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Installed Race Room this evening, making six the number of racing sims I now have in the rotation. It's both pretty awesome and way too much haha. I want to give everything a go but there's only so much time!

But this one's got a free trial at the mo, or it's always free more accurately, but temporarily you can play everything that isn't included for free at no cost.

I drove the 458 at Mid-Ohio in rFactor yesterday, and now the 488 at Mid-Ohio in Race Room. Early impressions with just a few laps under my belt is that Race Room feels great. Honestly I like them all, I enjoy driving each of these sims. I'm just a month in to this and I now have so much sim racing content, in top-shelf racing sims, and there's just so much to choose from. And a friend is nudging me toward iRacing which I have to admit I'm keen to try. But I'm a sucker for this sort of stuff, and I'm avoiding it like you avoid cocaine. You know it's great, but you don't want to get sucked in never to return. The potential monetary investment in iRacing is big. When I have so much quality content -- and only some of the DLC and mods for the sims I have at that -- then it's easier to keep iRacing at arms length. But it's where the best online racing is happening, and as a Papy disciple I'm sure I'd love the simulation. But it feels like I should burn through what I've already got for a while first. Do they ever run trials?

Turns out the next race in the Vintage Formula 1 World Championship is not Spielberg after all. Derp. It's Silverstone 1975 (no chicane). So instead of running the race at Spielberg, I had to test at Silverstone and put together a setup and learn the track. I guess it's mostly like the 1967 version, but there must be a couple of changes. Still way too flat, and a few corners are hard to hit as they're hard to spot. Like a couple slower speed Ascaris. Gotta sort of one-mississippi your turn in. Managed to put together a decent setup using the Monza setup as a base, and I'll get the race run soon.

Ferrari 488 at Mid-Ohio in Race Room. Nifty looking Alpha-Tauri livery too.

Hooked up with NimRud this afternoon for some racing action. We used AMS2 since we can put AI in the races. First event was the Formula Trainer at Virginia International Raceway full course. It's a pretty difficult track I think. These cars have just 113 horsepowers, but are still challenging to drive. I did some testing last night to learn the track and work out a reasonable setup. But it's full of oversteer in all phases, and the modest power makes it manageable. No wings or fancy bits on these cars.

AMS2 is also pretty easy to set up for multiplayer and joining is quick and smooth. I saw some odd AI behavior, like a synching issue in the second race. Frank set up a race in GT cars at the Daytona Road Course. He also set it up so we'd have a full 24 hour day-night cycle over the 20 minute race, which I thought was really cool. The whole experience was great, with the AI racing in two classes, the headlights and tailights zipping this way and that in the distance, and of course much of the track is out on the banked oval. I didn't have any prep for this, so was pretty bad. Qualified next to last, but by half way through the race I'd turned enough laps to know my markers and ended up passing a number of AI to finish 22nd, with the top nine being the DPi cars (Daytona Prototype international) which ran about 7 seconds faster than the GT cars.

Great fun, and such a cool mix of things to race in all of these sims.

Running the Formula Trainers at VIR








My C8 at Daytona. No ABS in these and I was locking up a lot. I gotta see if I can take screenshot here with no UI and none of this focus nonsense.

After we were done online I fired up rFactor to have another go in the 458. Got the setup dialed in pretty good and set up a race at Mid-Ohio full course with three car classes, of which mine, GTE, was the slowest. I said I want chaos, and man did this deliver! The AI is both pretty great and a total mess. Maybe it's just here at Mid-Ohio, but even just the rolling start was a fiasco. In the 18-lap race we had three full-course yellows, and the way the AI cars drove around under caution was frightening lol. A number of cars just drove right off the road, cars were re-entering the track in a decidedly unsafe manner and as bad as it was it was just as awesome. Somehow I managed to avoid all the carnage and chaos to win my class.

Hopefully it was just an issue here at this track and they are better behaved elsewhere.

When I fired up Steam yesterday evening I saw there's a racing sale. Lots of good deals.

I picked up all of the DLC for Assetto Corsa. Just a ten spot for everything, which is a good deal as I only had the Dream Pack 1. That's a six year gap between buying DLC for this sim. I haven't been driving it much, but the boy enjoys it, especially the drifting. I have zero interest in drifting, but he informed me some DLC was needed for him to have the proper stuff to drift. The sale is 80% off.

With all of this new content I gave it a go. Really liked the Porsche 911 R. It's not a racing car, just a stock version, but good fun to drive. Took it around the Nordshleife, of course, and had a great time.

Not every lap comes off





Then I decided to go achievement hunting. Assetto Corsa has 709 achievements! That's nuts, but I managed to get a few. One of them is the one I talked about chasing in the AC/ACC thread, Old GPL'ers Know Why This is Important. Break 1:30 at Monza '66 in the Lotus 49. Worked on the setup, with exits the main challenge. The exit to Parabolica and to Lesmos are both so important to lap time. Getting the power down early is key for speed on the straight. In order to make it work I had to go 80/30 on the diff, making it just stable enough on exit to power down the straights and I turned a 1:29.8! That was really satisfying after so many attempts. If I'm honest I prefer these cars in AMS2 but the ones in AC are fine in their own right.

Then I went to Imola to try and get the achievement for beating 1:57.5 in the McLaren 570S. Managed to do it after many attempts. This is another stock showroom car, with little in the way of chassis set up options. But good fun to drive and a very challenging target.

I hadn't paid attention to the Special Events that are in AC before. But checking them out, there are a lot of really good car and track combinations with difficult target times to hit. I tried a bunch of them. I failed in half of them like a Lambo at Laguna Seca and the 911 R at the Ring. But a few I hit too. It's fun to chase these targets with a wide variety of whips on a number of great tracks.

That ten bucks was well spent and included a lot of really cool cars, and especially if you like Porsche. I do

GT3 R at Catalunya






Ford GT 40 at Monza '66

I've gone crazy doing these events. I finish one and then I'm like, yeah that one looks good too. A few shots of some of the cars

Assetto Corsa


McLaren MP4-12C at Monza. Really nice to drive, and kicks out over 600 horsepower




Ferrari 599XX Evo at Monza. What a sick car. Has an automatic DRS/active wing. Fast car.





Lotus 3 Eleven at Brand's Hatch Indy





Lotus 25 also at Brand's Indy. The car Jim Clark drove to the 1963 world title.

Really nice shots!

I need to really get back at practicing and dialing in my FFB settings on my new wheel.

Yeah you do.

These AC special events are fun. I must have gotten 20 achievements yesterday running them. Few do, as most are done by 0.8% of the player base.

I like having a car, a track and a target time. Now it's up to me to make it happen. Learn the track, setup the car and see if I can beat it. I failed with plenty of them, but ended up hitting more than I missed.

There are also drag racing events against an AI car and I can't work out how to get a good start. Lost every one I ran.

Getting the DLC for Assetto Corsa was a good move as that's all I've run since doing so. Lots of new content (to me). Last night I focused on the special event races. Lotus 25 at Brand's Indy, Huracan at Monza, Ferrari 458 (yeah baby) at Silverstone and several more. There are four levels you can choose, easy, medium, fast and alien!. This sets the AI strength. At easy they are at 80%, 90 % at medium and I didn't go any higher.

Easy is too easy, medium is very challenging at my level. I'm really impressed with the AI I was racing. Very convincing behavior out of the other cars on the track.

DBond, did you manage to get the GPL 67 mod for AC? That to me feels and has the track atmosphere very much like the original GPL.

I tried some AMS2 last night for the first time, the graphics are fantastic. But I'll be honest, I need to adjust some realism maybe as Lotus styled car felt too on rails.

No not yet, but I should.

Yeah, there might be more grip in the Gen 1 cars than GPL (that's what you mean by Lotus styled car yeah?)

But where it feels nailed on for me is car handling and balance. Cornering feels spot on if GPL is the benchmark. I wasn't looking for 'realism' but for matching the feel of GPL, and AMS2 has it, for me.

I've spent a lot of time over the past few days running 1960's F1 cars in Assetto Corsa (Lotus 25 and 49, Ferrari 312) and I like them a lot, but the feel is very different. That isn't to say wrong, or un-realistic, just different.

I should try the GPL mod as you suggest. Maybe when I've finished my AMS2 Vintage Formula 1 championship I'll give the mod a go to compare.

Ran a race in the Lotus 25 at Brand's Indy in AC. I praised the AI, and they do drive convincingly, but lack the avoidance measures like in AMS2 or ACC. In open wheel this is a problem. They drive as if you are not there.

I wanted to run a race at the Nordschleife and started in the McLaren P1. But the amount of bouncing I was doing was unreal so I switched to the Nissan GT-R GT3 and that was much better. The AI on easy was lapping in the high 7:20s/low 30s and I turned 7:20 on the second lap. Easy win and I'll give it a go on medium (AI 90%)

Argon, about the AC GPL '67 mod... I see it has the cars, and are the driver's names real ones? Which tracks are included or are any included at all? Does it have a championship mirroring the real 1967 season?

Yeah I've set the aggressiveness in AC all the way down for the GPL cars and tracks. They seems to do a good job at avoiding me now.

I first downloaded the GPL67 car set mod. Then I signed up for an account and got the season mod from here: https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/gpl-1967-career-mode-for-the-gpl-1967-mod.34896/

In the readme, it told me to download:

Kyalami:
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/daxiolzouermu/Kyalami_Grand_Prix_1967_Reboot_Version_1.0

Le Grand Circuit:
https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/le-grand-circuit-1967.17288/

Mexico:
https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/mexico-gran-premio-1967.31101/

Monaco:
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/pduttiyd42eee/Monaco_1966_Reboot_Version_1.2

Nurburgring:
https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/nurburgring-1967.28207/

Spa:
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/t9992zu766bfx/Spa_Francorchamps_1966_Reboot_Version_1.1

Watkins Glen:
https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/watkins-glen-1967.166338/

Sandvoerde (payware, $5):
https://sellfy.com/f3classictracks/p/ylih/

If any of the above track links stop working for whatever reason, go to https://tarnhoerner.de/tracks/ and look for those tracks there.

Thanks. I wonder if there are more 1967 season tracks available? Like Mosport? I think we have Silverstone already, and Monza. Mexico?

What's Le Grand circuit?I guess that fills in for Rouen which fills in for Bugatti?

Maserati 250f 12 cylinder. Moss' and Fangio's car, although he drove the 2.5 liter straight-six, with maybe a year in the 12-banger after his return to the team? Quite a unique ride. The motor seems normal through 2/3 of the power band. But in the top registers the thing explodes in to fury. What a beast!

Back to ACC and running out different cars at Zandy for the hotlap challenge.

Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo




Nissan GT-R GT3 (borrowed this one since I had yet to drive it. I'll add a custom one to the stable)

Back to Assetto Corsa. Well, actually I gave Forza Horizon 5 a go, first time I really tried to get the wheel to feel right in this one since I bought it. Not happy with it. Too twitchy, and will take some work to put right (if it's possible)

I mentioned how after playing WRC 10 my FFB was all messed up. Like it was barely on. I could feel something, but it was so faint that I thought my wheel was broken. Finally I looked in the control panel and saw that FFB strength was set to 20%. I didn't do that myself. How did it happen? ANyway, putting it back to 80% made a huge difference of course and it's back in business.

OK, Assetto Corsa... I can't get enough of the events. Time attack, hotlaps, quick races. Lots of fun with a neat mix of cars and tracks, and challenging targets to hit.

One of my favorite cars in this sim has turned out to be the McLaren MP4-12C. Beautifully balanced, smooth power delivery, nice view, proper grip. Really like it. AC has 709 Steam achievements. In the first six years of owning it, I had gotten three. Of course I rarely played it. But since getting back in to it I've nicked 50+. Each one of these special events has achievements attached and it's fun to chase them. With all of the DLC there are so many great cars in AC.

McLaren MP4-12C @ Catalunya

458 Italia @ Imola. It's a showroom car and as such there is little in the way of chassis setup options. Sounds amazing and fun to drive. I just wish I could make it go faster round the track. Not sure what I'm doing with my hand there.

Ran the next race in my ACC championship, this one at Suzuka. Car felt really hooked up, good setup. An Audi got me at the start and I crossed second. The AI racing in ACC is pretty good. But I wish there was a bit more variability in the AI order. The Audis and Lambos dominate the AI. There are few or no retirements and I never notice any crashes. It could use more chaos. AMS2, RaceRoom, Assetto Corsa and rFactor all have AI that appears more human when you're chasing them, but ACC has the best championship mode I think. This is why I keep jumping to a different sim every day. Or some days, more than one!

I also fired up AMS2 and ran some vintage F1 and GT3 cars. I had been meaning to try the other Gen1 car, the model 2, which is heavier but has a little more power. Picked a blue one and it makes for a passable Eagle Weslake T1G. Now that's a proper car for historic Monza.

See that car right there? The Eagle-ish one? Fast car.

I had mentioned before that when I was racing NimRud's ghost at Monza historic that he either got a better exit to Parabolica or that additional horespowers blasted him down the pitstraight better.

So I decided to give it a go and see what it was like. It is a little heavier, and only has like 10 more horsepower, so I thought perhaps it would be a wash.

When I opened the time trial mode I saw Frank was faster, not by much, but I had a target. I saw you also clipped my Kyalami time, and this will not do. I had been dropped off the first page at both tracks. But back to Monza....

So I loaded it up, and had a look at the setup. As a new car to me it's kind of impossible to know what it needs for set up. You gotta turn laps, feel it out, and then come back in to start dialing it in. But I've turned enough laps here to have some intuition and made a few minor tweaks to the suspension that I though would suit me. The Eagle was my ride in Grand Prix Legends, and although this isn't one, it can be if I close my eyes. Which is dumb, so I don't do that. But at least it doesn't look like an evil Lotus.

I set my PB and Frank's PB as ghosts to race. I really like this multiple ghost capability, makes hotlapping more fun and interesting, and feels like I'm racing both myself and Frank. The first time around I sort of bottled it on cold shoes, and both ghosts beat me to the line.

But as the tires came up the gap closed. Second time around I trailed out of Parabolica, but down the straight this additional power started to tell and I rapidly closed down the gap before the line.

The third time around I had done a better lap, and hadn't fallen behind the ghost riders. Level coming out of Parabolica and down the pitstraight I pulled away to set a new PB. Went around several more times, each lap faster than the last until a 26.5, over a second faster than my 'Lotus' time and fourth on the leaderboards!

But there was still the matter of Kyalami. I actually went here before Monza, so drove the Mod 1 (lotus). Managed a 19.396, nicking NimRud by four one-thousandths. Haha, that was hard! But I'm back in the top ten at both tracks and we'll see how long that lasts.