Week 106 - Beetle Powered!

[Consigliere]

I can recognise alot of what you say Wizard.. My "strategy" though is quite different. I run the combo for as long as I still find it fun.. This is most of the time what decides how long I will keep trying, not if I reach my goal or not. If it gets frustrating to the point where I'm not enjoying it anymore, I'll simply stop. This I would think separates me from alot of the drivers here that really are determined to reach that goal or to shave off that last .5 of a second. I guess I'm just impatient..

However I can relate to what you said about how many laps it takes you to improve. I have only raced here a few weeks but already I find I need shorter time to manage a lap I'm happy with. I rarely spend more than 1-2 hours over a week though. First week I think I spent 4-5.. I know I've become most of all much more meticulous when I drive. Though I seriously doubt I will ever be a div 1 driver..

I know I can't really compete with the best (in my division!) as I simply don't put in as much time.. So, to answer the question if it's worth the time, I just ask myself: "am I still having fun?" Quite egocentric and impatient I know, but hey, it's a game! (I know, the best there is.. )

Interesting thoughts Wizard! 👍 Good luck!

Cheers!

EDIT: BTW, most of the time I'm just proud of myself if I'm able to even compare my times to the ones that are posted here.. I don't consider myself a very good driver. But much better than 3 months ago!

 

[Sjaak]

Edit :
Improved again my best lap time, by 0.170
Yet, the new T3 is worse (+0.270) than previously :
T1 = 24.538
T2 = 55.946
T3 = 1'11.123

t1 24.605
t2 55.875
t3 1'11.127

Come and see,people.
Div.2 racing at their best. 👍

 

[Tedehur]

As an answer to all recent posts : the main question is do we race to improve our skills or do we race for fun ? I realize while typing that the answer is both of them. The true question concerns proportions.
As far as I'm concerned, I race 10% to improve and 90% because I enjoy the WRS and I appreciate the people I race with (you, that is). So I don't mind if I stay in div 2 for years
I said fast drivers remain fast drivers and slow drivers remain slow drivers but if I remember well, I added that Mr P said once he started as div.2 and improved his skills by practising a lot to reach the top of div.1 (unlike some other people who are naturally skilled).
So if you race 90% to improve and 10% for fun, there is hope

t3 1'11.127

God verdomme ! De schmeerlaap.
(That's what they -friendly- say in St-Niklaas : I don't know if it's regular dutch, and I hope it's not an offence elsewhere).

- WRS 106 -
Kent hasn't been around since last Thursday, and Mr P seems busy with GT4. I'm afraid we might not have a week 106 results thread in due time.
So I wanted to suggest that you PM your final lap time and division to Kent and to me. I'll submit tonight (within 2 or 3 hours) and if we don't have news from Kent by tuesday, I can post a result thread.
Edit :
Ignore this and read next posts.

 

[Sjaak]

schmeerlap do I not no,I think you mean smeerlap.
Nice belgium friends you have,saying smeerlap to you with a smile.
It means dirty bastard in some kind of friendly way.

Good idea with the results,I will send them to you too. 👍

 

[Consigliere]

Good idea with the results. I'll also send it to Kent and you, flat-out.. 👍

Cheers!

 

[Tedehur]

schmeerlap do I not no,I think you mean smeerlap.
Nice belgium friends you have,saying smeerlap to you with a smile.
It means dirty bastard in some kind of friendly way.

I know what it means, I simply didn't know how to write it (never found it in the softwares I'm translating ). A french equivalent would be 'saligaud' (pronounce sah-lee-go)


BTW, I just submitted my time to Kent, though I don't know when he can read his PMs (No, I didn't PM myself at the same time, I'm french but not that dumb )
Final session was disappointing : I threw away scores of 1'11.0 and another 1'10.8 to end up improving my lap time by only 0.007 s 🤬
Submitted splits are :
T1 = 24.407
T2 = 56.015
T3 = 1'11.134

I fear all of you may improve in the final day and I'll miss the div. 2 podium again.
:cross fingers:

Edit :
I'll be away from the office all week long, and I know I won't have an internet connection from the hotel I'll stay in. However, the customer I'm visiting has a connection from one office, so I should be able to take a look from time to time.
See you at the finish line.

 

[Mr P]

Hey who said I started in Div 2? my qualifier in the Evo @ Midfield from week -1 was top of the shop until Link took it from me I started race1 in the Toms Castrol in Div 1 and thats were I stayed 👍
I did put in countless billions of hours to get good though! ... but the WRS was started quite a bit after my uphill climb I've been racing on GTPlanet since August 2001 ....... jeez dont time fly? anyway ...

If you guys want I will accept final times for week 106 and post the results at the deadline no probs 👍



GT4 for you guys on Friday 👍 about time eh! just prepare for some sleepless nights

WARNING!!!! GT4 IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE AND CAN TURN YOU INTO A COUCH POTATO! PEOPLE WILL LOSE EMPLOYMENT DUE TO THIS GAME AND ......
WHO CARES? ... IT'S THE DOGS BOLLOCKS! ENJOY 👍
Resistance is Futile

 

[Tedehur]

Oops
I remember having read you explaining that you've reached that level of performance by mere practice and not thanks to natural skill. I thought it was in a WRS related thread. My bad.

As for the submission, I just PMed my time to you, Ron.

@ all drivers :
Since there's no need to spam your lap times around, please ignore my previous suggestion and don't PM your time to me. Kent (in case he's back tomorrow) and Mr P (in case Kent isn't back tomorrow) will be enough.
Thanks Ron for switching you TV off from time to time and for keeping an eye on us. 👍

BTW, GT4 is planned to be released on March 9th in France, i.e. wednesday.

 

[NielsG]

Time submitted to both Kent and Ron.

Didn't come back to the track, as i have now retired from GT3.

48 hours and 1 minute.

 

[Consigliere]

Submitted my time to Kent and Mr P.. No further improvement.. Now waiting for GT4, should turn up tomorrow.. 👍

Cheers!

 

[VEXD]

Ive been shooting guards and placing claymores all weekend, and had no time to drive except for 20 mins last nite.
I didnt like the car, so im not gonna commit to a lap time this week.
Good luck everyone though, i look forward to kicking all your respective asses when i get GT4 (been practising on prologue for months now), unless of course, i find i cant quite keep up with the Gran Tursimo elite that drive in the WRS, you all know who you are!!

Long live this race series, lets get it on.

 

[TheWizard]

Thanks sjaak68, PanzerFaust and flat-out, for having taken time to read my post and comment on it

I can see quite a net division between sjaak68 on one side and PanzerFaust and flat-out on the other.

Nothing bad, mind you, I am just commenting on the different strategies. You will see the point of that later, at the end of my post.

The former plays mostly until he can't improve anymore, therefore, I am assuming, he goes until his skills are able to take him, a little bit further, a little more, and then when he can't just improve anymore, he is satisfied.

The latter(s) play mostly for enjoyment and fun. When frustration kicks in, or when it's just not fun anymore, it's time to call it quit.

(Please tell me if I assumed incorrectly, but this is what I was able to collect from your posts).

Well, for me I think it's a mix of both, close to 50-50, with maybe the skill component having a slight advantage. I initially joined the WRS because I wanted to compare myself to other players, see how I rank, try to get better, give me a reason to get better, mostly. The fun component was implicit. I wouldn't run 50 to 100 laps in a racing game if that wasn't fun - it would be a very nasty job, not a game anymore. I have fun while racing, I admit it openly, as there is nothing wrong with that. But I don't stop when frustration comes in. I don't stop when the game is not fun anymore. I always do the extra 20 laps. Maybe that will improve my time a little, maybe not. So far I have always managed to find that extra 0.200 - 0.400 in the final frustrating laps. The ones that I wouldn't call fun anymore. The ones where I would like to take a sledgehammer and completely 🤬-up the PS2 and GT3 with it. But at the end of the day, it's all fun anyway 👍

Summary: I play for fun and for skills, equally (50-50%), for 80-90% of the time dedicated to a particular week. The last 20-10% of that time is 95% skill-improvement oriented and 5% fun oriented.

I will see you all at the finish line.

Time to do some Chemistry II. Then I will run the last 10-20 frustrating laps of the week, hoping for a last improvement

The Wizard.

 

[Sphinx]

I couldn't resist having another go at this before bed (just to get that little extra ) I managed to improve but only by a fraction even though I've left at least .300 behind on that last sector, I was really kicking myself for that

T1 24.080
T2 55.170
T3 1'09.882

There is so much time left on the track up to T3 that I found myself very nearly carrying on refusing to accept defeat but I managed to talk myself out of it thankfully.

I've been reading with interest the recent posts about if it's worth carrying on to get that little extra. The time I spend on going for a good lap times are broken down into two types of sessions, The first session type is an all out attack on the track in order to get a respectable time that can then be used for the second session type that is used to find areas for possible improvement by messing around and trying different things that I can use for the next all out attack session that follows shortly after the second session, and on it goes.


My replay for this week has a good example of this method of trying different things. The left hairpin after T1 was really getting me down because of the amount of times I would lose time due to the loss of traction when applying power around the turn, I was inconsistent on that turn and it was costing me a lot of good T1's that were hard to come by, so I played around and came up with a compromise for that turn. It wasn't the fastest way around that turn but it was acceptable and consistent. Be sure to watch the replay 👍

Goodnight all 👍

 

[TheWizard]

Yours seems like a pretty efficient 'strategy' as well, Sphinx.
Maybe you shouldn't apply it, so we poor b@stards wouldn't be lightyears away from your times

I am guessing you will take the highest spot of the podium, this week 👍

I am almost done with my 🤬 Chemistry II assignment, and then it's race time for me too, finally

Hopefully I will get down below 1'11.000 for T3, that would really be awesome.

L8r.

The Wizard.

 

[StrokerAce]

awww i feel left out it seems im the only divsion 3 driver racing this week, but i feel proud also that my times are only .2-.5 off of sphinx

 

[Small_Fryz]

i think i may submit my 9 lap dash. Probably last in my div and last in div2 but meh.

 

[TheWizard]

I just submitted my lap time to both Kent and Mr P.

I have been racing for the past hour and a half, but no improvement. I never got a T3 under 1'11.000, but I did improve my final time by 0.300, only this time the lap was dirty in one spot, so I submitted my old best, which I amazingly managed to get within the first 20-25 laps.

It was fun, though. I liked the track, and I was feeling pretty confident on it and getting consistant times, all within 0.500 of my best. So, it seemed I reached the limit for this week already.

It was worth a try, though.

We will see when the results get posted

It seems, looking at the T3's, it's going to be a pretty close race between me, sjaak68 and flat-out. I didn't do too good on the right curve following T3, though, so there might be surprises.

I can't wait to know

The Wizard.

 

[Small_Fryz]

my T3 was 1:10.9xx

 

[TheWizard]

my T3 was 1:10.9xx

Thank you for rubbing it on my nose, Small_Fryz

You and your '9 Lap Dash'...

It took me 25 laps to get a 1'11.2xx and 50 more to try to get a 1.10.9xx, without success.

And you manage to do it within the first 9 laps that you run.

You bloody Aussie

The Wizard.

 

[Small_Fryz]

Im only able to do that on courses i actually know, and Ive run apricott hill I and II many times with the purpose of fast laps, so the lines and etc i already know. Its just getting used to the car. If it was say SSR11 then id be way bad, as i never run that track, with the sole purpose of getting fast times. Hence id have to get used to the car and also figure out lines and braking points etc.

 

[TheWizard]

I see. But seriously, I was only joking/being dumb about all that

I know you are way faster than the average Division 2 racer (myself)

Don't take me too seriously

The Wizard.

 

[Small_Fryz]

Oh im not, I knew your kidding but i wanted to tell you its not as though i didnt have any knowledge. Id say Hugo Boss, Tannis, Sphinx would be able to beat my hard earned times in there first 15 - 20 laps as well. So your not alone.