SRT Presents - This Week in Sim Racing !!! [Archive]

Nobo

2nd September 2007, 14:21

Looking forward how you will introduce LFS in the show in the next episode.
I have seen the preview in this show and i have seen you had all the messages, laps, chat, driver names and stuff on, looks much better when you switch all that stuff for some ingame shots. As long as you not trying to explain how LFS works with all that stuff.
Maybe use Shift+u mode instead of standard in-game camera.

Just some little improvement suggestions:
If you show the race results, be sure that they are clearly readable otherwise they are more or less senseless. (Maybe less information but better visible)
If you show the next race for a specific event, hold in the track picture as long as you are speaking about the event and then make the cut. And maybe the logo of that event over the track picture. (When the first cut was i wasnt pretty sure if that track picture belonged to the next event or the event series shown)

Would be cool if you could introduce some of the main LFS Events in your weekly show. For example last week there was the first round of a huge event "Battle of the Teams" lot of drivers competed there, lot of well known teams.

Shaun - SRT

2nd September 2007, 17:33

Thanks for the feedback guys. We appreciate all suggestions, as it is our desire to make this show for the viewing public.

We are in the process of uploading the divx version which will allow for full screen viewing. In watching the myspace version I noticed that the final cut fades differed from the original project. Also in the full screen the standings are much more legible, but you are right, they cant be read as is. We will make that correction.

Thanks again for watching and all input. And I hope you all enjoy what we are putting together for LFS.

Becky Rose

2nd September 2007, 17:38

Hi Shaun.

A good showette and thank you for the coverage :). That was a pleasant suprise.

DarinSRT

2nd September 2007, 18:10

Im glad you liked it! Your piece was actually the easiest to drop in cause you have that cool intro!

I'm sure STCC will be getting more coverage in the future..

:)

Darin

Hi Shaun.

A good showette and thank you for the coverage :). That was a pleasant suprise.

The Very End

2nd September 2007, 18:14

Great stuff, looking forward to see the next week`s episode :)

thisnameistaken

2nd September 2007, 18:34

Simon Savage

2nd September 2007, 19:02

These are fantastic guys, I cant wait for the next edition about how sim racing all started.
I'm going to post the video's in a few simracing forums I go on, you certainly deserve all the support you can get.

SpikeyMarcoD

2nd September 2007, 21:31

Any Kayla fans already? :D

And it might very well be that is how you pronounce megane in rfactor world :) We dont know that.

Christofire

2nd September 2007, 21:43

Makes you realise what shitty names our sims and leagues have. "Let's look at the results from the GTR2 LPMMCLXXXI 27B/6, where Jimbob is on pole in the PPPPPPPXP Mk2"

I feel for that poor lady who had to read five pages of abbreviations!

When they're all bunched together like that it is a bit TLA overload. What's the alternative though? The Piston Cup?

Edit: Forgot to mention - both shows were good, and I'll be watching the next editions.

dropin_biking

2nd September 2007, 22:00

Just took a quick glance at the episode. Really good, I did notice in all the LFS shots menu's weren't taken away, such a small thing but SHIFT+F = ownage.
~Bryan~

DarinSRT

3rd September 2007, 00:25

Don't worry about the names.. We'll make sure the community and world looks at LFS as a true sim!

In all honesty though about this community, it is harder to report on to the real world..

Names like "Asslover" or "MexicanMan" don't go over as well as names like Dom Duhan or Greger Huttu.. ;)

We want to report on as many legitimate LFS leagues as possible.. If people could just alter the final standings to show the peoples real names and then send us that, we'll report em.. Like STCC.. They announce only realnames and it adds to the realism in my opinion..

Darin

Just took a quick glance at the episode. Really good, I did notice in all the LFS shots menu's weren't taken away, such a small thing but SHIFT+F = ownage.
~Bryan~

DeadWolfBones

3rd September 2007, 00:56

Darin, you'll certainly be getting reports from the IGTC and from the League of the Americas' series. :thumbsup:

Bob Smith

3rd September 2007, 01:44

I watched most of the video content uploaded so far, looks promising. I take it you're all new to presenting? If so, you'll no doubt get into a better rythm, you need to remember not to rush, relax, and take moments to pause and breathe inbetween sentences, there seemed a few occasions where there were small pauses to the flow where there shouldn't have been, due to the 5 minute barrage of text before hand. It would make it easier to listen to as well. I'm probably picking up on this because it's the exact same problems I have when public speaking.

I felt there was a bit of repitition in the description of the shifter, if you can't think of any other words to describe it, repeating them doesn't give more of an idea of the product. Then how you were moving it around when you had it in your hands, seemed very fast, maybe that's due to the springs in the shifter, but it seemed a bit... amateurish. It would also have been niced if you talked about using it with a clutch pedal and commenting on working the two together, but mentioning the obvious limitations where there is no mechanical linkage between the shifter and clutch pedal.

I won't comment on the humour as American humour falls flat with me at the best of times. I've watched little in the way of American TV but it seemed quite stereotypical of the style (in some ways), if that's what you're aiming for then it's working.

Sorry if my post seems very critical, on the whole it is good and I do encourage you to get better, I'm just commenting on what stood out to me. Hopefully the constructive criticism will be useful. :)

Mithras

3rd September 2007, 01:58

"..will take an in-depth look at Live For Speed and what makes this a top sim.."

WOO.

DarinSRT

3rd September 2007, 06:37

Thanks for the comments Bob.. We'll take your suggestions into consideration.

I watched most of the video content uploaded so far, looks promising. I take it you're all new to presenting? If so, you'll no doubt get into a better rythm, you need to remember not to rush, relax, and take moments to pause and breathe inbetween sentences, there seemed a few occasions where there were small pauses to the flow where there shouldn't have been, due to the 5 minute barrage of text before hand. It would make it easier to listen to as well. I'm probably picking up on this because it's the exact same problems I have when public speaking.

I felt there was a bit of repitition in the description of the shifter, if you can't think of any other words to describe it, repeating them doesn't give more of an idea of the product. Then how you were moving it around when you had it in your hands, seemed very fast, maybe that's due to the springs in the shifter, but it seemed a bit... amateurish. It would also have been niced if you talked about using it with a clutch pedal and commenting on working the two together, but mentioning the obvious limitations where there is no mechanical linkage between the shifter and clutch pedal.

I won't comment on the humour as American humour falls flat with me at the best of times. I've watched little in the way of American TV but it seemed quite stereotypical of the style (in some ways), if that's what you're aiming for then it's working.

Sorry if my post seems very critical, on the whole it is good and I do encourage you to get better, I'm just commenting on what stood out to me. Hopefully the constructive criticism will be useful. :)

danowat

3rd September 2007, 07:26

People seem to have a phobia of having their real names in LFS, I remember one instance in particular where someone was VERY anti having to give their real name ;)

Fabri91

3rd September 2007, 07:42

Looks promising really!
I'm watching right now.

Becky Rose

3rd September 2007, 07:54

People seem to have a phobia of having their real names in LFS, I remember one instance in particular where someone was VERY anti having to give their real name ;)
What frustrates me though is that people dont have to give their real name really, as long as its real sounding, but instead whenever real name is mentioned such as the CTRA 'OPTIONAL real name fields' as just 1 example (but i've had others) I have faced either resistance or the entry of daft names which spoils the whole concept.

Take myself, I use my middle name as if it is my last name. Giving me net annonymity from my stalker ( SamH ), which is also good because my surname sucks and nobody can pronounce it right and I hate it. Yet i've removed [optional] 'real' names entered into CTRA - from some drivers 5 or 6 times - from the benign to the outright outrageous. Who knew Adolf Hitler was into CTRA...

I dont get the big deal anyway, if you are worried about people following you and photographing you in your sisters knickers for a forum scoop then your IP address is far more revealing, (and you know SamH can get that as a moderator anyway right...? :))

danowat

3rd September 2007, 07:55

I have no issues giving my real name, it's a rule when you race in the ESL anyway, but some people seem to worry about it as if's its a big deal, gawd knows why though.

dawesdust_12

3rd September 2007, 08:14

I would drive in LFS under my full real name if there were enough characters, I am forced to settle with D.Dawes or Dustin, the former isn't very descriptive, seeing my last name is in my LFS Username, and Dustin is best, but I'd much rather be able to throw my entire name in, but due to SOMEONE and his strict team tag colourization, people haffto remove spaces from their name, just for it to work... not mentioning anyone specific, just that he's slow, sorta funny looking, and very loud. :p

Blas89

4th September 2007, 03:51

I use my name, Blas I just don't use my last name because It would look Big (Blas Aguilar) and even bigger with the full name "Blas Aguilar Gaxiola" :smileypul

dawesdust_12

4th September 2007, 06:15

Hurray for spanish last names? :p

obsolum

4th September 2007, 06:36

Meh, I always just use obsolum as my name on the internet, anywhere and anytime :shrug: I have entered my real first and last name in the CTRA fields, though. But yes, generally I prefer to remain somewhat anonymous. Of course I know if someone really wanted to find out who I was they could just try to figure out my ip address, but that's not possible for just any person, whereas any schmuck browsing the internet could come accross my real name somewhere - if I were to use that - and go "hey, I know that guy!! Whoah I didn't know he was into gay pr0n!!" or whatever. Not... that I really am into such things or anything... heh... http://www.easysmileys.com/img/other_theyareontome.gif I wouldn't call myself paranoid at all, just cautious. I know a guy who was the victim of identity theft over the internet and it's not a funny thing.

Besides, seeing my real name up there on the screen always just seems weird to me :)

xaotik

4th September 2007, 07:09

I would drive in LFS under my full real name if there were enough characters, I am forced to settle with D.Dawes or Dustin

Bah that's bull - if I can get my full name in there you can easily fit a tiny name like Dustin Dawes in there. :)

And to get back on topic - great show oh people-of-SRT, keep it up!

GianniC

4th September 2007, 07:27

It says there isn't enough download space in my download folder ? Since when I need "download space" in a "download folder" to play a divx movie online ? :really:

Edit, saw the low version of it now, great stuff looking forward to the next episode ! :D

Any Kayla fans already?

Where's the fanclub ?? :D

By the way, if I may give a slight positive ment comment, try to relax now and then when talking, I'd be myself very nervous so I understand it completely but some more time in between for you to take a breath wouldn't harm you, nor us. Or perhaps that's just more an American style of reporting.. Anyway, great stuff !

obsolum

4th September 2007, 07:28

Check if you have enough free space on your C: drive.

theirishnoob

4th September 2007, 07:42

looks cool... needs to be more dedicated to the one type cause id like to watch gtr2 and lfs rather then boring nascar ( imo )

this pretty good non the less :nod:

Simon Savage

4th September 2007, 09:44

LFS and NR2003 are my two favorite Sim's so I say keep the Nascar :)

I'm glad it focus's on so many different sim's it means it will appeal to everyone who enjoys sim-racing.

dawesdust_12

4th September 2007, 22:03

Bah that's bull - if I can get my full name in there you can easily fit a tiny name like Dustin Dawes in there. :)

And to get back on topic - great show oh people-of-SRT, keep it up!

Well, to put my UKCT tag in, I need ^1UK^3CT^8..^7Dustin, so that's a lot of characters, used the ^ syntax, just to show the complexity of the name, because of a certain moderator, making our tags be like this.

thisnameistaken

4th September 2007, 22:30

Just leave the UKCT tag out. People will respect you more. :D

dawesdust_12

4th September 2007, 22:36

I can't have that, I need the UKCTness as my excuse for being so god-awful slow, without it, I'm just a noob that can't keep the car on the road. With it, they just go "Well, there's another UKCT driver to roll/crash/run outta petrol/be slow." :p

Shotglass

5th September 2007, 00:55

ill have to agree with everything bob said ... and if you need a few good segues you can always nick some from anna coren http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdroRRo2Z1w

btw she actually did a much better job than the 2 guys

JTbo

5th September 2007, 01:31

Good effort there, Bob did sum up really well my thoughts too, speed of talking gave impression that there is rush somewhere, but that will get lot better when one gets used to it.

Looking forward for next videos :nod:

tomylee

6th September 2007, 18:05

I like your work guys. Keep going :)

Simon Savage

8th September 2007, 15:28

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3324697727539900870

2nd edition released today

St4Lk3R

8th September 2007, 15:50

I really look forward to viewing it in High-Res, but on Google Video this is not really any fun.

oh, and LOL @ SimFactory for thinking that an ISI engine would be realistic :D, but I think for only running oval it may indeed be enough... :scratchch

EDIT2: Shaun, I think I have to correct you about the amount of real cars in LFS. The MRT5 and the RaceAbout are actually also real cars (which you indeed could have easily taken out of the LFSWiki or even Wikipedia), and the LX4/LX6 are of course built after Caterhams, but neither exact nor licensed copies and must therefore not be called Caterhams :x.

Enough ranting, apart from that it was a great episode :)

EDIT3: beat you to it chunky ;)

chunkyracer

8th September 2007, 16:16

First of all, great work you´re doing. I really hope you can carry on with this ideia.
Good to see your report on LFS, altough I would like to point some things that you said that are not true:

- the development of LFS as nothing to do with the Intel Racing Tour. Intel asked the devs to use the sim in that event and in exchange we got the BMW Sauber in the game
- there are 3 real cars in LFS - BF1, RAC ( http://www.raceabout.fi/index2.php ) and MRT5 ( http://fsae.mcgill.ca/ ). The LX4/LX6 are not Caterham Super Seven

JTbo

8th September 2007, 17:07

To authors, you might like to consider using stage6.com, you can upload videos with much better quality there than other places, maybe youtube or google video as low quality alternative and to make show known to public. I would also recommend focusing mainly for 2 video hosters, so that some later date random user might end up to for example youtube and find all episodes easily from one place, that would create perhaps interest enough to visit website that url can be in description too :)

Just something that come to my mind, just like that as my ideas happen to come ;)

Now to watch this new episode :nod:

St4Lk3R

8th September 2007, 19:09

To authors, you might like to consider using stage6.com[...] They do upload to stage6. Look at simracingtonight.com, you can see that they embedded stage6 movies as "high quality versions" there.

JTbo

8th September 2007, 19:22

They do upload to stage6. Look at simracingtonight.com, you can see that they embedded stage6 movies as "high quality versions" there.

Ooh, very nice, I think I'm blind or too much LFS today :smileypul

Maelstrom

8th September 2007, 19:25

It was nice to watch from the beginning to the end. I Really liked the redline guy's tutorial.

Maybe for LFS you could also have said that dynamic weather and a decent clutch model are still missing even if it will probably be added somewhere in the future.

And thanks to your interview with victor we got a littlle hint about future cars (buggy and kart :D)

Shotglass

8th September 2007, 19:27

quite an improvement over the first episode ... you seem a good bit more natural now

btw dont use those fades all the time ... just go with straight cuts which should make it look a whole lot less amateurish

JTbo

8th September 2007, 19:39

Indeed, forgot to say that I did liked from this episode, it was fun to watch :)

I don't know if others noticed, but those replays from LFS seemed to be quite low on FPS, with more fps physics would look to be better?

Ondrejko

8th September 2007, 19:50

my CTRA photo was there :D (time 22:20)
http://www.raceauthority.com/lookup.asp?licence=Ondrejko

Becky Rose

8th September 2007, 20:42

I thought it was a good show. Informative and entertaining. We need to get Shaun and Darin to smile at the camera (imagine it is naked guys) but you know this is better than my first broadcasts by a long way and these guys are still finding their feet, so it's only going to get even better.

-*-

I've started to find myself really looking forward to these shows. I tuned in for a lot of the SCCA broadcast too, although I couldn't seem to get enough bandwidth to watch it properly, and you were doing a good job there by finding things to talk about as we all know, endurance racing isn't usually spectator friendly but you gave it a real radio lemans feel.

I hope I didnt drag the quality down too much with my own brief appearance! lol. I have no idea what I even said when my mic was live, no idea at all.

:)

ATC Quicksilver

8th September 2007, 20:52

A few of the details were wrong about LFS, but I enjoyed the show, its an improvement on the first one and its good to see LFS getting featured. It would be good to see a feature on a LFS league in the future and some more guides, not just about tracks, but useful things like race craft and overtaking techniques.

EDIT: Just had an idea, we should get you SRT guys some decent skins so that you look the part when you go online, I'm sure theres lots of guys out there who will be willing to make you some that promote your great show.

audimasta

9th September 2007, 08:52

SpikeyMarcoD

9th September 2007, 09:57

"We're sorry but Episode 2 needed to be taken down and will be back up shortly. We're sorry for any inconvienance this may have caused." :(

Maybe they are off to correct the errors about LFS? :thumbsup:

And there were some :)

Major one: reason LFS is there is rubbish!
Major one 2: real cars.
Minor one: you do notice your wings damaged on open wheelers. Still to forgiving but its not like they state it.

Maelstrom

9th September 2007, 10:03

St4Lk3R

9th September 2007, 10:06

If someone can't wait and want to see it badly it's still on stage6!
whatda...? they already uploaded the hi-res version? cool :)

EDIT: Link to the Hi-Res version: http://stage6.divx.com/Sim-Racing-Tonight/video/1616483/SRT_S1E2

JTbo

9th September 2007, 10:09

whatda...? they uploaded the hi-res version already? cool :)

He did say that it still is, I would think it is the old one?

SpikeyMarcoD

9th September 2007, 10:18

But then again its our interpretation there is gonna be a new one...right?

St4Lk3R

9th September 2007, 10:18

from what I can see, it is the old version (it contains the cutting error after the introduction, and the videos of FSR are bad quality).

EDIT @SpikeyMarcoD: I think there will be a new one, and even if it's only for the above-mentioned cutting error (or at least it seems like an error to me). They want to look professional, and I for myself am happy with that.

danowat

9th September 2007, 10:47

Not a bad effort, but WAY more research needed

ATC Quicksilver

9th September 2007, 10:59

The Intel Racing Tour is the reason we have the BMW Sauber, LFS exists for the reason Victor gave in the interview.

The real cars in LFS are the BF1, RAC and MRT.

The damage is a tempory measure to prevent deliberate wrecking.

I can't remember if there were any more mistakes apart from using the old S1 logo and footage of old looking AI instead of decent online races.

Bob Smith

9th September 2007, 12:42

Grossly incorrect LFS facts aside, a substantial improvemnt over the first episode. I feel some of my earlier points are still valid but certainly to a lesser degree. Keep it up! :thumb:

bbman

9th September 2007, 14:44

Yes, definitely better than the first episode, but I feel that Shaun especially in his reports is still very slow and monotone (and sometimes quiet too), and I don't like the new background music at all, but that is a moot point...

Hallen

9th September 2007, 18:08

The second episode is down right now, but I am watching the first. Although not a profession production, it has good information and is generally well done.

A suggestion for a segment for Tools of the Trade is to do a segment on force feedback. You may ask ECCI why they don't have FF even though they have one of the best wheels on the market. The answer is licensing. It is extremely expensive to license the technology and if you can't amortize that expense over thousands of products, it makes FF prohibitively expensive. ECCI will tell you that their fluid damping system provides better feel than FF, but since it is not dynamic, it is a bit hard to believe. I think it is mostly because of the costs. Check out http://www.immersion.com/ for more information. Immersion owns the Patent.

Also, the shifter segment was OK. But it would have been much better if a couple of different products were tested, compared and contrasted.

SpikeyMarcoD

10th September 2007, 21:47

Seems the lo-res version is on again. I FFWD to LFS... dont see a difference. It still links LFS to Intel which is a grove misrepresentation. LFS exists much longer then that Intel Tour.

Hyperactive

10th September 2007, 22:02

I'd like to see more criticism in the stories, I feel that most of the stuff is looked at bit too positively. Like the shifter test and LFS presentation. Or the preview of the score remax (sp?) mod(?) when all that was said about it was that it is great. No offence but surely you could have compared it to the obvious nascar 2003 and tell what it does better, even if it just an early beta :)

And my head kinda exploded when you said that the car sounds in LFS sound good or something like that. The car sounds in LFS are awful! :D

I really liked watching the show, it was pretty entertaining altough I had to skip few things because I was in a "hurry".

Keep going :thumbsup:

franky500

10th September 2007, 22:47

The 2nd episode seemed alot better than the first one there. A very good improvement in a short amount of time. Well Done.

Others have already stated things that need to be changed, or improved. So all i can say, is well done. and good luck with it.. i will deffinatly be tuning in on future episodes.

DarinSRT

11th September 2007, 02:35

Becky you were incredible in the booth! It's kinda nerve racking one you step into that live environment. Thanks for the compliments as well.

The hi-res version is now up Episode 2 is now back up and better than before !!!

http://www.simracingtonight.com/

I thought it was a good show. Informative and entertaining. We need to get Shaun and Darin to smile at the camera (imagine it is naked guys) but you know this is better than my first broadcasts by a long way and these guys are still finding their feet, so it's only going to get even better.

-*-

I've started to find myself really looking forward to these shows. I tuned in for a lot of the SCCA broadcast too, although I couldn't seem to get enough bandwidth to watch it properly, and you were doing a good job there by finding things to talk about as we all know, endurance racing isn't usually spectator friendly but you gave it a real radio lemans feel.

I hope I didnt drag the quality down too much with my own brief appearance! lol. I have no idea what I even said when my mic was live, no idea at all.

:)

traxxion

11th September 2007, 07:53

Great job on the LFS item in the second episode, keep it up!

Becky Rose

11th September 2007, 09:15

Becky you were incredible in the booth! It's kinda nerve racking one you step into that live environment. Thanks for the compliments as well.
Awww bless, I dont believe you though :). Is it possible to get a download of the stream, or at least my segment of it, so I can see which of us is right? :)

Electrik Kar

11th September 2007, 09:15

You're getting there guys- if you could somehow smooth out the pace a bit I think the presentation would be lifted. Atm It's all a bit hacked together- but in time you'll find a rhythm that works, I'm sure. :)

A point I want to make is... you've gotta start showing ingame material on decent computers. Watching LFS (and some of the other sims) running at 10fps kind of takes away from the professionalism and realism of these sims. It was hard to make out the excellent physics when it was coming across so choppy like that. LFS doesn't require a beast to play, which means you must be running some pretty antique gear! My system is 3 years old and runs LFS smooth as silk- so that's one area I'd like to see improvements in for the future. Small point, but I just wanted to bring that up.

Otherwise, keep going! And cheers for supporting LFS. Hope all goes well for the future of your show. :thumb:

nesrulz

11th September 2007, 10:45

GO GO GO SRT (http://www.simracingtonight.com/)! :thumb:

Viper93

11th September 2007, 14:24

Great job, a great improvement over episode 1 =) I will be waiting for your next broadcast. Hopefully something STCC inside =P :thumb:

Rooble

11th September 2007, 16:30

Good stuff guys!

I've never bothered with sim related media of any sort but I can safely say I've got this bookmarked and will watch any of the stuff you guys publish.

:thumb:

thisnameistaken

11th September 2007, 17:02

Still a bit dry, but I suppose that's to be expected with a low (no?) budget. Something about it makes me wince - I think it's just a bit too american for my tastes. It was much better than the first one though.

The Moose

11th September 2007, 17:09

Good stuff guys:thumb:

The presentation is getting better already and the content holds your interest for the full show. I'm impressed :) (and i saw my name twice on the CTRA bit...one of those 'look, I'm on TV' moments ;) )

Keep up the great work. SRT is turning into a great show, I'll be tuning in for every episode for sure.

JTbo

11th September 2007, 17:19

Of course it is bit american as it is made by americans :smileypul

That is actually why I like it so much, there is proper american spirit behind the show, I think these kind of projects are one thing great in their culture :thumb:

Oh yes, anyone has a good link to tutorial how to make high FPS videos even your computer is not so quick? I think it has something to do playing replay with slower speed ? Maybe they could use something like that?

Becky Rose

11th September 2007, 17:56

Yup, record at half speed then double the speed of the recording whilst maintaining audio pitch. I use Adobe Premiere for this, but I hear VirtualDub? is also good and Sony Vegas can also do it. Whilst watching though I cant say that low framerates particularly bothered me personally.

Bawbag

11th September 2007, 21:46

Bob Smith

12th September 2007, 02:24

You don't know what Bawbag means do you? :D
Hmm, never knew that.

For the interested: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bawbag

DarinSRT

12th September 2007, 02:49

To those of you with the compliments, thanks so much!

Yes it is American style cause like someone said, we're Americans.. :)

It will always have that..But, you have to admit we're trying to be diverse.. Team Redline doesn't have any Americans (that I know of) which by the way doesn't matter cause they're the best no matter what nationality.

If someone else out there would like to contribute on an International level and submit a segment, we'd be all for it !! :thumb:

To answer your question Becky on Daytona.. It was a 3 gig file so we're cutting it in segments and will have it up soon as well as the F1 79 series race we did at Nordshliefe. Trust me you did great..

Oh and..To the people that either complained or gave good critism, we read what you write and have actually used things to better the show..We're having a lot of fun doing this and want to be taken seriously at the same time.. Comments like some in this thread just help motivate us to take it to the next level. Hopefully you'll agree as more episodes air.

Nobo

12th September 2007, 02:58

Really think the second episode was much better then the first one. Have seen you took some of the criticism mentioned in the other thread and really improved.
Keep up the good work! Good to see its not just me dedicated to racing games :)
Will watch everything you gonna publish for sure ;)

Tuned in for the start session of your Daytona coverage, even though i didnt knew at all which game it was or to which series it belong( i believe some rfactor league?) i enjoyed your commentations. You always got sth to talk about what is hard in endurance racing coverage, would be awesome to see some live commentations from you in lfs ;)

DarinSRT

17th September 2007, 23:08

Thanks Nobo ! I would love to do a live LFS broadcast.. Speaking of Daytona.. We have part 1 of 3 up to view.. Becky Rose joined us at about the 1.5 hour mark for an interview :)

http://www.simracingtonight.com/pages/section/12hr

Parts 2 and 3 are being processed by Google and will be up soon

Darin

Tuned in for the start session of your Daytona coverage, even though i didnt knew at all which game it was or to which series it belong( i believe some rfactor league?) i enjoyed your commentations. You always got sth to talk about what is hard in endurance racing coverage, would be awesome to see some live commentations from you in lfs ;)

JTbo

18th September 2007, 17:33

dontsimon

18th September 2007, 17:51

I thought they were pretty good and should only get better as they find their feet.

I've only skimmed the first one, but watched the second one in it's entirety. The American bias is fair enough, although the history of sim racing seems to be entirely USA based.

One thing I think you need, is personal mics - lapel types etc. The room / desk mics which you use make it sound like some garage based cable TV show. Higher quality voice audio will make a BIG difference.

Still, great to see someone doing something like this.

Becky Rose

18th September 2007, 17:57

It worked for me JTbo, I got to hear every dreadful word I said ! lol... *hangs head in shame*.

JTbo

18th September 2007, 18:31

It worked for me JTbo, I got to hear every dreadful word I said ! lol... *hangs head in shame*.

Bummer, I need to get it to work somehow, certainly I need to hear how such nice and generous sim person as you sound like :D

I try crapblower next, maybe it works better than FF

Crapblower did work, but this wlan is too crap, buffers only few minutes and then drops connection, must try when I get home :P

Becky Rose

18th September 2007, 18:52

You can hear me in the STCC broadcasts too, www.simtouringcarcup.com - but I wouldn't recommend it if that's your only reason for watching. I'm like an extra camp version of Julien Clarey with added butch camp.

DarinSRT

18th September 2007, 18:57

Oh come now.. You did just fine.. We want you back for the Nurburg 8 hour race on November 10th :)

Part two is finally up.. Google is taking for ever to process them.

It worked for me JTbo, I got to hear every dreadful word I said ! lol... *hangs head in shame*.

Origamiboy

18th September 2007, 19:13

You can hear me in the STCC broadcasts too, www.simtouringcarcup.com (http://www.simtouringcarcup.com) - but I wouldn't recommend it if that's your only reason for watching. I'm like an extra camp version of Julien Clarey with added butch camp.

You're far too modest. When watching the STCC it doesn't seem like someone talking about some computer generated cars, it sounds like you are commenting on an actual race, and on many counts puts a lot of TV motorsport commentary to shame.

Your enthusiasm for sim racing somes across loud and clear in your commentary, and it rubbed off on me in spades. Heck, the STCC broadcasts are the reason I bought LFS in the first place! If anyone says I'm wasting my time racing I show them an STCC race and they usually either take it back or ask how to get involved themselves...:thumb:

Getting back on topic (!), I have enjoyed the first few episodes of SRT. When a few of the niggles are ironed out (as mentioned by others in the thread) it will be must see for anyone remotely interested in sim racing. Keep up the good work.. :)

Becky Rose

19th September 2007, 21:00

The latest 'This Week In Sim Racing' is out, it's a good show with a wee bit of LFS in there (in the guise of a CTRA press release) but some more of you LFS league organisers need to get on the ball and start promoting yourselves guys - the opportunity is right there for the taking :).

Becky Rose

19th September 2007, 21:17

We want you back for the Nurburg 8 hour race on November 10th
Buy me rFactor and i'll commentate for an hour or two :)

SpikeyMarcoD

19th September 2007, 21:40

You lost me there Becky ... really you want rFactor

Becky Rose

19th September 2007, 22:38

If I am going to commentate on an rFactor race, it would be difficult to do so using only omnipotence. I only see everything on my own servers...

Mazz4200

19th September 2007, 23:05

If I am going to commentate on an rFactor race, it would be difficult to do so using only omnipotence.

Lol, made me laugh that :)

The commentating quote of the week from that 12hr Daytona race. "And we've got the green light, the race is on.....Yes Darin only 12 hours to go !"

Keep it up guys :thumb:

DarinSRT

20th September 2007, 18:42

I may just do that.. Are you committing to it if i get you one ? ;)

By the way everyone.. This Week in Sim Racing #2 is out and up in Hi-Res, lo-res and Hi-Res and div-x download..

www.simracingtonight.com

Buy me rFactor and i'll commentate for an hour or two :)

DarinSRT

20th September 2007, 18:49

I missed this post from you Becky.. Thanks for plugging it for us..

And yes.. GREAT point !! We want to report on some LFS leagues yet no one is getting us info.. We also look at sites to try and find good info and we just can't report on the "handles".

If a league could force drivers to put their real names in the license plate field, then we could report on it..

Or, if a league sends us video, pictures and standings with the drivers real names (or names that sound real ;) ) we will put them on the show..

We'd also love to showcase a league on the big show.. Again a problem I've found is a lot of the links on this forum are either dead or out dated. Even ones that have banners..

The leagues that we're reporting on are sending us stuff now weekly.. Make it easy on us and you get showcased..

HELP! :nod:

The latest 'This Week In Sim Racing' is out, it's a good show with a wee bit of LFS in there (in the guise of a CTRA press release) but some more of you LFS league organisers need to get on the ball and start promoting yourselves guys - the opportunity is right there for the taking :).

Shotglass

20th September 2007, 19:25

We'd also love to showcase a league on the big show.. Again a problem I've found is a lot of the links on this forum are either dead or out dated. Even ones that have banners..

just click on race calendar on the top bar of the forum and youll find all leagues which are currently active (and using this forum)

SpikeyMarcoD

20th September 2007, 21:44

That is the point mate. They cant look up all info on every league. We should provide them pretty much with ready to use features prefrably

DarinSRT

21st September 2007, 15:32

Exactly Spikey... There's not too many leagues out there we won't report on.. The ones that make it easy for us have the best chance of getting on the show.. Not saying we won't do research because we do.. But the ones that send in bios, replays, videos, screen shots, stories, etc will get air play in some way..

That is the point mate. They cant look up all info on every league. We should provide them pretty much with ready to use features prefrably

Gil07

26th September 2007, 20:44

You forgot to Shift-F again in the last ep os This Week in Simracing ;)

Hollywood

27th September 2007, 17:01

Here's one that is not dead or outdated...

http://lfs-lota.net

:thumb:

Both the GTC and the MRT CC Cup are current series with updated standings, stats, etc. And I know we sent in results.

We'd also love to showcase a league on the big show.. Again a problem I've found is a lot of the links on this forum are either dead or out dated. Even ones that have banners..

In fact we do have RSS support for it...

http://lfs-lota.net/rss.php

That's only news... probably will have an rss feed with the latest standings, etc. at some point.

Might behoove SRT to have RSS of their own to announce when the new SRT and weekly videos are up... that way sites like LOTA, CTRA, STCC, etc, etc. can easily update themselves.

Becky Rose

27th September 2007, 18:25

I think the reason your results where not announced Hollywood, is that your driver names are handles and therefor not pronounceable. Giving a little bit of video footage also helps, but mostly I suspect its the real names issue.

If any league wants coverage, you have to make it easy, you basically write the article for them. Tell them what to say, give footage if you can, and dont have names with letters made up of symbols.

Google some tips on how to write a press release, that might help :)

Motordirex

27th September 2007, 19:06

This Week In Sim Racing - awesome idea...but I would change the title song; sounds like music from Battlefield 2142.

The announcer is cute too and yes, she may pronounce names incorrectly but in all fairness she's probably never heard alot of them...SEAT: (say-at), not "seet".

And yes, wheres the STCC coverage!?

If anyone is looking to get articles written, I write race reports for a local motorcycle racing club: article one (http://www.srrc.ca/news_round_5_race_report.php) and article two (http://www.srrc.ca/news_double_header.php). Ive written many more that have been published in news papers, but I am the web master/designer of their website and hadnt put any old ones up. Email me at info at mediadirex.com if anyones interested.

Great work SRT! :thumb:

james12s

27th September 2007, 19:14

fallout cup, theres one, all drivers have to use real names and as for more stuff speak too dru

Hollywood

27th September 2007, 20:00

We do not not require (or will require at this time) the use of real names (or initials, etc.). Besides some real names are worse than the "LFS handles" that most people use in and around the forums and online. The "LFS handles" are those that our drivers normally race online with, so by using them they are more easily recognizable when out and about. Names people are familiar with like Forbin, Banshee, rcpilot, DeadWolfBones, Tweaker (back in the F08 series), Burnsy, Zolt, etc. Use the <F. Last name> nomeclature and no one would make the connection. So in a way its a publicity move.

And really if you check on the list (http://www.lfs-lota.net/index.php?action=rlm_league;sa=series;sr=drivers;i d=20) of drivers you get the following names that are easily said and pretty much get the following:

PeterLaan (happens to be real name), CWMax, Stu, BigTime, Banshee, Daniel, Jose, A.Terrahe (real name too), sweetchop, Mischief, G, Danke, NightHawk, Pacman, cannonfodder, Zolt (me), Jose, Merc, Spinjack, Burnsy... and so forth.

Of those I'd say A.Terrahe is the worst one to say, heck I'm not even sure exactly the appropriate Dutch pronuncation of it is.

So if there was an issue with the submitted material, especially when they are asking for help from the community and more specifically leagues, they need to commnunicate back and let the submitter(s) known.

I think the reason your results where not announced Hollywood, is that your driver names are handles and therefor not pronounceable. Giving a little bit of video footage also helps, but mostly I suspect its the real names issue.

Actually I'd like to see them put together a 'submit league/series results document' that describes what they are looking for; not just be vague about it. Do you want top 5 results only? Do you want all results? Season results only or season and last race? Do you want us to write up a race report? Do you want produced footage or raw footage, etc.

If any league wants coverage, you have to make it easy, you basically write the article for them. Tell them what to say, give footage if you can, and dont have names with letters made up of symbols.

Viper93

27th September 2007, 20:12

The big issue with real names is not pronounciation. The problem is we are trying to bring across Sim Racing as a viable professional sport and nobody is going to take it seriously if they hear/see "look there goes $IS"(?~#) in his (insert vehicle here)" It just doesn't sound right.

STCC uses real names and it just sounds so much better and helps get rid of the "pimpley teenager geek" attitude towards gaming.

This is not the case, but there is a steriotype thats being fought against here and having N00bzor racing is not going to help matters.

Hollywood

27th September 2007, 20:26

Mmms... well, Viper, I can honestly say that LOTA has no such aims. We are attempting to create a league racing platform for LFS in the western hemisphere (and hopefully spreading the word about LFS a little bit in the process), but we have no illusions about professional sports.

I personally, its not really something that's an aim of mine so when discussing new things concerning LOTA I don't think of it that terms.

That being said.. go check out the cyberathletics arena and see what names are being used there, and they already are "professional" with lots of corporate sponsors running around. Anyone using a "Fatal1ty" motherboard? If so, guess where that came from? That's right, the "cyberalthetics" and a "handle" used in FPS games (and others).

So I think that relative success of the FPS/RTS cyber athletics sets a trend for a "professional" venue to sim racing.

Does SRT have a mission statement that says they want to promote professional sim racing? I don't recall that from the first installment, and they don't have an "about us" or "mission statement" on their website either, so hard to say.

The big issue with real names is not pronounciation. The problem is we are trying to bring across Sim Racing as a viable professional sport and nobody is going to take it seriously if they hear/see "look there goes $IS"(?~#) in his (insert vehicle here)" It just doesn't sound right.

STCC uses real names and it just sounds so much better and helps get rid of the "pimpley teenager geek" attitude towards gaming.

This is not the case, but there is a steriotype thats being fought against here and having N00bzor racing is not going to help matters.

Viper93

27th September 2007, 21:27

No, but by using SRT you are putting LOTA into that arena and handles are not welcome :razz:

I am purchasing a Fatality soundcard. I almost DIDN'T buy it for that exact reason of having fatality on it, but the specs on it are too good to pass up. I thought to myself WTF is Fatality, must be some pimpley teenager who made it big sitting in front of CS for eons :nod:

Hollywood

27th September 2007, 22:08

:really:

Really, says who? Where's a mission statement and rules and regulations for this "arena" that states explicitly that handles are not welcome?!

But anyways, doing so smacks of exclusionary practices and isn't cool. In order to grow, if its your bent, any "professional sporting" out of simracaing, you have to grow the community. By being exclusionary, then you aren't helping to grow the community.

In a related example, ripping on other sims really isn't in the best interest of the overall sim racing community. Maybe they aren't "your" cup of tea, but someone else likes them.

Likewise, I may not, personally, find much attraction for CTRA, cruising or drifting, but they grow the LFS (and by extension the sim racing) community which can only be a positive thing if there are folks out there that want to see "professional sporting" events happen.

No, but by using SRT you are putting LOTA into that arena and handles are not welcome

dawesdust_12

28th September 2007, 01:02

some pimpley teenager who made it big sitting in front of CS for eons :nod:

I'm gonna stand up for all pimpley teenagers and go why does it haffto be some pimply geek that did that, who says it couldn't be a normal, totally fugly geek with huge glasses?!

(Take that Mr. Raemisch :p)

DeadWolfBones

28th September 2007, 02:11

Holly, the SRT guys have stated several times that they prefer to use real names. Banshee even sent around a PM on the LOTA forums asking drivers if they'd be comfortable using their first initial-last name combo for SRT results announcements. It's not really a big deal, IMO.

Becky Rose

28th September 2007, 07:21

I thought to myself WTF is Fatality, must be some pimpley teenager who made it big sitting in front of CS for eons :nod:
I think Quake is his game, and he's not pimply. Although he fullfills other aspects of the stereotype :).

Myself and others who have and are working to promote sim racing are aiming more at motor racing than Quake when trying to promote the sport, hense real names is preffered. Even CTRA public servers tries to use them (on a voluntary basis).

Gaming is big business, but a simulator will never be a big racing 'game' and cant compete against the likes of Project Gotham Racing, Forza 3, or Gran Turismo in those markets.

danowat

28th September 2007, 07:46

Well, I have (hopefully) sent enough information into SRT for inclusion into the next broadcast (RSSC2), we have used real names for the last round, and hopefully this will go someway into making the upcoming RSWC more "marketable".

IMO ANY and ALL coverage by any media is good for LFS and sim racing in general, and hopefully I'll do my part in this.

If I can get SRT to cover the last rounds of RSSC2, and subsequent RSWC rounds, then it should mean big(ger) things for RSC competitions in the future.

Watch this space.......

Hollywood

28th September 2007, 13:09

Sadly you are right, it doesn't. Although I do drool at the thought of someone with the budget of say a Forza 3 making a cross-platform high-end racing simulator (with included arcade mode of course.) :)

Gaming is big business, but a simulator will never be a big racing 'game' and cant compete against the likes of Project Gotham Racing, Forza 3, or Gran Turismo in those markets.

squidhead

28th September 2007, 13:16

high-end racing simulator (with included arcade mode of course.) :)

come again?

Origamiboy

28th September 2007, 13:35

Sadly you are right, it doesn't. Although I do drool at the thought of someone with the budget of say a Forza 3 making a cross-platform high-end racing simulator (with included arcade mode of course.) :)

Never, ever gonna happen I'm afraid...

Look at Richard Burns Rally for example, an absolutely fantastic rally SIM. Unfortunately it got many poor reviews on account of its difficulty and was shunned by the game playing public in favour of Colin McRae Rally series.

With budgets for games skyrocketing, publishers can't afford to take risks, therefore you will not see them making a full on simulation for the mass market.

True sim racing will remain a niche market, sustained by a small and dedicated development base, not unlike LFS IMHO.

DarinSRT

28th September 2007, 15:12

First off.. Becky and everyone else defending SRT.. Thanks so much..I was out of town until today so I didn't have a chance to come by here.

Hollywood.. If you watched the show, in episode 2 we talk about what our mission is.. We never say "We want to report REAL names only" but come on man..

We're not reporting on the LFS league racing community to the LFS community.. We want to report on it to the world.. We are trying to legitimize sim racing as a true form of motorsports (which we say in one of the episodes) .Im sorry if I offend, but in my 15 years of sim racing, I have ALWAYS used my real name. Im proud of my name and heritage and I also want people to know when I beat them.. It's Darin Gangi..(when I beat them of course hehe)

I think you refered to a plimply faced teenager playing quake.. Well.. some of the handles here are quake / Battlefield like.. I admit when going out to kill people, Im not Darin Gangi.. I play as something else..

But this is racing man ! This is no game..

In regards to not using your material.. If you get us something for the next "This week in Sim Racing" with real names, I'll make sure it's in there !

Someone mentioned us covering STCC.. hehe.. I think becky does a fine job of it and we promote her show every opportunity we can and will continue to do so.. No need for us to report on Becky standings etc when you can watch her cool show. :)

Anyway.. Hope you now understand our mission.. The ONLY thing we discriminate on at SRT are the use of real names..

I also thought of an idea for the LFS leagues that use handles and that want us to report on them.. I think on your license plate you can have them use their names abbrievated like - D Gangi and doesn't that come up on the results ?? I think that would be a fair compromise.. or vice versa.. Have them use their real name and and use the handle on the license plate.. :)

Viper93

28th September 2007, 16:08

I think Quake is his game, and he's not pimply. Although he fullfills other aspects of the stereotype :).

Hehe steriotype matched :razz: Does he wear glasses? :smileypul Single? Living with Mom and Dad (before he made tons of cash) from the basement playing in low light conditions? :D

When's the next broadcast coming out?

Mazz4200

28th September 2007, 16:23

Hi Darin, here's a little thought i've had rattling through my aging and slightly potty brain for a while now.

For many a year the name Gregor Huttu has been well know as probably the best sim racer on the planet. As far as i know he and almost all of the quickest guys from GPL migrated into GTL/GTR and Rfactor. But since i moved to LFS and raced against some of the quickest guys here, i've always wondered how our "Aliens" would compare with the likes of Gregor Huttu et al.

You seem to have both contacts and influence in most of the popular racing sims out there, kinda like middle men if you will. So, do you think it would be possible to arrange some sort of Inter-Sim Championship ? i.e a round at an LFS track, then another at an Rfactor track, GTR, GTL etc. Obviously it would take a tremendous amount of cooperation and time from the drivers and organisers etc.

Perhaps if each sim has some kind of playoff to find maybe 3 or 4 guys to represent their sim and then all come together to race in a "World Sim Championship". I can imaging the viewing figures would be quite high if SRT ran the races live.
Granted there will be problems with familiarisation and a driver not having such and such sim. But, if i knew one of my guys were competing and in a sense representing me and my game, i would'nt mind giving a few quid to buy him another sim (hopefully others would feel the same way to).

It's just a thought, don't be afraid to say it's a crap idea, and feel free kick me back under my rock. :)

SamH

28th September 2007, 17:11

Mazz, it definitely sounds like a fun project on the face of it, but I think the net result of even trying to do it at the moment would result in lighting the "my sim is more real than your sim" fire - the closest thing to in-fighting that we could get, in the simracing world.

In order to further sim racing as a real sport, and seen by everyone as such - a goal shared by all those who are reaching out to the wider world with our simracing presentations - we all need to become aligned. Head-to-heads between sims are a real possibility for the future, but we have to establish a basis of mutual respect and recognition, and we have to have that "feeling" ingrained in us, so that nothing can tear our sport assunder. We're not there yet, but it's achievable. It's more important that people recognise our sport (and participate, if possible) than it matters in which sim they do it.

SRT has the formula that best suits this goal. To quote Shakespeare, "The play's the thing". SRT is where everyone can go, regardless of their sim of choice, and recognise the simracing sport as a sport in its own right. Everything's there :)

Origamiboy

28th September 2007, 17:26

SamH

28th September 2007, 17:36

In the end though, will there need to be one 'sim of choice' for sim racing to be taken seriously as a sport?

Can there ever be just one all encompassing simulation that provides a constant platform throughout the sim racing world? I doubt it, but it seems everything may be a bit too fragmented for the public as a whole to take sim racing seriously.
There doesn't need to be a single platform. Sim racing can happen on multiple platforms - rF, LFS, NASCAR2003.. any and all of these platforms are platforms in their own right, but all can claim simracing as their mission.

Tennis exists as a sport, recognised by everyone as a sport. People have their preferences.. some like lawn tennis, some prefer asphalt, some prefer indoor and some prefer red shale.. some favour Wimbledon, some favour the US Open.. some enjoy singles, some doubles, some prefer women's and some men's.. but everyone recognises tennis as a sport. The best chance we have, as simracers, is to promote the sport over the sim :)

BlueFlame

28th September 2007, 17:46

Sam is right, we must leave the SIM VS SIM arguments out, for Sim Racing's sake. Join forces.. We here all know LFS is 'da shiz' but we don't need to tell everyone... not JUST yet..:)

Becky Rose

28th September 2007, 17:55

In the end though, will there need to be one 'sim of choice' for sim racing to be taken seriously as a sport?
Actually the opposite is true. In Europe broadcast regulations are preventing me from airing the STCC as a show in its own right on television because it would constitute a half an hour advertisement for a single commercial product, namely LFS. I can do a one off, or a program that includes STCC as well as other sims, but I cannot make a "Sim Touring Car Cup" program, unless I can get recognition from the olympic commission that sim racing is a sport (need 20k CTRA registered drivers (names & email) just for a start) - not an olympic one, but just recognition as a sport. Dealing with the olympic commission isnt easy, their bribe level is higher than the FIA.

Diversity is a marvellous thing, and it's something i've been forced to look into in order to get sim racing being recognised as a sport. Unfortunately the rFactor doesnt allow me to make a CTRA like operation within that community, but I do have plans to try and build bridges in other ways.

For sim racing to reach a wider, larger market, we have to use more than one sim in order to proove the point that commercial interests are not what matters. The sport has to be stronger than the "computer game".

One thing i've been planning is to get all the broadcasters in to the same team speak for a conference which I hope to do in a few weeks time, unfortunatley - like all sim racers - i've been dealing with my own RL issues recently and havn't got much done. (Car vandalised for 3rd time this year, but I do now have a job).

If there's one thing i'm not interested in any more it's promoting just one sim. It doesnt make sense, because my choice would be LFS and frankly it's not graphically rich and commercially it's unsupported. ISI doesnt support Microsoft wheels out of the box, and most of the community is using mods rather than actual licenced content anyway and I cant broadcast "illegal" mods - and when it comes to broadcasting on linear channels (TV) a whole new set of licences are needed...

The future of the sport definately lies in inter-sim collaboration, as far as I am concerned.

SamH

28th September 2007, 18:04

hehe.. well, we can all favour an individual sim over all others. I'm well-known for my LFS fanboyism ;) but recently I've come to realise that the sport of simracing is bigger than just "our corner of the market". Sure, I'm only happy when I'm racing in LFS, but it doesn't *have* to mean that I hate all other sims, or that I must criticise them at every opportunity. Though I have done, and often, I gotta stop doing that. Sim racing as a sport is now very important to me.. and it's something I want to help get recognised in the real world. It's a bit of a paradigm shift, but I really think it's worth doing :)

[edit] and what she said ^^^

Origamiboy

28th September 2007, 18:07

Great replies.

So, what you are all effectively saying is that all sims should be taken seriously, and seen as various component parts of sim racing as a whole?

My next question however is this.. With the current culture of 'my sim is better than your sim' amongst racers, how easy do you think integration between sims will be to achieve? For example, if sim racing becomes a recognised sport, there will eventually become 'top drivers'.. If the various sim racing 'celebrities' all use differing sims, how will they be judged against each other?

Will differing sims be thought of in the same way as differing forms of motorsport (eg F1 vs Nascar vs Touring Car etc) ?

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Viper93

28th September 2007, 18:21

Mazz4200

28th September 2007, 18:25

Wow, i was'nt expecting such erudite replys,

I was'nt suggesting to kick up a sim v sim competition/argument, merely a driver v driver situation, just to see how the likes of Bawbag/Biggie/Biohazard etc would compete with the likes of Gregor Huttu and his peers.

But i can see how such a competition would stir up the old emotions and end in the old my dads bigger than your dad thing.

Certainly the one sim and one sim only route's not the way to go, think of all those talented developers picking up their dole cheques every week as a result.

Dunno, it was just something thats been lurking around the back of my mind since joining LFS and coming across the likes of Flotch and Biohazard etc online and seeing them driving impossibly quickly, and wondering how they'd stack up against some of the other well know names in sim racing. And i'm sure it would be relatively easy to sell a "World Sim Racing Championship" to a sponsor.

Maybe one day....... lets hope.

Hyperactive

28th September 2007, 19:12

Actually the opposite is true. In Europe broadcast regulations are preventing me from airing the STCC as a show in its own right on television because it would constitute a half an hour advertisement for a single commercial product, namely LFS. I can do a one off, or a program that includes STCC as well as other sims, but I cannot make a "Sim Touring Car Cup" program, unless I can get recognition from the olympic commission that sim racing is a sport (need 20k CTRA registered drivers (names & email) just for a start) - not an olympic one, but just recognition as a sport. Dealing with the olympic commission isnt easy, their bribe level is higher than the FIA.

...

Not questioning what you said but what you said sounds a bit strange to me. There have been many TV shows about Counterstrike games, for example, that haven't been one-off shows, at least here in Finland. (I say, in Finland because in Finland our beloved spokesmen of the people go into extremes with being EU legal. If a potate needs to be red we spraypaint it. So if it can be done in Finland, I doubt why it couldn't be done in UK...) There have been many other examples where a game or games have been the main thing in the shows, like the gameshows in the 90s where you could call your phone and use the phone as your control or the later ones were the players are in a studio environment. But in essence those are very similar as a spectator intertainment point of view...

I understand that the issue may be about is simracing as a sport and a sport that can be done only with certain software - which may seem like a sponsor. But to be honest I don't see any difference with simracing show and a real racing show. The real ones are filled with sponsorship ads. Watching the V8 supercars you have the Toyota leaderboard and NOS&HKS time difference gizmo. They actually use those names! Or in a chess/snooker game the make of the table/chess pieces/referee's underpants is shown in LARGE text.

Summa summarum, I don't see any difference why a "Dodge Daytona 500 sponsored by Cokaine cola on" is more real sport than the "Overpower UF Aston endu 72h race". Or why the latter needs some kind of approval - I doubt there are over 20000 oval racers in UK either so how come they can show that too? Maybe I missed something but it just doesn't add up... :)

SamH

28th September 2007, 19:29

Hyperactive, yep.. this has been my counter-argument too. In the UK, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) was swallowed up by OFCOM (in 2003 iirc), and has made the whole question/answer a lot more muddy. The person who gave this info to Becky (who's now gone off to get drunk, to celebrate her new job) is a TV producer, but I think is talking from the back of his pelvis. Still, it's a consideration, although I don't think it's make-or-break. If what the guy says is correct, it's easily countered by incorporating the STCC in a weekly broadcast, covering all sim racing, where the STCC race happens one week in 4. This way, the programme is not solely LFS-oriented - if indeed this is in fact an issue, come the crunch.

danowat

28th September 2007, 19:34

Has anyone thought of contacting Motorstv about this?, they run a racing sim program 3dmotors (which IMO is dieing for some more sim content).

SamH

28th September 2007, 19:41

I've been trying to get MotorsTV on my bloody TV. I've had it with Virgin Media, and I'm ordering a couple of sky boxes.

Vykos69

28th September 2007, 20:24

@Becky: If you sell it as part of eSport, this all should be easier ;)

Becky Rose

28th September 2007, 23:16

I swore to myself that I wouldn't reply when I looked at these forum because i'm drunk, and infact, realising now that the words are slipping out of my head as I write this, i'm not going too... I'll come back to the valid questions and try to give them a valid answer, there's a lot I havn't spoken about. One thing I want to clear up though I think I said European law when I meant British law - I was pitching to broadcast from Britain on a satelitte that covered Europe, but as I say i'm a bit too drunk right now to go (damned typos are getting at me too) into any details so I will come back to this.

*hic*

Shotglass

28th September 2007, 23:20

judging by how drunk you are i assume the job pays well ?
anyway grats on the new job :)

Becky Rose

29th September 2007, 08:17

Wow that actually reads pretty well. Oh God I hurt.

Becky Rose

29th September 2007, 10:38

My next question however is this.. With the current culture of 'my sim is better than your sim' amongst racers, how easy do you think integration between sims will be to achieve?
That's something that a lot of people in the sim communities will always squabble over, but provided those people organising events and keeping the sport moving forward dont get caught up in it then all will be well, drivers can have their preference, as long as organisers remain above it.

Will differing sims be thought of in the same way as differing forms of motorsport (eg F1 vs Nascar vs Touring Car etc) ?
Herein lies exactly how we have to rise above it. Forget the old ways, for sim racing to move forward it has to rely on the strengths of its various competitions. Forget 'LFS' world championships, and think more along the lines of 'STCC' and 'SSCA Endurance' and various others. The leagues are what is important, what drives the leagues is fairly tertiary.

Tbh, i've got so much software in the works for season 2 of STCC that LFS is a fairly minimal part of the whole thing. All the major leagues use a lot of supporting software now, from real time applications to web management back ends. The sim that is used is just one part of the equation.

Not questioning what you said but what you said sounds a bit strange to me.
The whole thing surrounding the problem the STCC is facing in getting TV coverage is actually quite convoluted. There's more than one aspect too, on the one hand there is a regulatory issue that the show as originally envisioned isn't legal to broadcast in the UK - which is really frustrating - because Scawen needs to eat and put fuel in his BMW. We can get around that by pitching as an eSport but we dont want too, we wnt to pitch as a motor racing event, eSports have a different audience and frankly it's a tiny one. I spoke to the guy who broadcasted the eSports world championships across the world last year and in his words "It was a lot of effort for a show that nobody watched.".

Independent television in the UK accounts for a grand total of 30,000 viewers. This is all the viewers of ALL the non-mainstream 6 channels. 30,000 viewers is nothing, we've already eclipsed that in the past with STCC and I believe Vykos has too. Traditional broadcasters are already looking toward on demand television as the future, so the sim racing culture of trying to break into the traditional market is somewhat against the trend. The problem here is real TV being considered as 'better' because TV is still a miracle in the eyes of the consumer, and we are consumers. The fact is that the internet is much bigger than television, we as sim broadcasters need to come to understand this and figure out how to maximise our coverage and publicity.

Thinking about it, why would STCC or any other league broadcast to a smaller audience on television in a limited number of countries, broadcasted at a particular time on a particular day and have adverts thrown in by the television channel when all that could be done from a web site to reach an international audience at any time (on demand) and have adverts thrown in by us instead?

The first step in moving this sport forward now, I believe, is for the wider world to see us as a sport. The FIA have already proven and stated quite clearly that their only interest is in selling licences for games. They dont see Sim Racing as a sport. In the UK the MSA is equally naive and yet wonders why numbers in karting are falling. Some other countries have better luck, NASA in the US and the SBF in Sweden have already embraced sim racing so there is hope for the future for official world wide recognition for sim racing.

However, getting official recognition from any sporting body with sufficient real world clout would do the job, which is why I will soon be holding a conference with key players in both communities with the aim of achieving this. I'm currently researching an alternative way...

If Sim Racing is officially a sport then a lot of hurdles are removed for league organisers, along with a governing body to further promote the sport and help league organisers there is a lot of potential for the development of the sport as a professional past time.

Without organising and unifying each league organiser is still on their own, with whatever skills they have at their personal disposal, and sim racing will never amount to more than the skill, time and dedication of what 1 person can achieve. That isn't going to make the sport grow.

DarinSRT

30th September 2007, 00:22

Mazz,

You're not the first to suggest it and as a matter of fact Shaun and I have discussed something like it.. Maybe someday in the future ;)

we think it's a great idea..

Implementing it may be a bit of a task..

Darin

Hi Darin, here's a little thought i've had rattling through my aging and slightly potty brain for a while now.

For many a year the name Gregor Huttu has been well know as probably the best sim racer on the planet. As far as i know he and almost all of the quickest guys from GPL migrated into GTL/GTR and Rfactor. But since i moved to LFS and raced against some of the quickest guys here, i've always wondered how our "Aliens" would compare with the likes of Gregor Huttu et al.

You seem to have both contacts and influence in most of the popular racing sims out there, kinda like middle men if you will. So, do you think it would be possible to arrange some sort of Inter-Sim Championship ? i.e a round at an LFS track, then another at an Rfactor track, GTR, GTL etc. Obviously it would take a tremendous amount of cooperation and time from the drivers and organisers etc.

Perhaps if each sim has some kind of playoff to find maybe 3 or 4 guys to represent their sim and then all come together to race in a "World Sim Championship". I can imaging the viewing figures would be quite high if SRT ran the races live.
Granted there will be problems with familiarisation and a driver not having such and such sim. But, if i knew one of my guys were competing and in a sense representing me and my game, i would'nt mind giving a few quid to buy him another sim (hopefully others would feel the same way to).

It's just a thought, don't be afraid to say it's a crap idea, and feel free kick me back under my rock. :)

DarinSRT

30th September 2007, 00:43

I'd like to say a few things on the subject of sim vs sim..

There is not one perfect sim.. All the sims out there have components to make a perfect sim. Matter of fact, Im sure you'll see an SRT segment on what Shaun and I feel would make the perfect sim.

LFS definitely has a lot of those components.. I can say now from experience ( I raced in the MOE event today) that it has it's short comings in some areas as well. One of my complaints is that I was literally lost out there today on the track. Especially after I flipped the car and was able to Shift - P back to the pits and start all over..

Now when I say lost.. I mean I had no idea where my closest competition was. I have the map, but it doesn't give me any reference has to who is near me. I also had no idea what was going on with my tires, or damage to the car...It's probably me not being familiar with the F9 - F12 screens.

On the other hand.. One thing I really liked about the LFS enduro experience was the driver swaps being seemless.

Bottom line is.. For rfactor, it depends on the mod.. When you find the good ones, they can be really good and feel just as real as LFS.. There's honestly some really horrible mods out there as well that feel worse than the old Pole Position..

Thats one area that LFS beats rF, the quality of the cars and their feel on average. With no quality control in the rF world, LFS beats rF hands down..But rF beats LFS in a lot of categories as well..

Anyway.. I can go on for hours.. SRT will be covering all forms of sim racing because we feel there's real racing in every one of them.. From back in the Nascar 1 days on Hawaii to LFS, rFactor, ARCA, NR2003 and the Sim Bin titles, it's all racing.. It may not have had as real a feel, but my adrenaline was pumping the same.. Thats what it's all about...

Oh and on the subject of Greger Huttu vs Bawbag, etc.. For a while in our communities we've referred to them as Aliens.. Put Greger in LFS and he will be an Alien... Put Bawbag in rF and Im sure the results would be the same..

I would be interested to see the two or a similar pairing go head to head.. There's also some amazing drivers in the world of stock car sims. Derek Wood comes to mind.. This guy is fast in anything I've seen him in. GTP cars, Trans Am, Stock cars, you name it.. Put him against Greger and Bawbag and Im sure he'd give em a run..Putting it together is another story.. Maybe in one of my SSCA endurance races someday ;)

Speaking of.. How about an LFS team driving in my 8 Hours of Nurburg? Shaun and I ran in your community (which we feel at home in by the way).. how about some of you come over to ours for a race.. Shaun and I will take you under our wings and it would actually make for a great story.. Some of the best rfactor drivers participate in the SSCA races.

bbman

30th September 2007, 02:46

[...]Especially after I flipped the car and was able to Shift - P back to the pits and start all over..

Now when I say lost.. I mean I had no idea where my closest competition was. I have the map, but it doesn't give me any reference has to who is near me.[...]

That's only down to the organisators being (overly) generous... Flipped your car? Tough luck, you're out... Better luck next time...

The fact that people somehow got round it by sticking your two races together shouldn't distract from the fact you were out of the race...

I'm not denying that LfS has many shortcomings, but that has to be the worst point ever to criticize LfS...

DeadWolfBones

30th September 2007, 07:05

That's only down to the organisators being (overly) generous... Flipped your car? Tough luck, you're out... Better luck next time...

The fact that people somehow got round it by sticking your two races together shouldn't distract from the fact you were out of the race...

I'm not denying that LfS has many shortcomings, but that has to be the worst point ever to criticize LfS...

I mostly agree with this, though it's become something of a tradition in LFS endurance racing that flipping/getting stuck in the sand doesn't mean the end of your race. This is, again, mostly down to the incompleteness of some of the sim's features (damage model, safety cars/full course yellows, some odd flipping/sand behavior, etc).

Also, Darin, while I agree that LFS is feature-incomplete, there are lots of creative and useful workarounds for problems like the one you've mentioned. The LFS Tracker, which keeps track of the overall running order despite disconnects and Shift-Ps, was in use throughout the 12hr race and would have given your team (and you, with the help of TS or Vent) an idea of who you were racing against.

N I K I

30th September 2007, 07:42

Darin please, if you watch only this race all this names were on same pace as Bawbag: [n1lyn, Jonesy_, Sracer, Jay, Vince, DreaF, Clownpaint] and don't make Bawbag like king of LFS! And there are some other names who haven't drove this race but they still can win Bawbag :p
And yeh, they all are aliens :)
___________

F9-F12 are great when you get used to them and know everything about them....
Map is ok, it can't be bigger, you have to learn what color means what on map! I hope we'll get new color for restricted cars soon, someone should suggest that in suggestion forum :D
Be thankful for any kind of map, irl you don't see anything (i think in GTR, GTR2 you also can't see map), but you have your team mates, LFS Race Spectator and they can inform you just like irl ^^

Gunn

30th September 2007, 07:53

..... but it seems everything may be a bit too fragmented for the public as a whole to take sim racing seriously.Even if only twenty-two of you take it seriously, I'll come to watch you race.

@Darin: you guys should consider a dedicated LFS correspondent, because you are constantly missing the mark on several points and it seems to be only due to a lack of knowledge of the interface, features and culture of Live For Speed, not due to a lack of enthusiasm or effort on your part to showcase LFS on your show.

To speak with authority on any subject, the speaker or writer should truly know their subject. You guys don't appear to know it well enough to speak credibly on its behalf, at this time. I can admire your drive and enthusiasm, but please take some time to slow down and smell the roses.

SpikeyMarcoD

30th September 2007, 09:37

In reponse to Darin feeling lost in race. I agree LFS itself does not provide adequate support, but LFS has something Rfactor does not which is called insim. The community has provided some applications which gives you info on these things via the insim interface. I use LFSrelax which would have done the task Darin refers to quite nicely.

col

30th September 2007, 09:51

Actually the opposite is true. In Europe broadcast regulations are preventing me from airing the STCC as a show in its own right on television because it would constitute a half an hour advertisement for a single commercial product, namely LFS.

If you had enough support from the community that the game publishers all wanted a piece of the action, you could provide some sort of competitive contract - each year the publishers would compete to be the STCC sim - that way, you could get around the 'single commercial product' issue without having to use multiple software applications...
I guess at this stage, requiring them to bid would be out of the question, but some sort of open vote in RSC or some equivalent multi sim forum might be adequate ?

...I cannot make a "Sim Touring Car Cup" program, unless I can get recognition from the olympic commission that sim racing is a sport (need 20k CTRA registered drivers (names & email) just for a start) - not an olympic one, but just recognition as a sport. Dealing with the olympic commission isnt easy, their bribe level is higher than the FIA.

It's not really surprising. If the olympic commission let any marginal hobbyists define their own sports without stringent rules, all the existing sports they ratify would be devalued, and the organization would become a laughing stock. If sim racing truly is a 'sport', then it should be easy enough to fulfill their requirements!

For sim racing to reach a wider, larger market, we have to use more than one sim in order to proove the point that commercial interests are not what matters. The sport has to be stronger than the "computer game".
.........

The future of the sport definately lies in inter-sim collaboration, as far as I am concerned.

I don't think it's viable having the public face of sim-racing spread over multiple sims.
If the different sims all have to be involved (and I agree they do), have a qualifying series for each sim, and have the premier publicly aired series use one sim per season - chosen competitively by some fixed set or rules agreed upon by all 'manufacturers'.

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

Having said all that, I personally don't think sim racing is going to 'happen' as a spectator sport any time soon.
No-one outside of the community is remotely interested - they think we are a bunch of overgrown obsessed nerdy children ! (I tend to agree :))
The only people who are interested who aren't actually sim-racers (includes drifters and cruisers) are hoping to make a buck out of the ones who are.

I've been sim racing on and off since 1999, even when I'm not actively racing, I'm following the news, and keeping up with developments. I watched exactly one of the STCC broadcasts. I though the quality was high, and I was entertained, so why have I only watched one? On TV, there are numerous real racing series and any of them provides a far higher entertainment level. Drivers are putting their lives and careers on the line, manufacturers gamble millions of $$ on the outcome of races that can be decided by a mistake in the pits or a change in the weather, the skill level is extreme and the physical conditions demanding. This is high drama - the highs are exhilarating, the lows are gut wrenching, the participants are gladiators and heroes, all good spectator sports have these features, and they just aren't there in sim racing - they're not there in sim anything.

I don't want to be negative, I think that the STCC and CTRA have done some great things for sim racing, and that Becky and Sam are hero's of this community. However, I'm not being devils advocate here - I really don't think the world is ready for sim racing as a spectator sport, and until there is high risk, melodrama, celebrity and danger involved, I don't think it's ever going to be. Maybe when we get to the stage where 'virtual' skill is valued as highly as real world skill, the situation may improve, but we're never going to get around the fact that sport is all about physical challenge, and what very limited physical challenge there is in sim sport is not visible to the spectators. Maybe close up reaction shots of the racers faces as the get flipped by a physics bug will help (seriously), but thats a long way off I fear.

An example that highlights at least part of this is the Intel Racing Tour. Just having a big prize to win or lose made a huge difference to the spectator appeal at least for me. I was far more interested by the outcome of the intel racing tour than any other sim event that I was not a participant in. Even though there was no replay or 'broadcast' (at least that I was aware of), and that it was only for Germans. The fact that the losers really lost something and the winner really won something - there was real risk that spectators could empathise with.

Anyway, thats enough negativity for now :)

cheers, and please don't take this post the wrong way.

Col

Vykos69

30th September 2007, 10:34

if you felt lost on track Darin, then I have to put that on some lack of preparation. Every other team uses in MoE Teamspeak for communication, there are always people telling the drivers what's going on, Using tools like the RaceSpec and the official Moe-tracker. Due to the fact, that when you are flipped, your endurance experienced would have been over IRL too, you should call yourself happy, to be able to continue the race ;) Why should a sim provide then some help in positions actually? The thirdparty tools do that enough, and as I said again: You and/or the team you drove in was then not well enough prepared. I'm actually frightened that you will put a little wrong view on this subject, as the race showed for all the well prepared teams, that it was close, that infos were where they belong and every team had it's helping teamleaders/pit-talkers at hand.

Actually that's more real than any computervoice telling me to pit next lap....

e.g.: We recalculated our last two stints and that put us very close to third place, put some pressure on cyber, they did the mistake and we finally could ensure a podium, after being in the race for first place till hour 5 or so and then dropping back due to own mistakes and bad luck.

N I K I

30th September 2007, 10:37

Damn Col you are right.
If there is something to win it's much more interesting, I know how big drama it was for me in OPS league where i almost lost prize because of bad qualify :)

I think this is mostly why i stopped with public racing, even if there is nothing to win, like in MoE, i like to race that more then on public pick up races because competition is so high and if you made good result there that's something and if you do only one mistake it costs and it costs a lot.

I hope awards will be soon big part of sim racing, but we can't have them if we don't have sponsors, and we can't have sponsors if we don't have spectators, and there is no spectators if there is no broadcast, but if there is broadcast with no awards involved no one will watch... and it all goes in circles :shrug:

col

30th September 2007, 11:07

1st, sorry for kinda hijacking this thread :)

I had another thought related to sim sports being interesting to spectators.

If you look at sports in the wider world, then generally, the sports that have large crowds of spectators are more appealing to the television audience. It as if the real spectators at the event help to connect the TV viewers to the event in a more real way. Look at the way TV sport producers use spectator reaction shots to much - it makes the TV viewer feel like they are part of that group right there at the match/race/game. Its a huge part of the enjoyment - being part of a large group sharing the ups and downs - the glory and the pain. (look at the way politicians and celebrities use this dynamic - just watch baseball to see big name celebs 'connecting' with their public by going to the game)

How can sim sport achieve a similar effect?

For the participants, it would be feasible to have close up reaction shots, that are edited into the action - similarly to how some motor racing have in-car cams pointing at the drivers face, but how could we provide cues to connect the individual 'live' spectators to each other to provide a group experience ? and how can we present that group in the edited race broadcast ?
Those are much more difficult challenges.
I guess we wait until processors and bandwidth are good enough so that we can have Massively Multi-spectator Online Sports (... hmm need to add an H to that MMOSH is better than MMOS IMO lol.) where you could actually see the other spectators sitting in seats - with webcams tracking their real faces and pasting them onto avatars - and mics mixing their chears into the ambient audio...
Maybe thats when sim-sports will start becoming a seriously viable business endevour ?

Col

SparkyDave

30th September 2007, 11:24

Its not just visual reactions that would achieve that Col, but audio clips from teams TS servers interjected at approprate times would give some insite for the viewers, I think the sort of quality broadcasts by the likes of STCC and MOE in the past are top notch, and are getting better and better with each release. Once established I think Simsports could offer more to the viewer in an "on demand" way like TV is going anyway.

and with addon,s like the "trackcam"? that was used during last years moe broadcast to give different, and more realistic camera positions ect, and the style of commentary makes a big step into producing shows people want to watch and keep watching.

SD.

Bob Smith

30th September 2007, 12:11

I too would find spectating much more enjoyable if there was more there to connect the sim racing to the people behind them. This would be much more feasible at some sort of LAN event, cameras infront and behind each person, another camera on the pedals perhaps. Actually have all the drivers together at the podium at the end, film people shaking hands and generally looking happy together. I like the audio idea also.

As anyone at the last LFS UK meeting will attest, it was good being able to talk with everyone you just raced straight after the race.

Becky Rose

30th September 2007, 12:37

Sim Racing is already doing the right things to attract spectators and we're getting better at it too, the appeal threshold was crossed a while ago and a number of leagues, not just my own, have reached reasonable audiences. tbh, I got wrapped up in going to telly next year and then pursued it for a while only to realise I would be broadcasting to a smaller audience if I kept on walking down that path.

What sim sport needs isn't prizes. We already have off track drama (although we dont report it very well because of visual media limitations at the moment), we have the on track drama.

What we dont have is the publicity. That, put simply, is all that is needed.

Public relations & Marketing is what sim racing needs.

The top broadcasts also need to work together to pool resources, X-Cam and other TV camera style programs are an absolute minimum - if I see another broadcast where the camera focus' on 1 car again I will scream! rFactor needs to implement some form of insim. LFS needs to improve it's graphics. Aside from that though, what we need is the current sim broadcasters sharing and pooling resources and working together to bring all our developments and resources together.

Then we can have a winner.

In my league I have a format designed for spectators, good camera control software and obsene bandwidth hosting. The pre and post race show sucks, I mean REALLY sucks. I've got X-Start for use at the end of this season and start of next season to improve it a little, but the bottom line is this part of the show sucks.

The SSCA format isn't spectator friendly. The camera follows one car and the director cuts are not neat. Pit stops are as eventful as LFS' (GTR2 has got this right with the graphics settings on high). It needs a highlight show rather than a full 12 hour livecast.

PSRL suffers SSCA camera problems, and will put 15 drivers on the grid with exactly the same F1 car and paint job. It just doesnt make sense.

We can all improve, but we've all already proven that we can draw large numbers of spectators, what we need to do is help each other to get better, work together, share resources, share technology, share expertise and recruit some commentators who speak Korean.

Then we need to publicise much better. There's no point putting a post in for a show to get spectators at RSC and LFS. That's not enough. We need to be in the mainstream media.

DarinSRT

30th September 2007, 16:00

Funny how a post can generate so many others in so many driections. ;)

To go into more detail on the MOE event.. I never put down MOE for allowing shift p.. Just pointed it out.. If you want my honest opinion of it though.. That takes away from the endruance aspect of it.. You flip a car or get it stuck in rF and you're done which in my opinion stops some people from driving over their head.. I had a good time for the most part and we're going to report on it..

Now.. a little more on my experience.. I became a member of the team I rean with a week ago. Was I unprepared for a 12 hour event.. Heck yes I was.. On top of that I was out of town from Tuesday thru Thrusday.. I was just commenting on it from my perspective..

Never claimed to be an expert on LFS and we'd love to have an official LFS correspondant.. Funny thing is.. I get all these people yelling at me for misreprestinging LFS (which by the way we are going to correct the Intel tour mistake on air) .. but I get no one stepping up to become the SRT / LFS rep. Help us out and we make sure to represent the community correctly..

You have to remember though.. Most of you are biased towards LFS so take things I say with a grain of salt. Just my opinion and yes I have a lot of people listening to me, but, I do my best to be objective, honest and tell my story from my perspective..

To the guy that said "don't think that Bawbag is the only one".. lol.. Believe me I know of lots of other really fast guys.. Just like over in my crowd.. Greger is the man.. but.. There's lots of guys that are pretty close. So.. I just used his name cause it came to mind.

And to Becky.. hehe.. If I told you the hurdles we went through to provide that coverage, you would understand why it is the way it is. We know it's raw, but we are very limited and have done all of that on a shoestring budget. You should see some of the first we did.. We're doing it with what rFactor has to offer, media encoder and a fat pipe.

You mention all of us coming together.. I'd love that.. Over in our world, no one shares technology secrets fearing that someone will out do them or try to take their business.. Flog TV was created only to provide coverage of our events.. We never really intended it for general spectators.. But.. After we started we got some great feedback about how we handled ourselves in the booth and that actually spawned SRT..

So that being said.. How is the quality of SRT compared to our broadcasts ? Lots better huh ?? Thats because we've put a lot more time and energy into it and we're not limited to rFactor short comings , media encoders and we're not in competition with anyone which means that everyone is willing to offer help and suggestions. We flew completely blind putting up the FLOG stuff. I think we did an ok job..

Lastly.. Becky, we would love for you to come over and help us put together the ultimate broadcast and vice versa.. I would love to be part of one of your shows as a broadcaster or doing behind the scenes stuff..You put it out there.. so lets do it ! :)

james12s

30th September 2007, 16:05

darin i was thinking after reading yours and beckys thread y not set up something like the srba (simulated racing broadcasters association) or similar to bring the people who broadcast sim racing together

Becky Rose

30th September 2007, 17:05

What do you think the conference is for James :).

@Darin, we're on the same hymn sheet. I'll write to you guys and some others soon, after figuring out some stuff when I get the time.

james12s

30th September 2007, 17:06

yeah i get what you mean

Viper93

30th September 2007, 17:12

LOL James you make me laugh every time you post :thumb:

james12s

30th September 2007, 17:17

yeah i know

danowat

30th September 2007, 18:07

Hopefully coverage of LFS leagues, like the RSSC2 and upcoming RSWC will help to "promote" LFS in this way?.

In all the media I sent to SRT about the RSSC, I tried to include things like car and track profiles, hopefully this help.

Anything else I can think of to add to the coverage of our league on SRT, or anyone else can think of that would be good, let me know, and I'll try and get it included.

KeiichiRX7

30th September 2007, 18:51

SpikeyMarcoD

30th September 2007, 20:34

I think you guys make excellent reps. But maybe a little testrun of items (to avoid intel cockups) might be what would be best?

StableX

30th September 2007, 22:35

I think Quake is his game, and he's not pimply. Although he fullfills other aspects of the stereotype :).

Actually its been a plethora of different games that John has become World Champion in, including Quake versions, painkiller and other games. He's also commentating on the global CGS league right now with specific reference to the US region.

Gunn

1st October 2007, 01:12

I get all these people yelling at me for misreprestinging LFS (which by the way we are going to correct the Intel tour mistake on air) .. but I get no one stepping up to become the SRT / LFS rep. Help us out and we make sure to represent the community correctly.I don't see anyone yelling at you. People are trying to fill you in on all of the little things that you don't yet comprehend. If you treat this as advice it will help you, if you treat it as complaining, it won't.
People here are trying to help you represent the community correctly. I think you are being genuinely supported by people here. That's a good thing, right?

DarinSRT

1st October 2007, 06:01

I swore to myself that i wouldn't reply to posts that are negative but I had to make an exception since there were two in this thread by the same person.

Gunn...Feel free to put togther a list of all the things SRT doesn't comprehend about LFS so we can make a segment out of it.. Should make for some good entertainment..

Most are supporting us yes gunn.. It's the comments like "You guys don't appear to know it well enough to speak credibly on its behalf" because i said ?? what ?? That I was lost in a race?? That Bawbag is the best ?? ??? Please be more specific instead of making vague comments.. Oh and a personal email would be the best way to solve it, or better yet meet me on Teamspeak or my MSN Messenger account is dgangi11@hotmail.com and you can tell me all the ways I can stop to smell the roses.. ;)

I'll also be expecting a full write up from THE LFS insider GUNN on the LFS community, the culture, the interface, etc.. I admit this forum is a great place for LFS info. Seeing that LFS isn't the only sim we report on, it's a daunting task to find it all..If you could write an article pointing it all out, maybe you can be the biggest help of all to us :thumb:

I don't see anyone yelling at you. People are trying to fill you in on all of the little things that you don't yet comprehend. If you treat this as advice it will help you, if you treat it as complaining, it won't.
People here are trying to help you represent the community correctly. I think you are being genuinely supported by people here. That's a good thing, right?

xaotik

1st October 2007, 08:12

Not meaning to be critical of anyone or to defend anyone else - but generally I think that people should cut some slack when it comes to private non-profit initiatives like this that in the end can only prove beneficial.

And this is my criticism paragraph:
SRT, please use a compressor/limiter on your microphones! It'll help keep the voice levels normalized, especially for reports like your 12hr endurance event where the voices at many times were too loud or too low at times.

Other than that, keep on doing what you do - the only things you can get "wrong" are facts, not opinions, which as you said you can set straight on a later show - or if they're so blatantly and harmfully wrong you can just put a "errata" note on your website.

jfgcatalan

1st October 2007, 10:41

I find that the not completely correct facts even add to the show. Real commentators from real motorsports get things wrong all the time :)
About the whole proffesionalization/unification of "the sport"... On one hand I'd love to see it, but, apart from the problems reaching the motorsports public at large, which will never be able to tell NFS from LFS no matter how many times you explain it, it would affect us "deep midpack" guys in a very bad way as the major series would turn into alien only territory.

Now I can enter a race were some of the best run with just a few hoops, maybe a prequaly or a threshold time i'll obtain through hard practice. But if things start getting very serious i'll get confined to race the sim equivalent of some local minor banger autocross series or a scrape in rental karts among buddies. And I'd rather be running 5 laps down on Huttu than winning some silly pick up race.

But well, you can't stop history... even F1 used to be a pretty amateurish affair compared to what is now.

[edit]
I'd hate to see this thread going down the gutter as many others have gone here because some peple decide to play the "LFS hermit". The isolation of the LFS community doesn't help anyone, but many seem to get a kick from putting down other simulations and people who use them. Many times underservedly. I run rFactor about 90% of the time and yet you'll see me recommend LFS first to anyone that asks. Some here would tell people go play Mario kart before admitting anything positive about any ISI based sim.

A few wrong details about LFS coverage don't warrant any hostility, which would end up resulting on no coverage at all.

Mazz4200

1st October 2007, 15:21

generally I think that people should cut some slack when it comes to private non-profit initiatives like this that in the end can only prove beneficial.

A few wrong details about LFS coverage don't warrant any hostility

Totally agree with the above statements.

So a few reporting errors are made, so what ?. You can't expect someone to come in and learn every single minuscule detail and facet about a sim as in depth as LFS in a couple of weeks. I've been here two years and there's still loads of stuff that i still don't know or understand. The SRT guys were obviously so impressed with the sim that they thought it deserved a whole segment to itself in the very next episode. So, yet more free publicity for LFS, thats a good thing, right ? "All publicity is good publicity even if there are a couple of errors". .

As Darin has said (or maybe asked is a better description) if you want LFS to be represented in it's "true error free light" then nominate yourself as the LFS correspondent and be a part of the SRT adventure :D. They seem to be a good bunch of guys (and gals ;)) and they seem very committed to the "sport" of sim racing, they seem to be very open minded, and unlike many of their brethren arnt anally fixated with NASCAR which IS a good thing, right !

So please chaps, lets not turn this thread into petty squabbling and back biting. Roses do smell nice and bunnies are all lovely and fluffy :shy:

Gunn

1st October 2007, 16:22

I swore to myself that i wouldn't reply to posts that are negative but I had to make an exception since there were two in this thread by the same person.

Gunn...Feel free to put togther a list of all the things SRT doesn't comprehend about LFS so we can make a segment out of it.. Should make for some good entertainment..

Most are supporting us yes gunn.. It's the comments like "You guys don't appear to know it well enough to speak credibly on its behalf" because i said ?? what ?? That I was lost in a race?? That Bawbag is the best ?? ??? Please be more specific instead of making vague comments.. Oh and a personal email would be the best way to solve it, or better yet meet me on Teamspeak or my MSN Messenger account is dgangi11@hotmail.com and you can tell me all the ways I can stop to smell the roses.. ;)

I'll also be expecting a full write up from THE LFS insider GUNN on the LFS community, the culture, the interface, etc.. I admit this forum is a great place for LFS info. Seeing that LFS isn't the only sim we report on, it's a daunting task to find it all..If you could write an article pointing it all out, maybe you can be the biggest help of all to us :thumb:None of my posts were negative, you've just decided to take them that way instead of taking them as honest feedback. When I've got a hundred hours spare I'll be sure to write a full report for you all about LFS. But right now I've got more important things to do ... like washing my hair.