- Dates: Sundays, January 11th & 18th, February 1st, 8th & 15th. - Times: Practice starts at 1:15 PM Eastern Time (USA). 1st Race starts at 2 PM Eastern Time. - Qualifying: 15 minutes - Race Format: 2 x 20 minute races (approx) (Note: 18 January race will be 1 x 60 minute race) - Championship Points: See Below - The Sim: GTR2 (with ver 1.1.0 patch) - The Mod: Japan Super GT 300 by Juice Bottle - Peripheral: TeamSpeak2 (for racer communications) - What You'll Need for Race #1: JSGT300 Mod, JSGT Car Pack, Additional Cars, Toban Track - Main GUI Realism Setting: Semi-Pro (same GTR2 Physics, allows damage and driver assist settings) - Server: SimHQ - Password: "Motorsports" (case-sensitive, no-quotations) - The Downloads:
Tracks Toban Daytona Kyalami The ALMS version of Laguna Seca 1.2 is now loaded on the server. Note this is a change from the earlier listed Laguna Seca track intended for the series. Fuji
Entries (Our Goal is 15 Cars on the Grid for Each Race!) X1) JonC - Yunkerpower Taisan Porsche #026 X2) Chunx - Houzan Nismo 350Z #46 X3) Doug Atkinson - Amemiya RX-7 #7 X4) Vikz - JLOC Murcie RG-1 #88 X5) LazyCrust - JLOC Murcie RG-1 #87 X6) Papa_K - Pennzoil Nismo Z #15 X7) Bungle_uk - Endless ADVAN 350Z #13 X8) Joe - Houzan Nismo 350Z #47 X9) jml74 - Tokai Dream28 Privee Kenzo Asset SuperTerrificHappyHour Shiden #2 10) Nimrud - Team Xanavi Porsche #08 11) Chipwich - Nomad Gaikokuya ADVAN GT3-RS #70 12) adlabs6 - Total Benefite Jimcenter F360 #011 13) DaveP63 - Ley Jun Dunlop MT900 #009 14) DBR9 - Asparadrink Mazda RX-7 #7 (Legends) 15) Bodhammer - Fina Glad Special Olympics Porsche #118 16) Striker7 - Team Daishin Advan Z #081 17) ktel - Team Calsonic Impul Z #12 18) David Kennard - #4 Camel sponsored Shiden
“(Sim) Racing is Life. Anything That Happens Before or After - Is Just ‘Waiting’ ”
Steve McQueen may have said it first, but SimHQ also knows this truism of motorsport, and we’re not going to keep you waiting for long! 2009 promises to be a very unpredictable and interesting year for motorsport. We aim to make some changes to the format of SimHQ’s online racing series as well. We want to shake things up. To try something different, something out of the ordinary. To keep your interest piqued in this great hobby. To get you in the game, sharing some exciting virtual competition in a friendly on-line atmosphere. It’s what SimHQ does better than any other racing venue, and we want you to be a part of it!
For 2009, the SimHQ Motorsports server will feature a wider range of racing simulation titles, some exciting and challenging 3rd party mods and tracks, and make use of car types that might light the fire of your imagination, taking you and your virtual racing hobby to places you haven’t been before.
Here’s the details on SimHQ’s Inaugural Race Series for 2009
The Sim Title: SimBin’s GTR2 (patched to version 1.1, the only patch made). It’s not a new title, but one that most of us have in our collection, or perhaps even on our hard drive. It’s a superb piece of software with awesome graphics and sounds. And it’s a nice change of pace from SimHQ’s race sim of choice, rFactor.
The Mod: The cars for SimHQ’s innaugural 2009 series are an imaginative recreation of Japan’s Super GT (JSGT) series, brought to the sim racing community by “Juicebottle” and made available through NoGrip.com. Japan’s motorsport world derives a great deal of competition and entertainment from this exciting series, which proclaims proudly that it’s focus is on close racing while keeping team budgets in check. The primary weapon in achieving this goal is tight limits on engine horsepower, but the series offers a lot of wiggle room for teams in the area of aerodynamic enhancement - particularly in the area of increased downforce. With bulged fenders, huge wings and other aerodynamic doo-dads festooning their bodies, the cars look like they just stepped out from some sci-fi Anime cartoon. If the JSGT were a movie, it would be something like “The Road Warrior” meets “Transformers”. The cars are wild looking, and that wildness translates into tons of aerodynamic grip.
Like most sports car racing around the world, the JSGT races multiple classes of cars on the track at the same time. The SGT500 class features cars with a limit of 500 horsepower (374 kW) while the SGT300 class limits horsepower to 300 (224 kW). In both cases, horsepower is controlled through the use of restrictor plates installed in the engine’s air induction system. The result is a car that is relatively easy to drive, offering controllable power coupled with tremendous grip in the corners – all of which pays off with close racing – just the ticket for exciting online sim racing series.
SimHQ’s race series will focus on the SGT300 class, which primarily consists of privateer entries that populate the starting grid with a broad and eclectic array of race car types from around the world. In addition to the expected Nissans and Mazdas, Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Moslers and even a Rolex Grand Am Prototype have found their way into the series. The SGT300 cars are closely matched in terms of performance, furthering their utility in the online racing hobby.
Driver’s Impressions: The SGT300 cars are very fun to drive, responsive with lots of grip, courtesy of the aero package. Easy to drive at the limit, these cars make for close racing across a wide range of driver experience levels. The SGT300 class should offer a fairly level playing field for friendly on-line competition. We expect some great, close racing from this well-done mod.
The Tracks: Each of the SimHQ JSGT Series’ five race venues were chosen for their quality and ability to deliver close, exciting racing. This series will feature the full range of GTR2’s environmental capabilities, including day/night transitions and rain. Here’s the series schedule:
Jan 11th: Toban - Perhaps the best fantasy track out there. Jan 18th: Daytona - A single race event run from sunset into night in honor of the real 24 Hr race. Jan 25th: NO RACE – Watch the real Rolex Daytona 24 Hours on Speed TV! Feb 1st: Kyalami Night - A superb and famous circuit in South Africa, run at sunset. Feb 8th: Laguna Seca - Just like the real track in February, poor weather is forecast for this event. Feb 15th: Fuji - An exciting race venue of the real Super GT series.
The Race Format: Each Sunday starting at 1:15 PM Eastern US Time, SimHQ’s five-race JSGT series server will reset. After a brief practice period, there will be a single 15 minute qualifying session followed by two race 'heats', each lasting about 20 minutes. After the first race, the starting grid will be inverted, forcing the fastest qualifiers to work their way (politely) through the pack in the second race heat. Each race heat will commence from a standing start. In honor of the real 24 Hours of Daytona, the Daytona race will commence via a modified rolling start and feature a single, 1 hour race event starting at dusk and ending at night in a tip of the hat to the real venue’s challenging format.
Championship Points System: SimHQ’s points scoring format for this series will reflect the basic elements of the real JSGT series. Points will be awarded for fastest qualifying time, fastest race lap in each heat, and finishing order in each heat.
Driving Aids: SimHQ perfers to make it's online racing series accessible to a wide range of experience levels. The Japan Super GT 300 series will be run in GTR2's Semi-Pro Realism setting (adjust your GTR2 "Realism" GUI before going on-line) offer the following driving aids: * Auto Clutch * Auto Shift * Traction Control * Scaled Damage ( 30% )
Communications: All drivers must have TeamSpeak2 client installed and operating on their PC in order to hear race marshall communications. It's OK if drivers do not own a microphone, but they must be able to hear the comms along with in-game sounds. For a full tutorial on how to set up Team Speak for SimHQ on-line races, check HERE.
Available Teams: Drivers wanted – sign up now! Teams are currently looking for drivers. Available car types include the Nismo 350Z, Mazda RX7, Porsche 996 GT3, Ferrari 360GT, Lamborghini Murciolago, Mosler MT, and Riley/Shinden. First-come/First-serve for car assignments.
Download Links Repeat: Files have been uploaded to SimHQ.
Tracks Toban Daytona Kyalami The ALMS version of Laguna Seca 1.2 is now loaded on the server. Note this is a change from the earlier listed Laguna Seca track intended for the series. Fuji
Woohoo, tintops! I don't think I can make it this weekend, but hopefully will be there for the rest of the series. I'm looking forward to battling it out with Chunx again.
Ktel, In researching this series it was frustrating to discover a number of GTR2 options that add enjoyment to the game (weight penalties, grid editing, etc.) can be done very easily on a local server and are not possible or require extra utilities on a dedicated server. I don't think anyone even considered the possibility that time acceleration would not be available, since we are spoiled by rFactor's ease of customization. I'm sure Chunx will come up with an acceptable amendment if we can't have 10x time compression.
Calendar
Downloads
FAQ
Library
Multiplayer
News
Release Dates
SimHQ TV
Looking forward to running this series.
Previous Topic
Index