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
After hauling cargo in Germany in Euro Truck Simulator 2 I played Assetto Corsa for a bit. As you could have guessed from my previous posts, it was once again time for Ferrari F40 on Mugello. For some reason the Friends Leaderboards in-game app was only showing Taz and Wobbly's times, and not mine. Were my times wiped out in an update? I don't know, but I think all of my records have been lost, or at least they don't show on the app.
My first lap was bad; 2:39. But then I got the hang of it and got 2:08:xx multiple times, and then I drove harder and harder. I got to 2:07:863, which is less than a second away from bronze. But I didn't stop. The next lap was going even better, and on the last corner I took a risk and switched to fourth gear for approximately a second before I had to change back down. Unfortunately this made the rear go wild and I lost control. I bet that time would've been very close to 2:07:00.
My setup: 90's slicks, +1 Psi to all tires, +1 positive camber (I think it was camber, whatever was on the bottom) for the front tires, enough fuel to last for about 10 laps. With higher tire pressure I have slighlty less grip, but a higher top speed. To me this was noticeable on the second-to-last corner and the one before that, because I was able to go faster and upshift earlier. Even if it sounds crazy, I could feel that I had less grip. But it was enough.
Are Taz and Wobbly up for the challenge? I have a tough time to beat. The greatest challenge is to learn to live with the massive turbo lag, so be very careful with the throttle! It might be obvious, but it took me a while to realize that first gear is only needed when you start from a full stop. Once you've reached about 90 km/h, you won't need the first gear anymore. My record time was done without using the first gear at all, since it begins with a flying start.
Get back out there Al, I've just done 2.06 This is with assists on, sorry After removing all assists I managed a 2.08 somehow. I must have completed one out of ten laps!
The true test will be multiplayer. I'm really looking forward to that.
Curse you Wobblyyyyyy! Just when I spend an hour perfecting my lap time with sweat flying around the room, you just easily beat my time. I'm suspecting you might actually be one certain tame racing driver...
Multiplayer should be a lot of fun. It doesn't matter if one can beat everyone's time if given a dozen tries, only consistent lap times matter. I can already feel the tension! Unfortunately I'm not sure how much will I be able to play it in the next few months. There may be a problem with fitting the steering wheel AND the gear shifter on a table in my next apartment, and I'll spend most of my summer vacation back home. Over there I don't really have a place for the steering wheel, so I guess I'll leave them here. So I probably won't get to play Assetto Corsa much at all JUST when it gets really interesting with multiplayer... I'll have to figure something out. Being separated from the best racing game of all time is not a good thing.
I've played some racing games on consoles, but driving with a controller never felt that good to me. Especially now that I've gotten used to one of the best steering wheels around.
I'll have to figure something out. Being separated from the best racing game of all time is not a good thing.