That RR hotlap challenge looks very tempting. I think any resistance is futile as those car/track combos seem very hard to resist.

Yeah man, let's have at it!

I'm keen for the Mid-Ohio one and wish I weren't at work at the mo. Just that image on the competition page is calling me

Far away, across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To run a nine-six-four in the Ohio breeze

Thanks DBond!

They all look great really! That 1992 DTM has to be a killer one too! It´s gonna be a fun week

Haven´t done anything as these past few day´s have been covered In thunderstorms, which are prone to blackouts and not good to the gear. Just getting Immersed In Manor Lords for now.

Well first marker is down, Jens turned a 45 flat in the 964. Not sure if I can beat that but I'll try. Thankfully this one is not fixed setup

Too bad we can't get some of the other memebers here involved, like Argon, Dave or Panzer who are sim racers.

After walking the dog I fired up the sim, strapped in to my seat (ok, no straps) and hit the track. Mid-Ohio is a track I like a lot, maybe not the chicane version, but still.

What a difficult car to drive fast, the 964. This is like you own a Porsche, and take it out every other weekend for a track day. I was happy it's not a fixed setup event, but may as well be. Not much you can change here. Brakes, bars and camber really.

I don't think I'd do well in a race in this car, but hotlapping is a matter of driving around six times and getting one or two good ones out of it. I found the car has gobs of lift oversteer, but I had zeroed engine braking so I'll give it another go with that cranked up a bit, which should help with that entry oversteer. Fiddled with all the possible settings, but no magic yet. I want to change the springs and diff, but you need a proper race car Porsche for that

The hairpin (following the chicane) is such an important corner for the laptime here, but I haven't worked it out really. Still some time to find out there I reckon.

Gave it another go. I want lift oversteer in this sort of car. Actually just about every sort of car. Where you steer with your feet as much as your hands. But the default setup for the 964 just has too much for my liking. It's also not that agreeable on the throttle either, but getting in to the corner proper-like is important and we can deal with the consequences on exit haha. And with this particular car there just isn't much that can be done to tame the exits, rear roll bar's at the softest already, springs are fixed, no rake nor aero. So get in to the corner in good shape and hold on coming out.

On my fast lap I maxed front roll bar, softest rear and went with 10 engine braking. This plus the stiffer front roll bar eased the oversteer and I could pick up some time, not diving for the inside kerb when throttle-off. The rest of the turn still feels a bit like walking a tight rope, as the slightest bobble gets it out of shape. Still don't know how to take the hairpin right, with all sorts of lines seemingly yielding similar exit speeds. And turn 9, the cresting righthand kink on the backstretch. Second gear is too short, third is too tall, and I'm inconsistent here.

I also tweaked the brakes, but this is down to feel I reckon. I went 53/47 bias and dropped pressure by 5 %.

Porsches are not what they use to be

I think you can find that combo on AC. Either way It seems I am gonna have a tough time, but that´s what I like about sim racing, each car/track combo Is a sim on It´s own.

Just for comparison purposes...

Porsche 911 (964) Bi-Turbo GT2 Mod for AC:
Porsche 964 Mod download

Or this one...

Yes, that's the beast. I agree with your comments about car/track combinations, and that's a big part of the appeal of the competitions. Lets see what I can do with this. I get to learn a new car, and a new track, and that's fun. Like Salzburgring last week, and Zolder this week. I've driven Zolder before, but rarely and don't recall the layout so it will be like learning it again I reckon.

I did three comps last night, 964 at Mid-Ohio, GT3 at Sepang and Silhouette at Sachsenring.

At Sepang I started in the 911 (992), then swapped to the 488 and finally the 296, but not really happy with any of them. The 296 was fastest, but I think that was just because it was last and I was negotiating the track better as each lap ticked by.

The Silhouette was brilliant (I drove the Canhard R51). The sound and the handling are just superb. Car feels so light and responsive, superb balance, no anger in it anywhere.

I'll hit the others tonight.

Did the other three competitions last night. A decidedly mixed bag!

DTM 1992 @ Monza -- Pretty happy with my lap overall. I ran the Mustang. Fooled around with different setups, with mixed results. Having trouble with Ascari especially. Too inconsistent overall as reflected in the theoretical, which is eight tenths faster. Just a matter of putting all three sectors together and a faster lap in in it.

TC Cup @ Zolder -- The track came back to me quickly, but not very fast here. I drove the Lada but I'll experiment with a couple others and see if I can unlock some pace.

NSU TTS @ Norising -- Don't recall ever driving this track, but maybe I have. I hate this car and I would never drive it if not for the competitions. Good god

For what it is worth I am running a 360 degree rotation, which I suspect is way lower than some use, and lower than default, which in GT style cars is usually at least 540. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case this hasn't been something you've thought about. I don't say that it is better, or faster for everyone necessarily, but it is for me. I swear if I keep it on 540 I'll eventually break my arms in a hairpin. 360 just works way better for me and of course especially in tight, slow corners. Eh, might be worth a go and see how you like it, if not already doing it. You lose some fine control of course, but I prefer the much more snappy steering.

I'd also be interested in running a race with you guys. If anyone's interested we can all join the same one one day and have a blast.

I tried the some tracks you mentioned yesterday just to get the feeling a bit. On the DTM 1992 I did start with the Audi, then the Mec, the BMW, and lastly the Ford because I saw that It was used by most of the faster guys on the board, I did 2.07 with the Ford. It´s a good way to see which car to pick In these cases. On the TC Cup I drove the Cupra Leon and did 1.49, and 1.55 In MId-Ohio with the Porsche. After that I left because I was seeing It wasn´t my racing day, but at least I got the feel for the cars/tracks a bit. There´s plenty of days left so no worries there.

Yeah the rotation Is something that Is driving me nuts pun Intended, I kind of figured It out and will also try you´re suggestion thanks!. At Monza I was like a octopus at first

As for racing together. yeah that would be awesome. I´am all for It!

After the high of the Porsche at the Sachsenring, and what looked like a choice selection of Porsche and Mid-Ohio, I’m slightly meh about the actuality of the proposition. The pig throws its tail out on throttle-off and corner entry, and understeers on throtte exit and will spin out as well if you give it too much welly. It isn’t even fast. I even felt a bit of motionsickness on some occasions.

The chikane oddly, was the highlight for me. I see from the ghost that Ioaded that I chose a different line into it than you did, Derek. It doesn’t matter much though as I’m seconds slower on the lap.

The NSU which was a bit of a revelation at Monza Junior is quite akward at AVUS when braking to almost a standstill for the hairpins that book-end this neutered and quite boring old DTM track. Back in the days when it had the banking of death it was still a bore, if a bit more terrifying.

Salzburgring is interesting even if, for some reason I feel some discomfort with all those left hand turns. I’m not done there yet..

Not so sure if I’ll bother with the other competitions. It occured to me that if I complete a lap I’ll have to spend some time getting a decent lap time in in order to improve my time attack rating. If I only drive an exploratory slow lap and then abandon, my rating will probably suffer.

I think my wheel is set to 540 degrees and in-sim I’ve checked the option to use actual steering lock, or whatever it is called. I use the H-shifter and manual clutch on cars that are so equipped while right-foot braking and for cars with paddle-shift, they offer the opportunity of left-foot braking and thereby a sort of control over the differential. At times this is a bit confusing and a challenge to my motor skills and my narrow-band processing of my antics on-track.

Haha good description. Chicanes are especially bad with lots of rotation, and I think has contributed materially to my irrational, but justified, hate of chicanes. I mean think about what they've done to magic of the old monza, which flowed like a river. They just stuck three chicanes in it and boom, it's like way worse. Imola agrees.

A tighter rotation is probably worse for the tires, but with what I am doing, which is mostly hotlapping and occasional short race, tire life is a non factor.



More top prose from my sim racing brethren

Yeah, that's what I mean when I said this was like you took the Porsche in the garage out to track day at the local. Showroom car, and an old one at that lol. I used to do track days at Lime Rock in my Mustang. Pretty much the same thing. I found the 964 very difficult to tame and my fast lap was just knife edge stuff, one great lap out of dozens. How did you see my ghost? How is it done?




No don't do that, hang around, its fun having you in the mix. Instead of running your exploration in the event, just load up a different mode like practice. Check the leaderboard first to see where the times fall and then run practice and see it's a track/car combination you want to compete with. That will actually sharpen your rating since you're only doing ones you like and are fast. Just ignore the ones that prove unsatisfactory like the stupid TTS

I´ll be trying something different today. Going for a F1 Championship (2024) on AC/CM. All you need Is the full version of Content Manager ($5), and a copy of RSS Formula Hybrid 2023 (2,79 pounds), and to spend some time downloading and Installing the mods...

RSS Formula Hybrid 2023 for AC:
RSS Formula Hybrid 2023 Shop

Formula 1 World Championship 2024 v1.01:
Formula 1 World Champìonship 2024 Overtake Download



It´s gonna be fun! All those tracks I never tried, and I´ll specially enjoy Miami with Magic Alonso!

It´s gonna be like playing the F1 2024 but with a more realistic sim/car

Good luck, a podium beckons

I hit those same three competitions again last night, hoping to improve on my posted laps.

Sepang is just giving me fits. Not sure where I'm down, and maybe when I see what Jens says about loading ghosts I can load someone's fast lap and figure it out. I ran the McLaren 720, the Porsche 911 and the Fez 296 and failed to improve at all. Lap after lap with my ghost running two tenths ahead. Frustrating.

Silhouette at Sachsenring is delightful, but again, same deal. No improvement, ghost just ahead.

At Monza in the 92 DTM cars though I made some good progress. The theoretical from the previous session indicated some time was there for the taking, and managed to do so, taking eight tenths out of my time and not too far from the top of the board! Now the theoretical says there's yet another four tenths in it. And so it goes

It is a rabbithole, this quest for improvement here, there and everywhere, around all the circuit and the merry-go-round never stops.

I had to drag myself away from Salzburgring after finding some 4 seconds improvement on my initial not so much a hotlap. Well, I needed a change of scenery and wanted to lap IMS, the oval in the Indycar. After removing all front and rear wing, I was curious as to how the fastest driver could be half a second or so quicker than me in a leaderboard scenario, with no other cars to draft off. The lap is pedal to the metal so in theory everone should end up with much the same lap time. Turns out he was cutting a corner of the track by going down to the apron. Seeing that made me feel better about my own, more traditional lap around the speedway.

Maybe there is an improvement to be had going with an asymmetric setup but I’m lost as to how to make such a setup work.

The fun has been taken out of Monza for me by the pesky chicanes. Agree entirely that they take the flow out of it. The DTM cars do not like to be made to go slow.

Did you figure out the ghost business Derek? I just click the challenge ghost box on the leaderboard and in-sim make sure to select “show ghost” in one of the options menus. Bada-boom. On a fundamental level I find ghosts distracting an arcadey but they do come in handy for checking my lines vs. The faster drivers and if the gost is your own previous best lap it is very obvious where time is lost or gained. I mean, I’ve been down on time in certain sectors but still manage to improve overall lap time due to one sector being significantly faster.

Mike; Good luck in your Formula 1 career. It is an amazing feature that CM offers, letting us build a custom Championship. I’ve not yet tested it out because frankly, I’m having trouble staying out of trouble in the races!

Yes agreed, I don´t even eat rabbit anymore!

Thanks Jens, and Derek! So far I am at the start (Bahrain) which Is a track that I haven´t driven In to much, and at those speeds I forgot how It was LOL. Doing 1.44 so far. A lot of fun really. I would have liked the car to be the VRC Formula Alpha 2023 Instead but the RSS version Is ok too. Will be looking for a Championship with the RSS Formula 1990 V12 which Is a blast! Personally I like the older RSS Formula cars of which I have all of them (V6,V8,V10, and V12). The Formula RSS 4 would be a great choice for a get together and go up from there. AC with CM Is a lot of fun, all the stuff that´s out there Is amazing, and the pre-built races these folks do are a big welcome. It´s the first time that I try out a pre-built season, and I like the Idea. You have to tweak the AI a bit at first, but that´s to be expected. We are not using even half of what AC/CM can offer, some people don´t realise that, I being one of them but exploring Is learning

Cheers.

Indeed it is. But it's fun. Chasing tenths, no different than what I was doing at the Ring in GPL all those years ago, round and round to shave another tenth or two, if possible. I really enjoy it, trying to improve. Not just the lap time, but my skills overall, becoming a better driver.

Thanks for the info on the ghosts. I had no idea what challenge was. I though it would invite the other guy to a duel! Haha Thanks for that, this will help me get faster. Interesting that the fast lap could find so much time at the Brickyard running on the apron.

I like having ghosts, but they are really just a 3D version of the interval. Some cars however have no interval display, showing the gap to your PB, and the ghosts help here for sure. But in general I just like having that other car out there and I race it.

Yesterday I tried Sepang again, this time in the Audi and I just followed my ghost closely for a bunch of laps and failed to improve. Now that I know how to load faster ghosts maybe I can work it out.

I also hit the TTS again, despite despising it, because I was sure I could go faster. This is a symptom of my disease, that I would do this. Did manage to find a few tenths anyway.

Today I tried the above Porsche at Mid-Ohio. I couldn´t find the track, but lastly I found It. The track Is nice but no breaking markers or fancy stuff, pretty much a old school track. Well, speak about a challenge LOL, what a tough car to drive and what a work out on my arms! At first I was WTF man, this Is some hard sh**!!! But I am a stubborn dude haha! I just kept on trying and trying, and I actually had a lot of fun doing so. The track was bumpy and full of ups, and downs, nothing compared to the R3R track. Some tracks on R3R are a bit doubtful, and on the wider/longer side. Some tracks may differ a bit from sim to sim, but with R3R they differ quite to much In some cases.

I found this article from an event, so yes It seems to be quite challenging for some cars. The track Is missing from the link though...
https://www.overtake.gg/threads/198...hio-friday-19-jan-2024-cancelled.267551/

Here´s the track If Interested...
drive.google.com/file/d/1RJzbr1B3vUs4V7Usbcud8FlGwxT2XI_7/view

I also found this older (beautiful) track "Le Grand Circuit" (LeMans) 1967...
https://www.overtake.gg/downloads/le-grand-circuit-1967.17288/

Lastly, a great freebie (MP4-20) from VRC...
https://www.overtake.gg/downloads/vrc-2005-mclaren-mp4-20.30334/

Have fun If so!

Driving the 964 at Mid-Ohio is sort of like riding a bull, you just hang on and hope this time you keep your balance.

Mid-Ohio is a favorite of mine, top five American track for me. Old school is right, more like a road through the countryside than a full-blown motorsport facility. But that's true of a lot of great American tracks, like Road America, Watkins Glen, BMP and Laguna Seca. Even Sebring sort of has that same vibe for me. Compared to facilities like Bahrain or Paul Ricard it's another world. But these tracks have a certain character, don't they? The bumps and imperfections are a big part of that. You drive Catalunya and it's like perfectly smooth all the way around. Even Spa is like glass to drive on. But the little bumps and dips and swales are so fun to drive, especially in these sims with good force feedback. Seat of the pants sort of driving, and good fun. The 964 really drives it all home.