Baumholder is nice because if you can’t see the turn there are markers for every single one. To bad I locked up my brakes a fair amount
I’ve done about 7 stages so far and it started off nice and calm and got steadily worse as I progressed. The only positive I’ve got out of the session so far is that I know for sure how to select reverse 
Top tip from me is if the next stage is a night one don’t smash a light right at the end of the previous one when there are no repairs available.
Oh and I can confirm Aginor’s deer is alive, I saw it twice so no one has hit it yet.
4 Likes
Finished Baumholder. The Stang is probably not going to win any rallies, but it is a hoot to drive, once you get used to the oversteer and lack of traction at the rear. I didn’t use the handbrake once in the rally. Just point the nose and add a smidgeon of power, and the back end is coming around. That’s accompanied by a lot of smoke and roaring V8.
I had two big get-offs. Once was the right 5 or 6 after the big jump going down the hill, which put me into the field on the left. Before I could get the thing through a big wide turn back to track, the game engine recovered the car with the usual 18 sec penalty. The next one was worse. I hit one of those pave stones standing on the outside of a turn flat out in top gear. The car rolled what seemed like 4 times. The right front was flat and when I attempted to drive fast on it, was rewarded with a flat left. The car sound like it was running on the rims and scraping the forward skid plate, so I was afraid to go faster than 3rd gear. Added another 5 minutes to my already sucking time, but having a blast none-the-less. As the rally went on, I became more confident in the Mustang, hoofing my way back to midpack, where I think that I’ll finish once the hotshoes get through.
Interesting rally. I remember watching Loeb work his magic here and wonder that it must be a blast in an R5 car.
5 Likes
Finished up the main rally. Had a lot of fun. Got into a really good flow towards the end, most of the last stage was in a semi-zen state. Absolutely awesome. Did overcook it into the second to last hairpin (too late on the brakes, semi-wedged it between the trees), but nothing more than dented bodywork and ego.
All in all, a lot better than pouring Scottish rain!
Did see a couple of deer bound out, but thankfully they were already across the road before I intersected their path. Still a bit scary though! 
(Disclaimer: No Bambi’s were hurt in the making of this rally)
Well, just wait…(checks calendar)…2 weeks and it’s up on the Alt rally for R5!
3 Likes
What’s the matter, couldn’t break 50 minutes? 
Nice run!
1 Like
I thought was at Baumholder (checked yes different race) so you get the Monsoon 500 win Chipwich!
1 Like
Pfft, I know, I’m slacking. 
Congrats Chipwich! And to Keets and Aginor for finishing, no mean feat. Looks like I’m going to have to fight back now, only fourth in the championship. (Don’t worry, I know it’s all for a bit of fun, but I do have a competitive streak in me. 
)
Just please tell me that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, and not on the rally stage.
3 Likes
I think I took all the wet stages out, but I may not have. The good thing is I don’t think rain is actually an option, it’s just whether the surface is dry or wet.
I think as appeasement for the Scottish rally I made it all dry, but I may be confusing that with what I did for Baumholder, cause those Rally GT cars in the rain on Tarmac would have been basically a skating rink.
I’ll find out here shortly as I’m going to give it a go once I’m done with my daily YouTube consumption.
1 Like
Alt Rally Spain:
The good news is that it is mostly dry, the bad news, there are two wet stages, stage 8 and 9. Taking wet tires at Stage 7 probably won’t be a workable option as I doubt they’ll last 3 stages.
I started off a little timid but ok. It’s easy to get into a rhythm here. I learned a good lesson early on, do not under any circumstances even scrape the rocks. I strayed into one on stage 2 or 3 and punctured a rear tire very easily tried to go on, but just took the penalty time to change the tire anyway.
4-6 went well, yay, even managed through a stage without a scrape for once.
Stage 7 I once again made friends with a rock. I was close enough to the end I didn’t want to take a penalty, but I really seemed to be spinning out. At the end of the stage I found out why, I was missing both right tires. That left me with a predicament, retire or try and go 2 stages on only 3 tires. I choose the latter. I certainly didn’t set any land speed records, but I made it through somehow. The fact those where the only two stages where the road was wet may have actually helped me along.
I closed out the final stages and had a fun time. Took me a little bit through stage 10 to get my nerve back up after driving 2 stages in a row like I did. A word of warning to y’all using VR. Best of luck to you, I was getting a bit out of sorts on some stages just staring at the monitor.
Here’s a random stage of what you can expect.
https://youtu.be/dpsl-9TDvt0
1 Like
Looking forward to Spain!
In other news: I tried DR2.0 in VR for the first time last night. Drove two rather harmless and short stages in Australia and Spain.
I did make it through both of them without nausea, and it sure feels awesome and the frame rates looked ok.
I did get a monster headache though, so not quite there yet. But I’ll try again.
4 Likes
Scotland, which seemed like 8 stages of heavy rain, 2 or 3 clear stages with damp roads, and 1 stage with dry roads, was absolutely the most difficult sim challenge that I can remember. Racing by braille would be a fitting metaphor. On top of the limited view ahead, the freezing precipitation on the rest of the car made TrackIR and VR superfluous. Here I am trying to look up the road at the apex of a hairpin turn.
At the start of S12, I saw that @keets had closed to within 40 seconds and was charging hard. Driving even in my Mr Magoo fashion, I was shocked to find that he had gained back 15 seconds at the first time check! He was going to catch me at that rate. So, I concentrated a little more and he might have made a mistake in the second sector, because at time check 2 he was only 16 seconds ahead. Perhaps he was human after all. I had begun feeling like Sarah Connor in the last few stages.
As much as I detested driving Scotland in the freezing rain, I came away with a little bit of driving knowledge reinforcement. In two of the stages, I went off the side while driving a moderate pace. Mad at myself for making a needless mistake, I had a thought about something that I learned racing dirt bikes, which probably holds true for most types of racing. That is the theory of target fixation, in that you tend to go where you are looking. From that point on, when approaching tight sections, rather than look at the edge of the road, I would force myself to look ahead. It seemed to work, and I no longer got “sucked” off the edge.
4 Likes
Baumholder stage 2 completed. 3:48.938 - I’m not troubling @Roo with that time, but its way better than the 15:00:00 the game has given me.
Here it is in all its glory. I did this in the time trial, first and only attempt with accompanied video. (I’ve finally sorted recording with Oculus mirror as well. yay!
A couple of sticky moments, knocking over a concrete barrier in a tight 1 left and almost losing it around 3 mins in but managed to wrestle back control. You can hear my poor Momo screaming. 
Now to complete the rest of the stages.
5 Likes
Yup, not being able to see out the side of a rally car is a bit of an issue. My only hope is that the rain is a bit lighter in Spain so you can at least see something. That said, for tarmac the car should normally be more aligned with your velocity vector (i.e. less sideways) so as long as you can see out the front you should be better off.
Also, do your best to not go hurtling off of cliffs. You might thinks it’s annoying, but spare a thought for the guys who have to go retrieve your car afterwards.
4 Likes
Great video Roo. Wow, the driver escaped with minor injuries, other than to his wallet. Ours too I suppose, in the long run. Keep it on the track.
1 Like
Finished Baumholder. I really liked the stages and a welcome change from Scotland rain.
Very challenging and I learned that I need to overule what my eyes were telling me and listen and trust my co-pilot. That way you can avoid embarassing situations like ignoring a 1 left and turning 1 right and having a chat with the tv crew in their van whilst taking a 24 second penalty. 
Great driving @Roo, I think you’ll have the legs of Elby. I was losing 2 seconds to you on most stages. Occasionally I’d go green, then lose a second or so. Then have a “moment” and be down 10 seconds, then get some time back and then lose it again. All good fun.
Bring on Spain.
5 Likes
I actually did the opposite, to an extent. I’ll “trust” if it’s a left or right, but I don’t trust the severity, especially if it’s blind or unseen. There’s also a square left just after a little rise which he simply doesn’t call out.
Yup, went more for a (slightly) slower and steadier approach, figuring even if I was giving away a little time off my ultimate theoretical pace, the lack of penalties would than make up for it. Looks like it was a sound strategy. Awesome fun racing against you guys!
5 Likes
Whelp, I went full steam into the hay bails at a left 90. End of rally.
4 Likes