Up coming Ferrari Challenge mod

[DC_Spd]

A slightly behind schedule SNR Challenge mod will be available within the next couple days. We are currently working on the finishing touches and checking out possible hosting sites.

Realism is of course a users own interpretation but we've attemtped to follow the 2006 F430 specs closely and included many real liveries, lap times are within a couple of seconds at tracks where information was available.

The mod is a complete re-work of the exsisting F430 mod(with permission) and created for SNR league racing, some exceptions from reality have been made for that purpose however we think the general public will also enjoy it.

[LordRa9826]

Can't wait for it!I love single marque racing.Keep'em coming!

[snowy]

Wonderful news Spede, you guys are working your behinds off!

[DC_Spd]

K im officially an idiot, it took no less than three attempts to upload the file here at NoGrip but the screen on my other pc says my upload is now waiting for admin approval, honestly, other than my own sites, I've never tried to upload a file someplace.

...and of course I forgot to mention that the rar is self installing if you chose, or you can unpack it and install the files yourself, your choice. I'll add that later if I have the option. Info is in the txt docs included.

TIA to everyone at NoGrip, hope everyone enjoys the SNR Challenge;)

[LordRa9826]

Thanks m8!

[DC_Spd]

here's a little preview my partner put together

http://demolitioncrew.altervista.org/snrc.html

[Roadhog]

Hey Spd, might I suggest you upload it to RapidShare, it's painfully slow from RFC and I use RapidShare myself and does work well.

I'd really like to take this mod of yours out for a ride.

Hoggy

[snowy]

Thanx Spd it's really great you took the time and effort to upload to Nogrip, rapidshare is ok but they clear things out if they haven't been downloaded for a while. And it is really frustrating following dead links day after day. Here at Nogrip it will have a permanent home and people will still be downloading it from here and writing to tell you what a great mod you made two even three years from now!

[Roadhog]

Good point snowy though nothing of mine has been removed from rapidshare in a long time.

Hoggy

[snowy]

Your stuff is way too popular! :roflmao:

[DC_Spd]

Well we certaintly hope it will be around for a long time Snowy, we'll be driving it at SNR for a few years I'm sure. Our last endeavor into modding was a 360 Modena for SCGT back in 2003.

SNR isn't about modding, we're a weekly racing club I est in 2001, 50+ races a year for nearly 6 yrs ...we don't have time for modding, we just adapt to the clubs needs when required. Our intention is to run the SNRC for quite some time so that means we will also be supporting it in the future. We don't move on to the next 'big thing', but we do occasionly run special events on sundays to try them out.

Since the physics was my department in the mod, I've logged quite a few miles over the winter, what I'm waiting to see now is peeps videos when they realize this buggy can drift, it takes practice, use the hard tires, and no traction control. Don't let the tail get too far out though or it will come around;)

[snowy]

Have you got any setups you can let us try?

I am having a bit of bother keeping up on the defaults and I'm not sure which direction to take with setup as these cars feel unlike anything I have driven recently. Hours of F1 cars and a smidgen of Nascars has done strange things to my reaction times! I think I might be living 2 or 3 milli seconds ahead of the rest of the universe and that's making handling slower vehicles a bit wooooaaaaaa!

[DC_Spd]

Personally I prefer all the diff settings lower, 20 or 30%, and a preload of 2, but I don't change much else from the defaults for most tracks. There is a fairly extensive garage document included with the mod, look in the SNRC Readme and Templates folder within your main rFactor folder.

I've left alot of adjustment available in the garage but once they got used to the car many of the beta testers didn't need to change it much, watch the tire temps and use the psi/camber settings to get them to run coldest on the outside, hottest on the inside.

The car's handling is differant from many other rF mods due to the tires, mods such as the FIA GT and ETCC use such high grip tires it's possible to run lap times 10-15 seconds faster than they realistically should be capable of, the tires I've made for the SNRC have grip levels closer to the oem cars. It makes them a bit tricky at first granted, but once you've gotten used to them you'll find you'll drive the car in a little more realistic manner. 490hp in a car weighing 2600lbs should be a bit tricky to drive IMO, you don't need to drive it like you have eggs under your feet but you may have to be a bit smoother applying the controls than with other mods.

Once you've drifted around a couple turns you'll know your getting used to it, a few of us don't even use abs anymore even tho the real Pista does have them, it's just more fun without. To get an idea how close to the real Ferrari Challenge drivers you're getting, run some laps at Montreal's Canadian Grand Prix(not the EMG version), the current track record is 1:44.5 set by Emmanuel Anassis during the 2006 qualifying session. He also has the Road America record at 2:16.6

[snowy]

Ah now you see there's my problem I am never ever out of shape! If you see me out of shape then I'm loosing time and I haven't got any to spare! But I will consult your oracles and lay off the pointy squirty run on rails stuff for a day or two and see if I can't conquer these cars. After all I have mastered oval racing on super speedways in less than a day so what can one little Ferrari do that I can't handle?

Cheers Spede for your hard work and info

[analogkid66]

This sounds fantastic!...i look forward to trying this out tonight!...

Hoggy are you gonna be running this mod?....i would love to try it out with other real drivers!

cheers, analog.

[DC_Spd]

You will get better lap times without sliding, but until you learn how to control the drift its hard to feel where the limit is, and that is normal for a radial tire, they don't drift nearly as easily as the old bias ply's, a radial has a very short slip curve, if you can keep it within that curve using the throttle then you're going to be experiencing what a real car/tire combination is like, within the limits of the game of course.

FYI, I don't have personally have alot of 'race car' seat time, but I do have some and I've been involved with bracket racing teams, Outlaw style dirt cars,modifieds, and late model stock cars. By trade I'm a metal worker and have designed, built and sold fenders, wings, floor panels and other metal/aluminum parts for quite a few racing teams, for research purposes I've been lucky enough to get behind the wheel on several occasions. I can't say my info is 100% accurate, but my opinion is based on some fairly reliable sources, how well I've used that info to create this mod is of course everyone else's opinion ...lol. Gimme good constuctive critisim and I'll work to make the car better.

..but don't expect updates too quickly, I have what amounts to two full time jobs, I'm hoping we don't have to update this mod till next fall;)

edit: for the techno types here's a couple interesting Pista related pages.
http://www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/f430_challenge.asp
http://www.motortrend.com/auto_shows/coverage/los_angeles/112_2006_los_angeles_auto_show/ferrari_f430_pista.html