I feel the need, the need for Weed? 
I’m looking forward to the new GT4/TCR 2 hour solo endurance series that’s coming up next season.
I went against everything the internet says and I put the damper kit on the brake pedal of my V3s. Now it feels almost exactly how I want it to. A little bit of free play, into hydraulic pressure that firms up at the end of travel. If I had to compare it I’d say it’s very similar to the pedal on my kart now.
The thing I noticed immediately is that I’ve stopped blowing passed the threshold into ABS, and my braking can now be later and more controlled, with more consistent trail braking. As with just making the switch to the pedals, my overall fastest lap hasn’t changed much but I’m spending a lot more laps closer to that end of the average per session.
Pretty much every review you see on the damper they’ve combined it with the performance kit, which eliminates travel and stiffens the brake so much that you don’t move the piston on the damper, which is why it’s so unrecommended.
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The Cannabis 500 coming to Canopy Coloseum brought to you by BiTfinance.co.
What’s old is new again. 
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Those are also very cool looking. I wonder if hydraulic setups are worth the coin.
I could see the benefit in how they replicate feel, but ultimately they way they build them they aren’t doing a whole lot different than a set of Heusinkvelds.
@zipty842 Are you using the stock brake “pads” (can’t think of the term for them) instead of the performance kit? I’ve set mine up to be medium strength and the load cell pedal is practically blowing up my knee after every race. Wanting a more Kart like feel. Also, What’s your damper set to?
Yes the original pieces are installed. Preload is set at 2.5, damper at 2, Brake force set to 50 in the driver. It’s got a little more travel than my kart pedal does, but it’s not so stiff that I can’t push it all the way with my hand.
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That’s good to hear, mine has about a 5mm travel with the medium strength pads. Might have to order another damper now as I enjoy having the damper on the throttle too. I bit in to the hype surrounding the brake performance kit, took some getting used to but now that I want to use my formula rig for karting sim practice it’s good to hear that there’s a solution for that. Thanks!
I’d swap that thing over and give it a shot.
I’m going to try one on the throttle too, but I figured I’d try one first before ordering 2.
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I found other racers and drove Sub 15s
Zoom. Lap 2.
Finally, I saw some other racers this weekend. One of the practice sessions saw a bunch of folk log in and do a race.
I went ahead and joined them as a ghost to see if I could hang. It went well enough that next time, I’ll join for real. I am able to get around the track just fine. I just have to be careful to not push too hard.
Unfortunately, after that one populated race, the rest of the evening was a ghost town. I am assuming that there must be a Sprint car racing secret society and messaging system. The message goes out and all the old men shuffle off to the garage to hook up the trailer and head to the track.
The tire grip here is very powerful when the tire is fresh. It is very noticeable how much more the tire can do in the first 3-7 laps. Here, I punch through 15s convincingly on the first lap with warmed tires. This surprised me! I guess the rubber on track was higher due to the race settings.
I am hopeful that I can find a series or league. Either way, the sprint car has been teaching me a ton. There is nothing comparable. It is a hugely rewarding car to drive, if you can survive the learning curve.
They made the AI too good… it became Evil
“In a time trial setting, Sophy is anywhere from a half second to a second and a half faster than humans.”
So, that’s against aliens.
I watched Steve Brown’s breakdown of the AI and basically they are perfect in qualifying. They use every ounce of track to their advantage. At Le Mans, they were setting themselves up at the far right edge of the pit lane entry to attack the first of the Ford chicanes. In races, they were pulling “fake out” passing maneuvers against human drivers.
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This video?
Timestamp at LOL track limits.
Yup that’s the one. I wonder how they will implement it into game play. Supposedly it won’t be quite ready at release.
This should be fun once they dial it in.
Interesting.
Interesting. I wonder what the biz plan is.
Sim centres are reasonably popular when they get a good community going. It’s also free advertising if you have good locations.
Ok this is interesting and not what I expected:
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Seems pretty plausible that someone with 1500 virtual races could jump into the real thing and be decent off the bat. I would’ve expected him to struggle more with the track conditions changing, but I would imagine if you’ve immersed yourself into online dirt racing, you’re familiar with how the track changes, and the only thing you need to familiarize yourself with then is how it feels in the car in reality.
I think we’ve known that sim racing can prepare drivers for real racing for years now, with GT Academy and similar programs. Interesting to see it with dirt racing too.
A couple things probably worth noting, is that the competitive spread on some of these local dirt oval races is pretty big. And though he was running a 305 against 360s, the level of maintenance and prep done for local dirt races can be pretty lacking too. Seems like he had a proper crew and setup. And finally, if you’ve driven the 305 sprint car in iRacing, you know it’s a pretty easy car to drive. Now don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying what he did was a piece of cake, just highlighting some things that might’ve made it easier to make the jump from sim to reality. And I don’t want to toot my own horn too much, but I have quite a few hours on the 305 in iRacing and honestly feel like I would be pretty well equipped to jump into a real race with it if I were tasked with doing so.
Anyone with 1500 sessions of practice is probably FAR ahead of where some of these real-life local guys are in terms of understanding the car and understanding the technical side of driving. A lot of the real racers are hobbyists, who show up to floor it a few times and drink beers after the race.
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