This is a sub 6 minutes (05:58:xxx) lap around the famous Nordschleife track, @Germany, running Alain Prost’s 1986 McLaren F1 car. Not easy at all! With no driver assists, these cars, real or simulated, are known for their very challenging handling, with sudden bursts of turbo power and an overall mass lighter than modern (2020) F1 cars.
It was so difficult (for me) and enjoyable to race this lap, that I recorded it from multiple cameras: the in-car perspective, the TV capture, a view from the car’s top structure, and a split-screen edit, featuring both the in-car and the TV records.
This is the video from in-car, as I was playing. Check my channel for the other perspectives.
Just enjoy and, if you ever get the chance to try it on rFactor 2 (PC), please do, and share it too!, because, at home, this is the closer one can get to the real thing. No other game approaches this.
https://youtu.be/NMWQA3fdxPM – from in-car
https://youtu.be/0Fe6Q7qaXTo – from the TV camera
https://youtu.be/MAZ9iAcKs_0 – from the car’s top
https://youtu.be/RTnVyKRhGIw – split-screen edit
This is a sub 6 minutes (05:58:xxx) lap around the famous Nordscleife track, @Germany, running Alain Prost’s 1986 McLaren F1 car. Not easy at all! With no driver assists, these cars, real or simulated, are known for their very challenging handling, with sudden bursts of turbo power and an overall mass lighter than modern (2020) F1 cars.
It was so difficult (for me) and enjoyable to race this lap, that I recorded it from multiple cameras: the in-car perspective, the TV capture, a view from the car’s top structure, and a split-screen edit, featuring both the in-car and the TV records.
This is the video from the car’s top. Check my channel for the other perspectives.
Just enjoy and, if you ever get the chance to try it on rFactor 2 (PC), please do, and share it too!, because, at home, this is the closer one can get to the real thing. No other game approaches this.
https://youtu.be/NMWQA3fdxPM – from in-car
https://youtu.be/0Fe6Q7qaXTo – from the TV camera
https://youtu.be/MAZ9iAcKs_0 – from the car’s top
https://youtu.be/RTnVyKRhGIw – split-screen edit
This is a 01:52:7xx lap around COTA (Circuit of the Americas), racing with Alain Prost’s 1986 McLaren F1, against other F1s, from the 1986 and 1996 seasons. This lap is only ~1 second slower than the best lap the more modern 1996 cars were achieving.
After having had a good time racing an Aston Martin GT3 on COTA (Circuit of the Americas), against Formula 1 cars from the 1988 and 1996 seasons, I took Alain Prost’s 1986 F1 McLaren TAG Porsche out of its rFactor2 garage. For extra fun, I set the contestants from the 1986 championship against their 1996 evolutions.
The day before, a virtual Michael Schumacher had set the best time @COTA, in his 1996 Ferrari, with a time of 01:52:xxx, with a virtual Alain Prost lagging the German by just 2 seconds, in an 8-years older machine – check this post. Inspired by Prost’s achievement, I stepped-up the challenge, and tried the same feat, but racing an even older car: the 1986 McLaren F1.
The 1986 McLaren F1 is a true “monster”, with 1000+ bhp, no driving aids, and a constant bomb waiting for detonation upon throttle pressure. It is an amazingly hard to race vehicle, requiring permanent steering input and attention to pedals, physically demanding – this in a game! I cannot begin to imagine what it was in real life! -, which is exactly what I was looking for: to sweat.
I was fortunate to endure a fight with Damon Hill’s 1996 William F1, which pursuited me for some laps. I recorded one of those laps, timed at 01:53:xxx, so just ~1 second adrift Schumacher’s yesterday best. I would improve on that time and also enter the 01:52:xxx, but in a clear lap. There is also a post+video with the improved lap.
Here is a video, with two halves: first half is from an inside-car camera, second half is a “TV” perspective.
I think that many people in the computer-based racing community have stopped playing alone and quit the single-player experience that most games, fortunately, still provide. I am not one of those people. With time, I have shifted my preferences from online/multiplayer to offline/single-player.
I was an early adopter of iRacing, joining the service short after it started. I paid my subscription for 2+ years. Then, I returned to self-set single-player challenges, now mostly racing alone in rFactor2, which does have a strong online/multiplayer mode.
I feel that the online multiplayer races are extremely bipolar: one goes either through a very enjoyable experience, or through a tremendously frustrating and irritating event. Odds are that, on any given day, you will meet a too aggressive player, or someone who uses unpleasant language, or something else that you just did NOT need. Most services provide tools and actively fight these situations, but it is only human nature.
I can get an enough dosage of human nature in all the other moments of the day, so when I find time to play, I usually opt for single-player events against A.I. adversaries.
Today I had a tremendous good time with rFactor2, racing on “Circuit of Americas” (the U.S.A. circuit that is part of the official Formula 1 calendar). I decided to deviate from the standard formula and went to challenge Formula 1 cars with an Aston Martin GT3.
I chose to race against other GT3 cars, some GT2 and GT1 machines too, but – and this was the most fun thing I did – I also configured the race session to allow drivers from the 1988 and 1996 F1 championships.
I got to race Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost, in the same event! In the first practice session, I achieved P4, with a time of 02:10:xxx (two minutes, 10 seconds, something more), and was the fastest of the non-F1 cars! Quite reasonable, for someone who has been neglecting his race craft for too long.
Schumacher was the fastest, with a 01:52:7xx, but Prost, with an 8-years older car, was only 2 seconds away. Pedro Lamy also did amazingly well, close to Prost, although driving a Minardi. I very much doubt the Minardi could get that close, and that a 1988 F1 would only be 2 seconds slower than a 1996 machine, but such is irrelevant. What is relevant is that every lap was big fun. It was hilarious to be pedal-to-the-metal with one of the most modern, powerful, and expensive GT3 cars in the world, only to feel stuck in first gear, against 30+ years-old F1 monsters.
I video-recorded my 02:10:xxx lap. The video’s first half is from an inside-car camera; then from a “TV” camera. Unfortunately, it was a rather clean lap, with no F1s on view, still with other cars causing some trouble.
Studio397 is now selling “Circuit d’Azur” for rFactor 2. That is the “Monaco / Monte Carlo” circuit, 2019 layout.
https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/detail/45/
I decided to invest 30 minutes in it, driving the “Audi R8 LMS GT3”, one of the best GT3 cars ever built, against other GT3 machines, namely the McLaren 720S GT3, the Aston Martin Vintage GT3, and others.
I managed P1 in practice, with a time of 01:35:5xx. It was fun, enough to sweat.
I recorded the hot lap, first from an outside camera, then from the inside.
For my 15 minutes Saturday physical “challenge”, I decided to revisit the superb looking “Project Cars 2”, probably the second best racing simulator available to PC gamers, only lacking in the realism of its car handling experience, relatively to the reference “rFactor 2”.
Months ago, I had started my “career” in LMP3 Pan Asia Championship, winning all the races until the Fuji GP.
Today I returned to this game, but the time away charged its price, and a drying but slippery track at the Fuji circuit was enough for me to crash out of the race, with just 2 minutes remaining (2 laps to go), when leading.
I started on pole and did quite well on the rain, during qualifying. That made me overconfident for race day on a drying track; I did not change the car setup, other than switching to “soft” tires.
Even before race start, a very small contact with “Max Throttle”, awarded both of us a 5 seconds penalty. Showing yet again unjustified confidence, I did not worry. As the race progressed, I started feeling Max’s pressure, which came as a surprise. While trying to gain a 5 seconds advantage, I could not avoid wide trajectories. The tires were theoretically in good-to-perfect condition, but the handling was loose, with the rear sliding and finally breaking out of my control, with a couple of minutes left. I quit, but enjoyed it.
One of the reasons I play racing games, is because while I am at it, I am doing moderate physical exercise. For example, while playing “rFactor x”, “F1 xxxx”, or “Project Cars x”, at a demanding difficulty level, I have to focus and apply myself. These car racing games, when played with a steering wheel and pedals, configured to offer little to no assistance, and with the A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) set at ~100% strength, will require plenty of arms + legs + abdominal movements!
Today I raced 15 laps around Australia’s Melbourne circuit, in “F1 2019”. I started 20th and ended 18th, but achieved running in 10th position at a stage, until Lando Norris touched my rear-left tire, causing damage that would force me to anticipate a scheduled pit stop. I am starting to feel more comfortable in this game, but I have no pace at all, compared to the front-runners. The fastest A.I. cars were lapping in the 01:25:xxx, while I spent the entire race stuck on 01:29/30:xxx laps.
It was fun and hard. Here is the full “TV camera” replay of those 15 laps race. I am on the Renault number “2”.
Enjoy.
I have been playing “F1 2019”. My “career” finally reached Formula 1, against A.I. set at 98% strength. The first race is the 2019 Australia GP, and this post is a recording of my best lap on FP2 (Free Practice 2), clocked at 01:27:873, very far from the 01:25:xxx that the computer is achieving.
Finally, on event #3 of 3, a “full” Abu Dhabi six laps race, you “just” have to finish ahead of your championship contender, nothing more, to win the F2 2018 World Championship.
The difference here is that the player gets to start the race on his/her own, for the first time, and has to endure the steering wheel’s force feedback for ~13 consecutive minutes.
Yet again, I failed. I managed to gain some positions, but was totally unable to catch the front-runners. The A.I. was lapping on 01:53:xxx, while my best is on the 01:55:xxx.
Do not fear: the player always graduates to F1. One of these days I’ll continue the game and try those cars.
