I'm into racing sims, mainly GTR 2, GT Legends, and rFactor. My Dell 6400 Laptop struggles through quite admirably, and my Fanatec 911 Wheel is still as much of a joy to plug in now as it was when I was first beta testing it in 2007. I play GTL only offline, but I compete in the online Aussie Power & Glory League in GTR 2 with a great bunch of 1960s racing enthusiasts. I have made a journal of my first experiences in that league.
My First Online Race in GTR 2
A while back I made a video of my first online race, it took so long to make, but it does show how chaotic and fun online racing is. We were randomly assigned cars for this race, and with a bit of coaxing, my Porsche was able to make it to the flag without needing to stop for fuel.
UK Tour Mods for GTR 2
I also made a couple of mods for GTR 2, "UK Tour 2006" and "UK Tour 2007". I don't know how much time the 2007 season took up, it was really a massive project (others were involved as well), but the sense of achievement was immense when it was finally uploaded to nogrip and made public. It adds a BTCC-like season to GTR 2 and includes 25 cars from the 2007 season, expertly reproduced by the artists at nogrip. I painted just one car using the open-source (and free) editing software GIMP (which is awesome) and it took me about 40 hours!
If you like the BTCC and have GTR2 then you might want to check it out.
Screenshots from UK Tour 2007 mod
< Team Air Cool SEAT Cupra in real life
My Team Air Cool SEAT Cupra >
Aussie Power & Glory League
I started part way through the 1st season of the Aussie Power & Glory league, and have been racing the Alfa Romeo GTA 1600 #45 car.
Season 1 went pretty well for me: I finished 5th place overall out of 25 drivers, even though I started half way through the season. Over the 3 races I completed I scored more points than anyone else.
For season 2 I have painted my own car, the Modil Undie 500 Alfa GTA 1300:
This 1969 Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 shares its livery with a Vauxhall
Chevette of the same vintage that completed the Undie 500 in 1998. The
1100cc Chevette made the infamous run from Canterbury University in
Christchurch, NZ to Dundedin, a distance of over 300 km, in only 7
toilet breaks. During the event the car experienced severe conflicts of
momentum with a multitude of apples, eggs, 1 possum (dead), and 1 lamb
(dead), but survived unscathed, while many better financed teams fell
to the grueling conditions. On arrival in Dunedin, the team, consisting
of Richard, Jonathan, Andrew, Michael, and Darsin, were met with a
rapturous response from the adoring locals, many of whom had never seen
a car before.
Following the Undie 500 the car competed in the 'Rally of the Deep
South', which it completed with honours, but unresolved mechanical
issues hampered its reliability on special stages. The car eventually
succummed to a mystery systems failure while stopped at a fish and chip
shop just 200 metres short of completing the return journey to
University Hall, Christchurch.
Home Port: Christchurch, New Zealand
Price (Used): $100
This car took about 15 hours to paint, and I used some new tricks to give the paint an authentic 30 year old look (dull and weathered), and to make open windows and netting on the rear window. It looks pretty close to the livery of the actual Chevette I think, although I don't have a photo of that car to prove it.
New season, new cars. Season 3 brings two new skins, both are of the 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale, and both examples have seen better days. Together they took about 20 very enjoyable hours to paint.
Sean Crossland #111Team NuiSpeed
"It used to be a Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale. But it got painted green and left in a shed next to a combine harvester, which was owned by a blind farmer. It suffered terribly. We dug it up and painted some numbers on it, stuck some stickers on there and now she is proudly raced by Sean Crossland for team NuiSpeed."
Richard Jackett #79 Team NuiSpeed
"This car, being one of only 5 surviving examples of the 275 GTB/C
Speciale, was enroute from Ancona to Wellington in 1967 when the boat
it was on encountered pirates some 2500km short of its destination. The
crew fought off the pirates but the ship was terminally damaged and
went down in heavy seas in sight of New Zealand's North Island.
One year later, Greymouth fisherman and amateur mechanic Bruce
Felcher, was out in his boat and hooked a great white. After 19 hours
of struggle he brought the beast back to land, and upon cutting it open
discovered the blue Ferrari. Never one for unnecessary cosmetic work,
Bruce brought the car's internals back up to racing condition, but
didn't touch the bodywork. The result is the car you see before you
today, currently raced by Richard Jackett for team NuiSpeed."
Download Sean's Green Machine (#111) or Richard's Rust Bucket (#79) from nogripracing.com
rFactor and GTR2 Brake Vibration Mod
I made a mod for rFactor (and now GTR2) and my Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel that adds vibration to the brake pedal when the wheels lock up under braking. Check it out here.
Grinding Tranny Mod for rFactor
My second mod project was the Grinding Tranny Mod for rFactor, which replaces the existing gearbox model and allows for missed shifts depending on clutch use and rev-matching. Check it out here.
Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel
In March 2008 I started beta-testing a racing wheel for PC by Fanatec, and in May I received the final version of the wheel. It is a beautiful wheel, and I've been having a lot of fun playing GT Legends, GTR 2, and Richard Burns Rally with it. The wheel is called the Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel, and features exceptional belt-driven force feedback, 900 degrees of rotation, clutch pedal, a 6+1 shifter and a sequencial shifter, and wireless connection with the PC. I have written an in depth review of the wheel, which can be downloaded here (pdf 5MB), or you can read the summary here.
