◆ SNAIL [Spec] Racing - Join now to win a Digit Racing EDGE Masterclass enrollment!!Open
- Thread starter zer05ive
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- 1,399
- New Hampshire
- AKZL298
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- 1,198
- Parts unknown
- Drummmer1979
PRESENTS:
The ButtKicker Challenge VII
Check out our very own @vovik05 putting SNAIL in the news!!
Don't miss GTPlanet's feature of our very own @CoachMK21!
Congrats to @Neovre for making his debut at Le Mans
(where he scored an incredible P5 finish!)
Congrats to all the SNAILs who competed in the
2015 GT Academy USA Finals!!
2015 USA Finalists
Back Row: @LoCoArMeN*, @vovik05*, @Ryan Lynch*, @Ricky Wilson, @TRL_Importlife, @Tyler Utley*, @gtr3123
Front Row: @ConnorWolf, @Crystalline_T
Not Shown (qualified for, but unable to attend finals):@GTP_Compton3, @Matt Sierras, @msgt-sd
* - advanced to Silverstone finals!!
And good luck to the SNAILs who are competing in the 2016 GT Academy Mexico Finals!!
2016 Mexico Finalists
@Enzo_Goiko (second from left), @Ness (second from right), and @pakicote (far right)
Welcome to SNAIL
From our humble beginnings, SNAIL (aka Sunday Night American Interactive League) is now the largest console-based sim racing league in the world. Our mission is to provide our members with clean, intense, and competitive racing - regardless of skill level! We believe that providing full grids of evenly-matched competitions is the most realistic way to race, improve skill, and refine racecraft! Our league night is Sunday at 9:30pm Eastern / 6:30pm Pacific, but we also have a a wide variety of other events held on other nights of the week. If this sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, please keep reading to learn more about us and how to join.
What Makes Us Different
SNAIL is the only sim racing league in the world that's able to combine five key features into one consolidated package. First of all, we provide you with evenly-matched competition to drivers of all skill levels. In fact, the intense level of competition that we produce has established SNAIL as the "go to" place to prepare for GT Academy. And if you want to keep track of your improvement along the way, you'll be glad to know that we keep the most comprehensive race data available on GTPlanet. We also feature an interactive process that allows all of our members to have a say in which cars and tracks we race. And last but not least, we're the only league that awards our members with valuable prizes just for racing with us!
Evenly-Matched Competition
Have you ever watched a professional race where drivers with completely different skill levels were competing on the same track? Of course not! That wouldn't be fun to watch, let alone fun to participate in. Unfortunately, that disparity of pace is something you'll often find in organized online racing. When this happens, you'll be lucky to have just a few drivers that you're truly competitive with. Everyone else will usually either be faster or slower than you. We prevent that from happening in SNAIL by dividing our drivers into separate divisions based on speed and skill. This results in full grids of evenly-matched competition and creates the closest and most intense sim racing experience around!
Prepare for GT Academy
If you'd like to compete in GT Academy, there's no better place than SNAIL to hone your skills to the elite levels necessary to make it to the finals. You need to be the best of the best to make it to Silverstone, and that's exactly what the drivers in our top division are. Half of last year's and half of this year's Silverstone Finalists have raced in SNAIL. And since our race format (which features multiple sprint races) is almost identical to the format used at the GT Academy national finals, they were able to use their SNAIL experience to help them advance to Silverstone. Click here if you want to advice from last year's eventual champion and click here if you want advice from last year's runner-up.
Valuable Prizes
Have you ever wished you could win free stuff just for having fun? If so, then you might want to know that our members win valuable real-world prizes just for racing with us! These prize are based on participation and not on race results. Some examples of prizes our members have won include GranStand sim racing products like this, this and this, ButtKicker products like a Gamer2 and a Wireless ButtKicker Kit. You can also join Team SNAIL and earn even more prizes, such as shirts (e.g. S.N.A.I.L. shirt, F1 shirt, GT Academy shirt), video capture devices (e.g. Hauppauge PVR), sim racing equipment (e.g. Playseat Evolution), and even gift cards (e.g. Amazon and PSN).
Spec Racing
SNAIL has always been a one-make series, but when we decided to prohibit tuning in all of our races, we became the first "spec" racing league on GTPlanet. Spec racing ensures that success is determined primarily by driving skill and not by differences in power, gearing, suspension, weight, or aerodynamics. Because variables in the car are eliminated, spec racing is the truest measure of driver skill! It also produces intense battles for position because all of the cars are equally strong or weak in the same areas of the track. Plus, you'll never spend hours tuning cars or wondering if someone is truly faster than you or if they just have a better tune.
Race Format
Our league night lasts for two hours and is split into three rounds. Each round consists of two races that last 10 to 12 minutes on a predetermined car and track combo. At the beginning of each round, a brief qualifying session determines the order of the starting grid. The first race is set to 'Fastest First' to reward the best qualifiers and the second race is set to 'Reverse Grid' in order to promote on-track action. Points are awarded based on our "perfect" points system. After a round is completed, we move on to the next round and repeat the same process with the next car and track combination. Once all three rounds are complete, we tally up the points and then let our interactive format kick in.
Interactive Participation
Our unique format allows everyone to have a say on which cars and tracks we race. It's also used to strike a balance between familiarity and variety of our car and track combos. In other words, the progression of cars and tracks that we race is slow enough for us to learn them well, but fast enough that they don't get "old". At the end of every league night, everyone votes on which car and track combo they enjoyed the least. The combo that receives the most "elimination votes" is dropped from the next week's lineup entirely. The combo that receives the second most votes is also dropped, but only partially. This is where our prizes come into play:
Prizes
A prize is awarded to the divisions winners with the three highest scores*. The division winner with the highest score gets Prize A. The division winner with the second highest score gets Prize B. The division winner with the third highest score gets Prize C: (NOTE: We now have a new process for breaking ties in the elimination vote)
Prize A: The right to select the new car and track combo to replace the combo that was voted off
Prize B: The right to replace either the car or the track of the combo that received the second most votes
Prize C: The right to "freeze" either the car or the track of the combo that received the second most votes
Promotion and Relegation
Although we split our drivers into separate divisions based on performance and skill level, we realize that our drivers are constantly improving and deserve a chance to climb the ladder of success. That's why we promote and relegate drivers before every season based on the results and data compiled during the previous season. This is also done to ensure that our races are as competitive as possible for all of our league members, top to bottom. Regardless of which division you're in, you will almost always be fighting to gain or defend a position on the track. Simply put, no other Gran Turismo league in the world can offer this much competitive racing to so many different skill levels.
Comprehensive Race Data
It's not always accurate to promote and relegate drivers based on championship points alone. That's why the massive amounts of data we track are invaluable to our league. You'd be hard-pressed to find a sim racing league anywhere in the world that tracks driver data and race results more comprehensively than we do. In fact, our SNAIL Data document contains so much information that we have to archive old data to avoid exceeding the GoogleDoc's maximum capacity! You can use this data to track the points championship for each season and compare yourself to other drivers in categories such as fast laps, total race pace, total points, average points per race, and power rankings.
Rules
We expect all drivers to follow our OLR Rules and pursue good racecraft at all times. If you're not sure what good racecraft is, watch this video. It can be summed up in one simple 'Golden Rule' of motorsports: It is the responsibility of the overtaking driver, meaning the car that is attempting to execute the pass, to make sure that the pass is made cleanly and incident free. If you don't agree with this rule or don't think it applies to you, this is not the league for you. If you ever feel like a driver is not following the rules, please wait until league night is over, then file a Racing Incident Report. Our Stewards will review the incident and issue the appropriate penalties.
Settings
Lobby Settings
Course Settings
Tire Settings:
Based on Dealership PP (not the PP after an oil change)
below 349 PP -> Comfort Mediums
350-399 PP ---> Comfort Softs
400-449 PP ---> Sports Hards
450-499 PP ---> Sports Mediums
500-549 PP ---> Sports Softs
550-599 PP ---> Racing Hards
600 PP & up --> Racing Mediums
How To Join Us
Step 1: Post a reply (by clicking the 'Reply' button at the bottom of this post) stating, "I have read the first post and would like to join," and tell us how you heard about SNAIL. (Do not start a conversation with anyone, just post your request on this thread).
Step 2: Watch the thread for a reply to your post and follow the instructions provided.
Step 3: Purchase the three cars listed in the lineup for our next races.
Step 4: Wait to be assigned to a division and then join that division's lounge on Sunday night.
If you are not sure which division you are assigned to, please check the Offical Driver List
For a list of helpful links and FAQ's, please click here.
I have read the first post and would like to join.....again.
- 2,876
- Central NJ
- nmcp1
@Drummer79
Here's your official RE-SNAIL Welcome Post!
Thanks for your interest!
Here's what you need to know (and do) in order to join SNAIL Racing League:
We run a clean league by enforcing a strict penalty system based on the SNAIL OLR (which is a modified version of the GTP OLR). We also expect all of our drivers to know and follow The Good Racecraft Guide. Please become versed in both if you aren't already. Once that is complete, please follow the steps below to complete your entry into the league:
1. You start a conversation and add zer05ive, JLBowler, nmcp1, Rednose58, MajorBlixem, SAMHAIN85 & llNovall as participants.
The conversation title should be "Request To Join".
2. SNAIL Administrators will respond with specific instructions on what you need to accomplish to join the SNAIL [Spec] Racing.
3. Place the following links (URLs) in the favorites (or bookmarks) in your web browser for quick reference. Please make every effort to read and understand the following links. Over the years a great deal of time and effort has gone into creating this league and we would like nothing more than to have you but we ask that you take the time and effort to do your homework. 99.9% of any question you may have about SNAIL can be found in the posts below.
4. You drive fast and clean on Sunday 👍
Again, the original post has everything you need to know about what to expect on Sunday night and what you will need to have completed in order to be competitive. If you have any questions, please feel free to post your question on the thread.
During the week we run a number of different events, we encourage all SNAILs to join as many as possible.
Welcome to SNAIL
I’ll plan to be there for Saturday night practice @Harry Rowley
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- 3,833
- socal
- SAMHAIN85
SNAIL 2020 PRIZE WINNERS
Back in August I announced I would be giving prizes to the top scorers of SNAIL for the 2020 Season for the 3rd year in a row. Thanks to @Akzl298 who kept the sheet updated. We have our winners:
1st place $50 Amazon Card @Timlour 3,118.1 points
2nd place $25 Amazon Card @Nicktune 3,115 points
3rd place $15 Amazon Card @TEX36 2,764 points
Well done guys! Not only did you guys finish well all year, but you consistently showed up week in and week out which is awesome to see. Thanks for your dedication to SNAIL
I also gave away 1 prize for the 4th-13th finishers, chosen randomly by fastest lap of the final race of 2020 in D1. (click for details)
D1R3R2 fastest lap was a 1:55.264 set by @MikeGrove which means @LST wins the $10 Amazon Card
Congrats winners! PM me your email address and I will get those cards sent out asap
For comparison here is the 2019 Total points:
and 2018:
An announcement will be made in the coming weeks about what we'll be doing for prizes again in 2021. All I can say for now is, show up and race! Happy new year
Back in August I announced I would be giving prizes to the top scorers of SNAIL for the 2020 Season for the 3rd year in a row. Thanks to @Akzl298 who kept the sheet updated. We have our winners:
1st place $50 Amazon Card @Timlour 3,118.1 points
2nd place $25 Amazon Card @Nicktune 3,115 points
3rd place $15 Amazon Card @TEX36 2,764 points
Well done guys! Not only did you guys finish well all year, but you consistently showed up week in and week out which is awesome to see. Thanks for your dedication to SNAIL
I also gave away 1 prize for the 4th-13th finishers, chosen randomly by fastest lap of the final race of 2020 in D1. (click for details)
After ordering the 4th-13th finishers by thousandths it looks like this:
4th. @racingchamp30 .001
5th. @Akzl298 .002
6th. @JamCar0ne .003
7th. @LST .004
8th. @Rob Brown .005
9th. @Xradkins .006
10th. @Kgffy .007
11th. @Phlano099 .008
12th. @MikeGrove .009
13th. @stelephant .000
4th. @racingchamp30 .001
5th. @Akzl298 .002
6th. @JamCar0ne .003
7th. @LST .004
8th. @Rob Brown .005
9th. @Xradkins .006
10th. @Kgffy .007
11th. @Phlano099 .008
12th. @MikeGrove .009
13th. @stelephant .000
D1R3R2 fastest lap was a 1:55.264 set by @MikeGrove which means @LST wins the $10 Amazon Card
Congrats winners! PM me your email address and I will get those cards sent out asap
For comparison here is the 2019 Total points:
and 2018:
An announcement will be made in the coming weeks about what we'll be doing for prizes again in 2021. All I can say for now is, show up and race! Happy new year
- 314
- United Kingdom
Welcome to Saturday evening practice....
Room open
0475-4283-7414-7157-5108
few changes to room number.
Room open
0475-4283-7414-7157-5108
few changes to room number.
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JLBowler
Premium
- 7,995
- California
- JLBowler
The drivers list and grid lists have been updated for the January season.
I highly recommend that everyone have a look at it. There are many changes for this season.
New or returning drivers have been added to the list. @Xexploit @Drummer79
I highly recommend that everyone have a look at it. There are many changes for this season.
New or returning drivers have been added to the list. @Xexploit @Drummer79
- 3,833
- socal
- SAMHAIN85
I'm in total agreement with all the posts above. This has been discussed a few times like @socalnatv mentioned, but one of the last times we "polled the audience" it seemed people would rather be in a lobby with larger grids and larger skill gaps, than lobbies with fewer cars and smaller skill gaps. In a perfect scenario I think we all want to see both. A full lobby of drivers that are all within just a few tenths of a second of eachothers laptimes. Unfortunately we arent at that point again, yet.
I made a post about a year ago and in it I referenced another post I made from the year before.
From that post:
When GT6 was nearing the end, we were down to 2 divisions with 29 drivers competing in the October 2017 season (the final month before Sport launched):
Sport gets released and guess what, we go from 29 to 82 drivers:
Now if I recall correctly that 82 isn't 82 unique drivers, we probably had something like 75+. But you get the idea. And you can imagine with that player pool how quickly the grids tightened up.
Where do we find ourselves in December 2020? With almost the same exact scenario, 28 drivers and 2 divisions:
So long story short, this was bound to happen. Sport is getting old. But with GT7 right around the corner (ok wishful thinking) we should be back to a healthy crop of players to help even the grids again. And hopefully guys like @Neovre who have been away for so long will find their way back to SNAIL once GT7 is launched. I have high hopes for GT7, and I certainly hope they go back to their roots which made all the previous installments such classics.
It probably wont be the easiest of transitions I'm sure, since GT7 will be exclusive to the PS5. But the good news is you dont necessarily need to wait to purchase a PS5 for when GT7 finally launches, since the PS5 allows you to play PS4 games (like Sport). And another good selling point is that from what I've heard, your wheel and pedals which you are using right now on PS4 will be compatible with PS5.
Its funny you say that, I just mentioned something about that in our Board PM. Here we are in the middle of a global pandemic, we just went through one hell of a controversial election, and yet the thread is void of all discussion. Maybe when it comes to those topics its for the better, but the fact that there hasnt been one mention of either really says a lot about this once extremely active thread. It seems like most posts are just going through the motions with formalities regarding race night etc. I still check the thread pretty often but I havent been posting a whole lot. I'll do my best to participate in any dicussions and I urge anyone else reading this to feel free to post about anything. If you go back about 2,000 pages you'll find when this thread broke 100k replies
- 1,299
- Saskatchewan
- DUB-L-DEE
I just wanted to add my two cents here...
I have recently gotten back into racing on GTS and was looking to rejoin Snail for 2021, but I was going to return with +1(my wife). She recently started racing with me and I was hoping to get her into Snail too since I found that being involved with Snail improved my driving, but I think throwing her in at this time with only 2 divisions would be a huge mistake and a real confidence buster for her.
If things change to smaller, and more divisions we will likely be regulars for at least the rest of the winter, likely longer.
Anyway thought I would post my comments from this perspective.
Thanks
I have recently gotten back into racing on GTS and was looking to rejoin Snail for 2021, but I was going to return with +1(my wife). She recently started racing with me and I was hoping to get her into Snail too since I found that being involved with Snail improved my driving, but I think throwing her in at this time with only 2 divisions would be a huge mistake and a real confidence buster for her.
If things change to smaller, and more divisions we will likely be regulars for at least the rest of the winter, likely longer.
Anyway thought I would post my comments from this perspective.
Thanks
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- 4,274
- Fort Worth/Texas
- RacingChamp30
D3 Thread created.
- 4,886
- Cloud 9
- Rednose58
The SNAIL Sunday Scoring Sheets for Jan 3 have been prepared.
- 117
- Yuba City, CA
Buttkicker is having a sale right now, $50 off gamer2 combo and sim combo. Unfortunately the sale is ending today
- 1,211
- Burnaby, BC
- canoworms1
Belated, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I agree with this sentiment. Tonight is the anniversary of my first race in SNAIL. If memory serves me it didn't go well for many involved. In my defence I had only been driving without the brake point cones for 2 weeks. lol. I'm happy to report I have not filed an IR against myself for a couple of months now.
The racing has been intense at times and always civil and well executed. I think my ability to participate in these battles has improved considerably. There's still lots of room for me to improve and I appreciate your patience in waiting to pass me once I reach one of those weak spots. (FYI: turn 11 & 12 at Nurburgring tonight). Practice and training has been the "shining light", as Phlano put it in this year to forget. But a year we will talk about to our graves. Stay the course, the end is nigh.
I have enjoyed the camaraderie and support of the community. Thank you to my coaches and to the fine fellow competitors I've met. Initially my goal was to not be DFL (dead f'in last), which I found not that hard to do in the first race of a combo, as some people WANT to be on the front row with me in the reverse grid race. This year my goal is consistency, which I now realize probably should have been my goal last year. Oh well, mid-pack watch out here I come.
My highlight of the very young new season was to pull away from @SAMHAIN85 during Thursday's practice in the MR2. Regarding divisions and numbers, I would vote for numbers of racers over number of divisions. The 'Sam' pass was a bit of a fluke, but legitimate. I have encountered races where I'm battling with drivers who are often considerably ahead of me in other races. We all have strengths and weaknesses. I think that is one of the advantages of changing combos, it can be a bit of an equalizer. I'll say is again as many have, the ideal is the heyday of yore, many full divisions, which I sadly missed, but may come again. This is where we are and I look forward to racing with all of you in whatever division you and I happen to be in. Rock on! (Did I just date myself?)
I agree with this sentiment. Tonight is the anniversary of my first race in SNAIL. If memory serves me it didn't go well for many involved. In my defence I had only been driving without the brake point cones for 2 weeks. lol. I'm happy to report I have not filed an IR against myself for a couple of months now.
The racing has been intense at times and always civil and well executed. I think my ability to participate in these battles has improved considerably. There's still lots of room for me to improve and I appreciate your patience in waiting to pass me once I reach one of those weak spots. (FYI: turn 11 & 12 at Nurburgring tonight). Practice and training has been the "shining light", as Phlano put it in this year to forget. But a year we will talk about to our graves. Stay the course, the end is nigh.
I have enjoyed the camaraderie and support of the community. Thank you to my coaches and to the fine fellow competitors I've met. Initially my goal was to not be DFL (dead f'in last), which I found not that hard to do in the first race of a combo, as some people WANT to be on the front row with me in the reverse grid race. This year my goal is consistency, which I now realize probably should have been my goal last year. Oh well, mid-pack watch out here I come.
My highlight of the very young new season was to pull away from @SAMHAIN85 during Thursday's practice in the MR2. Regarding divisions and numbers, I would vote for numbers of racers over number of divisions. The 'Sam' pass was a bit of a fluke, but legitimate. I have encountered races where I'm battling with drivers who are often considerably ahead of me in other races. We all have strengths and weaknesses. I think that is one of the advantages of changing combos, it can be a bit of an equalizer. I'll say is again as many have, the ideal is the heyday of yore, many full divisions, which I sadly missed, but may come again. This is where we are and I look forward to racing with all of you in whatever division you and I happen to be in. Rock on! (Did I just date myself?)
- 3,833
- socal
- SAMHAIN85
No but seriously, your pace has improved dramatically Cano. We'll see you in D1 in a few months!
- 1,329
- Ca
- Kgffy28
I thought I was down on power too u did very well @CANOWORMS1
- 4,274
- Fort Worth/Texas
- RacingChamp30
D3 Lobby open.
0475-4282-1901-8307-2836
0475-4282-1901-8307-2836
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