DiRTy Forumers League

[Dytut 89]

Welcome back @Evilsmurf  :-)

• Smurf is 18 smurfs too smurf.

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Evilsmurf said:

Fighting understeer and oversteer all night. Nothing I did made any difference, Don't think the 2010 cars like my driving style. It's certainly not a class I feel comfortable in, or use much outside of the challenges.

I had similar issues when I used your setups for those cars. Took few shakedowns to come up with mine own, and apparently it worked flawlessly :D Also, those are 2000s cars, specifically the only cars in the game with active differentials. If you want to try my setup out, just say. I'll upload it to the Workshop (I'll be coming up with a setup for Finland now as well, so if you want that, just say).

Also, on quite few corners you were doing better than me, mainly the very straight sections which benefit a lot from... well... steering wheel xD

PS. You short shifted like hell, on what seemed to be a way too long gear ratios anyway. That Focus is most happy when it's near the rev limiter.

[Evilsmurf 90]

at service before the last stage I loaded the default set up and just pulled the gearing down, for all the tricks I tried to make it handle it was just as much a pig to drive as before lol

Finland should be a lot better as its mostly flat out, something the Focus does well. It's the twisty stuff I and it struggle with. The cars need to driven smoothly to get the best out of them, I'm a bit like a bull in a china shop :D

Don't put to much stock in my setups in the workshop, very few are final and the rest are wip. I'm always tweaking :)

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Evilsmurf said:

at service before the last stage I loaded the default set up and just pulled the gearing down, for all the tricks I tried to make it handle it was just as much a pig to drive as before lol

And that's not enough. Focus has sooooo long gearing by default, that even doing that still makes it awfully long. You need to adjust the gears themselves accordingly. And you know, I'm running a gamepad, so it's not like I'm a ballet dancer with that car in Greece xD

[Snaky115 18]

*Drives the first stage*
*Gets a total of 36 minutes of repairable damage after just 1 stage*

Well... ... ****.

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Snaky115 said:

*Drives the first stage*
*Gets a total of 36 minutes of repairable damage after just 1 stage*

Well, mate, I got more damage on the first stage than I could repair... with the whole 45 minutes xD

How to describe this event... I pushed, damage wasn't happy, I didn't push, car just decided to apply the damage any way. Hard to find the balance there xD I was extremely happy with the setup though, exhaust on the other hand was highly displeased xD

1st and 3rd service stations:

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/363/U9cxuU.png

http://imageshack.com/a/img924/8642/EtjQzh.png

[Dytut 89]

Finland was weird. I was OK with the setup of the car, but not quite confident with it so didn't really dare push. Kept pace with Ryu up until SS8 somehow, but I was so focused on just completing this round that I was too slow and lost 7 seconds. Was a fun fight with you @RyuMakkuro :-) 

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Dytut said:

Finland was weird. I was OK with the setup of the car, but not quite confident with it so didn't really dare push. Kept pace with Ryu up until SS8 somehow, but I was so focused on just completing this round that I was too slow and lost 7 seconds. Was a fun fight with you @RyuMakkuro :-) 

I'm honestly still baffled that with those mistakes I did, aka few barrel rolls, spins etc. and the damage that it put on the car, that I was able to finish first. I have to say that this time, it was purely down to the car, cause if it was anything else, I would've lost badly. The way gen2 Focus eats those bumps is insane, although gen1 Focus may still be the faster one for Finland (Endles torque FTW :D ).

I'm definitely looking forward to Germany. Will be nice to once again drive mainly on the ground rather than in mid-air xD

[Dytut 89]

I think the C4 can be quite fast in Finland aswell, tempted to do some hotlapping and see what times I can get out of it. It is very response in it's handling, even at speed. My biggest problem is that I'm not too sure what it will do when pushed to the limit, as it has a tendency to respond way too much with those active diffs at times.

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Dytut said:

My biggest problem is that I'm not too sure what it will do when pushed to the limit

Oh that one is simple. It will fly :D

[BadD0g 0]

Whelp, did Finland. I did go ahead and hire a second engineer, but the budget's been tight as you know - he's just got a set of pliers, but I reckon him and the Duct Tape Specialist will make a good team.

I, completely unfamiliar with the concept of  'easing into it,' managed to land on top of the fence to the right of the yellow house jump on stage 1. This resulted in the death of innocent bystanders, and, more importantly, a rear right puncture. I tried to press on but I couldn't keep the car in line, so I had to bite the bullet and repair it. Since I'm already at a major points disadvantage due to missing Sweden, and I'm not competitive in these cars, I wasn't too bothered.

I was bothered, however, when the damage from spins and crashes started adding up. At first I pumped all my team's efforts into suspension to keep the car in line, but the radiator damage soon caught up to me when all the sudden I heard a steady hissing noise - presumably the radiator leaking. I've never heard that before, I wonder if it's been added recently. I don't remember reading about it being added. It's a nice (if a bit unnerving) detail.

Once Paul asked "Is the engine OK?" I decided to cut my losses and go into full limp mode. While I wasn't expecting to finish above last place, I was at least expecting to finish - there was a real chance that that might not happen. I had to limp through stages 6 and 7 (a long stage - that was very tense), but I made it back to service. Pliers guy had his work cut out for him, but he and the Duct Tape Specialist could only do so much. The hissing returned halfway through the final stage after a crash, so it was back to shortshifting. I finished at least, I have yet to experience the 'random component failure' that was added a while back, and I'm glad it didn't happen this time, I really felt like I was going to loose the engine.

I may not be fast in these cars (or in general), but these races have at least provided some interesting stories. There's not too many racing games out there that can provide this sort of emotional rollercoaster, and the ones that do go out of their way to force it. This game creates natural, organic stories thanks to its realism. I can only imagine what these events would be like with RBR-style damage. I bet I'd be driving quite a bit differently than I do now.

[YoMrWhite 11]

Well, that was the moment everybody was waiting for. After honing my skills in left-side-driving on the beautiful narrow and twisty roads of southern England I'm back to virtual racing.

I didn't feel too much rust, so I started Finland without practise. Some stages felt good, some not so, I encountered a roll and some spins, but nothing too serious until SS8. There I touched something and after some lucky moments in the stages before, a rear tire went flat. I drove the second half of the stage on the rim and tried desperately to salvage fourth place but lost too much time with another two spins and had to let @Evilsmurf pass.

Nice to be back though. Thanks for the family friendly schedule, @RyuMakkuro!

[RyuMakkuro 6]

YoMrWhite said:

Thanks for the family friendly schedule, @RyuMakkuro!

Well, that's just about the only thing I can do here :D

[Dytut 89]

Went through Germany, in a blaze of car parts. No feeling at all, think I had two clean stages. I just can't get a good feel for tarmac.

[Snaky115 18]

Germany starts the same time i get a massive cold, awesome. :no_mouth:

My time doesn't seem bad, for not having driven the C4 for 2 weeks and fighting a massive cough.

[BadD0g 0]

Nothing particularly eventful for me this time, although I'm not quite as far behind as usual. In fact, towards the end I noticed my stage times were a bit faster than normal, so I may have had a chance if I had gotten to grips with the rain earlier.

Although, I do have some bad news - I've been making progress in the career, so I unfortunately had to let the Duct Tape Specialist and Pliers Guy go in favor of some, you know, actual engineers. They will be dearly missed. Now I've got a full crew of mid-level engineers, which still gives me the challenge of having to manage damage, but they can do more than just hammer the body panels and crack eggs in the radiator.

[RyuMakkuro 6]

BadD0g said:

Although, I do have some bad news - I've been making progress in the career, so I unfortunately had to let the Duct Tape Specialist and Pliers Guy go in favor of some, you know, actual engineers. They will be dearly missed. Now I've got a full crew of mid-level engineers, which still gives me the challenge of having to manage damage, but they can do more than just hammer the body panels and crack eggs in the radiator.

I suppose my issues with engineers are what you would call "First world problems" xD

https://twitter.com/Ryu_Makkuro/status/756849419841073153

[YoMrWhite 11]

Germany. SS1 was full of minor mistakes, SS2 had the major ones. Embarassing.

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Well, for me Germany was... kind of a letdown. I did win but I can safely say it was mostly down to the car, rather than me. I was going slightly carefully most of the time, pushed only in Ruschberg. On top of that, when it comes to Germany for some reason I always lose time to the best results. Not sure why...

While I can even not finish Wales and still win, the fight for the second place should be interesting. All comes down to Wales... yet again :D

[Dytut 89]

Wales was a mixed bag for me. Felt like I had rather bad lines in the beginning, and on SS2 I had two silly spins which didn't improve matters, especially since the second one tore off my right back wheel . Went better after that, but had a real silly off on SS5 or SS6. So my bet's on @Snaky115 bringing home the silver.

[Snaky115 18]

Aaaaand notorious Wales strikes again - first stage retirement. That makes it two retirements for this C4, doesn't it? Blergh.

[RyuMakkuro 6]

I'm really glad I secured the victory in Germany, since every single muscle in my body hurts and my mouth decided to swell up for no reason -_- After 3 first decent stages came the lack of concentration and the pain really made me drive like an old grandma... if not worse.

At least it's good to know I had an easier access to the spare tire, in case a puncture followed xD

[BadD0g 0]

Whew! I felt good at the start of Wales - good rhythm and I felt comfortable with the car - so I was hopeful for at least a mid-pack finish. Things went well, and I found myself with a small, but comfortable lead over @Evilsmurf. Then came River Severn, at night and in the rain, no less. I knew I needed to take it easy, but I was willing to give up my position in favor of a clean stage, so that's what I did. However, I was surprised to find that I had kept my lead, although Evilsmurf was breathing down my neck at this point. The rest of the stages were tense, as I kept making mistakes that I thought for sure would loose my position, but each time I remained ahead by an increasingly unnerving margin.

On the final stage, I went wide on the 2nd or 3rd corner, then overcrorrected, crossed the road, and went halfway up the bank on the other side. I decided to push to make up for it, and was able to keep it relatively clean, but I was close to my limits. I though for sure this time that I would have lost my spot, but much to my surprise I did indeed finish ahead of the Smurf, by a bigger margin this time - looks like he also had some problems with that stage. It was a good fight, @Evilsmurf, I'm glad to finish the season with a proper battle after being miles behind for the rest of it.

[Evilsmurf 90]

Congrats @BadD0g. I've no excuses. The car was spot on and was happy with the set up. I just over drove it and made a lot of mistakes, plain and simple :) 

[Dytut 89]

Snaky115 said:

Aaaaand notorious Wales strikes again - first stage retirement. That makes it two retirements for this C4, doesn't it? Blergh.

That just sucks. I was hoping for a tight fight until the end between us C4s. Guess we'll have to pick this up again next season :-)