RIP Jules - I can control my destiny, but not my fate.

"I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfill our destiny, but our fate is sealed." - Paulo Coelho

Motor racing although considered as science, and all about fight with the time, the stopwatches, for crazy people going in circles, once ready to risk their lives for glory, but sometimes other influences has played part. Fate or coincidence, however you wanna call it, loom large in many stories that ended with a tragic loss throughout the history of the sport.

Do you know that at the time when Francois Cevert died, before entering the car he was superstitious about being number 6 that he was sitting on DFV number 066 and it was October 6th. He pointed out this at his mechanics before that lap that cut short his life.

Some say being superstitious is bad way of looking at things, for worse believing in them and perhaps they would be right. I myself i am not believing that much, in whatever form of believe you think of, but for believing that nothing happens just like that or else that everything has some purpose and definitely 100% believer in karma, sometimes there are many things that make you wonder about ones destiny, or fate, for the things that happen and are out of ours control.

Gilles Villeneuve died at Zolder in 1982. He died in qualifying. What are the odds that the very next man to die in F1 car during qualifying, would happen in the corner named after this lost legend Villeneuve?
But many died. Not all were linked in any weird way you could imagine.

How on the 20th anniversary of the last tragic loss in San Marino, for which on large scale it was talked about Ayrton Senna, movies, tributes, Williams car homage etc. happened the accident that after 9 months being in coma, brought to an end the life of the young, talented Jules Bianchi, who began racing in the year when Ayrton Senna died. First one to die after him. In 20 years. Exactly when Jules began his career.

First racing experience of Jules happened in 1994.  But he is not the only one to started racing in '94. You would say it means nothing and you would be absolutely right. After all i don't know what my point of this post is to be honest. But its just really strange.

How about this?
Ayrton Senna in his early days widely was known during his kart days, his favorite number was 42. To that extent that being always that fast and in the front, also not very talkative, people knew him as "The 42" and his girl at the time "the girl of the 42". What this has anything to do with this tragic event of Jules Bianchi? Nothing at all. However the crash of Adrian Sutil happened on lap 42, that triggered some events who were beyond Jules control. Or was that fate, that the driver from garage no.43 would crash on lap 43 which followed, to what we sadly heard few 2 days ago.

This garage picture is on the day of the accident. Coincidence? Fate?

Watching some videos right now, made me realize how, most of all, beautiful human being he was. So decent so humble. You cannot hear him raise his tone. Calm, respectful, young, full with love and passion towards his profession, which was his life. Talking with so much respect, nothing to say up-front or to rely on peoples opinions but rather working hard to get best results and eventually getting the title one day. Asked if he would be a Champion one day he gave shy smile, looked away in the room thought second or two and said "I dont wanna say that i will be, it is wrong for me to say that but i know for sure that i want and i would do whatever i can to become one". Then pointed at him as having special talent he answered "I dont want to say that i have special talent, basically, when i was in go-kart i knew i was quick" and you wouldn't help yourself to not remind you of the Ayrton Senna's attitude or interview in 1983, the year before he entered in F1 when he even after his astonishing success in F3000 and those early F1 tests he literally said it "If i ever have that luck of driving in F1, ever"... and they all talked about him at the time as "The next sure thing"

I hope i wont be misunderstood or judged on this topic, on this text. Just, in a weird way, these are some weird connections. After 20 years free of deaths in F1, on 17th of July we lost person which is also his number.

We are no strangers to these things. We all in everyday events many times have been in situations that after many many details and small things we don't see, put us in certain time at certain place, and thats exactly what happened with so unlucky unfolded situation that led to his crash.

"There is no such things as accidents, its fate misnamed" - Napoleon Bonaparte

Jules Bianchi - Racing in the heavens

17 July 2015

On this day, after 20 remarkable years in Formula 1, we lost another...great guy, talented racing driver, Jules Bianchi. He died at 25.

Born in Nice on 3rd of August in 1989 ......... was a French racing driver who was driving for Marussia since 2013. He made his debut in Australia, finishing 15th but scoring no points in whole season. They kept him for 2014 and in Monaco, he brought the first point of Marussia. One single, epic, point at Monaco. His car was nowhere near the top 10, but he made it.

On this day, the F1 family lost a member. Lost a brother. Lost someone who shared the same passion the same love we have and feel towards Formula 1 in particular.

20 years after, on the anniversary of the last deaths that happened in F1. It was perhaps one of the most tragic F1 weekends, it was. Roland Ratzenberger lost his life and the day after Ayrton Senna, the triple World Champion lost his life either, Formula 1 made serious changes that led to this day. 20 years after in 2014 at Suzuka, on a weekend alike any other before, only in worse conditions that usual, Jules Bianchi hit the crane who was about to lift the car of Adrian Sutil, which crashed there the lap before. It happened at the Dunlop corner.

After months and months in coma, fighting for his life, till his very end, like in every race he drove, Jules Bianchi passed away. His family announced this morning. After all they have been through these times.

Could have been done something to prevent this?
Jackie Stewart, always honest and straight forward like he is, would say it was Jules Bianchi fault for not slowing down. Like when he said that it was Francois Cevert mistake that got him killed, few hours after the accident actually happened, for not listening to him to go with 5th instead 4th gear through the Esses at Glan Watkins, and over that mystical bump. 4th of 5th gear, what a detail, not much important, would say a human not familiar with F1 world. But every detail counts.

 But what could have Jules Bianchi done against aquaplaning? Absolutely nothing!

Martin Brundle, in his time, had accident at the exact same corner, Dunlop, in more or less same conditions and instead the crane hit an steward, who was badly injured.
He, from his own experience said that in such conditions sometimes they (drivers) sometimes cannot even see the dashboard lights let alone some waving flags from the sides of the circuits. Was Jules approaching fast not aware there is Safety Car in front? Has he seen the waving yellow flags? And who can blame him for not?

It is what it is. Motoracing and especially F1, will be always dangerous. People need to understand that. There is lurking danger at every corner, every moment when concentration falls. Each second counts and lives are changed. People need to understand that about F1. Out of respect to Jules if nothing else.

Its sad. And about the loss of Jules, only 25, thinking how all could have been normal if only he lifted his foot of the throttle a bit or saw earlier things, that for someone are not important, he would be alive. Is anyone considering that? Or people are used for 20 years taking things as granted. Complaining, this and that, all the time. F1 too easy. F1 like playstation. Not thinking what drivers have to do in each second that lead to events that change the course of lifetime?
Do you have the courage to say the same thing now?

Whatever happens, Jules Bianchi left us.
I hope he is up in the heavens and racing with the rest of the legends who are there from long, long time ago.



Rest in Peace Jules!
Forever in our hearts! 

Non simracers, this isn't simple game, this is madness!

How many times you heard someone disrespect your spent time in sim-racing? Disrespect what you tried to achieve for so long. Parents, roommates, friends, (wives and girls didn't come to that yet lol at least for me) who simply don't understand?

"Turn that off" , "how do you drive in circles for so long" , "how can be interesting for you to drive alone" , "stupid game, i can do it anytime" are phrases i bet we have all heard times and times again. It's like i have made some sins! They don't understand that beating the best time on a given track with given car even by -0.100 or winning a race is hours and hours, and again hours of hard work of testing that is so close related with real life testing, that makes you sweat on your PC like you run 2-3 kilometers.
They don't understand that not only they won't "do it anytime" but they won't do it ever! Because it's not a simple game. Because you need skills. You need to think. You need to react in a matter of a seconds in a situation. You need reflexes. You need engineering knowledge to prepare your car. You need the full package. And you need talent without any doubt. To be good in it at least to compete with others who don't do mistake in 2 hours of consistent driving, thats perfection.

People will say why bother? But there are many reasons why many people around the globe are doing sim racing. My reason personally is that at the age of 9-10 as kid, apart from the races with our bicycles around the streets, risking our lives in front of cars passing by after each blind corner, we(me and my friends) wanted to race on PC either and not that to be some Need For Speed crap but some decent, close to real physics racing game were we could measure, who is better who is fastest. Many are doing sim racing because they never could in their real lives. That includes me as well. Some others might be computer nerds who found new obsession. But we all bind with one common truth, we are all a hell of competitive guys who like to win. Sometimes at all costs. We want to do things where we are fully in charge and we like to spend our time on something that really is challenging. Not just any simple everyday game that kids can play. Have you ever driven 1 hour and a half long race with Force Feedback on your steering wheel turned ON at 100%? Your hands after that would be in pain! With the opponent for whole hour not more than 1 second behind. What other game will give you that much pressure or make you concentrate that much, not to do one single mistake in 1 hour, like sim racing would do? Answer is easy. No other.

To try to explain this madness, we are enjoying the competitiveness of the field full of other, sometimes random sim racers, sometimes in Championships well organized for which entry can cost 500 euros, competition(people behind PC on the other side of the planet) who express their emotions, their skills, their mentality at virtual racing circuits. You encounter many different sim racers with different racing styles, smooth - aggressive, all part of their mentality. Many who are doing sim racing will say sim racing makes us better drivers. The other group would only laugh at how naive we are, yet now quite often we find that sim racing has indeed produced real life racing drivers who won races in their new careers who were not older than a year or two in real life racing against racing drivers who spent their lives since 4-5 years old in go-karts an so on through the ranks of the motorsport. That stands for something! That only tells how sim racing technology has advanced. Many real racing teams use racing simulators as training tools. Although this is very much used times and time again when trying to explain or justify what we are doing, honestly even that is not what keeps us on a given track hours after midnight.

We all want to escape from the reality and go in a place where we can enjoy, racing virtually. Place which in real life is not allowed for everyone everywhere on the planet. For that hour or two or three, we are living in a world where the only goal is 'to beat the Stig' or win the race, without any doubt, to have a lot of fun and enjoy racing with others on track. How can i explain when the other behind you or in front of you is doing what you are doing, all in manual control. Computer is not involved! And you both are fighting through the corners. Braking later. Accelerating sooner. Changing lines blocking sides and try to be on the limit without hitting each other. That's tense in same time beautiful and gives us very big pleasure. Pleasure that not many have experienced.

I am not writing this so my friends can read it, or even less my parents etc but to the people out there in the world who are thinking, like one guy that bothered to point me that DOTA was harder, i can only say - keep on dreaming kiddo!

Till next time!


Inspired by Ryan Ogurek on his beautiful article at RaceDepartment.com

Sebastian Vettel - One of the greats!

I was hooked to F1 at very young age. Perhaps at the age of 4 when i heard about the death of Senna. Very soon after that my cousin, he had in his room, on whole wall picture, extra big one of Ayrton Senna. That big that his eyes were big as much as couch pillow and you could see his eyes very clearly and he used to say how great he was, how no one was close to him or could catch him. The way he spoke i think the way he idolized him, to me that was so powerful, something, mystical.

 Year later i was watching full race for the first time with him, but it was not before 1997 when i started to watch regularly and cheer for Michael Schumacher, opposite of my cousin choice Hakkinen, Schumacher who happened to be driving for the only other car i new as a kid apart from Mercedes, Ferrari. How i started cheering for him is another matter, but i have always been for the underdogs.

At the time while other kids on my age couldn't distinguish trucks from cars i was using words like racing, Ferrari and of course, Schumacher.
I fell in love with the sport very early on. The cars were not just machines, the drivers were not normal human beings or least athletes. They were gladiators. They were there to win. At all costs. I was 8-9 years old and i already appreciated those characteristics.

I was following the sport very closely and i followed Schumacher too, till his retirement in Brazil, 2006. All after that race and that season was very fast losing it's meaning. I couldn't watch F1 races, i missed Schumacher. It was empty feeling. I think i continued to watch just of the thought that i didn't want to see Alonso succeed and i wanted to be there and see if and when he fails. People who watch F1 know why Alonso. I was always for the driver, not the car even though i knew Ferrari before i heard about Schumacher. And (that empty feeling) that was all about to change, and it was in front of my nose even before i knew it ...

In 2005 already was spoken about a kid that has been granted F1 test as a gift cause he was the rookie of the season where he was driving at the time and eventually he was way faster than they thought and even faster than some veteran of F1. His name was Vettel and he was only 16. At that age i could only drive bicycle or in front of computer. In 2006 he became full time BMW test driver and in 2007 after Kubica accident in Canada he was granted an F1 seat in the team of BMW Sauber as replacement. As i am writing this i cannot comprehend how i feel that the accident of Kubica in far 2007 seems to have happened like just 5minutes ago. I remember what i said when i saw the accident i know where i was where i was sitting and how i felt. Like happened just literally 5 minutes ago.

Sebastian Vettel arrived in F1 as the youngest ever to participate in a Grand Prix. He finished the 2007 US Grand Prix in points making him the youngest ever to win a point and to do so on a debut race. I was sitting on a couch with a friend and we both spoke about that kid. We both agreed he would become something special. And i even wished that he could be "next Schumacher" for me, or at least that i could start once again, to watch F1 like i used to do for so long, because ever since the moment Schumacher crossed that line in Brazil for the one last and final time, all i wanted was that someone new could come and be just a little bit closer to him to how he was and that was year and a half before!

When Vettel year later in 2008 with Toro Rosso team who replaced Minardi, got 4th place in rainy China it was eye opener again and when he won on rain sometime later in Monza with that same team of course, starting from the pole and leading every lap of the race, that was it. At that moment i knew i had my “next Schumi”. Right after the race articles and comments started to arrive as to how Vettel was close with Schumi, how Schumi was his idol and so on. I knew my wishes has been answered!

Later in 2010 when Vettel became champion people who know me were asking me "Why Vettel, why not Alonso? He drives Ferrari. But you are always for the best!" ... now thinking about that, it's like they didn't know me at all!
Jean Todt once said, "while i am in Ferrari Alonso will never drive this car" and it was when he left that later Alonso joined. Everyone i knew since kid, who were for Schumi now were for Alonso and Ferrari, but i couldn't. To me, that was like being a traitor. I enjoyed seeing Vettel beat Alonso. Every pass every win over him or even far more precious title, like in 2010 and 2012, it was like Alonso paying debts to Schumi.

Vettel from 2010 to 2013 dominated Formula 1 exactly like his mentor once did. I suddenly started going through the things i have been 10 years ago from '00 to '04 when he(Schumi) was winning "in the best car" and people, cried :) 

He drove on his debut with car that he is never going to drive again. Just like Schumi did.
For his 2nd race he went on to drive for a team that was no engine manufacturer. Just like Schumi did.
He went on to win his first pole & victory with that team. Just like Schumi did.
He won a race in his 2nd year in the sport. Just like Schumi did.
He won his 1st title after 4 years in the sport. Just like Schumi did.

In many things he was exactly how they called him “Baby Schumi” and I couldn’t wish for anything more!

What Schumi did not do was, to win 4 titles in row, like Vettel did at the age of 26.
By the age of 26 Sebastian Vettel had 4 world titles, 39 victories and 45 pole positions. Staggering numbers, benchmark that I doubt anyone will ever surpass. By the age of 26 he had only two drivers in the history of the sport with more titles than him, ever lasting Juan Manuel Fangio and his and mine childhood hero and now his friend, Michael Schumacher.

Ever since he won his title in 2010 and with all being said about him and Schumi now, by the end of March 2011 i knew he is going to drive one day for Ferrari. In 2011 i was in Barcelona just 2 months after that and visited Ferrari store. There i bought flag of Ferrari, in the name of all those years of supporting Schumacher and the Prancing Horse, the same one he(Vettel) will wave at his first victory 4 years after (Malaysia 2015) Back then in 2011 I intended to write "Vettel" on it and to show up with it in Hungary year later but the trip was canceled. When he announced to be leaving Red Bull and to join Ferrari, it was dream come true. He is there where he belongs!
That’s how I see it that’s how I think of it, that’s the only thing in which I want to believe in.

The video is created in honor of Sebastian Vettel and his career so far for which we are going to write so much more. This Is only the beginning. He has 27 years only.

The video is created from 27 different videos all over the internet.

I hope you enjoyed the video.

Proud Vettel fan ever since Monza 2008 & very easily US 2007

First thoughts on Project CARS

Yesterday, 08.05 late on Friday night, i had Project Cars. 

Entering the game you have this beautiful menu. I won't talk much about it you can see it yourself. 

Colorful, big, easy to spot what you need etc. There is not much to be said about it just that it's perhaps the best compared to rFactor2, Assetto Corsa or iRacing for that matter. I am here to write for something else. The simulation feeling! But before i go there, little about the graphics. 

The Graphics. The most basic things in the game like the car and the track graphics to me they are shoulders with Assetto Corsa if Assetto Corsa is not even slightly very slightly better. However when we come to the details. 

Some might not agree, but to my taste AC is slightly better due to the shades inside the car which give you sense of realism. And the tracks are laser scanned, so what can i add on that? 

The damage of the cars or the rain drops and the wind which are unique to Project Cars, the clouds the night sky, thunders, the water on the road, the race track, depends where you are driving (notice you have different types of tracks) you mention it, they are outstanding! You will be lost in the graphic world of Project Cars very easily. It's so beautiful. Some hours ago i drove Nordschleife under, thunders and heavy rain. "Green Hell" turned into "The Darkest Hell".... 

Project Cars, talking the graphics, is perhaps right now the best there is on the market. Fullstop. I talk about the whole package! Wheather, cars, tracks, rain, etc. Enough about it, going to the driving feeling....

Well driving, here we have big big problem!

When i read how one guy from big big IGN wrote that "Project CARS isn't for everybody" and that it was "serious and demanding racing simulation for people who love their motorsport pure" i couldn't not sit back for a brief moment and wonder has this guy ever tried anything called rFactor 2, Assetto Corsa or iRacing or some other well known simulation (not for me now to mention all of them!) 

Answer is easy. NO! How can this guy give an opinion, which will be regarded very highly since it comes from IGN and it's totally missed.

I drove this game for about 10 minutes, particularly the SMS R Formula A car around Catalunya circuit from the Community Hub Test, nevermind.

The first 5-6 laps i had on this game, driven in that Formula A car were tricky. Tricky but not hard. The point that you cannot just realize what is wrong that you do, so you prevent it and improve. It's not natural. You cannot feel the car the way you need to. You cannot just play with the throttle to the point where you can guide the car and do what you wanna do with her.

I go at Turn1 of Catalunya circuit at some 300kmh if not 10kmh more, and apply the brakes, start braking and gearing down fast and at one point you lose the car completely. That's not natural.

Here are my first 10 minutes in the game

The Developers from Slightly Mad Studious have worked really hard to bring this game to us but i must be honest with myself, and to you, who read this article. This game 10 out of 10 times i would describe it as SimCade but not Simulation for sure. Nor it can be Arcade. Her place is in the rank of games like Forza Motorsport, Codemasters and the rest. The game is enjoyable! I cannot wait to go and explore it further. I am so damn sure that i am going to spend hours and hours on this product.

Project CARS offers a big portion of tracks and cars. Offers a very interesting career mod and what's most interesting about it is that (for those who will needed) you can adjust the AI at a level you want at any point in the Championship so you can enjoy it pretty much every car every track, suited you or not, and be equal with the AI.

But again, speaking about the physics and weather it is or not a simulation, my answer is 100% no.

Assetto Corsa Formula Abarth At Imola

Greetings,

Recently after joining online race i found out that Formula Abarth class can provide great fun and great racing. Why? Cars are offering great visibility, they are easy handled, have a lot of downforce which means they are precise and being precise means you will have precise overtakings, precise racing without bigger accidents, all you need to enjoy online racing.

So i started driving this Formula Abarth at Imola like i haven't seen it before in my life, these past two weeks! I started to enjoy it. I was barely noticing this car before. Assetto Corsa offers great deal of cars, tracks, etc and since i have it from the night they released it, of course that i have driven it however the simulation is around 11 times updated since then, more or less things are different. Far from that that this was my first touch with the car with whom now i struggled to fight the leaders who were doing lap times like 1;48 1:49 and i couldn't go below 1:51, it was just matter of time.

Since i consider myself as skillful driver, with little tweaks on the setup i was already doing laptimes below 1:50, high 1:49 and that lasted for a while. Then i got 1:48 and then medium 1:47 , by which point i started leading and dominating races online. This sounds like i was doing this for a year. No, not at all. It's about last two weeks in which i had like 20 races and i have won 8 of them, the rest, i wonder if some of those 12 finished like it should, without accidents, every once in a while you will do one....
Assetto Corsa really needs to do something about it, some system by penalizing drivers like in iRacing it would be awesome!!!!!

So, back on track. I was struggling to go faster at which point i realized something and went for it, to try it, to do some experiments and it worked out.

I have done 1:45.259 and very easily i would have entered in medium/high 1:44 if i had more than 10minutes time.

How i drove it ....

As you are approaching Turn 1, corner which is in a way showing off little by little, its not straight forward, either you should not take it that way, that means, you don't go on the outside line just like you prepare for every other, but stick to the left of the straight line long before Turn 1, just continue going straight and slowly you will find yourself at the outside, before you are placed at that point and start braking hard, gear by gear from 6th in 3rd. If you place your car right away on the outside you will notice the track is little by little going in long left so you will lose control prior braking to catch the apex...be sure to control the car and carry as much speed as possible through the corner because it's very important, the corner is followed by another short to medium straight with another same type of corner after which you reach Sector 1.  

So, hard braking from 6th to 3rd gear and go through, be sure you won't be too aggressive over the curbs, that might disturb the car or if you hit that small bumps you will spin right away or lose control totally after you hit on the throttle! 

This is the second corner which is the same type of corner like the previous one, but this one is a bit more simple. You have clear sight on the apex  and you can position your car to the far right before cutting through the apex like in the picture no.2 above this small text. At this point you are lowering from 6th to 5th using the mechanic slowing down and prepare right away for the other apex that you can see it in the short distance of the same picture, with another lower gear from 5th to 4th. By doing that you gain stability with the mechanic slowing down and putting the car in high revs which will be helpful to accelerate the car once you go out of the corner. 

Now this is the 1st Turn after Sector 1 and it's perhaps the slowest one at Imola. This is the corner at which i gained half a second after i realized that i could easily catch it with 3rd instead 2nd gear, which was slowing down the car even more than needed. I realized that after i had several weird accelerations at which point i had oversteer of the car. So prepare from the outside, don't go too wide, just enough, and lower to 3rd gear, touch the apex while you have left your feet of the brake or the throttle and leave the car for a second go through that point and right away hit the throttle or bump it little by little and start accelerating as soon as possible for the hill. 

When you will climb the hill you will be at this point at which i am starting to brake. Now, many times i went here again like in the previous with 1 gear lower than needed, with 4th instead 5th like i do it now. Hitting hard on the brake for part of a second fast gear down and go through the apex with the foot off the throttle, carefully by reaching the far outside i blip the throttle, touch the curb and go down at max speed possible. 

At this point i lower down from 6th to 5th and leave the car to rest in a brief second....then lower another gear to 4th by which moment the car is perfectly placed to climb up through that bumpy tight corner.

  Before making the turn i lower another gear to 3rd to calm down the car and gain stability instead leaving it with revs high open and provoke spin on the rear. This is a very tricky place and at this point i also gaine another -0.200/300 parts of the second. 

The chicane. The chicane i believe should be approached, at least that's how i do it, with high 3rd gear on the first curb and the milisecond before i hit the curb i lower to 2nd gear to calm down the car again before i disturb the car again by hitting the other bumpy curb and slowly accelerating and trying to not go out in the green surface which is not an asphalt and therefore it's very easy to lose control at it or spin 360. 

After we successfully past the chicane and went as soon as possible on the throttle we approach this 1st of two almost identical corners which should be carefully approached if not, it's a point where you could very easily lose 1 second or lose whole race, if that's the case. Since if you block the brakes or you start braking later you are off in the gravel and returning back is pretty much a problem. Enough about what if braking late is also big problem since this corner is very important for you to place the car on the perfect spot between the green surface and the asphalt for attack the very next corner which comes in one breath. So you brake hard to 3rd gear, with careful gearing down, and you touch the apex. Be careful not to go over the whole curb, you will take the car in the air, and even little makes big difference. So you take that apex, and place the car right on the outside. 

At this point you need to be careful again no to overdrive the rear wheels which may cause spin, so you put in higher 4th gear and wait literally next corner comes to you....

Hit that apex which is ever coming and slowly go towards the outside at max possible speed before the straight line. 

At this point you have done everything you needed to for a good lap.
Just sit back tight and watch the clock :) 

I hope you enjoyed my narration of my lap around Imola in the Formula Abarth. 

NOW, you might be thinking, but its impossible to go in this gear there etc.
The setup is very important, like you don't know it right?
So, what i use? 

My setup, my front wing is at 13 and my rear is at 8 my frong cambers are at -3.2 and rears at -2.9

The rest i have put to rest, literally and i still try to improve myself and catch eventually the record of 1:43.392

Here is my lap. 

WRC 5 Thoughts ...

Since ever, really, i wanted to learn to drive Rally. It's interesting. Such online competition would be i assume, really great. No one to crash into you no one to spoil your lap. It's you and the time. Imagining that?

For those who know me might be wondering, seeing me speaking about Rally since i have never ever drove one. Truth to be told, this is for them, my first interaction with racing games was Rallying. I always hate when one guy is bothering you with how good he is in something and you are not. So we had this guy playing Rally, and happened to work at the PS1 gaming store, and we who went to play Tony Hawk or Crash Team Racing at the time, having only 8 - 9 years, wanted to beat him. He was perhaps 25y at the time. But we couldn't. Tracks were really long and we couldn't bother with learning them all. I think that at those times racing games kinda stuck with me and i continued till this very day. 

Leaving aside my totally irrelevant stories about it, my point is, that maybe i am not really  good speaking about Rallying since i dont have much experience with it. But i am not here to talk about that but about new game that is coming up...

As time passed by and we are now 2015 Richard Burns Rally is still regarded as the best simulation when we speak about Rally games, which dates from 2003! 
I have on just few occasions tried Rallying and since RBR was the best, as far i knew, it was the only one i drove. But the graphics that game had and still has, are appalling! So i never bothered much. At the time, back then in 2003-04 and the following years, i was too busy with driving F1. I was totally into F1 ! But i am very keen to finally try out something that would be worth spending the time on it. Not some arcade like all other rallying titles, but a simulation that will surpass Richard Burns Rally! 

Now Kylotonn Games have published some images from whats to be their upcoming rally title, WRC 5, and we can see the first glimpse of the new Rally... i hope it will be more towards simulation than arcade! Since every Rally game is arcade! -_- 

Not much i know about Rallying games, even least i know about this game, other than it's the first time the WRC series will appear on next-gen consoles. They have teaser on their facebook profile. 

The picture below which was have been published on the game's official Facebook page, they show M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS kicking up some dust. Where this is, id say Texas haha and you'd laugh. I have no idea really. 



What is interesting is that the game also has WRC driver Sebastien Chardonnet as its ambassador! That's cool! Like i have said i really hope we can have one great graphic looking game with great sim-racing simulations, to be worth really. And we can read the comments on the people in their posts, asking just the same thing! 
We can hope and expect that the WRC real life driver will, or is contributing with his experience and helping the development team. We can only hope that will result in a great game, fun and challenging... 

WRC 5 as i have read will be out for PC, PS3, PS4, X360, X1 and Vita and that's not all! Their rivals from Milestone with Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo which will go out for PC, PS4 and X1 when they are going to be released later this year, we, who love sim racing, can expect great things when it comes to rallying, finally!

And perhaps i can try myself again in a much more realistic game for the first time after 15 years. Stay tuned!  

Sim Racing - just a game or something more?

Just 10 years ago it was not an option even if available but today, PC simulations are big time part of real racing. We can see that more than on any other place in Formula 1.

PC simulations have reached that far, that they are used in high spending motorsport like F1 to cut the money spend while F1 teams are doing researches on their cars. 

I remember when i played F1 Challenge 99-02 back in 2000 and how i learnt about apex, about how tyres are damaging how aerodynamics work and all those things. I even learnt what drag was and how i could stay behind another car that would make me go faster. And i was only 10 years old. Those at my age, learnt about it perhaps 10 years later than i did. And now those same games, they are far more advanced!

By 2015 we have guy who never drove car and never left his country went from very cold place to a very warm one and drove at most 20 laps in Formula 3 car and was only 2 seconds shy of the record at the track. To repeat, that guy has never driven normal car, F3 car is out of question. And he did that? How? Through the school of driving simulations on PC.

Can you play Call of Duty or Counter Strike and use those skills in real life? No! 

Can you play Pro Evolutions Soccer or NBA and use those skills in real life? Of course no, again. 

Strategic games? There is a little bit more of a brain activity but yet that's only a game. In real life you don't build cavalries or tanks in 5min. Neither you can press escape or pause or even restart after you crash some car, but you know what you are doing. You know the law of the physics you know how to apply the aerodynamics. You have steering wheel and you have pedals. And you work. You work on your reflexes you work on your senses and how that reacts. At least one guy who drove Nismo on Gran Turismo, had that luck that from playing it on Play Station 3 now is driving real racing car and is performing really good!

As time passes by we more often see new products and highly priced steering wheels that recreate the same power of the original steering wheels if not stronger. The only problem is that while driving in front of the PC monitor you don't feel any fear. That's crucial in racing, very often. In every other term about racing, you apply your brain and you are concentrated on the driving all the time. And if racing is state of mind, who says you cannot perform that in the real life? It takes practice, a lot of guts and you have to be passionate about it. If someone is good on simulations that doesn't mean he will be too good in real life. Perhaps he will be scared to death, who can tell. But still even in a game on PC you need some talents if you are the one who is winning or doing lap times other cannot. And not only that, you must have great understandings of the car and how to setup the car. How to find that tenth or some through car setup changes. That takes a lot of feel and feeling the limits. Not anyone can do it.

I regard myself as one of them. Those who will win etc. But yet there are times, often, when while i am thinking i am on the limit, that guy comes and he goes 1-2 seconds faster. Then you realize that you were mistaken. You felt like it was the limit but its not. You realize someone has much more understanding in working on the car setup or adapting it to certain track. It takes a lot of practice. 

Sim racing games today, at least by some of my friends, are taken as a very stupid, game not worth losing the time on, etc. I realized that they are not stupid but they are so much complex and they don't have time to bother with it so on the contrary they are one amazing piece of software that enables thousands of people out there in the world to enjoy their favorite cars and now as very popular thing, in fact started some year ago, tracks are laser scanned meaning that every bump every curb is placed 100% like it is and you would feel it. You can experience it. I know many people who are throwing money on their cars, preparing them, going and having drag races etc and sometimes i wonder, these guys dont have that much money to allow themselves that luxury why they spend whole fortunes on something they wont get any profit out of it, only pleasure, and still the pleasure, it doesn't have that big meaning when those same guys who are accelerating on that straight line and nothing more, if ever happens that we go to Nordschleife for real (which laser scanned i have experienced now many times)  i bet they won't have a chance against me even i have never been that much enthusiast about those drag races and never participated in one. Of course i won't go out there like i do in front of the PC but they won't know much about it while i would know every corner and how it comes. It won't be the same exact feeling for sure but you would know already even you have never tried it. That's precious!

The same guys who think that sim racing is joke are wondering how one can spend 2-3 hours driving in circles all alone...and if you put them behind the steering wheel they won't know how to start running the car. 

Sim racing technologies today are used by champions like Vettel, Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton, Button and the rest. Those simulations are very expensive softwares with parameters added directly by F1 team engineers the only ones who know the real engine paramaters of their cars and thats the only difference between that one and the one which is build by modders, people who earn money for living from modding. Those simulations in F1 are also generating the G-Forces through very big build cockpits who cost millions of dollars. Even though not one of them would ever say that both things are close because they are not but they still get plenty amount of informations out of them that they use in their races...races which count, on which they win points and eventually they win titles. 

Sim racing cannot be just one simple game. It's something more