GRID Autosport GRID Autosport

[Bram Hengeveld]

Things are moving at Codemasters

 

[Railer Cantrell]

Railer Cantrell / HRH 5 Racing

 

[Pär Öqvist]

Any pro tip? I have no clue what is going on. I hardly ever race anything but GT but I am winning open wheel events on hard? I have no clue how to drive formula cars. Heck I even won the first drift event on hard. I am the one that got totally stuck in DIRT 3 doing the 8th tutorial. I can do a drift event for an hour and not being able to beat it on the easiest difficulty. I can´t drift whatsoever on tarmac go against everything I learned...

But I am struggle like crazy on endurance events. In tire saving mode I use way more tire then the opposition anyway. And even if I push I can´t keep up with ravensport

Any setup tips or whatever. I am tired to have to use all the dirty tricks I can think off to get my objectives.

 

[Philip Heck]

I also noticed that the AI is way better in Endurance than any of teh other modes...

 

[Yuri]

You could try rF2 endurance events, you were pretty damn beast at Monza

 

[Michael Watts]

Anybody want to run some laps at Indy tonite (Monday 22nd) I'm game. Tuned or un-tuned. I've hardly turned any laps since our last race online.

 

[Peter Hooper]

Same here Michalel, I haven't raced in Grid since the last offline practice I did for COTA on the 12th.

As i'm going to struggle to make these holiday races my next practice is likely to be for the January 17th Yas Marina open wheel race in the Ariel Atom 3.5 or KTM X-Bow R. I've also got to get some Shift 2 track time in, haven't been able to spend any time with that since my first run out the day after I got it. This time of year is just so hectic lol

 

[Michael Watts]

Oh yeah I need to pick up Shift 2 the game play pics look pretty good.

 

[Rob]

The website went haywire for me yesterday, but seems to be up now. I can practice tonight if anyone cares to level up or run some practice races at Indy.

 

[Peter Hooper]

Finished my Rig. This is what you can do with free wood and about $40.00

Nice rig there Michael Out of interest do you race using your main TV or is it one just for your racing?

My setup is slightly less creative... I have an old computer desk setup in the corner of the back part of our living room with a tv dedicated to my own use but no special chair. Just an old kitchen chair with cushions lol. I do have a really nice chair (it used to vibrate too) that I used to use but found the occasional swivelling difficult to deal with at times lol. I'll get a pic up later. Be interesting to see everyone's 'cockpits'

 

[Peter Hooper]

The website went haywire for me yesterday, but seems to be up now. I can practice tonight if anyone cares to level up or run some practice races at Indy.

Must have been in the wee small hours while I was sleeping as I was on and off the site most of the day yesterday. You know how they like to fiddle with it though

I may get on later for a run out somewhere

 

[Peter Hooper]

Peter Hooper / Hammerpgh

Sticking my name down here as i'm hoping we are going to have our house back to ourselves on Saturday now .

 

[Rob]

Must have been in the wee small hours while I was sleeping as I was on and off the site most of the day yesterday. You know how they like to fiddle with it though

I may get on later for a run out somewhere

That's a great idea about snapshots of the cockpits. I bet some in the F1 league would be hilarious. Like Boothy in an Airport with his iPad and tilting it to win at the Champ level. lol. Boothy, you are a true freak of nature and I love it.

I prefer the kitchen chair too Peter, with a pad of course. lol. I bought a desk for the 360 that I move in front of my T.V., which is 1080p and a 48 inches wide flatscreen LCD. Interestingly, I feel the 28" monitor on the office desk (much thicker due to the Thustmaster wheel being much more solid, strong, and better clamped) actually makes me feel more immersed. Maybe it's the graphics of the xbox one, but I think it's the fact that monitor quality is a bit better and I sit so close to the screen. The only thing I wish I had was a 3 monitor setup, but that's not possible with the one. But that's o, I could not afford it anyway and the upgrade blows my socks off in any case. It's really all about the wheel. I wish the TX was compatible with the 360.

 

[Rob]

I'm going to get on for a while. If anyone wants to run some laps at Indy or level up, I'll be on for about 2 hrs.

 

[Peter Hooper]

Here is my current setup... bit more cluttered than usual due to the Christmas period

This one with my kitchen seat with specially adapted bum and back cushions lol

And here's the one with my more comfy chair (often hijacked by others as it's so nice amd comfy).

 

[Peter Hooper]

Sorry I was tucked up in bed at that time Robert... got up a bit earlier this morning to have a runout at Indy though as i'll have a house full from tonight so it may be my only chance.

Did a 5 minute practice, 2 lap quali, 10 lap race, 5 laps radce and then a another 10 lapper .

I love these races The Indycar is so much fun and feels so fast... I couldn;t resist the sideways glance just to get another perspoective of how fast they feel lol.

Couldn't get below 40 seconds in clean air, best of around 40.20 How does that compare to others? Only raced HARD AI so qualified on pole and then held the lead from the off. But Westley and Schneider never left my rear by more than 2-3/tenths the entire first race Used the race to try to get the feel of the wheel right, felt a bit gravelly around the centre and the turning too quick and a bit jerky but think i've got the settings just about right now Ended up winning the race by a tenth and a half with third place a similar distance behind 2nd place and the remainder between 7 and 20 seconds adrift.

Second race I decided to drop back and have a run in the pack for a bit and try some different lines for passing, etc. and was really impressed by the AI behaviour here Drafting makes such a big difference so anyone left alone is going to be in for a hard time of it. Quickly made my way back up front and this time won by 9/tenths.

Final ten lapper for some reason was much easier.. the AI dropped back early on and I built up an 8 second lead so opted to clip the wall and have a bit of practice with damaged steering to see how that would be if the worst happens on Sarturday. Definitely not recommended lol but you do soon adjust to it.

Should be fun Saturday

 

[Michael Watts]

Peter, I have a single TV in the Living room that limits my racing time, as far as my wife is concerned. Since I took that pic I've upgraded the TV from a 42" LCD with 60hz to a Samsung 55" LED 120hz, that is incredible. The benefit to my rig though is I can actually move the Xbox to my rig and probably mount a 32" or something on the top platform, for a totally self contained racing simulator, LOL. The rig is on Casters so right now I just move it in front of the TV, but I'm sure the wife will be happy to have me acquire a dedicated monitor so I don't commandeer the only "Family" TV in the house, although everyone has a TV in their room.

 

[Rob]

I have a similar setup to you Michael on the downstairs 360. 48" flatscreen, though, cannot begin to be used to the best of its capability by the outdated 360. But the size is nice, and makes up for the lack of graphical quality. Nothing however, makes up for the piece of **** Fanatec.

Upstairs, the monitor is only 28" but it seems just as big as the T.V. downstairs. It's simply a function of how close you sit and the quality of the game you are playing. So, in reality, all I see is this:

Before I ever build a "rig" (which I admire, but don't think I need...as I have a similar setup to Peter upstairs, which is very cozy for me and quiet...and Peter that thick desk will be perfect for your new Thrustmaster TX. ) I'd spring for a triple screen setup. But I need a PC to do that. No matter, the current upgrade is more than enough.

 

[Rob]

Great writeup Peter. I'm definitely going to get a few practice races in before the race. I think that's the best way to prepare. Although the A.I. can be a pain, you will be that much better at anticipating and avoiding accidents. Sounds like you are going to be tough. Sure hope you can make it. I'll be on some late Christmas/Friday Morning if anyone wants to join in some practice races.

Also, many thanks to Michael for helping me level up the Caterham and the Hot Hatch. Can't wait for Dubai now. It's going to be the Jumeirah Beach Circuit, not the one in the other direction (Al Sufouh Strip), which is far too easy for these cars. Both are beautiful and finely detailed, with surface changes and great 3D buildings.

 

[Peter Hooper]

Had my final practice last night, hoped to find someone on to run some laps with but only Michael was on and didn't like to disturb him from his Destiny

Ran with Very Hard AI in a 10 lapper and then a 20 lapper to mirror tonight's races. Qualified 5th with a 40.6, pole was 39.9. Rolling start and I was up into 4th into turn 1 and followed close behind 4th place for a couple of laps while the rest of the AI fell away. Very difficult to overtake and the move had to be timed to perfection against these AI. Took me until lap 7 to finally find a way past and took 2 places in one turn, nipping outside one and inside the other . Positions 1 and 2 were a couple of seconds up the road and I couldn't close on them enough in the last few laps, finishing 1 second adrift but with the fastest lap of 39.83

Race 2 with random grid order saw me start at the very back. Thought I was going to have some problems getting through the pack but surprisingly that wasn't the case as they seemed to slow each other up. Made up 3 places around turn 1, another around turn 2 and crossed the line at the end of the first lap in 8th place. Similar progress saw me move up into p3 halfway around lap 3 but now with the job of closing down the lead pair who had pulled a gap of over 2 seconds while I was getting through the field.

Surprisingly, despite the lack of a draft the gap came down by 2-3 tenths every lap and by lap 7 was up with them, taking p2 down the inside of turn 1. Right up on the tail of the lead car down the straight I hung in his slipstream, stayed there around turn 3 and then made a nice pass around the outside of turn 4 to take the lead. With the pair of them drafting I thought it would be a tough job to keep ahead but quickly opened up a gap which grew by almost half a second a lap to see me finish just shy of 7 seconds ahead at the flag. Fastest lap was only 40.4 but happy with the form throughout

Still don't understand why they restricted us to 20 laps, would love a 100 here or why not whatever number we want!! Strange design decision and way too restrictive. But I still love the game

 

[Rob]

Nice write up. I have not tried the very hard A.I. here, but I'm sure that's what you were running against. My only hope is for a clean start and a race that's not too boring. I think you have demonstrated that it's possible to run the A.I. clean, even here. My earlier races saw me hitting them in the back a lot, as they tend to slow in turn 1 like you experienced.

More A.I. and laps would be great. Some day soon, some day soon....