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iRacing: New week, new challenge

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So I have a bit of a problem with iRacing, it's nothing too serious, but they change the track that I'm eligible to race on every week. As a rookie I only have the option to race one track and one vehicle in competition. I can drive on any track and any circuit in a practise session, but to be eligible for points, it has to be an official race. So that means each week I have to learn a whole new circuit, thankfully the car remains the same, so at least I'm familiar with how the Mazda MX5 handles now.

The problem I have is that I don't have the time to sit down and play the game every day. So just as I get comfortable with a track, it changes and I have to start all over again. Soon it will loop back to the start, and hopefully then I'll be able to compete slightly more competently. I'm not sure how many tracks there are in total, but eventually they will all come back around.

This weeks circuit is Lime Rock Park, it's the shortest circuit I've raced on so far at just 1.5 miles. But it has perhaps the trickiest section of turns to negotiate that I've seen. The first three corners I've found particularly tough to master. I just can't get a line I feel comfortable and fast with.

Lime Rock Park
So anyway, Lime Rock Park is a fairly simple track on the whole, there's very little braking needed for the majority of it. The second half of the track are just small taps of the brake peddle, or slight lifts.

Turn 5 called "The Uphill" is a superb corner, coming off the apex, you accelerate up a hill. It's imperative to get the car in a straight line before you hit the crest. As you do, the balance of the car shifts dramatically, the car goes light and if you don't have the wheels pointing forwards when the grip returns. It's going to want to swap ends on you! Flooring the gas coming out of that turn takes a lot of courage... I can only imagine what that would be like in real life.

Anyway, this week I got my best result. I managed to finish 2nd in a race of attrition. By just staying on the track and taking advantage of other peoples mistakes I made my way through the field. I had a couple of wobbly moments, making contact at turn 3 on the first lap was disappointing, but there was nothing I could do to avoid it. Well I guess I could have had a better start and not been behind the crash in the first place.

The results, proof that I got my second place finish!
To see my other seat of the pants moments, you can watch the whole race in this replay video below.  Hope you like it, I'll be back with more soon!


Borderlands: accidentally defeating Marley and Moe

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Quite a lot of progress through this on Friday night, mainly because of the extended length of time we had to play.  The first five minutes or so were spent trying to work out which missions we'd completed, and this finally managed to introduce Kieron to the mission log.  He still doesn't know how to turn a mission in, though.

Then we had a look at the missions we had queued up, and compared them to our progress.  We are all still relatively low level, around 13 or 14, and so our choices of what to achieve were slightly limited.  There were a few scavenging missions which seemed appropriate, and finding the safe house with Sledge, so we set off to do those, killing lots of things on our way in an effort to build up our experience levels.

While running down a path we heard Kieron shouting that he was being attacked.  We ran to him, and started to fire at the skags that were responsible.  They were pretty tough; even after setting them on fire multiple times they weren't dead.  It was only when we were all crowded around my turret regaining health that we realised that these were Marley and Moe, who we had to kill for a mission that was recommended for characters several levels above us.

We still managed to kill them, after a long draw-out battle.  We're becoming a little better at team work.

We've nearly finished the missions in the Arid Badlands now.  Maybe one more session and we can finally move on.


Destiny – Warlock

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After getting my Titan to lvl29 I've been trying to collect Ascendant Energy to upgrade my weapons. I did not have a chance to do a raid attempt but did manage to complete the weekly & nightfall strike to collect another 18 coins but Xur again this week did not have the IceBreaker.

I did not get on with the sunsinger class on the Warlock so I've changed to Void Walker. The grenade seem to be more useful & the nova bomb super attack more useful than the 'super-saiyan' of the sunsinger class.

I've put nearly 150 hours into this game now & it's still very addictive, I'm going to try & step back a bit to go and finish off Knack & start Wolfenstein which arrived at the weekend.

Only a simple target next week to get my warlock to level 20 so I can equip the exotic chest plate that is sat in the vault.

Rogue Legacy (Vita): COMPLETED!

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tumblr_nefn2sh6zb1svmpf2o1_1280My first completed Vita game! And probably my last, seeing as I don’t see myself ever playing on it again. Rather like my PSP, actually.

But the game, though, was fun. The just one more go factor was extremely high, and the need for greed too strong to just go for the win too early. So many attempts at finding a new boss to beat ended up becoming treasure runs, and once I’d unlocked Spelunker as a character class, I chose them whenever possible.

tumblr_nev5ge1rom1svmpf2o1_1280Eventually, I thought I’d best have a pop at the final boss. It dawned on me that the further I progress, the harder he’s likely to be. I don’t know how the game levels up with you, but I was guessing that fighting him at a low-ish level, then levelling up (and trying again), would be better than fighting him at a higher level after levelling up. I’ve no idea if I was right, but having failed a lot of times to defeat “The Fountain”, and then improving my stats a big chunk and trying again, I found him much easier.

With him gone, the credits rolled and the castle reset for a New Game +. I had a quick go, and found that all the harder baddies you came across deeper in the castle in the “normal” game were now front and centre, and my incredible (or so I thought) stats were barely enough to make it through half a dozen rooms. I don’t think I’ll try to complete it, but should the Vita somehow turn itself on in the future, I’m sure I’ll poke at it again for a while.

Knack – Goblin Castle

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Taking a break from playing Destiny to enjoy Knack with my daughter. My son has quit the co-op team and I've taken over. Chapter 3 awaits The Goblin Castle.

She originally started playing the game back in February but for whatever reason did not continue. I took control of Knack this time & she played the co-op character.

The save point was at the Goblins Castle & the chapter introduces you to giant Knack, it has some ice levels which are not too difficult & a boss fight against the goblin leader. I quite enjoyed fighting the tanks & then picking them up Hulk style to launch them.

For all the stick Knack receives it does look pretty & is a simple game to play with easy controls.

Left Stick to move & Right Stick to dodge.
Square is attack, O is your super attack & X is jump.

I expect we will be playing another chapter pretty soon.