GTL Escort Fun Race - 8th Jan

[Truetom]

Too many ppl. A rare problem, but proves I was wrong. There is a lot of interest in GTL, at least in an Escort RS and the least in E-type so far. 

I went out, hope you were able to find the limit of drivers. There'll be other races. 

See ya all on track. 

[Simon Gymer]

Well first time we had more than 19 people (35 we had when I was there). Unforunately it shows the limits of the server hardware to be the same as GTR (24 drivers) so for future races we'll cap it at 24. CPU was maxed out at 100% as usual, networking bandwidth was still only 13% utiliised.

Sorry for the problems, but we never had more than 19 at once before on GTL and didn't know what the limit for our server was.

Shame, was looking forward to some Escort fun too:   

[Simon Gymer]

I'll stick up my 6 driver server for any stragglers that want a small race with me.

[mclaessen]

Hmm, I'm having trouble getting into your server. Is it still up Shark?

Edit: Never mind. Got in already 

[Aagramn]

It was an important test, at least we know what the server limits are now.

Unfortunately we had a late joiner and there were 25 on the start line. There was a bit of warp, and I got taken out on the 1st lap when a car suddenly stopped dead in front of me. Was having fun working my way back through the pack and set a new PB of 1:18.4, until I spun and hit a barrier hard.

Thanks for the excellent turn-out. Very impressived by the times being set at the sharp end of the grid.

[PaulW]

Great fun. Slidey little buggers those Escorts and the engine sound was really beginning to grate on my ears towards the end!

Plenty of Q2 chat from the new faces though. Don't know whether this carried on into the race because I just turned chat off. Also regular pit exits without looking that ruined two of my hotlaps I know this is a bit "belt and braces" but perhaps we could add a couple of lines in caps to each race event post that mention the rules for these regular issues. Don't mean to sound hostile guys, there were some great, clean, spirited new drivers tonight and hope to see you all again but, particularly with just driving straight out onto the track without looking, there's no excuse.

[greg130]

First of all a big appologie to Matjaz for taking you off on lap 22.  I got a bit over exicited and messed up,  I did wait for you but you left, please accepte my applogies.

On to the race, wow what an intense experience.
Qualed in 9th I think, with a new pb.
Managed to get up to 4th at one stage with some great battles along the way with Rich and Madds, really good stuff.
New I had no chance of finishing where I was as I could see a couple of the faster guys catching me.
Had a very frantic last few laps with some very close racing, again great stuff until I knocked Matjaz off.
Finished in 6th, should really have been 7th.

[Adam Parle]

Tonight was the most fun I've had online with GTL.  It was looking like a bit of a dud when 35 people were logged on, but when it dropped down to 25 it was business as usual.

Started 16th (I think) and got up to 11th before locking the brakes on T1 in lap 20 and hitting the wall hard....still managed the 2 remaining laps and finished a whisker ahead of the guy behind me (I forget where I finished).

Loads of overtaking, and was all clean from what I saw.  Took a second of my qualy time in the race, so well happy with that.

Another cracking evening's racing, cheers all.

[picnic]

Looks like I'm in a minority here, hate the GTL Escorts compared with the GTR mod we raced somewhile ago. Alright I've not raced that for ages now but from memory those cars felt more alive and communicative. I certainly enjoyed racing them, but not these  :'( Tonight I had no feel for what was going to happen under braking. I either locked a wheel or the car refused to slow down. Couldn't find a happy medium.

[Rich_A]

Yea speeding on pit lane and not looking in mirrors before exiting is totally disrespectful. I use look behind and even look behind + look left/right if the exit is off cente.

Good racing in Escort, had some good racing with a few other cars - turned in on someone cause my nose was infront!! Spun round and stalled it, couldn't start it for about three minutes lol!! Got a 1m17.8 somehow though so not bad.

[Jeffrey]

At practice and qualification I was starting to get a bit afraid about the pings. But at the start it was all well.
In qualification  I drove a 1:16.9xx, but I had some problems with people not showing up in display, so I had to rejoin, losing the time  . After rejoin I only had 3 mins left and couldn't get that 16 out anymore so I qualified 3rd behind Franky and S!d. Just like in the Jaguar, my start didn't fail me and I overtook them taking first place.
It were 23 intense laps with Franky behind me a couple of seconds. I was afraid of blowing up my car in the race so I was shortshifting alot. The most difficult thing lapping people. Most of them got  out of the way (thanks for that), but some didn't move or crasht infront of me.
After 23 laps I was glad to finish in first, knowing that this Escort is not my favourite.
See you next test/race.

[Matjaz Plotajs]

Started dead last because I was reconnecting and setting up my graphic. I turned everything to low with dx7 and in the race I still got 20 - 30 fps which is not enough for me. I tried to do some battles and I'm sure I would have enjoyed if it wasn't for the bad fps. Still I managed to climb to 6th place before I got hit from behind. No big deal Greg but I decided to exit because the race was nearly over and I saw enough to say that GTL is a bit to demanding for my PC at the moment. But boy this game can provide some fascinating racing.

[Rich_A]

Hey Matjaz have u tried disabling all trackside characters in .plr.. also low player and opponent detail, medium shadows, and medium track detail make quite a difference!!

[Aagramn]

Looks like I'm in a minority here, hate the GTL Escorts compared with the GTR mod we raced somewhile ago.

They aren't my favorite car either Picnic, I find them unpredictable under braking.

[Jamera]

I should have practiced more, but I must say after racing the porsche mod on rFactor the escorts seemed a little "dead" and "disconnected" tonight