anonymous clouds

The big race is on tomorrow night, the OEC 5 Hours of Le Mans. I will be driving solo against some really fast drivers and teams, some of which I haven't raced with before, as this has become a joint event with MRtI League. I'm in the lower midfield on the practice leaderboard, but I think I will be in a better position in the race as most if not all of the fast drivers won't be driving their car the whole time. I should be able to make up some time against the slower drivers of their respective teams.

I was able to complete a half-distance practice run and was planning to do the full 5 hours against the AI, but my left shoulder and my lower back are starting to hurt, so these last few days I have been doing just 1 hour runs. Anyway, I think the setup is good, not the fastest but predictable and easy to drive even as the fuel load goes down and the tires wear out.

What's crazy is I still have a chance to win the overall championship. I thought Dimitri had won it all, his lead in the points standings too big to overcome. He has dominated this season, winning every race he has entered except for Spa where he disco'ed. But I checked the rules recently and found out that this special event awards more points than the usual. If Dimitri doesn't score, and I win, I will get enough points to take the season championship. It is not impossible.

There's been talk that rFactor is dying and this event will be the last great race for the rFactor platform. It is hard to deny, as most of the serious competitors and leagues have upgraded to rFactor 2 and other more advanced simulation software years ago. It seems that the few good drivers still on rFactor nowadays are guys with low-end PCs or have no means to buy the latest software (like me). The others, they seem to be beginners or dabblers who are just trying out sim racing.

I've felt a change in the attitudes of the racers I encounter now on the grid. It's like they are just toying with their cars. They don't seem to appreciate the very idea of online sim racing, and how far it has come. I think it is ordinary to them, just like any other multiplayer computer game. I don't know, it could be just my perception. There are still many leagues running rFactor, but the competition seems to have been watered down. Maybe I am just looking in the wrong places.

And so, even if I have improved in my driving, I am still just a backmarker. A-last-er, always last. It seems the real competition has left me behind. I have no idea, no plan on how to acquire rFactor 2 or any other current sim racing software. I leave it to the Racing Gods for now. Anyway, I am thinking of taking a short break after this Le Mans race. I have withdrawn from the Formula One 1991 series, and I got some stuff to do in the outside world in the coming weeks.