Xfr @ so town (so5)

[obsolum]

First of all, I gotta say I really really enjoyed this combo a lot. I have never been as competitive nor as consistent on any of the dMr combo's as I was on this one. I had some terrific racing during the week, lots of close and exciting battles, bumper to bumper racing sometimes for laps on end :boxing: Not so in yesterday's long race, though. I had no direct battles or close racing the entire race. But it was in no way a boring or lonely race for me. Far from it...

I qualified 5th. I had a good start, passed Vobler on the straight under the bridge. He seemed to lift, I'm guessing 'cause he didn't want to take any chances. So I gratefully took advantage I then passed Seany going into the first left hander, putting me in 3rd place behind Deeslider and Romus.

I knew Romus was too quick for me to keep up with, but Deeslider seemed to be driving at the same pace. I thought I could probably try and fight him for 2nd place, but instead of risking damage or overheating my tyres and possibly having him breathing down my neck for the whole race I decided to settle into a rythm behind him while focussing on consistency; concentrating on my racing line, braking and turn in points and keeping my right front tyre from overheating. Seany and Slider46 weren't far behind me, but after the first few laps it became clear that they just couldn't quite match the pace me and Deeslider were driving at. They weren't much slower, a few tenths per lap at best, but it was enough to put me at ease so I could fully concentrate on holding on to Deeslider. I figured he was bound to make a mistake sooner or later so I'd just bide my time until that happened :flirty:

The laps went by and Seany and Slider46 kept falling behind little by little while me and Deeslider were running almost identical laptimes with a gap of 1 - 2 seconds. Sometimes the gap would grow when he had a good lap and/or I was a bit slower but I'd always crawl back closer to him. He never made a mistake, though Around the 20 minute mark I started to get a bit worried about my right front tyre. I could keep the temperatures in check but it seemed to be wearing a bit thin. I think  I was looking at the F9 menu as much as I was looking at the road :lmfao: I made it to the 30 minute mark at which time I pitted and was relieved to exit the pits with a fresh right front after a 7 second pitstop.

I came back out of the pits in 6th position but after 5 or so more laps I was back into 3rd as other people made their stop. Deeslider and Romus hadn't pitted yet so they were well ahead of me, but I was confident I would be right back on Deeslider's rear bumper after he had made his pitstop. I was wrong :sideways: His pitstop took only ~4 seconds, which means he gained about 3 seconds on me. I'm guessing he didn't have any tyres changed; he was on R4's after all, whereas I was using R3's.

By this time - around the 40 minute mark I believe it was - I noticed that my left front tyre was wearing thin as well and I couldn't get any temperature in it. It affected my cornering and I couldn't quite keep the same pace as I did in the first half of the race. I settled for 3rd place, kept a close eye on the guy behind me (forgot who it was) who was a couple of seconds behind me. Not close enough to make me feel pressured so I just kept on and focussed on my lines.

In the last couple of laps, though, the gap with Deeslider shrank considerably and in the last couple of corners of the race I was right on his tail again, but it wasn't enough. He crossed the finish line only tenths ahead of me

Congratulations to Romus and Deeslider, who both drove a flawless race. And to me for my first ever podium in a dMr long race :yahoo:

[Jamin]

Congrats Romus :yahoo:

All week I must have tried a different setup in each race to try and find one that matched my driving style to hot front tyres, eventually after Bob suggested I tried RaceS I found one that could last the distance, I messed with it a bit but for the race I put on the standard raceS with R4s on the front.

Qualified 8th and prepared my basket, I spent the first half on my own, trying to keep clean but just after halfway I clipped a wall and bent the front right wheel so pitted (for me) early. CrazyR1 went past so I came out in 9th and had some great laps trying to overtake him, I pushed him hoping he would overheat his front right and eventually he started to go wide into left handers, my tyres were fine and I got past. I got a yellow flag warning followed by Vobler on ventrilo instructing Cuball on who has the line into corners, I passed them both and in the deathly silence that followed I put some space between them and me. Romus lapped me on the last lap and I finished 6th.

[vobler]

I got a yellow flag warning followed by Vobler on ventrilo instructing Cuball on who has the line into corners, I passed them both and in the deathly silence that followed I put some space between them and me.

Sorry about that. I usually don't have outbursts in those situations. That was probably my second one in all my sim racing career.
It will not happen again.

[obsolum]

Hmm, sounds like I missed something on Ventrilo then

[Romus]

Good report Obsolum and congratulations for the good performance. I had already earlier this week noticed your good speed.

...so I could fully concentrate on holding on to Deeslider. I figured he was bound to make a mistake sooner or later so I'd just bide my time until that happened :flirty:

I have numerous times been thinking like that, but it rarely works. Especially I think I've been following CrazyR1 and Seany hundreds of laps waiting for their mistake, but it has not happened so often. Perhaps I've not been close enough to capitalise on their small mistakes. Luck is often earned, not given, so I've decided not to wait for others mistakes, but rather to try to be very close my "opponent" and to make the luck happen. That's actually the skill (or mindset) I'm trying to learn at the moment.

My speed was relatively good already from the first short races with this combo. Often it takes me 30-50 laps to get in speed, but this time driving felt natural from the start. SO has always been my no. 1 favorite because there are not so many dead moments on the track. I think that smooth braking (and releasing the brakes) and overall smooth controls were especially important this time. I used 450 degrees this week with 0 compensation in LFS, so only I was hardly using more than 200 degrees at best (or worst). I wonder if some of you had problems with having to do too much steering through the tight turns in the first half of the track.

The race itself was not very special. During the first laps I wanted to see if I could create some gap between me and the others. After about five laps I checked the tires: still good. Then I tried to do a 1:22:xx lap and see what the tires say. Still good. If the temperature on the right front went higher I was just putting more focus on driving smooth. In the end I was getting a bit worried because the tires seemed to be getting cold, the right front inner part was already below 100c. I had to start pushing a bit harder for the last laps to keep it grippy.

Hopefully the next one will be a bit more interesting.

[Seany]

Nice race reports.  I qualified 4th but I didn't hold on to that for too long,  I lost a couple of places into t1.  Romus is absolutely right about being smooth, which is the one thing I did not do at the start :doh:.  I had a quick Slider behind me and instead of letting him past and accepting he had more speed, I tried to hold on to my position which inevitably destroyed my front right and he got by anyway, only now both of us where under attack from others whom we had made an initial good gap on.  I lost another couple of places and then managed to make myself ignore others pace and try and get my temps back to normal.

About lap 18 or so I started to regain my pace, just in time too as there was a Jamin hot on my heels .  I was reeling in Vobler just before my half distance pitstop then gained a place on him in the pits due to him having more tyres than me replaced.  Towards the end of the race I started to gain a little on Steve but the gap was too big to do anything with.  I finished 5th which is only one spot down from where I qualied.  Pretty pleased considering how disastrous the start was.

Well done Romus, impressive driving mate. :yahoo:

[Dee_Slider]

Well done to Romus and also Obsolum for getting on the podium  :yahoo:

I qualified 2nd, and as Obsolum says, spend most of the race with him close behind, he got dangerously close a few times when I couldn't find any grip in some corners, or he did a good lap, but not quite enough to get past  

I was running R3's on the front, and had the setting to change at 70% wear, they didn't get changed in my stop, good thing too as any wasted seconds would have put me behind Obsolum at the end.

[Doorman]

I used 450 degrees this week with 0 compensation in LFS, so only I was hardly using more than 200 degrees at best (or worst). I wonder if some of you had problems with having to do too much steering through the tight turns in the first half of the track.

:whistling2:

[obsolum]

I was running R3's on the front, and had the setting to change at 70% wear, they didn't get changed in my stop (...)

Ah, wow I don't think I could have done the whole race without a tyre change.

:whistling2:

That's what I was thinking, too But hey, if he's comfortable with it...

[Romus]

Ah, wow I don't think I could have done the whole race without a tyre change.


That's what I was thinking, too But hey, if he's comfortable with it...

I'm too stupid to understand what that might mean, so I'll skip it..

[obsolum]

I'm too stupid to understand what that might mean, so I'll skip it..

What me and Ron were getting is that you using 450Ã,° with 0 compensation means that you were using "unrealistic" settings and in that had an advantage over people who were using the appropriate settings (ie. 720Ã,°) So you, indeed, had to turn your wheel less going around corners, and especially in the chicane it can be a great advantage. I know I had to turn my wheel quite a bit going around the tight righthanded hairpin at the end of the downhill section. But like I said, everyone should use whatever settings they're comfortable with. I just always try to use settings that come closest to what you would use in real life; in LFS I use the settings the cars were designed for.

[Romus]

... you using 450Ã,° with 0 compensation means that you were using "unrealistic" settings and in that had an advantage over people who were using the appropriate settings (ie. 720Ã,°) ...

OK, I see. But I'm a bit surprised if that was the point. What about those people who have Logitech Momo for example. They have only 270 degrees. Are they also using unrealistic settings and getting advantage over others?

I'm not playing with settings on the computer nor on the LFS very much. For the last 4 weeks I've had same controller settings and have not really bothered thinking what should be used. It's just that I don't see any use of very high turn angles. If we would have a set of gentlemens rules, like realistic controller settings, then I would be happy to follow them, but I see a problem there, because we all do not have clutch pedals for example nor H-gate shifters.

[Doorman]

You use what is good for you. It makes no difference as far as I can tell. Either way, you're fast or not fast however you choose to set things up. I was just surprised because I had you down for a 'realistic as you can be' with your cockpit and triple screens etc. that's all.
You are also right about Momos, clutches and Hshifters, but if you do buy a high end wheel, why not use it to it's full extent?
Let's not fall out over it though. I'm sure there are guys using G25s and w.h.y. and using 270Ã,° but not admitting it. :g:

[Romus]

If the maximum lock (car setup) is 20 degrees and the wheel turns 450 (controller setup) it would be approximately (if not exactly, I'm not sure) the same as if the maximum lock would be 24 and the wheel turn 540. I would max to maximum lock if I had to use 540 with that combo. But if 720 was required then perhaps a setup that is more oversteery would have been handy. But I'm not into that kind of realism.

A question: does someone of you really sometimes suffer from having too insensitive (way too much steering needed through the corner) steering and you still not adjust your controller to help with that?

[Romus]

I was just surprised because I had you down for a 'realistic as you can be' with your cockpit and triple screens etc.

OK.. But I'm just a simracer. I don't know much about cars or real world racing. I've never driven a race car and I don't follow any race series. I've not even watched any races of Räikkönen or Kovalainen, but I remember watching Häkkinen fighting against Schumacher. I rarely read any Formula 1 news. I've only a few times had my hands dirty working with a car and currently I don't even own a car, I sold my Octavia in april and don't really want to buy a car, unless absolutely necessary.

But I like simracing as a hobby and I try to have "serious" fun. By that I mean that I like to learn more and try to push my limits, though I cannot spend very much time with the hobby.