Participating in races ?

[Grant Powell]

Hi all,

Im new to online racing and this forum and noticed there was a race tomorrow evening with Race 07.

I tried to post a reply to say i was interested but it says i do not have the correct priviledge, maybe im being stupid but do i need to dontate to take part as i cant seem to find the answer on the website.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[James Yates]

You need to apply for the racing club by making a new thread in this forum.

Make sure you read the 2 stickies at the top

[Grant Powell]

Thanks for that James

[Marty Pierce]

ok sounds good

idont

because

im not

im

sure

[Lee Downham]

Wassup with this MP61 ... trying to make your quota of 25 posts in one reply???

[Steven De Greveleer]

25 post its a lot, i can say that.

[Bram Hengeveld]

You dont need to make them in one day

[Neil Farren]

lol, I agree 25 is a lot but totally understandable. But I'm pretty sure as long as your posts are relevant or informative then it doesn't matter how long you take to get to the magic number.

[Bram Hengeveld]

We hope our members are here for the long run and not only for one race that must be done the same day

[Neil Farren]

Originally Posted by Bram Hengeveld

We hope our members are here for the long run and not only for one race that must be done the same day

This looks like a great community Bram, I'm sure most will hang around for a long time. Guess people are just excited to get racing. Myslef, I can't wait. I spend a lot of time racing leagues in Forza 2 but have only dabbled in PC sims. Finally might get some good use out of my G25

[Steven De Greveleer]

I think when you have the game and you want to race online and you have to make 25 post that it can be stressfull to get the 25 post to get entery on the online race.

[Andrew Evans]

well, it will be stressful if you rush to get them all out in 2 hours... take your time to slot in and feel at home here... you'll enjoy it more when you finally get online and already know some of the names (faces!)....

there's races every single day - so you're not missing out....

[Andy Marsden]

Well there is always the public servers until you are granted entry to the Racing Club. As Bram said, if you are here to become a long term member then there isnt any ruch, there will always be races

[Warren Dawes]

Originally Posted by Andrew Evans

take your time to slot in and feel at home here... you'll enjoy it more when you finally get online and already know some of the names (faces!)....

Yep, that is what the spirit of Racedepartment is all about. The whole purpose of the 25 post requirement is to allow you to get to know us, and for us to get to know you.
Frantically trying to push out 25 posts immediately doesn't achieve anything to help that aim, and so we will not accept those types of posts for membership.
That way, we can maintain a true, friendly, Club environment.

[Stuart Thomson]

I'm eventually going to apply to join the Club. I'm over 25 posts now myself, but I'm going to hold off the application until:-

a) I feel comfortable on here with people that I'll be racing against so they know (or at least I've managed to persuade them) I'm not a total knob,
b) I feel confident enough that I'm not going to be a mobile chicane and ruin good drivers' races
c) I think I've contributed enough on here with things like skins etc. to not feel like I'm taking advantage, and
d) I've got hold of Evo so I can actually participate in a broader number of events.

Making a conscious decision to abide by my above criteria and not breaking my neck to get 25 posts just to apply means posting replies is no big deal, so I'm actually posting more than if I was just throwing stuff up to get across the threshold.

[Attila Domján]

and exactly thats the meaning of it why we applied it, thanks for your view Stuart, appreciate it!

[Stuart Thomson]

No problem Attila. Seemed a reasonable to view to me, thought I'd share it.

Now, off the back of my post, does anyone have any ideas to judge whether their laptimes will be OK for online racing?

I'm currently putting in some industrial grade guesswork in the WTCC's by trying to get within a percentage of the Lap Record times on here. I'm shooting for getting under 105% on all the tracks where there's a benchmark laid down. That sounds reasonable to me, but has anyone else got any other yardsticks they use?

[Andrew Evans]

Originally Posted by Stuart Thomson

Now, off the back of my post, does anyone have any ideas to judge whether their laptimes will be OK for online racing?

i think we may have chatted about this before... but really... once yer ready to jump in - ie. you can control your car without taking out half the field, then your actual speed doesn't matter... the point is to have fun - and you generally always find yourself in a little competitive cluster on track...

[Stuart Thomson]

Originally Posted by Andrew Evans

ie. you can control your car without taking out half the field

Ah.

then your actual speed doesn't matter

Yay.

[Warren Dawes]

Based on my experience, I suggest you get into the Racing Club and start on-line racing sooner rather than later. When I started, I was exactly the same, "better wait till I think I'm fast enough". I found that all the off-line practice didn't mean a lot once I started to join on-line events. In fact my learning curve was much faster once I got involved, and most here were very helpful on track.
If you have the right attitude about clean driving (which you clearly have ), just spend a little time to learn the track and get into the racing with us. In most Racing Club events we have a big spread of speed and ability. You should always find others around you of similar speed and that's when the fun starts. You also get a much better feel for how you are improving too.
Don't get too concerned about a few accidents, we all have them, it's all about apologising, keeping it friendly, and trying to learn from our mistakes.
Once you do join us on-line, you will be hooked.

[William Yunck]

Originally Posted by Warren Dawes

Based on my experience, I suggest you get into the Racing Club and start on-line racing sooner rather than later. When I started, I was exactly the same, "better wait till I think I'm fast enough". I found that all the off-line practice didn't mean a lot once I started to join on-line events.

I couldn't agree with Warren more. The AI is just that, and it can't compare to what people do in real time. I still don't do well in online races, but I am getting better. the AI gives you a stable, consistent race expierence, and in online it is different. People make more mistakes than the AI, and as soon as you start learning what those mistakes are, the sooner you can avoid them, get more consistent, and focus on getting faster. know if I could just do that....

[Attila Domján]

Cant agree more. If you are able to control your car, get on-line, and you will ask yourself after: for what the heck i was waiting for, damn...

[Steven De Greveleer]

Originally Posted by Attila Domján

Cant agree more. If you are able to control your car, get on-line, and you will ask yourself after: for what the heck i was waiting for, damn...

I think that the combination of offline/online racing is the perfect mix.
offline racing to learn the track, to get the car under control and to drive a clean race.

Online racing to get the passion for racing, like already said here, in online racing their are always people in the same level as you. So perfect to get the real racing feeling.

[Günthar Rowe]

looking forward to a few close races in the near future Stuart

Staying on the track and outta trouble will get you good places in the end...

last night I qual'd 16th as only just joined before race 1, by T4 was in 6th, and by T7-8 was 5th, then took a knock and spun and was back to 11th... kept it smooth as I could and finished 6th out of 23 drivers that started

[Neil Farren]

Just to add something to this. I found from my Forza 2 league that doing well in online races is not always about being quick. I know it sounds a bit silly but if you don't have any race craft then no matter how quick you are you'll struggle in online racing. Racing round a track on your own setting fast times is completely different to racing with another 20 people defending your position and trying to overtake. Racing on your own is great for learning the track and the car but it's not until you get online and race that you'll learn the race craft. So I would echo the sentiment of getting online and racing asap. And don't be surprised or deterred if you get online and find your not as good as when you drive offline. It takes time to get used to racing with others but, and most importantly, it is so much more fun