point is, we can only run 'heads up' starts, and stock class would need handicaps due to the varying types of cars and rFactor doesn't do handicapping. so our plans are to run ALL Australian Group-1 cars..... Top Fuel Top Doorslammer Top Alcohol Top Bike ProStock ProStock Bike Funny Car and eventually the equivalent American classes. 5-6 seconds might be too quick, but most people dont just get the 1 race, they could be there for an hours practice sorting their tune-ups before qualifying starts. no one is complaining believe me. Angus94
For proper drag racing, we need two trees, christmas tree and eliminator tree. All racer that are going to race would join to server, then they race pair after pair trough the tree, two races, faster continues, until fastest is known. Those that don't race would be able to watch/adjust their setups etc. Then there is need for rulesets too, there are bracket racing which is bit different again. There is lot that I don't know about drag racing, but to have it fully supported there is some things that need to be done by software, I don't know if some are possible to do with plugins / external app. Tree timing should be done by server, as well as taking times too, local clients will see things at their own time, no matter what, but if server manages timing it should not become a problem as delays can be logged and server should be able to work out differences, of course this requires again something from server side code. Of course there are other ways to do that, but I think that would be easiest. External christmas tree / timing application that renders directx overlay might be also some possibility, but I think that Kegetys would be needed to be hired for such stuff, I think he might be able to figure out such thing? There are probably still some things that would become an issue, but of course if ISI is planning to support drag racing at some point, then maybe they have already figured out most what is needed. But if we have tracks and rulesets, then cars become issue, drag-link/4-link is not currently supported suspension, also one would need some means to adjust links, of course it is bit smaller thing, but at some point that would need to be addressed too, but I have read ISI aims to have such things supported eventually, but it might of course take some time. Anyway, drag racing aspect is big and important aspect and I'm hopeful that some day it can come to rF2. Oh yes, I have Topeka drag racing in dev mode, I run practice but never get times, even I have run many loops, maybe I do something wrong, maybe it works only at single player practice, but don't really know.
As much as I like drag racing, I can't help but think that there is not the framework in RF2 for it. I'm not talking about the possibility to add cars, tracks etc, but the setup of the cars, as the setup requirements of making a dragster work for a race is much different to that of a track car, that RF2 accomodates. The setup requirements I mean are things like fuel mixture (Nitromethane/methanol), fuel/air mixture, cylinder compression, ignition timing , clutch timing configuration and engagement, to name but a few factors. The variables seem to be too different, the two variables being car and engine, while rFactor, the engine variable is fixed, the physical car setup varies, while in drag racing, the physical car setup is essentially fixed and the engine setup is variable. The possibility of doing bracket racing to a fixed time, does seem more appealing, where any car would be possible to race, but again, in reality, this comes down to how consistently can a cars engine be setup. In RF2, I'm guessing that the performance of a cars engine does not change with respect to air temperature, humidity and pressure.
Following your thoughts Craigjw, there would also have to be the chance that either lane would have different traction and launch characteristics so clutch setup is even more important. Then there is the tires. As drag cars use wrinkle wall slicks that are screwed to the rims or have bead locks, and the tires air temp will change dramatically allowing the tire to fill with air, the tire model would need to be dramatically different.
I hope that rFactor can be modded to support these characteristics. I recently spotted that it does support air temp/pressure/humidity, also that they have accommodated illiterates and called it wetness rather than humidity for some reason.
We solved problem Hidden Valley F1CV8SC by having a driver park backward behind the Christmas Tree. He would give commands, Burnout , Stage , Ready , then pause and flash his headlights. Then using zoomed out chase cam he or any number of drivers would judge the winner and red lights. Worked " fairly " well ....lopl had some close runs.
most of these settings arent needed, we have some settings with rfactor that allow us to change the same things on our cars as on other types of racing cars..........tyre pressure, ride height, grille tape, weight bias, brake bias etc etc. we manage just like circuit cars. some people can setup their cars to run 5.70 seconds and other struggle to run 6.50 seconds. so the variables we need to race with are there now. we just need a 'heads up' christmas tree
Several years ago there was a game I helped beta test called NHRA Online. I dont know if looking into that game will help for here but they had the christmas tree working great on it. The game is not online anymore so it might be worth looking into a bit. Just a thought.
