I think it's pretty cool how at first I thought the Ferrari F40 was a car that was designed by a madman and it was impossible to control, but now it's my favorite car and I'm constantly getting better at driving it.
There's a challenge (or a special event like they call them in the game) I've talked about before: "Italy, 1986", where you drive a Ferrari F40 with S3 tuning on the Mugello. Previously I was about one second faster than Taz and about ten seconds slower than Wobbly. Today I just drove like a maniac, faster than before, braking later, accelerating more furiously than ever, fearing nothing...Well, except driving off the track. I was nearing the car's, the track's, and my own limits. I just focused on the driving, on every turn, on every braking point, on the racing line, not caring about the record lap times set by me and Wobbly.
All out of the sudden, I had gotten a lap that was much faster than Wobbly's seemingly unbeatable lap time. (he's playing with driving assists on, so it should be easier for him to get good times). Then I beat my own record with a full second. It was 2:10:xx. For bronze, you need 2:07, for silver 2:05, and for gold 2:03. This is probably the closest I've ever been to any medals with the hot lap challenges.
And I think I know where I could go just a bit faster, although it will be risky. The very first corner is the hardest. Before it you have a long nearly straight piece of track and you'll be going over 250 km/h. You do see the turn coming, but it's steep, it goes uphill, and if you brake a little bit too late, you're out. Change to a lower gear with too high revs and you'll sping out. Brake too early and you lose precious time. I've learned to be gentle with the throttle so the turbo doesn't kick my balls out of the planet. Maybe some day I'll get the bronze medal, and then I'll go for the silver medal. Getting the gold medal and the achievement for it would be the only time I'd feel proud about a Steam achievement.
Just by accident I found out something cool while watching a replay of my driving. The Ferrari's headlights had risen from their holes and the lights were on. During my furious driving I had hit the headlight button on my wheel. After that I just had to play around with it, rising the lights, setting them down, again and again. :P
The Assetto Corsa developers have released a new update once in two weeks. However, 25th of April is a national holiday in Italy. It marks the end of fascist regime in Italy in WWII. So this Friday's update will be pushed to 2nd of May...and it contains the long-awaited multiplayer!
I don't know about brave... Driving fast with the F40 is terrifying!
I have actually finally beaten Wobbly's time... with the Lotus Evora CX (or something like that). I briefly tested all the Lotus Evora models, and they were actually pretty fun to drive. The Lotus Evora S doesn't have much grip, so it was easy to go a bit sideways in the corners. That was fun when I was driving on my own, but when I raced against the AI, I spun out of a corner when I lost grip completely.
I played through a race weekend in a BMW M3 E30. The AI opponents had cars of the same class. First there was practice, after that qualifying laps and finally the race. You can adjust the time for the practice and qualifying sessions, as well as the amount of laps for the race. With the opponent difficulty at 90% I was last of the nine racers. On the very first lap on the training session a driver just crashed into me, causing me to spin out. Otherwise it was good, and the AI knew how to overtake, and so did I. In the race I immediately got from last place to the seventh, and after that it was pretty much just a race of getting into the sixth place. The first five were so far away there was no way I could catch them on five laps, and they were going much faster than me. After three laps I finally overtook the BMW Z4, but I lost the position after a while. I wasn't giving up yet, so I was going on full throttle though the curves, less than a car's lenght away from the opponent. Then I hit him in the rear, spun out, and lost the race. I'll have to try again on a lower difficulty.
A small improvement came with the latest patch: there's a fuel consumption estimate in the pit menu if you've driven at least one lap. This way you can optimize the amount of fuel you have in the car. This was done automatically in the race weekend.
...One more thing: Wobbly, you are missing a huge part of the game by playing with a controller. You can really feel the road surface on the wheel, which adds a lot. Also, since a steering wheel and pedals are made for driving and for nothing else, you could start turning off those assists...and see how well you'll perform with the Ferrari after that! Seriously, the experience only gets better and more fun. Just don't get a cheap and bad wheel. I can recommend the G27, but the price may put you off...
Assetto Corsa 0.8.5 was released. It adds race weekends against the AI. You've got training and hotlaps before the actual race. They also added a couple more Lotus sports cars, as if we didn't have enough of those. I'll have to try them, but the ones I have tried didn't feel like much fun to me.
On the other news, I watched a video comparing a real car going aroung the 'Ring GP track to a car going around it in AC. From it I learned some racing lines. With that information I managed to shave off almost one second of the Ferrari 458 S3 on Nurburgring GP time. So now my record is 2:08.
But that's not all! I challenged myself with the Ferrari F40 once again. This time I was even more careful than ever before. To those that don't know: the F40 is a car with no ABS, no traction control, no electrical driving assists. It has a twin-turbo engine behind the driver's seat producing about 500 bhp. You can get to 97 km/h on the first gear. It's a beast. And I'm starting to get the hang of it. I got record times on some circuits, including the 'Ring GP. For a while I've thought that you don't get a good sense of speed in Assetto Corsa, but then I drove around Imola in an F40. After getting to know how to drive around it with that car I blasted through the first straight with the pedal to the metal. I was going over 200 km/h and on either the fourth or the fifth gear. One mistake and I'd spin out of the track. But I didn't. I braked hard into the first corner, but didn't lock the tires and stayed on the track. I'm starting to like it.
I can't get embedding images to work, unfortunately. Anyway, here's my F40 screenshots:
I liked the first two Expendables films. The second one even had a lot of funny moments, making references to the actors' past movies.
Kelsey Grammer is a really odd choice for a movie like this. Is he going to make a psychological analysis of everyone else? Has he ever been in an action movie? The other actors sound great, although I haven't even heard of some of the younger ones.
Alright, this should be a decent enough list of games. I'll start updating the chart once a few Spartans answer. The old version will be destroyed, but not forever. It should be found in the test forums, if the need arises to check it.
BF2 - PR - FH2 - BF4 - ARMA3 - PS2 - Day Z - WT - AC - LFS - F1'13 - FSX - CS:GO - TW:R2 Legend BF2 - Battlefield 2 PR - Battlefield 2: Project Reality mod FH2 - Battlefield 2: Forgotten Hope 2 mod BF4 - Battlefield 4 Arma3 - Arma 3 PS2 - Planetside 2 Day Z - Day Z WT - War Thunder AC - Assetto Corsa LFS - Live for Speed F1'13 - F1 2013 FSX - Microsoft Flight Simulator X CS:GO - Counter Strike: Global Operations TW:R2 - Total War: Rome 2
Just copy the following list and type "yes" or "no" after the line. You can also state that the game isn't working on your computer.
BF2 - PR - FH2 - BF4 - Arma3 - PS2 - Day Z - WT - AC - LFS - F1'13 - FSX - CS:GO - TW:R2 -
ETS2 was on sale on Steam for 6 euros... (still is until 15:00 GMT) It even came with the Eastern Europe expansion. My friend convinced me into buying it.
There is actually a multiplayer mod in the works. You'll be able to drive on your own or join one of their Virtual Trucking Companies. The CEO will be able to hire and fire drivers, as well as buy and sell trucks. Better do your job well!
At the moment the mod is in closed alpha. The trucks are lagging back and forth, and it looks like there's no collision detection yet. Anyway, multiplayer does sound like a cool addition. I can imagine some Top Gear style hilarity ensuing while driving with other Spartans.
GameSpy, a relic from times long before the modern Internet – or indeed, games and spies – existed is closing down. This on its own is not surprising as the multiplayer service is, by modern standards, buggy and kind of a joke, but it leaves a startling number of games with their e-wings clipped and their online-heaving hams strung in its wake. How many, you ask? Well, Reddit’s /r/Games board compiled a massive list, and the results aren’t pretty.
What will happen to Battlefield 2 and the great mods? Bohemia Interactive have said that they'll figure something out so the Arma titles can be played, but a lot of games have an unknown status at the moment.
What about Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory? Could we (we meaning me and someone who I lure into playing those games) still connect to each other via direct IP? Or should we use, for example, XFire?
Flag layout looks as poor as usual. Lots of space is left completely unused AGAIN. Just look at Nansha Assault. Why do they show all those cool other places when you don't have a flag in there, and can't even access them? It's as if there's still a decent map designer at DICE, but only 10% of his maps are ever used.
Seriously, the experience only gets better and more fun. Just don't get a cheap and bad wheel. I can recommend the G27, but the price may put you off...