F1 Fanatic

@ ajokay: You can use their set liveries and swap out colors. Within that I’ve seen a fair bit of variety. Everything from Marlboro Penske schemed Indy cars to classic Gulf orange and blue sports cars. That said, I *have* seen a site that offers the chance to come up with your own more custom paint jobs. I haven’t bothered to utilize it yet, though.

Truth be told, unless you’re a terrifically terrible driver, you’re probably going to progress, so I wouldn’t buy it and just sit there doing TT if you ask me. I was very timid about joining a race my first week with it and then my friend who also played just kept urging me to hop in one. After my first race, that was it.

As for the realism in the simulation, I’ve found it very much on par with Forza and that ilk. The only difference I’ve seen/heard is that the fastest laps tend to involve a bit more drifting than would be wise in real life for how fast the tires would go off. But they’re constantly working to improve the tire model as it’s the area where they admit is hardest to get perfectly right.

I think the best suggestion would be to snag the “buy one month get two free” deal if it’s still going. 3 months for the price of one for your first “trial” is a pretty sweet deal! Especially considering if you don’t like it, it still cost you the same as one trial month. I think if I or someone else refers you as well, it can give myself or you some kind of discount (actually… I know it will give me some credits. Wanna help a guy out? XD )

@ foocode: starting with the FW31 would be REALLY hard I’d imagine! Even the Star Mazda is a handful. Have you tried some of the lower series yet? The Miatas are very easy to drive, honestly. Pretty forgiving if you futz up.

Got in to the mx-5s tonight and have a feel for them now. My best predicted lap is just under 1:46 at Laguna so now I just need to put a decent lap together! I average about 1:48 now. I really need to work on my consistency because silly little ‘off tracks’ are ruining my flyers and dropping my rating!

yeah, I loathe Laguna in the Miata. As far as the rating goes, foo, you don’t hurt it when you’re just in practice. It’s only in qualifying, TT and races that the rating stuff counts. I tend to just rack up tons of laps for a while on new courses so that I can get the consistency down. What helps a lot is to go into practice so you’re around other drivers and do a full race distance. Just keep doing that and aim for clean laps over super fast ones. You’ll become more accustomed as time goes on and find it easier to run “perfect” races.

@ George: dude, Mid Ohio’s freakin’ tough to get fast laps on! It seems like all but two corners are blind. Feels like I’m constantly pussy-footing over crests so it doesn’t drift completely off into the grass.

Doing well on Mid Ohio, one 5th and one win (and broke 2k rating!). Somehow I managed to go from 1:38 dead to 1:37.6 during a race, still miles off an optimal time though.

Going to concentrate on touring cup races over the weekend I think, it sucks most of the races start >midnight for me :(.

T1 really got on my nerves until I worked out to brake early then feather throttle until the car gets planted. It’s a really hard track to back out of it if someone spins in front of you too, I got caught out on lap one in a race when I committed to t3 and everyone in front of me bunched up.

Gotta admit, this game sounds really fun. Unfortunately I don’t have a wheel anymore and I’m totally broke. Hopefully I’ll remember about it and give it a go in a month or two! It really is quite expensive though, so you guys really recommend it?

Yeah, I hesitated about the price for a long time, but my friend kept insisting about how great it is for sim racing fans. I’m glad he convinced me, though. If you look at it this way: just take a sandwich to work instead of going out to eat for lunch twice a month (or once a month if you tend toward more expensive restaurants) and there’s your 12 bucks (or however much it translates to in pounds, etc). But ditto to what Steve has said.

I’d recommend a Logitech Momo. I got mine for $50 on ebay and a quick search shows you could probably still snag one for about the same. It’s been a very good “beginner’s” sim wheel. Force feedback and plenty of buttons that can be designated, but not so many that it’s overwhelming.

Just do NOT get the Thrustmaster Ferrari GT. I had one for all of 6 months and the shifting paddle snapped in the middle of a race. Cheap piece of garbage.