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Herr Otto Partz says you're all nothing but pipsqueaks!

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#11
Competition 2025 / ZCT284 - Goin' Down the Fast W...
Last post by Duplode - March 20, 2025, 02:32:21 AM
Audi or Mercedes? 🤔 This is not the first time the Audi Quattro runs along one of the DTM cars. In ZCT217, for instance, the Audi Quattro and the BMW DTM stayed at close quarters for pretty much the whole race.

Speaking of projections, the PTB update at the end of public days (and 360 hours from quiet days) has just been posted. While having half a dozen pipsqueaks in contention for PTB +1 is a pretty realistic scenario, only Frieshansen has a chance of reaching PTB +2 (margin at midnight: 31:44).
#12
Stunts Chat / Re: Elo-like ratings for ZakSt...
Last post by Duplode - March 15, 2025, 07:27:54 PM
The rankings have been updated for ZCT283! Argammon and Frieshansen have reached personal best ratings in this round. Another highlight is Alan Rotoi being back into the 2200s range, not having dropped points in any race from ZCT275 on. There is also plenty of action going on below the surface: though HerrNove, MiDiaN and Raskolnikovik still need a few more completed races to enter the rankings, they are already making good progress and stacking up points. Below is the updated evolution chart:

#13
Custom Cars with Stressed / Re: Zapper's car pack (vannila...
Last post by Cas - March 15, 2025, 06:10:44 PM
Very neat!  I didn't know this either!
#14
Custom Cars with Stressed / Re: Zapper's car pack (vannila...
Last post by alanrotoi - March 14, 2025, 10:45:06 PM
Oh I didn't know that! I bought a pirate copy of TNFS back in 1995 but I couldn't play it until the next year because my pc was a 486 DX2, not enough power. Anyway, it didn't come with the manual of course :D
#15
Custom Cars with Stressed / Re: Zapper's car pack (vannila...
Last post by KyLiE - March 14, 2025, 08:52:14 AM
I'm a big fan of The Need for Speed!  That feature isn't very well known, despite being included in the user manual.
#16
Custom Cars with Stressed / Re: Zapper's car pack (vannila...
Last post by Zapper - March 13, 2025, 12:38:38 PM
@KyLiE , I completely agree given that the physical model has its shortcomings, as we well know, it is still quite capable of simulating through these adjustments for each car and not as something "stuck" within the game's engine.

These adjustments were reminiscent of when, in a game just 4 years younger, "The Need For Speed" had the collaboration of "Road & Track" magazine to help calibrate the cars to make them more realistic. So much that in the same game, it was possible to do acceleration and braking tests on the "Rusty Springs" track (using the F8 key) in order to show that accuracy.

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Such a clever touch that does justice to the simulation game it also intended to be, and much to the delight of racing sim fans like myself. :)
#17
Custom Cars with Stressed / Re: Zapper's car pack (vannila...
Last post by KyLiE - March 13, 2025, 07:32:13 AM
You've done some fine work with this!  Remember that you're dealing with a 35 year old game and even older cars, so there's always bound to be a compromise with the performance parameters. ;)
#18
Competition 2025 / Re: Guest tracks 2025
Last post by Duplode - March 13, 2025, 04:39:25 AM
Updating the calendar with @dreadnaut at ZCT291. 11/12  ;)
#19
Custom Cars with Stressed / Re: Zapper's car pack (vannila...
Last post by Zapper - March 12, 2025, 01:59:08 PM
Hi you all, this car pack is taking it's final tuning touches, and one of them is the brake parameter in order to adjust each car braking power in match (or approximately at best) to their real stopping distances.

The braking test method takes into account the distances taken from 60-0 mph and 100-0mph and it's measured using the information under "Dragstrip testing" section of Car testing page Stunts Wiki, i.e., "a tile amounts to 204.8 feet".
Here is an example image of how it's done  with the LM-002 on 60-0mph:

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After doing that to all cars here are the resulting "new brake values" and their real and in game comparisons table:
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As we can check some braking distances are pretty close and I was pleased to get the 60-0mph stopping distances under 1m and even an acceptable 2m error margin, but for the 100-0mph it was not possible to match namely for the LM-002 case with almost 20m shorter distance.
The 100-0mph stopping distances were the most difficult information to gather on the web, they were some times very disparate so I considered the 60-0mph stopping more relevant in this regard. In this respect some compromise adjustments were taken on GTO and ZR-1, getting a little less stopping distance on 60-0mph and minimize the 100-0mph excessive stopping distances.

I hope with this the car pack gets a better approximation to each car braking capacities judging by their braking technology, curb weight and balance.

Next will be the grip tuning ;)
#20
Competition 2025 / Re: ZCT283 - Shadowplay
Last post by Duplode - March 09, 2025, 06:44:40 PM
A few post-race notes...

@Argammon 's infield carpetcopter on the final sector was the cherry on the cake, consolidating a lead whose buildup was well underway. At the midpoint between the two final banked corners, Argammon's split time was 1:16.80, while Alan's split with the Lotus (converted to the Diablo bonus) was 1:17.97, and my own split with the Diablo was 1:18.30.

In a race of details, it feels fitting that the second place was decided by 0.05s separating two Lotuses. In fact, @alanrotoi and @MiDiaN were within a quarter of a second of each other through the whole track!

There was a very even split of PTB time between the pipsqueaks on the podium: 358:39 for MiDiaN, 354:11 for Alan, and 353:53 for Argammon -- eighteen minutes between the latter two! Elsewhere on the PTB chart, @Frieshansen will start ZCT284 less than an hour away from PTB +0.5, while @KyLiE and @Spoonboy will also bring substantial amounts of carryover.