So I've been sim racing for the past 5 or 6 years, but only against the AI cars. I have never raced online. I'm 60 years old, and used to race cars in the '70's and '80's around our local tracks. Then I got married and all of that went out the window. I retired 10 years ago, and find myself on Automobilsta 2, racing every day. It would be nice to maybe try my luck online, but not sure where to start. My question is, is there a guide on how to join races? I race in VR, does that make a difference? I also like using the H pattern shifter, so if I race cars that use that kind of shifter, does everybody in that race have to use H pattern shifters? Are there organized groups that I can join? Where would I find them? Questions like this. YouTube has a lot of Automobilsta 2 videos, but none that answers my questions that I can find. Any help is welcome.
My question is, is there a guide on how to join races? You can just join open public lobbys and have some fun. Keep in mind most of the people have zero awareness. There are so websites where you can join leagues. Better for your heart as well I race in VR, does that make a difference? Racing in VR is incredible! That surenly does make a difference because you will always find the perfect spot for the apex. Or can use your surroundings much better. I also like using the H pattern shifter, so if I race cars that use that kind of shifter, does everybody in that race have to use H pattern shifters? Sadly no. People can just toggle autocluch on and use SEQ or Paddles, etc.Keep in mind you've a huge advantage with H-shifter cause you can shift directly from 5 to 3, etc. Also it kinda makes you slower cause you need more time shifting. It's all about what pleasures you the most. Are there organized groups that I can join? Yes, ofcourse. There's Racedepartment, Justrrace, Simraging.gp, simleague pro, RWB, etc Where would I find them? Reddit, Discord, and Fan Sites & Community Events Welcome!
If you have been simming that long against AI bots and even have some RL experience (from long way back) my guess is that your driving skills and your awareness is way better than the average driver on public MP servers. And I guess too that you would be surprised if you did know how many of your age (or older) regularly are joining MP races in different sims. So dont get patronized to feel that your place is "only" in some retired peoples leagues. Your calmness and selfcontrol is probably much better than the average uber-agressive MP driver on public servers. ByTheWay: Hehe my advice to you is to not get your expectations of other MP drivers skills to high up before you join your first MP race Because even if you consider yourself a MP rookie you are probably in more control than most of the drivers you will meet.
@tank2 You're welcome to join AMS Unofficial's Discord which holds regular races of all types for AMS1 & 2. The members there are friendly and helpful. Join the AMS UNOFFICIAL Discord Server! Or visit justrace.net for free racing and rating systems in various sims, including AMS2. Good luck!
I don't have Facebook, but I see that others have suggested Discord, which I do have. I'll have a peek at that group when I run across somebody with a Facebook account. Thanks for the tip.
I pressed the wrong button when I replyed to you so here it is again. What a great comment! All good information. I'll scour the websites that you suggested. Thanks for replying.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm about to hit 45 years of accident free, and mostly ticket free, driving. And that includes my crazy years when I treated traffic laws as suggestions. When I race against the AI, I respect track limits and try not to bump them (too hard). I've watched some races on youtube, and for sure, there are idiots, but there are also great drivers with great comradery. I know that it will take time to navigate toward a group that is more aligned to my style and the type of cars that I like to drive. I can drive practically anything (farm raised). But I prefer stock car type racing, like I used to build and drive back in the day. Don't get me wrong, open wheelers are a blast, but I like things like no electronic help, eg. traction control, or assists. Setting up and driving an overpowered car with really poor handling and worse brake performance reminds me of what I used to drive in the 70's. And we weren't racing new cars, no, no, 50's, 60's. Anything Chevy with a good motor and that we could buy cheap. "With what we destroyed racing, and wrecking for parts, I would have been a very rich man selling them at the Barrett Jackson auction.
If I may elaborate a bit more about expectations before and after you have got taken your MP virginity in some public races. Remember there is allways the solution to find a good league using the cars you like. Because most leagues are build upon some kind of mutual comradery which means that you will more seldom find the uber-agressive unskilled "kids" I mentioned above. If I take myself in my 5+ years membership of iRacing then I had 2 parallel careers: 1. Joining iRacings official races where you earn (or loose) official iRating AND SafetyRatings. 2. Joining one of iRacings private leagues where you (mostly) get very fair and friendly races instead. ByTheWay: Hehe I had also a 3rd career in iRacing. iRacings official TT career where you also earn/loose iRating & SR. Earn/loose while you fight with others trying to top as many TT Leaderboards as your skills allow. And after abandoning iRacing its mainly this 3rd career Im working on in AMS2 & Raceroom. With some success
Hi Scraper. I seen your message on Discord. Thanks for the welcome. I cannot seem to complete my profile on the JustRace.net AMS page. It keeps telling me that my time zone is off, but it doesn't give me an option to change it. Also, the windows to link your steam and discord accounts don't allow you to input anything. Soooo......I think that I have to get a hold of support.
Sorry about that. I've passed your message to the JustRace team - they usually sort things out quickly.
Hey there. I'm one of the JustRace devs. I will DM you on discord as it is easier for me to keep track on support issues there but here is some info. to help as well. The time zone is needed to ensure that all events show times that are correct for you. You should just be able to go to the profile page and change it. When it tells you your time zone is wrong it provides a link to your profile: Profile Page: JustRace As you can see there is an "auto detect" button and a long list of time zones. Just click "Auto Detect" and if for any reason that fails locate your timezone in the list. As for the Steam ID (Discord not needed at moment so you can ignore that) On the profile page (same page as before) just click the button to "sign in through steam" it will take you through the steam sign in process on the steam web site so that we can confirm your steamid is genuine
Just an update. I did manage to get through the registration process by changing browsers. Mozillia works just fine. Now to practice.