[PC] SATCC - Young Driver Test (COMPLETE)

I think Saber's had the best point on this, Esp. My entire Seasons 2 and 3 were likely top 10 finishes compromised by persistent lag hits and a lack of awareness and respect. That's why we're looking for people whose attitude is totally positive and communal. Someone like Tony who doesn't care about pace, he cares about enjoying himself.

It's a shame about the attitude because I recall you were in the Furore GT on race 1, no? If so, we had some damned good battles.

Dwot, I would say that if you waited, and others didn't, then you're closer to the kind of people I want in this event that they are.

You do need to call it out though. Ideal world, people would recognise a lag hit (as Oh_Darn did, or even back to Season 2 I had a lag contact with cloudmcshort who was a mic-less scrub. I said "I think i hit you, honk your horn once if I did". He honked, I let him pass) or any other at-fault contact and wait. In a less than ideal world you call them out and that's what they respond to.

Progen Racing Team - Race report

This weekend just past, the Progen Racing Team participated in the Young Drivers Tests at the Zan Cudochamps and Sandy Shores Grand Prix tracks. The test was useful for the FIA and the teams to assess the character of future racers in the series, as well as to give the Season 4 a run for its money.

"Progen's focus has, I guess you could say, always been on the quality of a machine" says team principal Dennis Ron. "In our Formula 1 and sports car racing endeavours, if we take delivery of a chassis and engine we'll take it apart and rebuild it entirely, we'll make adjustments to the aerodynamics, we'll replace parts with carbon fibre to save weight where we can. In fact I would say that our experience doing this was what made the T20 such a strong supercar."

Progen's purchase of the Pfister Factory Team in Season 3 was a necessary step after driver Endersai brokered the deal in the aftermath of the Bürgerfahrzeug emissions scandal. After insufficient time to really engineer the car to their liking for Season 3 - and a relatively poor performance as a result - the team is hoping to carry momentum forward and win itself another title.

"To be honest, the car felt really good both times," commented team #2 driver Endersai. "The handling was perfect and the power was up on last season so we felt we could really push and challenge. Obviously we also learned at Zan Cudochamps that being punted into a wall and losing your front bumper, you know, having no front canards, is not good for performance but managing to fight back from last to 10th, in a 25 car race, was a good outcome at SSGP. It showed the car had pace, and yeah - right behind me was the ah TerrOIL guys in their Comet who also staged a fightback. I think the boys at the factory, us drivers, we're raedy for more fights on track."

Progen will continue to test their Season 4 car at the May track days.


SATCC Drivers Champions Roster

Season 1: Ovivo_JR (GER), Benefactor Motorsports Team
Season 2: Oh_Darn (NED), Pfister Racing Team
Season 3: Doompenguin (GBR), Augury Insurance Racing

SATCC Constructors Champions Roster:
Season 1: Benefactor Motorsports (OvivoJR, fab.ICEMAN; Benefactor Surano)
Season 2: Pfister Racing Team (Oh_Darn, Endersai; Pfister Comet)
Season 3: Augury Insurance Racing (doompenguin, Grimreaper977; Benefactor Surano)

From what I understand, you're allowed to change the cars you're using if you want to  

After using the Banshee and the Comet for races #1 and #2, I'm thinking of using the Surano and the Carbonazzi for the next event.

Lag, takeouts, and how to race like a proper gentleman/lady.

So. You've done your first Young Driver's Test and maybe a few other events or playlists. But you have a few questions about what protocol is when there's contact, right?

The game, as Sabertoothwolf already noted, is based around peer-to-peer connectivity which means as good as your internet is, it's still got to contend with geography and distance. If you look at all three seasons of SATCC in the past, I always have the driver nationalities listed, i.e:

Oh_Darn (NED)
Endersai (AUS)
OvivoJR (GER)
Cloudmcshort (SWE)
Pezby (OLD)
Grimreaper977 (GBR)

There are two reasons for this. The first is simple - flair. It makes it a lot like World Endurance Racing or Formula 1 where you see those grids: Lewis Hamilton and the Union flag; Daniel Ricciardo and the Australian Flag; Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel and their German flags.

I suppose US oval racing has that too, with Skip and Bud and Dale and Buck and Chip all having the US flag after their names as they drive literally in a circle for hours.

The other reason though is so you know nationalities, and so you can react.

I've gone wheel to wheel with Saber before, because we're both Australians and so our connection is very stable. It also means I can go on the inside for a turn and know that his racecraft and his connection is stable enough to avoid any contact - lag or otherwise. But there are overtakes I wouldn't try on someone like Oh_Darn, who has excellent racecraft, because on a 24 man grid we have lag and that would enlarge our hitboxes.

Now Oh_Darn, Saber and myself were at one point 3 abreast through a turn at Cluck'in Bell, so when I say I know these guys have the racecraft know also I can back it up with examples.

How do you avoid lag hits then?

Common sense, and a bit of geography, and a bit of knowledge. Let me give you an example.

About 6 weeks or so back, we tested out the new Saber Custom on Kloden's Spa track. Around 20 people racing it, thanks to grimreaper's trainer. I took a fully upgrade Felzter instead, because I don't like muscle cars, and I started about 5 car lengths behind the last car on the grid. I finished 3rd. I didn't have the speed on the straights of the Sabers, but I had speed through the turns and I had the grip. I couldn't safely pass the Sabers because they needed to use a lot more of the track than I did and so going around them or under them wasn't guaranteed.

In short; I knew the track, the characteristics of each car, and I knew the location roughly of the person I was trying to pass and I didn't take anyone out.

The same applies to latency as it does to the agility of a car. You know that the Verlierer has a wider turning arc than a Comet, so you plan your overtake accordingly. But, if you are trying to go for an overtake against me or Pez or Saber or Snuggles on a hairpin, given where we live, it might go poorly for you. If you're in Germany and you're overtaking a West Coast American, same result.

The principle is the same. If you know your car, the other cars, the track and the location of the other driver you'll adjust for each situation and never once have a lag contact.

BUT - let's say you do. What do I expect in SATCC?

Well in general what I want are good people who race well. I don't care if you're not fast - I'm not the quickest guy here, it's an arcade racer. I care if you have an attitude of "I'm happy to be here, I want to have fun, I love you guys, especially in my trousers".

In lag hits specifically, or any hit - ideally you would just wait because you know, we all do, it was your fault. But, if you don't, and a driver says "hey Ender, you giant ballsack, you hit me", then you'd better believe I'll wait - and you should too.

100% of the time if someone says "hey Driver X, you hit me" I will fatally lose respect if you argue, ignore them or keep going and you might find your seat has been given to a reserve as a result of that behaviour.

Even if on your screen there was no contact, you wait. Because you watch now, I will always ask "did we touch" because I'm conscious of it. And as cloudmcshort will tell you, I've called out lag hits where I was at fault before.

I know we want to keep our rhythm and speed going, believe me. But, if you finish 11th because you had to wait it'll be a better outcome for everyone that if you kept going and finished 10th and got that critical point. The person who waits gets respect and invited to more events; the person who doesn't finds themselves without a seat.

In short:

1. Know your car, know your track, and know the drivers around you (including their likely latency and their nationality)
2. If you cause a crash, wait without being told.
2a. If you have to be told, wait and don't argue
2b. I said, don't argue!
3. Treat your fellow racers like they're your friends, and how you want to be treated before you treat them as people you need to beat to the finish line.

Remember, everyone that plays this game can record their race footage using the ingame Action Replay feature. Just turn it on at the start of the race, and if something comes up, hit the Go button for it, and it will grab the last 20-30 seconds worth of "wtf just happened to me". If you can't upload the actual video, there's also ways around that, requiring you to only upload a 50-100mb file instead, and then Ender can view the footage and make a decision.

Basically it boils down to "Fix it immediately, or save it until after the race" to keep salt buildup on the track to a minimum.