VGTA Handicap Championship. Mondays, 8:00pm GMT, from 10th Jan 2022.PS4

[Zolon32]

I just wanna say that I was disappointed when damage was set to Off.

Sorry about that Jammy, genuinely, I just couldn't take it any longer, the cries of pain. It's hardly the most important thing in the world, organising racing, but it is a responsibility. People give up chunks of their time, not only on the night, but in practice too, and I feel real concern when it's flushed down the pit lane due to a decision as controversial as including damage.

Perhaps we could agree to have damage on all the time, then I wouldn't have to carry that burden 😃

 

[Napalm_LT]

I crashed 3 times on longer race, but I would like damage was on . It ads more imersive and acctually it's driver responsibility - to drive on the limits and take risk to damage car or drive slower but safier . When damage was on I choosed to go slower. Of course this have another side - when I driving on my limits on practice and go slower in the race I often loosing rythm and starting to do mistakes and that can cause car damage too . Acctually damage on can show who is who. Look at Monster, hmm, sorry Mister @jammy21, sometimes we could match his pace in one or some laps, but he can keep this pace all the time (me and others - can't) and he is from absolutely different level.

BTW, I did some research according my invites issue on Monday. Recently my son bought PS5 and used my account to dowload games I have purchased from PSN. When he set up PS5, he needed to mark he is a solo or more online player. He select solo and Privacy settings of my account changed - Messages/Invites changed to NEVER. It was strange, because messages and invites are at the same bar and it was set to NEVER, but I could receive messages and couldn't receive invites only. Or maybe it happened not due my son used my account but it was just a bug after system update which I did on Sunday.
Anyway I am happy I solved that for second race.

 

[Pantheons]

@Zolon32 your doing a grand job, never easy being the race director. If nobody did it, there wouldn't be any racing. I messed up more times in the second race, maybe because damage was off or maybe because the concentrations levels are hard to keep up. But either way its great fun, and Im learning lots.

 

[half_sourly]

it's driver responsibility

Agree, but it is not always in your control. In the first race I was running a comfortable 4th, next person about 16 seconds behind me, when I came around a corner to find a car sideways across the road. I couldn't avoid it and got >20 damage front, some at back and had to limp to the pits and sit there for around a minute. But I guess that is part of the realism.

@Zolon32 I was one of those voicing my frustration (after noted incident). That wasn't necessary and I should have thought about you as the organiser - so apologies. My only mitigation is that I rarely run at the front and putting in many hours of practice last week paid off in lap-times, so the frustration of dropping to the back was a bit much. Still, there was no need for me to shout, both because you put in a lot of effort into organising the series and because I'm sure it puts other drivers off. Onward and upward.

 

[jammy21]

Yes I understand you well and you make the decisions in this series and I live with them, no harm done
I just love this kind of hard/difficult track challenging races when you don't have any room for mistakes (when damage is On).
All in all let's move on next race.

Sorry about that Jammy, genuinely, I just couldn't take it any longer, the cries of pain. It's hardly the most important thing in the world, organising racing, but it is a responsibility. People give up chunks of their time, not only on the night, but in practice too, and I feel real concern when it's flushed down the pit lane due to a decision as controversial as including damage.

Perhaps we could agree to have damage on all the time, then I wouldn't have to carry that burden 😃

I did more practices session for these races than normally I have done in this series as I love the challenge on this track.

I crashed 3 times on longer race, but I would like damage was on . It ads more imersive and acctually it's driver responsibility - to drive on the limits and take risk to damage car or drive slower but safier . When damage was on I choosed to go slower. Of course this have another side - when I driving on my limits on practice and go slower in the race I often loosing rythm and starting to do mistakes and that can cause car damage too . Acctually damage on can show who is who. Look at Monster, hmm, sorry Mister @jammy21, sometimes we could match his pace in one or some laps, but he can keep this pace all the time (me and others - can't) and he is from absolutely different level.

 

[Napalm_LT]

Agree, but it is not always in your control. In the first race I was running a comfortable 4th, next person about 16 seconds behind me, when I came around a corner to find a car sideways across the road. I couldn't avoid it and got >20 damage front, some at back and had to limp to the pits and sit there for around a minute. But I guess that is part of the realism.

Probably all of you have seen that, but anyway, just watch one more time from 1:40

 

[xeronima]

I rage quit after crashing the third time in race 1

Not because of damage but because I was too wasted after way to long working days.

With damage off I would have also rage quit.

@Zolon32 set it as you'll have it. We will gratefully follow

 

[IfAndOr]

Damage, why not compromise? Visual only on the shorter 'sprint' race and performance impacting on the longer 'endurance'. The reason being is if you have to pit during the 20 minute race you probably aren't going to make up the lost time. Also the short race can be the most hectic.

That said there's only 1 week left.
(I'd better get something organised!)

 

[Zolon32]

Thanks for the support fellas. Hell, I'm glad those GT guys weren't in Scotland, we'd still be racing now.

Anyway

@jammy21 @Napalm_LT @Hun200kmh @xeronima @Saltyjoe90 @Pantheons @JockeP22 @half_sourly @beachboy6658 @richroo @Maxmusmonster @Don Mejillone @Oldbass47 @IfAndOr

Brno is a very different environment from the tortuous roads up north, so damage shouldn't be a problem for anyone. Since it's the end of the series, and spring is just around the corner, I thought we'd have this race in that most wonderful of seasons. It will be set for 13:00 13th May 2021, with clear weather for quali and the first race, then clear/light cloud/medium cloud/heavy cloud for the major event.

And boy, am I looking forward to it. I think that the Mustang and Ferraris will be particularly effective here, and the Nissan isn't far behind the Porsche, for whatever reason. COME ON SALTY, LET'S GET THIS THING SETTLED!

And, congratulations to Jammy on winning the series... oh, come on, we all know it's in the bag

And major congratulations to Mario for being the only driver who completed the series in the Nissan (or every race possible anyway).

Roll on Monday.

@xeronima you're forgiven, it would be a boring old world if we all reacted exactly the same to every event. And anyway, I enjoy the challenge of trying to get you to finish a race 😃

 

[xeronima]

@Zolon32 I'll be hard pressed to make it on Monday again. Looks like more days with long hours are coming my way

 

[IfAndOr]

With the invasion of Ukraine, for an invasion is what it is, there's not any peace keeping involved, how is the situation in your country @Napalm_LT? Tense I would think. I see your president has imposed a state of emergency.

 

[Napalm_LT]

Lithuania is member of NATO, thanks God so we hope we are safe. But you cant be sure when you have an idiot with nuclear button near to you.
Acctually we just returned home from downtown. There was a meeting to support Ukraine - thousands of people walking from parlament to the ambassy of Russia. I felt myself like 30 years ago. You can watch on youtube #13 of January Lithuania, #Baltic way and many others. Probably for west Europe a bit dificult to understand how we feel in East, to be honest - not one tear has fallen in me today…

 

[IfAndOr]

Lithuania is member of NATO, thanks God so we hope we are safe.

Yes Putin's aggression seems like a full on recruiting drive for further nations wanting to join NATO. Which sort of defeats any purposes he has to put a buffer in place. Madness!


Anyway back to the racing. Brno is a little further west so hopefully we should be OK.

 

[John Wells]

Yes Putin's aggression seems like a full on recruiting drive for further nations wanting to join NATO. Which sort of defeats any purposes he has to put a buffer in place. Madness!


Anyway back to the racing. Brno is a little further west so hopefully we should be OK.

Putin's very aggrieve, more gangster, quite bad at what he's says. He reminds me of Stalin, how the Ukraine's didn't like him. When the Germans invaded, during the War, they were welcomed, they didn't want Stalin. Then when a few months later, found out bad they were.

 

[Zolon32]

Which sort of defeats any purposes he has to put a buffer in place. Madness!

His long term "plans" are irrelevant, in my opinion Paul. I think that, tragedy as it is for all those touched by it, his delusion that he can take Ukraine, and remain in power will be seen as a golden opportunity by Politicians in the west. He has been a thorn if their side for as long as he has been around, but they have been afraid of pushing back against him because their citizens are so dependent upon his oil and gas. They haven't been prepared to risk the potential political price. That's why he got away with the Salisbury poisonings, among so many other things.

However, their weak appeasement has, along with the deluded psychological state that sets in with any animal that is given absolute freedom to do what it wants, has led him to step onto new political ground. Now, as he stands there admiring all that he has achieved, they will destroy the solid gold ground that he has stolen for himself, in the certainty that their people going to the polls will love them for it.

History indicates that the Russian people are as hard as nails, and they are going to have to be, because they have a very long, hard Siberian winter coming. I think.

Anyway, looking forward to Brno. I've just managed my first win against the AI who have been kicking my ass thus far. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Gents, I will travel and be a week away from home starting tomorrow, that meaning I can't take part in the final race, will miss racing Brno, one of my all time favorites.

Napalm, am keeping you in my thoughts, must be sombering to be so close to the bully and - unlike jammy, also close - to be from a country that was under the rule of the soviet union not so long ago, considering Putin really seems to go down in history as the guy who reconquered the former republics. Thankfully you are part of NATO so even all the current Chamberlain appeasers wouldn't turn a blind eye if there's an aggression up there.

It is impressive how history is repeating itself. Putin is following Hitler's rulebook to the letter, in a slightly different geographic area.

It is important that this be known/remembered

After a prolonged period of intense propaganda inside Austria, German troops entered the country on March 12, 1938, receiving the enthusiastic support of most of the population. Austria was incorporated into Germany on the following day. In April, this German annexation was retroactively approved in a plebiscite that was manipulated to indicate that about 99 percent of the Austrian people wanted the union (known as the "Anschluss") with Germany. Neither Jews nor Roma (Gypsies) were permitted to vote in the plebiscite.

In 1938, Hitler threatened to unleash a European war unless the Sudetenland, a border area of Czechoslovakia containing an ethnic German majority, was surrendered to Germany. The leaders of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany held a conference in Munich, Germany, on September 29-30, 1938, in which they agreed to the German annexation of the Sudetenland in exchange for a pledge of peace from Hitler. Czechoslovakia, which was not a party to the Munich negotiations, agreed under significant pressure from Britain and France.

On March 15, 1939, Hitler violated the Munich agreement and moved against the Czechoslovak state. The Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia were proclaimed a German protectorate and were occupied by German forces. Slovakia became an independent state, closely allied with Germany. Hungary, which had annexed territory in southern Slovakia after the Munich conference, seized the Transcarpathian Ukraine. Czechoslovakia ceased to exist.

Little more than a week later, on March 23, 1939, German troops suddenly occupied Memel. Lithuania was unable to prevent this occupation.

Poland was next, and that's when - finally, bit too late - France and Germany decided to draw the line.

But Hitler by then was already too big too be concerned. He crossed the Polish border Sept. 1939 and WW II started. And years of appeasement meant he already had the strengh to invade and conquer, in almost non-stop fashion:

• POLAND, 1939
• DENMARK, 1940
• NORWAY, 1940
• LUXEMBOURG, 1940
• NETHERLANDS, 1940
• BELGIUM, 1940
• FRANCE, 1940
• YOUGOSLAVIA, 1941
• GREECE, 1941
• ALBANIA, 1941
• LYBIA, 1941
• EGYPT, 1941
• ESTONIA, 1941
• LATVIA, 1941
• LITHUANIA, 1941
• BYELORUSSIA, 1941
• UKRAINE, 1941
• RUSSIA, 1941 (parcial invasion, never completed and then lost entirely, all the way back to Berlin 4 years and many millions of causalties later)

So the question is: where will the line be drawn this time? I guess Georgia, Byelorussia and the Asian states will either need to be ruled by proxy or will be invaded with the west not doing anything. So maybe the line will this time be drawn regarding the "lucky" central european states that got to be a part of NATO and/or the EU. Poland again? any one of the baltic states?

Will people ever learn ...

 

[Napalm_LT]

Ukraine is a bit far from Lithuania, but another hour away by bycicle (less than 30 km) from Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania where I live) is Lukashenko (Belarus). At the same time, he has called in thousands of Russian troops, so there is a bit of panic in Lithuania - queues at petrol stations and shops, some ATMs are no longer cash, people have flooded migration services - they are making documents for themselves and their children to leave country if necessary.
We have our own Crimea, which is called Kaliningrad. Russia constantly demands unhindered land transport through the territory of Lithuania, therefore, at such a short distance from Russian troops, we can never be guaranteed. Especially considering that Russia still cannot forgive the fact that Lithuania destroyed the USSR (Lithuania was one of the biggest initiators and declared independence in the first place, and Latvia, Estonia, and other countries later separated). Although Russia, for example, has long been an allied state with Belarus. Yes, the concern about what is going is really high in Lithuania.
Our former president Grybauskaitė said very well yesterday - it is enough to shake the air with empty chatter, Putin can only be stoped with real force.
It seems that the Western world still cannot believe that everything that is going can happen at their door very quickly.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Jammy I take back what I wrote earlier, it seems Finland and Sweden have been warned that their independence should be used with caution ...

 

[Zolon32]

Gents, I will travel and be a week away from home starting tomorrow, that meaning I can't take part in the final race, will miss racing Brno, one of my all time favorites.

🙁



So chaps, I just want to move the conversation on to a matter of utmost importance, and an issue where the people who created PCars have, I feel, really dropped the ball... Clapping.

When I have put in a good lap, or made up a few places in a GT race, I get greeted with loud cheers of approval by my adoring crowd. Yesterday, at Brno, I put in a fantastic performance (though I say so myself, and less in truth than in an effort to emphasise my point), I was ahead of the fastest E-Type, having battled cleanly through the field from last place. Holding it at bay, despite its clear speed advantage.

And what appreciation did I get for this spectacular performance? Feint, weak, slow (some would say sarcastic) clapping from the one or two spectators who could be bothered. It's just not good enough. I'm a bloody Superstar, and I want to be treated like one. I'd like to see one of those two dimensional tosspots from the side of the track beating off the E-Types with an old Nissan! They have no idea of the genius inside the helmet.

That's done it, I'm off to have a little cry...

 

[Napalm_LT]

Sorry guys, I won’t race tonight. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Zolon32]

Sorry guys, I won’t race tonight. Good luck and have fun

Quite understandable Napalm. Hopefully the world will be a safer place next week.

 

[xeronima]

I'm no good tonight. Too much work and not a single lap of practice. So I'll beat liability to everybody's game tonight. Good luck and hopefully next series I'll have more time

 

[half_sourly]

Results from Brno:

Race 1:

Race 2:

Final Standings:

 

[Pantheons]

Thanks @Zolon32 (and @half_sourly ) for all your efforts organising it, great job. Well done everyone, especially podium finishers

 

[Zolon32]

Well, fellas, it is over. So sorry that Napalm couldn't come along to the superb Brno circuit, but totally understand that his circumstances currently are beyond my imagination.

Congratulations (again) to Jammy for showing the rest of us how to optimise the physics of these damn machines, and huge, huge thank you to everyone who took part (even if they did occasionally leave through the back door during the race ) and put up with my penalties/damage settings.


Thanks to @Maxmusmonster last night for demonstrating the handicap system in action beautifully, watching his scrap with Paul was bloody marvellous.

So, onwards to the team challenge. Come on team... err... I don't have a name, don't even know who my team mates are! But I'm sure they're going to win... possibly

 

[half_sourly]

Excellent idea and series @Zolon32, I thoroughly enjoyed it (despite occasional auditory evidence to the contrary).

I think the whole concept and how you implemented it was brilliant. One idea should you do this again: It would be good to see a higher volume of the more powerful cars instead of the big middle of Porsches. So in a field of 16, maybe 3 each of Nissan, Ferrari, Mustang and Jags, and 4 Porsches.

 

[Zolon32]

Excellent idea and series @Zolon32, I thoroughly enjoyed it (despite occasional auditory evidence to the contrary).

Thanks Half, and also, that you for your work on keeping track of the scores/handicap. Man it's a big relief not having to worry about that stuff.

I was thinking this morning that it'll be quite nice to get on to driving something different from the VGTA motors next week. That moved me on to thinking about holding a series sometime in the future (when Paul fancies a break again perhaps) where there is a different class of car used at each meeting, and each time having a range of capacities within those motors, to continue with the handicap type of system. If it comes off I'll even out the numbers in each 'sector' if you know what I mean.

Just another thought on that, there will always have to be a very slow car for Jammy alone to drive, of course.


Edit, Salty, just watched the replay of the first race last night. I'd completely forgotten that we were intertwined like a couple on honeymoon for a good few laps. What brilliant, brilliant racing, thanks 👍

 

[IfAndOr]

and huge, huge thank you to everyone who took part

And thank you to yourself. It's been a great idea and I've enjoyed the break from organising/running. Just turning up was... different!

In fact I've enjoyed it so much that...

So, onwards to the team challenge. Come on team... err... I don't have a name, don't even know who my team mates are!

...I must get myself into gear and sort that out. Soon! 😀
Stay alert for updates. Team names, hmm.

 

[Napalm_LT]

Thanks Half, and also, that you for your work on keeping track of the scores/handicap. Man it's a big relief not having to worry about that stuff.

I was thinking this morning that it'll be quite nice to get on to driving something different from the VGTA motors next week. That moved me on to thinking about holding a series sometime in the future (when Paul fancies a break again perhaps) where there is a different class of car used at each meeting, and each time having a range of capacities within those motors, to continue with the handicap type of system. If it comes off I'll even out the numbers in each 'sector' if you know what I mean.

Just another thought on that, there will always have to be a very slow car for Jammy alone to drive, of course.


Edit, Salty, just watched the replay of the first race last night. I'd completely forgotten that we were intertwined like a couple on honeymoon for a good few laps. What brilliant, brilliant racing, thanks 👍

It was very interesting chanpionship. Thanks for organizing.

Acctually there was one thing I didn't like - random start. Yes, second race was long and there was a posibility to go up through the field, but if you started in the back, you could pass slower guys (or guys who did mistakes), but it was allmoast imposible to race against you direct competitors if they started in front (while you pass slower guys, faster guys, who started in front will be to far ahead). Of course this was not afeccted to Jammy, but we know why
I noted my starting possitions (just to check how random start works) and I can say I am not lucky in the lotteries:
Silverstone – 10
Sakito – 8
Dubai – 10
Fuji – 14
Algarve – 5
Bannochbrae – 13

So I would prefier reverse grid instead of random. IMHO this is fairier.

 

[IfAndOr]

I don't want to hijack Zo's thread but I'll sneak in that, although my new Championship is up I forgot to tag everyone. You'd think I'd have got the hang of it by now. So I thought that posting here would attract your attention.

Anyway click on HERE to be taken to it.


If you could please let me know if you can't participate so that I can adjust the teams accordingly. 👍
(I know Jammy said he probably wouldn't join)