Impressed with the GT cars!

[Mark J]

Just spent a while on Ir as hadnt fired it up in ages since not agreeing with the way the vette handled (or didnt!) a while back with the silly slow speed spins, but got to admit, the vette feels fantastic now since a few improvements   It felt like a properly sorted GT car around Spa and i really felt like i could test its limits more without frustration and combined with iRs stunning graphics and finally an excellent engine sound, it was brilliant! I was driving with a huge grin of satisfaction  

Then i tried the new Cadillac, which i hadnt even known was a new free car. I also really enjoyed blatting this around Spa, and again it felt like a decent GT3/2? car that you would see in ALMS or GT racing series. Its great to drive, feels 'right' and sounds good too.

With these two decent GT cars i feel like i finally get some real enjoyment out of this sim and can see that some excellent racing could be had.   I've been waiting nigh on 3 years for some quality GT cars to race in iR !!  This might even make me buy some more tracks    They will definitely inspire me to spend some quality time testing with the cars, something i always found tedious with the rest of the car pack and their hairdryer engine sounds.
Isnt there any option in iR to have other cars on track at the same time when offline? Its always a lonely deserted racetrack!

Are you guys racing either of these in any series about at the moment? I'd definitely be up for some GT racing.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Isnt there any option in iR to have other cars on track at the same time when online? Its always a lonely deserted racetrack!

There are usually a few people around in the per-series practice servers, but with the Corvette being in three different series people tend to get quite spread between them. I'll be in and out of the fixed series proto-sports practice servers tonight preparing for tomorrow's races.

[Mark J]

oops, meant to say other cars 'offline' ? Is there no AI present within iR?

Im out tonight or i would have joined you on the servers. So i assume there is no club England or srouk active series using these cars?
Have any of the other cars been considerably improved with the various updates? Ive felt like getting the Ford GT several times but kept reading negative press about its handling/tyres.

never thought i would enjoy driving a Cadillac on a track! 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

oops, meant to say other cars 'offline' ? Is there no AI present within iR?

Im out tonight or i would have joined you on the servers. So i assume there is no club England or srouk active series using these cars?

No AI in iR - they've talked about it but hell freezes over etc.

Nothing currently running in SRou (feel free to volunteer as an organizer ) - I think there is a Club England (soon to be UK & Ireland) series on Wednesday nights, check the official forums for details.

Have any of the other cars been considerably improved with the various updates? Ive felt like getting the Ford GT several times but kept reading negative press about its handling/tyres.

Virtually all of them are improved (with the exception of the Late Model, which is now awful on road courses) - the FGT is much better on the current incarnation of the NTM, though the stupidly quick steering rack always takes me a bit of time to readjust to.

[Mark J]

thanks DG  May well get the Ford GT then, along with Oulton park and maybe Mid-Ohio, though my serious lack of use up until now means i should make full use of the cars and tracks ive already got, like Spa, Brands and Silverstone for testing. 

I was quite surprised to see a complete lack of posts in this iR subforum lately, as assumed you lot were still racing weekly. Sadly, it seems not. Are you all racing in different leagues/groups now or just turning up via the ir servers to race?

[spanner]

I sometimes wonder if you have ever run iR before!

It seems to me everyone drifts off in to the ether and does there own thing now. With the mass exodus from GTR2 we saw its very sad.

I think you need to make an effort to make the official series's work, got on the forums, on the servers regulalry and get your 'face' out there and work out who will be racing with you on the nights.

The Club england races are the nearest thing to a league but as i find iR increases the differences between people i struggle massively compared to others and most races end up with me on my own! You need to get on a find where you sit in the pecking order. But this is where the offical races come in as you will be racing people of similiar pace. Sadly though you have no idea how 'gentlemenly' they will be.

OR you join some of the proper leagues on iR, TFR comes to mind which do run some nice combo's. But it does get a bit too serious as far as i can see.

But with so much you can be doing the community does splinter. Allot of the people i've run with in the past i never see!

[Darren Seal]

OK where is the real MJ, what have you done with him? 

Good to see you are finally getting some enjoyment out of iRacing.  The NTM is getting better with each build and the cars are feeling more planted.  The Cadillac is currently my favourite car in iRacing and providing you pick prime time, races aren't hard to find.

As others have said, there are club UKI races on Wednesdays (hosted by me), but the Cadillac has been dropped for next season due to poor turnouts.  Back to the hair-dryers

TFR (Torque Freak Racing) is another option.  They host some excellent series which are broadcast on Glacier TV.  If you tune in tonight @ 9:30 you should see Pops, Adam, Purdie and myself make total arses of ourselves in the Caddy.       

[Mark J]

to spanner...ive had iR since it first came out, barring a few months here and there where i let the sub slide. Ive always wanted it to be the sim to top all others but it just never did for a variety of reasons (some still existing!). But its great to find some of the cars now feel great to drive as well as cars i can relate to a bit more, which makes driving them that bit more involving. Ir still has this certain detachment feeling to it though, from the empty offline tracks to the random stranger grids online. Its never got near the brilliant packed grids of regulars we used to get in GTR1&2, GTL & P&G sadly, but then none of them do either these days. I guess the majority of racers have moved on to consoles or got fragmented across the too few sims available.

Thanks for the leagues/racing info guys, will try and catch you guys soon. Not tried the hairdryers for ages, maybe they have improved too, will try them out, but would definitely like to use these GT cars in anger. Suprised to hear the caddys had a poor turnout 

[Mark J]

hmm, now im confused. (easily done!)  I took the caddy for a few laps around Brands and it was like it was driving with oil liberally sprayed over its slick tyres  Even after 3 laps when the tyres should have got upto temp, it was a real loose handful and would flick into silly spins without much provocation. You almost had to tiptoe around the track.  Guess i need to mess with the setup some more, if i could understand half the american jargon. Odd that its so different in grip to Spa though 

Oh, and the mazdas still sound fecking awful !  Im beginning to wonder if its my speaker set up as it just sounds like an annoying mosquito, nothing like a sporty car engine. A real shame to me as can see what a close racing series it creates and i'd like to get stuck into. Maybe i need to play an engine sounds fx over the top whilst racing 

[spanner]

Mazdas - Sporty engines? err.....Dont think so 

After some help from Paul the Caddy was relatively fun round Mid Ohio, trying it round Mosport was awful no matter what you did. The car seems quite soft so doesnt seem to like the slower, tighter tracks where the mass transfer to me has a big affect.

[spanner]

With no GTR2 races on sunday i shall be loking forward to my first FordGT race tonight:gulp: My starmazda races have been shockingly bad which is why my iRating has plumetted each time, i just hope i can finish.

[spanner]

Well that was actually fun, only 5 or so GT's and ended up 2nd through other misfortune. I think its that i still fear the car, whereas in the starmaz i feel i can through it around a bit and push it too far!