As many of you know, I love music and like to create playlists to go along with the things that I'm into. Some of my notable ones from the past are 'Carrie Rieger Mix' (for my friend's movie 'Brotherhood of Blood') and 'Left 4 Dead' (goes with the game of the same name and was published in OXM). After much thought and tweaking, I think I've got my latest mix nailed down. Like the title says, its for F1 in general, not just for my much beloved Xbox game F1 2011. It started with the song 'Champion' that's actually on the game's soundtrack, as well as a 3 Doors Down song that to me fits the sport perfectly, and it grew from there.
The playlist IS meant to be listened to in order, but works just as well on shuffle. The vibe is supposed to shift from pre-race/first race of season, to racing action, to the struggle for victory, to becoming champion at the end as you listen through while portraying the epic fun, excitement, and drama that is F1. As I list the tracks below, I'll talk a little bit about why each was chosen for the list.
1. 'Stadium Parking Lot' by Apollo 440 - Picture the cars parked on the grid, with all the fans and VIPs and media circulating. The building excitement as lights out looms before the race. I thought the fun and bombast of this song worked perfectly for pre-race. "There's a party in the stadium parking lot" as everyone gathers for the big race.
2. 'Back in the Saddle' by Aerosmith - "I'm baaaaaaaack/I'm baaack in the saddle again"...Could there be a more perfect badass song for the first race of a new season?
3. 'Line Up' by Aerosmith - The title alone on this one hints at why it was selected. Kick the tires, light the fires, hit the grid and 'line up' for lights out. "If you think that you're strong/wanna fight well come on/and line up".
4. 'Stop the Rock' by Apollo 440 - There's a reason why this one has appeared on the soundtrack for 'Gone in 60 Seconds' and Gran Turismo 2. Great fun tune for driving action
5. 'The Champion In Me' by 3 Doors Down - There isn't a song out there that could have better lyrics for F1 than this one. It embodies the climb from rookie to champ as well as the struggle to cross the line in P1. Not to mention it ROCKS. Essential track.
6. 'Cold Rock the Mic' by Apollo 440 - the last of 3 tracks from this artist, another good one for racing action. Also appeared in the Gran Turismo games.
7. 'The Distance' by Cake - If you are even remotely familiar with this song, you know it has to be part of this playlist. The rhythm, the zone, going the distance. Besides, the groove and opening verses are unbeatable: "Reluctantly crouched at the starting line/engines pumping and thumping in time/the green light flashes/the flags go up/churning and burning they yearn for the cup/they deftly maneuver and muscle for rank/fuel burning fast on an empty tank/reckless and wild they pour through the turns/their prowess is potent and secretly stern..."
8. 'Bulls on Parade' by Rage Against the Machine - The Red Bull theme. 'Nuff said.
9. 'Make Some Noise (Put 'Em Up)' by The Crystal Method - Cuz a TCM track is always good to go with intense racing. Strictly speaking, this one is about duking it out with one's fists, but it still fits perfectly with an intense wheel-to-wheel duel.
10. 'You've Got Another Thing Comin' by Judas Priest - All about the will to win. These lyrics say it all: "Ooh so hot/no time to take a rest/hang tough ain't room for second best/...out there is a fortune waiting to be had/you think I'll let it go you're mad/you've got another thing comin..."
11. 'I Won't Lie Down'(Remix) by Face to Face - Epic hard driving electronica remix of a great song, perfect for the epic final push to the finish, the refusal to lie down and accept defeat, no matter the odds or the cost. "I'm not afraid of the price I pay/I won't lie down as you walk away..."
12. 'Champion' by Clement Marfo & The Frontline - The victory anthem. "I'm feelin 10 feet tall/unstoppable/I'm the champion/...why you comin back for more?/I'm undefeatable/I'm the champion.."
13. 'Good Time' by Leroy - I always remember this as being the feel good song in 'Driven' after the day had been won. Even though the actual lyrics don't match up much the vibe is spot on. This is the anthem for parc ferme, raining confetti, and the taste of champagne. Are you having a good time? HELL YEAH.
Hope you all enjoy the playlist!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
F1 2011 - Season 2 Canadian GP
YES, BABY! YES! That's how you win the Canadian GP woooo! lol.
Ah what a race...This one was special I think because it wasn't luck or perhaps an overpowered edge from some setup that I looked up online. I actually spent quite a bit of time preparing for this race in Montreal, doing all of my own setup work ahead of the actual race weekend. No engineer presets. No looking anything up. 100% mine.
It started with an afternoon early last week, spent reading some great articles covering the fundamentals of, and the correct procedure for, setting up a car for a track. I really wanted to learn to do setup myself. Looking up other peoples setups can bring mixed results and honestly, its too much like pressing the easy button, ya know? Fine if ya trounce the computer with your own work, but otherwise its too much like plain old cheating for my taste. I distilled all the info down into an easy to follow procedural guide, and the next evening I went to work in the 'simulator' (aka Time Trial mode) and started trying to figure out the setup for my Torro Rosso. It seemed that my guide had worked like a charm, but of course adjustments always have to be made after setup in TT, mainly because in TT the car runs with no ballast, essentially without the weight of any fuel.
Next step was to do some 30% GPs (short weekends) driving as Sebastian Buemi to see how his Torro Rosso behaved with my setup applied. That would allow me to iron out most of the problems. It also gave me a good idea of the tire strategy that I might have to employ due to the nature of the track. The setup definitely needed some adjustment for lapping under fuel load to account for maneuvering with the extra weight in the car. All that ended up needing to be done was a small tweak to the rear wing, and I was pretty sure that I had it. Of course that wasn't the end, because in GP mode the car is Buemi's 2011 Torro Rosso, unaffected by the changing tiers and R&D that goes on in career mode. But it was the end of my simulator work.
I took a break from gaming for the Christmas holiday, and then today, it was back to racing. I opened up the race report and got some news that wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for. While practice would be dry, qualifying would have heavy rain, and there was a 53% chance of rain on race day. Not unexpected, but dry would have been best, as that is the condition I developed my setup in, and I had not yet had any experience adjusting a track setup for wet conditions. Worst of all, I would have to try to make some of the changes while it was still dry, with no real way to know how it was going to perform until qualifying was under way. Yikes. I finished first in practice, so at least I was on to something in comparison to how the other teams were setting up for the conditions.
Fast forward to qualifying. Heavy rain, with running restricted to full wet tires. I don't want to set up for heavy rain as only light rain is forcast for race day, and I'm also thinking that it won't be wet for the entire race. That's my gamble...set up to qualify well, but still perform when things are dried out. The best I get out of my car is P4, which all things considered is not bad. 2nd row on the grid is more than good enough, and I've got the car handling the way I need it to in the wet without making too much sacrifice for dry conditions. I also know that setup alone will not win the day. Montreal is a track that, in my experience, is dictated by pit strategy more than all out speed. Armed with what I learned about pitting from my race sims, I moved ahead to race day.
Its raining for the start of the race, and intermediates have been selected for the start. This is good in relation to my setup. If conditions stay wet I have just 2 stops to make, which I will have to time right, on target or otherwise, to catch people in the pits, since simulator experience says I will not be fast enough to get the delta on the guy behind. I also MUST avoid pitting at the same time as the competition, since I am at a disadvantage with my garage at the far end of the pit lane. I get an excellent start, easily taking the lead going into turn 1. I have a second, then almost 2, over Button in 2nd for the entire first stint. Its still raining when I have my first stop, which I take a lap early based on feedback. I also know that the rain is going to stop in 10-15min. I'm able to overtake everyone when they pit over the next few laps, and I'm back in the lead, lapping well on my 2nd set of inters, decently out in front of Button and Massa, my only real challengers. Things are drying out, and I hear the call as I come down the front straight that Button has pitted for options. I've got one eye on the gap I have over him, and its rapidly shrinking. I lose almost 3 seconds of my lead just in sector 2. SHIT. Obviously I have to pit IMMEDIATELY whether I think I'm ready or not, because when I look at the race director info, the 4 cars behind me all have options. I need to get some faster shoes on ASAP! lol. Coming down the back straight I look at the lap counter and realize that I could gamble and put on primes...I know from my testing that I am very fast on them. I COULD be fast enough to keep anyone in front of me on options from getting the pit delta, and leap frog them while they pit during my longer stint. If it could have just stayed wet, the outcome of the race was almost certain for me barring a badly timed stop. Now, its fly by the seat of my pants time, and pray that it works against whatever strategy the other teams are running. I drive straight into pit lane, ask for primes, and fly back out. I come out JUST in front of Button, but he's consistently RIGHT on my gearbox. He's fast on those options, and I think his team must have gambled on setting him up dryer than me. I'm holding him off but I make a mistake that lets him get a DRS overtake on me down the back straight, and I can't make it up at the chicane, or at turn one. After that Button is just too fast and I can't catch him. Its not long before he's about 10 sec out in front of me, but I'm able to stop the bleeding there. Soon, Button's options are done, and I pass him while he is in the pits. My plan has worked. I'm in the lead again, but...I'm going to have to make one last stop, for primes to take me to the end. I decide to check the race director info again, because surely all those people that had fitted options, including Button, will now pick primes and run to the end of the race, right? Wrong. It seems that I'm getting a belated Christmas gift in the form of everyone that is even a REMOTE threat, once again including Button, is choosing to take another set of options. I should be able to fit my primes and be able to pass them when their options give out, which is guaranteed to be a number of laps before the end of the race. I push hard during this lap, knowing that I can pit immediately to get my primes and easily make it to the end. I come into the pits for the last time, ask for primes. I also need a front wing change from some wall contact when I was duking it out with Button the first lap after coming out of my last stop which costs me a couple seconds. I only drop down to P4, with Massa in P3 just in front of me. I get the overtake on him pretty quickly, but Button in the lead is pretty far out there. He does NOT however, get the pit delta. I catch another guy in the pits. I'm P2. I know Button will have to pit. I'm pushing as hard as I can. Button still does not have the delta. Finally...he pits. I pass him. But he comes out of the pit lane just a second or two behind, and he's still faster than me. 5 or 6 laps to go, and I'm fighting him off of my gearbox all the way down the back straight, through the chicane, and down the front straight, just barely holding him off. I'm still faster in sector 2 but there's nothing in it now. If he gets in front of me its over. But he doesn't. Last lap, I cross start/finish with him almost literally up my tailpipe, having saved just enough KERS to keep him behind me. WOOOO HOOOO! WHAT A RACE!!! P1!!! I WIN!!!
It was an incredible feeling, getting that win all on my own merit, all with my own setup work. My tire strategy couldn't have been more perfect. I made 3 stops...the rest of the field made 4-5. That is most certainly where I won it, and the edge from my setup is what allowed that strategy to work. I was only .6 or so of a sec slower than the fastest lap of the race, which was set on options. I love races like this where you have to figure it out on the fly, and you really don't know what's going to happen until you cross the line on that last lap. All I know is, all the hard work paid off, and it was EPIC.
I have now won two of my personal triple crown of races, which is the back to back series of Monte Carlo, Montreal, and Valencia. Can I win at Valencia and take the crown? I certainly will be putting in the same amount of work that I did this time. We'll just have to wait and see...
Ah what a race...This one was special I think because it wasn't luck or perhaps an overpowered edge from some setup that I looked up online. I actually spent quite a bit of time preparing for this race in Montreal, doing all of my own setup work ahead of the actual race weekend. No engineer presets. No looking anything up. 100% mine.
It started with an afternoon early last week, spent reading some great articles covering the fundamentals of, and the correct procedure for, setting up a car for a track. I really wanted to learn to do setup myself. Looking up other peoples setups can bring mixed results and honestly, its too much like pressing the easy button, ya know? Fine if ya trounce the computer with your own work, but otherwise its too much like plain old cheating for my taste. I distilled all the info down into an easy to follow procedural guide, and the next evening I went to work in the 'simulator' (aka Time Trial mode) and started trying to figure out the setup for my Torro Rosso. It seemed that my guide had worked like a charm, but of course adjustments always have to be made after setup in TT, mainly because in TT the car runs with no ballast, essentially without the weight of any fuel.
Next step was to do some 30% GPs (short weekends) driving as Sebastian Buemi to see how his Torro Rosso behaved with my setup applied. That would allow me to iron out most of the problems. It also gave me a good idea of the tire strategy that I might have to employ due to the nature of the track. The setup definitely needed some adjustment for lapping under fuel load to account for maneuvering with the extra weight in the car. All that ended up needing to be done was a small tweak to the rear wing, and I was pretty sure that I had it. Of course that wasn't the end, because in GP mode the car is Buemi's 2011 Torro Rosso, unaffected by the changing tiers and R&D that goes on in career mode. But it was the end of my simulator work.
I took a break from gaming for the Christmas holiday, and then today, it was back to racing. I opened up the race report and got some news that wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for. While practice would be dry, qualifying would have heavy rain, and there was a 53% chance of rain on race day. Not unexpected, but dry would have been best, as that is the condition I developed my setup in, and I had not yet had any experience adjusting a track setup for wet conditions. Worst of all, I would have to try to make some of the changes while it was still dry, with no real way to know how it was going to perform until qualifying was under way. Yikes. I finished first in practice, so at least I was on to something in comparison to how the other teams were setting up for the conditions.
Fast forward to qualifying. Heavy rain, with running restricted to full wet tires. I don't want to set up for heavy rain as only light rain is forcast for race day, and I'm also thinking that it won't be wet for the entire race. That's my gamble...set up to qualify well, but still perform when things are dried out. The best I get out of my car is P4, which all things considered is not bad. 2nd row on the grid is more than good enough, and I've got the car handling the way I need it to in the wet without making too much sacrifice for dry conditions. I also know that setup alone will not win the day. Montreal is a track that, in my experience, is dictated by pit strategy more than all out speed. Armed with what I learned about pitting from my race sims, I moved ahead to race day.
Its raining for the start of the race, and intermediates have been selected for the start. This is good in relation to my setup. If conditions stay wet I have just 2 stops to make, which I will have to time right, on target or otherwise, to catch people in the pits, since simulator experience says I will not be fast enough to get the delta on the guy behind. I also MUST avoid pitting at the same time as the competition, since I am at a disadvantage with my garage at the far end of the pit lane. I get an excellent start, easily taking the lead going into turn 1. I have a second, then almost 2, over Button in 2nd for the entire first stint. Its still raining when I have my first stop, which I take a lap early based on feedback. I also know that the rain is going to stop in 10-15min. I'm able to overtake everyone when they pit over the next few laps, and I'm back in the lead, lapping well on my 2nd set of inters, decently out in front of Button and Massa, my only real challengers. Things are drying out, and I hear the call as I come down the front straight that Button has pitted for options. I've got one eye on the gap I have over him, and its rapidly shrinking. I lose almost 3 seconds of my lead just in sector 2. SHIT. Obviously I have to pit IMMEDIATELY whether I think I'm ready or not, because when I look at the race director info, the 4 cars behind me all have options. I need to get some faster shoes on ASAP! lol. Coming down the back straight I look at the lap counter and realize that I could gamble and put on primes...I know from my testing that I am very fast on them. I COULD be fast enough to keep anyone in front of me on options from getting the pit delta, and leap frog them while they pit during my longer stint. If it could have just stayed wet, the outcome of the race was almost certain for me barring a badly timed stop. Now, its fly by the seat of my pants time, and pray that it works against whatever strategy the other teams are running. I drive straight into pit lane, ask for primes, and fly back out. I come out JUST in front of Button, but he's consistently RIGHT on my gearbox. He's fast on those options, and I think his team must have gambled on setting him up dryer than me. I'm holding him off but I make a mistake that lets him get a DRS overtake on me down the back straight, and I can't make it up at the chicane, or at turn one. After that Button is just too fast and I can't catch him. Its not long before he's about 10 sec out in front of me, but I'm able to stop the bleeding there. Soon, Button's options are done, and I pass him while he is in the pits. My plan has worked. I'm in the lead again, but...I'm going to have to make one last stop, for primes to take me to the end. I decide to check the race director info again, because surely all those people that had fitted options, including Button, will now pick primes and run to the end of the race, right? Wrong. It seems that I'm getting a belated Christmas gift in the form of everyone that is even a REMOTE threat, once again including Button, is choosing to take another set of options. I should be able to fit my primes and be able to pass them when their options give out, which is guaranteed to be a number of laps before the end of the race. I push hard during this lap, knowing that I can pit immediately to get my primes and easily make it to the end. I come into the pits for the last time, ask for primes. I also need a front wing change from some wall contact when I was duking it out with Button the first lap after coming out of my last stop which costs me a couple seconds. I only drop down to P4, with Massa in P3 just in front of me. I get the overtake on him pretty quickly, but Button in the lead is pretty far out there. He does NOT however, get the pit delta. I catch another guy in the pits. I'm P2. I know Button will have to pit. I'm pushing as hard as I can. Button still does not have the delta. Finally...he pits. I pass him. But he comes out of the pit lane just a second or two behind, and he's still faster than me. 5 or 6 laps to go, and I'm fighting him off of my gearbox all the way down the back straight, through the chicane, and down the front straight, just barely holding him off. I'm still faster in sector 2 but there's nothing in it now. If he gets in front of me its over. But he doesn't. Last lap, I cross start/finish with him almost literally up my tailpipe, having saved just enough KERS to keep him behind me. WOOOO HOOOO! WHAT A RACE!!! P1!!! I WIN!!!
It was an incredible feeling, getting that win all on my own merit, all with my own setup work. My tire strategy couldn't have been more perfect. I made 3 stops...the rest of the field made 4-5. That is most certainly where I won it, and the edge from my setup is what allowed that strategy to work. I was only .6 or so of a sec slower than the fastest lap of the race, which was set on options. I love races like this where you have to figure it out on the fly, and you really don't know what's going to happen until you cross the line on that last lap. All I know is, all the hard work paid off, and it was EPIC.
I have now won two of my personal triple crown of races, which is the back to back series of Monte Carlo, Montreal, and Valencia. Can I win at Valencia and take the crown? I certainly will be putting in the same amount of work that I did this time. We'll just have to wait and see...
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Thank You, Santa!
Xmas loot! A couple of very nice argyle sweaters (I looooove argyle!), knit SJ Sharks old time hockey tuque, and Microsoft Wireless Wheel for my Xbox. And a diecast Red Bull RB7!!! The hoodie and black beanie both have headphones built in! Totally awesome! Also got an awesome "stocking stuffer" in the form of F1 2011 for iPhone! F1 on the go yay!!!
Award for awesome gift this year has to go to the wheel, since it makes playing F1 2011 about a million times better. A VERY close second would have to be my die-cast 1:32 scale Sebastian Vettel Red Bull RB7, which unfortunately didn't make it in time for Xmas morning. I was pretty pissed there wasn't a Mark Webber one though, especially since they made Lewis AND Jenson for the McLaren cars...hmph. Will make an update when the car arrives...
Hope everyone had a great Xmas! Ho-ho-ho! lol
PS: I didn't intend this post to be in bad taste, a 'look what I got' post. I just really liked my few gifts and wanted to share them with you all.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
F1 2011 Wireless Speed Wheel Test
All I can say is ohhh myyy lol. Oh glorious smooth handling! Oh precise control! I don't know about other games, but this wheel is the absolute minimum you should have for playing F1 2011. While I would LOVE to have a full wheel & pedals rig, I have three major hurdles, the largest of which has nothing to do with cost or space, but ends up compounding both of those things.
See, I have this ergonomic issue that even affects me when I drive a real car, where the angle of my legs in conjunction with holding my feet up to operate the pedals causes debilitating pain in the ligaments on the inside of my knees. Seriously. It's minimal when driving for real, but still there. Now when I use my PS2 wheel rig while sitting in either my AK Rocker racing chair or my other regular chair, it hurts so much by the time I'm done I can't even stand up and it takes a REALLY long time to go away. So, basically, I don't use my wheel rig much. A full racing chair frame rig would put me in an ergo position that alleviates it, but I haven't the money let alone the space for such a thing, nor do I have the money for the full wheel & pedals rig anyway. But we all know playing racing games with a gamepad is bullshit and seriously hampers performance. I got pretty good at it in F1 2011 but its impossible to use without full TCS because the travel on the accelerator trigger is so short that its somewhat like an on/off toggle. Also, I couldn't do things like take 130R at Suzuka flat out because steering with the stick just isn't precise or responsive enough. Weaving my way through long sweeping turns due to lack of precision sucks, and it also cost you time.
As you can imagine then, I was very intrigued and cautiously hopeful when the Wireless Speed Wheel for Xbox 360 was announced. I read a lot of good things in the reviews that came out afterwards, and I decided that I really would like to have it for playing F1 2011, so I've spent a lot of time making it known that I wanted it under the Xmas tree! Completely unexpected, I got an early Xmas gift from a friend, a GameStop giftcard. Jackpot. I decided to go ahead and get it early since I didn't want to deal with the possibility of it being out of stock as we approach the holiday. Xmas rush and all that.
I brought my new Wireless Speed Wheel home last night, and immediately dived into testing it. I want to be clear and reiterate what others have said when reviewing it, which is that the term 'wheel' is somewhat of a misnomer. It is not a stand in for the wheel experience per se. It is a controller with precision tilt control that mimics the mechanics of a wheel. You 'turn' (really tilt) the controller to steer, with gas and accelerator on the respective triggers. That said...WHAT AN IMMEDIATE DIFFERENCE!!! It threw me just a tad at first just because there is no resistance when turning like you would have from a true wheel. Its just floating there. But I adapted to that within one lap. I made a small tweak to the dead zone and it was instantly exactly perfect 1:1 turning. No lag at all. What kind of difference are we really talking about here? For one, I found I could now take the infamous 130R turn flat out, when it was impossible with the gamepad. No joke. The S-curves were MUCH easier too, more fluid and devoid of the weaving and overshooting I got as a result of both imprecise steering and not enough throttle control on the gamepad. Speaking of throttle...it is important to note that the triggers on this controller are MUCH better. They are sprung a bit less stiffly so your hands don't get tired from pulling/holding them during long races, and more importantly, they have longer travel, so you get much more precise control over the application of both throttle and brake. I'd call it the same amount of control that I can get out of the pedals on my Logitech wheel which is pretty impressive for controller triggers. Besides the handling difference that I saw in terms of just steering and getting on the throttle, one of the biggest signs that I had far superior control was in the rate of my tire wear when using this controller. Being able to get on the throttle correctly, without the over application I was getting with the gamepad, and being able to steer smoothly, made it so that I was easily able to reach the end of my stints, and even go several laps over if I desired, when it was sometimes difficult to even get comfortably to the end of a stint before. Less getting in the gravel and wheel spin makes for happy tires after all. Always a good thing! The wheel also has rumble feedback, albeit a bit weaker than a gamepad or FFB wheel (maybe due to position/size of motor, perhaps in the interests of saving weight), so I can still feel the curbs, gravel, impact with other drivers, etc.
I had everything dialed in, but it seemed that after doing a few Grand Prix race tests, that I was a tad slow, as much as a second from where I should be, which struck me as very odd since I was able to maneuver much more smoothly. Shouldn't I be faster now? I thought perhaps it might just be my usual trouble with being sufficiently fast at Suzuka (in spite of now being able to take 130R flat out) rearing its ugly head. So I decided to hit up Yas Marina as my next testing ground. That is one of my best tracks and I had good baselines from doing time trial and GPs there previously and fairly recently. Though I won my test 50% GP against pro AI by almost 8sec BETTER than my last GP there with the same distance and AI settings, the fast lap and overall lap times still showed that disturbing time deficiency. I went back and looked at the video replay, and I finally saw the problem. I think it is what definitely cost me against the pro AI at Suzuka. I was slow on the jump out of corners. Yeah I was putting the trigger down, but the response was sluggish somewhat so I wasn't getting up to speed the way I needed to. Ah ha. Adjust the throttle saturation in the advanced wheel settings. First thing this morning (didn't have time to finish last night, much to my annoyance) I got up and went back to Yas Marina in time trial mode to see if I could fix the application of the throttle. Upping the saturation increases sensitivity and response. Easy fix. At 50% saturation it still seemed sluggish. Hm. So I tried 95% and...AH HA! That was it! Getting out plenty fast with plenty of power, but not with the 'toggle' effect of the gamepad, thanks to the amount of trigger travel. I was getting away quick like before, sans wheel spin, and reaching 210mph by the end of the main straight when I had DRS open and dumped all KERS after coming out of the hairpin, just like when I was using the gamepad. Before the adjustment I was just getting to 200mph, proof that I wasn't coming up to speed quite fast enough. I also took a 10th of a sec off my best TT time, a 1:37.050 that I had set doing a 'miracle lap' with the gamepad. Improved to 1:36.917!!! Proof that the throttle was now right, and the improved control really IS making a big difference.
The Wireless Speed Wheel RULES, and its a fantastic, affordable compromise for a FFB wheel rig. It won't give everyone the immersion of a rig, but it does give you far greater control of your racing game. Its so superior to a gamepad that its not even funny. I can only speak for F1 2011, but I hear good things about other games like Forza as well. The wireless speed wheel DOES LACK LB AND RB BUTTONS, which makes for some small problems, like fast forwarding time in practice and qualifying. You CAN switch controllers tho, and then switch back. Note that sometimes you have to re-set your custom wheel settings when you do this but its a little thing, perhaps a bit of a hassle if you're doing a long race weekend. I don't think its a deal breaker though, really, considering the benefits vs the gamepad. Just keep your wheel settings written down somewhere handy. Me personally, I'm putting them on a post-it inside my F1 2011 case lol.
Speaking of settings, here's what I finally settled on to suit my style and what felt right to me. I left everything default except the following:
Steering Dead Zone 1%
Throttle Saturation 95%
Changed KERS to X button
Changed Status to B button
It should be noted that I am using an automatic gearbox at this time. If and when I start shifting manually I was thinking of changing the buttons to this:
Shift up - X button
Shift down - A button
Status - B button
DRS - Y button
KERS - D-pad up
One last thing I almost forgot... Some reviews mention that your arms might get tired from holding the wheel up with no support, but I did not find this to be a problem at all. The angle I sit at in my AK chair allows me to easily rest my forearms when not doing turn maneuvers. I think you can find a way to do this no matter what you are sitting in/on. Besides the wheel itself is pretty light. I found that my gamepad controller hurt my hands/arms a LOT more. Ergonomically the design of this wheel is pretty brilliant. When you are holding the throttle all the way down it just feels like a natural, easy grip on the 'pipe'. I found that fatigue over 50% or higher distance was massively reduced, in spite of the whole having to hold it up because its not anchored thing.
I hope all of you that read this find it to be informative and helpful in deciding if the Wireless Speed Wheel is right for you. I'm sure that all of us would like to have the expensive FFB wheel rig, but this controller really is a fantastic compromise, a fantastic value for what you get out of it, and as such, a GREAT decision on Microsoft's part. It has made F1 2011 so much better for me. Thank you Microsoft for this peripheral! Well done! (but it should have had LB/RB buttons...just sayin...)
UPDATE:
As it turns out, when I went out to do R&D work during Suzuka practice, I discovered that I needed to dial the throttle saturation down to 70%. Needed to have just a bit more of a mellow spot for easing out of turns. It's perfect now hehe. :)
Thursday, December 1, 2011
F1 2011 - To McLaren or Not to McLaren?
Here's the deal. In my F1 2011 career, the contract offers for next year have started coming in. The first 2 came after Spa. Lotus and Force India respectively. I was heavily considering Force India. Now after a big win at Monza, I've got three more, including an offer from one of the "big three". Torro Rosso, Williams...and McLaren. Seems my beating their boy Hamilton to a bloody pulp (I picked him as my rival) has gotten their attention!
There it's is. Right in front of me. My ultimate goal to race for one of the top teams. My rookie season hasn't even ended, and my big break has come. You would think there would be no question right? If only...
Do I go to McLaren, which gives me a BIG chance of scoring a Red Bull contract...or do I go to Torro Rosso (Red Bull junior team)? This is my big quandry. I'm sure my F1 friends are reading this right now and thinking its a no-brainier. Go with McLaren. Straight to the top. But...that kinda takes away the fun of working my way up through the teams doesn't it? I was kinda looking forward to a season or two with a middle team, you know. The way I always pictured it was to go to Torro Rosso next anyway. And maybe, just maybe that's a better path to Red Bull than one of the big three would be. I have this chance to go to McLaren...but I kinda want to go to Torro Rosso first. And I will have a true lower team experience there because I'm turning my career difficulty up to Pro AI after this first season. I would hate to miss that experience and go straight to just win win win. Sounds crazy, I know. I think I'd still be in this quandry if an offer was on the table from Red Bull! It just seems too EASY to go straight to the top after only one season.
The other thing hanging me up? Well...As a loyal Red Bull fan, the idea of driving for McLaren leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Just sayin'.
I guess at the end of it all, the chance at McLaren is moot since I wouldn't have the opportunity if I'd started on the higher difficulty. I just wanted to learn the ropes and guarantee some achievements early on, ya know? Call me crazy, but I think it's gonna be Torro Rosso. Go to "Red Bull Jr." and work my way up. I pretty much have to chose before the next race. Tough call, but I think Torro Rosso next, and the AI that matches my skill, will make for a more enjoyable career. :)
There it's is. Right in front of me. My ultimate goal to race for one of the top teams. My rookie season hasn't even ended, and my big break has come. You would think there would be no question right? If only...
Do I go to McLaren, which gives me a BIG chance of scoring a Red Bull contract...or do I go to Torro Rosso (Red Bull junior team)? This is my big quandry. I'm sure my F1 friends are reading this right now and thinking its a no-brainier. Go with McLaren. Straight to the top. But...that kinda takes away the fun of working my way up through the teams doesn't it? I was kinda looking forward to a season or two with a middle team, you know. The way I always pictured it was to go to Torro Rosso next anyway. And maybe, just maybe that's a better path to Red Bull than one of the big three would be. I have this chance to go to McLaren...but I kinda want to go to Torro Rosso first. And I will have a true lower team experience there because I'm turning my career difficulty up to Pro AI after this first season. I would hate to miss that experience and go straight to just win win win. Sounds crazy, I know. I think I'd still be in this quandry if an offer was on the table from Red Bull! It just seems too EASY to go straight to the top after only one season.
The other thing hanging me up? Well...As a loyal Red Bull fan, the idea of driving for McLaren leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Just sayin'.
I guess at the end of it all, the chance at McLaren is moot since I wouldn't have the opportunity if I'd started on the higher difficulty. I just wanted to learn the ropes and guarantee some achievements early on, ya know? Call me crazy, but I think it's gonna be Torro Rosso. Go to "Red Bull Jr." and work my way up. I pretty much have to chose before the next race. Tough call, but I think Torro Rosso next, and the AI that matches my skill, will make for a more enjoyable career. :)
Monday, November 21, 2011
F1 2011 Brazilian GP Sim & Comparison
Simulation of the Brazilian GP has begun! Here's the results so far:
Team: Red Bull
Driver: Mark Webber
AI: Professional
DAY 1
FP1
Weather: Dry
P1 1:12.621 - Prime (white/medium) tire
FP2
Weather: Dry
P1 1:11.991 - Prime (white/medium) tire
Things will be interesting from here on out. Both FP3/Qualifying day and race day show 30-ish% chance of rain. Guess the patch (which addresses that pesky wet weather tire bug and a bunch of other wet weather related issues) came just in time eh? I do have a contingency for the comparison stage, should my conditions not match the real qualifying and/or race. I'll just rerun the session under the right conditions. Easy enough. Don't know if I like the possibility of having to run the full race twice, but at least I don't have to worry about the AI setting dry times on inters anymore! Woo!
Day 2 FP3 & Qualifying results coming soon!
UPDATE 11/22
DAY 2
FP3
Weather: Dry
P1 1:11.751 - Prime (white/medium) tire
QUALIFYING
Weather: Dry to Wet
Q1 - P1 1:11.927 - Prime (white/medium) tire
Q2 - P1 1:11.024 - Option (yellow/soft) tire
Q3 - P1 1:18.312 - Option (yellow/soft) tire
Pole position against the pro AI! Woo! But oh boy this whole thing with the weather might have me buggered come race day. I qualified with the dry set up, but I'm taking a gamble using the adjustable preset. If it rains I suspect it might not come until the end, and I may well be screwed by my slightly lower times by then. One advantage I've got for the first 16 laps or so though is being out in front. BUT...I think I might have REALLY buggered myself not putting fresh options on for Q3. The ones I've got for race start are 77%...which puts me on 3 stops. I think this could have been, and should have been, a one stopper. Utter failure to pay more attention on my part. I know it was a 1 stopper for all the top finishers in the 2010 real life race. Oh boy. MAYBE I can get lucky if the rest of the front runners decided to set up like I did. I think I should be praying for rain sometime during my 2nd stint. Oy. Well I'll never make that mistake again...
Day 3 Race Day results coming soon!
UPDATE 11/23
RACE DAY
Weather: Dry to Wet to Dry
Laps: 71
Results:
1st WEB (me) 1:30:26.095, Fastest Lap 1:11.822
2nd BUT +1 lap
3rd VET +1 lap
So...guess the worrying was for naught, lol. Oh my was this an interesting one! During the first stint on the worn options, I had about a second on the next guy, which pretty much confirmed that everyone was set up similarly to me. Somewhere between wet and dry setup. Still had my speed advantage then, in the relative sense. Bad news came at the end of that first stint when it became clear that I would need to pit ahead of schedule for new options, as the current ones were so worn that I was almost spinning every time I put the power down out of turns. Crap. I pit on lap 15 instead of the planned 16, and come out in 7th. Like my test races, I was able to set consistently fast times and catch the cars in front either with just speed or by passing them while they were pitted. I actually was able to execute that fairly quickly. Somewhere during this 2nd stint on options I really start putting time between me and 2nd, even more so when I start knifing through traffic and my chasers start getting majorly held up. Hee hee. As the laps wear on, I get the call over the radio that rain is predicted in 10-15min. OH. HELL. YES. Last few laps of the 2nd stint, the rain droplets are coming down, but not hard so I stay out. Scheduled pit comes around and I decide to gamble and go on options again, thinking that the dry line might remain a while longer. If I go out on inters now, I could chew them up and ruin everything. I have the pit delta and come out still in first, and by 30+ seconds. But...I notice near the end of the lap that its gotten quite slippery, and even though it doesn't SEEM to be raining hard, water is kicking up as I'm negotiating the final turns. I have to pit IMMEDIATELY for inters or risk being too slow/having a serious crash if I'm caught out on options with the track properly wet now. I pit and request inters. Thankfully the mistake only costs me one place since I had built a gap up again during that one lap on options. I'm out of the pits in 2nd with the race leader not far in front...and he HASN'T PITTED FOR INTERS. YES!!! I catch him within a lap or so, and as I am about to make a move down the front straight he pits! Haha! It was pretty much history after that. Another pit for new inters, since I didn't think I could make it to the end of the rainy period on the current set, and I come out in the lead again no problem. By the time the rain stops and I get the call to come in for my primes, I have over a minute on 2nd. Onto primes and back out in first. Clear sailing for the remaining laps until finally the checkered flag is waved. Woo!
The cool thing about this race is that I had to make decisions and adjustments on the fly. Every gamble except that one with the options on my 2nd stop worked perfectly. The name of the game was preemptive pitting. Setup gamble was perfect. Timing of coming in for inters was perfect. I think when I went in for inters is what ultimately what won me the race, and that was my call. Awesome! Not sure how this will match up with the real-life race this weekend. Its possible I may have to rerun qualifying and the race to match conditions. But boy did I have fun in this sim!!!
Real-life Brazilian GP Comparison coming soon!
UPDATE 11/25 - REAL LIFE COMPARISON
I'm comparing my time in the corresponding session to the real life top driver, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton. For race day, I'm comparing total race time and fastest race lap to the top 3 finishers and the aforementioned 3 drivers.
FP1
-0:01.190 WEB
-0:01.340 HAM
-0:01.404 VET
REAL LIFE FP1 POSITION
P1
FP2
-0:01.401 HAM
-0:01.568 VET
-0:01.596 WEB
REAL LIFE FP2 POSITION
P1
Real life FP3 & Qualifying comparison coming soon!
UPDATE 11/26
FP3
-0:00.709 VET
-0:00.846 WEB
-0:00.871 HAM
REAL LIFE FP3 POSITION
P1
QUALIFYING
Q1
-0:01.354 BUT
-0:01.434 HAM
-0:01.540 WEB
-0:01.737 VET
Q2
-0:01.422 VET
-0:01.634 WEB
-0:01.787 HAM
Because I had rain in my Q3 I will have to rerun it in dry conditions, so it won't be included in this update. But, since I did in fact have the top time against real life Q1 & Q2, and therefore made it to Q3, I averaged all of my dry times from each session to use as an estimate of a possible Q3 dry time...
ESTIMATED Q3 TIME
1:11.856
ESTIMATED Q3 POSITION
P1 (-0:00.062 VET)
So there you have it...my average quick lap was enough to nip Seb's pole lap. We'll see what happens when I do the rerun after the race weekend has concluded! I'm pretty sure the real race is going to have more rain than I had in my sim, so I'm probably going to have to rerun that, too. Might as well do it all at once! lol.
Real life Q3 & Race comparison coming soon!
UPDATE 11/27
As it turns out friends, I will not be re-running any sessions. In spite of the fact that I had rain and running on inters in my race...well. It's not necessary for me to go back in and try to get better times for the comparison LOL. And the Q3 estimate was good enough for my purposes! So, here's the results for race day:
RACE
-0:01:51.369 WEB
-0:02:08.269 VET
-0:02:18.969 BUT
FASTEST LAP
-0:03.502 WEB
-0:04.254 VET
-0:03.758 BUT
-0:05.387 HAM
REAL LIFE FINISHING POSITION
P1
REAL LIFE FASTEST LAP POSITION
1st
Even with rain, I still trounced the real drivers! 2 wins in 3 races! Woo! Now you know why I'm not bothering to rerun my race even though there was a difference in conditions. Ta-ta until next time F1 friends!
Team: Red Bull
Driver: Mark Webber
AI: Professional
DAY 1
FP1
Weather: Dry
P1 1:12.621 - Prime (white/medium) tire
FP2
Weather: Dry
P1 1:11.991 - Prime (white/medium) tire
Things will be interesting from here on out. Both FP3/Qualifying day and race day show 30-ish% chance of rain. Guess the patch (which addresses that pesky wet weather tire bug and a bunch of other wet weather related issues) came just in time eh? I do have a contingency for the comparison stage, should my conditions not match the real qualifying and/or race. I'll just rerun the session under the right conditions. Easy enough. Don't know if I like the possibility of having to run the full race twice, but at least I don't have to worry about the AI setting dry times on inters anymore! Woo!
Day 2 FP3 & Qualifying results coming soon!
UPDATE 11/22
DAY 2
FP3
Weather: Dry
P1 1:11.751 - Prime (white/medium) tire
QUALIFYING
Weather: Dry to Wet
Q1 - P1 1:11.927 - Prime (white/medium) tire
Q2 - P1 1:11.024 - Option (yellow/soft) tire
Q3 - P1 1:18.312 - Option (yellow/soft) tire
Pole position against the pro AI! Woo! But oh boy this whole thing with the weather might have me buggered come race day. I qualified with the dry set up, but I'm taking a gamble using the adjustable preset. If it rains I suspect it might not come until the end, and I may well be screwed by my slightly lower times by then. One advantage I've got for the first 16 laps or so though is being out in front. BUT...I think I might have REALLY buggered myself not putting fresh options on for Q3. The ones I've got for race start are 77%...which puts me on 3 stops. I think this could have been, and should have been, a one stopper. Utter failure to pay more attention on my part. I know it was a 1 stopper for all the top finishers in the 2010 real life race. Oh boy. MAYBE I can get lucky if the rest of the front runners decided to set up like I did. I think I should be praying for rain sometime during my 2nd stint. Oy. Well I'll never make that mistake again...
Day 3 Race Day results coming soon!
UPDATE 11/23
RACE DAY
Weather: Dry to Wet to Dry
Laps: 71
Results:
1st WEB (me) 1:30:26.095, Fastest Lap 1:11.822
2nd BUT +1 lap
3rd VET +1 lap
So...guess the worrying was for naught, lol. Oh my was this an interesting one! During the first stint on the worn options, I had about a second on the next guy, which pretty much confirmed that everyone was set up similarly to me. Somewhere between wet and dry setup. Still had my speed advantage then, in the relative sense. Bad news came at the end of that first stint when it became clear that I would need to pit ahead of schedule for new options, as the current ones were so worn that I was almost spinning every time I put the power down out of turns. Crap. I pit on lap 15 instead of the planned 16, and come out in 7th. Like my test races, I was able to set consistently fast times and catch the cars in front either with just speed or by passing them while they were pitted. I actually was able to execute that fairly quickly. Somewhere during this 2nd stint on options I really start putting time between me and 2nd, even more so when I start knifing through traffic and my chasers start getting majorly held up. Hee hee. As the laps wear on, I get the call over the radio that rain is predicted in 10-15min. OH. HELL. YES. Last few laps of the 2nd stint, the rain droplets are coming down, but not hard so I stay out. Scheduled pit comes around and I decide to gamble and go on options again, thinking that the dry line might remain a while longer. If I go out on inters now, I could chew them up and ruin everything. I have the pit delta and come out still in first, and by 30+ seconds. But...I notice near the end of the lap that its gotten quite slippery, and even though it doesn't SEEM to be raining hard, water is kicking up as I'm negotiating the final turns. I have to pit IMMEDIATELY for inters or risk being too slow/having a serious crash if I'm caught out on options with the track properly wet now. I pit and request inters. Thankfully the mistake only costs me one place since I had built a gap up again during that one lap on options. I'm out of the pits in 2nd with the race leader not far in front...and he HASN'T PITTED FOR INTERS. YES!!! I catch him within a lap or so, and as I am about to make a move down the front straight he pits! Haha! It was pretty much history after that. Another pit for new inters, since I didn't think I could make it to the end of the rainy period on the current set, and I come out in the lead again no problem. By the time the rain stops and I get the call to come in for my primes, I have over a minute on 2nd. Onto primes and back out in first. Clear sailing for the remaining laps until finally the checkered flag is waved. Woo!
The cool thing about this race is that I had to make decisions and adjustments on the fly. Every gamble except that one with the options on my 2nd stop worked perfectly. The name of the game was preemptive pitting. Setup gamble was perfect. Timing of coming in for inters was perfect. I think when I went in for inters is what ultimately what won me the race, and that was my call. Awesome! Not sure how this will match up with the real-life race this weekend. Its possible I may have to rerun qualifying and the race to match conditions. But boy did I have fun in this sim!!!
Real-life Brazilian GP Comparison coming soon!
UPDATE 11/25 - REAL LIFE COMPARISON
I'm comparing my time in the corresponding session to the real life top driver, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton. For race day, I'm comparing total race time and fastest race lap to the top 3 finishers and the aforementioned 3 drivers.
FP1
-0:01.190 WEB
-0:01.340 HAM
-0:01.404 VET
REAL LIFE FP1 POSITION
P1
FP2
-0:01.401 HAM
-0:01.568 VET
-0:01.596 WEB
REAL LIFE FP2 POSITION
P1
Real life FP3 & Qualifying comparison coming soon!
UPDATE 11/26
FP3
-0:00.709 VET
-0:00.846 WEB
-0:00.871 HAM
REAL LIFE FP3 POSITION
P1
QUALIFYING
Q1
-0:01.354 BUT
-0:01.434 HAM
-0:01.540 WEB
-0:01.737 VET
Q2
-0:01.422 VET
-0:01.634 WEB
-0:01.787 HAM
Because I had rain in my Q3 I will have to rerun it in dry conditions, so it won't be included in this update. But, since I did in fact have the top time against real life Q1 & Q2, and therefore made it to Q3, I averaged all of my dry times from each session to use as an estimate of a possible Q3 dry time...
ESTIMATED Q3 TIME
1:11.856
ESTIMATED Q3 POSITION
P1 (-0:00.062 VET)
So there you have it...my average quick lap was enough to nip Seb's pole lap. We'll see what happens when I do the rerun after the race weekend has concluded! I'm pretty sure the real race is going to have more rain than I had in my sim, so I'm probably going to have to rerun that, too. Might as well do it all at once! lol.
Real life Q3 & Race comparison coming soon!
UPDATE 11/27
As it turns out friends, I will not be re-running any sessions. In spite of the fact that I had rain and running on inters in my race...well. It's not necessary for me to go back in and try to get better times for the comparison LOL. And the Q3 estimate was good enough for my purposes! So, here's the results for race day:
RACE
-0:01:51.369 WEB
-0:02:08.269 VET
-0:02:18.969 BUT
FASTEST LAP
-0:03.502 WEB
-0:04.254 VET
-0:03.758 BUT
-0:05.387 HAM
REAL LIFE FINISHING POSITION
P1
REAL LIFE FASTEST LAP POSITION
1st
Even with rain, I still trounced the real drivers! 2 wins in 3 races! Woo! Now you know why I'm not bothering to rerun my race even though there was a difference in conditions. Ta-ta until next time F1 friends!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Halo: CE Anniversary Soundtrack Guide
While it's not too hard to identify which track is which, as the tracks on the Anniversary soundtrack are mostly clever plays on the original track names, I thought I'd make this quick at a glance guide to show which track corresponds to which. the format is as follows:
Original track name/Anniversary track name
There are a few missing, either because they don't have a corresponding track or because the Anniversary track was different enough that I wasn't able to identify it against the original. Anyway, here's the list:
Opening Suite/Random Slipspace Trajectory
Truth and Reconciliation Suite/Honest Negotiation Suite
Brothers in Arms/Bravery, Brotherhood
Enough Dead Heroes/An End of Dying
Perilous Journey/First Step
A Walk in the Woods/Lions and Tigers and...
Ambient Wonder/Still, Moving
The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe/Unless You Mean to Shoot
Under Cover of Night/Cloaked in Blackness
Lament for Pvt. Jenkins/A Private Service
Devils... Monsters.../Demons and Heretics
Covenant Dance/Choreographite
Rock Anthem for Saving the World/Rock in a Hard Place
The Maw/Yawning Chasm
Drumrun/Strident
On a Pale Horse/Pale Rider
Perchance to Dream/To Sleep
The Long Run/Marathon Sprint
Suite Autumn/Suite Fall
Dust and Echoes/Flotsam, Jetsam
Halo/Installation 04
In going back and listening to the original music, I realize how epic that soundtrack really was. What they created without the use of a live orchestra was well...incredible. So you can imagine what it really means when I say that the tracks are even more epic being played by the Skywalker Orchestra. Wow. So cool for all that great music to get the treatment it deserves. Well done 343i and Skywalker Orchestra. Thanks for making some of the most amazing game music in history even better!
Original track name/Anniversary track name
There are a few missing, either because they don't have a corresponding track or because the Anniversary track was different enough that I wasn't able to identify it against the original. Anyway, here's the list:
Opening Suite/Random Slipspace Trajectory
Truth and Reconciliation Suite/Honest Negotiation Suite
Brothers in Arms/Bravery, Brotherhood
Enough Dead Heroes/An End of Dying
Perilous Journey/First Step
A Walk in the Woods/Lions and Tigers and...
Ambient Wonder/Still, Moving
The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe/Unless You Mean to Shoot
Under Cover of Night/Cloaked in Blackness
Lament for Pvt. Jenkins/A Private Service
Devils... Monsters.../Demons and Heretics
Covenant Dance/Choreographite
Rock Anthem for Saving the World/Rock in a Hard Place
The Maw/Yawning Chasm
Drumrun/Strident
On a Pale Horse/Pale Rider
Perchance to Dream/To Sleep
The Long Run/Marathon Sprint
Suite Autumn/Suite Fall
Dust and Echoes/Flotsam, Jetsam
Halo/Installation 04
In going back and listening to the original music, I realize how epic that soundtrack really was. What they created without the use of a live orchestra was well...incredible. So you can imagine what it really means when I say that the tracks are even more epic being played by the Skywalker Orchestra. Wow. So cool for all that great music to get the treatment it deserves. Well done 343i and Skywalker Orchestra. Thanks for making some of the most amazing game music in history even better!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Custom BOB Project - Update #3
My 0 brush is still holding! lol. Priming is now finished on the left arm. Right arm will be next. Lower body and one arm done. One arm, torso, and helmet to go! Then we can start with the color MUAHAHAHAHA lol.
Related blogs:
Custom BOB Project!
Custom BOB Project - Update #1
Custom BOB Project - Update #2
UPDATE 12/14: I know it's been a while since this last post...Never fear, friends. I'm still working on BOB, but I've been busy with other things and I also had to wait for some supplies I needed. I have the first coat of primer on the front of the torso now...pics when the torso is done!
UPDATE 1/15/12: I had another hold up while I waited for more supplies, mainly brushes and thinner as well as more primer. Happy to report I was able to make the order and now have it in hand. A real update should be on the way soon!
Related blogs:
Custom BOB Project!
Custom BOB Project - Update #1
Custom BOB Project - Update #2
UPDATE 12/14: I know it's been a while since this last post...Never fear, friends. I'm still working on BOB, but I've been busy with other things and I also had to wait for some supplies I needed. I have the first coat of primer on the front of the torso now...pics when the torso is done!
UPDATE 1/15/12: I had another hold up while I waited for more supplies, mainly brushes and thinner as well as more primer. Happy to report I was able to make the order and now have it in hand. A real update should be on the way soon!
Monday, November 14, 2011
F1 2011 Yas Marina Pro!
Yas Marina, the first track where I have found professional level success! When I say professional, I am referring to the difficulty level of the AI drivers. I have tried making the leap to professional before with limited success. In race only scenarios at Suzuka, Yeongam and New Delhi, I would start in 4th-6th on the grid, and though I would be able to get out in front, I would lose it when I pitted and I would never quite be able to go fast enough to get it back. I always seemed to top out at 2nd or 3rd. If I did qualifying, I was way down in the pack, compounding the problem. When I finished my recent simulation of the Abu Dhabi GP at Yas Marina in 1st, winning by about 5 minutes against the Intermediate AI, I thought maybe it was time to give Pro AI another crack.
I'm still not certain if my result is because of real driving improvement on my part, or if its just because Yas Marina really agrees with my style somehow, but the race I did this afternoon was so much fun, and the victory against professional AI that I had been looking for.
After a success against the pro AI last night at this track in a 20% distance GP, I knew that I wanted to try a longer race this afternoon. This time I set it up for short race weekend (1 practice session, 1 qualifying session, and the race) at 50% distance. 28 laps would certainly expose any flaws in my driving that last night's 11 lap, 1 stopper might have failed to reveal. Qualifying would tell me a lot, too. When practice was over, I had P1, something I had never been able to do at this difficulty.
Onward to Qualifying. 6 or 7 laps on option/yellow and I was able to turn in a 1:39 to put me at the top of the time sheets. I returned to the garage and waited. With about 7min to go in the session, I started falling down the ranks, to 6th. Oh no, not again... With 5min to go, I went back out, and on my first hot lap I turned in a 1:38. P1!!! POLE!!! And it STUCK. I had NEVER been able to turn in a pole lap at this difficulty before. Things were looking promising. What's more I had gotten the realistic excitement of a real qualifying session, not turning in the pole lap til the very end!
Now the real test...the actual race. I was able to do what I've seen Sebastian Vettel do so many times - get out front in the clean air and open up the best gap I could before the first pit stop. Before I knew it, I had a good 10 seconds on 2nd. But not the pit delta. Big signal to me that things were realistically difficult, and I was doing well, but not UNREALISTICALLY well. I come into the pits on lap 7, as planned, and its a good thing because my options from qualifying are SHOT. By the time I come out, I'm 7th. This could turn out like my previous tries at professional. How high could I climb? Would the cars in front of me get away like before? I head out on prime/white. I had good luck at this track being fast on the slower tire, so all was not lost in my mind. On the next lap I passed all but the leader coming down the finish straight as all the cars were pitted. Hee hee. Score one for my adjusted tire strategy!!! (more on that later). Felipe Massa is still in front of me. Way out, because I can't see his dot going around the track map. 10 seconds back after the first sector. 9 after the next. I'm picking up time on him, flying through sector 3 where I am often quickest of all, close to starting my second lap after pitting and...MASSA IS IN THE PITS. I fly past to reclaim the lead! After a LONG stint on the primes, I come out of the pits JUST in the lead (I think I cut off the guy in 2nd lol)!!! I start opening up the gap again. If I remember correctly I also had the advantage of a tire mismatch. The guy behind me was on primes. Time to do some real damage on my fresh options. Checking the strategy indicator, it was looking like I would come out behind again after my last stop, in 6th or 7th with just 6 laps to try and get it back. Then as my 3rd stint is winding down...I start opening a gap. The tires on the car behind me are slower and also going off as he nears the end of his stint. ADVANTAGE ME! On my in lap,the strategy indicator is now saying I will come out in first...AND I DO!!! Alonso, in 2nd, never got closer to me than about 10sec during that final stint, again on options. Clear sailing to a sweet, sweet victory where I lead for all but 2 of 28 laps. And I beat Alonso by a resounding but quite realistic +23.662sec, with a fast lap of 1:38.914!!! WOO-HOO!!! I may not have had much in the way of battles with other drivers in this race, but it was a major thrill driving SMARTER than them. Very Vettel-esqe.
Which brings me to my explanation about the tire strategy that I used. The recommended strategy called for option, prime, prime, option. One look at that sent up warning flags for me. I was very concerned that a second stint on primes would make me too slow should I come out behind other drivers at that point. I knew I had enough option tires for another option stint in lieu of a second prime stint. The question was did I have the wiggle room in the wear department to cover the whole race. It was looking like I might not, until I added one extra lap on my worn options from qualifying. Those options were at 69%. The last lap or two might be interesting, but it was a gamble I was willing to take. I had to if I wanted option, prime, option, option, which I felt was the smarter and much faster way to go. It was a very near thing on that last lap of the first stint, with the tires in the red and wanting to let go as I tried to accelerate out of the turns in the last sector. But I made it. Barely. I firmly believe that my tire strategy may have been what really let me win the day.
This race also made me feel really good about the result I got from my 100% sim that I ran to compare to the real world drivers. I could see in comparing the times I set in both that my performance in that GP did not benefit from the lowered AI difficulty in the slightest. It wasn't a fluke either, because all told I was actually a fraction quicker in this 50% GP today. I duplicated qualifying on pole, and actually turned a faster fast lap of the race with the more difficult AI. I feel like that really legitimizes what I did before, which is pretty exciting seeing as I wiped the floor with the real world drivers in that 100% sim!
The thing I always dread when it comes to racing game AI is getting "stuck" between difficulties, where its either you win by a mile, or you can never quite win because you're just not quite good enough no matter how hard you try. I hope that what I've been able to do at Yas Marina is indicative of overall improvement in my driving that will translate to all, or at least the majority, of the tracks on the calendar. I much preferred the challenge of out strategizing the other teams on pit stops, and really having to drive my best to open a gap. And though I led almost the whole way at Yas Marina this time, when I looked at the time sheets, I won by a realistic margin. I didn't win because the other drivers were artificially slow - I won because I was just BETTER. This win on professional is how I want the game to feel and play out when I play, and I really hope I can be up to snuff at other tracks. But hey...I'll always have Yas Marina. ;)
I'm still not certain if my result is because of real driving improvement on my part, or if its just because Yas Marina really agrees with my style somehow, but the race I did this afternoon was so much fun, and the victory against professional AI that I had been looking for.
After a success against the pro AI last night at this track in a 20% distance GP, I knew that I wanted to try a longer race this afternoon. This time I set it up for short race weekend (1 practice session, 1 qualifying session, and the race) at 50% distance. 28 laps would certainly expose any flaws in my driving that last night's 11 lap, 1 stopper might have failed to reveal. Qualifying would tell me a lot, too. When practice was over, I had P1, something I had never been able to do at this difficulty.
Onward to Qualifying. 6 or 7 laps on option/yellow and I was able to turn in a 1:39 to put me at the top of the time sheets. I returned to the garage and waited. With about 7min to go in the session, I started falling down the ranks, to 6th. Oh no, not again... With 5min to go, I went back out, and on my first hot lap I turned in a 1:38. P1!!! POLE!!! And it STUCK. I had NEVER been able to turn in a pole lap at this difficulty before. Things were looking promising. What's more I had gotten the realistic excitement of a real qualifying session, not turning in the pole lap til the very end!
Now the real test...the actual race. I was able to do what I've seen Sebastian Vettel do so many times - get out front in the clean air and open up the best gap I could before the first pit stop. Before I knew it, I had a good 10 seconds on 2nd. But not the pit delta. Big signal to me that things were realistically difficult, and I was doing well, but not UNREALISTICALLY well. I come into the pits on lap 7, as planned, and its a good thing because my options from qualifying are SHOT. By the time I come out, I'm 7th. This could turn out like my previous tries at professional. How high could I climb? Would the cars in front of me get away like before? I head out on prime/white. I had good luck at this track being fast on the slower tire, so all was not lost in my mind. On the next lap I passed all but the leader coming down the finish straight as all the cars were pitted. Hee hee. Score one for my adjusted tire strategy!!! (more on that later). Felipe Massa is still in front of me. Way out, because I can't see his dot going around the track map. 10 seconds back after the first sector. 9 after the next. I'm picking up time on him, flying through sector 3 where I am often quickest of all, close to starting my second lap after pitting and...MASSA IS IN THE PITS. I fly past to reclaim the lead! After a LONG stint on the primes, I come out of the pits JUST in the lead (I think I cut off the guy in 2nd lol)!!! I start opening up the gap again. If I remember correctly I also had the advantage of a tire mismatch. The guy behind me was on primes. Time to do some real damage on my fresh options. Checking the strategy indicator, it was looking like I would come out behind again after my last stop, in 6th or 7th with just 6 laps to try and get it back. Then as my 3rd stint is winding down...I start opening a gap. The tires on the car behind me are slower and also going off as he nears the end of his stint. ADVANTAGE ME! On my in lap,the strategy indicator is now saying I will come out in first...AND I DO!!! Alonso, in 2nd, never got closer to me than about 10sec during that final stint, again on options. Clear sailing to a sweet, sweet victory where I lead for all but 2 of 28 laps. And I beat Alonso by a resounding but quite realistic +23.662sec, with a fast lap of 1:38.914!!! WOO-HOO!!! I may not have had much in the way of battles with other drivers in this race, but it was a major thrill driving SMARTER than them. Very Vettel-esqe.
Which brings me to my explanation about the tire strategy that I used. The recommended strategy called for option, prime, prime, option. One look at that sent up warning flags for me. I was very concerned that a second stint on primes would make me too slow should I come out behind other drivers at that point. I knew I had enough option tires for another option stint in lieu of a second prime stint. The question was did I have the wiggle room in the wear department to cover the whole race. It was looking like I might not, until I added one extra lap on my worn options from qualifying. Those options were at 69%. The last lap or two might be interesting, but it was a gamble I was willing to take. I had to if I wanted option, prime, option, option, which I felt was the smarter and much faster way to go. It was a very near thing on that last lap of the first stint, with the tires in the red and wanting to let go as I tried to accelerate out of the turns in the last sector. But I made it. Barely. I firmly believe that my tire strategy may have been what really let me win the day.
This race also made me feel really good about the result I got from my 100% sim that I ran to compare to the real world drivers. I could see in comparing the times I set in both that my performance in that GP did not benefit from the lowered AI difficulty in the slightest. It wasn't a fluke either, because all told I was actually a fraction quicker in this 50% GP today. I duplicated qualifying on pole, and actually turned a faster fast lap of the race with the more difficult AI. I feel like that really legitimizes what I did before, which is pretty exciting seeing as I wiped the floor with the real world drivers in that 100% sim!
The thing I always dread when it comes to racing game AI is getting "stuck" between difficulties, where its either you win by a mile, or you can never quite win because you're just not quite good enough no matter how hard you try. I hope that what I've been able to do at Yas Marina is indicative of overall improvement in my driving that will translate to all, or at least the majority, of the tracks on the calendar. I much preferred the challenge of out strategizing the other teams on pit stops, and really having to drive my best to open a gap. And though I led almost the whole way at Yas Marina this time, when I looked at the time sheets, I won by a realistic margin. I didn't win because the other drivers were artificially slow - I won because I was just BETTER. This win on professional is how I want the game to feel and play out when I play, and I really hope I can be up to snuff at other tracks. But hey...I'll always have Yas Marina. ;)
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Custom BOB Project - Update #2
I've used the replacement brush a couple times now and things seem to be holding up ok. Maybe the one that self-destructed was just a dud. I have high hopes of making it to the end of this BOB project without needing to order more brushes. Fingers crossed! Then I can order new brushes, thinner, and paint when its time for my next project. I acquired some critical pieces for that next project the other day, which I was so excited about that I am STILL doing a happy dance. Anyways, back to BOB...
Primer is finished on his waist/backside armor, which means his bottom half is officially finished being primed! The arms/hands have gone a little different than I planned. I had a lot of paint left over on my palette after I finished the first coat on the forearm, so I went ahead and did the hand next and then the upper arm before putting the final coat on the waist/backside. It wasn't a problem to do the entire arm and hand at once, so I'll do the other side the same way after I finish the current arm. Turns out that I didn't need to be worried about painting the tiny finger armor plates - the 0 brush I'm using handled it perfectly! I'm still not sure what I want to do after the arms are finished. I had planned to do the helmet first, but now I am thinking I might do the torso first. Practically I don't think it really matters much. More a question of what will satisfy my OCD LOL.
That's all for now. I'll be back soon!
Related blogs:
Custom BOB Project!
Custom BOB Project - Update #1
Primer is finished on his waist/backside armor, which means his bottom half is officially finished being primed! The arms/hands have gone a little different than I planned. I had a lot of paint left over on my palette after I finished the first coat on the forearm, so I went ahead and did the hand next and then the upper arm before putting the final coat on the waist/backside. It wasn't a problem to do the entire arm and hand at once, so I'll do the other side the same way after I finish the current arm. Turns out that I didn't need to be worried about painting the tiny finger armor plates - the 0 brush I'm using handled it perfectly! I'm still not sure what I want to do after the arms are finished. I had planned to do the helmet first, but now I am thinking I might do the torso first. Practically I don't think it really matters much. More a question of what will satisfy my OCD LOL.
That's all for now. I'll be back soon!
Related blogs:
Custom BOB Project!
Custom BOB Project - Update #1
Friday, November 11, 2011
Custom BOB Project - Update #1
Things are coming along slow but steady. Can't say its been totally smooth though. I killed my main brush somehow. Totally fried and split. Ugh. I have another one that is a slightly different size that is uncontaminated so fortunately I can use it for white/white primer, but its not ideal. Its meant for super small detail so it takes longer to paint the large areas with. If I can just make it to the end of the project without having to order another brush, I'll be happy. Definitely need to replace the ruined brush and get some acrylic thinner before my next project though. *sigh*
Priming is finished on the lower legs, butt armor (lol), and on the jetpack. First coat has been applied to the waist and backside piece (the butt armor goes over the backside piece). I will put the second primer coat on the waist/backside tomorrow, and then I'll probably be taking a break as I've got other things going on over the weekend. The plan once I get settled back into doing more painting is to prime each of the arms next, then the helmet, and the torso last. Not sure how many stages it will take to do the arms, but I'm thinking it'll be one arm at a time, maybe upper and forearm to completion, giving them one coat per session over two sessions, then the hand to completion over two sessions, then same on the other arm.
Related blogs:
Custom BOB Project!
Related blogs:
Custom BOB Project!
Abu Dhabi GP F1 2011 Sim to Real Life Comparison
FP1 & 2 are on the books and here's how things are going so far. Just to remind everyone, I'm comparing both my time in the corresponding session AND my fastest lap of the entire sim to the real life top driver, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton. For race day, I'm comparing total race time and fastest race lap to the top 3 finishers and the aforementioned 3 drivers.
FP1
Session
+0.475 BUT
+0.349 WEB
+0.335 HAM
-0.017 VET
Fastest
-01.735 BUT
-01.861 WEB
-01.875 HAM
-02.227 VET
Real Life FP1 Position
P4
FP2
Session
+0.897 HAM
+0.379 WEB
+0.351 VET
Fastest
-01.058 HAM
-01.576 WEB
-01.604 VET
Real Life FP2 Position
P7
I beat Seb in FP1! Woo! lol. In regards to FP2, there is something important worth noting. I did NOT go out on the soft tires in my FP2. My times were set on the mediums. Having been able to watch the real life FP2, I know that the drivers set their times on the softs. We know that softs are at least a second faster than mediums so... If we shave a second off of my FP2 times to account for the tire difference between myself and the real drivers...I beat everyone in FP2. Theoretically. lol. I'd say its pretty impressive that I got that close to their times running on the medium tire.
I'll be back with FP3 and Qualifying results tomorrow!
UPDATE 11/12
FP3
Session
+01.249 HAM
+0.822 VET
+0.798 WEB
Fastest
-0.448 HAM
-0.875 VET
-0.899 WEB
Real Life FP3 Position
P8
QUALIFYING
Q1
Session
+0.046 HAM
-0.339 WEB
-0.650 VET
Fastest
-01.254 HAM
-01.639 WEB
-01.950 VET
Q2
Session
+0.094 HAM
+0.012 VET
-0.293 WEB
Q3
Session
+0.481 VET
+0.340 HAM
+0.104 WEB
Fastest
+0.470 VET
-0.094 HAM
-0.330 WEB
Real Life Qualifying Position
P5
Seems like I was right to expect a good result this weekend! I was faster than everyone but Hammy in Q1 on the primes, for starters. The best part though? Not only did I make it out of Q1 this time BUT I got all the way into Q3 and made P5 on the grid!!! Woo hoo!!! So excited to find out how race day goes! See you all with an update after the race tomorrow!
UPDATE 11/13
I'll let the numbers speak for themselves. The only thing I can say is Ohhhh Myyyy...
RACE
Fastest Race Lap
-0:04.447 HAM
-0:04.490 ALO
-0:04.140 BUT
-0:03.598 WEB
Race Time
-0:02:42.628 HAM
-0:02:51.028 ALO
-0:03:08.428 BUT
-0:03:18.328 WEB
REAL LIFE FINISHING POSITION
P1
FAST LAP
1st
I WON THE ABU DHABI GP!!! WOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!! BY ALMOST 3 MIN!!! AND I TOOK FAST LAP!!! WOOOOOO!!!! lol. My first win against the real drivers, and 2nd podium in 2 races! YEAH BABY WOO!!!
FP1
Session
+0.475 BUT
+0.349 WEB
+0.335 HAM
-0.017 VET
Fastest
-01.735 BUT
-01.861 WEB
-01.875 HAM
-02.227 VET
Real Life FP1 Position
P4
FP2
Session
+0.897 HAM
+0.379 WEB
+0.351 VET
Fastest
-01.058 HAM
-01.576 WEB
-01.604 VET
Real Life FP2 Position
P7
I beat Seb in FP1! Woo! lol. In regards to FP2, there is something important worth noting. I did NOT go out on the soft tires in my FP2. My times were set on the mediums. Having been able to watch the real life FP2, I know that the drivers set their times on the softs. We know that softs are at least a second faster than mediums so... If we shave a second off of my FP2 times to account for the tire difference between myself and the real drivers...I beat everyone in FP2. Theoretically. lol. I'd say its pretty impressive that I got that close to their times running on the medium tire.
I'll be back with FP3 and Qualifying results tomorrow!
UPDATE 11/12
FP3
Session
+01.249 HAM
+0.822 VET
+0.798 WEB
Fastest
-0.448 HAM
-0.875 VET
-0.899 WEB
Real Life FP3 Position
P8
QUALIFYING
Q1
Session
+0.046 HAM
-0.339 WEB
-0.650 VET
Fastest
-01.254 HAM
-01.639 WEB
-01.950 VET
Q2
Session
+0.094 HAM
+0.012 VET
-0.293 WEB
Q3
Session
+0.481 VET
+0.340 HAM
+0.104 WEB
Fastest
+0.470 VET
-0.094 HAM
-0.330 WEB
Real Life Qualifying Position
P5
Seems like I was right to expect a good result this weekend! I was faster than everyone but Hammy in Q1 on the primes, for starters. The best part though? Not only did I make it out of Q1 this time BUT I got all the way into Q3 and made P5 on the grid!!! Woo hoo!!! So excited to find out how race day goes! See you all with an update after the race tomorrow!
UPDATE 11/13
I'll let the numbers speak for themselves. The only thing I can say is Ohhhh Myyyy...
RACE
Fastest Race Lap
-0:04.447 HAM
-0:04.490 ALO
-0:04.140 BUT
-0:03.598 WEB
Race Time
-0:02:42.628 HAM
-0:02:51.028 ALO
-0:03:08.428 BUT
-0:03:18.328 WEB
REAL LIFE FINISHING POSITION
P1
FAST LAP
1st
I WON THE ABU DHABI GP!!! WOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!! BY ALMOST 3 MIN!!! AND I TOOK FAST LAP!!! WOOOOOO!!!! lol. My first win against the real drivers, and 2nd podium in 2 races! YEAH BABY WOO!!!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Custom BOB Project!
I was thrilled to discover that not only my figure, but also the paint, arrived today! Here's the first of many in-progress pictures I will post as I work through this BOB project:
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll update later with a pic of the paint test.
UPDATE
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Abu Dhabi GP Simulation - F1 2011
It's that time again F1 fans and friends! My F1 2011 simulation of the Abu Dhabi GP at Yas Marina has begun! Day 1 is complete and here are my results so far:
Team: Red Bull
Driver: Mark Webber
DAY 1
FP1
Weather: Dry
P1 1:40.738 prime - (white/medium) tires
FP2
Weather: Dry
P1 1:40.483 - prime (white/medium) tires
Update with Day 2 FP3 and Qualifying results coming soon (probably tomorrow)!
UPDATE 11/7/11
DAY 2
FP3
Weather: Dry
P1 1:40.225 - prime (white/medium) tires
QUALIFYING
Weather: Dry
Q1 - P1 1:39.828 - prime (white/medium) tires
Q2 - P1 1:38.528 - option (yellow/soft) tires
Q3 - P1 1:38.962 - option (yellow/soft) tires
Pole position for race day! Woo! Update with race day results coming soon!
UPDATE 11/8/11
RACE DAY
Weather: Dry
Laps: 55
Results:
1st - WEB (me) 1:34:29.258, Fastest Lap 1:39.014
2nd - BUT +2 laps
3rd - VET +2 laps
Yeah...I think I need to up the AI to professional, at least at this track, lol. I beat Button by a tad over 4 min, lapping him twice lol. I did well this race to check the tire strategy before the start - they had me set for opt, opt, opt, prime, and considering the tire bug, I adjusted it to opt, opt, prime, opt. Now, I'm not sure if I fell victim to the bug anyways, because I had 3 option stints even though they weren't consecutive, or if my third set of options were just scrubbed cuz I was low on tires, but the last stint on the scrubbed options was interesting with the tires being in the red the last 5 laps lol. Even though it didn't save me in the wear department, I think putting my option stint where I did was one of the reasons I had such a large lead by the end. Anyways that was my first time redoing the tire strategy and it all worked out fine so I feel much more confident about doing that in future races if it becomes necessary. I need to think about being more careful with my option tires in qualifying, perhaps doing an out +2 and in strategy in Q2, and maybe Q3 also...I can always go back out in the last 10 min or so if need be. I think I could still set P1s in the first 2 Qs without so many laps, and then I wouldn't get myself into so much trouble come race day hehe.
So that's all for my Abu Dhabi sim. I am very excited to see how I stack up to the real race times after this weekend. I'll be back with a comparison blog of course. It is worth noting...I beat Sebastian Vettel's still standing 2009 race lap record by 01.265...I am feeling good about my chances against real life this time! :)
UPDATE 11/9/11
Something else interesting has come to my attention as I looked over my sim data and times from last year. Aside from beating Seb's fast race lap record that he set in 2009, I beat his total race time from 2010 by 5:07.579...FASCINATING! But when we look at the 2009 race where the fast lap was set? Well that's not so amazing...Seb beat my sim race time by 25.844. And my time would only have gotten me 5th. Hmm. Of course, what gimmicks did the cars have that year? I can't remember. I'd say last year is much more indicative of what to expect this year. And if things go like last year, I will be the race winner by a mile and hold the new fastest Yas Marina lap record!!! Will my times hold up? We will find out this weekend!
Team: Red Bull
Driver: Mark Webber
DAY 1
FP1
Weather: Dry
P1 1:40.738 prime - (white/medium) tires
FP2
Weather: Dry
P1 1:40.483 - prime (white/medium) tires
Update with Day 2 FP3 and Qualifying results coming soon (probably tomorrow)!
UPDATE 11/7/11
DAY 2
FP3
Weather: Dry
P1 1:40.225 - prime (white/medium) tires
QUALIFYING
Weather: Dry
Q1 - P1 1:39.828 - prime (white/medium) tires
Q2 - P1 1:38.528 - option (yellow/soft) tires
Q3 - P1 1:38.962 - option (yellow/soft) tires
Pole position for race day! Woo! Update with race day results coming soon!
UPDATE 11/8/11
RACE DAY
Weather: Dry
Laps: 55
Results:
1st - WEB (me) 1:34:29.258, Fastest Lap 1:39.014
2nd - BUT +2 laps
3rd - VET +2 laps
Yeah...I think I need to up the AI to professional, at least at this track, lol. I beat Button by a tad over 4 min, lapping him twice lol. I did well this race to check the tire strategy before the start - they had me set for opt, opt, opt, prime, and considering the tire bug, I adjusted it to opt, opt, prime, opt. Now, I'm not sure if I fell victim to the bug anyways, because I had 3 option stints even though they weren't consecutive, or if my third set of options were just scrubbed cuz I was low on tires, but the last stint on the scrubbed options was interesting with the tires being in the red the last 5 laps lol. Even though it didn't save me in the wear department, I think putting my option stint where I did was one of the reasons I had such a large lead by the end. Anyways that was my first time redoing the tire strategy and it all worked out fine so I feel much more confident about doing that in future races if it becomes necessary. I need to think about being more careful with my option tires in qualifying, perhaps doing an out +2 and in strategy in Q2, and maybe Q3 also...I can always go back out in the last 10 min or so if need be. I think I could still set P1s in the first 2 Qs without so many laps, and then I wouldn't get myself into so much trouble come race day hehe.
So that's all for my Abu Dhabi sim. I am very excited to see how I stack up to the real race times after this weekend. I'll be back with a comparison blog of course. It is worth noting...I beat Sebastian Vettel's still standing 2009 race lap record by 01.265...I am feeling good about my chances against real life this time! :)
UPDATE 11/9/11
Something else interesting has come to my attention as I looked over my sim data and times from last year. Aside from beating Seb's fast race lap record that he set in 2009, I beat his total race time from 2010 by 5:07.579...FASCINATING! But when we look at the 2009 race where the fast lap was set? Well that's not so amazing...Seb beat my sim race time by 25.844. And my time would only have gotten me 5th. Hmm. Of course, what gimmicks did the cars have that year? I can't remember. I'd say last year is much more indicative of what to expect this year. And if things go like last year, I will be the race winner by a mile and hold the new fastest Yas Marina lap record!!! Will my times hold up? We will find out this weekend!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Buddh International Time Trial - F1 2011
Since we JUST had the inaugural Indian GP, I decided to go back and run a time trial at Buddh International for comparison to the fastest times from this year's GP. When I ran the numbers I got some surprises.
My Fastest TT Lap
Team: Red Bull
Sector 1: 27.324
Sector 2: 26.360
Sector 3: 30.584
TOTAL: 1:24.270
Fast Lap Record
-0:02.979 VET 2011
2011 Best Sector Times
Sector 1: -13.685 HAM
Sector 2: +4.134 VET
Sector 3: +9.909 VET
2011 Fastest Lap
+0.092 VET Q3
It's that last one in particular, the fastest 2011 GP weekend lap, that REALLY burns me. I lost to the real Sebastian by just NINE HUNDREDTHS OF A SECOND. It's gnawing at me, because I'm pretty sure I can find that teeny bit of time to beat him! Wish I could have been this quick in qualifying during my sim, too...theoretically if I had been fast enough to make real life Q3 and turned it during my sim Q3 session, it would have been good for 2nd on the real grid, beating Hamilton by two tenths of a sec and some change hehe! Ah well...woulda coulda shoulda!!! The biggest surprise for me was the sector times. Clearly my setup and style gave me a MASSIVE advantage in sector one (probably didn't hurt that I was dumping 100% of the KERS with the DRS open down the back straight after turn 3 lol). But WOW was I SLOOOW in the other 2 sectors! Its crazy that I was so fast in the first that it made up for the rest THAT MUCH. Crazy!
My Fastest TT Lap
Team: Red Bull
Sector 1: 27.324
Sector 2: 26.360
Sector 3: 30.584
TOTAL: 1:24.270
Fast Lap Record
-0:02.979 VET 2011
2011 Best Sector Times
Sector 1: -13.685 HAM
Sector 2: +4.134 VET
Sector 3: +9.909 VET
2011 Fastest Lap
+0.092 VET Q3
It's that last one in particular, the fastest 2011 GP weekend lap, that REALLY burns me. I lost to the real Sebastian by just NINE HUNDREDTHS OF A SECOND. It's gnawing at me, because I'm pretty sure I can find that teeny bit of time to beat him! Wish I could have been this quick in qualifying during my sim, too...theoretically if I had been fast enough to make real life Q3 and turned it during my sim Q3 session, it would have been good for 2nd on the real grid, beating Hamilton by two tenths of a sec and some change hehe! Ah well...woulda coulda shoulda!!! The biggest surprise for me was the sector times. Clearly my setup and style gave me a MASSIVE advantage in sector one (probably didn't hurt that I was dumping 100% of the KERS with the DRS open down the back straight after turn 3 lol). But WOW was I SLOOOW in the other 2 sectors! Its crazy that I was so fast in the first that it made up for the rest THAT MUCH. Crazy!
Yas Marina Time Trial - F1 2011
Started my 'simulator' runs to begin prep for my simulation of the Abu Dhabi GP by doing some time trial-ing at the Yas Marina track. Some interesting data came out of my session today when I compared my fastest lap with real life driver performances at this track. First, my fast lap info:
Team: Red Bull
Sector 1: 17.573
Sector 2: 40.870
Sector 3: 38.606
TOTAL: 1:37.050
Now to compare what I did to the official track lap record, and last year's real driver performances:
Lap Record
-0:03.229 VET
2010 Best Sector Times
Sector 1: +0.176 VET
Sector 2: -1.493 BUT
Sector 3: -0.793 VET
2010 Fastest Lap
-0:02.344 VET Q3
Not bad! 3 seconds faster than the track fast lap record, and I shattered Seb's 2010 Q3 time by 2 seconds! This was my first time driving the track, but I seemed to get the hang of it pretty quick. I still have some work to do on getting turns 2 & 3 right consistently, but other than that I got things pretty well nailed down. Very fast, fun, and busy track. Looking forward to doing the full race weekend there! I'll come back and update with a comparison to this year's real life times after the race...
UPDATE 11/13
2011 Best Sector Times
Sector 1: +0.165 VET
Sector 2: -0.987 VET
Sector 3: -0.280 HAM
2011 Fastest Lap
-0:01.384 HAM Q2
Team: Red Bull
Sector 1: 17.573
Sector 2: 40.870
Sector 3: 38.606
TOTAL: 1:37.050
Now to compare what I did to the official track lap record, and last year's real driver performances:
Lap Record
-0:03.229 VET
2010 Best Sector Times
Sector 1: +0.176 VET
Sector 2: -1.493 BUT
Sector 3: -0.793 VET
2010 Fastest Lap
-0:02.344 VET Q3
Not bad! 3 seconds faster than the track fast lap record, and I shattered Seb's 2010 Q3 time by 2 seconds! This was my first time driving the track, but I seemed to get the hang of it pretty quick. I still have some work to do on getting turns 2 & 3 right consistently, but other than that I got things pretty well nailed down. Very fast, fun, and busy track. Looking forward to doing the full race weekend there! I'll come back and update with a comparison to this year's real life times after the race...
UPDATE 11/13
2011 Best Sector Times
Sector 1: +0.165 VET
Sector 2: -0.987 VET
Sector 3: -0.280 HAM
2011 Fastest Lap
-0:01.384 HAM Q2
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Grand Prix of India F1 2011 Sim to Real Life Comparison
Driving as Mark Webber for Red Bull-Renault, this is how I stacked up against the top session time, my Red Bull teammate, and the real Mark Webber. I'll be comparing both my time in the session and my fastest lap time overall to the real results from each session. Times rounded to nearest 1/10 of a second for comparison.
FP2
(comparison made only to my fastest lap time from Q2, since I didn't record my FP1 & 2 times, and dynamic weather gave me rain in the first 2 practices)
+0:01.4 MAS
+0:01.3 VET
+0:00.6 WEB
FP3
Session
+0:03.6 VET
+0:03.2 WEB
Fastest Lap
+0:02.3 VET
+0:01.9 WEB
QUALIFYING
Q1
Session
+0:01.9 VET
+0:01.6 WEB
Fastest Lap
+0:00.9 VET
+0:00.6 WEB
Q2
Session
+0:02.4 VET
+0:01.8 WEB
Q3
Session
+0:03.2 VET P1
+0:02.9 WEB P3
Fastest Lap
+0:02.9 VET
+0:02.6 WEB
REAL LIFE QUALIFYING POSITION
18th
(15th if Q1 time had put me in Q2, 19th /16th if not replacing the real Mark Webber)
I'm pretty sure my lost time could be found in the following places:
-more optimal use of DRS & KERS
-steering wheel control instead of thumbsticks
-custom setup instead of 'engineers's special' dry preset
Not a bad performance, all things considered. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be! The closest I came to real life was against the real Mark Webber in Q1, followed very closely by Q2, where I set my fastest lap of the weekend.
Hoping to come back and update with a total race time and fastest race lap comparison after the race tomorrow!
UPDATE 10/30/11
RACE
Race Time
+0:00:11.1 VET P1
+0:00:02.7 BUT P2
-0:00:13.2 ALO P3
-0:00:14.4 WEB P4
-0:01:13.0 HAM P7
Fastest Lap
+0:01.1 VET
+0:00.9 WEB
+0:00.430 BUT
+0:00.444 ALO
-0:00.3 HAM
I threw Hammy in just for fun hee hee...
REAL LIFE FINISHING POSITION
P3
FAST LAP
5th
Wow. Pleasantly surprised by those results! Did not think I would make the podium. Must have been consistently faster over all the laps than Alonso, probably in sector 2 or 3. To put it in perspective, I beat Alonso by a larger margin than Vettel won by. :)
I'm definitely going to do this whole sim & compare thing again for the remaining races. It was really interesting and a lot of fun finding out how I did and how I theoretically might have qualified and finished. I think I will go back and do the races from earlier this season too...Give me something to do during the off season! Lol
FP2
(comparison made only to my fastest lap time from Q2, since I didn't record my FP1 & 2 times, and dynamic weather gave me rain in the first 2 practices)
+0:01.4 MAS
+0:01.3 VET
+0:00.6 WEB
FP3
Session
+0:03.6 VET
+0:03.2 WEB
Fastest Lap
+0:02.3 VET
+0:01.9 WEB
QUALIFYING
Q1
Session
+0:01.9 VET
+0:01.6 WEB
Fastest Lap
+0:00.9 VET
+0:00.6 WEB
Q2
Session
+0:02.4 VET
+0:01.8 WEB
Q3
Session
+0:03.2 VET P1
+0:02.9 WEB P3
Fastest Lap
+0:02.9 VET
+0:02.6 WEB
REAL LIFE QUALIFYING POSITION
18th
(15th if Q1 time had put me in Q2, 19th /16th if not replacing the real Mark Webber)
I'm pretty sure my lost time could be found in the following places:
-more optimal use of DRS & KERS
-steering wheel control instead of thumbsticks
-custom setup instead of 'engineers's special' dry preset
Not a bad performance, all things considered. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be! The closest I came to real life was against the real Mark Webber in Q1, followed very closely by Q2, where I set my fastest lap of the weekend.
Hoping to come back and update with a total race time and fastest race lap comparison after the race tomorrow!
UPDATE 10/30/11
RACE
Race Time
+0:00:11.1 VET P1
+0:00:02.7 BUT P2
-0:00:13.2 ALO P3
-0:00:14.4 WEB P4
-0:01:13.0 HAM P7
Fastest Lap
+0:01.1 VET
+0:00.9 WEB
+0:00.430 BUT
+0:00.444 ALO
-0:00.3 HAM
I threw Hammy in just for fun hee hee...
REAL LIFE FINISHING POSITION
P3
FAST LAP
5th
Wow. Pleasantly surprised by those results! Did not think I would make the podium. Must have been consistently faster over all the laps than Alonso, probably in sector 2 or 3. To put it in perspective, I beat Alonso by a larger margin than Vettel won by. :)
I'm definitely going to do this whole sim & compare thing again for the remaining races. It was really interesting and a lot of fun finding out how I did and how I theoretically might have qualified and finished. I think I will go back and do the races from earlier this season too...Give me something to do during the off season! Lol
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Grand Prix of India Full Race Weekend Simulation - F1 2011
I've decided to have a little fun ahead of the inaugural Indian GP by doing a long race weekend simulation of the event in my F1 2011 game. It is my custom to do a race driving for my favorite team (Red Bull Racing) ahead of the real race weekend; it really enhances the real event, at least for me, when I've spent time driving the track, so that come race day I know the whole layout and all of its nuances. Much more enjoyable than being just a spectator. This simulation of the Indian GP is, however, my first time doing the FULL race weekend: all 3 practices, knockout qualifying, and then race day. It will also be my first time running the full 100% race distance. So far it has been interesting and quite fun! I have been doing the different events leading up to the race on different days, as they are done in real life; FP1 & 2 were yesterday, and then today I had FP3 & qualifying. Full race will be tomorrow. The results so far:
DAY 1
FP1
Weather: Rain
Result: P1
FP2
Weather: Rain
Result: P24
(Note: my position was a result of the as yet unpatched intermediate tire bug, which allows the AI to set times that should not be possible on intermediate tires)
DAY 2
FP3
Weather: Dry
Result: P1-1:28.362 prime (white) tires
QUALIFYING
Weather: Dry
Result: P1 Pole
Q1-P1 1:28.117 prime (white) tires
Q2-P1 1:27.065 option (yellow) tires
Q3-P1 1:27.432 option (yellow) tires (scrubbed, from previous session. Selected because of low tire availability)
So there you have it, folks. Pole position for race day! The way things stand I have two sets of fresh options and 2 sets of fresh primes. I'm a little nervous about how far I can get on the scrubbed options from qualifying but I think scrubbing one of the two remaining fresh sets I had at the start of Q3 would have been worse. We'll see what happens! I will of course come back and update this blog once the race is completed. I'm also thinking of posting the top times from the real life qualifying and race, just for fun. Wonder how bad my times will be in comparison lol...
UPDATE 10/27/11
RACE
Laps:60
Weather: Dry
Result:
1st WEB (me)
2nd MAS
3rd VET
Time: 1:30:46.069
Fastest Lap: 1:28.397 (on scrubbed options from Q)
A win for me and Red Bull woo!!! And everything went exactly as I hoped. I pulled a Seb for this race, getting out front into the clean air and never looking back! Never lost the lead hehe. Hope this brings good luck to Mark for the real Indian GP. My boy deserves a win. I'll be back with an update on the real life timing comparison...
DAY 1
FP1
Weather: Rain
Result: P1
FP2
Weather: Rain
Result: P24
(Note: my position was a result of the as yet unpatched intermediate tire bug, which allows the AI to set times that should not be possible on intermediate tires)
DAY 2
FP3
Weather: Dry
Result: P1-1:28.362 prime (white) tires
QUALIFYING
Weather: Dry
Result: P1 Pole
Q1-P1 1:28.117 prime (white) tires
Q2-P1 1:27.065 option (yellow) tires
Q3-P1 1:27.432 option (yellow) tires (scrubbed, from previous session. Selected because of low tire availability)
So there you have it, folks. Pole position for race day! The way things stand I have two sets of fresh options and 2 sets of fresh primes. I'm a little nervous about how far I can get on the scrubbed options from qualifying but I think scrubbing one of the two remaining fresh sets I had at the start of Q3 would have been worse. We'll see what happens! I will of course come back and update this blog once the race is completed. I'm also thinking of posting the top times from the real life qualifying and race, just for fun. Wonder how bad my times will be in comparison lol...
UPDATE 10/27/11
RACE
Laps:60
Weather: Dry
Result:
1st WEB (me)
2nd MAS
3rd VET
Time: 1:30:46.069
Fastest Lap: 1:28.397 (on scrubbed options from Q)
A win for me and Red Bull woo!!! And everything went exactly as I hoped. I pulled a Seb for this race, getting out front into the clean air and never looking back! Never lost the lead hehe. Hope this brings good luck to Mark for the real Indian GP. My boy deserves a win. I'll be back with an update on the real life timing comparison...
Friday, September 30, 2011
F1 2011
F1 2011. The official video game of Formula 1 racing. My new video game crack of choice. Not surprising when you take into account my obsession with real life Formula 1 racing. Now, rather than just watch on TV, I get to live it. From the instant I started my career and climbed into my virtual car, it was LOVE. And I'm not even racing for Red Bull yet!!!
After a few races, though, it became clear to me that I hadn't quite found the sweet spot yet with my difficulty settings. It's no fun if you always win without any real fight. And I was definitely doing entirely too well with my back of the pack Virgin ride. Now, I fully own up to using assists. ABS, TCS, dynamic racing line, auto gearbox. I have neither the time, the patience, nor the real skill it takes to learn to drive a Formula car with the training wheels off. I'm ok with that. I also realize that I needed to strike a nice happy medium between realism and what my skills can handle. Amateur AI difficulty was too easy. And 3 lap races weren't enough to fulfill the experience I craved.
Putting career mode aside, I decided to play with the settings while racing in Grand Prix mode. I wanted to see if there was something harder than my mostly too easy experience so far that could still avoid the frustration of being too hard for me, yet be close enough to the F1 experience that I love watching unfold on TV every race weekend to suit me. I'm very happy to say that I think I found that sweet spot within the difficulty settings. I have to applaud Codemasters for building the game in a way that made all this possible. It can be tuned to to suit everyone from the n00b that just wants to fly around the track for a few laps and have fun, to the hardcore ultra realism sim racer that wants to spend hours on detailed setup and scrape through 50-70 laps for a real accomplishment. I love that I can have what I need to make it accessible to me, and yet every bit of Gran Turismo/Forza-like fine tuning and difficulty challenge is there if you want it. Every racing game should be built this way.
To start, I upped the AI to intermediate. I do want a challenge, just one that allows me to recover from my more minor mistakes. Increasing race distance to 20% and turning on tire simulation brings pit stops and tire management into the mix, a part of the experience I absolutely want to have, as well as giving me a decently long race without it being too long. Damage sim to full. Penalties reduced. With those new pieces in place, I took a deep breath and climbed in behind the wheel of Mark Webber's RB7. The difference was immediate, and I would have had a great well earned win if not for Jenson Button cutting me off through a turn and me getting a penalty that turned my spectacular 1st place into 4th. RAWR. Aside from winding up 4th, THIS was the experience I wanted!
Just one more experiment needed to be run, which brings us to my play session this evening. It occurred to me after my great race for Red Bull the previous evening that I should take one of the Virgin (my current career mode team) cars for a spin in GP mode with the newly adjusted difficulty settings. Being a lower tier car, I wanted to make sure that making the same difficulty changes in career mode would not jeopardize my progress. If it didn't go well, I would make the changes AFTER I moved up to a better team. As it turns out, I think I had the most fun I've had with this game so far during this experiment. I went straight to race day, since I would get a somewhat random grid assignment that would reflect where my car might end up realistically. 20th on the start grid, out of 24. How well I could manage to finish really would tell me a lot starting from 20th. Before I did my obligatory pit to switch to the faster option tires that would take me through the remainder of the race, I had gotten up to a stunning 9th! Oh yes, this was much harder than before. I was battling, scrapping with the other teams at my level, looking to see just how high I could reach, and loving EVERY SECOND. When I finally crossed the finish line, checkered flag waving after 11 laps of pure fun and epic fights with so many drivers I know and love, I came in 13th. And I was ELATED. 13th from a 20th place start! 7 place improvement! It's not often you find a game where 13th from 20th feels like a win, where you feel like you really accomplished something with that 13th rather than just feeling frustrated that it wasn't 1st. The experience was so perfect, so full of all that makes F1 great, that my epic backfield duel and high (for a Virgin car) finish was every bit as sweet as standing on the top step of the podium.
So, yes my experiment was a success, and I look forward to the fun that lies ahead for me in F1 2011's career now that I've got my settings dialed in. It is my hope that I can, with more practice, get to at least the next difficulty, do longer races (for the sake of getting more out of the tire sim and on track battling), and be able to drive well under realistic penalty conditions. If not though, I am very happy with the way things are now. I'm just chomping at the bit to finally sign up for a seat with Red Bull-Renault. *wink*
After a few races, though, it became clear to me that I hadn't quite found the sweet spot yet with my difficulty settings. It's no fun if you always win without any real fight. And I was definitely doing entirely too well with my back of the pack Virgin ride. Now, I fully own up to using assists. ABS, TCS, dynamic racing line, auto gearbox. I have neither the time, the patience, nor the real skill it takes to learn to drive a Formula car with the training wheels off. I'm ok with that. I also realize that I needed to strike a nice happy medium between realism and what my skills can handle. Amateur AI difficulty was too easy. And 3 lap races weren't enough to fulfill the experience I craved.
Putting career mode aside, I decided to play with the settings while racing in Grand Prix mode. I wanted to see if there was something harder than my mostly too easy experience so far that could still avoid the frustration of being too hard for me, yet be close enough to the F1 experience that I love watching unfold on TV every race weekend to suit me. I'm very happy to say that I think I found that sweet spot within the difficulty settings. I have to applaud Codemasters for building the game in a way that made all this possible. It can be tuned to to suit everyone from the n00b that just wants to fly around the track for a few laps and have fun, to the hardcore ultra realism sim racer that wants to spend hours on detailed setup and scrape through 50-70 laps for a real accomplishment. I love that I can have what I need to make it accessible to me, and yet every bit of Gran Turismo/Forza-like fine tuning and difficulty challenge is there if you want it. Every racing game should be built this way.
To start, I upped the AI to intermediate. I do want a challenge, just one that allows me to recover from my more minor mistakes. Increasing race distance to 20% and turning on tire simulation brings pit stops and tire management into the mix, a part of the experience I absolutely want to have, as well as giving me a decently long race without it being too long. Damage sim to full. Penalties reduced. With those new pieces in place, I took a deep breath and climbed in behind the wheel of Mark Webber's RB7. The difference was immediate, and I would have had a great well earned win if not for Jenson Button cutting me off through a turn and me getting a penalty that turned my spectacular 1st place into 4th. RAWR. Aside from winding up 4th, THIS was the experience I wanted!
Just one more experiment needed to be run, which brings us to my play session this evening. It occurred to me after my great race for Red Bull the previous evening that I should take one of the Virgin (my current career mode team) cars for a spin in GP mode with the newly adjusted difficulty settings. Being a lower tier car, I wanted to make sure that making the same difficulty changes in career mode would not jeopardize my progress. If it didn't go well, I would make the changes AFTER I moved up to a better team. As it turns out, I think I had the most fun I've had with this game so far during this experiment. I went straight to race day, since I would get a somewhat random grid assignment that would reflect where my car might end up realistically. 20th on the start grid, out of 24. How well I could manage to finish really would tell me a lot starting from 20th. Before I did my obligatory pit to switch to the faster option tires that would take me through the remainder of the race, I had gotten up to a stunning 9th! Oh yes, this was much harder than before. I was battling, scrapping with the other teams at my level, looking to see just how high I could reach, and loving EVERY SECOND. When I finally crossed the finish line, checkered flag waving after 11 laps of pure fun and epic fights with so many drivers I know and love, I came in 13th. And I was ELATED. 13th from a 20th place start! 7 place improvement! It's not often you find a game where 13th from 20th feels like a win, where you feel like you really accomplished something with that 13th rather than just feeling frustrated that it wasn't 1st. The experience was so perfect, so full of all that makes F1 great, that my epic backfield duel and high (for a Virgin car) finish was every bit as sweet as standing on the top step of the podium.
So, yes my experiment was a success, and I look forward to the fun that lies ahead for me in F1 2011's career now that I've got my settings dialed in. It is my hope that I can, with more practice, get to at least the next difficulty, do longer races (for the sake of getting more out of the tire sim and on track battling), and be able to drive well under realistic penalty conditions. If not though, I am very happy with the way things are now. I'm just chomping at the bit to finally sign up for a seat with Red Bull-Renault. *wink*
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Where I Have & Have Not Been
Didn't write this... If only I were so clever! Too funny not to share.
"WHERE I HAVE & HAVE NOT BEEN.
I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.
I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.
I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.
I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore."
lol
"WHERE I HAVE & HAVE NOT BEEN.
I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.
I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.
I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.
I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore."
lol
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Super Chocolate + Banana + Oat Protein Smoothie
Hey guys! Came up with this great recipe and wanted to share it with you all. It's a genesis of a delicious banana oat smoothie recipe I got from my Martha Stewart smoothie app that I LOVE. I basically tweaked it to include my protien powder (for exercise recovery & appetite control), and to make it a meal-in-a-glass serving size. Here goes:
335 calories per serving
1/2 banana
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
1/2 cup milk (2% or less)
1/8 cup rolled oats
1 tsp honey
1 scoop Designer Whey chocolate protein powder
1/2-1 cup ice, if desired
Blend in blender until smooth, pour into glass and enjoy!
If you want a little less calories or this serving size leaves you a little too full, cut the portion of yogurt and milk in half. You can also swap the protein powder for some chocolate syrup if need be, or enjoy it sans chocolate. That's it! Nice and easy! Hope you guys enjoy it! :)
335 calories per serving
1/2 banana
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
1/2 cup milk (2% or less)
1/8 cup rolled oats
1 tsp honey
1 scoop Designer Whey chocolate protein powder
1/2-1 cup ice, if desired
Blend in blender until smooth, pour into glass and enjoy!
If you want a little less calories or this serving size leaves you a little too full, cut the portion of yogurt and milk in half. You can also swap the protein powder for some chocolate syrup if need be, or enjoy it sans chocolate. That's it! Nice and easy! Hope you guys enjoy it! :)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Outcast
I don't intend that title as dramatically or seriously as it might seem. But it is how a my own family makes me feel a lot of times. And I know that I'm not the only one that has been made to feel this way by the expectations of the family. In January, I got a call. Someone in the family had hung himself in his garage. Unquestionably, depression played a part, but I know that one of the things that fueled his depression, and ultimately led to his demise, was being forced into a mold that he didn't want to occupy. He had a life that he never wanted, all to fullfill the expectations and fall in line with the ideals of the family. And one day...it became too much. I would never myself go to such extreme, wasteful measures. But I understand, I think.
Just once would it kill the rest of my family to be happy for me? To be excited that I'm trying to go after my dreams? It hurts me so much that they instead sit in judgement and disapproval. Bad enough that I didn't *gasp* go to college. I'm doomed without higher education! Worse is the notion that I'm chasing some flight of fancy, like I haven't a brain in my head. Yet worse, the notion that my friends where I'm going aren't really my friends, that they don't care for me. It's insulting to be treated like a retarded step child that hasn't the sense to come in out of the rain. All because I don't fit the ramrod stiff family definition of success.
I read a great quote from someone I follow on Twitter:
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."-Herman Cain
Can't they understand that is what I am chasing? I am not making this change because my "Hollywood" friends have influenced some foolishness in me. I am taking myself to a place where I have the opportunities to do what makes me happy. Those opportunities do not exist here. The best I could hope for here is mediocrity. I am not ok with that.
I don't need your approval. But I would like your support. I have thought it through. I am not a child. I'm almost 30, and I have every right to pursue what I love. You don't have to like it, but keep your misplaced pity and disapproval to yourself, and instead try to be glad that I'm reaching for happiness. Don't treat me like an outcast because I'm not what YOU think I should be. I am me. I am not you.
Just once would it kill the rest of my family to be happy for me? To be excited that I'm trying to go after my dreams? It hurts me so much that they instead sit in judgement and disapproval. Bad enough that I didn't *gasp* go to college. I'm doomed without higher education! Worse is the notion that I'm chasing some flight of fancy, like I haven't a brain in my head. Yet worse, the notion that my friends where I'm going aren't really my friends, that they don't care for me. It's insulting to be treated like a retarded step child that hasn't the sense to come in out of the rain. All because I don't fit the ramrod stiff family definition of success.
I read a great quote from someone I follow on Twitter:
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."-Herman Cain
Can't they understand that is what I am chasing? I am not making this change because my "Hollywood" friends have influenced some foolishness in me. I am taking myself to a place where I have the opportunities to do what makes me happy. Those opportunities do not exist here. The best I could hope for here is mediocrity. I am not ok with that.
I don't need your approval. But I would like your support. I have thought it through. I am not a child. I'm almost 30, and I have every right to pursue what I love. You don't have to like it, but keep your misplaced pity and disapproval to yourself, and instead try to be glad that I'm reaching for happiness. Don't treat me like an outcast because I'm not what YOU think I should be. I am me. I am not you.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Happy 20th Bungie, and Happy Bungie Day to All!
I'm posting this a little early, since Bungie Day isn't until July 7th, but I figured since Bungie themselves have already begun the festivities to end all festivities, it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and put my little tribute up.
Taken on Corvette, during an epic game of Firefight Doubles, this beautiful cap of me wearing Bungie's eternal blue flames is my celebration and my thank you for all that Bungie has done. My best wishes to everyone at Bungie on their future projects...but...we are all a little sad to see you go. Halo, and the Halo Nation, will be just a bit less without you.
Taken on Corvette, during an epic game of Firefight Doubles, this beautiful cap of me wearing Bungie's eternal blue flames is my celebration and my thank you for all that Bungie has done. My best wishes to everyone at Bungie on their future projects...but...we are all a little sad to see you go. Halo, and the Halo Nation, will be just a bit less without you.
New Beginning
Hey everyone!
So, I'm starting a new blog over here at Blogger because Yahoo is doing away with their blogging service. *sadface* I tried exporting my blog in the hopes of bringing it over here, but I'm having technical difficulties, unfortunately. I sent a mail off to customer support so we'll see what comes of that. Its no great tragedy except perhaps to you, the readers. I have all of my blogs saved, but of course if I can't get an importable file, then there won't be an archive for you guys. *double sadface* Hell I don't even know if I can do an import here, so it might not matter anyway.
Anyway...here's to a new beginning here on Blogger. Hope its a long, happy relationship. :)
So, I'm starting a new blog over here at Blogger because Yahoo is doing away with their blogging service. *sadface* I tried exporting my blog in the hopes of bringing it over here, but I'm having technical difficulties, unfortunately. I sent a mail off to customer support so we'll see what comes of that. Its no great tragedy except perhaps to you, the readers. I have all of my blogs saved, but of course if I can't get an importable file, then there won't be an archive for you guys. *double sadface* Hell I don't even know if I can do an import here, so it might not matter anyway.
Anyway...here's to a new beginning here on Blogger. Hope its a long, happy relationship. :)
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