AC Show yourself thread... get to meet the ppl you race with in AC!

[Reik Major]

Sounds good mate. No pressure though.

 

[demetri]

I am a software developer by trade and simracing is my main hobby that I've spent lots of time at since about 2013 when AC early access came out and I bought a G27. But I did play racing games before, Geoff Crammond's F1GP with a keyboard and the first Need for Speed with a bungee cord Thrustmaster Formula T2 wheel. That was fun, but nowhere close to the real thing.

This is a photo of me, somewhere in New Mexico white sands desert:

I've never had or even driven a fast car in real life, 180 km/h is probably the highest speed I've ever gone at (and only for a moment). No autobahns in the countries I lived in . I don't have any pictures of the first car I bought, but it was something like this, only it wasn't in such mint condition:

And this is my ride of the last 9 years, packed and ready to go camping:

This is my rig

...which also serves as a "work from home" desk when needed (the whole year and counting)

It is an Obutto R3volution with its awful stock seat replaced by a cushy leather one from a junkyard. Try to guess what "race car" (ha-ha-ha) it originally belonged to.

I've kept my triples, but I only simrace in VR now since I got an Odyssey+. Picture clarity sucks big time, but the immersion and depth perception tops it for me.

Teaching my younger daughter to drive in traffic using American Truck Simulator with a passenger car mod:

Untitled

Watch "Untitled" on Streamable.

streamable.com

I think this is a good excuse for having a nice rig and VR. At last something useful comes out of it

 

[Fiberoptix]

I am a software developer by trade and simracing is my main hobby that I've spent lots of time at since about 2013 when AC early access came out and I bought a G27. But I did play racing games before, Geoff Crammond's F1GP with a keyboard and the first Need for Speed with a bungee cord Thrustmaster Formula T2 wheel. That was fun, but nowhere close to the real thing.

This is a photo of me, somewhere in New Mexico white sands desert:

View attachment 455179

I've never had or even driven a fast car in real life, 180 km/h is probably the highest speed I've ever gone at (and only for a moment). No autobahns in the countries I lived in . I don't have any pictures of the first car I bought, but it was something like this, only it wasn't in such mint condition:

And this is my ride of the last 9 years, packed and ready to go camping:

View attachment 455182

This is my rig
View attachment 455183

...which also serves as a "work from home" desk when needed (the whole year and counting)
View attachment 455184

It is an Obutto R3volution with its awful stock seat replaced by a cushy leather one from a junkyard. Try to guess what "race car" (ha-ha-ha) it originally belonged to.

I've kept my triples, but I only simrace in VR now since I got an Odyssey+. Picture clarity sucks big time, but the immersion and depth perception tops it for me.

Teaching my younger daughter to drive in traffic using American Truck Simulator with a passenger car mod:

Untitled

Watch "Untitled" on Streamable.

streamable.com

I think this is a good excuse for having a nice rig and VR. At last something useful comes out of it

Great stuff. Is that a Lada Riva? First car I remember us having and my parents swore by it. Rock solid, quite literally!

That is a comfortable looking seat in your rig! Geoff Crammond on the keyboard is pure racing pedigree

 

[demetri]

Great stuff. Is that a Lada Riva? First car I remember us having and my parents swore by it. Rock solid, quite literally!

That is a comfortable looking seat in your rig! Geoff Crammond on the keyboard is pure racing pedigree

Not quite. Riva was 2105 model with rectangular headlights, I believe, while mine was 2106 (which actually went to production a few years before 2105, go figure the naming scheme). But it's still essentially the same car underneath (engine, transmission, suspension), all them being late 60s Fiat 124 (don't confuse with FIAT 124 Spider!) clones. Mine was made in 1994 and the quality went really downhill by then, definitely not rock solid and very unsafe even by 90s standards

 

[Reik Major]

Great @demetri ! I'm a fan of you!

I also started with Geoffs F1 Grand Prix and keyboard, later going on with a T2 since Grand Prix 3 than 4...

For my first 10 years I grew up in the GDR and my parents also owned a similar Lada. (before the "west-cars" became available)

I always feel privileged, when people from the whole world envy us for our Autobahn. It's quite nice to travel(!) with about 160 km/h for a longer time. Really helps to come forward. However I also don't own a high powered car. Our Cruze has a 1.6 engine with 125 bhp.

Great rig mate (I tell everyone though - I mean, look at mine )

 

[640er]

I am a software developer by trade and simracing is my main hobby that I've spent lots of time at since about 2013 when AC early access came out and I bought a G27. But I did play racing games before, Geoff Crammond's F1GP with a keyboard and the first Need for Speed with a bungee cord Thrustmaster Formula T2 wheel. That was fun, but nowhere close to the real thing.

This is a photo of me, somewhere in New Mexico white sands desert:

View attachment 455179

I've never had or even driven a fast car in real life, 180 km/h is probably the highest speed I've ever gone at (and only for a moment). No autobahns in the countries I lived in . I don't have any pictures of the first car I bought, but it was something like this, only it wasn't in such mint condition:

And this is my ride of the last 9 years, packed and ready to go camping:

View attachment 455182

This is my rig
View attachment 455183

...which also serves as a "work from home" desk when needed (the whole year and counting)
View attachment 455184

It is an Obutto R3volution with its awful stock seat replaced by a cushy leather one from a junkyard. Try to guess what "race car" (ha-ha-ha) it originally belonged to.

I've kept my triples, but I only simrace in VR now since I got an Odyssey+. Picture clarity sucks big time, but the immersion and depth perception tops it for me.

Teaching my younger daughter to drive in traffic using American Truck Simulator with a passenger car mod:

Untitled

Watch "Untitled" on Streamable.

streamable.com

I think this is a good excuse for having a nice rig and VR. At last something useful comes out of it

Wow great stuff Where you from?

 

[demetri]

For my first 10 years I grew up in the GDR and my parents also owned a similar Lada. (before the "west-cars" became available)

At least it wasn't a Trabbi for you guys, ha-ha. You must have been pretty well to do in DDR to own such a luxury. I don't miss those old days a single bit to be honest

Great rig mate (I tell everyone though - I mean, look at mine )

Which only illustrates the point that rig isn't everything when it comes to being fast. It's all in the hands (and legs). Some can do that with a gamepad and even a keyboard/mouse combo.

Wow great stuff Where you from?

Born in USSR, immigrated to the US some years ago

 

[Fiberoptix]

Great @demetri ! I'm a fan of you!

I also started with Geoffs F1 Grand Prix and keyboard, later going on with a T2 since Grand Prix 3 than 4...

For my first 10 years I grew up in the GDR and my parents also owned a similar Lada. (before the "west-cars" became available)

I always feel privileged, when people from the whole world envy us for our Autobahn. It's quite nice to travel(!) with about 160 km/h for a longer time. Really helps to come forward. However I also don't own a high powered car. Our Cruze has a 1.6 engine with 125 bhp.

Great rig mate (I tell everyone though - I mean, look at mine )

Autobahns are a novelty for visitors. I was privileged to drive around Germany a bit for work have taken a few cars to the limit on them (150ish MPH). I found it terrifying though. The concentration needed, car feels like its floating and takes 200m to change lane.

We have mostly smart motorways here in the UK with 50mph average speed cameras instead

 

[Reik Major]

At least it wasn't a Trabbi for you guys, ha-ha. You must have been pretty well to do in DDR to own such a luxury. I don't miss those old days a single bit to be honest

It wasn't too much about welth to get such cars but having a decade time to wait for it after ordering (no joke!)

 

[demetri]

It wasn't too much about welth to get such cars but having a decade time to wait for it after ordering (no joke!)

Same thing for the soviets, there's a good joke about it:

And they also did cost quite a lot as well. About 3 years worth of average salary back then for a Lada. But you probably could save that up during the 10 years wait

 

[HF2000]

Not quite. Riva was 2105 model with rectangular headlights, I believe, while mine was 2106 (which actually went to production a few years before 2105, go figure the naming scheme). But it's still essentially the same car underneath (engine, transmission, suspension), all them being late 60s Fiat 124 (don't confuse with FIAT 124 Spider!) clones. Mine was made in 1994 and the quality went really downhill by then, definitely not rock solid and very unsafe even by 90s standards

We did once a race on Bikernieci (I think) with LADA 2105. If we organise that again, you will get a 50kg BOP!

 

[Reik Major]

Same thing for the soviets, there's a good joke about it:

And they also did cost quite a lot as well. About 3 years worth of average salary back then for a Lada. But you probably could save that up during the 10 years wait

Ha, ha, great joke! Didn't know about it but proved me right.

 

[Kek700]

Nice to put a face to your name Demetri, rather like Enzo I have only ever seen the back of your head.

 

[Dzul]

I’m bumping up this thread with my personal contribution.

It’s really nice to read all your stories and see your faces, rigs, cars, bikes, pets, families, professions and all that. It truly turns a community into a cozy place when you can share these things next to having the same hobby and talking shop. So, here’s my part.

My name is Raul and I was born in Mexico, but I am also Dutch. I live in Rotterdam and have been in and out of SimRacing since my teens. I’m 46 so I grew up seeing our beloved hobby hatch, mutate, grow and mature into what it is today. My first sim was Pitstop II on the C64 back in the 80’s which I played until the diskette failed. Yes, I call it a sim because it used real track’s layouts and you had to manage your tyres and fuel (thus make a Pitstop ha!) and that’s something PolePosition didn’t have back then and boy it made a difference in gameplay. Did I say it was also split-screen? Man that was fun! I also started watching Formula 1 back then, following Niki Lauda and then Ayrton Senna, of course. I remember watching the 1994 San Marino GP tragedy unfold itself on TV. Then I stopped following F1, until half way the Schumacher years. I watched the odd race once in a while but school and girls had my attention at that phase in my life.

After that hiatus I got an Xbox with (Halo and) the first Forza Motorsports. That made for a steep learning curve on braking for, turning into and exiting corners. A friend took me karting to enlighten me on all that and I realised that speed was my thing also IRL and that the controller was a killer for immersion when racing digitally. I decided to get a proper wheel and pedals set, so I ditched the console for a new PC and a yellow Logitech Formula GP. Man, what a difference that made back then.

From there on it was just SimRacing as we now know it. I tried many titles, some of which many here have already mentioned: GPL, GP4, LFS (my guilty pleasure), the very first rFactor and then every single thing SimBin made. But GTR2 is what really got me hooked, specially racing online with friends ( I’m looking at you @Douglas Aird ). It’s also what got me into spending money upgrading hardware. First a MOMO Racing and afterwards a ‘top of the line’ G25. Fun fact: the MOMO outlived the G25. Man, the naughties were great days.

At that time I also got myself a sporty set of real wheels (BMW E30 318i) which was fun to drive on bendy inside roads on sunday mornings, especially in the winter. But then my little princess was born. Life priorities shifted gear and so I put the speed bug on cryo-stasis. That was my second hiatus, until my kid got into an age in which we could do some gaming and karting together. To all parents: I can recommend an old Wii with Mario Kart (plus Wii Sports and Just Dance) as your child’s first console. You’re gonna have a blast together! Oh and Baan 3 at Race Planet Delft, haha!

I haven’t got a sporty set of wheels anymore (saving it for my second midlife crisis), but what I did get was a truly unexpected birthday gift from my GF when I turned 40: a track day at Zandvoort. It was a fantastic experience because I love old-school circuits and also because it was a rainy day. Driving fast in the wet was a challenging but thrilling experience. That got the old engine running again and so I dusted off the old rig with GTR2 and the G25 until it gave up. I got back in touch with the old guard and decided to upgrade properly, software and hardware. Last year I got a new PC, a VR set, upgraded the T300 pedals with a TLCM set and found my old password for Race Department. And here we are.

I’ve had a dozen races online already and boy I realised how rusty I got. I’m taking it easy, starting from the bottom up, but enjoying every single race with you chaps. I am very grateful to this community because it has truly helped me get through a tough year. Hopefully after the summer we can go back to a more normal existence. I’m looking forward to see my students IRL again and, who knows, maybe also meet some of you lot for a drink and a chat sometime, once travelling restrictions are lifted as well. Cheers to that!

Until then, see you here and on the digital track gents.

 

[Kek700]

A pleasure meeting you Raul.

 

[HF2000]

Great to read your story, Raoul. A lot of similarities with myself. Aah, Pitstop2 has helped me and my army comrades through quite some tedious nightwatches. Splitscreen multiplayer! Man, how fun was that!

 

[Reik Major]

I’m bumping up this thread with my personal contribution.

It’s really nice to read all your stories and see your faces, rigs, cars, bikes, pets, families, professions and all that. It truly turns a community into a cozy place when you can share these things next to having the same hobby and talking shop. So, here’s my part.

My name is Raul and I was born in Mexico, but I am also Dutch. I live in Rotterdam and have been in and out of SimRacing since my teens. I’m 46 so I grew up seeing our beloved hobby hatch, mutate, grow and mature into what it is today. My first sim was Pitstop II on the C64 back in the 80’s which I played until the diskette failed. Yes, I call it a sim because it used real track’s layouts and you had to manage your tyres and fuel (thus make a Pitstop ha!) and that’s something PolePosition didn’t have back then and boy it made a difference in gameplay. Did I say it was also split-screen? Man that was fun! I also started watching Formula 1 back then, following Niki Lauda and then Ayrton Senna, of course. I remember watching the 1994 San Marino GP tragedy unfold itself on TV. Then I stopped following F1, until half way the Schumacher years. I watched the odd race once in a while but school and girls had my attention at that phase in my life.

After that hiatus I got an Xbox with (Halo and) the first Forza Motorsports. That made for a steep learning curve on braking for, turning into and exiting corners. A friend took me karting to enlighten me on all that and I realised that speed was my thing also IRL and that the controller was a killer for immersion when racing digitally. I decided to get a proper wheel and pedals set, so I ditched the console for a new PC and a yellow Logitech Formula GP. Man, what a difference that made back then.

From there on it was just SimRacing as we now know it. I tried many titles, some of which many here have already mentioned: GPL, GP4, LFS (my guilty pleasure), the very first rFactor and then every single thing SimBin made. But GTR2 is what really got me hooked, specially racing online with friends ( I’m looking at you @Douglas Aird ). It’s also what got me into spending money upgrading hardware. First a MOMO Racing and afterwards a ‘top of the line’ G25. Fun fact: the MOMO outlived the G25. Man, the naughties were great days.

At that time I also got myself a sporty set of real wheels (BMW E30 318i) which was fun to drive on bendy inside roads on sunday mornings, especially in the winter. But then my little princess was born. Life priorities shifted gear and so I put the speed bug on cryo-stasis. That was my second hiatus, until my kid got into an age in which we could do some gaming and karting together. To all parents: I can recommend an old Wii with Mario Kart (plus Wii Sports and Just Dance) as your child’s first console. You’re gonna have a blast together! Oh and Baan 3 at Race Planet Delft, haha!

I haven’t got a sporty set of wheels anymore (saving it for my second midlife crisis), but what I did get was a truly unexpected birthday gift from my GF when I turned 40: a track day at Zandvoort. It was a fantastic experience because I love old-school circuits and also because it was a rainy day. Driving fast in the wet was a challenging but thrilling experience. That got the old engine running again and so I dusted off the old rig with GTR2 and the G25 until it gave up. I got back in touch with the old guard and decided to upgrade properly, software and hardware. Last year I got a new PC, a VR set, upgraded the T300 pedals with a TLCM set and found my old password for Race Department. And here we are.

I’ve had a dozen races online already and boy I realised how rusty I got. I’m taking it easy, starting from the bottom up, but enjoying every single race with you chaps. I am very grateful to this community because it has truly helped me get through a tough year. Hopefully after the summer we can go back to a more normal existence. I’m looking forward to see my students IRL again and, who knows, maybe also meet some of you lot for a drink and a chat sometime, once travelling restrictions are lifted as well. Cheers to that!

Until then, see you here and on the digital track gents.

View attachment 466090
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View attachment 466093
View attachment 466094

Great story Raul and a great pleasure to have you here (especially here in this thread!).

Are we going to see you in some AC club races here and then?

 

[Dzul]

Great story Raul and a great pleasure to have you here (especially here in this thread!).

Are we going to see you in some AC club races here and then?

Thank you! I'll certainly try in the future. I'm still driving up through the ranks, started at Rookie events and now trying the Multi-Class races. Once I stop making braking mistakes I'll go for the next step, for sure. I'm still adjusting to the load-cell pedals but it's getting better by the race.

 

[Interslice]

Welcome aboard Raul. Love the E30! Very shiny! I hope to drag mine out of it's cave this summer. Will post a few pics, when it's cleaned up I'm going to get the virtual e30's out in 2 weeks time to keep me going!

I’m bumping up this thread with my personal contribution.

It’s really nice to read all your stories and see your faces, rigs, cars, bikes, pets, families, professions and all that. It truly turns a community into a cozy place when you can share these things next to having the same hobby and talking shop. So, here’s my part.

My name is Raul and I was born in Mexico, but I am also Dutch. I live in Rotterdam and have been in and out of SimRacing since my teens. I’m 46 so I grew up seeing our beloved hobby hatch, mutate, grow and mature into what it is today. My first sim was Pitstop II on the C64 back in the 80’s which I played until the diskette failed. Yes, I call it a sim because it used real track’s layouts and you had to manage your tyres and fuel (thus make a Pitstop ha!) and that’s something PolePosition didn’t have back then and boy it made a difference in gameplay. Did I say it was also split-screen? Man that was fun! I also started watching Formula 1 back then, following Niki Lauda and then Ayrton Senna, of course. I remember watching the 1994 San Marino GP tragedy unfold itself on TV. Then I stopped following F1, until half way the Schumacher years. I watched the odd race once in a while but school and girls had my attention at that phase in my life.

After that hiatus I got an Xbox with (Halo and) the first Forza Motorsports. That made for a steep learning curve on braking for, turning into and exiting corners. A friend took me karting to enlighten me on all that and I realised that speed was my thing also IRL and that the controller was a killer for immersion when racing digitally. I decided to get a proper wheel and pedals set, so I ditched the console for a new PC and a yellow Logitech Formula GP. Man, what a difference that made back then.

From there on it was just SimRacing as we now know it. I tried many titles, some of which many here have already mentioned: GPL, GP4, LFS (my guilty pleasure), the very first rFactor and then every single thing SimBin made. But GTR2 is what really got me hooked, specially racing online with friends ( I’m looking at you @Douglas Aird ). It’s also what got me into spending money upgrading hardware. First a MOMO Racing and afterwards a ‘top of the line’ G25. Fun fact: the MOMO outlived the G25. Man, the naughties were great days.

At that time I also got myself a sporty set of real wheels (BMW E30 318i) which was fun to drive on bendy inside roads on sunday mornings, especially in the winter. But then my little princess was born. Life priorities shifted gear and so I put the speed bug on cryo-stasis. That was my second hiatus, until my kid got into an age in which we could do some gaming and karting together. To all parents: I can recommend an old Wii with Mario Kart (plus Wii Sports and Just Dance) as your child’s first console. You’re gonna have a blast together! Oh and Baan 3 at Race Planet Delft, haha!

I haven’t got a sporty set of wheels anymore (saving it for my second midlife crisis), but what I did get was a truly unexpected birthday gift from my GF when I turned 40: a track day at Zandvoort. It was a fantastic experience because I love old-school circuits and also because it was a rainy day. Driving fast in the wet was a challenging but thrilling experience. That got the old engine running again and so I dusted off the old rig with GTR2 and the G25 until it gave up. I got back in touch with the old guard and decided to upgrade properly, software and hardware. Last year I got a new PC, a VR set, upgraded the T300 pedals with a TLCM set and found my old password for Race Department. And here we are.

I’ve had a dozen races online already and boy I realised how rusty I got. I’m taking it easy, starting from the bottom up, but enjoying every single race with you chaps. I am very grateful to this community because it has truly helped me get through a tough year. Hopefully after the summer we can go back to a more normal existence. I’m looking forward to see my students IRL again and, who knows, maybe also meet some of you lot for a drink and a chat sometime, once travelling restrictions are lifted as well. Cheers to that!

Until then, see you here and on the digital track gents.

View attachment 466090
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[BaronTRB]

Hi all,

like a lot of you i went full sim racing due to the hiatus. Bought an xbox, a playstation and a gaming pc. When my rig arrived (to Athens Greece) i also bought Assetto Corsa which was an apocalypse when compared to Gran Turismo/Forza franchises.
I am really confused on how online racing servers work but i am catching up. Having a blast.

My rig