Box Box Box - Sim Racing Players Club [Now Hype Train Enabled!]

[brownninja97]

 

nice to see how far we have come.

[chaozbandit]

Recommended watch for any of you wishing to improve your racecraft when it comes to accident awareness. Dabbo takes us through a race analysis from PCDC friday night racing, Ford MkIVs at nurburgring short. Both he and I participated last week as AOR was postponed, however I do not have my video up yet. 

 

(my onboard recording corrupted so debating whether to record the replay or not)

 

 

You can see my car at 7 min! I was having a good battle with Dabbo before he got collected in the first incident on that lap, I think. ICYMI (even though its 2 posts back)

 

[chaozbandit]

After spinning 8 times and a pit stop for damage, the pass for P8 that I worked so hard for over the course of 50 minutes LOOL.

 

 

Ghetto 3 monitor rig is now set up.

[chaozbandit]

50:00 - 60:00 

 

Last 10 minutes of race 1, sitting P14 as I'm chasing PaulyK. Forced default setups so these cars are very draggy and you make a stupid amount of time (3-4 seconds) using someone's slipstream, so I'm desperately trying to maintain the gap. Get past him and somehow jump to P11, as I'm coming up to 4 other cars in close proximity with 5 minutes to go. The leading car of this now 5 car pack is Dabbo in P8, the guy in front pulled away just enough to finish safely. Side-by-side with HowGudAmI going down into the horseshoe and get a clean pass, now in P10. 3 minutes to go, Extrovert somehow gets suspension damage and slows drastically, so I can pass him easily in Dabbo's slip stream. The last 2 minutes is spent trying to close the gap to Dabbo but P9 is as high as I'd get.

 

 

[MEC-777]

WELP. Finished P8 the first race, second race was a reverse grid which placed me P10. A lot of cars spun and I was in a good spot to stay in the pointy end of the field before ptopman went off track coming up to the last corner, and went all the way to the right side of the track while I was on the racing line and closing in on him. End result: he collides into my front and damages my suspension, but also spins my car around. I went straight to P16 and spent the next 25 minutes driving by myself. Finishing position was P14.

 

 

That sucks, but that's the way it goes some times. In MP racing, I try so hard to avoid accidents and other people who have gone off or spun, but sometimes, there's nothing you can do. 

 

Been busy with ice racing all weekend, hoping to maybe get back into some multi-class testing tonight if I have time... 

 

Got the opportunity to run some hot-laps in the MR2. As good as these racing sims are, they will never replace the real thing. Drifting 5 corners in succession at speed on ice is an amazing feeling.  

[chaozbandit]

That sucks, but that's the way it goes some times. In MP racing, I try so hard to avoid accidents and other people who have gone off or spun, but sometimes, there's nothing you can do. 

 

Been busy with ice racing all weekend, hoping to maybe get back into some multi-class testing tonight if I have time... 

 

Got the opportunity to run some hot-laps in the MR2. As good as these racing sims are, they will never replace the real thing. Drifting 5 corners in succession at speed on ice is an amazing feeling.

 

Yeah haha nothing quite comes close to the real thing in terms of the adrenaline rush and the various g-forces you experience. Oh, and the real thing burns a bigger hole in your wallet

 

I'm not too bothered with the incident. I still trust the guys in that league to race cleanly and stuff like that will still happen, albeit on a less frequent basis than a normal open lobby. Everyone who I shared the incident with said that he was 100% at fault for driving into my side of the track, but I still feel like I should still take a part of the blame for not staying as far right as I could. Not that it would have mattered because Saih from behind was closing quickly on my right, and I still would have been taken out by ptop because he was trying to copy Logger's line which would put his wheels on my cockpit. I'm more focused on the Radical races that follow the FG1000s since the FGs are 1/2 points and serve as my "practice session" for the track.

 

Just a quick update on the custom grid tool. With 8.0 out, there is no unified unlocker for the boot files. Yet. Crowtrobot, JDoughny, and Autoprophet (et all) are working together so that the community can get one singular package for all their mods, just to streamline the process a bit. Until then we'll have to deal with an extra file, but heres what you need to do to get it working again.

 

Autoprophet's Unpacked Boot Files for P8.0 - https://mega.nz/#!l0ElVRzA!bURNQWGm1f_ymE5SoAk1hBj3sCcMJvZdtvQOr6-3cKk

pCars Custom Grid Tool Patch - http://www.mediafire.com/download/zc15i99kdw9uz9k/pCARS_Custom_Grid_Patch_8_0.zip

Custom Grid Tool v0.91 - http://www.mediafire.com/download/32iw3kzdzxzk49k/Custom_Grid_Tool_0.91_by_crowtrobot.zip

 

the MODS directory should have 3 folders in it: Unpacked bootfiles for patch 8.0 (Autoprophet's unlocker),pCARS_Custom_Grid_Patch_8_0, and Custom_Grid. The Unpacked bootfiles should be activated first, then activate the pCARS_Custom_Grid_Patch. It may warn of overwriting files, if it does, this is fine.

 

 

If it doesn't launch, be sure to verify your game's files via steam prior to enabling the mods.

[chaozbandit]

How's my drivingsetup?

 

~~

 

Looks good! How are you liking the G29 so far? And are those 24" displays lol

 

I just got my third monitor installed as well and really should post updated pics, but my desk is kind of messy. Also messing around with my DAC & AMP has me a bit distracted.

[MEC-777]

Pleasantly surprised, actually. I was rather reluctant to getting a steering wheel at first due to earlier experiences (talking early 2000's Logitech wheels for XP era games). 

I like it, though. Made playing Dirt Rally and Assetto Corsa much more enjoyable.

 

Not sure what's up with the force feedback, whether or not it's supposed to be like this, but when the feedback is rather strong and is pulling to one side, it feels like the belt inside it is slipping and jumping about. I haven't tried any other wheels yet, so I can't tell if it's supposed to be like that or if it's broken. 

 

Also, does anyone know how rough I can be with turning when FF is on? Don't want to break the thing.

 

The G29, like the G27, is gear driven with two FFB motors. So there is no belt to slip. Without feeling what you're feeling, it's hard to say if it's normal or not. 

 

When you're in a high speed, high-G corner and there's lots of ffb happening, if your tires loose grip or you hit a bump, the ffb will react accordingly. So it kind of depends on what's going on in the game when it happens. 

 

You can be pretty rough with these wheels, within reason. The more solid of an object you clamp the wheel to, the better. I have a fairly large and heavy Ikea desk that I fasten my G27 to and there can be times in races where I have to wrench on the wheel really-fast to save from a spin or something and that - while fighting the ffb - will cause my whole desk to "jiggle" or even move a little, lol. So yeah, feel free to crank on the wheel as hard as you need to as long as your desk can support it.

[MEC-777]

That makes a bit more sense. I don't know how these wheels are build, so it was the best way I could "describe" the feeling.  :lol:

 

That's good, because I tend to be a bit hard with it when panicking. 

 

Yeah, no worries.  

 

I would just advise to try not to push or pull in and out on the wheel, if you can help it. That's all.

[chaozbandit]

Minor update on the upcoming Project CARS DLC. Many of you who have been keeping an eye on it will know that the initial release date was set for January 26, or tomorrow for all digital platforms. Unfortunately following Patch 8.0 Microsoft has been slow in their certification process for the additional content, and the resulting delay has pushed the global release to January 29. Confirmed via instagram and a few others, I am doubtful that it will be out tomorrow.

 

Not related to the Stanceworks DLC but heres some interesting notes from Casey regarding the Renault Sport pack that I somehow missed.

 

http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/showthread.php?43295-The-Physics-of-Renault-Sport-Car-Pack

 

Formula Renault 3.5

This was a very cool little project as we ramp up to Indycar stuff. The FR3.5 chassis is made by Dallara and has an underbody with full tunnels which aren’t all that different from the DW12. We got some very good data for what this kind of underbody does over a wide range of ride heights and matched the game model to it all *very* closely. The changes in downforce level and center of pressure balance are much larger than you might expect. Getting your ride height wrong by 10mm can mean a loss of 10% of total downforce and a shift in balance that is enough to push it from understeer to oversteer. Fascinating stuff to work with real data like this. In general, it wants to be low - very low - and you tend to run it very very stiff to get that aero working. 

The aero package also includes DRS, but it works in a very different way to what most of you are probably used to. Rather than reduce the angle of the second wing element, it flips UP a small flap at the trailing edge of the main element. This closes the slot gap and causes flow separation on the suction surfaces of the wing, stalling it out and reducing both downforce and drag. Similar in theory to how the old F-duct worked on certain F1 cars back before they added the DRS systems we now know.

Suspension geometry is from CAD. We did have to make one compromise in that the real car uses a monoshock front end: essentially one spring to hold the car up plus an anti-roll bar for lateral movements. Our current chassis solver doesn’t handle this elegantly. It works perfectly right up until it doesn’t and the car explodes off into space.  As a compromise we’ve matched a traditional configuration of four ride springs + anti-roll bars to the standard setup on the real FR3.5 as closely as possible.

Engine is yet another 4.0L flat-plane V8 based on a Nissan block good for 530hp @ 9200rpm; this one being the Gibson ZRS03. Gearbox is the typical 6-speed sequential with flat shifting. In this case the same Ricardo unit as used in Indy Lights...somewhat interesting. Overall it's like driving the Indycar with 60% of the power and downforce, which is actually a lot of fun and a good challenge. Takes a good three laps to get the tires up to full temperature from cold as it doesn't work them very hard by being so light.

Top speed at Monza approaches 298-300km/h with another 10-15 added via DRS. Lap times are close to real: 1:34 Monza, 1:41 Nurburgring GP, 1:59 Spa. Pretty quick car for the specs!

Motion Ratio:
Front= 1.0
Rear= 1.0 

Damper Transitions: 50mm/s bump, 80mm/s rebound (front and rear)


Renault R.S.01

Engine is a Nissan VR38DETT almost straight out of the Nissan GT-R GT3. Good for 550hp @ 6800rpm. Occasionally they run slightly lower boost for 500hp; not sure exactly how they decide. Power to the rear through a 7-speed Sadev sequential with flat shifting. Smart design using the 7 gears. It means there is no need to ever think about changing ratios for a given track; there is always one that will have you in the power band for each turn and an appropriate top speed. Suspension geometry is all from CAD points. Nothing to fancy there, but it is kinda nice how they've designed the rocker arms to give a near perfectly linear 1:1 motion ratio at front and rear. There was also enough detail in the CAD to estimate wheel rates for the anti-roll bars, which is cool. We almost never get that kind of data as pure wheel rate numbers. No official aero numbers yet, but vague PR-type numbers are floating around the web. Official website claims 1.7 metric tons of DF @ 186mph. This is very hard to believe as it would mean a lift:drag efficiency over 4.0 - better than some LMP cars. Other reviews are stating 1200kgf @ 190mph. This makes much more sense. It's essentially a GT3 car with LMP2 underbody venturi tunnels. If I put an LMP2-style underbody/diffuser on one of our GT3 models, it matches up to that number very closely and performance looks about correct. Tires are Michelin's standard GT3 set. No mention of what type of rubber compound, but I'd have to guess it's one of the harder versions. The WSR series seems to stress tire management with teams only getting 2 or 3 sets per weekend. Making them last takes some effort, too, because with more power, no driver aids, and much more downforce than a GT3 car, this thing really stresses the tires. It is very easy to overheat and cook them. It is very very fast; just off DTM pace, really. Fast drivers will be in the 2:11s at Spa, which could conceivably match up with an average driver in LMP2. Impressive race machine here.

Note that we did deviate from the standard RS01 suspension setup slightly for defaults. Numbers from RS indicate 900lb/in front springs and 1200lb/in rears with very low ride heights of 42mm front / 55mm rear. That works quite well at a fast, smooth track like Spa, but is a bit harsh for a lot of others like Oulton Park. Our default raises and softens it a bit to work better all around, but you will find some more pace at the fast tracks with the numbers above.

Motion Ratio:
Front= 1.0
Rear= 1.0 

Damper Transitions: 50mm/s bump, 80mm/s rebound (front and rear)


Radical RXC Turbo

Sweet little car.

Engine is a tuned 3.5L V6 Ford Ecoboost. Really good engine to drive with a fat torque curve peaking at 500lb-ft @ 3600rpm and then a very smooth drop to the power peak for 454hp @ 6100rpm. They have a new version - RXC Turbo 500 - boosted up for 537hp but tuned so it loses all that mid-range torque. Tried that boost curve on our model; Don't like it. The fatter power band is so much nicer to drive around a track. Power is to the rear through a Quaife QBE81G 7-speed sequential. It has three optional gear ratio sets and three optional final drive ratios; all available to mix & match in setup.

Downforce is claimed at 900kgf at the max speed of 185mph. That works out to a lift:drag efficiency of 2.0, which is perfectly plausible for a car like this. Experimenting a bit on this car with a much more aggressive model w.r.t. sensitivity to ride height and rake. It's a flat-bottom car with no front diffuser, and things like this tend to be very sensitive with a large penalty for getting either end too low to the ground. Airflow becomes choked and downforce vanishes in an instant. I think it is working well. Setup is quite important and there is a definite sweet spot where it likes to run. Slamming it down all the way to minimum ride height puts you outside of that window unless the springs are run so stiff as to be very unpleasant over bumps.

There were enough points our the scanned model and good CAD views on the web to draw up suspension geometry and work out motion ratios. Super-basic double wishbones; nothing special at all. The standard RXC I looked at had 50N/mm springs all around. Probably nice on the street but too soft on track. Ours defaults to 80N/mm instead.

Thing is fast! Don't have a ton of laps on it yet, but it's just about equal with the McLaren P1 with a much nicer balance between handling and power.

Motion Ratio:
Front= 0.90
Rear= 0.88

Damper Transitions: 30mm/s bump, 60mm/s rebound (front and rear)

 

 

Interesting that he mentioned the relation between the FR3.5 and IndyCars, as the DW12 has been in the game for months and is due for a release this quarter. Lots of mention about Nissan hardware as well, although the Nissan-Renault Alliance is a thing. Only bringing this up because if they have all the underlying engineering complete for a "GTR" of say GT3 spec, then all they would really need is to give it a proper 3D model. Which may or may not be happening in pCars 2, who knows - totally didn't have a peek at the WIP game footage. 

 

As usual, SMS' engineering team always have plenty of CAD data to work with and try to bring them as close to life as possible, however the current Madness engine clearly has it's limitations as highlighted here (from the FR3.5 above): 

 

Suspension geometry is from CAD. We did have to make one compromise in that the real car uses a monoshock front end: essentially one spring to hold the car up plus an anti-roll bar for lateral movements. Our current chassis solver doesn’t handle this elegantly. It works perfectly right up until it doesn’t and the car explodes off into space. 

 

Or as lovingly depicted by some critics (PRC) via the following video:

 

[brownninja97]

im still waiting to be hit by a game breaking bug, i had a double gearing issue once which i just restarted a race(upshifting went to gear 4 and downshifting went to N) and it fixed itself. 

[chaozbandit]

im still waiting to be hit by a game breaking bug, i had a double gearing issue once which i just restarted a race(upshifting went to gear 4 and downshifting went to N) and it fixed itself. 

 

I cant say I've been hit by anything too gamebreaking beyond the occasional FFB hiccup with the G27. Most of my issues as of late (circa Patch 6.0 to present) have been related to SMS' reliance on Steam's servers to handle its online MP. 

 

Initially it was due to a terrible implementation of the VAC system and how it handled various dedicated server interfaces. Even with the dedication of some league members and the resulting change between 3 separate dedicated server racks (looking through the logs, it was reported not to be a DS issue), we were unable to resolve the mass disconnect issues that plagued us particularly at the end of Patch 7.0. Patch 8.0 "supposedly" stabilized this but it's too early to tell. Then we have the issues of people joining the lobbies which causes stutter for all players currently in the session, which can potentially ruin a hot lap.

 

From what I've seen, there have been fewer mass disconnects (I'm talking lobbies of 20+ where at least 40% of the players' clients crashed) but people are still getting randomly booted from time to time (shown as "player has been kicked" when the host has done nothing, player is sent to race central but can still rejoin). This is especially frustrating when you get kicked but can't rejoin the lobby because the current "session" is past the threshold and the transition (qualifying -> warmup/race) is about to begin, so the lobby locks out anybody who isn't inside.

 

Other than that, the recent game changes have been brilliant. Tires are finally working "properly" and have reverted back to the proper pre-6.0 temps with correct under-inflated handling, a crucial element when you are forced to use default setups in something that doesnt retain a lot of energy - say, the Formula Gulf 1000s. Theres probably a few other things but I they are escaping me right now.

[chaozbandit]

I'm so used to lapping Monza in pCars that when I do it in aCorsa, I feel horribly off pace and slow LOL. 1:55/56 to my usual 1:47s. Anywho short snippet of practice for the RORA race this week.

 

[brownninja97]

holy crap, i forgot how bad the old monza looked. oops my bad, too much info

[MEC-777]

Just a quick update on the custom grid tool. With 8.0 out, there is no unified unlocker for the boot files. Yet. Crowtrobot, JDoughny, and Autoprophet (et all) are working together so that the community can get one singular package for all their mods, just to streamline the process a bit. Until then we'll have to deal with an extra file, but heres what you need to do to get it working again.

 

Autoprophet's Unpacked Boot Files for P8.0 - https://mega.nz/#!l0ElVRzA!bURNQWGm1f_ymE5SoAk1hBj3sCcMJvZdtvQOr6-3cKk

pCars Custom Grid Tool Patch - http://www.mediafire.com/download/zc15i99kdw9uz9k/pCARS_Custom_Grid_Patch_8_0.zip

Custom Grid Tool v0.91 - http://www.mediafire.com/download/32iw3kzdzxzk49k/Custom_Grid_Tool_0.91_by_crowtrobot.zip

 

 

If it doesn't launch, be sure to verify your game's files via steam prior to enabling the mods.

 

Sweet. Will be downloading and installing this tonight.  

 

I'm so used to lapping Monza in pCars that when I do it in aCorsa, I feel horribly off pace and slow LOL. 1:55/56 to my usual 1:47s. Anywho short snippet of practice for the RORA race this week.

 

 

Lol, you are like me in AC - lock up the brakes easy. Don't know what it is about AC, but it seems like it's much easier to lock em up than in PCars. 

 

Was really looking forward to the new DLC today, then saw your post that it's delayed for another few days. Oh well. More time to test multi-class races before I get distracted by the KTM X-bow R and the new P2P track...

[chaozbandit]

Time to crack open a case of ramen, because oh my this is one DLC that I am definitely buying at the expense of my wallet.

 

 

Darn you Ed Mas for creating another wonderful trailer.

 

ICYMI, Stanceworks DLC will be available 29.01.16.

[brownninja97]

ktm x-bow is the only one i care about in that pack. ill get it depending on the price. I just wish these dlcs were larger

[chaozbandit]

ktm x-bow is the only one i care about in that pack. ill get it depending on the price. I just wish these dlcs were larger

 

Eh, you can't really complain when you get monthly DLCs and a free car I guess. 5/6 cars no track, 4 cars + 1 track, 3 cars + 2/3 tracks, with a free car regardless of the formula. Pricing also escalates from left to right, and they can always mix and match.

 

Which means this DLC should be ~4/5 euro, or ~5/6 USD.

[brownninja97]

Eh, you can't really complain when you get monthly DLCs and a free car I guess. 5/6 cars no track, 4 cars + 1 track, 3 cars + 2/3 tracks, with a free car regardless of the formula. Pricing also escalates from left to right, and they can always mix and match.

 

Which means this DLC should be ~4/5 euro, or ~5/6 USD.

i dont mind paying more but the japan pack was great, it had a ton of content, the track looks nice in this pack but ill have to pass. Not really my cup of tea. I hope you enjoy it

[chaozbandit]

Well well, guess who is also releasing a DLC pack tomorrow - a full 24 hours BEFORE the global release of the pCars DLC, which was DELAYED because Microsoft was "slow with the DLC certification." Not saying there's foul play here or anything, just a chance coincidence.

 

 

Dat Pontiac Aztec tho.

 

I'll admit, these last few rounds of FM6 DLC have made me reconsider not owning an XB1... too bad the G27 doesnt work with it, boo.

 

[MEC-777]

Time to crack open a case of ramen, because oh my this is one DLC that I am definitely buying at the expense of my wallet.

 

 

Darn you Ed Mas for creating another wonderful trailer.

 

ICYMI, Stanceworks DLC will be available 29.01.16.

 

Can't wait to hoon that MX-5 and tear up that new track!

[brownninja97]

yeah the forza dlc is fucking fantastic and im majorly jelly

[MEC-777]

Well well, guess who is also releasing a DLC pack tomorrow - a full 24 hours BEFORE the global release of the pCars DLC, which was DELAYED because Microsoft was "slow with the DLC certification." Not saying there's foul play here or anything, just a chance coincidence.

 

 

 

Dat Pontiac Aztec tho.

 

I'll admit, these last few rounds of FM6 DLC have made me reconsider not owning an XB1... too bad the G27 doesnt work with it, boo.

 

 

 

Wait, the G27 doesn't work with the XB1??? Wow. Glad I didn't spring for one, assuming it did... So long Forza series. Been nice knowing ya.

 

That Aztek is hilarious. It's even the same colour as Walter White's from Breaking Bad. lol. Coincidence? I think not.

[chaozbandit]

Wait, the G27 doesn't work with the XB1??? Wow. Glad I didn't spring for one, assuming it did... So long Forza series. Been nice knowing ya.

 

That Aztek is hilarious. It's even the same colour as Walter White's from Breaking Bad. lol. Coincidence? I think not.

 

No, unfortunately not so you'd have to buy the G920 or shift over to a Thrustmaster set (TX or T300RS), either option results in an additional $500 CAD (if you spring for T3PA pedals and a TH8A shifter) ontop of an XB1 (~400 barebones). There is an adaptor that you can buy for ~100 USD but it doesnt unlock full wheel functionality, and instead just maps all the signals to that of a XB1 controller - which means your wheel movement isn't "true" and you'll experience a bit of signal lag. FWIW you'd be better off saving up for the new wheel and just using the controller for the time being in that case.

 

Yeah haha the actual Aztec used for breaking bad is at the Petersen Motor Museum, so I wouldnt be too surprised if Turn10 got a chance to model it as well. (I have all the seasons but have yet to start watching D: )

[MEC-777]

 

Yeah haha the actual Aztec used for breaking bad is at the Petersen Motor Museum, so I wouldnt be too surprised if Turn10 got a chance to model it as well. (I have all the seasons but have yet to start watching D: )

 

It's an awesome show. You have to watch it. The stuff that happens... lol. Yeah, you just have to watch it. One of the best I've ever seen.