Post by opticalhercules on Sept 1, 2015 10:19:08 GMT -5
I do not want to put up an RSVP thread until after this coming weekend so that all RSVP's will be fresh. This thread is just for details about the upcoming race since it will be very different conditions from every other race in the series.
--Track: Road America
--Duration: 28 laps +30minute qualifier
--Tire Wear and Fuel usage will be set to Real.
--Damage will be set to Performance Impacting and Mechanical Failures will be On.
--Pitting: Mandatory minimum 1 pit stop & 1 tire change. I cannot force or verify that everyone does this, I just ask that everyone be adult enough to accept that it is a requirement for this race. You are not required to fuel up during this pit stop; You can start with a full tank and not fuel if you choose, or you can start with half tank and fuel half, or whatever strategy you think works best for you. You are only required to pit and change tires a minimum of one time between the end of lap one and the end of lap 27. You cannot hold off your pit stop to finish lap 28 in the pits.
--Penalties: Expect these to be on again. I will try to test getting myself disqualified several times in the remainder of this week. I know SMS has updated track limits and associated penalties, but I haven't read anything about how this applies to disqualification. Previously DQ seemed very arbitrary as to how many penalties or what actions could cause DQ. I wonder if that has been improved...
Race time & Weather: Weather for this event will be fixed Clear. There are two time options here that I want input from racers on:
(See my post below this one. I made a mistake when I posted these times. Race time will be set to 1700hrs with 5x Time Progression. There will be significant sun glare for first half of Qualifying, but end of Qual will be fine while the first few laps of the race will have enough ambient light to not depend totally on headlights. This will hopefully allow racers to both feel out their initial positions without the increased risk of accident and also to allow themselves to progressively adapt to diminishing light and reliance on headlamps.)
1: Qualifier start at 1700hrs (5:00pm) at 5x time progression. This will make Qualifier start in daylight and the race will start right at twilight/dusk, after the sun has set. There will be some sun glare towards the end of qualifier, but there shouldn't be any at all during the race.
2: Qualifier start at 1800hrs (6:00pm) at 5x time progression. This will make Qualifier start at sunset with some sun glare that will diminish in the first 10 minutes of qual time, and end of qual will be at twilight. Race will start in nearly full dark and remain that way for entire duration.
I am leaning towards option 1. Qualifier will be in daylight and allow people to post their best times possible, and also allow the race start to still have some ambient lighting that will help minimize destruction as everyone feels out their positions in the first lap or two. I'm afraid with option 2 that the start will be dark enough to cause more accidents than necessary at the start. Option 1 will make a few laps happen not in full night, but the majority of the race will still be at night.
Setup/Configuration:
--Remember, if you don't keymap your Headlights, they will still turn on automatically, but you will be unable to flash anyone. I personally don't think flashing anyone is very valuable since you can't see headlights in your rear view mirror, but you can see the glare on the road and the backlighting on your car.
--Play with different camera angles. I personally drive GT3 class cars in Chase Cam, but that camera setting is next to useless at night. Practice in the dark with different cameras. I find going to cockpit cam, removing my driver/steering wheel, and adjusting my seat to 1-tick-off of full forward and full up gives me a very clean and useful view of the road, but really limits my rear-view mirrors. My car happens to have the rear view camera, but I still struggle remembering to look down instead of up to see what's behind me. I have noticed that sometimes the game doesn't seem to save my car-seat positions from session to session. Sometime the game is defaulting me to backseat cam (interior, center view) and then I have to cycle cam and re-adjust the seat every session. I've found that remapping my controls to include seat up & seat forward, camera view, HUD (telemetry) and MoTec cycle are all helpful. Don't really need to map Seat Back/Down since I have no need to move them back once they are all the way up. At least, that's my personal preference. I still strongly suggest folks test their camera angles at night with other cars on the track (Race Weekend) to figure out what suits you best. My personal favorite with GT3 cars (chase cam) is absolutely useless at night.
Does anyone know for sure if SMS has fixed headlights being repaired in the pits? I remember that with Damage set to Visual, you could still damage your headlights and the pits would not repair them. That was why I used to run Endurance Races with the racing line on. Haven't had the chance to run those in a long time, so I have no idea if that bug/oversight has been fixed or not.
EDIT: See Below post about race times. I screwed up on this post.
--Track: Road America
--Duration: 28 laps +30minute qualifier
--Tire Wear and Fuel usage will be set to Real.
--Damage will be set to Performance Impacting and Mechanical Failures will be On.
--Pitting: Mandatory minimum 1 pit stop & 1 tire change. I cannot force or verify that everyone does this, I just ask that everyone be adult enough to accept that it is a requirement for this race. You are not required to fuel up during this pit stop; You can start with a full tank and not fuel if you choose, or you can start with half tank and fuel half, or whatever strategy you think works best for you. You are only required to pit and change tires a minimum of one time between the end of lap one and the end of lap 27. You cannot hold off your pit stop to finish lap 28 in the pits.
--Penalties: Expect these to be on again. I will try to test getting myself disqualified several times in the remainder of this week. I know SMS has updated track limits and associated penalties, but I haven't read anything about how this applies to disqualification. Previously DQ seemed very arbitrary as to how many penalties or what actions could cause DQ. I wonder if that has been improved...
Race time & Weather: Weather for this event will be fixed Clear. There are two time options here that I want input from racers on:
(See my post below this one. I made a mistake when I posted these times. Race time will be set to 1700hrs with 5x Time Progression. There will be significant sun glare for first half of Qualifying, but end of Qual will be fine while the first few laps of the race will have enough ambient light to not depend totally on headlights. This will hopefully allow racers to both feel out their initial positions without the increased risk of accident and also to allow themselves to progressively adapt to diminishing light and reliance on headlamps.)
1: Qualifier start at 1700hrs (5:00pm) at 5x time progression. This will make Qualifier start in daylight and the race will start right at twilight/dusk, after the sun has set. There will be some sun glare towards the end of qualifier, but there shouldn't be any at all during the race.
2: Qualifier start at 1800hrs (6:00pm) at 5x time progression. This will make Qualifier start at sunset with some sun glare that will diminish in the first 10 minutes of qual time, and end of qual will be at twilight. Race will start in nearly full dark and remain that way for entire duration.
I am leaning towards option 1. Qualifier will be in daylight and allow people to post their best times possible, and also allow the race start to still have some ambient lighting that will help minimize destruction as everyone feels out their positions in the first lap or two. I'm afraid with option 2 that the start will be dark enough to cause more accidents than necessary at the start. Option 1 will make a few laps happen not in full night, but the majority of the race will still be at night.
Setup/Configuration:
--Remember, if you don't keymap your Headlights, they will still turn on automatically, but you will be unable to flash anyone. I personally don't think flashing anyone is very valuable since you can't see headlights in your rear view mirror, but you can see the glare on the road and the backlighting on your car.
--Play with different camera angles. I personally drive GT3 class cars in Chase Cam, but that camera setting is next to useless at night. Practice in the dark with different cameras. I find going to cockpit cam, removing my driver/steering wheel, and adjusting my seat to 1-tick-off of full forward and full up gives me a very clean and useful view of the road, but really limits my rear-view mirrors. My car happens to have the rear view camera, but I still struggle remembering to look down instead of up to see what's behind me. I have noticed that sometimes the game doesn't seem to save my car-seat positions from session to session. Sometime the game is defaulting me to backseat cam (interior, center view) and then I have to cycle cam and re-adjust the seat every session. I've found that remapping my controls to include seat up & seat forward, camera view, HUD (telemetry) and MoTec cycle are all helpful. Don't really need to map Seat Back/Down since I have no need to move them back once they are all the way up. At least, that's my personal preference. I still strongly suggest folks test their camera angles at night with other cars on the track (Race Weekend) to figure out what suits you best. My personal favorite with GT3 cars (chase cam) is absolutely useless at night.
Does anyone know for sure if SMS has fixed headlights being repaired in the pits? I remember that with Damage set to Visual, you could still damage your headlights and the pits would not repair them. That was why I used to run Endurance Races with the racing line on. Haven't had the chance to run those in a long time, so I have no idea if that bug/oversight has been fixed or not.
EDIT: See Below post about race times. I screwed up on this post.