is good fun
Oh crap. Here we go.
That was excellent Alan. I enjoyed the anecdotes as you went along and the thoughts on shifter driving. It’s gonna be odd feeling power again. If you do a league I’ll join when our time zones work out.
Posted to FB. Cheers.
Well, here’s my first attempt at driving these lunatic sleds, I totally have respect for people who hoof these things around a track. Even in sim, it’s bonkers.
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Wow that looks like fun around AMP!
Since you have raced these things, is it as intense irl? It’s tricky just keeping the thing sort of under you.
Also braking. Sheesh. That’s incredible.
How do you learn on these things IRL? It took about 10 attempts to get a lap that didn’t involve a violent off.
IRL It’s easier to control, but just as violent. At least to me 
.
@NSEWnoah asked me to jump into a shifter a couple of weeks ago. Wet track and dry tires. I think it’d been 4years+ since I’d driven. Reminded me of how physically and mentally intense it is. Especially if you can’t reach the pedals.
Having basic control in KartKraft was difficult for me, I struggled with my G29 big time. Tried a bunch of things but never really got to a point I felt like I had it under control. There’s been a bunch of updates since then of course.
In person the consequences of a violent off are way more painful. So, you ease into it. Or in my case, I came from the drifting world, so I just get on the pipe and ride out the slide…
I would say that the handling is about what I’d expect it to be. It’s savage but controllable. Because it’s a sim you probably “hang on” to turns that you’d bail out of IRL. But, it all seems to be believable grip/handling wise. If you have significant FFB, the front end hopping under hard braking is insane. (I’m guessing that adjusting bias back a touch would help. Or maybe that’s normal.)
I did get some 4 wheel drift moments on the kart. I can see the attraction. That being said, I’ll leave shifters IRL to others. I know me too well. I’m a wimp, but one that pushes himself. I’d find a way to eat shit at high velocity.
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Oh yeah! Now this is what I’m talking about.
Ok I changed my mind. KZ makes everything else I’ve driven seem insignificant. Now this is what racecars must feel like.
it isn’t. KZ are a thing all to themselves.
What’s it closest to that you can think of?
I literally have no frame of reference. The lightness of the vehicle relative to its power makes for a very unique driving experience.
Is there anything with comparable grip relative to power without aero downforce?
I don’t think there is. Maybe some insano hill-climb car. But there’s a reason F1 drivers almost all come from KZ and use them to train.
Funny you should say hill climb. I was trying to explain to my son what it feels like and I used HillClimb stage as an example.
It’s totally like that. I swear the KZ has claws and pulls as opposed to pushes you along.
Without aero I’m struggling to think of anything with similar mechanical grip. Whatever it would be, chances are the runs would be very short. So AutoX or hill climb as you said.
Many cars “feel” very sedentary compared to
something like a KZ or superkart until you get into the very expensive stuff.
One thing that makes karts so unique is the speed of thought processing it requires. Even though the absolute speeds are pretty low, the rate that turns come at you is FAST. So you need to have sharp thought processing to start off.
Then you need the ability to put your observations into learned memory ASAP so that it begins to “feel” slow. This is a universal skill required for all racing of course, but karts are a great way to increase your bandwidth in a way.
I bet @speedcraft has a more articulate way to explain what I’m rambling about.
I might split this topic up 
Yes. The thing I noticed is in the rotation. Everything is rotation and it rotates so freely. You don’t steer the kart, you rotate it with feet.
As the kart comes around, your target opens up in front of you and down goes the gas. Go!
It takes some getting your mind around it:
There are turns I can put it completely sideways into the turn. And it’s not a slide.
The cars I have driven are of course much heavier and no where near the same power to weight. I find that the KZ seems to be best when it’s on its toes. It is very rigid and uncooperative until it gets going fast.
Yes but oddly learnable, even at 50. I feel like kart is under me now. There’s a ways to go obviously. I am starting to have the SOS down.
