iRacing - Hardware

Come back in 13 years and ask that.. ;-)


>On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:38:28 -0700 (PDT), Dirt > wrote:
>PS: Any of you approaching 40 like me and wondering just what the
>hell you're still doing thinking about sim racing all the time?

"Dirt" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks, all, for the answers. Sounds like my current setup will be
> adequate.
>
> Now on to a different question. I still have my Thomas Super Wheel
> but it has a serial port interface. Is there any way to make XPPro
> recognize a serial interface properly? I tried once a year or two ago
> when I put away my Win98 GPL machine but was never successful in
> getting it calibrated properly. I contacted TSW but they essentially
> suggest a complete rewire to their USB connection. My other option if
> the TSW can't be made to work is the wireless PC control adapter and
> my XBox360 wireless FFB wheel. Anybody use this wheel for iRacing?
> The TSW is a brick and I love it, but FFB might be nice. My only
> experience with FFB is on Forza Motorsports on the 360. I'm not
> convinced yet.
>
> -Dirt-
>
> PS: Any of you approaching 40 like me and wondering just what the
> hell you're still doing thinking about sim racing all the time?
>

You are a young pup.......:-). There are lots of folks on iRacing in their
50s and 60s.


Ed

I'm 45 an I sim race for a living, so to speak.

As far as XP is concerned, I installed my trusty Turtle Beach Santa
Cruz sound card into my home built box, and the joystick port works
just fine.

speedmd

Most trouble-free sound card ever made. It's a shame they didn't continue
the family

-Larry

"speedmd" > wrote in message
...
> I'm 45 an I sim race for a living, so to speak.
>
> As far as XP is concerned, I installed my trusty Turtle Beach Santa
> Cruz sound card into my home built box, and the joystick port works
> just fine.
>
> speedmd

On Oct 14, 2:38*am, Dirt > wrote:
> PS: *Any of you approaching 40 like me and wondering just what the
> hell you're still doing thinking about sim racing all the time?

Eight years ago at 52, I discovered Simming with GPL. It was like a
dream come true for me. These Sims that we're talking about aren't
games, but a fairly realistic racing experience - especially when you
factor in a good wheel, pedals and shifter.

Now at 60, I don't see this stopping ever. The "gaming" aspect just
isn't there in iRacing, GPL and the other fairly realistic Sims/Mods,
although there is a time and place to play games for recreation.

I can see that when I explain my hobby to others, they assume that
it's a game, but staying at it happliy for 8 years and more, they must
realize that it's a serious activity.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:55:37 -0700 (PDT), Bob Simpson wrote:
> On Oct 14, 2:38*am, Dirt > wrote:

> I can see that when I explain my hobby to others, they assume that
> it's a game, but staying at it happliy for 8 years and more, they must
> realize that it's a serious activity.

For me, the main aspect of simracing that has kept me hooked on it
ever since a friend "lent" me his 2 amiga floppies with F1GP on it is
the multiplayer / community part.

I've been online since 1990, and pretty soon after starting to race
F1GP I joined Oliver Robert's "offline league" that featured
soon-to-become community celebreties like Grant Reeve and myself, just
to name a few ;-)

We'd run a full-length gp offline, then submit our race times to
Oliver who'd compile them into a "virtual" race, handing out points,
keeping the standings and so on. Good times!

Even with all the advances in AI and cpu power, online racing is still
where it's at for me, and while I've gone through phases where I did
not touch a wheel for a week or two, there's always something new to
try out or a new season to organize and I keep coming back to this
great pastime.

Speaking of leagues, The Screamers are still looking to fill some
slots on the grid for season18 starting on Oct. 25th. Follow up here
if you're interested in joining one of the oldest race clubs on the
net and we'll sort something out!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Uwe

On Oct 16, 11:26*am, hoover > wrote:

> Speaking of leagues, The Screamers are still looking to fill some
> slots on the grid for season18 starting on Oct. 25th. Follow up here
> if you're interested in joining one of the oldest race clubs on the
> net and we'll sort something out!
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you,

Many thanks for the invite, but I'm not in a situation where I can do
any simming at the moment. I'll be back in my normal environment
(i.e. through with my job assignment) come February and will be trying
to set up iRacing at that point.

-Dirt-

save up a few bucks, get a newer wheel with USB connections, g25's are fab
if you can find them and they aint cheap but I live the hell out of mine so
far, there are others out there. Im Iracing with my Vista box, so it
(iRacing that is) works with what is new out there and old, if you can get
Windows to friggin work correctly...
"Dirt" > wrote in message
...
On Oct 16, 11:26 am, hoover > wrote:

> Speaking of leagues, The Screamers are still looking to fill some
> slots on the grid for season18 starting on Oct. 25th. Follow up here
> if you're interested in joining one of the oldest race clubs on the
> net and we'll sort something out!
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you,

Many thanks for the invite, but I'm not in a situation where I can do
any simming at the moment. I'll be back in my normal environment
(i.e. through with my job assignment) come February and will be trying
to set up iRacing at that point.

-Dirt-

On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:32:14 -0700 (PDT), Dirt >
wrote:

>On Oct 13, 10:49*am, no@email (Remco Moedt) wrote:
>>
>> I've an AMD 3500+ and a nVidia 6800 ultra. Granted, I had to cut down
>> a lot, up to class 5, but then I had an fps of 50, and not the feeling
>> I was missing out too much regarding graphics.
>
>I haven't simmed since GPL, so I'm used to 30 fps!

Since I'm on GPL (sim-wise exclusively) I had no reason to upgrade my trusty old
Athlon 2600+ and Rad 9600 Pro (iirc, long time since I opened the box :-)

Jens

>>PS: Any of you approaching 40 like me and wondering just what the
>>hell you're still doing thinking about sim racing all the time?

56 years old, here, but for me, sim-racing is just another game. Realistic
physics in a game is fine, but it's not really much of a learning tool,
even for those (unlike me) who actually race. My real world experience is
maybe a couple of autocross sessions, and some indoor go-kart stuff, not
real racing, so I don't need a learning tool.

The only learning tool software I own is a radio control aircraft similator
called RealFlight. Since there is no force feedback in the real world,
the only difference is visual, but this doesn't matter much. The main
issue is dealing with orientation (flying a rc heli upsidedown and sideways
mixes up the control inputs you use), and how the model responds to
control inputs, which the rc simulators do quite well.

Back to racing sims, unlike radio control, a bit part of racing is the
feedback you get from forces while driving at the limits, and no amount
of visual, audio, or steering force feedback is going to replace it. Some
real world racers use these games to get an idea of track layouts, but point
out that even the simplest things, like braking points, are significantly
different between game and real world. For me there are racing games, some
have realistic physics, and some like Need For Speed, have pursuits and cool
graphics.

Regarding online play, I'm not as active as I was, because I play a larger
variety of games (I also play games like TombRaider), and my gaming time is
limited. In my opinion, online racing attendance peaked somewhere in 2005,
and slow diminished since then with a few blips as new games got released.