Bathurst night tonight

Hi Folks,
I've not created any new tracks for a while, and it's probably time to return to some of the in-game tracks in any case.
So, tonight, we'll start with Bathurst - a tried and tested Aussie legend of a track.

If we get bored of the hill then we'll find some other tracks to go to, as with the non-custom tracks I can at least make an in-game change.

Catch up laters,
Andrew

Dirty driving

You won't be surprised at my driving in this.. Especially the start.
But I did go on to get a third in the rally and a fourth in the championship.
Is that bad? I think not, first is reserved for Hermes or whoever it seems to be that's over a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

But that's not soul destroying, as rally is about as much as getting to the finish as it is to get a result - indeed in one of these stages I limped across the line on three wheels (mercifully although it wasn't a service stage I had a wheel for the next one).

Anyway, Dirt Rally...

What of the game, using your known fellow racer as a benchmark?

Controls:
Great - I had to mess with the steering a bit (G29 user), but you can reduce the lock to lock ratio and bring in 'be like the real thing' too (apologies for not remembering the actual setting names!).
Doing all this has meant that the steering is good with only an occasional spin the wheel moment, and that usually just after a leaving the track backwards moment...

Also, there's a clutch in this game. Which has lead me to realise that I can't race on games using the traditional foot layout for a manual! I'm so locked into left foot breaking I can't stop. Practice needed maybe. In any case I don't have the shifter so it's paddles all the way - and easy shifting is a handy thing in any case.

Cars:
Great selection of cars - you can get into all of them from the get go too on a custom race. As is customary you have to buy something for the career mode - the car above is my second purchase. I think nostalgia gained precedence over practicality.
Overall the cars I've tried are great, look good and sound awesome - except for the Pikes Peak cars, they too look good and go great but I'm dammed if I can get them round three corners in a row. They're just too aggressive and then as soon as you let off they're into snap oversteer. Certainly cars to be tried once I've completed a few rallies with faster cars.
The only top tip I can provide here is tune the gearbox right down, I started to gain stage green sectors once I realised I wasn't getting full use of the gearbox.

Gameplay:
As you can expect with a next(ish) gen console game it's amazing. The immersion is great, the menus are easy to traverse and even the slightly overly done social stuff is there. Less welcome is load times that if we use a standard "skyrim" as a lead time measure is nearly at a value of 1. I.e. long, very long. I suppose it's loading all the stuff it's loading, and that is a lot of stuff - you can go pretty well off track, to the point I've headed off piste, done a few doughnuts and found my way back on track. Certainly enough time to do the "ohhhh shhhhiii...." move that I should think accompanies any no wheels on the ground, car not on the track moments.


Should you buy it?
I think it's probably one of the best rally games I've played, though in fairness I never found a good one on the PS3 (WRC2 on the PS2 being my fave, for nostalgic reasons).
But herein lies the rub. If you don't like pace notes being screamed at you, overly narrow tracks and a sense that brakes on mud just aren't going to haul you up - then you'll hate this game.

I'd also hazard that this is one of the best rally cross sims out there at the moment. This aspect of the game is awesome, hard, but awesome. And the physics seem to be spot on. If that's your flavour (and it's only one aspect of this game for sure), then may you should.

90 Left Three Over Crest Tightens Caution Don't Cut Into 6 Right Opens Into Dip Long Caution Big Jump...

Meconium

G'day all,
Tonight's racing is going to be a longer track I built a few weeks back - I like it, which will mean a solid last place for me of course.

Swinbrook Raceway

As is usual with the longer tracks we'll start with the 500pp cars and escalate from there. This week I think we'll do our 550pp V8s for a race or two also. Fun cars that they are!

In other news, I've set up and tested posting PS4 replays into my channel, so now I can catch and replay a bit easier than I do with the PS3.
Behold (but don't get excited!):

I don't know what's real any more...

I'm sure you all follow GT Planet, but they recently posted up this video:

I really struggled to figure out if it was the car, the track, the other cars or something else that's virtual and/or real.

Amazing.

Oh, and Assetto Corsa (and real life) for those not in the know...

Art

So we know that Evolution Studios has been consumed by Sony yes? And their last title was DriveClub - the oft' lamented launch title for the PS4.

But do you know just how good that game got?

Simply Stunning

Evolution Studios also did some ground breaking work with the early WRC series on PS2 and Motorstorm.

It'll be interesting to see where the devs end up.

Business.

So finally getting round to business and I've completed some replay uploads, behold:

Ragging around Parsons Reach in 550pp Racers

Ugly car and no mistake - could've been a lot quicker with the right driver I think

So. Many. Tracks - and a short memory. I can't recall this 500pp race!

And to finish, Parson's Reach again but in "Granny Cars" - thanks Steve for the naming...

But what of this week - if we all have them, then I'm thinking 590pp (TBC) Deutschland Racers - i.e. DTM. But I'll say anything that's of German descent, including the Z4 etc (if only because I've got one and want to actually race it at some point).

Other than that we'll be off custom tracks this week - time to pick a class and race on!

V8 Night

Following on from last week's stella night racing a custom track with a variety of cars we're turning things on  their head.

This week we'll be racing the V8 supercar stylee cars. What are these? They're the closest we can get to mad motors that are in the same vein as the V8s we used to watch...

The cars:

• 550pp
• Road car
• Four doors
• Racing Medium tyres
• Adjustable after market wing fitted
• V8 engine (Check car info)
• No race cars - i.e. no sponsor liveries (fit a number if you like).

You'll  be wondering if there are any cars that meet the criteria, follow this link to an old blog post to see the cars that make the grade, there's a few of them...

We'll be doing the in-game tracks this week though, too hard to do just one custom track, unless we have a desire to do so. Not least as I have a new favourite track to race on...

It's shared in any case, and I think should make for a some top racing!

Cheers

Andrew

It's almost advertising...

As my quest to justify a PS4 to myself (and much harder, the missus) continues I keep coming across such awesome videos it's rude not to share.

This is a pretty good advert for the genre, if not the console:

Fair to say that this year is going to be awesome for racing! Mind you, you're welcome to keep the unreal shizzle, can't be done with that.

This is a new vid on the graphics of the games:

And a bit of a comparison video of Driveclub, Need for Speed, The Crew and Project Cars on the PS4.

So am I about to run out and buy a new console?
Probably not.
Project Cars is about to be V2.0'ed so no point rushing to that, Driveclub just seems to be getting better and better, and looking at The Crew and Need for Speed, I think I can pass on the physics.

If I were to magic one today I think I'd be getting Driveclub (I think I'm in love with the graphics), Dirt Rally and Assetto Corsa as it comes out and await Project Cars 2 - which is completely at odd with what I had originally planned when deciding to get a PS4 late last year.

As they say, the thrill is in the chase (which is why I always drop to the back when we're racing!!!).

I'll be posting replays and notes on next week's racing too - the plan is to do more of the V8 stuff, fun as that was!

Please do not disturb

This weekend I'll mostly be watching the Bathurst 12 hour:

Site: http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/

Resource: http://www.speedcafe.com/

A lap with one of the top cars...

And if you need inspiration - last year's great finale (16 mins):

Motoring awesomeness!

Rules of engagement

I blame Prescott Hill Climb.

This is where I originally got my love of motorsport, and ultimately what I see as a bit of niche that’s exploitable in GT6, the thin ribbon of tarmac up the hill…

This article outlines an approach.

1. Tracks

Ingredients:

• Don’t link up the track – it’s a single ribbon up the hill…
• Narrow track width - <9m is good.
• Keep it short. A sub two minute run is ideal, dependent on corners/straights etc.
• Not too many jumps – it’s easy to have crazy over crest stuff in the track editor but that’s not real life.
• Limit the downhill – harder than it sounds, but essential.
• Get some chicanes in – shorten your straights. It’s about the bends.
• Careful on the switchbacks – if you go past vertical and start a downward bend you’ll have an over crest launch pad.
• Make sure you add scenery to give brake marking points etc.

2. Cars

Best way here is to build up classes to race. We use our league classes (on the right) but in slowest to fastest (all with no aids other than abs unless otherwise stated):

1. 400pp – 1970 or before road cars on sports hard tyres.
2. 460pp – 1990 or before road cars on racing hard tyres.
3. 525pp – 1970 or before US V8 cars on sports soft tyres.
4. 500pp – Non-race cars on sports soft tyres.
5. 590pp – Race cars on race medium tyres.
6. 650pp – Race cars on open tyres – traction control allowed.
7. Open class – all open. All aids allowed.

In fairness we’ve skipped a few of these classes in the interests of completing a night, err, in a night. But this is the dream list assuming we’re all online and racing from 7pm…

3. The competition

Due to the limitations of GT6 you’ll have to run a practice/race configuration and basically not run an actual race.

The challenge then is to run ever faster classes, and the lead time is posted up on the track for all to see. 

Things that make it harder are that there’s no queuing on the grid, so players will have to be sporting about taking turns up the hill – a microphone for each player really helps with this.

Also, there are no grid lights, so cars need to be up and running straight away, bad if you’re in big turbo 4wd with four gears as you’ll bog badly on the line…

In terms of racing, it’s pretty competitive once it’s up and running not only are you trying to best the posted time but also your own time, which is recorded for you of course (as a practice lap).

What does affect the racing a lot though are ringer cars, the Tommykaira ZZii is manic, and will win at the 500pp and 590pp classes – if you can ban it then all good. Others may beat it, but it’ll be a proper struggle to do so. And every class will have something similar in it, so  some gentlemanly agreements over the cars that should be avoided should be implemented.

Another option is to run single make cars – it would work, but misses a key part of this racing which is the tuning of the car per run to perfect it’s performance (I read that out loud and need to clean the screen now).

My tracks

Long, decent set of switchbacks. Big climb.

Very standard track. Good reference if a bit short. Great bus stop mid run.

Two very good dip/chicane sections in this great all rounder.

Super long hill climb. Good For stretching the car.

One of the better competition hill climbs.

Ugly because of a couple of nasty bends. Otherwise a great race.