Temporary Leave of Absence: Over!

Hey guys!

*crickets*

Hello!?

If any of you are still out there and around listening, I want to re-introduce myself back to the game. I had several things hindering me from continuing the gaming world for a while (6 months now, it seems) but think I have settled in enough to get back into the game I love. I miss racing and quite frankly, racing competitively. It was real fun and organizing chaos is what I'm all about. I fired up the ole PS3 the other night, downloaded a host of GT5 updates, including the big one and whipped around a few tracks. It wasn't pretty, as I was just getting used to my new wheel the last time we were racing. Seeing the news around the new DLC and the 2.0 update will obviously expand the horizon within online racing series, as I clearly see the explosion of new series on GTPlanet. I will be active again in the very near future on GTP, hopefully getting my old thread moved to the new section to pick up right where we left off with the Endurance Series. I can say I'm excited to get back to racing again and I hope I can get on the track with some of the familiar racers I've competed with before. I'll be updating here and GTP with news, info and whatever else may come up. As always, feel free to drop me a line and contact me letting me know what's up, how you've been, and get me up to speed with everything GT5!

Thanks,

Swerve

Surprise Update Throws A Wrench In The Prize Pool [Update]

So, in the middle of the night PD decided to sneak in an update just one week after the v1.06 update hit our systems. With this update comes a fix for the ability to download ghost replays, along with a fix in the PP system that is now tire independent (which is a far better system). Also in the update, and quite shockingly, is PD's way of blocking "dupers" and exploiters. They implemented a cap of  1,000,000cr for a car to be traded. Now when I saw that statement I read between the lines. They actually used the term "trade" when all along it was a gifting system never meant for trading or at least they didn't launch the game with that in mind. So I'm taking this as a quick fix to some glaring rumors of people actually selling cars within the game on Ebay and  scamming people out of actual money. Therefore, I believe they are actually developing a system for us to really be able to "trade" cars. Something this drastic and without notice seems like a quick fix to save them from some PR nightmares and such and doesn't seem like the system is final. At least that is my take on the situation.

So, what does that mean for us in the meantime? Well, it does mean that the award of a Red Bull X2010 is not a possibility with the new cap in place. However, like said above, I don't believe this to be a permanent fix and feel that there will be the ability to legitimately trade or gift any car in the game once they figure out how to keep people from exploiting it. If in fact the system remains in place then a new prize will be put in its place. There are plenty of other desirable cars in the game under a million cr in which I will gladly award. I may even put up a "pool" of cars for the winner to choose from and may throw in some paints too.

Update: PD had temporarily lifted the 1 million cr cap until March 3rd. However, you can still only make one trade per PS3 console. That means no more gifting once a day from multiple accounts on the same console.

How Will Update 1.06 Change Our League Play?

Image by Fleaver

On the 18th of February, PD released yet another update to the game we play. Along with it comes loads of little tweaks, fixes, and additions. The most notable that will change our league play are: Performanc Points (PP), Weight Ballast, and Power Limiter. Let me take a moment and describe what each of these changes do.


Performance Points
This is a numbered rating given to each car relating to a class of sorts to which it should be competitive within. Anything related to improving the vehicles performance will have an effect on the cars performance points. Horsepower, weight, downforce, and tire grip are what make up the number and can result in the change of it up or down. The transmission, suspension, and drivetrain have no effect on the performance points.

Weight Ballast
This is pretty self explanitory. This option allows you to add weight to the car in 1kg increments up to 200kg max. It also allows you to shift that weight toward the front or back to better balance the vehicle or help in adjusting over/under steer issues. It is a very useful feature that would allow you to spring for all 3 weight reduction stages and add as little as 1kg at a time getting to the exact weight of the competition you're involved in.

Power Limiter
This feature is the most intriguing to me. It does exactly as it says too. The option allows for you to limit the vehicles power down to 50%. This option will also allow you to throw on more mods than normally and control the HP down to the needed level. I have very little experience so far with this option and so far it looks like it will be useful. By upping the horsepower then limiting it back down to a needed level, you will still reap the torque gain by the extra modifications done.

In summary, PD gave us another tool to regulate and class cars together in the online race world. Perfomance points can now be selected instead of a horsepower and weight limit for the room. You can't however use both at the same time, which I am a little disappointed in. Obviously, the PP and HP together wouldn't make any sense at all, but utilizing the weight limit along with the PP limit would be greatly benficial. I, for one, am glad PD implemented the PP system back into the online game. It bring a lot more closely competitive racing and allows an admin (like me!) to better class cars together for races. Though these changes have come along, they aren't going to be used in the ongoing series we have, mainly because the options weren't there at the time of drivers selecting their vehicles. Some, if not all of us would have likely chose a different vehicle to get closer to the regulations imposed. Secondly, the advantage would go to the ones who are able to get more time in with the game and options. It just wouldn't be fair to change the car regulations 3/4 of the way through the season. However, the options are great and they will be allowed in the future and will be stated in the regulation section of the related series.

If you have any questions feel free to write a comment below or get in the forum and ask away.

Facebook Fan Page Now Live

Image by Fleaver

After a couple of requests, I gave in. So now you can head on over to the number one social destination on the web (Facebook people) to get even more of our league. Stop on over and share your experience within our races and Gran Turismo 5 with fellow members and gamers alike. Feel free to post your photos and recaps from the races and whatever other related news you would like. I will post all of our pictures and make announcements on the Wall. If you're bored at work and/or you frequent the Facebook, then this is for you. I'll be slowly but surely working on it, building up the photo album database here over the next few days. Follow the link here or as posted in the column to the right.

Endurance Tour Kickoff Weekend

Well, this Sunday (7-9pm CST) marks the kickoff of a new series here at Swerve Tour Racing. It should be fun packed with at least an hour of racing for each event. There has been good response in the GTP forums with around 25 drivers registering. I hope everyone has picked their car by now and hope to see it diverse out there. Right now I think the Evo is dominating the sign ups.

With the races being long, heavy damage enable, racing the fastest laps won't be the only way to win. Tire wear, along with fuel consumption will make pit strategy the deciding factor. Staying off the walls will be huge, as limping around the huge Nurburgring 24h circuit will weigh heavily on your finish. So stay aggressive, but know when to keep it cool, and as always let's keep it clean.

After the race be sure to check back to the site for a recap, results, lap times, and pictures.

Easy Money

So we have some crafty guys out there determined to get the most out of GT5. Fleaver, one of our own, and a heavy contributor to the league, has come up with a way to "stick it to the man" with some minor McGuyver tactics. He managed to max out his bankroll overnight and I couldn't help but give him props. Click the link here for all the goodies.

Week 2 is in the books

Well, week 2 has come and gone in the Swerve Tour Race League. In what was a low turnout from the previous week, we made due. It could have been me postponing it back a hour and a half for the watching of the NCAA BCS National Championship Game or that I just run my races too late. I had several new members come in and ask me to join and they did not show. It seems we had a really good fanbase build this site to everyone hibernating for the winter. The races still have the qualifying bug that we can't figure out but the action was still good. In the 400hp division series, the up front racers had a good battle going on til Fleaver had to pit (he doesn't like his tires much) and could not make up the ground this week, despite laying down the fastest lap times. Racerx_52 and myself (swervesauce) had a very nice battle on the last lap for 3rd spot. He had me pinned pretty good til we hit the last bend and I was able to garner just a little more grip on the corner and take him on the inside. In the big boy series (700hp) it was a good battle for only a couple laps. I did not watch the whole replay yet so I don't know what happen to Fleaver on lap 3 or 4 as he was out in front and just like that dropped to 3rd. I for one, forgot to do engine maintenance to my ride, along with an oil change and later found that I was down to 664hp and did not have a good tune for my car this week. I admit I didn't practice as much as I wanted but I was just ugly out there. I wrecked twice and once pretty severely damaged the front left and right rear. That turned out to be one hell of a battle to get to the pits. This week was a little disappointing but I feel with a little more work on my end and a little more support in forums around the net, we will be able to make this next series one of a kind.

Now this was expected only because this is my first attempt at hosting a league of any form in the gaming world. I have been the commissioner many times in a fantasy football league because I enjoy the work. I enjoy putting together site and information and resulting in summaries like this one here. It looks as though we need to find a niche. A race or series of races that no one else is doing that will make the site stand out. So, from that on I have come up with the series labeled as Nurburgring Nordschleife Endurance Series at the top of this page. Now, I love the course and racing for an extended period of time is how I prefer to throw down. Fleaver and I have started discussing what should take place in this series in the forum section. I have also made a thread over at GTPlanet stating the goal of my idea. Things haven't gone so smoothly over there at GTP, and I have no idea why. It seems there are tons of racers wanting in on something and there seems to be no where for them to go. A lot of the series are either full or already ongoing and I for one have been left to wonder what is going on with my capability to reel in some talent. Ok, rant over.

Ridiculous Video I stumbled upon