It's not complicated, it's essentially the same reason why I prefer a sim like GPL to more fantastical games.

I prefer real life tracks in general, and there's plenty of terrific ones that don't get used too much (like Bremgarten, Dundrod).  However I thought Urbanya and Panchine were pretty good tracks.

Yeah, sorry about that.  I'm not really sure what happened, suddenly the car was just floating over the hump towards and into the hedge.  I had to reset, then got caught out in Masta and whacked a house.  That really screwed things up as I couldn't do another reset and I had some engine damage and some suspension issues.  I struggled on for a few laps, but was not enjoying it at all.  Tried to push a little harder and went of in Stavelot, much to my relief.  It may be too early in the morning for me, damn daylight savings.

That was my first proper go with the big white fridge, and it held up admirably.  Snuck pole position from Evil but it wasn't until I was on the grid that I remembered the drawback of using the Chaparral.  Sure enough I got beat off the line but managed to hang on to 2nd.  Settled in, but found the rear tyres getting a bit too excited in Evil's slipstream.  Then he's off at the top hairpin and I'm in the lead.  From there it was reasonably straight forward.   

Regarding your blackouts, Evil:  Are you sure it's not some hidden away hibernation or power-saving option in Windows?  If they happen on a regular basis it must be based on a timer of some kind.  What do you do to recover from them: wiggle the mouse or press a key?

Yaaaay!

Well when Axel locked his brakes into the hairpin I got the lead and things were looking pretty sweet.  Half a lap later I just ever-so-slightly put half of my left rear onto the dirt at turn 1 and that was that.  I managed to claw and scrap my way back up to third, and then the latency bars started bouncing and jiggling around.  Sure enough a few corners later my Prib list was swept clear and I got the dreaded network error message coming up.  I pressed on, expecting to get kicked at any second, but strangely no.  I now existed in some kind of alter-dimension where I could see Evil (the driver) but no one else.  Amazingly after three or so laps my Prib list refreshed again, just in time to pass the stuck Lonzar at the hairpin.  "Second!"  I thought, but then I saw according to Prib everyone was red- meaning I was laps behind everyone.  I stuck it out to the end, but server says I was 11 laps down.  Curses.

Yes, good challenge in the mad CanAms.  I did fall victim to Diabolica sadly, and despite not actually hitting anything GPLRA records I picked up some left rear suspension damage, which caused a big wobble and crash in the Lesmos, which caused some engine trauma.  It seems these CanAm cars are fairly delicate despite how they look.  And sound.   

Grats to Dean.