I think a break will be good, and hopefully a lot of people will feel refreshed and want to come back sometime in the new year. Until then, here are some other leagues you might be interested in:

Roadkill Racing Series (short track racing, CRASHCAR)

Infinite Sportscar Series (endurance racing, stock car road racing)

Dang, I miss one weekend and now nobody wants to race. Are we not racing at all this weekend then?

That is unfortunate that attendance has been down and understandable that not everyone can make all the races lately, and that some are feeling a little burnt out. A break might be what we need, though I hope people don't forget to come back when we get started up again.

We should use this time to think about how to change things going forward. Two nights of racing instead of three, perhaps. Maybe do a mid-week race and then a weekend race, or something along those lines. No more tracking of points, just race for fun, not for a championship (unless we get attendance back up again). I'm just spitballing here. I think most of these things have already been suggested, I'm just listing a few of them out that might be worth implementing. I'm down for just about anything. Maybe not endurance racing, but just about anything else works for me.

I'll definitely be back, I didn't buy this cockpit for nothing! :P

I have some ideas floating around too, but I'll let them sit for a bit until we're ready to get rolling again. Though I do agree with doing two races per week, hopefully one of them being our crazy variety of wacky races known as FNT. :D

Happy holidays you guys. Hope everyone's doing well. Looking forward to racing with you again in 2015. :)

@mouse: So, I'm feeling the need for speed again. Don't think we would get a proper league race going right now, but why not try to join some official or hosted racing together?

I'm feeling it as well! The break has me feeling refreshed. My subscription ended, but I'm going to renew in a week or two. I want to try to run the full NASCAR season; it seems like a great idea but who knows if I'll be able to stick with it. We should definitely get in some races soon!

When does the next official season start?

I was planing 2015 as my year of getting back into iRacing, then my computer went into the shitter and I had this two week work trip. I plan on building out a pc next week to get back at it so I'm down for racing in 2015.

@khann said:

March 16th (I think). Sucks that iRacing doesn't let you view their forum if your subscription is out. It'd be nice to lurk and see what's going on.

Having their forum locked behind a paywall has always been a pain. They should just let everyone view it, but only members can post.

I've been thinking about getting back into racing as well. I've barely hooked the wheel up since the league took a break. I liked our scheduled weekend races. Gave me something to think about and plan for each week. Without that, I feel kinda aimless and rarely even think about joining official races, even though those happen all hours of the day. Plus, it always feels weird racing against random people. I liked racing with you guys. I joined this league at the same time I bought into iRacing, so to me the league and the sim are synonymous.

Attendance will probably still be a factor though. Those races we did where we opened it up to the public went reasonably well. I'd be up for something like that again. Maybe do like a hosted weekend session for a couple weeks, see how that goes.

Too bad we didn't put a team together for the Daytona 24 (though it would have been a calamity for Team GB). We could do the Sebring 12 in March. :D

@mouse: Yeah, 24h is a bit much. Would be great if they had a 6h event, but even 12h of Sebring sounds pretty reasonable for me, at least from a time investment standpoint. I'd like to experience the challenges, joys and frustrations of team racing. Building a setup that's reasonable for different people seems fun and so does the actual racing which I imagine to be quite different. Luckily (sadly?) iRacing does not have changing track conditions or that would be a whole other beast as well.

Any race can be a 6 hour race if we crash partway through :D (or a 3-minute race, etc.)

I was out for the 24 hours of Daytona but I would have been down for trying it. I've tried to do some endurance events with my Dad in the past but haven't tried since the driver swaps. We should try to fill a team or two for Sebring for sure.

Any updates on Giant Bomb racing (iracing or otherwise)? I don't think I've really touched my wheel since we went on break and I think I'm finally ready to race again on one service or another. I feel like we have a good group of guys, and we just need to find some new recruits, maybe when pCars is released if it isn't broken as all hell others in the GB community might want to get involved.

I'd like to get back to racing again as well. I haven't touched my wheel in 3 months and still need to renew iRacing.

We should race.

EDIT: Subscription renewed. I'm ready to go!

Hey guys! I'm back from a vacation (both from iRacing and work etc.) and pretty keen to get back to it, I really want to get back to the V8 Super cars but I'd be happy to particiapte in a weekly Star Mazda or GT3 series with you guys. Also keen for the Sebring endurance event at the end of the month. I'd suggest we try to build a team of at least 3 people so if anyone can't do their share it's not game over for anyone, and it should mean there is always someone to talk to about strategy or whatever and to help keep focus. It would be super cool if we could get more than 1 entry though :D

How about Friday Night Thunder next week, and again the week after.. on the Monza oval. :D

I'm definitely in for the Sebring race (and probably the other Endurance races for this year too; they all sound fun). I'm sure we'd have no problem getting a team or two together.

EDIT: You know, the team GT3 series is only going to be two races per week next season, so they'll get good attendance. Anyone want to run those? They're 3 hour races. Seems perfect for us!

I'd be keen for a Monza oval race if someone wants to organise it :D

Also in for the Sebring race. I think we could pretty easily field a couple of teams.

@khann: @mouse: I'd love to do some team racing and it's great to hear that next season they'll do the GT3 series like they were supposed to from the start. Unfortunately I won't be around for the Sebring race as I'm driving home for easter + Wrestlemania. But otherwise I'm always down for some racing, any time and day of the week.

Very much looking forward to getting back into iRacing on a more regular basis again, and really excited about Monza! I'd be up for either the oval configuration, or the road+oval config if they include that option. I'd even be willing to buy the Lotus 49 if we decide that's the car we're going to race with.

Didn't know about the schedule change in the team GT3. That sounds cool. I'm going to do the full GT3 next season and looking for a C or D class to get in for the credits as well. If the team thing works that could fit the bill. I'm also wanting to do Sebring. I'll make a new thread for that to plan easier.

Do you guys want to do Friday Night Thunder tomorrow night? I'll host it a race if so.

EDIT: We'll be running tomorrow at our usual time: 9:00 PM EST / 02:00 GMT. It'll be Gen6 at Daytona!

Woo!

Some nice last lap Daytona action from tonight. Got a bit crazy in the open server for a while there. Join us...

Was fun...but now I look back and wonder how I ever managed to do three races per weekend...just one and I'm tired now :P

@slowbird: I think three races per weekend was part of the problem.

Yeah 3 races + all the practise for each of them was way too much.

Yeah I think 3 races was rough on people. I only ever did FD so it was easy for me, but I couldn't imagine doing all 3.

Are people interested in bringing the league back or more looking for some FND stuff? I'm good either way

Just so you guys know, I'm hosting again this Friday at the same time. Do note that daylight savings bullshit happened, and it will still be at 9:00PM ET.

Since I'm hosting and have the power (haha), I've decided we're going to race the new Trucks at Monza (It'll be the combined layout without the chicanes, so we can go fast!).

BE THERE!!!!!!!!!!

Does that mean it's an hour earlier, or later?

@khann: Should be an hour later for you now. According to my time zone app, 9:00PM ET = 2:00PM NZ.

@mouse: That's actually an hour earlier :D

@khann: Yep, you're right!

Just in case I messed up and the NZ time I posted is wrong, I'll be sure to tweet an hour or so before the server opens. ;)

Well Monza is just as fun as I'd hoped. The layouts without the chicanes aren't exactly the same as the original historic track, but it's nice they included the extra circuits. The oval track is every bit as ridiculous as it should be, especially in a modern day Indycar.

Are we racing just the new trucks this week, or a combination of the old and new models? I'm not sure I'm going to buy the new ones considering I never got around to ever doing a race with the old one.

Aren't the new ones just different models? Same physics, right?

The new trucks are 50 lbs. lighter. Horsepower is the same. Not sure what all else might be different.

Correction... they list them as 50 lbs. lighter on one page, but show them as being identical weight on another. I have no idea.

Yep, I was wrong. I got a $5 refund for buying the old truck though, which is nice. I was probably going to pick up the Toyota anyway. Might as well add the old truck in though, for those that don't want to buy a new one.

I'll put the old one in too. Though one of the new ones is a Toyota, so it's worth buying for that alone. :D

I tried the 49 Lotus at Monza combined yesterday and that is as much of a beast as you'd expect. Dropping into the oval from the straight feels like dropping down a skate ramp. My only real world comparison I can make. It's kind of nuts. Also a pack of 49's on the high banks looks pretty.

I did some laps at Sebring in the new Ford GT3. It's more stable I'd say. It's still a feels like a heavy pig with the new baseline setup but we can see what the setup gurus come up with. The new suspension changes seemed to have mixed everyone up though. All the setups need to be changed and it might need more than just changing the spring perch for the ride height to get the balance back. Not sure. I didn't do any laps in the BMW to compare yet.

The steam integration is available for everyone now. It's cool enough and seems to work fine on my PC. Some game's steam overlay makes everything chug but works fine in iRacing. Is there a GBRL steam group already?
The only thing I bought was Monza so if we do trucks Friday I'd be cool if we enable racing the old ones still. Hmm what is a truck time vs a Lotus 49? :)

Trucks don't work on the combined layout; it doesn't let you extend the gears long enough. We'll have to run a different car. I'm just going throw 5 different cars in there and let everyone pick, because FUCK IT, FRIDAY NIGHT THUNDER! The 5 cars will be:

Lotus 49, RUF RWD, Silver Crown, Cadillac CTS-V and the Super Late Model. If someone wants to run one of the V8 cars or something else, let me know and I'll swap.

We'll have 40 minute practice, 1 lap lone qualifying, and a 30 minute race.

BE THERE!

To drive the almost undriveable Lotus 49, or something more sensible? Decisions decisions!

@maxx77: The street RUF is terrifying as well. It'll do 200 on the banking, but you'll be on the edge of death at that speed. 215 going into Curva Grande. :D

Should be a fun one!

You should swap out the Silver Crown for the V8SC (the Holden I guess)

@khann: Done.

Just as a note, I've given admin rights to Khann, SlowB and Iro. If you see anyone being a jerk, feel free to kick em' out!

I'm interested, will be filling out that form soon.

@projectrico: We aren't doing league races at the moment, but we're doing some under the regular hosted section. Feel free to join us tomorrow, look for "Giant Bomb Friday Night Thunder."

I remember Mouse or someone asking on Twitter for what tracks/ cars I have so here is what I got. I'm obviously not adversed to buying new content though.

Gallery

That was a really fun race. Never thought I'd be able to do a decent race in the Ruf RWD. That thing has practically no brakes and far too much horsepower. It was great! Seb really stole the show though, with some very skillful Lotus 49 driving. I mean, just look at him..

That is the face of a man without fear. Good win.

Yeah Seb smashed it. Fun race :D