Formation Lap

[Don McDowell]

I love the game, but the formation lap is killing it for me. I may be a casual racer, but I still am having a blast, up until I crash and want to restart. Laguna Seca is my track, and I start from the back, so this puts me back at the corkscrew. What a waste of my gaming time riding slowly behind the pack, almost stopping on the tight corners, and then finally going. Sure I get realism, but i just want to race. Reset me back to the start, or better still a standing start. Sorry if this is a duplicate, I found no one actually asking for it to be removed, so maybe I am missing something? Is there a option to make starts standing starts? Thanks.

[Saffaboy]

This game is based on and replicates a specific series. There are no standing starts. I have read a lot of complaints about ACC and I have to be honest by saying this is by far the most pedantic.

Maybe do qualy and start further to the front?

[goblueteam]

if your playing single player there is a way somewhere to make it a short rolling start....honestly why are you starting from the back anyways why dont you start with a qualifying session or random spot.

i find it kind of strange how people want to start at the back with the AI on lower settings

the formation lap is a normal thing in racing

another option would be only select 10 cars to race against then you would be in the 5th-6th row.

anyways the formation lap is in every normal race in ACC a sometimes public lobbies will have the short rolling start but its sort of rare not happening that often these days

[Don McDowell]

Its not really as bad as all that. I start from the back because I like to make passes. I try to get the AI to make it so I can only make it to 2nd. That guy in first is fast. That is my kind of racing. If I wanted to be up front I would just put myself there. I knew I would hear about it. "We don't do standing starts" and "we won't include the full Nord course". You can be that way, but you alienate some folks that might just turn out to be good racers. I can go back to PCars 2 and do anything I want. Grid Legends lets me drive my own car. That is fun. Neither one requires a cool down session before I can race again. It's like a commercial, I should go get a sandwich if it would just drive itself :). I want to have fun. Don't be so hard on a guy just asking. What if there were a hidden "fun" option I didn't know about? Thanks for responding though, any response is good.

[Pete Gaimari]

We would just like to see you qualify instead of picking off easy setting AI. ACC is a pretty serious sim and most of us take it that way. You can play anyway you want but it might be better to not ask for ways to make it easier.

I know in Championship mode we can set the starts the way we want. Maybe you could do those?

[Don McDowell]

I get it... I once spent weeks just doing a flying lap at Nord in a F1 car (PC2). Yes, something that doesn't happen in real life, but I was pretty high in the hot lap standings for awhile. Kinda like qualifying. But not, in that if i ruined it badly, I would restart and try again, and again. Only if I was near the end and crashed would I continue, to get more seat time later on in the lap.I am not a career guy. In ACC I want to try all tracks and cars before I settle on what I want my goal to be. The Aston is a great starter car. You say a serious sim. Great, I want that. At the ripe old age of 68, I have played them all. Test Drive on the commodore 64, then Pcs with world circuit, Grand Prix 4. I spent countless hours in INDY 500. The first one, he had the physics down even then. The list of games I have bought and played is really endless. I would drag the wife each week to "Electronic Boutique" to see what was new. No internet you had to go to the store to see. Each week i would find some title that races, flies, or shoots and bring it home. You knew it was a good game if the box was heavy, lots of diskettes! Man 8 or 10 1.44s and you had some real graphics! Each game was always 49.99 which at the time came to 54.11 with tax. I started bringing exactly 54.11 :)
I am a seasoned, if not a serious racer looking for a blast. ACC gives it, but don't crash! :)
I guess as one with more laps than most of you, I get impatient and just want to race.
Forgive my impatience. And forgive my rambling. Just trying to show i am no nube trying a racing game (sim, sorry :)) and finding it too hard.
Cheers all you racers.. Now lets talk about steering wheels... Just kidding :)

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by forbigd:

Its not really as bad as all that. I start from the back because I like to make passes. I try to get the AI to make it so I can only make it to 2nd. That guy in first is fast. That is my kind of racing. If I wanted to be up front I would just put myself there. I knew I would hear about it. "We don't do standing starts" and "we won't include the full Nord course". You can be that way, but you alienate some folks that might just turn out to be good racers. I can go back to PCars 2 and do anything I want. Grid Legends lets me drive my own car. That is fun. Neither one requires a cool down session before I can race again. It's like a commercial, I should go get a sandwich if it would just drive itself :). I want to have fun. Don't be so hard on a guy just asking. What if there were a hidden "fun" option I didn't know about? Thanks for responding though, any response is good.

I start from pits at online and may get from 20th~24th to 10th~5th~2nd~1st or even doing a lap over most of the entire field in 20min race.

Start from the pits if you want a standing start from the very back of the grid and do your overtakes.

[Shoestring]

I do the same thing, I always start in last place, it just enjoyable to me to try and work through the field. I use the option for the shorter rolling start, but sounds like you are doing the same. It is different at different tracks. Like COTA and Valencia you start closer. Laguna Seca does start you at the corkscrew, so that one takes a little longer. Basically just have to deal with it, it does not take that long, though, it can just feel like it sometimes!

[Pete Gaimari]

Originally posted by forbigd:

I get it... I once spent weeks just doing a flying lap at Nord in a F1 car (PC2). Yes, something that doesn't happen in real life, but I was pretty high in the hot lap standings for awhile. Kinda like qualifying. But not, in that if i ruined it badly, I would restart and try again, and again. Only if I was near the end and crashed would I continue, to get more seat time later on in the lap.I am not a career guy. In ACC I want to try all tracks and cars before I settle on what I want my goal to be. The Aston is a great starter car. You say a serious sim. Great, I want that. At the ripe old age of 68, I have played them all. Test Drive on the commodore 64, then Pcs with world circuit, Grand Prix 4. I spent countless hours in INDY 500. The first one, he had the physics down even then. The list of games I have bought and played is really endless. I would drag the wife each week to "Electronic Boutique" to see what was new. No internet you had to go to the store to see. Each week i would find some title that races, flies, or shoots and bring it home. You knew it was a good game if the box was heavy, lots of diskettes! Man 8 or 10 1.44s and you had some real graphics! Each game was always 49.99 which at the time came to 54.11 with tax. I started bringing exactly 54.11 :)
I am a seasoned, if not a serious racer looking for a blast. ACC gives it, but don't crash! :)
I guess as one with more laps than most of you, I get impatient and just want to race.
Forgive my impatience. And forgive my rambling. Just trying to show i am no nube trying a racing game (sim, sorry :)) and finding it too hard.
Cheers all you racers.. Now lets talk about steering wheels... Just kidding :)

Ever try Grand Prix Legends? I've raced it since 2000 and never got bored with it. I've always ha a thing for mid 60's F1 cars. No aids or help. It's all driver. They didn't even wear seatbelts then. They thought thought it was safer to be thrown out than stay in the car during a wreck. ??

Well, it's your choice to race the way you want to. Personally, i'd rather battle it out with 10th place for the whole race than work through the whole field. I'd find it more rewarding but that's me. I like cars that are hard to drive. Which is why I stuck with GPL for so long. I'm also no youngster. I just turned 80 in Dec. I've got a bit old for long races but i'm fine with sprint races.

Happy racing to you.

btw...I wasn't happy with my first post, so I deleted it.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by Pete Gaimari:

Originally posted by forbigd:

I get it... I once spent weeks just doing a flying lap at Nord in a F1 car (PC2). Yes, something that doesn't happen in real life, but I was pretty high in the hot lap standings for awhile. Kinda like qualifying. But not, in that if i ruined it badly, I would restart and try again, and again. Only if I was near the end and crashed would I continue, to get more seat time later on in the lap.I am not a career guy. In ACC I want to try all tracks and cars before I settle on what I want my goal to be. The Aston is a great starter car. You say a serious sim. Great, I want that. At the ripe old age of 68, I have played them all. Test Drive on the commodore 64, then Pcs with world circuit, Grand Prix 4. I spent countless hours in INDY 500. The first one, he had the physics down even then. The list of games I have bought and played is really endless. I would drag the wife each week to "Electronic Boutique" to see what was new. No internet you had to go to the store to see. Each week i would find some title that races, flies, or shoots and bring it home. You knew it was a good game if the box was heavy, lots of diskettes! Man 8 or 10 1.44s and you had some real graphics! Each game was always 49.99 which at the time came to 54.11 with tax. I started bringing exactly 54.11 :)
I am a seasoned, if not a serious racer looking for a blast. ACC gives it, but don't crash! :)
I guess as one with more laps than most of you, I get impatient and just want to race.
Forgive my impatience. And forgive my rambling. Just trying to show i am no nube trying a racing game (sim, sorry :)) and finding it too hard.
Cheers all you racers.. Now lets talk about steering wheels... Just kidding :)

Ever try Grand Prix Legends? I've raced it since 2000 and never got bored with it. I've always ha a thing for mid 60's F1 cars. No aids or help. It's all driver. They didn't even wear seatbelts then. They thought thought it was safer to be thrown out than stay in the car during a wreck. ??

Well, it's your choice to race the way you want to. Personally, i'd rather battle it out with 10th place for the whole race than work through the whole field. I'd find it more rewarding but that's me. I like cars that are hard to drive. Which is why I stuck with GPL for so long. I'm also no youngster. I just turned 80 in Dec. I've got a bit old for long races but i'm fine with sprint races.

Happy racing to you.

btw...I wasn't happy with my first post, so I deleted it.

Pete ...
Given how online races "tend to be" at start you are not safe even starting 1st place, starting midfield the first 2 laps is like playing survival mode unarmed at a WW2 simulator trying to reach the enemy going out of the trenches and dodging chaingun shots flying everywhere, much more like that at the first few turns, specially T1 and the first straights (before and after T1).

[Pete Gaimari]

True, but it feels good to survive. :-)

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by Pete Gaimari:

True, but it feels good to survive. :-)

Given the amount of times I start from pits and after a few turns I went from 20th to 10th or 5th . . .
At many races there are not many that survive the first few turns.

[EF_Neo1st]

How do it feel starting at midfield at open lobby:
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxVBsaQHrSBp2K0q8iaonEdBoxmROM2gr_

[Don McDowell]

Originally posted by Pete Gaimari:

Originally posted by forbigd:

I get it... I once spent weeks just doing a flying lap at Nord in a F1 car (PC2). Yes, something that doesn't happen in real life, but I was pretty high in the hot lap standings for awhile. Kinda like qualifying. But not, in that if i ruined it badly, I would restart and try again, and again. Only if I was near the end and crashed would I continue, to get more seat time later on in the lap.I am not a career guy. In ACC I want to try all tracks and cars before I settle on what I want my goal to be. The Aston is a great starter car. You say a serious sim. Great, I want that. At the ripe old age of 68, I have played them all. Test Drive on the commodore 64, then Pcs with world circuit, Grand Prix 4. I spent countless hours in INDY 500. The first one, he had the physics down even then. The list of games I have bought and played is really endless. I would drag the wife each week to "Electronic Boutique" to see what was new. No internet you had to go to the store to see. Each week i would find some title that races, flies, or shoots and bring it home. You knew it was a good game if the box was heavy, lots of diskettes! Man 8 or 10 1.44s and you had some real graphics! Each game was always 49.99 which at the time came to 54.11 with tax. I started bringing exactly 54.11 :)
I am a seasoned, if not a serious racer looking for a blast. ACC gives it, but don't crash! :)
I guess as one with more laps than most of you, I get impatient and just want to race.
Forgive my impatience. And forgive my rambling. Just trying to show i am no nube trying a racing game (sim, sorry :)) and finding it too hard.
Cheers all you racers.. Now lets talk about steering wheels... Just kidding :)

Ever try Grand Prix Legends? I've raced it since 2000 and never got bored with it. I've always ha a thing for mid 60's F1 cars. No aids or help. It's all driver. They didn't even wear seatbelts then. They thought thought it was safer to be thrown out than stay in the car during a wreck. ??

Well, it's your choice to race the way you want to. Personally, i'd rather battle it out with 10th place for the whole race than work through the whole field. I'd find it more rewarding but that's me. I like cars that are hard to drive. Which is why I stuck with GPL for so long. I'm also no youngster. I just turned 80 in Dec. I've got a bit old for long races but i'm fine with sprint races.

Happy racing to you.

btw...I wasn't happy with my first post, so I deleted it.

===============
GPL is/was great. The open wheel cars. the older tracks. Spa ..well what can you say about Spa? I love the old Lotus' with the suspension hanging out for all to see. Yes, getting around a lap in GPL was work, and rewarding. Any game I try now that has the old open wheel cars has a leg up on the rest. I remember I just couldn't run GPL anymore and stopped.
Seat belts.... the term they used for not using seat belts was "thrown clear". "In a wreck I would rather be thrown clear than to stay with the wreck" Can you imagine?
Back to Spa... I don't remember the game, perhaps World Circuit, I thought it was great, but so many choices. I knew if I wanted to get good, I would have to practice a track until I knew it without thinking about it. I choose Spa because it was the longest track in the list. Over the years I have come to love Spa, If i had once chance to go see a race in Europe, it would be Spa. So many corners, where would I go to see it the best? Around halfway there are two lefts taken together to make one big one, that is one hairy corner. :)

Anyway, thanks all for responding. I have found Grid Legends to be really good/fun too. Always liked Grid. The Chicago track is a blast. And it lets me drive my own beast. (2021 Shelby GT500). I thought there was mention of one in ACC but it won't let me look at all the cars. Yeah, I just want to cherry-pick my cars and tracks and have fun.

I think I am just making sure I don't get frustrated. Many perfect laps can be ruined by one mistake. Whats at stake is too high. I don't want to have to care so much I get upset when I lose. You know how a badly timed pass with stupid AI can ruin your whole session.
So no career, no pressure. Just one race at a time. :)

On the other hand games that allow you to reverse what happened and try again are not for me. Backing up past a wreck so you can try the corner again seems to be TOO much cheating. I just start over, I never use "go back in time mode".

[Pete Gaimari]

Since you brought up Spa. Have you seen the new Spa 67 track the community made? It's hard to believe it's a 1998 game. Take a look at it. These are AI he's racing.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gpl+spa+as+good+as+it+gets&sxsrf=APwXEdf0aC6gn0sH_dHw0y0IczwRyzYoxw%3A1685194413469&ei=rQZyZOehHPqs0PEPuYOTqA4&ved=0ahUKEwinrJGzzpX_AhV6FjQIHbnBBOUQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=gpl+spa+as+good+as+it+gets&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIFCCEQqwIyBQghEKsCMgUIIRCrAjoECAAQRzoGCAAQFhAeOggIABCGAxCLAzoJCAAQFhAeEIsDOgUIIRCgAUoECEEYAFCJD1jYW2CgYmgAcAJ4AIABf4gBjA6SAQQxMy42mAEAoAEBuAECwAEByAEI&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:2bd08706,vid:2nPQrhn4UwI

[Don McDowell]

I had no idea it still could be played. The videos look fantastic. I will figure out how to get it running here, Thanks!