I think the next big thing will be getting some kind of motion simulation out to the mass market. That's really the biggest disconnect between sims and real life, so naturally it should be the largest place to innovate.
One of these days I'll get to try a big motion simulator. But for now all I can do is hope someone makes an affordable model at some point.
Some series are good. Star Mazda, Skippy, the rookie stuff, etc, all good participation.
But some are just pathetic.
It worries me that, being a relatively new subscriber, I may have missed the golden years.
Ah well, I still bought the Mustang and Mid Ohio. I think that will turn out to be popular.
I suppose a solution to too much content would be to only run a selection each season (and maybe shorten the seasons). But that will make a lot of people unhappy, even if they offer a decent selection of cars.
The Miata may be the most fun, but at a circuit like that maybe not. But, at least 14 laps would take a while!
If it were me, and I'd never done anything like this before, I'd probably go with the Renault/Cayman. If you've never driven a racing car before the Renault will be a blast, no matter the rev limit.
Because you have cars going this way and that and in video games you have enormous blind spots.
As realistic as a simulation of this day and age can be, no one can get around the fact that you have nearly zero depth perception and less than a quarter of your normal viewing angle. You also don't have an intelligent crew chief telling you when its safe.
I'm kinda bummed that the Radical is being paired with the DP. I was looking forward to running a partial Radical season in addition to the Skip Barber but now that I have to buy the DP I don't think I will. I've already invested 130 bucks in this season...
Yeah I've just got into the 33s, but I only rarely do it. I'm running mid-low 34s now.
Had a great race earlier, huge first lap incidents in 3, 9 and 10. Made it through despite being in the thick of it both times. Spun out on lap 12... I'll complete a race eventually!
Man, I am getting smoked at Mosport in the Skippy. I'm about 2 seconds off the lead pace but I either keep getting tagged or spinning in the hairpin.
Oh well. Good track to learn the car though! You really learn the subtleties of how it grips in those high speed flowing corners, especially turn 2. I kinda sorta hope they don't update the tire model next week after working so much on the current one. I just wish I could get over my "can't feel it in my butt so I end up pushing too hard" issue that I've had in sim racing since the beginning of time. I'm just not that fast in the virtual world. :\
It's hard to get a proper multi class setup in iRacing as it is, simply because the classes which would fit the Daytona/Radical/C6.R are either too slow or already popular.
I mean, you could do the Jetta and the DP/Rad/C6.R since the Jetta isn't too popular, but it's way too slow. Plus I'm sure VW would have something to say about that.
The V8 would complement the DP rather well I think, but that will most likely be quite popular on it's own and again you might run into legal trouble.
IMO the best way to decide would be to allow hosted races to set up the classes however they want. The good combinations would float to the surface.
If you have a 900 degree wheel in LFS, it will automatically adjust all road cars to 720 degrees (you'll be able to turn the wheel further, but nothing will happen), most race cars stop at 540, and most formula cars to 450 (Formula 1 cars are actually between 360 and 450 depending on the track and the steering ratio used).
No matter what I tried, it just wouldn't work. The Xbox uses a different language to send force feedback info (the rumble on the controller doesn't work either). The Fanatec Turbo S for instance actually has 2 brains, one for PC/PS3 input and one for Xbox input.
So it's just not technically possible to have force feedback on the PC with the official Microsoft wheel. The only one that works for both Xbox and PC with force feedback is the Fanatec Turbo S (which is not turning out to be the most reliable wheel ever).
If they offered participation credits for Rookie and increased the rate as well, it would be a lot better.
Even though I can afford it now, I still don't want to plonk down a hundred bucks plus subscription just to participate in a partial season in Skip Barbers. I would go for the Spec Racer, but I think it handles like crap and if I were to tune it to handle nice then it would be a slow setup.
The Geneva Convention is immoral. All but one of SEAL team 10 and an entire helicopter SAR crew and ground team were killed because of it in Aghanistan.
SEAL team 10 were observing a Taliban stronghold from a mountaintop. A shepherd discovered them. The SEALs debated killing the man with silenced weapons, as they suspected he was a Taliban informant. They let him go fearing prosecution (he said he hated the Taliban).
They were later flanked by hundreds of Taliban, chased down the mountain side and eradicated save for one survivor who was taken in by a local Pashtun tribe. The SAR bird was sent in later and was shot down.
All the Geneva Convention does is prevent soldiers from using more effective weapons and tactics. Rules do not belong in war. Do you think the insurgents in Iraq or the cells in Afghanistan are adhering to the Geneva Protocols? It's not really in the spirit of the "game" when one side isn't playing to the rules. What are we going to do? Chide them?
I don't like war either, I don't like that civilians get killed, I don't even like that enemy combatants get killed. I'm still shivering from the guncam video. But people who do not participate in war have no business at all telling people how to fight them. Trying to make war quick and clean and gentlemanly is idiotic. So is sending in a strike force for police duty - the whole war is ****ed up.
I don't know why you wrote about helping the combatants in italics. What do you expect the Apache to do, land and rope them to the fuselage for transport back to the airfield? They had 2 ground teams on the way. They would have taken care of him. The irony is, if the father hadn't stopped in the van, the ground team would've arrived and the guy would have been tended for. Just goes to show you that wisdom is needed in addition to a kind heart. Many good deeds are repaid in blood. The crew asked for permission to fire, accurately described the situation and they received the clearance. They were good to go as far as the ROE was concerned.
The building was more questionable. Under another circumstance I would not have fired. But they had 2 ground teams with nuts exposed just a couple blocks away, and the gunner fudged 2 runs costing time. I'm not familiar with hellfire firing procedures, but it's possible the gunner was not looking at the camera when he fired the missile (maybe looking at the side pod to verify clearance). The man walked into frame as he was initiating the unsafe/fire sequence with the pilot and after he locked the target. He might not have seen him until the missile was out of the tube.
The Marines are not held accountable to facts as they are, but as they seem to them at the time. If the "RPG" was indeed just a camera, it is a terrible misunderstanding, but you really can't pass judgment on the Marines.
If you watched the video all the way through, you would have heard the ground team reporting an RPG under one of the bodies.
Has anyone here actually looked into a real infrared camera? It's very sharp, way sharper than the youtube video. The crew can see things much clearer than we can on the internet.
I would have done the same thing as the crew of that bird. As the gunner, I might have been a bit more unsure about the RPG, but I don't think anyone can deny that there were 2 men with AKs in the first few minutes. They would've been able to shwack that whole square with a Mk. 83 if they wanted.
The thing that actually makes me mad about this video is how many people are reacting to it. Like the Marines wanted to kill civilians and reporters.
Might resub for the V8 - pretty sure my license was a C or ready for C promotion. Have there been any updates with regard to the Mustang? Will that be next season too?
That's purely to do with the builders of the car and the team that maintains it. Again, not luck - there are no random failures. If it was a defective part, someone didn't QC properly.
Only truly unlucky situations I can see is being struck from behind by an out of control car or having lost control, stalled, and being hit by another car. If you have a view of the person you crash into/who crashes into you and you have control of your car, it's your decision that ultimately decides whether or not you try to occupy the same space.
One example is a kart race I had last year. I was in 4th streaming down to turn 2. 2nd pulled out to pass 1st, and 3rd pulled out on 2nd, trying to go 3 wide into a corner that is difficult to take 2 wide at the best of times. The guy to the far inside spun, I reacted poorly and tried to jink to the outside (I actually thought he was locked with another kart). Once in the marbles, I ended up going off track and tagged a tire barrier with my rear wheel, spinning me around and putting me well behind but undamaged.
Spectators told me I was unlucky, but I told myself it was just a poor decision. If I tell myself I was just unlucky, then I don't learn from the situation and more bad decisions will accumulate stupidly. Rather, I consider myself lucky that the tire barrier didn't bend my axle.
Believe you are lucky, you will be lucky. Believe you are unlucky, you will be unlucky. It stems from confidence, and confidence can generate proper split-second decisions.