Sim racing

Ran a few laps round Brands in the IR-04, was doing 1:38's fastest in the Skips, 1:24's in the IR-04 and great fun.

Will run a few races in the series, hopefully not a crash fest, but have my doubts.

Just dropping this here

www.humblebundle.com/games/ultimate-racing-sim-bundle?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_1_c_ultimateracingsimbundle_bundle

Yeah I'm up for that schedule looks like fun

20 mins as well, excellent.

Already got the ones I want but that's a hell of a deal for anyone new to pc sim racing.

Quick public service announcement. This free software is awesome if you are juggling monitors and apps.

github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician

I've now got it setup so that when I want to use iRacing it I can turn on the triples, change the audio output to my headset, launch crew chief, sim hub, trading paints, overlays, telemetry logging and the iRacing UI in one click.

Similarly for another set up for 4k60 HDR single monitor streaming via moonlight. Another for AMS2 triples using Nvidia Surround and Gsync.

It's really well through software. Happy to make a donation and share as it saves me so much faff.

Finally got around to starting the F4 Championship.

Bit of a mixed bag. Think I overthought my first race and was so sure there was going to be lap one carnage that I started from the pitlane, only to then still get a 4x when someone span in front of me on lap 3 anyway. I then span twice all on my own, for good measure and got a few offtracks to really tank my safety rating. I think part of the issue was also downloading a baseline+ setup that I found worse than baseline (probably just me not being able to handle a loose rear). Anyone got a recommendation for (ideally free) setups?

Then had a couple of races where I qualified and took the grid normally and these were actually quite good. Oulton Park isn't great for racing (or avoiding annoying offtracks) but by surviving lap one and keeping it tidy got a couple of decent results.

Bit sad to have to sit out next week due to my refusal to buy Winton, but TCs at the Glen should be fun.

Was really struggling with understeer in the new Velostar, and was well off the pace at the Glen. Just couldn't figure out how others could carry so much more speed through the corner, where I'd drift wide following.

Then had a breakthrough which was to simply change the steering ratio from the default 10:1 to 14:1. The iRacing tooltip even says 14:1 is 'not reflective of the real car, but makes it handle more like the Civic and Elantra' as if 10:1 is unusually low. Did this and was more or less immediately over a second a lap quicker as well as much less error prone.

Bit odd, as steering ratio is literally just how much lock is required to turn from one extreme to the other. I guess at the default ratio, my brain just prematurely assumed that the front tyres were at the limit of adhesion so I was literally 'understeering' by not turning the wheel enough. Have to say iRacing's mediocre FFB probably didn't help - in RaceRoom I'm pretty sure I'd have been able to feel this.

I'm not entirely clear if this is a car/setup quirk that afflicts everyone or just my driving style (get me) alone, but either way, it's a lesson learnt. Had some great races once I could actually keep up.

The Logitech wheel and pedals is supported really well, it works in most the games I've tried like Dirt 2, GTR and a few others. Only when you add other devices does it start to play up on some games.

Thanks for that. My inner child is getting quite excited at the prospect.

I think I have reasonable expectations and I'm not thinking it'll be like the real thing etc. Although all boxed up, I have a cheap plastic set of pedals and wheel for the Dreamcast and even that made driving games much more enjoyable. I think the fun I had with that is half the reason for wanting to get a new set.

I just hope I might be able the get it to work with some older Arcadey titles like Flatout 2 and Sonic Racing Transformed along with Assetto Corsa.

Ah OK. Cheers for the heads up. I'll lower my expectations on that front then.

You can do racing wheels with arcade games, emulators, etc. You'll probably need to do some tweaking in the driver software, but it's doable.

There's a channel on twitter I occasionally watch where the guy gets on and just plays old arcade racers.