Any CART or IndyCar Interest?

The recent IndyCars at Louden race made me curious, specifically on the ovals.

The CART Factor mod, on ovals other than Indy, could be a very good experience IMO.

Can a server enforce specific "upgrades"? Some tracks, e.g. Twin Rings Motegim, an egg-shaped oval, would/could require the short-oval upgrade option... and putting the same car on the Michigan oval would need the Speedway option (and not the SuperSpeedway/Indy option). The mod doesn't seem to call for specific upgrades at any given track, and the wrong upgrade would not give good results.

CART Factor is insane on ovals (TRY IT!) It's a challenge on road courses (another Try It moment, but somewhat tempered by reality here.).


Some sequence of tracks, e.g., Michigan, Milwaukee, Motegi, and Orchard Lake, could be a very good back-to-back short-race oval experience (20-laps each, or so?)... IMO.
But, it would call for enforcing different upgrades, "Speedway" v. "Short Oval", apart from any fixed/open setups. Is it even possible to server-enforce upgrades?

Are CART/IndyCar ovals Desirable?
(CART Factor is definitely not a benign tin-top mod.)

I'll try anything with the right setup, but I'm always interested in CART/Indy mods considering I started my sim-racing addiction with this:

I'll race anything if i've got the time. Open wheelers are generally my least favourite form of sim racing but i've driven CART Factor quite a bit and I like it a lot. It certainly presents a realistic and fairly substantial challenge to get the best from these beasts.

There's is a procedure to force upgrades on a dedi server but it's an undocumented feature and not something i've ever tried to do. I dare say we could figure it out though...

I'd probably be interested in some IndyCar oval racing....not as sure about the CART mod at ovals, as I can't remember just how many ovals they ran during that time frame, compared to what IndyCar does now. Thinking about it, that's kinda sad I can't remember the schedule of CART since the open-wheel "divorce" as I was always a huge fan of it....shows just how far open-wheel racing has fallen I guess here in the States since that unfortunate day.

That "Push to Pass" feature would sure be fun at a place like Texas, though.

CART factor is based on the '98 season, I think?

If so, they ran 8 ovals that year out of 19 races, according to wiki.

More ovals than I thought initially.

The past few years, IndyCar has made a concerted effort to run on more road courses...was interesting to see that last year, they ran on 9 road courses and 8 ovals. I would have bet money the ratio would have leaned more towards the oval side myself.

I guess I've always looked, probably wrongly, at open-wheelers as road course cars and stock cars as oval track cars overall.

CART was always a good mix of ovals (short and long), road courses, and temporary street courses. It was always my favorite racing series, over NASCAR's "90% ovals" and F1's "never an oval".
I also think I liked the drivers there the most. However, by 2001 or so I lost interest in it (and NASCAR) as things had changed too much. I don't know anything about the new merged Indycar.



The Jedi Master

I can help you with this. This video sums up the state of Indycar in 2011.




As a quick summary, the series has been full of drivers making questionable moves on track, and officials making questionable calls off the track.

It hasn't really been the best thing to watch. Unless you like lots of crashing, and drivers #%&*$# at each other.

As Darren noted, these are indeed beasts but very well done IMO. If the 1985 F1 beasties were well received here ( and I thought they were) I don't know why Doug couldn't find a slot somewhere in the future for some fun (and pain) with these. I'd sign up.

Dave

Sounds like the making of a 4-race series some time down the road.....a short oval, a long oval, a permanent road course and a temporary street circuit.

I like the way you think.

Exactly what NASCAR is turning into.

I'd be game for this series. My recommendations for oval tracks would be Phoenix and Texas.

How about something like a 4-track informal rotation of short oval races, do-able in one race session?
Example: Michigan, Orchard Lake, Milwaukee, Twin Rings Motegi... each for approximately 20 (?) laps.
That could require minimal pre-race practice, unlike the road courses, and it could be just one race weekend... But just throwing out ideas.

I tried CART Factor at (TPSCC) Louden with the short oval setup option, and then Michigan with the speedway setup option... crazy-fast stuff.
[FYI, the TPSCC tracks are avialable here: http://www.thepits.us/?page_id=6 ]

I ended up looking for more of the ovals, either from the 1998 CART season, or mentioned in the mod's readme,
There's even a Twin Rings Motegi oval available (a WIP at rFCentral) -- An egg-shaped course that's not a standard oval.

With or without an online series or session, the CART Factor mod's definitely worth a try.