4 Things

Three things to report in this little update:

1. Grid Autosport is fun
2. My best iRacing race result is now a 2nd
3. I realized that having ABS enabled in iRacing was costing me half a second a lap
4. My Safety Rating dropped back below 2.5

1. Grid Autosport

While it definitely is a Sim-Cade racing game (that is, it blurs the lines between Simulation and Arcade) it is a real blast. The game looks amazing even at lower settings, the AI is challenging by being aggressive but not stupid, the physics engine is forgiving and fun. The cockpit view is a little lack luster, but I've been playing using the zoomed cockpit view (ie: the windscreen fills your vision) and think that it does well. The big upside is that my friends who enjoy less hardcore racing games than iRacing are all into it.

Personally I'll be playing Grid Autosport when I can't commit to a full 30 mins for an iRacing race or I'm not in the mood for 100% focused driving.

2. My 2nd place finish

It could have easily been my first win; stupidity at the 1st corner behind me left me way out in front on my own with something like a 20 second lead. On of the C license guys back in the pack was steadily reeling me in at about a second a lap but I knew if I just played it cool I'd be able to hold on for the win. Alas, a fast lapped rookie made a poor pass on me, even though I'd left him room and called him around and crashed straight into me. The damage I suffered meant that while I could continue driving I was now losing about 3 seconds a lap to the C license guy. He finally got by me with 2 laps left. I was happy to take down 2nd, but it was a case of the one that got away.

3. Bye bye ABS

It was during the race above that I noticed the C license guy catching me was making up a lot of his time in the two heavy breaking sections of the track. I watched the replay and tried to replicate his breaking point and couldn't stop the car as quick as he was. When doing an analysis in iSpeed I could see the ABS kicking in on my laps. I turned it off in game and instantly gained half a second a lap on my best time. I've now worked my PB in the MX5 around summit point down to 1:26.3 and if I can string together my optimal sectors I'll get into the mid 1:25's!

4. Safety Rating 2.49

During the above points, I managed to drop a whole stack of SR points. The decision that Grid Autosport will be what I play when I'm not feeling 100% focused was fueled by 2 back to back races where I completely messed up, spinning off and having huge crashes in iRacing.

Since all this I have gained back some of my lost SR..... and as I was in the process of typing all this out I actually had a race which is worth its own post. So I'll wrap this up and start a new one.