Friday, August 31, 2012
Rally Barum Zlin - Super Special Stage 2012 Preview
So here's what the IRC and ERC crews will be facing tonight. Plenty of kerbs to knock a wheel out of line by the looks of this footage.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
IRC Rally Barum 2012 Preview
Rally Barum is based in the town of Zlín in the Czech Republic. Here's our quick guide to the event.
The event has been running since 1971. Unsurprisingly for the Czech Republic a Skoda was the first winner and 13 times has a skoda of some variety won the event. This year the rally will play host to the Intercontinental Rally Championship and the European. 20 S2000 crews will be taking part with the headline act Mr Mikkelsen aiming to better his best finish on this event so far of 5th. Historic class will also be running and unusually will feature a Jaguar XJS. If Jan Kopecky takes the win he will have the hounour of most wins at the event with 4.
The event has been running since 1971. Unsurprisingly for the Czech Republic a Skoda was the first winner and 13 times has a skoda of some variety won the event. This year the rally will play host to the Intercontinental Rally Championship and the European. 20 S2000 crews will be taking part with the headline act Mr Mikkelsen aiming to better his best finish on this event so far of 5th. Historic class will also be running and unusually will feature a Jaguar XJS. If Jan Kopecky takes the win he will have the hounour of most wins at the event with 4.
Some action from last years event.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Dani Sordo ADAC Rally Germany 2012 - Crash
Not a great weekend for Dani Sordo. Hopes were high with a podium looking within sight even with a limited program for Dani this year.
Things were going well on Day 2 with a stage win on SS8 but a deflating tyre caused him to drop down the order on the longest stage of the rally Panzerplatte. To add to that he then hit a hinklestein which finished the day off.
He did come back under super rally rules to take a 9th place finish.
Here's the accident that finished his rally off.
Things were going well on Day 2 with a stage win on SS8 but a deflating tyre caused him to drop down the order on the longest stage of the rally Panzerplatte. To add to that he then hit a hinklestein which finished the day off.
He did come back under super rally rules to take a 9th place finish.
Here's the accident that finished his rally off.
WRC Germany 2012 - Crashes and Mistakes
Here is Mads Ostberg and Martin Prokop incidents from Rally Germany on the last round of the WRC.
Monday, August 27, 2012
WRC Germany 2012 - Review
So Rally Germany provided no surprises in terms of the overall winner with Sebatian Loeb bringing it home for his 9th win in Germany. An amazing stat to add to his others when you consider how close these guys can be in some of these stages, the man is just faultless.
The big performance was from Jarri-Marri Latvala. Probably his best performance on tarmac and proof that while others are falling he can keep on going. He can't do it over a season but his crazy mistakes seem to be getting less and less.
Great performances by other drivers such as Andreas Mikkelsen taking 3rd overall in the power stage in the S2000 car. If that isn't a sign of intention i don't know what is. Will be looking for incar of that one.
Here's the highlights for you anyway, enjoy!
The big performance was from Jarri-Marri Latvala. Probably his best performance on tarmac and proof that while others are falling he can keep on going. He can't do it over a season but his crazy mistakes seem to be getting less and less.
Great performances by other drivers such as Andreas Mikkelsen taking 3rd overall in the power stage in the S2000 car. If that isn't a sign of intention i don't know what is. Will be looking for incar of that one.
Here's the highlights for you anyway, enjoy!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Problem with Driving Games
So Grid 2 will be released next year and i've been reading through the previews of it I thought I would share a bit of my thoughts on driving games in general.
AI - We hear a lot about how advances in AI will increase the enjoyment but none i can remember have come close to making it feel anything less than racing a pre-programmed system. In Grid 2 apparently the cars around you will make mistakes, but if it happens in the same place its just as bad as not being there at all as you will start to feel when its going to happen. Though at least it is something we can see rather than the talk of how improved AI is in racing games when it comes to new releases with no quantifiable evidence to see it for yourself.
Personally i am more interested in the competitiveness of the AI in comparison to the user, too many times do i buy these games and then have to give myself setup problems just to make the game a bit of a challenge. I can't do the perfect lap but a computer can. We should be able to keep moving the level of difficulty right up to that point. I don't want to stroll away from the start of a race knowing if i make a mistake that i can just push it and take seconds out of anyone. While its fun once it isn't doing it for a whole season in F1 say. Hence why my copy of F1 2011 sits on the shelf unused and ready for ebay.
I understand that making AI like a human is impossible, much the same as it is making a human like a computer. We just need to be able to adjust the challenge more than having to fit into easy, medium and difficult.
F1 2011 impressed me in that you had to work at the setup on the hardet level to make yourself competitive. But once you worked a few things out it became all too easy to come back into the pits seconds ahead of everyone.
Perhaps if online racing had taken up the lead then people like me wouldn't have so much of an issue. But online racing is ridiculous due to the fact 99% of people prefer to treat it as destruction derby. The argument would be that i am stuck in between organised leagues and the casual user, and they are right. But i don't have time to get together with a select bunch of people in an evening as for me life is not scheduled in advance. But on those odd moments i fancy a race with people i don't bother because i know it will end in frustration and annoyance. So maybe they need to pay attention to the way racing online takes place. I want to race not try and avoid the cars trying to take me out while they eat crisps and laugh with friends on headsets. But i fear this middle ground i'm looking for doesn't really exist.
Best start looking at some online simulators for the PC then i think. Goodbye codemasters.
AI - We hear a lot about how advances in AI will increase the enjoyment but none i can remember have come close to making it feel anything less than racing a pre-programmed system. In Grid 2 apparently the cars around you will make mistakes, but if it happens in the same place its just as bad as not being there at all as you will start to feel when its going to happen. Though at least it is something we can see rather than the talk of how improved AI is in racing games when it comes to new releases with no quantifiable evidence to see it for yourself.
Personally i am more interested in the competitiveness of the AI in comparison to the user, too many times do i buy these games and then have to give myself setup problems just to make the game a bit of a challenge. I can't do the perfect lap but a computer can. We should be able to keep moving the level of difficulty right up to that point. I don't want to stroll away from the start of a race knowing if i make a mistake that i can just push it and take seconds out of anyone. While its fun once it isn't doing it for a whole season in F1 say. Hence why my copy of F1 2011 sits on the shelf unused and ready for ebay.
I understand that making AI like a human is impossible, much the same as it is making a human like a computer. We just need to be able to adjust the challenge more than having to fit into easy, medium and difficult.
F1 2011 impressed me in that you had to work at the setup on the hardet level to make yourself competitive. But once you worked a few things out it became all too easy to come back into the pits seconds ahead of everyone.
Perhaps if online racing had taken up the lead then people like me wouldn't have so much of an issue. But online racing is ridiculous due to the fact 99% of people prefer to treat it as destruction derby. The argument would be that i am stuck in between organised leagues and the casual user, and they are right. But i don't have time to get together with a select bunch of people in an evening as for me life is not scheduled in advance. But on those odd moments i fancy a race with people i don't bother because i know it will end in frustration and annoyance. So maybe they need to pay attention to the way racing online takes place. I want to race not try and avoid the cars trying to take me out while they eat crisps and laugh with friends on headsets. But i fear this middle ground i'm looking for doesn't really exist.
Best start looking at some online simulators for the PC then i think. Goodbye codemasters.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Colin McRae
COLIN MCRAE
WRC Record
Wins - 25
Podiums - 42
Stage Wins - 477
Colin McRae is without a doubt the biggest name in rallying. Here is my collection of favourite videos i've found on the fastest rally driver ever in some peoples eyes.
In this clip Colin is taking his Metro 6R4 round the Garrygort Stages. Some mega commitment in this legendary car including carrying on with the throttle jamming.
Colin McRae & Subaru Legacy RS
Here's McRae in his prime on the Col de Turini in 2002. A great upload here of pretty much the whole stage 20min+.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Finland Rally 2012 - Talking points
Latvala not happy with pace - "I need to accept this year we were not on the speed. We have work to do. Citroën seem to do an improvement on the suspension. I need to improve, we need to improve, that's all I'll say."
Atkinson Misread Notes - Chris Atkinson has a massive scare after mis-reading a pace note and turning the wrong way.
Neuville Makes but impresses with pace - Thierry was able to show pace with the top drivers this weekend but did retire on Friday after rolling on a tight corner.
Atkinson Misread Notes - Chris Atkinson has a massive scare after mis-reading a pace note and turning the wrong way.
Neuville Makes but impresses with pace - Thierry was able to show pace with the top drivers this weekend but did retire on Friday after rolling on a tight corner.
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