Tripler
Well Known GateFan
Some of you may or may not know that back in the day I competed professionally in race cars here in Canada and the US . I was pretty good at it also and earned the nickname of Rocket a few times over for getting some seriously great qualifying and racing laps in when needed .
Anyway I am older and greyer now and also am not wealthy so my racing career ended in the summer of 1991 . Of course once you get the bug for speed , it never leaves your system .
So a few years back long after real racing was done I got into sim racing . A neighbour of mine who had also raced back when told me about an online program called rFactor1 . I purchased the game and got myself a force feedback steering wheel and pedals and had an absolute hoot for a while racing on my puter . It was a pretty crappy ffb racing wheel but it did the trick . I eventually left sim racing and pursued Flight Sim instead for the next few years and actually flying real aircraft now and again also .
Recently I got the bug for sim racing again after I took that ZR-1 C4 Super Car for a test ride last Oct. Man I could really feel the need to put the hammer down and push that car through a few corners . But alas the owner noted my double the speed limit test driving and kindly asked me to slow down which without hesitation did so as to be honest , it felt rather slow to me . So were was I .
Right , I was talking about racing sims . I watched a few youtube things on it and some of the games seem cheap enough to purchase so I bought 2 titles so far . rFactor2 and Asseto Corsa . I goofed around with both for a while but I really enjoyed how in rFactor2 that you could see the tires wearing out and visually see how the car was working better than what I was experiencing in Asseto Corsa .
So I have been spending the last few weeks goofin off with rFactor2 .
I am addicted . I almost can't not walk by the computer without wanting to do another lap and beat my last lap time . Its crazy addictive . Always pushing your self as I did so many years ago . Knowing that if I change this one step like breaking later or accelerating earlier or sliding the car here while keeping it straight and smooth on another part of the track will give that extra second or thousand of a second . Its like crack to me . I know I can go quicker each time I play and I actually do . Thats what makes it so rewarding . You change a few little things with the cars setup , do a few laps , and I know within a lap and even on the warmup lap if what I have changed will help me get that faster time down . What a hoot .
So far I am finding my self at the top of the heap for fast lap times yet there are few guys who are 1 to 2 seconds faster than I am accomplishing . Wow . But here's the thing . I have been using my keyboard with a few allowed driving assistance help . For instance , it's impossible to steer with a keyboard so I put steering help to full . I also put traction control to low and stability to medium . Brake help is set to off and also anti lock brakes are off . It took quite a bit of trial and error to come to those settings because I wanted to be able to push the car as much as possible and without force feedback steering and pedals I was at a loss as to how to control the vehicle . I was slow as hell before I found an acceptable method with aids to be able to keep up to and pass other people using force feedback equipment .
I am so hoping by the end of this summer that I will be able get the steering, pedals and shifter so as to really push myself to be the fastest sim racer I know I can be .
The one product I am looking at is Fanatec . There units look the best for what I need and are kinda almost affordable if you take your driving seriuosly like I do . I may have to sell one of my motorbikes . Yes I am that serious about these sim driving games . What a buzz I get . A few times I found my hands shaking and my heart just jumping out of my chest during a race . I know . Thats sounds crazy but for me its like I am back inside a race car pushing myself to go faster while giving yourself shit for messing up a breaking point or apex or not accelerating soon enough .
Anyway if I am not on the forum too much you know were I'll be .
Just go to the home page of rFactor2 and look under community and search the live servers on there forum home page . Keep an eye our for Triplerockets . That will be me booking it down the track drivin like a complete madman and having a dam hoot doing it and from the safety of my own home with no fear of injury or money out of pocket each race weekend which by the way would cost thousands of dollars each time you put the rubber on the track . My racing license alone back in the 80's cost me over $400 per season . It was 2 levels below a super license which F1 and Indy car drivers held . The second level was a super rookie license and then mine which was a Pro Driving license .
And just wait until you see how fast some of these guys are . Wow . It takes amazing skill to go fast in a sim when every real race car driver knows that we litterally drive by the seat of our pants feeling everything the car is doing from our bottoms . Bet you all thought it was all done just through the steering wheel and the loud pedal huh !
As my crew always told me before I headed out on the track every single time ,,,
keep the shiny side up ... and the dirty side down
Anyway I am older and greyer now and also am not wealthy so my racing career ended in the summer of 1991 . Of course once you get the bug for speed , it never leaves your system .
So a few years back long after real racing was done I got into sim racing . A neighbour of mine who had also raced back when told me about an online program called rFactor1 . I purchased the game and got myself a force feedback steering wheel and pedals and had an absolute hoot for a while racing on my puter . It was a pretty crappy ffb racing wheel but it did the trick . I eventually left sim racing and pursued Flight Sim instead for the next few years and actually flying real aircraft now and again also .
Recently I got the bug for sim racing again after I took that ZR-1 C4 Super Car for a test ride last Oct. Man I could really feel the need to put the hammer down and push that car through a few corners . But alas the owner noted my double the speed limit test driving and kindly asked me to slow down which without hesitation did so as to be honest , it felt rather slow to me . So were was I .
Right , I was talking about racing sims . I watched a few youtube things on it and some of the games seem cheap enough to purchase so I bought 2 titles so far . rFactor2 and Asseto Corsa . I goofed around with both for a while but I really enjoyed how in rFactor2 that you could see the tires wearing out and visually see how the car was working better than what I was experiencing in Asseto Corsa .
So I have been spending the last few weeks goofin off with rFactor2 .
I am addicted . I almost can't not walk by the computer without wanting to do another lap and beat my last lap time . Its crazy addictive . Always pushing your self as I did so many years ago . Knowing that if I change this one step like breaking later or accelerating earlier or sliding the car here while keeping it straight and smooth on another part of the track will give that extra second or thousand of a second . Its like crack to me . I know I can go quicker each time I play and I actually do . Thats what makes it so rewarding . You change a few little things with the cars setup , do a few laps , and I know within a lap and even on the warmup lap if what I have changed will help me get that faster time down . What a hoot .
So far I am finding my self at the top of the heap for fast lap times yet there are few guys who are 1 to 2 seconds faster than I am accomplishing . Wow . But here's the thing . I have been using my keyboard with a few allowed driving assistance help . For instance , it's impossible to steer with a keyboard so I put steering help to full . I also put traction control to low and stability to medium . Brake help is set to off and also anti lock brakes are off . It took quite a bit of trial and error to come to those settings because I wanted to be able to push the car as much as possible and without force feedback steering and pedals I was at a loss as to how to control the vehicle . I was slow as hell before I found an acceptable method with aids to be able to keep up to and pass other people using force feedback equipment .
I am so hoping by the end of this summer that I will be able get the steering, pedals and shifter so as to really push myself to be the fastest sim racer I know I can be .
The one product I am looking at is Fanatec . There units look the best for what I need and are kinda almost affordable if you take your driving seriuosly like I do . I may have to sell one of my motorbikes . Yes I am that serious about these sim driving games . What a buzz I get . A few times I found my hands shaking and my heart just jumping out of my chest during a race . I know . Thats sounds crazy but for me its like I am back inside a race car pushing myself to go faster while giving yourself shit for messing up a breaking point or apex or not accelerating soon enough .
Anyway if I am not on the forum too much you know were I'll be .
Just go to the home page of rFactor2 and look under community and search the live servers on there forum home page . Keep an eye our for Triplerockets . That will be me booking it down the track drivin like a complete madman and having a dam hoot doing it and from the safety of my own home with no fear of injury or money out of pocket each race weekend which by the way would cost thousands of dollars each time you put the rubber on the track . My racing license alone back in the 80's cost me over $400 per season . It was 2 levels below a super license which F1 and Indy car drivers held . The second level was a super rookie license and then mine which was a Pro Driving license .
And just wait until you see how fast some of these guys are . Wow . It takes amazing skill to go fast in a sim when every real race car driver knows that we litterally drive by the seat of our pants feeling everything the car is doing from our bottoms . Bet you all thought it was all done just through the steering wheel and the loud pedal huh !
As my crew always told me before I headed out on the track every single time ,,,
keep the shiny side up ... and the dirty side down
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