Round 1 Riverside long

Damn. Due to unexpected turbulence I will unfortunately be unable to participate in today’s race. I hope it isn’t too late!

Sorry for the short notice.

 

Popped up on my Youtube, so here is the link....

 

i'm trying join server but password don't work

 

You got the race password from the championship page?
There is 11 on the server right now, so must be working

 

yes, i paste and copy too
but
"password not accepted"

 

i saw there are 2 password: one for practice server and one for race server

 

Well, that was fun. Kind of.
Qualified 8th/13 which I was ok with given the lack of practice. I had decided, with the aim of realism and so as not to distract myself, to run with no HUD except the time, so I'm not sure who I was behind for the first few laps.
I kept gaining on the section straight after the start/finish then falling back on the long back straight, and thought I could use this to my advantage, but ended up pushing too hard after the start line on about lap 6 or 7 and had a brief off which meant that I almost lost sight of P7. I had a long lonely stint where I could still just about see P7, 6 and 5 in front at certain stages but a few minor mistakes meant I never really gained back on them. The offs left me a bit concerned that I was being caught, but I had no relative in the HUD and the mirrors are pretty bad in these cars, so with about ten minutes to go, I thought "I'll try actually looking over my shoulder on the back straight" (I use an Oculus) "What's the worst that could happen?"
I'll tell you what's the worst that could happen. You could spin about 3780 degrees, smack a wall and wreck your front suspension. It was not a good idea. I had to pit and while the repairs happened, I was overtaken for P8 by @Jens Roos, and lapped by the leaders. I came out and though I think I was gaining on Jens, a few more mistakes and the lack of time meant I never got there.
Never mind. Shit happens. I'm not going to get a chance to practice much for the next race either, or any really, but these cars and tracks are still great fun to drive. See you all at the next one and congratulations to the podium.

 

Couple of spins in lap 1 left me at the back of the field. The car handling improved on lap two and i started to put in some consistent laps. A few minor errors but i managed to run 8th or 9th before getting too high on banked last corner i clipped the barrier. Left suspension went and the car dragged me off to the left. I tried to regain the track but spun out and was left sticking out ont the fast first stretch of track. Cars sped past and it quickly became apparent that I could not rejoin the track safely. Nothing left to do but press escape and retire.
Congrats to the podium
Im away to Greece when the next round is running. See you all in round3

 

My race was a disaster. Bad qual, bad start, I did a small contact, I spun, I kissed the wall, I cut a corner. All this in one race, not bad. Hard to do worse.

During qual I had my typical FPS problems. This distracted and annoyed me, and I made only slow laps, almost 1 second from my PB.

The start was no so bad, but I did bad the first turns sequence, so I lost 2 positions. I was 7th. Hard to pass in this track, specially if you have a low top speed. I passed Bill after some laps and I went on Mac's tail. We did a long fight and finally I had a good opportunity in the central part of the circuit, using a good acrossing-lines. But I was slightly long at the hairpin-brake and I had a little contact with him, I spun. Race accident.
I came back behind Bill, I passed him again on the long straight, but being afraid to miss the entry in the fast turn (which would have caused a contact with Bill) before banking, I cut a little too much, I practically cut the turn.
I finished 6th. I certainly thought I was doing better, since I had the pace to be with the first ones.

Congratulations to Tim (the drift king) and Phil, great race. Jukka and John were unlucky, but they did a good result. Thanks to Mac and Bill for good battles. Congratulations to all the participants and to Caitlin for the comment.

Looking forward, Thomson. Another circuit I hate. In any case it is difficult to do worse than yesterday.

PS: does anyone have any tips to improve the fps? I have pretty much everything to minimum and my PC is not so slow.

 

Biggest fps killers are shadows, smoke generation and reflections, so have you but them off?

 

For this championship I decided to have a change from the Lotus and settled on the Brabham. This race confirmed my suspicions that the Brabham is quite nimble in the corners but lacks power affecting acceleration and top speed but it is an enjoyable car to drive so no complaints from me. I was pleased with my qualifying result placing me in P7 with a pb of 1:41.7 and when the race started I was able to sneak past Fabrizio and settled down to follow Mac. I had a great duel with Fabrizio but he was able to pass on the straight and he then set off after Mac, both of them steadily pulling away from me while I was able to gradually extend my advantage over Stef. Jukka then had a "moment" and I passed him as he was rejoining and so the next few laps were great fun as Jukka caught me and looked for a way past. Eventually he made his move and was past and disappearing into the distance. My next scrap was with Fabrizio again as he tangled with Mac and I was able to go by. This state of affairs did not last long, however, as Fabrizio passed me at the kink on the back straight. This put me back into P7 and that's where I stayed until the chequered flag. A very enjoyable race and afterwards I watched the broadcast to see what everyone else had been up to ... Caitlin did an excellent job as usual and I enjoyed the broadcast very much, particularly the on-board view from Tim's car .

Congratulations to the podium guys Tim, Phil and Jukka and thanks to Fabrizio and Jukka for some intense laps

 

Shadow quality is the biggest issue I find - You should get a decent gain through reducing the quality without turning shadows off. In the Rift I can't see the difference for the most part, and it still looks good when watched on a screen. Same with reflections, turning them down can help a lot for FPS.
Things like crepuscular rays have an impact in VR, they might not help if you're on a monitor either.
Reflection rendering frequency and mirror resolution are also problems, I run 'normal' for mirror resolution and don't have the high quality box ticked.

As for the race that was an utter blast, I made some changes to my setup on Thursday evening which gave me an extra half second or so - just enough to squeak ahead of Jukka and Fabrizio on the timing sheet. I'm fairly certain that the car was actually too low at the nose from the tweaks, as it felt like I was bottoming out the suspension under braking and direction change in the first few laps.
I've yet to watch my replay to see how Jukka came off at the start, but it's both a relief and slightly disappointing - as it opened the gap back to Phil (now in 2nd) enough that I didn't really have to worry as long as I stayed tidy. Despite that I still managed two offs under braking for T8 before the chicane but was always just lucky enough to be far enough ahead of Phil to rejoin - you also have the added advantage of a slight speed gain if rejoining from the outside there as the corner is essentially straightened, and that helps negate the dirty tires and keeps you safe into the final corner.

Really looking forward to Thompson, I've only raced the Lotus 33 there buts a fast and dangerous thrill ride - no idea how we're going to pass one another once out in the forested bits though!

Congrats to Phil for a solid 2nd and to Jukka for a fine recovery.
Thanks to all the back markers, Although I caught one or 2 in awkward places I didn't have any real trouble passing.
And bad luck to Martyn, shame you couldn't get back to the pits.

 

Correction to my last post. Forgetting this is weekly racing . I am racing next week but missing round 3 when i am away on holiday.

 

I'm not used to this broadcasting stuff - just watched the race. Good job from Kaitlin and thanks for the complements. It's nice to sit back with a beer and see what else was going on around you, definitely adds to the picture of the race.
As to your supposition during the broadcast - yes, I hail back to GPL and still keep a hand in and race in the occasional series.