Win World Superbikes tickets by entering our SBK 2011 series
We’ve got a pair of weekend tickets for the Silverstone round of the World Superbikes championship up for grabs, courtesy of SBK 2011 developers Milestone, and you can win by entering the first ever OnlineRaceDriver SBK 2011 series.
We’ll be hosting 5 races, taking place on consecutive Sundays to crown our first SBK 2011 champion – so if you’re looking for other SBK 2011 players to race with, and fancy some fun and competitive racing on a Sunday evening at 9pm UK time, then sign up. We’re currently running the tournament on Xbox 360, but will extend it to PS3 and PC if there’s enough interest.
And every person who signs up and takes part in the first race evening will be automatically entered to win a pair of weekend tickets to the Silverstone round of the World Superbike championship (limited to gamers in the UK so they can get the tickets in time and actually make it to the event which takes place July 29-31, 2011). The tickets will give you grandstand access for the weekend in addition to entry to the circuit itself, so it’s a pretty great prize, especially with British riders competing for victory at their home round.
To enter:
Register on the OnlineRaceDriver forums, and post in the registration thread with your gamertag. Please also include if you’re based in the UK, and can therefore be included in the ticket giveaway.
If you aren’t approved on the forum straight away due to our attempt to limit spam accounts, just post your forum name below in the comments and we’ll get it approved straight away.
And then be online from 8.30pm on Sunday July 24, 2011, as we organise the right amount of lobbies for the entrants and run a 15 lap race at Silverstone.
The OnlineRaceDriver SBK 11 championship: Details
The ORD SBK11 championship will consist of 5 races on consecutive weekends, with each taking place on Sunday evenings at 9pm. Each race will be a 15 lap World Superbike class event, with collisions on, and AI and Damage off, run in Medium Simulation mode. Currently we plan on running the Xbox 360 version, but we’ll try and extend it to the PS3 and PC with enough interest. We’ll be running the following tracks:
- Silverstone: Sunday 24th July.
- Assen: Sunday 31st July
- Monza: Sunday August 7th
- Phillip Island: Sunday August 14th
- Valencia: Sunday August 21st.
In addition to the WSB ticket draw, we’ll try and sort a prize for the eventual winner and top placed finishers in the championship which is suitable for a global championship, whether that’s game-related, or an ORD T-shirt from the ORD shop. But either way, you’ll be able to hold the title of SBK 2011 champion in front of over 10,000 racers who visit the site every month!
So do you fancy taking part? Go and register now!
And if you don’t have a copy of SBK 2011, then we definitely recommend it as a good bike racing game. You can find it at:
ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Series Race #3 Road America
If you’re really eagle-eyed, you might have noticed there wasn’t the customary midweek practice update for ORD Racing. Mainly because a quick 15 lap blast around Road America was all I could manage thanks to work and family commitments, and as a result, I stuck with the stock set-up for the BMW GT2 M3. That’s not entirely a bad thing, as I’m pretty accustomed to the way it handles now, and even with no tuning, times in the 2:04/2:05 range were possible, which wouldn’t be enough to compete with the leaders, but could edge towards the middle of the pack.
Road America: The Race
It turns out that I really could have done with more practice and set-up when faced with hosting a full lobby of drivers who were either more skillful, better prepared, or both! I’m not sure whether it was nerves, but somehow I managed to make a mistake with setting up the grid positions which meant I’d effectively reversed the grid, leaving myself in near the back. I didn’t mind personally, as I’d rather not hold anyone up getting away from the line, but it did disadvantage the driver who should have rightfully been on pole, and it’d come back to bite me later…
So the lights went green, I got an OK start, and the first corner went without any incidents. In fact it wasn’t until Turn 5 that we had any issues, when two cars came together – luckily both drivers were off the racing line by the time I arrived, and I picked up two places due to their misfortune. I’d spotted the rightful polesitter, Smally288, was coming up fast behind me as I’d expect, and got caught into two minds whether I should try and play careful and cautious to hold my position for a bit (Although with 50+ minutes left, I didn’t expect to hold it forever), or just move to the side, let him go and follow him for as long as I could to try and pick up some tips…
If you’ve ever wondered why a driver would move over and give up a legitmate position for a faster driver, here’s the reason…
The straightline speed of the BMW was enough to have gapped Smally288′s Porsche on the start/finish straight, but even around the first corner he’d closed right back up. For a split second I thought maybe I should either look behind and pull out of his way or just tell him to go right and go past – and that split second was enough for me to lose the rear of the BMW and wheelspin towards the inside of the track at the point Smally288 was lining up a move. With nowhere for him to go, I effectively launched the M3 into his path and with no chance to avoid me, he tagged the rear end. Totally and utterly my fault…
Luckily it didn’t seem to affect him too much as he shot off into the distance, eventually finished second. But it appears the M3 is more fragile than I might have though – multiple body panels were showing yellow damage, and the engine was also yellow and producing smoke. So it was into the pits within the first 5 minutes, and back out on track at the back of the field by some distance.
Although the steering was still OK, the engine and aerodynamic damage put me approximately 10+ mph down at the end of each straight, and with speed being the big advantage for the BMW, I resigned myself to 7th, after one driver had quit out. And thus it continued – I wasn’t able to match the speed of the driver in front, losing a little each lap, and within a few laps, I was in the uneviable position of being lapped.
Deciding to hold my line for the time being, I’d reached Canada Corner with enough of a gap back to the race leader that I planned to take the following turns 13, 13A and probably 14, and then keep out of the way on the start-finish straight. Unfortunately though, the great brakes on the BMW took the lead Porsche by surprise, and as a result, I was punted off the track. Scratch another 5-10mph off my top speed – meaning I was barely topping out 5th gear by the end of the straights.
The IFCA series do all have a complaints procedue should you wish to race a racing incident for cross-examination (Hence why saving replays is important), but as I was already trundling round to make the best of things, and after some heartfelt apologies from the leader – who was really the only one with anything to lose in the circumstances, I figured it’s just a racing incident, and hopefully I’ll be quick enough not to get lapped next time…
The only frustration was that another driver had just announced he’d damaged his car after a collision, so I finally had some hope that someone was in a similar position, and I might have a chance! Either way, as I continued, the early pitstop to repair damage meant that my tyres were pretty much shot by the 45 minute mark (Over 39% damage and sliding all over the shop), and some mental calculations suggested that I was likely to run out of fuel before the hour was up. So do I pit, or do I slow right down and try to eke out the fuel to last 60 minutes?
They say bad luck comes in threes. And Road America proved it. Having survived two collisions, and reached the point where the chequered flag would be victory enough, my internet connection dropped! Which means 2 of the only times I’d had my connection drop whilst using it have been during Race 1 and Race 3 of the ALMS series. Feel free to guess the language I was using at this point.
I think it’s safe to say I’ll be harassing my ISP and checking every possible router setting this week. To drop out with just 12 minutes to go is even more frustrating than Race 1, as although I wouldn’t have even been close to the next driver, every time I get an hour of driving time, it’s making a big difference.
The next one: The Nurburgring Nordschliefe Full
The good news is that I shouldn’t expect to get lapped at Race 4, as it’s the massively length and challenging Nordschliefe. I’m quite looking forward to this, as although the BMW will be a bit of a handful, there’s a higher than usual chance that other people will struggle with the unique challenges of the twisting, winding, bumpy, legendary circuit. Which means I hope to have more of a legitimate battle for positions, rather than mainly relying on back luck for other people… I’m also hopeful that I’ll get more of a chance to practice and set-up for this one.
Especially as I’m finally evolving ORD Racing by attracting my first team-mate for future Forza racing, so hopefully we’ll be able to benefit from each other in the future (I’m not sure what I can offer aside from cheering encouragment, but I’ll think of something). We can’t officially both run under the ORD Racing banner in the ALMS series as it’s already underway, and he’s actually using a different car at the moment, but he’s definitely faster than me, seems like a nice guy, and hopefully might share some tips on how to tackle the Nurburgring. I’ll also be developing an ORD Racing section of the site and forum, so if you’d be interested in joining the newest team in online racing, come and volunteer. We’re not necessarily looking for the absolute fastest racers (Although we won’t complain), but we’re definitely looking for people who can share a good team spirit, help out other racers to improve, and don’t mind being featured in regular articles on the site (If you fancy writing them as well, even better).
And that doesn’t mean we’re not interested in news about other teams, race series and drivers – we’ll still aim to provide unbiased coverage of every series and club wherever possible. So if you’re in a club and fancy some coverage, let us know, or send us race reports, articles, videos etc.
Time to go and tackle the Nurburgring – anyone got money for the toll barrier?
The previous exploits of ORD Racing:
- ORD enters the IFCA AlMS Series
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Update #1 Sebring Full Practice
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Race 1: Sebring Full Circuit.
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Update #2 Mugello Practice
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Race 2: Mugello Full Circuit – Our first race finish!
Indycar and iRacing partner for new championship
Indycar and iRacing have teamed up for the new iRacing.com IZOD Indycar Premier Series, which is an 18-race, 36-week series hosted on many of the same tracks as the 2011 IZOD Indycar Series.
Racers will compete for oval and road titles, as well as an overall series champion. Both the oval and road champions will win a cash award, but the overall series champion will also get a trip to the IZOD IndyCar season finale to receive the season trophy and be recognized during pre-race driver introductions.
Ther series will use the virtual version of the Dallara IC 09 IndyCar, and tracks already on the schedule include the Indianpolis Motor Speedway, Barber Motorsports Park, Texas Motor Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Infineon Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with Iowa Speedway and Twin Ring Motegi currently under construction and to be added as they become available.
In other iRacing news, the Jetta TDI Cup D-Class series will now become the Class D Jetta MX-5/Roadster Series, with a 12-week schedule featuring mixed class racing with the Volkswagen Jetta TDI and Mazda MX-5/Roadster. Circuits hosting the series will include Sebring, Zandvoort, Road Atlanta, Silverstone and Spa.
IFCA Championship 2010 – Race 3 – Motegi East Highlights
IFCA Championship 2010 – Race 1 highlights
IFCA Championship 2010 – Promotional Video
WRC- behind the scenes of the official game
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.
Ken Block
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
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for PS3
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for PC
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.
An introduction to online racing and the IFCA
When it comes to online racing, GTDon is well known and respected in the Forza Motorsport community. Not only is he a fast driver in his own right, but he’s also helped countless others as part of organising the biggest and best unofficial Forza tournaments and leagues as founder of the IFCA:
Hello and welcome to www.OnlineRaceDriver.com! My Xbox360 gamer tag is, “AAR GTDon” (formerly VVV GTDon). I’m an American, and my real name is Don Gaetke from the frigid state where global warming will never have any affect on in my life time, Minnesota. I’m one of the humble contributors here who will be sharing with you the many ins and outs of the ever growing in popularity simulation racing scene. My expertise rests mainly on the console side of the Forza and Gran Turismo franchise, but I have a long history of fan participation in real racing as well.
My job here is to construct a kind of two way mirror for the casual to expert simulation fan to look through, and see not only his reflection but also into the other side to see a familiar face, the face of real motorsports enthusiasts. The two related sports are fast approaching each other, and we intend to help both sides merge into the companions they are destined to be.
For some historical context, I founded one of the original and most popular racing leagues (“International Forza Club Association”) 3 years ago as an offshoot of a popular racing series I also created called the “FWC” (Forza World Championship) during the old Forza1 days. In total I have been enjoying the game for over 4 years, as a series organizer, developer, competitor, moderator, club leader, and writer. I have written articles for the now defunct CGS (Championship Gaming Series), a weekly newsletter for the IFCA, and most recently a contributing editor for the Official Forza3 Strategy Guide produced by, “Prima Games.”
The logo of the IFCA
With over 1300 members to its credit, all of the very fastest and best Forza drivers in the world have competed in IFCA events to date. The IFCA tracks ranking statistics, gives away prizes, credits, T10 prize cars, paints, makes audio and visual promotional commercials, training videos, issues official number plates, and puts out a weekly newsletter. www.IFCAracing.com is required on all the cars that race in the sanctioned series. Anyone of any skill level is free to signup and join an IFCA series event. The only requirement is to obey the rules, respect the series, and race clean.
For some, endlessly hot lapping a track is the equivalent addictive pursuit of, “automotive meth,” they just can’t get enough. For others the intense monotony of lap after lap into the wee hours of the morning quickly turns to abject boredom. In their minds it is not at all what a racing simulator should be about. For the racing purest Forza and especially Gran Turismo will always be a racing simulator above all else.
Your typical console sim-racing trek usually goes something like this: Once you’ve had your bumps and bruises in the anything goes random Forza career rooms, after you’ve found a club to join, and once you’ve perfected your hot lap skills, and then contributed your share of good hot lap times, your graduating final destination will lead you inevitably to the pinnacle of the sport of organized series racing.
Organized series racing with the Forza series was as the story goes, first introduced towards the end of FM1 by such major Forza racing fans as, “VVV GTDon” (now AAR GTDon). Several series were created at the time as a way to preserve the game and extend its life until the arrival of FM2. The most popular of those early events was the “FWC” series or, “Forza World Championship” series. It was a series designed to attract the best drivers in the world by incorporating every type of car at a variety of tracks, and applying actual racing rules derived from real racing series such as the, “American LeMans Series.” Prizes or cash were given to the eventual champions each season. Many of the very best Forza drivers in the world competed in these early events.
At the time a resentful schism broke out between the dominant majority (hot lappers) and the upstart minority racers. The forums were on fire with angry debate about which form of competition was superior, and who was actually the fastest of the two camps.
It was generally thought that hot lappers were faster, but that they didn’t have the racing skill to run in traffic, and couldn’t take the pressure of driving with collisions on like a racer was used to doing. The vociferous roar became so great that eventually a semi-secret unofficial match was held between the best representatives of each side. The champion for the hot lappers was an English lad by the gamer tag of, “picasso” a real legend who was widely regarded as the #1 hot lap driver in the Forza world by far. The champion for the racers was Australian ace, “llxcamxll” who would later become one of the first professional sim-drivers with the, “CGS” (Championship Gaming Series).
The odds-on favorite was “picasso” by most accounts. The cars to be used were stock with no tuning allowed. Much to the surprise of most, “llxcamxll” won 8-0! From then on the debate began to die down, and both sides lowered there voices and began to recognize the game was big enough for the two of them.
By the time FM2 arrived “GTDon”, “Rusty02”,and “eries” went on to form the now famous, “IFCA” (“International Forza Cub Association”) which was an association of many clubs. The IFCA is organized Forza series racing at its best, holding events such as, “Spec Racing”, “JGTC”, “Endurance”, “Formula 1”, and a year long NASCAR simulated “Stock Car” series.
So how does one prepare to compete at the highest level? A well known series champion is famous for saying when asked this question, “Practice perfect, race perfect.” –“Gonein60” (now “V2 60”)
What he means by this is, don’t waste time with inferior habits, perfect practice leads to a perfect race win.
The best way to approach organized series racing be it in the IFCA, or some other organization is to be humble, patient, and know that it takes a lot to win an organized series race, and a lot more to win a sanctioned championship, be it simulated or real.
Don’t sign-up for too many events at once is good advice because it is easy to get overwhelmed and then depressed once you see how tough the competition level is. For best results concentrate on a single event, and get some group practice with others in the event well before the first race of the season. Usually you will race once a week, and though this seems like a lot of time between races to practice, it is not. Ideally you need to practice at least an hour every day in-between race dates depending on your own skill level, to give yourself a fighting chance to perform your best.
Always try to get with the faster drivers when practicing, because you can pick up a lot of tips and pointers just being in the room with them. If you belong to a club get them to participate or help you tune your car if tuning is allowed. The more people who help tune your car, the better.
The real attraction of the sport is having a good, clean, close, race, with drivers of your own skill level. Socializing is a huge part of organized series racing, it’s fun to race against familiar or even famous gamer tags week in and week out.
Through organized series racing you get to vicariously experience many of the same ups and downs of real racing. You can have a hardware failure or software glitch in the middle of a race; you can lag, or lag out of the race completely through no fault of your own. All of these unfortunate things are simulation racings equivalent of equipment failure in a real race. Accidents can and do happen even in the cleanest racing room, but there are Race Officials there to help review what happened and issue penalties if needed.
As the 2010 season approaches not only for the IFCA and its many events, but also for a wide range of leagues at this time of year, I’ll be bringing you the true scoop on where to go and what’s happening. So get prepared, this is going to be a fun ride.
AAR GTDon
