Moving On To Suzuka

After a less than stellar performance in the Daytona 90-minute race, the series is heading to Japan for a sprint race at Suzuka Circuit. Here’s what the folks at iRacing have to say about Suzuka:

“One of the world’s truly great race tracks, Suzuka has been the home of the Japanese Grand Prix since the 1980s and its flowing layout regularly puts the circuit at or near the top of the list of most Formula One drivers’ favorites. As if that weren’t enough, Suzuka boats three different configurations – Suzuka East, Suzuka West and Suzuka Full, the latter two featuring a rare figure eight layout where the back straightaway crosses the front section track on an overpass.

“Designed by noted circuit architect John Hugenholtz (who also designed the original Zandvoort circuit), Suzuka opened in 1962 and served primarily as a test track for Honda and as the site of sports car racing including the Suzuka 1000K and the 8 Hours of Suzuka and MotoGP motorcycle events. Suzuka was nominated to stage the Japanese Grand Prix in 1987 and has often been the site of the Formula One season finale. As such, Suzuka has been the decisive event in some of the closest battles for the World Championship of Drivers and has witnessed a number of controversial incidents, including clashes between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Suzuka also hosted non-championship NASCAR races in 1996 and ’97.

“In addition to its signature crossover layout, Suzuka features a number of notable challenges including a testing series of esses, the multi-apex Spoon Curve and dauntingly fast 130R corner. The race track also serves as the foundation for a major sports and entertainment facility including an amusement park whose giant Ferris Wheel is prominent in photographs and television images of the circuit.”

That’s all the good stuff. Let me tell you some of the bad.

Suzuka doesn’t race very well on Forza Motorsport 7. The first few corners of the race are a demolition derby, then the cars spread out and very little passing gets done. I don’t have any real life experience at Suzuka, but my guess is that the Forza version of the track doesn’t match reality.

One part of the track that may match reality—although I’m not certain of that—is the  hairpin (turn 11). Coming out of the turn, there is absolutely no grip (as least for me). In order to get any launch out of the corner. I have to almost come to a stop. That might be how the turn is in real life, but I kind of doubt it.

Here’s another thing that is very unrealistic about racing at Suzuka on Forza. I get through turn 15 really well. When going through that turn, I gain a significant gap on the cars behind me. However, if that same car is ahead of me, he tends to go through the turn about as well as I do. It makes no sense, and it makes for very frustrating racing.

As long as I’m complaining, let me throw one other thing at you. It’s not unusual for the tires to not warm up until the third or fourth lap. Even so, they start to go off pretty badly come lap six or seven. I’m not very good at math, but that only leaves two to four laps where the tires are working well. Something similar happens at most tracks, but it seems to be even worse at Suzuka.

Having said that, every fourth or fifth race, the tires work really well from the beginning. There’s no predicting it. I’ve done a bunch of practice races, and about twenty percent of the time, the tires work well. But there’s no predicting when the good tires will show up.

Here’ my prediction: If I start near the front or can get to the front in the first few corners of the race, I have a chance to finish in the top five. If I start in the top 12-13, I think I can finish in the top 10. But, if I can’t make it into the top 15 in the first few corners, I don’t think I can finish in the points (top 10). Passing is at a premium at Suzuka, and starting too far back is a death sentence.

Here’s what the Suzuka Circuit looks like:

Special Event: 90-Minutes of Daytona

This is going to be an unusually detailed race report. One thing I learned in this race is that my video capture device will not record for 90 minutes. I’m not sure why. I hope to have it figured out before the next endurance race, but I’m afraid that I just won’t be able to record the longer races.

I qualified 12th on the grid, and as happens way too often, the cars in front of me came to a complete stop in turn one. I don’t know why the folks at Turn 10 Studios programmed Forza Motorsports 7 to do this at almost every track, but they did. I used it to my advantage and moved up to 7th place going into turn 3.

The first six cars pulled away from me, and I pulled away from the cars behind me. We rode around like that for a few laps, but on lap 4, I caught the yellow Corvette just before the bus stop chicane and passed him on the inside just before the braking zone. I was completely past him as I turned in, but he hit me from behind, knocking us both off the track. I fell back to 23rd place by the time I was able to get back on track. The Corvette was knocked out of the race.

I made it back to pit lane, took tires and fuel, and rejoined the race. I’m not sure how bad my damage was, and I don’t know if damage is repaired on pit stops in Forza, but when I rejoined, the car wasn’t too bad. It didn’t handle quite as well as it did prior to the incident, but it wasn’t horrible. It just took a little getting used to.

I came out of the pits in 23rd position and began working my way forward. I picked off several cars over the next 30 minutes or so, moving up to 17th position.

Throughout the race, I was having trouble with turn one. I don’t think I got it right even once. I went off in turn one twice early in the race, but was able to keep from spinning. Unfortunately, with about 40-minutes to go in the race, I spun in turn one, hitting the inside wall, and damaged the drivetrain. I tried to make it back to pit road, but the car wouldn’t move. My race was over.

I finished 23rd, which definitely was not what I set out to do. Even so, I have to admit that I enjoyed competing in a longer race, and I really enjoyed driving the BMW M8 GTE, at least before it was damaged. Thankfully, this wasn’t a points race, so it doesn’t hurt me in the championship.

Next Race: Suzuka Circuit (Japan)

90-Minutes of Daytona

I love Daytona, even though it really isn’t a very interesting track, and even though last season, my car was too underpowered to be overly competitive. I guess it’s because I have so many real life memories at Daytona, and having a higher powered car for this race doesn’t hurt either.

This season, I’ll be running four non-points endurance races. Each will be 90-minutes long. Daytona is the first of these four, and it will be the first time I’ve ever done a timed race and an endurance race. I’m not exactly sure what to expect, but I’m excited about it.

For the four 90-minute non-points races, I’ll be driving a BMW M8 GTE. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started practicing for the race earlier this week, but I have to say that I felt very comfortable in the car. In fact, I’m more comfortable in the M8 GTE than I am in the M4 GTS I’ve been driving this season. The M4 needs some work, but the M8 is good to go.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time to practice this week, so I’m not sure what to expect. This will be the first race I’ve ever done where I have to pit for gas and tires. I still need to figure out exactly how to do this. It should be interesting.

Looking forward to 90-minutes of Daytona!

Yas Marina Circuit (Season 2 Race 2)

The race at Yas Marina Circuit was not what I had hoped for. My BMW M4 drove horribly. In practice yesterday, the car felt solid and predictable. It was a joy to drive. For whatever reason, today, it understeered in one corner and oversteered in the next. I made an adjustment to the front anti-sway bar prior to the race which helped a little, but not much. Throughout the race, the car understeered on corner entrance and oversteered on corner exit. It was not much fun to drive.

Despite the handling issues, I ended up with a decent finish. I started 20th and finished P6. I’m happy with my finish, especially considering that I started so far back on the grid, but I’m frustrated with the way the car drove. It’s going to take a little work to get it figured out.

I’m tied for fourth in the points after two races. The top five look like this:

  1. Tobias Van Elferen (37 pts)
  2. Antoine Gil (28 pts)
  3. Derek Brightly (25 pts)
  4. (tie) Yohan Krill (24 pts)
  5. (tie) Lou Mindar (24 pts)

I have two weeks before the next points race at Suzuka Circuit in Japan. In the meantime, I’ll be heading back to the good ol’ USA to do a 90-minute race in a BMW M8 at Daytona International Speedway.

Next Stop: Yas Marina

After a good showing at Dubai Circuit of the Emirates, the racing season moves on to UAE and the Yas Marina Circuit. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the track, never even having glanced it, but was looking forward to giving it a go.

Yas Marina is an odd racetrack to my eye. It appears to be several different turns stuck together haphazardly to two or three straights of varying lengths. Some racetracks are pleasing to the eye just looking at the track map. Road America and Sebring come to mind. But Yas Marina looks cobbled together, disjointed. That doesn’t mean it won’t race well, but at first blush, it looks a little strange.

I haven’t had much time to practice this past week, so I’m going to go into the race with less seat time on the track than I am used to. Even so, the practice sessions have gone pretty well. I’ve gotten use to the track (It doesn’t feel quite as strange to drive the track as it does when viewing the map), and I’ve been fairly competitive. We’ll see how it goes.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Yas Marina:

The twenty-one corners twist through Yas Island off the Abu Dhabi coast, passing by the marina and through the Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi designed by New York-based architects Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture of Asymptote Architecture with a striking facade lighting design by Rogier van der Heide, and winding its way through several long straights and tight corners.

The marina-based development includes a theme park, a water park, as well as residential areas, hotels and beaches.

The circuit has five grandstand areas (Main Grandstand, West Grandstand, North Grandstand, South Grandstand and Marina Grandstand (aka Support)) and part of its pit lane exit runs underneath the track. It also houses a team building behind the pit building, Media Center, Dragster Track and VIP Tower. Additionally, one of the run-off areas runs underneath the West grandstand.

After the first practice sessions at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the circuit was welcomed by the drivers, with Nico Rosberg commenting that every corner was ‘unique’, while double World Champion Fernando Alonso echoed his sentiments, stating that it was enjoyable because there was always something to do. Force India’s Adrian Sutil rated the circuit as being better than Formula One’s other night race in Singapore as he felt there was too much light at Marina Bay.

Not all of the drivers were complimentary, with Giancarlo Fisichella expressing a particular dislike of the pit exit, which dips under the main circuit by way of a tunnel. Although the pit exit remained free of incidents for the early practice sessions, Fisichella claimed that it was both very difficult and dangerous. Kimi Räikkönen notoriously gave his thoughts on the circuit, stating “the first few turns are quite good, but the rest of it is shit”.

Here what the full course at Yas Marina looks like:

Dubai Circuit of the Emirates (Season 2 Race1)

Let’s start with the good news. I started 13th and finished 4th. By any measure, that’s a good day’s work. For most of the race, I drove well, and I had the fastest lap of the race. All of that is great. But as usual, I’m more focused on the bad news, so let’s take a look at that.

Someday, I am going to learn that it is not necessary—or even advisable—to run into the car ahead of me when I’m passing them. Someday, but not today. I picked up two or three places today, all while running into the back of the car I was overtaking. Not only did it slow me down, but this season, we’re using the “simulation” damage model, so one of these times, it could knock me out of the race when I hit someone, not just slow me down.

I suppose I shouldn’t feel too bad finishing in a good points paying position in my first race of the new season, but it just eats at me to have as much contact as I had. I guess it gives me something to work on.  I’m hoping that Yas Marina treats me better.

After one race, I’m in 4th position in the points standings. Here are the top five:

  1. Tobias Van Elferen (25 pts)
  2. Yohan Krill (18 pts)
  3. Andy Fairnight (15 pts)
  4. Lou Mindar (13 pts)
  5. Antoine Gil (10 pts)

Next Race: Yas Marina Circuit (UAE)

Racing in the Desert

Welcome to Season Two of Vagabond Racer. This season, we’re going to visit a variety of international tracks, and we’re going to mix in sprint races, doubleheaders, and endurance races. The first track we’ll visit is Circuit of the Emirates in Dubai.

I was surprised to learn that Circuit of the Emirates is not a real track. It is one of the “imagined” tracks (along with Maple Valley Raceway and the Bernese Alps circuit) in Forza Motosports 7. Even when I started practicing on the track, I thought It was real, and didn’t understand how or why any sanctioning body would visit the track. It cuts through an airport, goes up the side of a mountain, and has a very fast section that is partially covered by blowing sand.

I don’t really care for Circuit of the Emirates. I particularly dislike the esses going up the mountain, and the sand over the track is very distracting. Even so, for whatever reason, I seem to be pretty good at it. In fact, at the moment, I own the 41st fastest lap ever run on the track. That’s out of nearly 11,000 other drivers on Forza Motorsports 7. It surprises me, but I’ll take it.

Here’s what Forza Fandom has to say about Circuit of the Emirates:

“The first thing a driver notices about this road is how easily it can get covered up by the stark, beautiful desert that stretches out seemingly forever. The second is the blistering heat. Yet, despite the punishing sun and random road hazards, Dubai offers an unparalleled experience that beckons drivers who yearn for high speeds and challenging curves.

“Based on the real-life city of Dubai, Dubai is a fictional environment that acts as the showcase track of Forza Motorsport 7. Landmarks like the Dubai International Airport and the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, can be seen in the background. Racers travel through the Jebel Hafeet Mountain Pass and through a desert before going under the Dubai International Airport.

“While the circuit is based in Dubai, the Jebel Hafeet Mountain Pass is located in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, situated on the other side of the country, on the border of the UAE and Oman. Additionally, the Forza rendition of the Jebel Hafeet Mountain Pass features the Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet Al Ain Hotel, a real-life destination.”

It’s time to go racing again. Let’s go to Dubai.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

When I started this sim racing journey several months ago, I did so kind of as an experiment. I had heard of Forza Motorsport 7, Asseto Corso Competizion, and iRacing, but I had never played any of them. Several years ago, I played around with Forza Motorsports 5, but that was the extent of my knowledge of sim racing.

Fast forward a few months, and I just handily won a B class championship in Forza Motorsports 7. Winning is always good, but the truth is that this championship came too easily. I wanted to win, but I didn’t want to win by so much. In the end, the racing wasn’t as realistic as I had hoped, and neither were the results.

Part of that was the nature of Forza Motorsports 7. It’s a challenging, exciting game, but it’s still a game. It’s not a true simulation. Things happen in Forza 7 that don’t happen in real life. On the opening lap in real races, cars do not come to a dead stop in turn one. They don’t slow unexpectedly for no reason during races. Gravity and real-world physics apply to car-to-car contact. But as I said, Forza Motorsports 7 is a game, and to expect it to be anything other than a game is unrealistic.

Much of the blame for the unrealistic nature of my first sim racing season is on me. I didn’t fully understand the nature of the racing in Forza 7, and I didn’t understand the settings. For instance, I started the Drivatar skill level much too low. I jacked it up to Pro during the season, but the damage was already done. I also chose the “fuel and tires” damage setting, which only allowed for cosmetic damage, fuel consumption, and tire degradation. Early in the season, I didn’t like the “simulated” damage, which allows for full cosmetic and mechanical damage, as well as fuel consumption and tire degradation. In hindsight, I think “simulated” damage may have been more realistic, and had I used it, would have significantly changed the season.

The good news is, lessons were learned. I understand the game much better now, understand the settings, and, as a result, my expectations are much more realistic. That should be very helpful as we move forward to season two.

So, what can we look forward to? If you followed along in season number one, you know that the storyline involved me living out my dream of traveling the country, race car in tow, visiting race venues from the east coast to the west, racing at a different location every week or two. My dream was realized, and now it’s time to work on a new dream, albeit in a virtual world.

When I started racing in real life, I was fortunate to meet several people who were living their lives as professional race car drivers. People like Randy Pobst, Andy Pilgrim, Sylvain Tremblay, Kelly Collins, David Donahue, Buzz Caulkins, and others. I wanted what they had. I wanted to be a professional race car driver.

That never happened. I was already in my thirties when I started racing, so compared to a lot of drivers, I was already over the hill. I had a job, a wife, a mortgage. Becoming a professional race car driver wasn’t the responsible thing to do. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t want it.

Now, after having won a Forza Motorsports 7 “B class” championship, it’s my chance to become a pro…virtually. I’m heading out on an international tour to drive a BMW M4 GTS in the Sport Touring (A class) Championship. I’ll visit 17 different racetracks, running sprint races, a few doubleheaders, and four 100 mile endurance races. That makes up the championship. In addition, I’ll be driving a BMW M8 GTE in four 90-minute endurance races in the United States. I might pick up another race here and there. You never know what I might end up driving. Afterall, I’m a pro.

We’ll be sticking with Forza Motorsports 7 this season. It’s not ideal, but it can be a lot of fun. I can already feel myself wanting to experiment with other games, but that will have to wait until season three. For season two, we’re all in with Forza.

Here’s the schedule for season two:

               Circuit                                                               Race Format

Circuit of the Emirates (Dubai)                                     Single Sprint Race

Yas Marina Circuit (UAE)                                             Single Sprint Race

Daytona International Speedway (USA)                  90-Minute Endurance*

Suzuka Circuit (Japan)                                                  Single Sprint Race

Mount Panorama Circuit – Bathurst (Australia)     100-Mile Endurance

Brands Hatch (England)                                               Double Sprint Races

Circuit de Catalunya (Spain)                                       Single Sprint Race

Sebring International Raceway (USA)                      90-minute Endurance*

Hockenheim Ring (Germany)                                     Single Sprint Race

Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe (France)                      100-Mile Endurance

Bernese Alps (DNE)                                                    Single Sprint Race

Mugello Autodromo Internazionale (Italy)             Single Sprint Race

Prague (Czech Republic)                                              Single Sprint Race

Watkins Glen (USA)                                                    90-minute Endurance

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium)                100-Mile Endurance

Autodromo Nazionale Monza (Italy)                        Double Sprint Races

Nurburgring (Germany)                                               Single Sprint Race

Silverstone Racing Circuit (England)                         100-Mile Endurance

Road Atlanta (USA)                                                     90-minute Endurance*

Circuit of the Americas (USA)                                     Double Sprint Races

Rio de Janerio (Brazil)                                                  Single Sprint Race

*Non-points race

Sebring International Raceway – Race #2

For only the fourth time this season, I finished out of the points in race #2 at Sebring. It was really a pretty uneventful race for the first eight laps.

I started Q15 and gained a couple of spots in the first few turns on lap one, only to lose them again on lap two.  I settled in and ran in 16th for most of the rest of race. For a couple of laps, I was gaining on the Afla Romeo Guilia, and finally caught him in turn 9 on lap nine. I had been fairly close behind him on the previous two laps and had seen him roll through the turn each time. But on lap nine, he hit the brakes, and I rear-ended him really hard. We both continued, and I passed him a short time later, but I don’t understand why cars sometimes brake so hard in turns for no reason. It’s just one of the odd quirks with Forza Motorsports 7.

Ultimately, I finished the race P15, which was a rather anti-climactic end to an otherwise spectacular season. I’ll have some thoughts on the season—what went right and what went wrong—in a future post. For now, I’m celebrating a dominant season.

Here are the final points standings for all drivers:

  1. Lou Mindar (313 pts)
  2. Callie Carr (188 Pts)
  3. (tie) John Pettibone (175 pts)
  4. (tie) Alex Ravarito (175 pts)
  5. Hugh Navarro (160 pts)
  6. Don McGowan (146 pts)
  7. Richard Chan (143 pts)
  8. Peter Ward Jr (129 pts)
  9. Pierre Blasno (125 pts)
  10. Tak Tamaguchi (122 pts)
  11. D.R. “Doc” Massey (117 pts)
  12. Samantha Downing (97 pts)
  13. Quint Blackmore (96 pts)
  14. Claudio Naruda (95 pts)
  15. Julio Sanchez-Romero (92 pts)
  16. Gonzalo Perez (91 pts)
  17. Tyler Jones (82 pts)
  18. Sarah Stockdale (80 pts)
  19. Garth Westbrook (76 pts)
  20. Dempsey Marquardt (72 pts)
  21. Jay Howell (71 pts)
  22. Justin Hagan (69 pts)
  23. Joseph Tortelli (42 pts)
  24. John Noggle (41 pts)
  25. Thomas Suzuki (32 pts)
  26. Brent Post (6 pts)

Sebring International Raceway – Race #1

Race #1 at Sebring was what I would refer to as a solid, unspectacular race. Nothing great happened, and nothing too bad happened. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a challenging race. To be sure, it was. But I didn’t make an big mistakes, and I didn’t make any big moves. To be honest, from a driver’s perspective, I like this kind of race.

I qualified in 15th position and made a conscious effort not to throw away the race in the first few turns. I ran enough practice races to know that bad things can happen early at Sebring, So, I held back and didn’t try to make up too many spots too early in the race. Even so, there was some minor contact throughout the first few turns, which, as I’ve chronicled, is pretty common with Forza Motorsports 7.

Once we settled in, I just went about my business methodically, always trying to move forward, but not trying to do too much. I was able to pick up a few positions, ultimately finishing P10.

I’m pretty comfortable everywhere on the track at Sebring, except turn 17. I know a lot of drivers have trouble with that turn, and I’ve even heard that there is no one best way through it. However, it’s still frustrating. If you watch the video, I think you’ll see me take the turn ten different ways over ten laps. And I’m not sure I ever got it right. I’ll be working on that in race #2.

After 27 races, the top five in points are:

  1. Lou Mindar (313 pts)
  2. (tie) Callie Carr (170 pts)
  3. (tie) Josh Pettibone (170 pts)
  4. Alex Ravarito (150 pts)
  5. Don McGowan (146 pts)

Next Race: Sebring International Raceway – ace #2