Had almost a week away from the game preparing for some car league racing but got myself fully back into it yesterday and had my longest spell in the saddle with a good 2 and a ½ hours in the morning and another 2-3 hours in the afternoon. I had resolved to remove the racing line and attempt manual gears last week and yesterday was the big test for that. Had a look at the shorter courses for some testing and took to the track around Castle Rock in both TT and actual racing. Had a lot of fun against the AI although some of the contact was a bit odd but didn’t take away from my enjoyment. I adjusted the pad setup to have B as shift-up and A as shift-down which seemed more natural and sensible than the default of Y for shift up which kept leaving me inadvertently pressing B on the way down to A.
After a good long spell in Scotland and gradually getting to grips with the gear shifts I decided it was time to give the big boys course a test. I was fully expecting frustration and heartache for some time there but what do you know I was actually not too bad considering the big leap manual gears and no racing line was for me. Of course I am mega slow and my first lap was around 2 minutes slower than my assisted time but I got in two more laps with one a minute quicker than the first and the next 40 seconds faster so I am currently just 16 seconds slower than my assisted time. It’s still more like a Sunday afternoon ride compared to you guys but I am pretty stoked to have made the leap so soon and not be sitting there pulling my hair out in frustration lol.
The loss of racing line which I have never used in a racing title before but did so here due to the nature of this course as I felt I needed the extra crutch for this game with the added burden of getting used to using a pad as well was less of a problem for me than I thought it would be. In fact I would say within a few minutes I had completely forgotten I didn't have it on and large sections of the layout are now embedded in my head. Of course it still gives me little surprises on every lap where something comes up before I realised but I certainly don;t feel the need for the line any longer and using my own braking points and lines is actually far better anyway. I have noticed many places where the line would indicate I should slow where I don't need to now.
The gear changing has brought a massively improved dimension to the game and actually makes it easier in some respects because of the extra level of control it gives you that you lose by allowing the game to make the gear selections for you. I chose what gear I want to take a corner in and if I get a bit nervy around the track at any point a quick drop to a lower gear allows me to settle the bike and still keep some momentum which was not possible in auto. The biggest thing I am still learning is how strong the engine braking effect is when going down the gears and knowing how much 'actual' brake to apply now. I am finding that difficult to gauge especially at the slower corners and find myself often approaching them way too slowly and either having to speed up again or just tootle around the corner lol. But the process of changing gears on a pad was not as arduous as I expected and although I still make little mistakes which leave me in the wrong gear now and then, especially when I do something a little wrong and get into a finger flap it is much smoother transition than I dared imagine and I think already it has become a more natural and muscle memory kind of thing. So if anyone else is like I was and feel sthe manula gears are too much of a step I suggest giving it a go.. but give it a good go for several hours to allow yourself time to properly adjust. The effort involved is well worth it
I started virtual racing back in the 90’s on PC and having gone from the likes of Indianapolis 500 the Simulation, Geoff Crammonds Grand Prix series, all the Papyrus Indycar, Nascar and Dirt Track sims and including the best of them all.. Grand Prix Legends before migrating for financial reasons to the console back in 2010 on F1 2010-2017, Race Pro, Project Cars (1 and 2), Dirt Rally, Assetto Corsa.. everything racing to be honest. But when it comes to thrill, absolute challenge and satisfaction value TTIOM is right up there at the very top of the tree. It’s the first bike game that I have really invested time in as I have always been put off by the requirement to use a pad, which I have never been able to manage before and the belief that I just could not adapt to it and move on to no assists which is always the way I have raced. But this game has changed all that and opened my eyes to something very, very special. Watching the videos of everyone’s attempts on release and hearing the comments of guys on here and in another forum I use persuaded me that this one was worth the investment and oh boy how right that was!! Without question it brings a real rush of excitement and is the first game that I have had that is kind of scary in the sense of speed it portrays. Going flat out through those trees is exhilarating and just has me now and then slightly easing back off the throttle or dropping down a gear to give me back a bit of a sense of control because it really does feel uncontrollable at times.. but in a good way. I can’t recall another game giving me that feeling.
Anyway, i’ve rambled on enough and maybe seem a little over the top in my viewpoint but the game has grabbed me by the danglies and dragged me somewhere that I never expected so just thought I would pop on here and give that feedback.
Happy riding everyone
As things stand I am currently on low assists for everything except anti-wheelie which is on medium (but son to reduce that as well), no racing line, manual gears and combined brakes.
