Race 07 Caterham Roadsport Challenge - Zandvoort (Club) - Sep 22

[Steve Holmes]

Unfortunately I'm going to give this a miss, tired, sluggish reactions mean 2 out of 3 laps in an offline practice involve off-roading which isn't an ideal way to have fun.  Which is a shame as Zandvoort in all its incarnations has always been one of my strongest tracks and I was hoping to nick into the 7s and fight for a podium.

Really hope its a success with a good turnout and I shall try to turn up for some of the races at least, I enjoy Race 07 when I have some concentration!

[b_1_rd]

That was frustrating.  Race 1 was good fun while it lasted, then span out taking a wheel off.  Joined race 2 and on the grid had no wheel input    so had to quit.

Like the sim though.  I couldn't tell who was AI and who wasn't 

[Wiltshire Tony]

I joined the grid for race 1 and heard cars all around me revving their engines but I had no power, gears, nothing, so I esc to pits hoping that I could rejoin but the game wouldn't let me 

So watched the race especially the AI, to see how they behaved etc.

Race two and again I'm at the back but this time I don't esc out but stay on track and lo, at the countdown (I think) everything comes back, so it must be a Race 07 thing?

Wish I'd known that for race 1, still that's what test races are for. I find these cars hard work and this track for me is a tough one but it was a very good turn out and great fun. Definitely looking forward to the first real race.

I vote for AI in the race as for me they add to the experience, in fact I had some good tussles with them. And they appeared to behave in a completely acceptable way.

Nice one Tudor

[Jeffrey]

I joined the grid for race 1 and heard cars all around me revving their engines but I had no power, gears, nothing, so I esc to pits hoping that I could rejoin but the game wouldn't let me 

I yelled twice before race one not to escape .

Car control only gets active after everybody has joined, the AI cars were probably revving
So watched the race especially the AI, to see how they behaved etc.

I vote for AI in the race as for me they add to the experience, in fact I had some good tussles with them. And they appeared to behave in a completely acceptable way.

I didn't like the AI, they don't understand being lapped and actually started to defend. So in order to thank them I just kept rearending them

[ginsters sponsored]

That was fun. Plain and simple

First race was a tad lonely as Mike slipped up going for it and I couldn't really get near JR. Congrats to him.

As normal, the reverse grid was immense. Took it steady at start and gradually ramped it up. Going through that epic final turn with Ade on the inside and Marco on the outside had me laughing out loud. Shame that Marco got squeezed out, hope that wasn't reason you quit :'( Luckily for me, Mike was doing a great job holding off JR and I caught them up quite quickly. The next 6 or 7 laps were brilliant fun as we all tried moves on each other and going side by side with JR for first three corners was crazy Shame API slipped off up front as that could only have been improved with four instead of three.

For me, the reverse races only work if the faster gents are patient and that was the case. Hope it stays that way.

AI worked fine for me but found them a bit of a pain in quali, can they be sent to sleep there? Also, for me, the races felt a tad long. 20-25 minutes would be plenty for me. Maybe only cause dust had settled in both races about 10 mins from end. Good work Tudor and hope to see a similar turnout next time. I'll be there    

[b_1_rd]

Car control only gets active after everybody has joined

Ah! oh well, good job it was a fun race.  Look forward to the next one.

[phspok]

Good fun racing in the 1st one, tyres seem to go off after 20 mins or so, don't have XD in it. can you do that?
Th AI lost me a place near the end of Race1, NSfast was being very polite with one of them, and I got boxed
out in T1 allowing Caske to slip through. Race 2 I got a wheel inside the kerb giving Mike more room than I
probably needed to, and spun in front of the pack, some avoided, then one hit, bent suspension so game over.

[picnic]

Bit of a mixed bag for me. Turned up as it's nice to encourage new ideas and grabbed Mike's setup from the online files. Very impressive speed Mike is you used it unchanged last night. I really couldn't get to grips with the understeer especially through the long last turn.

After 20 mins of the first race I had no one to race, the tyres felt as if they were well passed their best and I stupidly binned it. Still my sister had been on the phone pleading for help to fix their Internet connection so I missed the 2nd race as I was on the phone.

Not sure I can really do these anyway as I'm already racing regularly on 4 evenings each week & it doesn't give one much time to do other stuff

[Craske]

Good fun that was, early in race 1 I had a nasty spin and hit someone as they passed which spun me round in the opposite direction and then hit them again on the other side, not sure if it was a human player or AI, either way my apologies.
When I finally got going again I was a long way back and the car didn't feel quiet right, but my lap times were unaffected I think so managed to catch back up to phspok and nsfast and just followed them round for the the rest of the race until nearly the end where we caught the AI up and got tangled up with them allowing me to sneak past phspok and finish behind nsfast.

Race 2 was much better and a flying start saw me pass phspok and into T1 alone. Soon after that the fast guys caught me up and a slightly wide line allowed a whole train of cars through and I think pshpok must have sneaked past with them because the next time I saw him he was facing the wrong way in front of me.
With phspok seemingly out of the race I managed to hold 5th for the whole of race 2 and was even 4th for a little while, but after API closed up from 7 secs to 2 secs in less than 2 laps I started trying to hard and eventually span out and watched him go past. I wasn't too disappointed as I knew he would have passed me soon anyway.   

I think the AI mixed things up really well and would say keep them in, but maybe make them more competitive. and I agree with those that have said to make the races shorter, say 20 Min's per race?

Thanks to Goldtop and Wiltshire Tony, and anyone else involved in organising all this.

Congratulations to the poddies.

[goldtop]

Apologies for the continuing delay in posting results/replays...a few technical difficulties.

Really pleased with the turnout last night, thanks to all who made it and for making such an enjoyable event.

A few teething problems, especially with the unfamiliar for some starting procedure  . Best to find out now than in the first race of the series though, I'll put up some notes in the event details to remind us.

Regarding AI, I hadn't intended them to pose lapping problems, so maybe the % needs to be upped a little. They do however vary from track to track. For instance, they won't be appearing at Oulton as they have no idea how to negotiate Cascades and end up in a heap at the bottom  

Regarding race length, I set it to the real world event. I do agree though that 30 mins did seem a little too long with 2 races back to back. 20 minutes seems to be cropping up a lot, so unlesss anyone has any objections, I'll make the series events the laps equivalent of 2x20 mins races which is actually more like a typical Sunday afternoon club event.

@Matt: Yes xd works with Race 07 but it looks very slightly different.

As for my race, I think I need to practice more rather than driving around addon tracks looking for holes  

[Legzy]

Just had my 1st 5 mins drive of R'07... nice.

See you at the next one.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

EDIT: results unposted.

[Jeffrey]

There were 5 AI drivers . Also PaulPeter Kroon didn't win the first race

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

It seems like the quality of data from SimBin exports has gotten even worse than it was in GTR2.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Okay, results up again. Please check carefully.