The Robb Collections: 2022-10-16

October 18, 2022

#455

Gentle reader and fellow racer,

Way back in February, 2015, I had finally completed and won EVERY race within the EVENTS list. It took me a long time, a lot of learning and a lot of racing. I decided to write a series of articles about my completed quest.

According to the first article, my garage value was over 100 MILLION credits! SO, just how long did it take me to compete and complete? 322 hours, 41 minutes and 11 seconds!

Below are links to all the articles which includes photos of EVERY car, most of which have custom liveries. I miss being able to look through and buy artist's works and have them applied to my cars.

That was seven years ago. I have tried numerous racing games from many makers since then, but none satisfies like good old FM4. I also raced in Gran Turismo 5 in at PS3 back then, using my Marine Sergeant son-in-law's console, which was his idea. I did an article comparing them too.

Since then, I have bought two more Xbox 360 consoles and at least four sets of Microsoft's very good racing wheels and pedal sets. I have broken shift paddles and/or the microswitches they operate. I even broke the brake pedal once by stomping on it too hard! The latest, which happened just the other day, is the feedback motor broke inside my wheel! I was racing online at the time and had to quit because it was hard to control the car. Thank goodness for eBay!

Below are photos of my Racing Simulation Station. I used to have both a PS2 and Xbox 360, each with their respective wheel/pedal sets. But, with newer TVs the picture quality from the PS2 was lousy and it just wasn't as good as FM4.

The shirt is to hold a lumbar cushion in place. I had to make a leg extension since I am so tall and long legged. My wife bought me the racing chair which has speakers in the headrest (like a Pontiac Fiero) with a larger "subwoofer" beneath and built-in amplifier, which broke. This TV does not have audio-out so, I don't need it anyway.

HDTV is our old 42" model from the living room. Prior to it I was using a plasma set of the same size that was given to me. LG's LCD picture is much better and it weighs a LOT less!

My well-worn GEOX racing shoes. I left-foot brake and actually wore a hole in the left shoe of my Piloti driving shoes because the raised circles on the brake pedal have sharp edges. You can see the leg extension cushion I made. I also padded the armrests.

I designed and fabricated a collapsible wheel/pedal stand from square aluminum tubing and pine boards. I had to come up with brackets to keep from pulling the wheel into my lap. I get aggressive sometimes racing.

I've lost count of what wheel number this is. It's got some scratches on the top, but I got it for ten bucks via eBay. I can always replace the body with my previous wheel's.

By the way, I repaired one of the wheels, and wrote about that too. These wheels and pedals are actually quite good. I've been driving a long time and the feedback they give is very realistic.

Since completing all those races, I deleted everything and started over. Several times. I always kept my same gamer tag: Scotty Robb. So, with each reboot, I was able to keep all my purchased liveries and be able to redownload all the car sets.

I still am NOT an expert racer. I rarely can make a lap of Fujimi Kaido without hitting at least one guardrail. And, anyone who has raced me online has seen me mess up.

I have gotten more confident, though. I've been driving real cars (most equipped with MANUAL transmissions) for 49 years so far. As a result, I could NOT enjoy Forza Horizons. All those innocent drivers one has to miss while street racing. Not for me. I'm too law abiding!

I have learned to fully trust the car's abilities and the tire's grip and thus have making better lap times. Before the Leader Boards server was taken down, I was in the top 1% of almost every race. Max Morales, do NOT race him. He is the best. And he was THE leader on most leader boards. THE LEADER!

THIS go round, I am at level 153, but have yet to race any car higher than S Class. I also learned that in MOST cases, cars have higher top speeds with STOCK bodies (no added on spoilers). In some case, as much as fifteen miles-an-hour top speed is lost due to the downforce of front splitters and rear spoilers create. SOME cars do benefit from the addition of them, however, so far I have only seen one.

Here are some of the cars I enjoy. I have taken the 1950's Porsche 550 Spyder all the way to S Class, but without traction control (I prefer to race with all safety controls off) it is nearly uncontrollable.

By swapping in a much newer FWD VW twin-cam inline-four cylinder turbocharged engine, one can go really fast in this once-humble VW Karmann-Ghia. In reality, it would be very tricky to do such a swap.

Years ago, I took my youngest daughter to a VW dealership to look for a car. They had a couple R32 Golfs on the showroom floor. The salesman was trying to convince me to buy one ($40,000!) "as an investment." Did not happen. But I have a virtual one!

I drive a turbo Volvo wagon which has a five-cylinder engine and six-speed manual transmission. It is closest (both are P1 chassis) in performance to the C30, above.

All of the paint schemes (called "liveries") on these Volvo are based upon real Volvo race cars. Yes, they DID race two 850 Wagons in the BTCC.

This is one of my favorites. The Volvo T6 engine is very powerful stock. In racing form (and looking like Scotty McLaughlin's 2014 Australian V8 Supercars racer) it is a great racer.

And this is my 2005 V50 T5 Sport with M66. If I'd bought it new, it would be red. But, I bought it in 2014. Stock, it's top speed is 149 MPH! Volvo V50 T5 Technical Specs, Dimensions The other car is what I had been driving daily (except in the snow) for six years. It's an Italian-designed, built-in-Australia and powered by Mazda, 1990 Mercury (Ford in OZ) Capri XR2. It is one of several fun cars I have bought since the kids stopped moving back in, including an '87 Porsche.

By now, you may be thinking, "I thought this was going to teach me how to win in Forza!" And I am, beginning right now.

1st, Get a steering wheel and pedals. You don't drive real cars with a controller and your sure don't do so by flying like a drone behind and above your car!

2nd, Use cockpit view (inside the car) whenever possible. See above. In some "R" level real race cars the windshield is SO small, you cannot see enough of the track. Then tap that button once and it will be like you are a Go-Pro at the base of the windshield. 2a, USE your mirror, be on the lookout for AI cars or competitor's car trying to catch and pass you.

3rd, Practice. A lot. To do so, either go over to the right (when the sim is ready) and choose Hot Laps, OR, go to Upgrade and choose: Test Drive. On the former, you can also do quick races, but they are challenging and you might feel that you can never win. Practice. A lot.

4th, "It is more fun to go fast in a slow car, than slow in a fast car." IF possible, in any class, I almost always choose an older car. Rear-wheel-drive, if possible. They are easier to control that front-wheel-drive cars are. Most of the time.

5th, Modify cars carefully. Lotus cars founder, Colin Chapman famously said, "Add lightness." One CAN do that when modifying cars. First, add a whole roll cage to your car. Then remove all the weight. It's may to throw you up a class or two, depending upon your stock engine's power. But, your car will be stiffer and lighter. Less weight equals more power. Second, replace the stock wheels with the lightest ones you can. There are plenty to choose from. Each wheel you look at will show weight loss or gain. Then widen the tires as far as it will allow. Third, put on RACING: Brakes, suspension (lowered), anti-sway bars, flywheel, clutch, cooling system, transmission, differential (rear axle), engine intake filter and exhaust system. IF the car already is turbocharged, then add a racing intercooler. Don't do any more than that or it will put your car in a higher class than you are seeking. IF, you still have room, say you are at 322 and 400 is the top of that class, then choose Quick Upgrade. The program knows the right power modifications to make.

6th, Choose Manual Shifting. That's what the "flappy paddles" are for in front of the steering wheel. The right one is for shifting UP, the left one for shifting DOWN and to Reverse. You pull each towards you. It's much more fun and YOU control the car better. IF you are in one gear too long, the engine (and tachometer) will tell you so. PRACTICE this before racing.

Downshift (and reverse, once first is reached) on the left. Upshift on the right.

Take a good look at this racing map of the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife. See how the arrows show where your car should be for EVERY corner. It also shows what gear you should be in. I have hundreds of laps on the Nordschleife and when looking this over saw that in almost every case, I was in the correct gear for every corner.

So, there you go, "My young Padawan" learn from my experience and PRACTICE. Oh, one last thing turn REWIND OFF. One cannot rewind in life, so man (or woman) up! If you make a mistake, try and catch up, if not, restart the race. Remember, it's just for fun and skill building.

SONY and their Play Station Gran Turismo racing game series have had REAL race car drivers come out of their simulation series competitions. And it's not a good as Forza!

Keep the shiny side up and race safely. Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my blog. It is your comments, below, on on Facebook which make it worth my time to research and write these articles.

Scott Robb

October 18, 2022

#455

For more articles on simulation racing and building wheel/pedal stands and more, check click the link below.

The Robb Collections: INDEX TO Simulation Racing THE ROBB COLLECTIONS

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