OVG Race School

OVGRS (Race School) is /ovg/'s upcoming beginner series in RFactor2 organised by Valrys !!armHIyozW6d and RBDK. It utilises low powered cars that punish bad driving habits and allow wheel to wheel racing without the danger of a slight mistake leaving you and your competitors upside down and on fire at 150mph. The aim of this series is to go back to the basics of driving, racing and set-up to allow people to hone much needed skills in a relatively low pressure environment without overwhelming them with horsepower or downforce, as well as to introduce people to the driving and tyre model of rFactor 2.

You can download the cracked game at the wiki page.

If you want to join, please sign up and keep an eye on the Google Document for more information.

Race Format

The precise race format will vary from event to event depending on the track, the cars used, and the learning intent of the session, so please check on the google doc where this will be listed as a note on the track name.

The general format of the event though, will be a number of short races of around 10 laps, 2 in Miatas, 2 in Skip Barbers (for the first few events at least). These will be preceded by a 2 minute qualifying session, and no warmup to keep the events moving along quickly. Before this though, the event will start with a 30 minute practice session; this session aims to provide time for people to collaborate in their improvement, by swapping setup tips, watching each others lines, or practicing alternate lines for overtaking. It also allows for people on busy schedules, or who are simply lazy procrastinators, to have practice time before the racing begins. During this time, if any of the competitors wish to explain a technical or racing aspect to their fellow competitors, they can do so at this time via talking on mumble and/or via letting people watch them through their onboard camera.

Finishing positions and points are not important for this series, as long as you have fun and improve your driving and racing. However, the championship points will work as follows: When you finish a race, you will be awarded points for your finishing positions, 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points, 3rd = 3 points etc. You will receive these points for all the races that occur that session. Then, these points will be tallied, and the person with the lowest score will win overall, the second lowest come second, third lowest come third etc. Anyone who skips a race in a session, but competed in the others, will be assumed to have finished last in the race they missed. Any car that DNFs will be awarded points as if it came last of all starters. Anyone who DNFs all races in a session will be classified as an overall DNF. Any two or more drivers who end the session tied on overall points will be separated via a tie-break of highest single finish.

Rules

As this is meant to be a fun, relaxed series for people to learn in, there will not be much in the way of rules. However, due to the nature of rF2 and its mod package system, it will be possible to potentially take a Miata to a Skippy race or vice versa. If a competitor wishes to do this, they will not be kicked or banned, but their qualifying time will be removed, all their race results from the session will not count (they will be marked as excluded) and if they impede the race of their competitors in any way they will be booted from the session and not allowed to return for the remaining races that day. Anyone who repeatedly shows up in the wrong car and disrupts the racing will receive a series ban.

Track Lessons

All tracks on the schedule have been chosen for very specific reasons, to convey a specific lesson or offer potential for practicing something in particular

• Barbargallo

Some tricky off camber corners here, with a couple of long left and right handers where getting the car balanced on entrance and keeping is so will be crucial to a quick lap time. A fun little circuit to race on in general where competitors should be able to find overtaking opportunities in abundance, if they have the pace and the skill

• Malaysia South Loop

Contains two tricky corners where the braking zones are difficult/impossible to completely straightline, thus making the approach and perfection of them very tricky. The final corner here is arguably one of the hardest corners to get right on any circuit anywhere. Turn 1 also has no brake markers while being an overtaking zone, allowing for practice in judging distance and braking points when there are no external aids

• Symmons Plains

Here there is a very tricky turn 1, where the approach is not entirely straight. All corners on the circuit involve a high speed straight into a big braking zone, into a slow corner. Drivers here will be able to practice their slipstreaming and their heaving braking in general but also judging their brake point when having excess speed from slipstreaming but will also have a compromised line into the next turn. Clean apexes and corner exits will be the key to maximising speed on the straights.

• Cadwell Park

Known as the mini-nurburgring, this track will be a punishing test of all a driver knows: crazy altitude changes, weird camber, blind corners, downhill braking zones - it's all here. On top of this, the track is awfully narrow, meaning that drivers will find it excellent practice in finding ways around uncooperative cars in narrow sections, the art of setting up an overtake to make the most of your few opportunities, or simply following a slower car around the circuit without bumping them off by mistake or in frustration

• Sachsenring

This one has been picked especially for the FWD cars, as a driver with no/bad FWD experience will shred their tyres into little pieces on the long corners here - this is a place where there will be a big difference between simply being fast, and being the one who drives consistently fast enough to triumph

• Lime Rock Park

Fun track to race on, has a number of fast corners and altitude changes which test drivers, particularly the first climb up the hill, where bad steering or throttle input can send a rookie straight off the track. The double apex first corner can also be tough to master. For multi-class racing, there is also the difficulties of following a slower car through the fast section, and finding an appropriate place to pass

• Silverstone

Much maligned by ovg, this is still a circuit that throws almost every type of corner you could ask for at you. If you can run a quick lap at Silverstone, you don't have anything to fear from any other circuit (other than an elevation change...)

• Sebring

A classic race track, with plenty of bumps, worrisome kerbs and a variety of corners despite being flat as a pancake, if one can master the line around this circuit and emerge fast, then they clearly have a firm grasp of the fundamentals. A fun place to race on as well.