WRS Pit Stop - Chit Chat thread.

[Tedehur]

anyone know what the program was that converts .max files to video files on the computer?

You need a way to actually play your replay on the PS2 and record it with a video capture system. Check at the bottom of the WRS forum, there are 2 threads dealing with making videos. But it's definitely not as easy as installing a software, select a .MAX file and click on the 'Make a video' button.

 

[amp88]

My advanced higher chemistry teacher also posed a question regarding ice. If ice didn't float on water (due to hydrogen bonding), what percentage of marine life would be left? It was interesting at the time to consider, but I've no idea of an actual answer.

 

[Tedehur]

My advanced higher chemistry teacher also posed a question regarding ice. If ice didn't float on water (due to hydrogen bonding), what percentage of marine life would be left? It was interesting at the time to consider, but I've no idea of an actual answer.

If hydrogen bonding didn't exist, water would be a gas under normal temperature and pressure conditions (like H2S is for instance). In that case there wouldn't be life at all, and there wouldn't be oceans or an atmosphere either. (Well, there could be a methane or nitrogen atmosphere but who would care ?)

But if we only consider the fact that ice wouldn't float on liquid water, it would actually be very rare in the nature (I think). As soon as the air temperature would be cold enough for the water to freeze on the interface, the ice would start to sink into warmer water and melt.
Even on a larger scale, if you assume that some places could be cold enough to make possible the formation of icebergs big enough to sink deep, they would start to melt too and eventually implode under the high pressures before they are totally melted.

The major effect of this would be that no ice age would have occured, and thus none of the mass extinctions related to them. So I would say that there would be much more species in the sea and on earth than those who exist now.
The good thing with prospective* is that we could certainly find a theory that leads to an opposite result

(*: I have no better word to mean the present that could have existed if one single thing had been different in the past, we use in french the word "uchronie" for that but I don't know any translation of it).

 

[amp88]

Very interesting indeed. The conclusion I came to when I first heard it was that as the top layer froze and sank it would be melted by the warmer water underneath.

I hadn't though about water being a gas at room temp without hydrogen bonding though.

 

[Tyre King]

Very interesting indeed. The conclusion I came to when I first heard it was that as the top layer froze and sank it would be melted by the warmer water underneath.

I hadn't though about water being a gas at room temp without hydrogen bonding though.

Without hydrogen bonding, there would be no water to form ice, it would all be oxygen and hydrogen gas.

No Water!

This is the same sort of question as, 'What would the universe look like if the laws of physics (especially quantum physics) were different?'

It's an irrelevent question, as, we wouldn't be here to ask the question in the first place!

Or am I missing the point of the initial question?

Neil

 

[Tedehur]

I graduated in chemistry, as my profile says.
As I already posted somewhere, my final project was about ultraviolet polymerization of alpha-n,octadecylacrylic acid in Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers. That was ten years ago though, and I have never worked in chemistry, so I probably forgot 98% of what I had learned at university.

 

[Tyre King]

Have you read any of the Stephen Hawking books? ie 'a brief history' and 'universe in a nutshell'?

Very interesting reads, even though it took me 3 full read-through's of 'a brief history..' to completely grasp some of the theories, i still find myself re-reading his books over and over.

And every time I do, something else 'clicks' and and it blows my mind!

Neil

 

[amp88]

Without hydrogen bonding, there would be no water to form ice, it would all be oxygen and hydrogen gas.

No Water!

Neil

Well, there still would be water, it just wouldn't be water as we know it.

 

[Tedehur]

Without hydrogen bonding, there would be no water to form ice, it would all be oxygen and hydrogen gas.

I disagree with that. That is, until you show me the book where Hawking wrote that.
Hydrogen bonding has nothing to do with the capacity of oxygen and hydrogen atoms to combine to form a molecule of water :

H - O - H

But as I say, such a light molecule can only be a gas under normal temperature and pressure.

Hydrogen bonding is a 'distant' link between the free electron pair of an oxygen atom and an hydrogen atom from another molecule.
Something like :

H - O - H
      \      
       \     
       H - O - H

That's what makes the water liquid.

 

[Tyre King]

Ahhhhh!

It's life Jim!, but not as we know it!



And yes Cyril, i missed the point, and bow to your greater knowledge!

I was using Hawking's books as an example of where the question of 'What would life be like if.............?'

Hawking is usually only concerned about physics, quantum and theoretical physics, not chemistry, and I was just interested to find out if you had read his books really.

Neil

 

[Jump_Ace]

Okay so I have over the years come up with a hypothesis and before I unofficially make it a theory, I would like some input from you guys.

My GT Hypothesis:

Ever since I first stepped into Gran Turismo I, I have asked myself, "How Do I Rank Worldwide?" "If There Was A Professional Racing League Much Like The NBA and NFL, Would I Get Drafted?" And given that we would be a team of 5 or so (each with our own strengths). Its questions like these that truly strike my curiousity and make me want to be the best driver I can be.

So my hypothesis is; "The Rule Of Three" For every driver that is faster than you on a given combo after you given your ABSOLUTE BEST take your 'rank/place' and multiply it by 3 to get your 'worldwide rank'. For example, I just ran 4 random Super License tests and came up with these ranks according to GT Racing Point. 25th, 27, 32nd and 35th. Taking one of those as an example here, I placed 25th, multiply that by 3 and against everyone in the world I would rank #75 for that license test (or any combonation with a huge sample size). Again, I would like to mention this is NOT at theory; still in the works. Now I know not everyone in the world races online, so it will never be certain, I'm just trying to get a good ballpark idea.

Now I have thought because my probability of being correct on this hypothesis goes up; by raising the multiplier to 4 (instead of 3) and in my example of placing 25th I am now 100th. Which leads me to my conclusion.

Am I one of the top 100 drivers in the world. That I am not sure of, but I wish everyone who is everyone would race online so I know EXACTLY where I stand. Just something to throw a mild debate over, and please minimize the attacks at me being 'egotistical' I hope I don't come off that way. So, what do you guys think? Improvements?

jump_ace

 

[fasj6418]

that´s why gtplanet is so fun.

other guys share the same crazy ideas that i have in my mind.

that theory is also something i believe.

it all started when i saw a magazine with a high speed ring time for GT1... with the R33 skyline. one reader send it to the magazine and it was called a "insane time"
my time was faster, so from that day on, i started to believe that i was good at something.

then GT2 came out

at the time i didn´t had internet, but after, i found racing-line.org
a lot of hard work and i managed to get a #1 rank for the game, but something that was always unofficial because of my inability to provide replays back then.

then i had two championships here in brazil and i started with the same thoughts.

but i always wonder:

and what if there´s a gt freak out there, that plays the game all day but never raced in one of those online events?

in my theory, it would be like that guy from the movie dopping, i can´t remember his name, but kareem abdul jabbar rates him as the best basketball player ever. but he never played in the pros, so... i guess doesn´t count...

well, don´t know if any of you guys understood what i tried to say... my english sucks...

back to the crazy thoughts, i wonder many times the following questions:

what if i was as good with women as i am with Gran Turismo?
i would probably be dating a nice model i think

what if i was as good with hoops as i am with Gran Turismo?
i would probably be playing in the NBA right now... (with 350 plus players, i think i could at least get in a regular team likle my sonics)

i once told my mom that would be awesome if i get paid to play GT...
well, in one of those championships i was, but not as much as i dream...

to finish, i think everybody here in this forum is very, very good. a div3 player is already way above the average of a GT gamer. so i think we are not been cocky or whatever to assume that we are good. if GT4 sold over 10 million of copies, i think we are lucky to be in the 1% of the best of those players... no disrespect to anyone, but i believe its a fact...

of course there are some aliens, but we are all very good. when you play against someone outside of OLR you see that you are prepared to face anyone... WRS is the thouhgest GT event (IMO).

funny to see what other guys will say about this topic...

BTW, jerome, as i write this post, i saw the replay of the 95 yard TD run by Tiki Barber. i think he is div1 i wonder with your GT skills which giant player do you compare to? or... if you had your GT skills in the NFL, who would you be? Kyle Boller or Peyton Manning 👍 ?

nice topic 👍

 

[Jump_Ace]

YAH!!! Tiki my man! He's Div for sure Francisco! Well good to hear this isn't 'crazy talk' I"m spillin' out. Now I know u are quite a bit faster than me Francisco, and that is totally fine by me 👍 I just want to know who else is faster That and I REALLY REALLY need to get in on these Gran Turismo Tournaments! Surely There GOT to be one in Oregon SOMETIME!!! 💡 But who am I kidding, our whole state is like 3.5 million people tops. O well. I'll see ya at the finish this week Fasj! Happy new year dude!

jump_ace

 

[MisterWeary]

YAH!!! Tiki my man! He's Div for sure Francisco! Well good to hear this isn't 'crazy talk' I"m spillin' out. Now I know u are quite a bit faster than me Francisco, and that is totally fine by me 👍 I just want to know who else is faster That and I REALLY REALLY need to get in on these Gran Turismo Tournaments! Surely There GOT to be one in Oregon SOMETIME!!! 💡 But who am I kidding, our whole state is like 3.5 million people tops. O well. I'll see ya at the finish this week Fasj! Happy new year dude!

jump_ace

Yeah I've wondered about this whole world-wide ranking thing and I've got a couple of thoughts:

1. If Playing GT was a lucrative sport like NBA or Soccer then millions more competitors would come out of the wood work and I'm sure naturally talented gamers from other disciplines would probably show us a thing or two.

2. What if someone like Holl01 or hotboi or Zoky set the Gold times for all the licenses in GT...how many people could get them?

And lastly I have an anecdote that you might find interesting...I went to the Sydney Motor Show a couple of months back and they had a Gran Tursimo Simulator there. They had decked out a Lancer so that the pedals, steering wheel and gears were linked into the game and there was a long queue of people lining up to race around Cathedral Rocks reverse. So I lined up and about 45 minutes later I got my turn. Normally I'm a DS2 driver, the gear system was extremely unintuitive and I stuffed up practically every corner on the track...however I set the fastest time I saw while I was in the line.

So I reckon all my playing has helped me understand braking and cornering well enough to beat the majority of people straight off the bat, but if every person who has ever played Gran Turismo 4 was forced to compete in this week's WRS event I wonder with a weeks practice and refining how well any one of us would stack up. I wouldn't envy Cyril's job for this week if that did happen but I doubt you'd get a top 100, infact top 10000 - 50000 would be a mighty achievement

 

[MinorShunt]

Depends on what kind of racing you are talking about. There's a big difference between "hotlaps" i.e. the WRS and LAN and event racing. From what I have heard, there is a substantial "scary fast" GT community in Europe that you never hear about because they just do LAN's and such.

If you think that GT4 was a shakeup to the OLR world, just wait till we have true OLR (if ever). In some ways, I think that we will view the current times as the good old days, unless the game gets improved dramatically for online play.

Whatever. I just wanna drive!

 

[Jump_Ace]

Some great points there Colby. Now I would personally set out a vendetta against Kazunouri (sp?) if he had them do the gold licenses. Although it would truly put things into perspective.

Of the few people I've gotten to know online, and have had the experience of a Gran Turismo tournament for the most part, everyone else sux. And we usually know who are the fast guys out there between all the websites. But not all....

If we were to make some worldwide teams, sure some people would come out of the wood work, but I doubt there are 1,000 Dan's/Curtis' running around that we DON'T know about. But keep in mind this is all speculation anyway.

I just wish we had something HUGE, that Sony would recognize one of the greatest racing saga's to date and setup a worldwide event for BIG $$$ to make everyone come out of the wood work. With rules that coinicide (sp?) with the intent of the game; REALISM. Meaning no F*ING WALL RIDERS ALLOWED!!! That alone will weed out a few people I'm sure.

Dream Dream Dream.

Jerome

 

[MisterWeary]

Random Question #8472

Does the site owner, Jordan, have an interest in GT racing or is he only involved in the technical aspect of maintaining the site? I reckon it would be cool to have him compete in a few races.

 

[Tedehur]

Random Question #8472

Does the site owner, Jordan, have an interest in GT racing or is he only involved in the technical aspect of maintaining the site? I reckon it would be cool to have him compete in a few races.

When I was promoted a moderator, I told him it would be a pleasure if he would pop in the WRS from time to time and race with us.
His answer was that he would like to do so but the site maintenance was requiring all of his free time.
So, yes he has interest in GT racing, but no, he is not able to race.

 

[MisterWeary]

When I was promoted a moderator, I told him it would be a pleasure if he would pop in the WRS from time to time and race with us.
His answer was that he would like to do so but the site maintenance was requiring all of his free time.
So, yes he has interest in GT racing, but no, he is not able to race.

That's fair enough, I can imagine a site this big would take some work. You should try and convince him to atleast give the Qualifier a crack On that note I've been re-addressing the qualifier to see how fast I can go after 20 weeks of WRS'ing, I can beat my qualifying time but not by much so far.

 

[Tyre King]

If there are any FPS fans out there, who also like getting the tingles from a decent horror/suspense movie?

You really have to play F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault and Recon)

It's like playing Half Life 2, with a healthy dose of 'The Ring'!

The graphics are Gorgeous,
the physics are realistic,
the action is very intense,
the gore is plentifull, and sometimes hilariously overboard, much like in 'Cabin Fever', and 'Dawn of the Dead' or any decent zombie flick

and best of all, the sounds in the game are superb!

Now, I play with Good headphones on (rarely do i get to use the 4.1 sound properly) and so I am quite well isolated from the outside world, and therefor really get into the game..........

and there are points where I start to get nervous, and then get goosebumps (whilst still in some action, or just after), and then the scare happens.....but not always.

Just like in well directed movies like 'Alien','The Ring', 'Creep' etc.

It wasn't until i had replayed those sections after completing them, that i 'heard' the sounds and the music (because I was listening for them), then, I realised how damn good the whole effect was.

Very Recommended!
👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍

 

[Kent]

I would like to play more FPSs but my PC isn't up for the task and I only have the PS2 and Gamecube.

Call of Duty was good on the gamecube but most of the PS2 games aren't as good as I would like them to be, most don't feel as smooth as some of the old N64 titles.

I still fit in what I can but if any of you know of a good FPS for the PS2 please feel free to mention it.

I would say the same for the gamecube but Call of Duty and RE4 (not a fps) are enough to make me happy with the cube (btw, Resident Evil 4 on the Cube is amazing). 👍

Any suggestions are welcome!
Just don't give me that "upgrade your pc and play a real FPS attitude"!

 

[Tyre King]

To be honest Kent, I have only ever tried one FPS on a console, and that was Halo! (why it took microsoft over a year to port a microsoft written game over from a microsoft driven/designed console to a microsoft written operating system I will never understand)

And to be honest, I hated it!

Couldn't get used to the joypad in that environment.( I don't know what I mean by that! It just felt too indirect, too in-precise!)

I played Castle Wolfenstein 3D on my 386, that was when game PC's ran at 33mhz, that was when it took twenty minutes to create/edit the config.sys & autoexec.bat files correctly and write them to a boot disk so the game would run right, that was 1992!
And probably have played 90% of the reasonable-and-above FPS's available since then.

That's 14 years of mouse/keyboard control.

Now, couldn't play an FPS any other way.

3rd person shooter's like Resident evil are perfectly suited to consoles. The very nature of the view 'filters' out some of the 'over-control' issues of the toggles and makes the game more 'playable'

Not nesc any easier, but easier to play. So I have played a few!

So long story short,

Only got experience at PC FPS, so can't say what's good on a console.

And

Upgrade your PC!

I'm now on the look out for an HD capable PC/TV card, and a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 pro sound-card.
So I can play GT4 at full res on my 1280x1024 tft monitor with no aliasing.

Anybody got any good cheap places to buy them bookmarked?

Neil

 

[Small_Fryz]

Hello guys im back.

Should probably start to get into GT4 again ready for the next BC, though with a purchase of GTL in the next few days im not sure if i can still play GT4 after finally racing people online in REAL time.

Just wanted to let you guys know im back, some of you may have realised i was away.

Also I ope everybody had a great new year 👍

 

[Kent]

I was afraid "upgrade your PC" would be the only real advice.

No biggie.

However, to change topics on you all...

The "C.R.C" or "Clean Racers Coalition" is dead!

During the change to GTP 8, all of the threads at the bottom of the main OLR forum were destroyed (although you can link to the crc still, it does not allow posting).

So, I've replaced it with a more detailed name (to avoid confusion).

Replay Supported Racers is the new list and thread for the same idea. 👍

I have it linked in my sig.

I've also copied and pasted all the CRC members into the "RSR" (if you will).

Because of the lack of a proper forum, the RSR is in the GT4 main forum.

I hope to see anyone in the WRS with a replay device signing up. 👍

Also, if you have the "CRC" in your sig, it might be a good idea to update the change in web address (since we are now using a new thread).

Thanks for reading this and big thanks to anyone who joins up to let all of us know a replay device is in their hands.

Remember, it's not a pledge to say you will always race perfectly clean... It's simply a way to let other racers know that you can provide replays if it is necessary.

Thanks again,
Hope to hear from any and all of you,
Till then,
-Kent

 

[Iceman]

Hello guys im back.

Should probably start to get into GT4 again ready for the next BC, though with a purchase of GTL in the next few days im not sure if i can still play GT4 after finally racing people online in REAL time.

Just wanted to let you guys know im back, some of you may have realised i was away.

Also I ope everybody had a great new year 👍

Welcome back dude, Deep Forest this week

 

[Tedehur]

Hello guys im back.

Should probably start to get into GT4 again ready for the next BC, though with a purchase of GTL in the next few days im not sure if i can still play GT4 after finally racing people online in REAL time.

Just wanted to let you guys know im back, some of you may have realised i was away.

Also I ope everybody had a great new year 👍

Do you really think nobody had noticed ???
No submission in the WRS, no submission in the 25-lapper, that's 2 reasons to notice.

Welcome back anyway. As for real on-line racing, it must be a great experience, but what about all the gossip part of the race ?

 

[hOt6o4bOi]

2. What if someone like Holl01 or hotboi or Zoky set the Gold times for all the licenses in GT...how many people could get them?

thats my freakin dream, haha thats all i think about
what if...... PD decided to hire us

 

[Electric.......]

something that just fallen into my brain,and wont fall out until I say it.
hotboi:

Holl01:

Zoky:

now WTF is this,you're maybe asking yourself.

Its just my way of saying that if any of the mentioned three(hooll,hotboi and zoky) were to set the gold licence times in the next GT,we'd all (well almost all) be in some deep ****. IMHO,off course.

sorry for big pics,and I apologise in advance if any of you three find this offensive.

 

[Casio]

I think it would be good to have some outlandish times to aim for. GT4 licenses are far to easy in my opinion, much easier then GT3 anway.

Maybe in GT5, there will be some kind of, 'online leaderboard' or something, where if you are connected to the net, the game will upload your times to somewhere, then when somebody else tries the licence test they will see what the fastest times in the world are for that test. If that makes sense.

 

[MisterWeary]

Yeah I agree with Casio, the licenses in GT4 were easier, the only ones I struggled with were the damn slaloms *shudder* but I didn't even go for the Super license Golds in GT3 they were insane, particulalry that Toyota GT-One around Monaco.

And hotboi, you ought to write to Sony or Polyphony or whoever are in charge of GT and let them know you might be of use to them?

Oh and as for the fastest license times in the world, don't know if you've seen this, but I know holl01's been tearing it up over there stamping his name in the GT4 world.