K. Carter sets VIR FC lap record!

[rickb99]

He struggled. He tuned. He got hit. He wreaked.

But finally after almost a year of no rewards, Keith Carter sets the F2000 lap record at Virginia International Raceway on the Full Course layout!
http://home.earthlink.net/~cruise_ctrl/id95.html

And just think guys, he did this without the benefit of his new Bob Earl seat. Man, he's gonna be tough in the future [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Keith Carter]

Cool!!!! I thought Sizzzler ran a 43 though, no? Or was it not in compliance to the record making rules? Now that the bar is set, it'll give Trace, Mark, Sel, and Mr. Dingle something to shoot for during competition races. Start the watch now cuz I won't be king for very long. Thanks for my 15 minutes of fame Rick! HAHAHAHA!

[Marc Miller]

Miller's best time to date: 1:43.3

ENJOY!

[Keith Carter]

Ahh yes, but you need to run that on-line and in a race... I'm just prolonging the inevitable.. ...and why are you talking about yourself in the third person? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[rickb99]

It will be Miller time when his sore toe heals up and he sets a record ON LINE in competition with at least 5 drivers running [img]smile.gif[/img]

I've run 99% of all THREE of the VIR FC Wednesday sprints.

Sizzler and I both did a 43's on line. However, just the 2 of us were running. Yes, lap times are effected by the number of people running. Therefore, the requirement for at least 5 drivers in a competition run.

Oh yes, I burned my upshift finger on the stove tonight. So that will give you guys a better chance [img]smile.gif[/img]

P.S. Sore toe?
Yup, it's the only probable excuse I could think of for MM missing 3 events at VIR FC. A track he is more then familiar with.

[PeterV]

Online with 5 cars you are lucky to get a lap without damage, let alone a clean lap! lol

I have a 42.7 best offline replay and generally low 44's for the most. With 43's thrown in on a good lap. As usual there are a few secret places to get the truly best cornering time, and they can make a notable difference compared to people driving the more common used ideas in those places. (2 main places of note).

And what is going on with that left hand penalty trap at about turn 6 (???) which trips on just 1/4 (!!) of a car running wide, whereas almost all other corners allow almost 4/5ths of a car to be off track before penalties hit!!

There is actually no benefit in running off at any places (just one sides wheels off I mean) compared to staying totally on track the whole way anyway (unlike some tracks). Best times are virtually identical either way. Except that being allowed to run wheels off means you escape for free if smallish errors are made, which is sort of fair enough.
Though all in all, allowing even "small errors" means a skillful driver that CAN keep the car on the track the whole way, at the best lap times, is sort of penalised because other people can error or purposely use grass to still get the similar lap times. (no real big deal). And of course, keeping the car ON the track the whole way is a TON harder than feeling free to have 'smallish' errors knowing they won't cost.

And that left turn 6 corner 'over-sensitive trap' stuffs a lap if you make that slightest turn in error there....whereas the very next right allows 9/10ths of a car to run off for no penalty and is more important anyway! So those two areas need some fixing up on the traps.

At least it is one of the rarer tracks where my car setup gives identical results offline or online. Rather than the more common extra loose and twitchy rear end online. Which has always been a weird nuisance factor!
It is definitely a demanding and fun track.

[Marc Miller]

Sorry guys-

Now that season has started - I have done less online play - occasional laps in early AM after basketball or when I just need a break. So far I have just taken what I hear is the fastest time and run until I break it then stop until someone goes faster.

Wednesday nights I am playing softball - something I can take the wife too and get out of the house since the weather is nice (and get some exercise too!). I love the VIR track and it is still one of the best when compared to the real thing (unlike mosport which is ridiculously off) [img]tongue.gif[/img]

so 42.7 is the fastest now... I'll get right on that

[Megahurts]

Glad to hear you all having fun on VIR_FC.

Posted a reply to your trap placement problem on #6 Peter on Trak Werks forum at Texas Speed Racing.

Updated info on VIR's progress and development is there also.

Congrats to Keith on official best F2000 lap time.

I missed that wendsday gathering unfortunately, and I had practiced in the F2000's for it too.
I really liked the way they drive there too. Lot's of fun.

Hopefully next time.

[PeterV]

As hard as I try I cannot get under 1:43 again. Heaps of 43.050....150....250....low end stuff, but just seemingly impossible to break it again. I can't find what little 'bonus' area gave that extra time shaved off. It's very tough without a ghost to give those sort of clues. And to be more annoying I ruined my 42.785 Replay when renaming it to upload to my ISP site!


But luckily I finally dug out another sub 43, and I am pretty sure I found where it was that I got that bit extra. Though I also scraped a bit more acceleration for an important uphill area, with a one step gear ratio drop for 3rd, and that has made the overall lap average drop a fraction too. And some very minor tire pressure tuning has kept the car zinging along at top speeds while still very stable even as many laps go by. Earlier pressures had it suffering notably after 3 laps or so.

Clues for the track.....see if you can watch the accel/brake pedal action in some of the key areas. T1, oaktree bend, braking into the end of back straight dipper, and line/accel for the last right onto straight. On cresting/cornering areas in F2000 (all tracks), always try to keep X amount of required accel whilst braking(!) because otherwise engine braking will turn the car around at top lap time conditions.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/peter..._01-42-816.zip

With Megahurts' info to fix the prior lack of ghost at VIR-FC now, I expect it shouldn't be too hard to shave off another 0.5sec or more thanks to that extra info source.

[size="1"][ May 16, 2004, 02:21 AM: Message edited by: PeterV ][/size]

[Megahurts]

Can you draw me a map of the line and gears you were in at every place Peter, Then maybe I could get closer to those times lol jk.

Or I could watch the replay you so generously posted lol. thanks. and watch it a few more times.

Question for you though, or anyone,

How do you like / dislike the ammount of grip on the VIR tracks? I set them higher than a normal ammount of 1.00. 1.08 is what I used.

I personaly don't like driving on the tracks that have a setting lower than 1. Just too darn slippery.

But I would like to hear what you all think on it.

[size="1"][ May 17, 2004, 01:07 PM: Message edited by: Megahurts ][/size]

[rickb99]

The grip is perfect for the style of track and turns encountered at VIR. You know far more about all the tracks out there then I do. But I believe (or have been told) most tracks are set at 1.00 and there are some with higher grips.

I can't imagine running the valley in VIR GE or Hog Pen in both with less grip! There are plenty of opportunities to slide off at every corner now.

You certainly cannot take a mod to VIR and simply go fast. It takes setup work. That would seem to indicate the grip is not excessive.

[Keith Carter]

Grip is perfect! Don't change a thing! With our real cars and the horsepower we have, sliding around every turn really isn't something that happens unless it's raining. I wish that there were more tracks that had this grip that VIR does. Portland would be #1 ony my 'grip most wanted' list.

[Megahurts]

Ok,,, not going to change it.. but wanted to get feedback and let anyone suggest a reason why it should be changed.

I also wanted (and got) some indicator of opinion on other tracks grip settings.

Basicly, y'all can expect all my future tracks to be a bit off the normal configurations.
To me, Heat is a little off on what is calculated as happening in the sim world, and what is displayed or percieved. It's a work in progress effort to see if I can get the settings to give me a better sense of realism. I may not share this view with everyone I know, but always willing to hash it over.

Thanks for the feedback (true realism lol).

[PeterV]

Yes, it is a great track. It feels right.
The whole flow of the F2000 feels great. Though of course mod design and setups can make something 'nice' or crap. But all taken into account it seems perfect to me.

[rickb99]

I cannot believe you said that, Peter!

[PeterV]

"Perfect" I would have meant grip feeling, as per the question asked.

That doesn't include the traps needing a bit of tidying up. The two main ones that really stand out that I outlined elsewhere - tho I haven't really gone out on track to test them all in detail. And I think those two are being looked at.

Maybe "An excellent job" would be more appropriate comment....for the work done so far. And also very notable that not only has MH put in a TON of work to get it this far, but also the extra amount put in to maintain a very high level of professionalism - perfectionism? - in the effort to make it a 'perfect' result.

I guess I have 'high standards'....so things that make that level get praise, and things that fall short of it get nothing. Maybe a cursory acknowledgement. Tho if things have notable shortfalls, they will be mentioned - NOT to bag things, but to hopefully have them noted so they can be improved.
Which I guess all too often gets taken the wrong way. But so be it.
[img]smile.gif[/img]

[Megahurts]

Nothing wrong with having high standards, as long as you have gotten used to being disapointed a lot. lol B^)

I also set high standards to what I expect from myself, gave up on the rest of the world a long time ago. Now it comes as a very nice surprise when something hits the mark or better.

I will always expect, accept and hope for honest assesments and comments on my work no matter if positive or not. I try to take everything in to consideration and seek more info when unsure about something.
I see the feedback element as a necessary tool to help make a project better.

Thank you, to everyone for all the great post's that have had a hand in shaping VIR.

I tried to make the last run at VIR GE, but my connection was having a bad day and was unable to connect to Keith's server. Probably for the better for Rick and those squeezing the last fractions of seconds out of the cars and track.
Ping returns for me that night were staying above mid 300's to 1K and would have made me a worse threat to everyone than my driving normally does . But the server wouldn't let me in with such bad credentials and made the event a safer place. ;(

maybe next time. 8^)

Mhz

[Bill Maisey]

New to running the F2000. Couple of questions:
1. How do you change rear camber? (Only front shows)
2. Can someone suggest a good starting setup for VIR?

Thanks

[Keith Carter]

Hi Bill,
Unfortunately you can't change rear camber. It's a limitation of Nascar HEAT. There should be plenty of other settings to mess with you'll find...

If you really want a racing tweakers dream, I've been playing F1Challenge 99-02 and it has a lot more adjustments under the advanced section based on a formula car (rake, rear camber, etc...).

For setups, Ricardo and the boys have set up some guideline setups HERE.

Good luck and come out and race with us sometime. My server is welcome to everyone here in this forum.

[Megahurts]

Welcome to Heat Bill,

Despite having a serious stock car-circle track basic attitude, Heat still is a great SIM engine for other track types and car platforms.

But that darn stock car mentality is what causes the non-adjustable rear camber from within the game shortcomming. (solid rear axels)

Each tracks physics configuration file that is compiled in to the track, has a setting for the rear camber. Almost all tracks out there for Heat are set at -1.8 each side. It's the default from the nascar tracks and stock car heritage that didn't get played with much yet.

Would be nice to be able to adjust that live for sure. Maybe The Mask could write a Mod-Launcher plugin that could at least give you the chance to preset it before launching the game....hint hint. B^)

I played with the setting on the VIR and LOP and XHRally test track, and if anyone ever gives me just reason for a setting change on my tracks, I'd change it.
I'm no setup guru by any means, and prefer mid tight to tighter setups anyway.

Which brings up a base setup for you, The VIR tracks have one of my 6 speed tranny starting base setups as the default set. (another service of my track designs)
You should be able to get a good feel for the track with it and decide where to adjust from it.

Again welcome to the Heat community and ask on anything about Heat when needed.