some in-race footage this time

[roncollins]

Very nice hunting. :) Spa is a cool track, too--though I admit I miss the old monster of the 1967 layout in GPL.

And, BTW, you are an evil man, Reg LeBlanc. E - V - I - L.

I suspect I'll be rejoining as soon as I get a moment to breathe here. :)

[Leones]

My favorite track! Some nice clean racing too. Thanks for sharing that! Now back to watching Daytona ...