ORD: F1 at Spa and F1 2010 comparison

Last week I went to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. And you can see the pictures I took to provie it in the gallery below. I came back from one of the world’s best circuits after three days’ camping very happy (go Lewis!), very tired and very wet, but with my appetite even more whet (yes you do spell whet like that, even if it does look like a silly word when it’s written down).

I’m whet, not wet, in anticipation of Codemasters’ F1 2010, and having already been very excited about the game which is released in less than three weeks (September 24th), seeing real F1 cars roaring through the Ardennes forest made me want to have a go myself even more.

At the age of 27 and with no track record in any form of real-life motorsport I have to admit my chances of obtaining an F1 drive are now looking slim (however I would like to confirm my availability if any team bosses are reading) and it looks far more likely that I might just have to get good at F1 on the PS3, and I was excited to find that I returned from Belgium to the availability of new in-game footage available on video.

So how realistic is the game compared to real life? Well it looks pretty good. Conveniently someone has made this video putting some F1 2010 gameplay footage of Jenson Button’s virtual 2010 McLaren against some real-life footage of Heikki Kovalainen in the 2009 car – so you can judge the comparison for yourself. Someone else has done the same thing (here) for Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso lapping around a drenched Monza in against Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari doing it for real in 2008. Apart from the gorgeous-looking weather effects the game looks lovely. The cars look well balanced handling-wise and there appears to be an accurate fine line between maximum speed and total disaster.

Obviously we have no way of knowing what difficulty settings the virtual racers were using or any idea of their own skill levels, but my hopes remain high. The game isn’t going to exhilarate me in the same way as watching cars fly up Eau Rouge for real but if it can recreate just a little bit of that excitement I’ll be a happy man – and a much drier one too.

If you haven’t pre-ordered F1 2010 yet then:

• F1 2010 at Amazon: PS3. Xbox 360
• F1 2010 at Game: PS3. Xbox 360
• F1 2010 at Gamestop: Ps3. Xbox 360.
• F1 2010 at Play.com: PS3. Xbox 360. PC

iRacing 2010 Season 3 Raises the Bar

iRacing has long been setting a standard for PC sim racing and they have upped the ante once again for there members and potential members with the newest iRacing build for 2010 Season 3.  The new build rolled out this passed week to ooh’s and ahh’s from all the current iRacing members as the men behind the curtain finally let loose the build details and many iRacer’s found that there request’s have been answered and many of the most requested features finally made there debut.

Falcon – PhillipIsland 16 by jbspec7 on Flickr. (CC licence)

First off what many have been clamoring for was the brand spanking new transmission model.  The old model was dated and didn’t truly represent a “sim” they way that it should but after a few days testing the new model and I can happily throw my hooting and hollering into the already crowded air and say it is one of the best additions to iRacing in my short career with the sim.  Below are the release notes for the new build.

Misc/Uncategorized

- The pace car has been switched to a Mustang. The Solstice pace car is still there for older replays.

- Allow SoftTH 2.0 DLL (pre-release version) to load without causing a loading error.

- More cars can be transmitted to clients due to improved compression techniques.

- Added in a ticker bar when spectating with the UI hidden (you can hide the UI with the space bar). You can enable the tickers in the app.ini [Overlay] EnableTicker=1

- Throttle should no longer cause motor to rev up unexpectedly if you haven’t moved any controls yet like sometimes happens with Logitech wheels/pedals.

- Splits/delta key is now a mappable control in the Options screen, default behavior is the TAB key.

Graphical Updates

- Added support for night lighting at Richmond.

- Improved illumination levels at most of the tracks. The main difference is that the dark sides of objects are darker with shadows disabled.

Cameras/Replays

- Force TV cameras to set damping and ‘aim at group’ to on.

- Added in control to FF/RW to next incident in a race with ctrl-NUMPAD1 and ctrl-NUMPAD3.

- New hot key ‘/<num><enter>’ focuses cameras based on running order, similar to the ‘*<num><enter>’ hot key, so /1<enter> focuses on the car in first place.

In-sim Text Chat

- Pressing ‘r’ from either the driving screen or the session screen responds to the last person who private messaged you.

- Improved driver name matching for chat private message targets: /<driver> message.
- <driver> can be: <name>, or #<car number>, or just <car number>
- Name represents the beginning portion of a name so bob matches on bob or bobby.
- You can string together multiple names using ‘.’ to replace spaces so b.brown could match ‘bob brown’.
- Names must be specified sufficiently to give a unique result.
- If two names conflict but one is an exact match than that name is used. This is so bob.brown and bobby.brown can be differentiated.
- The # symbol is optional to help make things faster.

- New chat target: /rc <message> sends a message to the admins of current event. (/rc is short for race control)

- New chat target for admins: /all <message> sends a chat message to all drivers even if chat is disabled.

- Spectators can text chat with each other but not with drivers. This includes spectators that are administrators. In order for an administrative spectator to chat with the drivers they must use either the /<driver> or /rc or /all commands. Or an administrator can allow spectators to chat with drivers using the !spchat command.

- Added in support for administrative race control chat commands, type !help for a complete list of commands. (You must be an iRacing official or the owner of a hosted session)

Administrative Chat Commands

- Some commands may be shortened, the bolded part of the commands are the shortest form acceptable.
- <> means a required parameter.
- [] means an optional parameter.
- <driver> is the name or number of a driver, same as described above.
- [message] is an optional message to be appended to any admin command.
eg: the command ‘!remove #32 Banning for reckless driving.’ would send out the notification:
‘#32 was removed from the system. Banning for reckless driving.’ to all drivers.

!help [command]
!? [command]
- Print list of commands available, or list additional information about individual commands.
- So ‘!help admin’ would output detailed help about the admin command.

!admin <driver> [message]
- Give other drivers admin privileges.

!nadmin <driver> [message]
- Remove admin privileges from driver.

!remove <driver> [message]
- Permanently remove a driver from the race, can remove spectators as well.

!yellow [message]
- Throw a yellow if not already active, issue during 1 to go, to extend the caution.

!waveby <driver> [message]
- Move car up to next lap and send to the end of the pace line.

!advance [message]
- Advance to next session (qualify to grid, etc).

!chat [driver]
- Enable chat for all drivers.
- If driver is specified, re-enable chat for that driver.

!nchat [driver]
- Disable voice/text chat for all drivers except administrators.
- If driver is specified, disable chat for that specific driver only.

!spchat [message]
- Allow spectators to chat with drivers.

!nspchat [message]
- Disable spectator to driver chat.

!black <driver> [time] or [L(laps)]
- Give a driver the black flag.
- Default is a stop and go, optionally specify time or laps to hold.

!dq <driver> [message]
- Disqualify a driver from the race, but do not remove them from the server.

!eol <driver> [message]
- Move driver backwards to end of pace line.

!clear <driver> [message]
- Clear all pending or active black flags, dq’s or eol’s for a driver.

Telemetry API

- Extended external telemetry API to output data on current status of the race.

- New sample program to demonstrate updated API.

- Added a new forum for downloading API files and discussion: Technical & Help Forums > iRacing API’s and Development Discussions

All Cars

- Vehicle body damage affects aerodynamic drag, downforce and balance, and can affect engine cooling on some cars.

- Heavy impacts can now cause engine damage and failure, and coolant, oil and fuel leaks. (The leaks just reduce the levels of liquid in your car, and are not visible and do not affect any surrounding cars or the track.)

- Reduced pitstop time variability.

- Oval opponent car now display appropriate wheel camber for road courses versus ovals.

- Many cars have had visual improvements to their tires and other bits and pieces.

Impala A

- Tire performance, temperature and wear modified for all tracks.

- Updated front end suspension geometry.

- Increased front anti-roll bar options.

- Aero map coordinate transform improvement.

- Drafting and traffic aero adjustments.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Gauge accuracy improved.

- New default setups. ** Not all the default setups have been finished yet, but the first couple of events have been updated. The rest will be updated soon.

Impala B

- Tire performance, temperature and wear modified for all tracks.

- Aero map coordinate transform improvement.

- Drafting and traffic aero adjustments.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Gauge accuracy improved.

- New default setups. ** Not all the default setups have been finished yet, but the first couple of events have been updated. The rest will be updated soon.

- The fixed setups to be used for this season are included in the iRacing Setups in the garage. ** Not all of the setups have been finished yet, but fixed setups for the first couple of events are in there. The rest will be updated soon.

Silverado

- Shift light comes on 500 rpm before rev limiter chip.

- Gauge accuracy improved.

- New default setups.

Late Model

- Fixed shock ‘weight jacking.’

- Larger nose weight adjustment increment.

- Additional setup variables available in garage.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Swaybar display now only shows clearance and removes offset.

- New default setups.

SK Modified

- Massaged rear suspension damper rates to improve handling.

- New default setups.

Tour Modified

- Improved tire model and increased rev limit from newly available data.

- New default setups.

Dallara

- Tire performance curves modified for all tracks.

- Increase tire stagger at ovals as per latest information.

- Front and rear wings adjustable during pitstops.

- Centripetal Circuit loads the road course chassis.

- Increased braking capacity.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

Corvette C6R

- Increased steering force feedback to improve feel.

- The fixed setups to be used for this season are included in the iRacing Setups in the garage.

- Increased grip fall-off with tire wear.

Radical SR8

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Slightly increased shock damping.

- Aerodynamic forces slightly improved while adding the aero damage.

Ford Falcon V8SC

- A small tweak to tire feel.

Mustang FR500s

- Corner weights now displayed in garage screen.

- Increased oil and water cooling.

Lotus 79

- Rev limiter is removed.

Star Mazda

- New default setups.

Fixed Setup Events

- The ability to run fixed-setup races has been added in this build. Fixed-setup hosted sessions can be created. Some regular iRacing series also use fixed-setups, and will be so designated.

Fixed-setup iRacing series and Hosted Races must specify a race setup. This setup will be available for use during testing*, practice, time trial, and race sessions. A separate qualifying setup may also be specified. The qualifying setup will be available during testing*, practice and qualify sessions. If a separate qualifying setup is not specified, the race setup will be used during qualifying.

*When the sim is started using the “Test Car on Track” button on the Race panel for a fixed-setup series, the testing session will be fixed-setup, and will allow use of only the race setup and qualifying setup (if specified) for the current race week in the series.

The system will ensure that only the correct car setups (race and/or qualifying) are available during each session of an event. For example, during the practice session of a hosted race, both the race and qualifying setups will be available for use, but during the race session only the race setup will be available. If both the race and qualifying setups are available during a session, the race setup will be selected by default. The Garage screen can be used to select which setup (race or qualifying) to apply to the car. The car settings can also be viewed on the garage screen, exported, and saved locally for future use.

The car setups used in fixed-setup sessions must reside on iRacing’s servers so that the race servers can load them and distribute them to all of the drivers in a race. When setting up a hosted race, you will have the ability to upload the car setup(s) you wish to use. Once uploaded, those setups will be availble to you to use in any future hosted sessions you create. The car setups that iRacing distributes with the cars will be available on our servers so that you may use them in your hosted sessions.

When setting up a hosted race, you may designate that the race will be fixed-setup. For a fixed-setup hosted race, you must choose a race setup for each car that is allowed in the session. If the hosted race includes a qualifying session, you may, but are not required to, specify a qualifying setup for any of the cars allowed in the session.

- Steering ratio is adjustable in fixed setup events for cars that have this adjustment. Nothing else is adjustable in any way during a fixed setup event.

Race Panel

- The Race Panel now supports session selection across event types. So from the race panel you will be able to register for the next race, time trial, qualify or open practice directly from the race panel.

- There has been some confusion regarding the “Cannot Change Car” button/message on the race panel. This error message has been misleading because it would be displayed for multiple different error conditions. Examples being the session is full or the registration period has ended. The error reporting should now be accurate.

Test Panel

- The Test Panel has a “Night Lighting” option on Tracks for which this option is available.

Spectating Sessions

We have added the ability to join a race session as a spectator. You can select a race to watch from three places. There is a new page under Events – Spectator Events that presents a list of all currently active race, open practice and hosted sessions that are available for watching. You can also select a race to watch from the myRacing – myRacers page (more on that in the online status section below). Finally, you can use the new myRacers popup (more on this in the online status section below) that is available just to the left of your iRating in the top right section of the user interface in the members site.

There are a limited number of spectator slots for each race session. When you register as a spectator you will see a “Watch” button appear in the race panel where you would normally see the “Join” button. When you click the “Watch” button you will launch into the sim where you can watch the race and communicate with other spectators. You do not need to have your driving peripherals configured in order to watch a race.

Online Status

- We have added new functionality to help you to determine what your friends / studied / searched for drivers are doing on the service and to easily join their race session or join as a spectator.

This new information is available in two places. First of all we have completely reworked the myRacing – myRacers page. This page now displays a sortable table showing your friend / studied racers along with checkboxes to filter the display. There is an online/offline indicator. If the indicator is green it means that the member has been online within the last 2 hours. If the indicator is red we will display the time of their last login. If a member is currently registered for a session you will see details of their session. If the session is joinable for either racing or watching you can do so from this page.

In order to implement this feature with acceptable performance we now limit your number of friends and studied to be a maximum of 50 each.

- A new myRacers popup is always available just to the left of your iRating towards the top right of the members site UI. A label dynamically updates to display a total of how many of your friends + studied racers are currently online. Mousing over this label will display a list of your online drivers. An icon to the left of each driver’s helmet will indicate if you can join their session either as a driver or spectator.

- There is a new setting on the general tab of the settings panel that enables you to hide your online status from other members. At this time this is a simple toggle on/off. If you decide to hide your status, people who have you on their friends or studied list or search for your information will see “Member information is private” next to your name on the “My racers” page.

- There is a new label beneath the iRacing logo on the top left of the member’s site UI that dynamically updates to display the total number of unique iRacers who have been online in the last 2 hours.

Hosted Sessions

- In some cases we were removing hosted sessions from the page when the session was full rather than just showing a “Full” button. This was confusing to members because a session would disappear from the screen well before the registration period ended.

- When a hosted session was full we wouldn’t allow people to re-enter the session who already had a pit assigned. The problem case is as follows: Join a hosted session and withdraw, wait for the session to fill up completely, if you now tried to get back in it would fail because no pits are available. The correct behavior is to allow you back in because you already have a pit assigned to you. This should be working properly now.

Transmission and Shifting Model

We have replaced our model of a car’s transmission and how the driver causes the car to shift gears. Previously, clicking out of a gear or into another gear would instantly do just that – regardless of whether or not such a gear change was actually physically possible.

Now, your shifting inputs tell the sim what you’re trying to do, and the sim tries to do what you ask – the sim no longer instantly just shifts. Think of your shifting inputs as telling the sim, “I am pushing/pulling on the shift lever.” You will often need to hold the shift control for little while as the shift goes through to completion before releasing, if you let go too early the sim will interpret that as you letting go of the shift before the shift completes, probably leaving you hanging in neutral. If you use an h-pattern shifter, then the shifter is automatically holding the next gear which makes it more comfortable.

This is likely to require some time to adjust to, so do not be afraid of turning on the auto-clutch and auto-blip shift aids when you need reliable shifting while you’re still learning to feel out shifting with lower levels of aids in practice and testing.

The currently engaged gear will not disengage unless the transmission is sufficiently unloaded:

- For upshifts, full throttle will definitely hold the current gear engaged. You will need to lift, use the clutch, or hit the rev limiter to unload the transmission enough for the current gear to disengage.

- For downshifts, engine braking when fully off-throttle especially at higher rpm may well be sufficient to prevent the current gear from releasing. You will likely need to use a little bit of throttle (which will happen anyway if you are blipping on downshifts), or use the clutch to disengage the current gear. If you are braking while holding down some throttle it will quite likely be too much throttle to allow the current gear to disengage, unless you use the clutch to unload the transmission.

If you are using an h-pattern shifter control to shift with, moving the stick into neutral will ask the sim to try to leave the current gear if it can. Selecting the next gear will tell the sim to attempt to engage that gear once it succeeds in getting into neutral.

If you are using sequential controls to shift with, holding down the shift button is equivalent to pushing on the shift lever to the next gear. If you let go of the button before the shift completes, you may not have even left the current gear yet, or may end up in a neutral between the two gears.

Cars that have a sequential transmission can no longer be shifted with an h-pattern shifter. If you have your h-pattern set as the preferred shifting method, the sim will give you a warning message when you first get into a sequential car to start driving advising you that you will have to use your configured sequential controls.

If you try to engage the next gear when the rpms are too mismatched, the gears will just grind and the next gear will not engage. So that means that smash-it-into-1st race starts don’t work any more, as trying to grab 1st at high rpm is not healthy for the gearbox and you will hear nasty grinding sounds. You’ll want to engage 1st gear while the motor is not revved up and the clutch is pushed in (the anti-stall clutch conveniently holds the clutch in for you if you are stopped and not revving the motor). Then you do a race start via revving up the motor with the clutch pushed in, and doing some kind of clutch drop. If you use the auto-clutch shift aid, it will hold the clutch in for you while you are revving in neutral, so selecting 1st gear for your launch is acceptable. The auto-clutch shift aid will release the clutch for you, but with a fractional delay.

For a dog-box transmission, the next gear can typically engage when the revs are within a few thousand rpm – a pretty broad rpm range. You don’t need to bother with the clutch, just appropriate throttle lifts or blips to disengage the previous gear are all it takes to shift. This also means that you can quite comfortably left foot brake with dog-box cars.

- Upshifts you want to do as fast as possible: press and hold your upshift a moment before you lift to preload the shifter, then do the fastest lift you can for a really quick shift. It is possible to use the rev limiter to unload the transmission and cause the upshift instead of lifting. If you are using sequential controls, remember to press and hold the upshift button until the gear change finishes. Some race cars have a built in throttle cut that engages when it detects pressure on the gear lever. For these cars you don’t need to lift at all, just clicking the button will trigger the throttle cut. But make sure not to release too rapidly, or the shift may not be fully completed as you release pressure from the shift lever.

- Downshifts can be done very quickly too. Press and hold your downshift a moment before you blip to preload the shifter, then tap the throttle for a blip of the motor to minimize upsetting the car’s balance as the next gear engages. In most cars there will be enough engine braking torque that the gear won’t disengage until you tap the throttle for the blip, and remember to press and hold the downshift button until the gear change finishes.

For the Solstice and other cars with synchromesh gears, the synchros do all the work when the revs are mismatched. You won’t hear a grind when you select the next gear while the synchros are doing their thing, so the neutral timing isn’t the same as a crash box. You don’t absolutely have to use a clutch for a synchro box – but the synchros are not even remotely close to being strong enough to overcome the entire motor when trying to rev match so you have to get the entire motor to match the correct rpms for the next gear yourself, but if you use a clutch pedal then the synchros can easily match the transmission input shaft for you and make shifting a much faster and reliable experience.

When shifting with a real synchromesh gearbox, you engage the next gear’s synchros by lightly pulling the stick against the next gear, until the gear clicks into place. Unfortunately, the sim has no ability to know that you’re trying to select the next gear until you actually select the next gear, and only then can the sim start working the simulated synchros. With sequential controls, the sim knows you are trying for the next gear up or down, so you just need to press and hold the shift button until the gear engages. With an h-pattern you need to actually click your next gear into place quite quickly so the sim can start pushing it’s simulated shifter against that gear’s synchro. The timing of the shifting process feels a little different to a real car. You’ll have to get used to the timing of your shift request but continuing to hold the clutch in until the gear finally engages before letting the clutch out, unlike in a real car where you can feel the shifter clicking into place as the gear finally engages.

- Upshifts you typically want to do as fast as possible, but it’s not as fast as a dog-box transmission can do it: press and hold your upshift a moment before you lift to preload the shifter, then lift the throttle while pushing in the clutch. As the next gear engages, you can push the throttle down again and release the clutch. You could also choose to not lift, and just push in the clutch pedal until the next gear engages. This method of power shifting will not make your clutch want to be friends with you for very long. Or you could not use the clutch at all, but you have to lift off the throttle and wait for what will feel like forever and ever until the engine drops enough rpm for the next gear to engage. Remember to hold the shift button until the gear shift completes.

- Downshifts you will also want to shift as quickly as you can, to start working the next gear’s synchro. Press and hold your downshift a moment before you blip to preload the shifter while braking with your right foot, then press the clutch pedal in with your left foot and roll your right foot somehow to blip the throttle while maintaining smooth brake pressure at the same time, and when the next gear catches, release the clutch pedal smoothly. This is called heel-toe downshifting, and it’s very hard to get a good feel for in the sim due to not being able to physically feel the response of the car and the shift lever. It is possible to left foot brake and not use the clutch on downshifts, but it’s hard work on the synchros and you must make sure to blip the engine rpm well enough to match revs or you’ll be stuck in neutral fishing for a gear. Remember to hold the shift button until the gear shift completes.

Sometimes if you mis-time your synchromesh gear shifts (particular if you don’t use a clutch) you can clear the synchro but still miss the gear engagement, and you will hear nasty grinding sounds from your gearbox.

Some of the higher end race cars with sequential gearboxes can have fully automated shifting. You just bang the shifter button and it does whatever it needs to do with the throttle to get the next gear for you in a very short amount of time.

Here is a list of the cars we currently have and the type of transmission they have so you know what style of shifting you will want to use with each:

Fully automated sequential:

- Dallara
- Jetta TDI

Dog-box sequential with throttle cut:

- Corvette C6R
- Ford V8SC
- Radical SR8
- Riley DP
- Star Mazda

Dog-box sequential:

- Legends Ford34C
- Skip Barber

Dog-box h-pattern:

- Impala A
- Impala B
- Latemodel
- Lotus 79
- Silver Crown
- Silverado
- SK Modified

Synchromesh h-pattern:

- Mustang FR500S
- Solstice
- Spec Racer Ford

Key points:

- If you are struggling to adapt to shifting with no shift aids, don’t be afraid to turn on the auto-clutch shift aid and perhaps even the auto-blip shift aid for important sessions where you need reliable shifting. Like any physical activity you may have been doing for a long time it can take a while to unlearn your old muscle memory habits and learn new ones.

- Sequential cars will not allow the use of h-pattern controls, like the Jetta has been doing for a while now.

- Remember to think “press and hold” for sequential shift buttons until the shift is complete, it’s not just “click”.

- Practice your timing so you press and hold the shift button before you blip on downshifts or lift on downshifts.

WRC- behind the scenes of the official game

F1 2010 – Developer Diary Video No.4 (Tracks and Cars)

SBKX demo; first impressions

The Xbox Live demo of SBKX is now available to download for Xbox Live, PSN and PC– featuring a choice of Cal Crutchlow on his World Supersport-winning Yamaha R6 from 2009 or Max Biaggi on the 2010 Aprilia RSV 4 – racing around the Portimao circuit in Portugal.

I was a fan of the original SBK game – although it wasn’t perfect the handling model was a reasonable attempt at replicating the experience of riding a motorcycle – something sadly lacking from the MotoGP games of the same era (Probably the closest game so far has been Jester Interactives’ TT Superbikes). It had some flaws, the menu system was a little clunky, and graphically it wasn’t comparable to the more mass-market and more heavily supported car games, but it was pretty enjoyable whether you were racing on or off-line.

So I was pretty excited to see what Milestone had achieved with their new update (published by Black Bean).

The demo download is under 500MB, and it’s apparent from the intro video that this is very much an update with new bikes, riders and improved graphics. The same visual styling and clues are readily apparent, although the menus seem slightly easier to navigate.

Arcade mode:

Jumping straight into a quick race , things were a little disconcerting. For one thing, the demo doesn’t allow you to check or change your controls – with the first game I spent a good couple of minutes finding out how to unlink the front and rear brakes and tweak the difficulty settings to get it just right.

The demo forces you to work things out for yourself, and after a quick blast I can say that it still defaults to the infuriating braking system. Steering is still fairly good, although it seems that wheelies are oddly difficult for a powerful race bike, and the linked brakes mean embarrassment when your attempt at a stoppie sees you slowly roll off the track with two wheels on the floor.

Annoyingly they’ve also kept the unpredictable and punishing way in which the rear tyre doesn’t slide under braking, but only under acceleration, and it seems to have been modelled on a 500cc two-stroke given that it goes from slide to crash in a split-second. While this may be realistic for mere mortals, it’s disappointing not to be able to replicate the likes of Noriyuki Haga, who have been sliding superbikes for the last decade or so.

And suddenly there’s a ‘Boost’ button.

At certain points (Seemingly full acceleration), you get the prompt to press the A button taking over your screen. Rather than being a boost in the engine management or nitrous style, it prompts your rider to tuck in to reduce drag.

So, erm, the same as if you tuck your rider in using the normal rider control in simulation mode then. And less of a ‘Boost’ button, and more of a ‘Duck’ button.

Simulation mode:

The simulation mode always improved things, and this is no exception. Suddenly you’re able to use a front brake, which means plenty of stoppies, although it appears that the steel front discs have all the stopping power of a lump of mouldy cheddar.

Personally I’d skip arcade mode and just tweak the sim mode to your individual taste and skill level – with everything set to full it can provide a pretty tense challenge. Especially with the possibility of wrecking your bike – and your rider.

Online racing:

There were enough people with the demo to try a bit of online racing – the default seemed to be arcade mode, which could be a major problem for longterm online appeal, and allowing better racers to stand out from the crowd. But the system works reasonably well enough, and once the race has started, the frame rate and graphics held up well.

Judging by the first game, the drop-off in SBK players was pretty fast, but that’s a good reason to kick start some regular ORD superbike races.

Sadly replays won’t be available. And there’s no two-player split-screen either.

Will it be worth getting the game?

If you’re a pure World Superbikes fan, then it’s definitely worth picking up. If you’re only going to be choosing from either MotoGP or WSB, then it’s a tougher call – the MotoGP series has had a chequered past, with two developers and publishers (THQ and Capcom), and previous versions of the Xbox series resulted in bikes that handled like a sack of potatoes or a ship from Wip3out – either way, it definitely wasn’t like a motorcycle. But the recent demo version suggests they may have found their way again. We’ll have to wait for both games to ship to make the final decision.

Shipping dates:

May 21 (Italy only): Standard Edition released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. You’ll need to buy the Legends Pack as DLC from Xbox Marketplace/PlayStation store at a later date.

May 28 (Italy only): Special Edition for Xbox 360 and PS3 in ‘Steel Box’ packaging, the standard edition, a key to download DLC, a poster, and a special DVD featuring 2009 World Superbike champion Ben Spies.

June 4: Both versions come to Europe, South Africa, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Australia.

And if you’re wondering about who is included in the Legends list, there’s the slightly bizarre selection of legends including good riders who never really succeeded (Fujiwara, Bostrom, Kagayama, Lanzi, Sykes), and the omission of earlier more successful riders – Fred Merkel, Doug Polen, Giancarlo Falappa, Scott Russell for example. Oh and why have Slight on the SP1 not the RC45 for example? And where’s Gobert if you’re including the Kawasaki?:

• Pierfrancesco Chili, Suzuki GSX750R 2000
• Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX750R 2000
• Max Biaggi, Suzuki GSX1000R K7 2007
• Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki GSX1000R K7 2007
• Aaron Slight, Honda VTR1000 SP1 2000
• Colin Edwards, Honda VTR1000 SP1 2000
• Ben Bostrom, Ducati 996 2001
• James Toseland, Ducati 996 2001
• Neil Hodgson, Ducati 996 2001
• Carl Fogarty, Ducati 996 1999
• Troy Corser, Ducati 996 1999
• Troy Bayliss, Ducati 999 2006
• Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati 999 2006
• Ben Spies, Yamaha R1 2009
• Tom Sykes, Yamaha R1 2009
• Akira Yanagawa, Kawasaki ZX7RR 2000
• Gregorio Lavilla, Kawasaki ZX7RR 2000

Series Report: IFCA Spec Racing 2010 (Season 8)

With the conclusion of the first www.IFCAracing.com Spec racing season for 2010 (Season 8), –one of the most popular and competitive simulation racing events in the Forza universe, it’s time to reflect and compare notes. IFCA Spec racing if you don’t know is a limited tuning 25 lap format with identical cars in an 8 week season. Originally designed to be exactly like the famed American, “SCCA Spec Miata” series, the idea was to stick to limited upgrade production based cars, so that driving rather than tuning would be the dominant influence. In the real series it was more a matter of keeping costs down so more people could compete.

Because of the XBL friends-list limitation of 100, only 100 drivers are allowed to sign-up for this or any IFCA event. Even so, many of the best Forza drivers in the world make it a point to join this popular event. Of the 100 competitors, there are about 25 seriously fast drivers, and out of that 25 at least half are ranked in the top 50 in the world. Only 8 cars can compete in a single Forza3 room, and this means that qualifying into the top 3 rooms where the most points can be snatched can be very hard to do. To get in the #1 room of 8 will demand that you be one of the very best drivers in all of Forza.

In its history IFCA Spec racing has seen many top 10 drivers make an appearance. Not all were successful, but it gives you an idea of the strength of the competition this series brings. If you ever want to really test your Forza skills, against the best, this is a must-race event for you.

An interesting observation has surfaced with this first season of racing in 2010 using the new Forza3 version of the game. The top drivers are as a group, much closer to the driving performance limits of the game these days. It is surmised that because FM3 is somewhat easier to drive than past versions, that driving at the limit can be reached by more people for longer periods of racing. In effect, the supreme skill of the best drivers is now equal to or better than what the game can challenge them with.

This new anomaly means that the best racers are not so much trying to compete with one another, as they are with the game itself. This lack of depth on the part of Forza3 places the focus not on beating your competitors, but more on beating the game. If you can run the entire 25 lap race at or near the theoretical limit of the physics of the game, you automatically win in other words. If all 8 drivers are capable of reaching this same physical limit, than odds are that the pole sitters or lead drivers have little to fear from anyone behind them. With this physical limitation of FM3’s shallow simulation, the drivers at the back ultimately can not go any faster than the drivers at the front, which means that no matter how hard they drive they will only be matching the same pace of the leaders. What actually accounts for this? A lack of physics variables combined with a softening or “dumbing down” of the simulation most likely.

Without more diverse in-depth real-world variables added to the simulation such as track condition, brake fade, greater tire degradation, weather conditions, etc., all the best drivers are going to eventually reach the same artificial limits of the game, at which point no further gains can be realistically had. With fewer variables and easier physics, the best drivers will easily sniff out and exploit the games performance weaknesses and limits.

In real racing there are so many variables that there is rarely ever a time when a driver feels he has reached the true limit of man/track/machine, all he really knows is that he was fast enough to win on that given day. Not that he was necessarily the fastest understand, but that he was, “fast enough” that day. He could come back next week with the same car and setup, and discover he needs to make some major adjustments to have a chance at matching his previous winning performance. He can’t simply assume he will be able to run the same nearly perfect lap times week in and week out.

For the vast majority of us, this issue is a non-issue however. We simply don’t have the skill to approach the in-game limits like the elite Forza drivers do, but, does this finding portray the kind of sophistication we prefer in a serious racing simulation? I think not. I think even average drivers would like to know there is something more to the game, and that sometimes, when the planets are all aligned just right, even they have an equal chance to win too. That sometimes being the fastest driver isn’t always enough, and occasionally the elite must struggle through things that take them off their game as well.

In recent sim-racing forums around the Net, some debate and talk has been bouncing around as to what may happen when many of the Forza elite cross over to Gran Turismo this Fall? Though it is generally accepted that the established Forza clubs, and Forza pool of drivers, is a far larger and therefore highly skilled group, the counter argument from the GT5 camp is, “skilled at what?” They make the case that of all the games that make any claims of being a simulator racer, FM3 is the weakest and most infantile of all.

Although no one knows for sure at this point, it would appear that GT5 is going to be on a higher level with broader simulation variables requiring greater study to master. Will this be enough depth to slow the hordes of elite Forza drivers from dominating the ranks of GT5 drivers? Probably only a little, but don’t think for a minute the top Gran Turismo drivers are going to be pushover’s, they love their game as much or more than the fans of Forza love theirs.

Congratulations to the new IFCA Spec Racing Champion TRC Greekman, and the rest of the top 10 finishers.

• 1. #41 TRC Greekman
• 2. #29 TRC LoCoArMeN
• 3. #1 TRC Smokinu
• 4. #501 GLR BRIZZO
• 5. #44 TRC Viking
• 6. #7 Chilledheat
• 7. #4 AAR GTDon
• 8. #680 GLR MtLife
• 9. #820 GLR WingNut820
• 10. #428 GLR1FastRedneck

Full Throttle,

GTDon

If you would like to see your race series or race report featured – or you’d like to contribute any other articles, photos or videos, email them to onlineracedriver at googlemail.com

World Rally Championship 2010 looks to be best ever

The World Rally Championship is always exciting to watch but in recent years, the dominance of Sebastien Loeb has made it feel as predictable as Formula 1 in the Schumacher years.

But this season is shaping up to be radically different with two new drivers in particular getting a lot of attention – and a win for Mikko Hirvonen at the opening round in Sweden.

Hirvonen is the biggest tital rival for Loeb, but has sometimes lacked a little bit of bravery and composure to take a victory at every opportunity – but this year things look different as he was able to build and hold a leader in Sweden that forced Loeb to admit he was settling for second place in the closing stages and there was nothing he could do about the Finn. As always both lead drivers were followed by their teammates, with Ford’s Jari-Matti Lattvala in third and Citroen’s Daniel Sordo in fourth.

But outside of the top ten in Sweden was a driver at the centre of media attention as Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion, made his full WRC debut for Citroen. And despite finding the going particularly difficult, he made the finish and should be an interesting wildcard – particularly as his experience grows.

Image from Dez&John3313 on Flickr – used under CC Licence.

And there was also a very interested spectator in Sweden – Amercian rally and drift superstar Ken Block, who will debut in the Corona Rally Mexico, which runs from 5-7 March, 2010.

Want to know why Block is as famous on Youtube as he is in the motorsport world?

Not only is Block pretty charismatic (check out the official Monster World Rally team website), but for videogame fans, there’s also the fact the team is sponsored by DiRT2, the latest in the legendary Colin McRae series.
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for Xbox (Amazon Affiliate Link)
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for PS3 (Amazon Affiliate Link)
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for PC (Amazon Affiliate Link)

So will Block’s talent convert into a decent result? Can Raikkonen learn quickly enough to make an impact? Will Hirvonen continue his good start or will Loeb regain control? And that’s not to mention the likes of former WRC champion Petter Solberg, who has a full factory spec car for this year.