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

[MEC-777]

Well, it seems with the last Windows update they fixed a number of issues. A bunch of windows apps that would fail to update and even work (like calculator) now seem to work and update just fine. Along with that, Forza 6 Apex actually installed and now works too!  

 

Runs pretty good so far. Says "it's optimized for your system and dynamically adjusts the graphics to maintain optimal performance". My Xbox One wireless controller worked great without doing anything. Only had time to do the opening race which has all the assists turned on (super annoying). Will spend some more time with it later, but looks promising so far. To be honest, with the SweetFX mod added to Project Cars, I didn't feel like Forza looked any better, but I'll reserve that judgement until after I've had a shot at manually tweaking the graphics.  Just happy it's finally working now.

[chaozbandit]

5 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Well, it seems with the last Windows update they fixed a number of issues. A bunch of windows apps that would fail to update and even work (like calculator) now seem to work and update just fine. Along with that, Forza 6 Apex actually installed and now works too!  

 

Runs pretty good so far. Says "it's optimized for your system and dynamically adjusts the graphics to maintain optimal performance". My Xbox One wireless controller worked great without doing anything. Only had time to do the opening race which has all the assists turned on (super annoying). Will spend some more time with it later, but looks promising so far. To be honest, with the SweetFX mod added to Project Cars, I didn't feel like Forza looked any better, but I'll reserve that judgement until after I've had a shot at manually tweaking the graphics.  Just happy it's finally working now.

Yeah, I'm having a blast in Apex so far. Done 10 of the tours and I can say it doesnt look too bad - and that's without AMD Freesync enabled because the drivers dont support it yet. Dynamic visuals + forced resolution are definitely doing their job!

 

Still not too happy about having to use a controller, but the key maps arent too hard to get used to - even with all the assists off and manual shifting on the right stick. Load times are really my only gripe atm.

[chaozbandit]

Just a minor update on modding; from the guys at Machine Dojo:

 

Quote

So I'd like to announce our new partnership with AGU-Modding. We can't say much else, and no, this does not confirm the Porsche is coming. But it does mean we can work together to bring a lot of GT3s to all sims.

 

And photos of the next most likely car to come to pCars from MDJ - the M6 GT3/GTE.

[theninja35]

25 minutes ago, chaozbandit said:

Just a minor update on modding; from the guys at Machine Dojo:

 

 

And photos of the next most likely car to come to pCars from MDJ - the M6 GT3/GTE.

-snip-

I would love the M6. I would also like the 488, the GT, and the Viper (though probably not possible) to come to Project Cars.

[chaozbandit]

A bit of touchup in post, but nothing more. For a demo the game is pretty solid though the AI is frustrating at times. Currently have 45 of the available medals, with more events to be added on Monday.

 

[brownninja97]

 

 

[MEC-777]

Second PRD race at Brands Hatch in the FR3.5 is down in the books. Went much better for me, well at least the first half of the race anyways. 

 

Spent a lot of time tweaking and adjusting the car setup. Got it dialed in much better to my liking. Also put in a lot of time just doing laps/practicing. Felt a lot more confident in the car and that came through when I pulled off a 1:09:7 in qualifying where as before I could barely get into the 1:10's. That time landed me a P11 start (of 15). Not great, but better than before. 

 

Had an awesome race start, passing a number of guys ahead of me who were sleeping off the line. By lap 3 I was up to P4 and easily keeping pace. Battled for P3 and held that position for a few laps, then back to 4th where I sat for a while longer. Tried to calm my nerves and just get into a groove. Felt great, the car felt great, I was hitting my marks and turning consistent 1:10's and 11's.

 

Then it came time to pit on lap 17. I came in, got fresh tires and left. From that point on the car didn't quite feel the same and I just could not get back into the groove. Didn't mind losing the 4 places when pitting because I assumed I would regain at least a few of those when the other would pit later on. But like the last race, some chose not to pit and do the full 34 laps on one set of tires. I don't know how they did this, but tire management is definitely something I need to learn more about, lol. Around lap 20 I made a mistake, turn 7 bit me again and sent me into the wall. Had to pit to repair. Lost a few more places and dropped to P11 where I would ride out the rest of the race. Those behind me had all retired from the race so at least I didn't get a DNF. 

 

I still have a lot to learn about maintaining concentration and hitting the marks. Muscle memory plays a huge role and I need to learn to adapt to changing conditions/factors. I also don't feel so bad after watching yesterday's F1 race and seeing the mistakes made by arguably the 2 fastest drivers in the series, on the first lap, no less. Happens to everyone at some point when racing on the absolute limits, so I can't get too upset, I guess.  Just can't help thinking where I could have finished had I not spun on that lap. 

 

Watkins Glen is up next and I already feel MUCH better as it's a far less technical track and I know it very well. Just after doing some early testing with a couple guys from the league there yesterday, I was able to run a 1:26:6 with 66L of fuel (would be 5th fastest on the leaderboards) and mostly consistent low/mid 1:27's with 80+L of fuel. Made some minor adjustments to the downforce and tire pressures and the car is pretty much dialed in. I was also able to do far more laps without making mistakes which as you all know is key. It is harder on tires which means pretty much everyone will be on a one-stop strategy. 

 

Quick question @chaozbandit under pit strategy, the fuel amount you can adjust; is that how much will be added to what is already in your tank or how much your tank will be topped up to? At Brands, I ran the whole race on one tank (81L) and I'm wondering if the change in fuel load is what threw me off a bit in the 2nd half of that race. Might try running with less fuel at the Glen and top up half way when I stop for tires... Any little edge to help go a little faster.  

[Squirrel724]

On 5/12/2016 at 4:09 PM, theninja35 said:

Is the PCars SP Endurance series bugged? I qualified 1st in my class but it seems like it's still programmed to be 7th overall and not take into account the class difference. 

You are scored based on your class positions in a race. It is just qualifying that is scored based on overall positions to set the grid order which is not truly separated by class. i.e. a slow P1 would be placed on the grid behind a faster P2, just like in the actual WEC

[chaozbandit]

2 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

 

Quick question @chaozbandit under pit strategy, the fuel amount you can adjust; is that how much will be added to what is already in your tank or how much your tank will be topped up to? At Brands, I ran the whole race on one tank (81L) and I'm wondering if the change in fuel load is what threw me off a bit in the 2nd half of that race. Might try running with less fuel at the Glen and top up half way when I stop for tires... Any little edge to help go a little faster.  

 

Amount of fuel in pit strategy is amount the crew fill to, not amount to be added. Use the solid portion of the bar as reference for how much fuel you currently have on board. Again, don't use the in-game calculation for estimated laps for x litres of fuel - pay close attention to your average consumption manually, and calculate your fuel load based on that. If you're not pitting for fuel, then make sure that your fill level is set to 0L for that stop.

 

Additionally, (I dont recall if your time is progressive or not) change your tire pressures to suit the track ambient; in other words, harder for heavier fuel loads and then soften for  a lighter car to make best use of your slicks and reduce the chance of graining. If you are planning to long stint tires, then remember that even if you don't change tires your crew will change the pressures at each corner during the stop. These will be cold pressures, so be mindful of what your optimal operating range is for the conditions.

[MEC-777]

1 hour ago, chaozbandit said:

 

Amount of fuel in pit strategy is amount the crew fill to, not amount to be added. Use the solid portion of the bar as reference for how much fuel you currently have on board. Again, don't use the in-game calculation for estimated laps for x litres of fuel - pay close attention to your average consumption manually, and calculate your fuel load based on that. If you're not pitting for fuel, then make sure that your fill level is set to 0L for that stop.

 

Additionally, (I dont recall if your time is progressive or not) change your tire pressures to suit the track ambient; in other words, harder for heavier fuel loads and then soften for  a lighter car to make best use of your slicks and reduce the chance of graining. If you are planning to long stint tires, then remember that even if you don't change tires your crew will change the pressures at each corner during the stop. These will be cold pressures, so be mindful of what your optimal operating range is for the conditions.

Ah, OK thanks! I think I will experiment with refueling half-way when I change tires. Will run a test race to make sure it works.

 

And I think you just helped me figure out why my car felt different after changing tires - I didn't have the new tires set to the right pressures. That explains it.  I remember I did change the pressures to match, but I think I changed pressures again during qualifying (went lower), but didn't change them in pit strat.

 

Ok, so if I'm running half fuel load and refueling to the same amount when changing tires, the car should feel the same as it does at the beginning of the race instead of just getting lighter and lighter throughout the race. I guess the alternative is to run lower pressures in the 2nd set of tires without refueling, but knowing what exactly to set them to would require more time testing. I'd rather try to keep everything the same as much as possible to avoid what happened in the last race. 

 

Oh, the things you learn the hard way, lol.  

[chaozbandit]

7 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Ah, OK thanks! I think I will experiment with refueling half-way when I change tires. Will run a test race to make sure it works.

 

And I think you just helped me figure out why my car felt different after changing tires - I didn't have the new tires set to the right pressures. That explains it.  I remember I did change the pressures to match, but I think I changed pressures again during qualifying (went lower), but didn't change them in pit strat.

 

Ok, so if I'm running half fuel load and refueling to the same amount when changing tires, the car should feel the same as it does at the beginning of the race instead of just getting lighter and lighter throughout the race. I guess the alternative is to run lower pressures in the 2nd set of tires without refueling, but knowing what exactly to set them to would require more time testing. I'd rather try to keep everything the same as much as possible to avoid what happened in the last race. 

 

Oh, the things you learn the hard way, lol.  

Rule of thumb is to start off the race with full race fuel, since you end up losing more time by fueling in the pits unless absolutely necessary (i.e. the race lasts longer than one full tank). IIRC, pCars follows WEC rules whereby fuel and tires are done separately.

[chaozbandit]

So... Simulation1 brought some interesting stuff to CSCS Mosport yesterday. For those who don't know, this is really the only retailer specializing in sim hardware in my area (not really, they're closer to downtown) and they dont exactly have the best reputation for customer service or fair pricing - yet they're stayed afloat simply by having inventory of all the stuff that people desire in this niche market.

 

LIKE THOSE CSW V3 PEDALS I WANT, BUT THEY'RE CHARGING $500 CAD FOR.

 

Yeah, the CAD-USD certainly hasnt helped and most of the time you'd be better off ordering directly yourself but hey, whenever they setup a public demo you don't skip the chance to play with their toys.

 

@MEC-777

 

Their main line for people to do time trials for some free swag. It was too cold and I didnt stay for long though. Sounded like iRacing from the looks of it, if not GT6; I know the center machine was on the iRacing home page.

 

And their flagship rig - that AccuForce wheel in the cockpit is listed on their site for $2,899 CAD which is at least double what the US price is. Let alone the cost of the other peripherals like the cockpit itself and the Thrustmaster 7 speed shifter.

 

Maybe one day when my G27 dies. Maybe.

[theninja35]

1 hour ago, chaozbandit said:

So... Simulation1 brought some interesting stuff to CSCS Mosport yesterday. For those who don't know, this is really the only retailer specializing in sim hardware in my area (not really, they're closer to downtown) and they dont exactly have the best reputation for customer service or fair pricing - yet they're stayed afloat simply by having inventory of all the stuff that people desire in this niche market.

 

LIKE THOSE CSW V3 PEDALS I WANT, BUT THEY'RE CHARGING $500 CAD FOR.

 

Yeah, the CAD-USD certainly hasnt helped and most of the time you'd be better off ordering directly yourself but hey, whenever they setup a public demo you don't skip the chance to play with their toys.

 

@MEC-777

Their main line for people to do time trials for some free swag. It was too cold and I didnt stay for long though. Sounded like iRacing from the looks of it, if not GT6; I know the center machine was on the iRacing home page.

 

And their flagship rig - that AccuForce wheel in the cockpit is listed on their site for $2,899 CAD which is at least double what the US price is. Let alone the cost of the other peripherals like the cockpit itself and the Thrustmaster 7 speed shifter.

 

Maybe one day when my G27 dies. Maybe.

And I'm over here looking at $200 wheels.

[chaozbandit]

11 minutes ago, theninja35 said:

And I'm over here looking at $200 wheels.

 

Hey man, cheap wheel > no wheel

[MEC-777]

On 5/16/2016 at 2:33 PM, chaozbandit said:

Rule of thumb is to start off the race with full race fuel, since you end up losing more time by fueling in the pits unless absolutely necessary (i.e. the race lasts longer than one full tank). IIRC, pCars follows WEC rules whereby fuel and tires are done separately.

I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up! They take far too long as it is in the pits when changing tires (IMO), don't need to lose anymore time by needing to refuel. I'll run the whole race on one tank.  

 

Haven't practiced much for Watkins as I haven't had much time to do so. Not too worried though, I feel a lot better with the car setup now and have it dialed in pretty good. Also know this track better than Brands and it's more forgiving, lol.  First race at the Glen is tonight. Fingers crossed this one goes much better than the last two... 

 

On another note; being as Forza 6 Apex is a controller only game (and a darn good one at that), I decided to see if it would even run on my new laptop with an i5-5200u and 940m 2GB. Surprisingly, yes!  Will post up more details later after I've had some time with it.  

[brownninja97]

 

Seriously have no clue how its only £4, thats insanely cheap

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/467980

[chaozbandit]

2 minutes ago, brownninja97 said:

 

Seriously have no clue how its only £4, thats insanely cheap

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/467980

$5.49 in Canadia

[MEC-777]

Ok, wow. Colour me impressed. Forza 6 Apex actually runs very smoothly on a 940m. Was not expecting that at all. It doesn't look fantastic of course, running at 1366x768 on the 1600x900 screen, but looks good enough (more like Xbox 360 graphics) and is totally playable. Awesome!  

[brownninja97]

Thats odd, it runs horridly on my 680

[Thunderjolt]

1 hour ago, brownninja97 said:

 

Seriously have no clue how its only £4, thats insanely cheap

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/467980

Guess who just impulsively bought it

[brownninja97]

 

please guys lets all tag it as psychological horror for justice

[chaozbandit]

10 minutes ago, brownninja97 said:

 

please guys lets all tag it as psychological horror for justice

But y

[chaozbandit]

After seeing how well Polyphony have updated their engine for GT Sport and the PS4, coming from GT6 ... I'm super hyped.

 

 

THAT PHOTO MODE THOUGH. THOSE CINEMATIC ANIMATIONS.

 

Not to mention the variety of brand new machinery - right down to (last years) Subaru N24 STI!

[brownninja97]

Im hypedbut not because of this trailer. Bad trailer, they showed multiple glitches, frame drops and general bad pacing. I know i sound harsh but i do expect more especially because of how magical their previous trailers are. 

[chaozbandit]

19 minutes ago, brownninja97 said:

Im hypedbut not because of this trailer. Bad trailer, they showed multiple glitches, frame drops and general bad pacing. I know i sound harsh but i do expect more especially because of how magical their previous trailers are. 

I was watching the live stream for GT Sport and the in-game coverage I saw seemed pretty good. Streaming natively off the PS4 appeared very smooth.

 

At least much better than what I experienced playing GT6.