SCC - Ferrari 348 Challenge Series - Series Complete - Results Posted!

[jjaisli]

Supercar Challenge - Ferrari Challenge Series - 348 Challenge Season

Round 4 Complete - Results posted on Page 28

>> 348 Challenge Series Finale at Mugello Starts in: << (clicky)​

Welcome to the first season of the Ferrari Challenge series featuring the 1993 Ferrari 348 Challenge. Unlike the street going 348 Berlinetta on which it's based, the 348 Challenge is stripped of it's weight adding creature comforts and sound deadening materials, has a more powerful, 360-bhp version of it's 3.4 liter engine, a fully adjustable suspension kevlar door panels, soft compound racing slicks and more powerful brakes. For all intents and purposes, what started life as a road car, is now a full blooded racing car, not unlike FIA GT cars of the era. But you won't be battling professional racers. You'll be sharing the track with other 'gentlemen' racers. Of course in this group, that's relative...

Those familiar with Supercar Challenge and have taken part in the Old Timer series understand this game's features and play system have a good idea of what to expect. But there will be some changes to how these races are run so please read carefully. Please also remember that GTPlanet's OLR Rules apply. Please click here to read them in their entirety. Some of the rules listed do not apply specifically to this game. But most of them should be simple common sense.

I will first open a PSN Text Chat room under my PSN ID: jjaisli approximately 5~10 minutes before the event starts and will first send invites to those on my buddy list who are on-line and have expressed an interest in joining this series. You must first join the text chat to take part in the race. If anybody new would like to join, provided there's space in the lobby (16 players or less), you're more than welcome. Just send me a PSN message and I'll send you an invite in return. However, considering the points will carry over from one event to the next, I would like to encourage those who want to join this series to try and show up for every race. Once everybody is securely in the text chat room, I will open a private lobby in Supercar Challenge and then send invites to those already in the next chat window.



LOBBY CONDITIONS
TC: Off
ABS: Off
SC: Off
RL: Off
Transmission: Automatic (which will allow you to choose manual, semi or full auto)
Collisons: Off after penalty except during qualifying (see below for details)
Penalties: unlimited
Setup Restrictions: NONE! You're free to set up the car as you wish.
Grid Order: * see below


QUALIFYING
We will have a two lap qualifying session before the feature race. For the first lap, please start of immediately to avoid a penalty but then drive slowly to build a gap of a least 5 seconds to the car in front of you. The second time time across the start/finish line will be your one and only qualifying lap. Collisions will be off during qualifying. If for some reason you have an accident or fall off the track, PLEASE continue your lap and do not go back to the lobby. The following Sprint Race will be run in reverse finishing order from the feature race! Qualifying could be run in either wet or dry conditions and will be chosen at Random before the event starts.


POINTS
Points will be awarded as follows:
Feature Race
1st place: 25 points
2nd place: 20 points
3rd place: 16 points
4th place: 13 points
5th place: 11 points
6th place: 10 points
7th place: 9 points
8th place: 8 points
9th place: 7 points
10th place: 6 points
11th place: 5 points
12th place: 4 points
13th place: 3 points
14th place: 2 points
15th place: 1 point
With an additional 1 point going to the fastest lap holder.

Sprint Race
1st place: 12 points
2nd place: 10 points
3rd place: 8 points
4th place: 6 points
5th place: 5 points
6th place: 4 points
7th place: 3 points
8th place: 2 points
9th place: 1 points
With an additional 1 point going to the fastest lap holder. Watch your red lines.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Event No 1 : April 11th, 2010 - 20:00 GMT - Homestead Miami Infield

QUALIFYING: 2 laps - conditions 50% dry/wet chosen at random
RACE 1 (Feature Race): - 20 Laps - Dry
RACE 2 (Sprint Race): 15 Laps - Wet

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Event No 2 : April 25th, 2010 - 20:00 GMT - Montreal Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Redwood Park)

QUALIFYING: 2 laps - conditions 50% dry/wet chosen at random
RACE 1 (Feature Race): - 20 Laps - Dry
RACE 2 (Sprint Race): 15 Laps - Wet

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event No 3 : Saturday May 8th, 2010 - 20:00 GMT - Mont Tremblant

QUALIFYING: 2 laps - conditions 50% dry/wet chosen at random
RACE 1 (Feature Race): - 20 Laps - Dry
RACE 2 (Sprint Race): 15 Laps - Wet

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event No 4 : May 23rd - 20:00 GMT - Virginia International Raceway (VIR)

QUALIFYING: 2 laps - conditions 50% dry/wet chosen at random
RACE 1 (Feature Race): - 20 Laps - Dry
RACE 2 (Sprint Race): 15 Laps - Wet

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Event No 5 - Series Finale : June 6th, 2010 - 20:00 GMT - Mugello

QUALIFYING: 2 laps - conditions 50% dry/wet chosen at random
RACE 1 (Feature Race): - 20 Laps - Dry
RACE 2 (Sprint Race): 15 Laps - Wet

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Additional Details:

- I encourage everybody who wants to take part to carefully read THIS THREAD and take appropriate steps before the event. I'm really bothered by the fact that there are connectivity issues with this game. And while I feel very badly for those so afflicted, it's also an imposition to the others in the lobby. If for some reason you are consistently kicked out of the lobby, I will try to send a few duplicate invites. But if after a few brief tries you are unable to stay connected to the lobby, I will offer my apologies and start the event.

- I was quite surprised and pleased by the amount of restraint I saw in most of the Old Timer events I've hosted in the past. Pile ups at tricky first corners are sometimes inevitable. But these are ALL endurance races. Even at a short track like Miami, even the sprint race should go for 15 minutes. So let's take it easy and try for minimal contact. I'm not against hard racing but using somebody as a brake or bumper stop is not allowed. Let's have clean racing!

- I encourage the use of headsets, although to be realistic, we know headsets don't work very well when more than 4-5 people are using them at the same time. And if we really have a large lobby, I would like to ask everybody to turn off their headsets completely once the race gets started as it will save bandwidth. Once back in the lobby, feel free to use the mics again.

- I will invite everybody in the lobby to a text chat and will make important announcements in written form so everybody receives clear instructions. Everybody please remember to JOIN the text chat.

- Between the two races there will be a 5 minute break, longer if needed or requested. But I ask everybody to please stay in the lobby.

- EDIT: May 23rd - Round 4 is now complete. Details of the VIR race are posted on Page 28. After round 4, points standings are as follows:

Points Standings after 4 rounds:

1) - mhm66 - Enzo - 102
2) - new_soul - UKOG - 96
3) - MannyMoenjack1 - Jackrabit Racing - 83
4) - jjaisli - Forza G27 - 79
5) - Mhailwood - Steve Soper - 61
6) - vompatti - ILRT - 55
7) - SimcoeAce - Mad Dogs - 52
8) - GTP_bullie77 - Lusitania Racing - 36
9) - GTP_Hun - T & L Team - 29
10) - arvore - team tgv - 28
11) - frawe - Frawe - 27
12) - L449KUX - TheRacingElite - 22
13) - kemp1010 - MX - 18
14) - FINGERSANDTHUMBS - Creative - 14
15) - drivatar - team forza - 11
16) - turnupdaheat - ScudEire - 9
17) - Hairy-Dave - Time for Tea - 5
18) - GTP_Devie - Devie Team Racing - 4

 

[bullie77]

👍👍👍👍👍

 

[arvore]

👍👍👍👍👍

+1:tup:👍👍👍

 

[new_soul]

50% chance of rain

👍👍👍👍👍👍

 

[jjaisli]

For the record, I'm still not really sold on the idea of allowing car setups in my SCC events because I feel without tire wear, it makes having extreme camber or toe settings unrealistic. And if we're going for realism, what's the point.

Making "extreme" changes should be about compromise. It may be fine for qualifying but quite another to run a full 20 lap race with full negative camber. So in that sense, the 'strategic' element is missing. Do I go with a radical setup, gain an advantage in the beginning, and hope my tires last for the rest of the race? Do I sacrifice that corner speed for a more balanced and even performance throughout the race? And lacking these compromises, nearly everybody will be tempted to go full negative camber to maximize their corner speed and grip, a change which in my opinion unfairly benefits pad users as they will likely find it easier to cope with oversteer situations.

At the same time, since this series will only feature one track per weekend, it's easier to fine tune the toe and ride height without having to make compromises or find middle ground to suit different tracks. And in that sense, there is still an interesting challenge of having to practice for the event and finding a setup that suits your style. And it would be nice having custom liveries again.

For the moment, I'm still on the fence. But now that the patch is out, I'll do some testing in the coming weeks. And without the ridiculous speed advantages that increased ride height brought, this whole scenario is certainly worth a second look. For now, it's "under review".

 

[bullie77]

I think that if we conclude that the ride height bug of allowing exaggerated high speeds is fixed we should have the liberty of setting our own setups to best suit our driving stiles. I see your point about the lack of tyre wear that should be present to make us compromise between grip/wear. However, truth is that you don't have the tyre wear either on default setups and one can always speculate that even in default setups you would be careful no to push it too hard right from the begin in order to account for that factor as well. So, all in all, the (lack of) tyre wear issue should be considered both ways - not making sense taking into account to prevent setups and not taking while pushing the limits on defaults from beginning.

The ride height issue is just ridiculous I agree, but if that is solved, I think we should let each own to adjust their setups accordingly to their needs. A lot of other parts of RL are missing from the game, as mechanical damage that, if presente, would likely restrain some suicidal moves on the tracks.

 

[turnupdaheat]

The whole realism thing can be quite funny when it comes to racing games. For instance, despite it's drawbacks I always choose to use the cockpit view for the sake of realism yet I control the car with a pad which is not very real life at all!

I know a lot of the guys here tend to use the bonnet view and I remember, Jeff, you changed view in the middle of the last Vallelunga race in the wet because the windscreen wiper was distracting you. Now come on Jeff, for the sake of realism, when you did that you should have turned on a shower over your head and blasted water into your face at varying speeds up to a max of about 160mph!!

 

[bullie77]

Now come on Jeff, for the sake of realism, when you did that you should have turned on a shower over your head and blasted water into your face at varying speeds up to a max of about 160mph!!

Yeah, but in Jeff's defense, I have to say that he didn't do it since the REALISM of his wife's reaction to find the house flooded would surpass by far the realism provided by a hose simulating rain!

 

[turnupdaheat]

It might have added to the realism if she screamed so loud it sounded like the high pitched wailing of the F40's v8!!

 

[jjaisli]

The whole realism thing can be quite funny when it comes to racing games. For instance, despite it's drawbacks I always choose to use the cockpit view for the sake of realism yet I control the car with a pad which is not very real life at all!

I know a lot of the guys here tend to use the bonnet view and I remember, Jeff, you changed view in the middle of the last Vallelunga race in the wet because the windscreen wiper was distracting you. Now come on Jeff, for the sake of realism, when you did that you should have turned on a shower over your head and blasted water into your face at varying speeds up to a max of about 160mph!!

Very funny. But the real reason I switched views at Vallelunga was because I nearly took Drivatar out and for a second or two had no idea where he was. I think the 'dash' view is the most realistic view there is but it's lack of a rear view mirror is terribly inhibiting in close racing. And looking back is sometimes not very effective (depending on the car). The F40 was not too bad which is why I drove in dash view until that point but with the 512M it was impossible to see anything and that's why I drove in the 512M event in bonnet view the entire time.

So while it's not very realistic, I think the 3D look back view where you see your own car in the picture is a great tool for on-line racing as it helps you from pushing somebody off when you don't realize they're next to you. It was only after I switched to dash view that I realized how distracting the wipper had been during the race.

Slightly OT, I picked up Dirt 2 on the cheap last week. And it's a similar story here. If you race in cockpit view and drive through a puddle, you can't see a bloody thing until the wiper clears off the windscreen. And for that 1-2 seconds you're driving blind and it's pretty scary at speed. But it's so much more enjoyable and 'realistic' this way. It's just a trade off because the last thing you want to do is take somebody out.

Anyway, even more OT, I'm curious as to why you play SCC with the pad instead of the wheel?

 

[bullie77]

Anyway, even more OT, I'm curious as to why you play SCC with the pad instead of the wheel?

oh, accordingly to his post on the SSv8_NC thread, you can say that the realism of his wife's reaction from waking up the kids due to the noise from his wheel would be much more in-depth, dramatic and immersive than the realism provided by driving with the wheel, even considering SCC feedback

 

[turnupdaheat]

Yeah, it's true I do have a redundent G25 (not due to the recession) but I don't any more have my old hideaway where I could make all the noise I wish so it's a compromise.

 

[jjaisli]

Is the wheel really that noisy? I never imagined that this would be an issue. Although in fairness, you're often racing at very late hours. And I have to admit, I have my PS3 hooked up to a 5.1 surround sound system (all digital optical connections) and it's usually cranking. Most of the time, I can't even hear the wheel. At all. But I have to admit, when I'm racing online and using the headset, out of courtesy, I'll turn the volume down so it doesn't over power other people's engines.

Of course I have the benefit of a very well sound proofed basement. Although my wife will sometimes complain that walls and furniture will start vibrating upstairs. She once told me a plane could crash in our living room and I'd never notice it if I was downstairs racing.

Derek, tell me you don't have the PS3 hooked up to the TV in your bedroom?

 

[drivatar]

For the record, I'm still not really sold on the idea of allowing car setups in my SCC events because I feel without tire wear, it makes having extreme camber or toe settings unrealistic. And if we're going for realism, what's the point.

👍

 

[turnupdaheat]

My family have very sensitive hearing! The PS3 is hooked up to a TV in my home office which is a small room between the kid's bedrooms.

If you listen to Henrik's video you can hear the type of noise that can be produced and unlike the sensible hours you play the lads over this side of the Atlantic are often playing into the small hours!

 

[Hun200kmh]

Henrik has a DFP, a lot noisier than the G25. But I fully understand you Derek, to any wife in the world, a wheel - as silent as it may be - is nothing but a evil mechanism that makes any husband stay awake and away from bed a lot longer than he should be.

If, on top of that, its evilness may prevent the kids from sleeping, then it is better, to avoid destruction of the wheel (and maybe the PS3 with it), to keep it safely in the box


And if you guys think I'm exagerating on the Women VS. PS3 WORLD WAR, just check - or remember - this:

*language warning*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKY3uTvKGOQ
*language warning*

 

[turnupdaheat]

Yes Mario, that's a scenario to be avoided!

Going back to the setup issue let me give you my more serious (sorry for the earlier facetious post Jeff) opinion. For a start, I don't have any particular agenda on this and I am happy to go with the consensus either way. If asked, however, I would say that I'm in favour of using setups as setting up a car for optimum performance is an integral part of motorsport. I agree that the use of extreme camber and toe is unrealistic but I also think the default settings are unrealistic and the reality is you would normally go somewhere in between. Is it more realistic to leave out setup changes altogether just because there is no tyre wear built into this game?

The truth is that some players have a strong aversion to anyone using setups but I think it's a red herring to use the reality thing to back this up. It may be the case that there is a worry that players will get an unfair advantage if setups are allowed but in the past there were no secrets here and plenty of information was shared so people could experiment and see what worked for them or not.

At the end of the day not a lot has changed, results wise, since we stopped using setups. The same quick guys are still out in front. I used to sometimes think they were beating me only because they had better setups but the (again that word) reality is that they are simply quicker!

 

[bullie77]

As for the wheel, yes the g25 with feedback on high is quite noise... drive over a curb and see for yourself. In SSV8_NC however it's completely silent!

I tested a little bit the setups yesterday after installing the new patch. Truth is I've only done it in the 250LM. What I make of it is that they now have adjusted the result (visual) in the car accordingly to the measurement on the slide. So now the max. ~30mm will in fact look like 30mm, and not 30cms!

The effect on the speed is minimum.

 

[Pakt Sardine]

I'm rather intrigued by this. Tempted, actually. Although, I'm still very new to SCC, so I don't know if I can "hone my skills" in time for this. How often does this come around, jjaisli?

 

[jjaisli]

Hi BlackDog,

Anybody is welcome to take part. The only real requirement is clean and respectful driving. If there's truly enough interest I'll start a sign up sheet but I don't think we'll pass the 16 player limit.

Have a look at this thread and it will give you an idea of how I've put my events together in the past: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125631

This 'series' will be a bit different in several ways. The Old Timer events were just a series of stand alone events, where we would race for about 2~2.5 hours over a series of several tracks and add up the points at the end of the day and then move onto a different car a week or two down the road.

The Challenge Series will be run over a course of 5-7 weekends (I'm not sure if they will be consecutive as I have yet to make up the schedule) and this time, each weekend, we will only race on one track. But points will carry over from event to event, just like they would in a real race series. My intention is to model these events on the real Ferrari Challenge series, although due to limitation of the game and play system, we will obviously not be able to follow all of the regulations to the letter.

We'll start with the 348 Challenge, and depending on how the event pans out and the amount of interest involved, when it's completed, we'll move on to the 355 Challenge

, the F430 Challenge...and...we'll see from there.

I take it as a given that not everybody will be able to make it for every event, although since points will carry over, I would prefer for people to stick it out and run all the races. Considering that we have people from different continents and time zones taking part, the time that seemed to work best was Sundays, at 3:00 pm EST (20:00 GMT). And most likely I'll keep to this schedule.

Over the next few weeks I'll endeavor to post the complete schedule for the season.

 

[turnupdaheat]

Sounds good Jeff. I'll just have to ensure that my SCC driving skills don't deteriorate after getting used to the higher levels of grip experienced in SSV8CNC!!

 

[arvore]

Sounds good Jeff. I'll just have to ensure that my SCC driving skills don't deteriorate after getting used to the higher levels of grip experienced in SSV8CNC!!

Yep! That is going to be a problem...jumping from one driving game to another,like i usually do,can really mess up one's driving since breaking distances and overall handling are so much different...well i guess thats the price you pay to avoid boredom...

 

[Pakt Sardine]

Hi BlackDog,

Anybody is welcome to take part. The only real requirement is clean and respectful driving. If there's truly enough interest I'll start a sign up sheet but I don't think we'll pass the 16 player limit.

Have a look at this thread and it will give you an idea of how I've put my events together in the past: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125631

This 'series' will be a bit different in several ways. The Old Timer events were just a series of stand alone events, where we would race for about 2~2.5 hours over a series of several tracks and add up the points at the end of the day and then move onto a different car a week or two down the road.

The Challenge Series will be run over a course of 5-7 weekends (I'm not sure if they will be consecutive as I have yet to make up the schedule) and this time, each weekend, we will only race on one track. But points will carry over from event to event, just like they would in a real race series. My intention is to model these events on the real Ferrari Challenge series, although due to limitation of the game and play system, we will obviously not be able to follow all of the regulations to the letter.

We'll start with the 348 Challenge, and depending on how the event pans out and the amount of interest involved, when it's completed, we'll move on to the 355 Challenge

, the F430 Challenge...and...we'll see from there.

I take it as a given that not everybody will be able to make it for every event, although since points will carry over, I would prefer for people to stick it out and run all the races. Considering that we have people from different continents and time zones taking part, the time that seemed to work best was Sundays, at 3:00 pm EST (20:00 GMT). And most likely I'll keep to this schedule.

Over the next few weeks I'll endeavor to post the complete schedule for the season.

Thanks for the info! I'm extremely tempted now. I try to be clean and respectful, and the time works for me. What I'll probably do is acquire the cars, and keep practicing with it. When the time comes (probably when you cement a schedule), I'll see where I'm at. As mentioned by the others in this thread, I've been bouncing between games, which isn't helpful when you're working on a particular game.

 

[blown540ci]

hey jjaisli .
after missing out on your last event due to connection problems any ideas how i can improve my connectivity? my ps3 is hard wired through a router and is nat type 2.
cheers

 

[jjaisli]

I would suggest you read this tech note from from Eutechnyx. And hope for the best.

http://forums.eutechnyx.com/index.php/topic,1466.0.html

I felt badly about what happened last time. Especially considering we had a small turn out.

 

[Hun200kmh]

hey blown540, yesterday I was hosting for a few hours and I noticed your PSN ID (fingersandthumbs) entering and quitting my lobby a few times. Was it connection problem with my lobby or just you checking on who was in open lobbies?

 

[MannyMoenjack]

Very funny. But the real reason I switched views at Vallelunga was because I nearly took Drivatar out and for a second or two had no idea where he was. I think the 'dash' view is the most realistic view there is but it's lack of a rear view mirror is terribly inhibiting in close racing. And looking back is sometimes not very effective (depending on the car). The F40 was not too bad which is why I drove in dash view until that point but with the 512M it was impossible to see anything and that's why I drove in the 512M event in bonnet view the entire time.

So while it's not very realistic, I think the 3D look back view where you see your own car in the picture is a great tool for on-line racing as it helps you from pushing somebody off when you don't realize they're next to you. It was only after I switched to dash view that I realized how distracting the wipper had been during the race.

Hi Jeff.

I wanted to put my name forward to participate if I could. I had a great time racing you, cello and arvore on Friday.

Regarding your post that I've quoted above... I've been concerned about that as well, particularly after Friday's races. I'm used to using the "in-car" dashboard view from Shift and it seemed natural to use it in SCC, but on the few occasions I was in a race position that required me to check the rear view I was irritated that it was often no help at all as the view was obscured by my car. One thing I did do that helped a little was to turn up the Other Engine, audio slider so at least I could hear other drivers coming up on me. I'm reluctant to try the Bonnet cam view as it kind of kills the realism a bit, but I may have to try it...


Edit: Wow, I'm surprised how much easier the game is all-around using the Bonnet View vs. the Dashboard View. I notice that I can make the transitions from brake-to-accererator much more smoothly than before and I have a much better awareness of what the car is doing. Needless to say, driving in the wet is much easier and situational awareness (to use pilot-speak), is vastly improved. As much as I enjoy the realism of dashboard view, for online events I think I'm going to use the Bonnet view.

 

[jjaisli]

Hi Jeff.

I wanted to put my name forward to participate if I could. I had a great time racing you, cello and arvore on Friday.

You got it. 👍 I had a fun time as well.

Edit: Wow, I'm surprised how much easier the game is all-around using the Bonnet View vs. the Dashboard View. I notice that I can make the transitions from brake-to-accererator much more smoothly than before and I have a much better awareness of what the car is doing. Needless to say, driving in the wet is much easier and situational awareness (to use pilot-speak), is vastly improved. As much as I enjoy the realism of dashboard view, for online events I think I'm going to use the Bonnet view.

I haven't really found the car any easier to control in bonnet view. But turn in points are slightly different so it does take a bit to get used to. I'm a bit of a masochist with such things. I continued to use the G25's H-pattern shifter even though I realize I'm losing time and I prefer to use the in-car view just because I feel both bring me closer to the real thing.

 

[jjaisli]

Preliminary schedule (subject to change)

Round 1 : April 11th

Round 2 : April 25th

Round 3 : May 9th

Round 4 : May 23rd

Round 5 : June 6th

All times set for Sunday at 20:00 GMT

 

[bullie77]

Preliminary schedule (subject to change)

Round 1 : April 11th

Round 2 : April 25th

Round 3 : May 9th

Round 4 : May 23rd

Round 5 : June 6th

All times set for Sunday at 20:00 GMT

Been set in my agenda (I believe I won't make it in the last date).

Just clarify me on this: are we going to run the 5 dates on the same car but each date in different tracks, or will it be 1 car + 1 track on weekend 1; another car + another in weekend 2; and so on...?

I guess that if we are trying to 'recreate' the ferrari challenge spirit, it'll be option 1.