IRacing is Frustrating Fun!

We are already in the 2^nd week of the Global Challenge and running at Laguna Seca this week which is my favorite track.  Iracing can be very rewarding when you get things right and frustrating when you don’t. I was dusting off the cobwebs with a few practice sessions first, and then ran a race. I was feeling great, but no matter how many laps you turn in this racing simulation I still get that awesome adrenaline rush when the lights go green! Ok breath!

The first race was a circus on the first lap and later on. Crashes and runoffs everywhere! It caused me to run off a few times as well which kills your SR (Saftey Rating) even though I was avoiding accidents. It’s a no fault system that can be frustrating at times. I actually maintained 6^th place for the majority of the race until some faster racers spun out in front of me which I had no place to go so I collided into one of them barely. My car would have been drivable, but I ended up getting disqualified. Low and behold I ended up acuminating the max of 17 of 17 incidents. This was pretty frustrating seeing this outcome, not to mention when you leave the race you get to see your Irating and SF go down from it. So I hang it up for the night for a later race.

Next race was much better. I was racing against some fast and respectable guys. I ended up placing 6^th place which was good enough to get me into 21th or 196 racers globally and 1^st of 5 racers in Texas. No that looks good! The moral of this story is IRacing is frustrating fun. A love hate relationship, but man is it addicting! Just can’t seem to get enough of it. The no fault system can be frustrating when you’re not at fault, but it’s that system that seems to help drive you to be a better more cautious racer. Racing in IRacing league just seems more rewarding then racing in console sims. Give it a try, and bring the racer out in you.

Stay tuned for more action!

Track Junkie Racing Presents DSD Button Box

This is the new 2014 Standard edition button box. I just so happen to be lucky enough to get the first one from Derek Speare at DSD http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/ The most noticeable difference you will notice between the 2013 and 2014 model is the red buttons and toggle covers are replaced with black ones. Then when you look closer you will see that the mounting plate is now carbon fiber like. It adds a really nice contrast to the button box. The red DSD button that lights up is a nice touch as well. I'm really digging the button boxes quality and attention to detail. It snugs up perfect to the Fanatec Clubsport and CSR Elite wheels with the mounting holes aligned perfectly. Still plenty of room to get to the power and xbox guide button. This unit is solid! No worries of it moving around once installed when playing with the toggle switches and knobs. On your next sim racing drive with these button boxes installed you will further feel like your sitting behind a racing cockpit further enhancing the sim experience we all crave for!

The DSD button boxes come with various programmable buttons, rotary dials and toggle switches. When gettig the left and right side together you will have 10 button, 11 toggle switches that toggle in both directions with two toggles having covers. You will have 8 rotary dials and 1 big red button.

This is another peace of sim art that is a must have for sim racers and enthusiast. Get yours at DSD http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/ and check out all the other great products they have. I know I will!

Track Junkie Racing Presents Fanatec CSR Wheel Long Term Review

This is a long term review of the Fanatec CSR Elite. I go thru talking about the wheel features and then continue a demonstration of the wheel in action. I hope you enjoy it. I will be bringing more videos so stay tuned!

Twitch Live Streaming comes to Xbox One

Xbox One customers finally get the ability to stream live gaming on Twitch. PS4 owners have been able to use this feature from day one as Xbox One owners were limited to just viewing Twitch streams. This is a welcome addition to Xbox One as streaming live game play thru Twitch has proven to be very popular. Look for this March 11 2014 on Xbox One just in time for Titan Fall game release.

MXGP | Teaser Trailer | Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita and PC | PQube Games

Watch the MXGP Teaser Trailer

What a nice refreshing looking game from the makers of GP Bikes. It's looking like it's covering the harshness of the dirt tracks, showing the suspension travels, blipping the throttle while standing on the pegs lurching the bike forward from under you, kicking it out side ways. Looks very promising. Coming out for Xbox 360, PS3 and PS Vita March 2014.

Box Info About the Game

OFFICIAL LICENSE: 60 riders, 60 bikes, 14 tracks and rules from the official MX1 and MX2 2013 FIM Motocross World Championship

REALISM: it’s «THE GAME ABOUT MOTOCROSS» and this is injected in all the aspects of the game: realistic bike physics, rider motion-captured animations, dirt systems, new terrain deformation system, ditches and particles.

BE A MOTOCROSS RIDER: live the real life of a motocross rider with the career mode: signing contract with Official MX Teams depending on his results try to became the new champion.

REAL SOUND: a new recording ambient audio system allow the player to feel him self part of the real dirt world of Motocross .

TRACKS: all the tracks are completely new: realistic illumination, 3D trees and vegetation, fan, baloon and animated flag… show the real dirt world of motocross. They take 1:1 from the reality.

Road America Announcement Trailer

Forza 5 brings Road America with today's add on Feb 18th for free! It's fully integrated in the Career, Rivals and multiplayer modes. Road America known for its high speed straights and that blind curve you can't even see the apex until your on top of it is sure to be a welcome 1st track addition to all Forza Fans. Forza 5 is only on XBOX ONE and this Road America version will feature the main 4 mile, 14 turn circuit for all to race on. I got to go and race now. Stay tuned for more action and check out the intro video by Forza Motorsports.

DashMeterPro App for Iracing Review

I recently tried out the dashmeterpro on my tablet and phone for IRacing. Here what’s I thought about it.

It rocks!! Plan and simply. For just $6.75 you can download this app from Google Play store and set up a multiply amount of gadgets to view real time race data that otherwise you would be fumbling with the keyboard for while racing. Actually helps keep you focused on the track or race at hand. I set mine up on my Galaxy Note 8 tablet which seems to be about the right size. I really enjoy this app and money well spent for any IRacer

It’s easy to set up, but the instructions can be confusing. Let me try to help. First download the app from Google Playstore to your phone or tablet. Then go to your PC and visit the website www.sensadigit.com. Here in this website you will find the version you are looking for on the right of the screen. For my case Iracing.

From here click on IRacing Instructions. Then follow the steps layed out.

1. Download DashmeterCom IRV1.1.0
2. Extract. Unzip the file to any folder on your PC. I extracted to my desktop. Note if you have an older pc you might need to download Microsoft Visual 2010 runtime to be able to run the program. Since my PC was new I already had a future version of it.
3. Configure your DashMeterPr App. Turn on WIFI on your phone/tablet and connect it to your home network. You can also connect your Android directly to your computer by USB, please follow the instructions here USB Tethering
4. Now the somewhat confusing part for people based on the instructions. After your device is connected to your wifi then open up the DashMeterPro App and click the phones list/options button which will pull up 3 options: Telemery, GUI Editor and Preferences.
5. Click Preferences and within that menu system scroll to the bottom and select Help. See pics below.
6. What your looking for under the help menu is what I circled in red. It's the IP address that is assigned to your phone by being connected to your wifi. This address will change if you were on a different wifi.
7. Also make sure you are on Port 2302 which is under Preferences/Advance settings on your device.
8. Now that you have your device set up and armed with your Wifi IP address then goto your PC and look for the unzipped file folder you did in Step 2. There will be 2 files. The DashMeterCom.exe file and a Preferences file.
9. Open the DashMeterCom.exe file. It will look like a dos based window that stays open all the time when running your program. Leave this file open. See below.
10. Now open up the Preferences file. Within this file you will be looking for the preferences.ini file. My file actually didn't say preferences.ini. If you run into this using a android device as your DashMeterPro look for the following: ##Enter the IP of your Android device. Android_IP1 = 192.168.1.25. Change this file to your phone/device IP address. For example 192.168.1.25 may be 192.168.2.50. What ever your phone/device gives you put it there.
11. Next Look for: ##Put this parameter to 'true' to enable a second display. Enable_second_display = True;  (Make sure if this says false to just change the wording to say true.

That's it. Just 11 steps. I drew the steps out some to keep the instructions clear for even the newest PC user. Check out the pics below to help explain. Thanks and please subscribe!!



The Details

DashMeterPro Iracing

DashMeterPro RF2

DashMeterPro CodeMasters F1 2013

DashMeterPro GTRX

DashMeterPRO for iRacers is a Fully Customizable Racing digital dash including a live and logged Telemetry data viewer compatible with the racing simulation iRacing™.

 • Digital Widgets for Gear Indicator, RPM, Speed, Position, Current Lap Time, Last Lap Time, Lap Number, Delta Time(Current Lap VS Best Lap), Water Temperature, Oil Temperature, Oil Pressure, Fuel, Drivers Information, Clock, Battery Voltage, Session Remaining Time, Session Remaining Laps, Session Elapsed Time.

• Analog Gauges with Auto Scale, Warning and fully Customizable style, scale, angle, size and warning thresholds. For RPM, Speed, Throttle, Brake, Water Temperature, Oil Temperature, Oil Pressure.

• RPM LEDs Bar
Fully Customizable colors, four styles, three animations and Speed Limiter function. Automatic or manual threshold settings. 

• Racing Flags
Display of Racing Flags on the additional LEDs Bar (checkered, white, green, yellow, yellow warning, blue, black, furled and disqualify flag).

• Shift Light
Flash on screen, Automatic/Manual threshold and color settings.

• Drivers information
Real time cars track positions, Real time difference to the drivers in front and behind you in the ranking (Race) and Best Lap time of the drivers in front an behind you (practice, qualify).

• Fuel Calculations
Fuel Quantity, Fuel Consumption by Lap, Projected Laps for Fuel (update in real time or at passage on the line) , Fuel Pressure, Fuel Needed to Finish and Fuel to Add to Finish.

• Low fuel, Water temp, Oil temp warnings
Define the thresholds, the application will notify you visually when you go over any of them.

• G-Force Meter (plotted 5s)

• Throttle and Brake Indicator
Display of Inputs on dual gauges, analog gauges or on the additional LEDs Bar.

• Customisable dashboard & profiles
Layout your own dashboard. You can move, rescale, add or remove any parameters, three different layout profile can be saved and number of screens can be increased up to 5. All colors fully customizable.

• Telemetry Viewer
On track you can compare any parameters in real-time with one of the saved laps. Once back in the Pit, you can save a lap and compare it to any saved laps using the telemetry screen. You have the possibility to add two vertical cursors on the graph to display the differential +/- time from the saved lap to the lap being viewed on a selected portion. You will be able to compare each turn independently.

The following data are recorded:
Speed, RPM, Gear, Drift indicator (based on real yaw and theoric yaw), throttle/brake positions, steering angle, lateral/longitudinal/vertical forces, fuel, oil temp, water temp, lateral/longitudinal slopes.

 • Import/Export the telemetry data as a CSV file on your sdcard for further calculations or to share them.

Units available:
Mph/Kmh ; °C/°F ; L/gal/Kg/lb ; psi/kPa/bar

Requirements:
- Android (2.1+)
- Wireless or USB Tethering
- iRacing
- DashMeterCom
Download DashMeterCom on www.sensadigit.com.
Please check if DashMeterTEST works with your configuration before buy DashMeterPRO. 

Support:
• 5 Days Refund Policy.
• Should you experience issues, contact me before adding a comment, the solution might be easy or a fix ready.

DashMeterPRO is NOT an iRacing™ official software and is provided "as is" and "with all faults". the name iRacing is used for identification purposes only. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Thrustmaster is 1st to the plate for PS4!!

Thrustmaster is 1st to the plate with the new PS4 racing wheel called the T80!!

Features for the wheel so far released

Product manufactured under official PlayStation® license. The first racing wheel for PlayStation®4 racing games!

PlayStation 4 license guarantees 100% compatibility in games and in menus with official “PS” , “Share” and “Options” buttons.
Official embedded firmware (allowing for automatic recognition of the wheel by the PS4).

Compatible with PS4™ / PS3™
PS4™ / PS3™ sliding switch (for full compatibility of the USB Racing Wheel on PS3™)

Large optimized pedal set

2 pedals with wide foot-rest.
Adjustable angle of inclination for each pedal.
Brake pedal featuring progressive resistance.

Linear resistance

Auto-centering.
Thrustmaster® "bungee cord"  exclusive system providing with realistic resistance.

2 On-wheel sequential digital gear shift paddles

Wheel grip with rubber texture coating.

Complete equipment

2 sequential levers  + 11 action buttons + D-Pad.
Adjustable wheel sensitivity for precise driving.

Central clamping system

Central clamping system with wide jaws for optimal stability with all
desk and table types.

So far this wheel is looking pretty good and coming out ahead of the much anticipated DRIVECLUB racing game. It looks to be a entry level wheel with its hard plastic wheel and pedals. It features linear pedals to handle gas and break with no clutch option. So no load cell  brake pedals for this one unfortunately. No word if it's belt or gear driven or 900 deg rotation in the wheel itself. Not as high end as the Thrustmaster T500,  but I don't believe it's meant to be either. 

The T80 does come with some great features though. With paddle shifters, 11 buttons catered for PS4 plus the dpad to navigate in menus. It even has the Share button to grab those awesome driving pictures or streams to Twitch or Ustream while racing. A plus is the wheel has sensitivity adjustment for a more precise driving experience. I'm hoping this is pertaining to the force feedback. Hmm I wonder how many motors it's using?  The pedals feature an adjustable angle which should be handy and the system comes with a clamping system to mount to a desk or sim rig. 

I'm excited that Thrustmaster is getting out their PS4 and XBOX ONE wheel so fast. It's great for the sim racing industry and I look forward to seeing some more high end wheels that will work with the PS4 from Thrustmaster.

Track Junkie Racing Presents Ferrari 458 Italia walk around in Assetto C...

Just A quick video showing Assetto Corsa and there Ferrari 458 Italia from in game. With the new updates this game rocks! Check it out in beta form on Steam. It plays better then any other beta I played before.

http://store.steampowered.com/video/244210?snr=1_5_9__400

Basherboards comes out with a new USB adapter for your Fanatec wheel!

Tired of waiting for the Clubsport Shifter? Do you have a USB shifter that you wish you could use with your Fanatec wheel? Now you can!

This simple device allows you to use USB shifters with your Fanatec wheel. That's all there is to it! Power for the device can be provided directly from your Xbox or PS3 console.

These are designed and hand built by myself, using only high quality components. Each one is fully tested before it goes out the door.

Purchase includes:

• SFA1 - Shifter Adapter
• 6 Foot USB A to USB B cable for powering or updating the adapter

Supported Shifters:

• Thrustmaster TH8RS: Both gated and sequential modes work properly. The adapter will automatically switch between modes on the fly when changing the shifter plate on the TH8RS.
• DSD Pro Sequential and DSD Bent Rod GT. You can learn more about these shifters here:http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/shifters
• Lightning SST
• TSW gated shifter support coming soon!
• Have a shifter you want to add? Contact me here to discuss the details: Contact
• ... More to be added soon through firmware updates. Check back regularly for updates ...

Supported Fanatec Wheels:

• ClubSport Wheel (with RJ12 to PS2 cable)
• CSR Elite(with RJ12 to PS2 cable)
• CSR
• Porsche 911 GT2
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS
• Porsche 911 Carrera
• Porsche Turbo S
• Essentially any Fanatec wheel that can use the Fanatec 6 speed or sequential shifters

SFA1 Connection Diagram:

Price: $89 - this includes shipping to anywhere in the US. (See below for orders outside the US)

Check these out for purchase at: http://basherboards.com/SFA1

Assetto Corsa Update V.0.6

Update V.0.6 features lots of changes that make AC better. They changed work to the very core that makes it very noticeable and some under the surface not noticeable, but important.

A noticeable change is enabling AI Quick Races for all cars, all tracks. You can select whatever car you like, whatever track you like and whatever number of opponents (up to the track limits). Most importantly you can select different opponents to race against.

This update is laying the ground work for a better AI that understands better the intentions of the player. Some cars might handle better, but some cars will seem the same as before, but the ground work is there for all the cars to update later.

Next up is collisions and better physics. You can get aggressive with the AI and they will get aggressive back You push the AI and they push back. The kerbs you go over are more realistic which results in a less arcade effect to a better Sim effect. You may find that you need to adjust your car setup more now to not bottom out or scrap over them.

Engine sounds have got even better now. AC is taking advantage of 5.1 sound systems and improved the sound of the opponent cars around you.

The Dev's at AC are listening to the players. They added little feature fixes the community was looking for like hiding the steering wheel, seeing tire smoke in the mirrors with a on/off option and selectable system penalties for the UI.  AC is also laying the ground work for modders to write their own plugins to connect inside the user interface. 

Lots of exciting things going on with Assetto Corsa and this is only the beta stage. Buy it thru Steam http://store.steampowered.com/app/244210

Check out some of the cars of AC below