Anyone had a go at this....?
Discussion
www.driverschallenge.co.uk/home.php
Looks like a pretty good laugh for a fairly reasonable price (compared to real karting that is!).
I'm organising a works karting outing, and whilst looking for a suitable venue came across this site. Now, obviously there's no substitute for "real" karting, but bearing in mind that half the group don't actually drive, & there's a one or two women coming too, I reckon this is probably a better option.
Opinions everyone?
Looks like a pretty good laugh for a fairly reasonable price (compared to real karting that is!).
I'm organising a works karting outing, and whilst looking for a suitable venue came across this site. Now, obviously there's no substitute for "real" karting, but bearing in mind that half the group don't actually drive, & there's a one or two women coming too, I reckon this is probably a better option.
Opinions everyone?
I'm a regular visitor to the F1 Race Centre and I highly recommend it - it's the closest you'll get to racing without using a real car(t), and it's a lot cheaper too!
If you're expecting it to be an arcade game, you'll be seriously disappointed. Someone who knows about car dynamics will pick it up a lot quicker than someone who plays PGR2/GT4/etc. every day. A competant racing car driver who turns up has to learn to deal with the lack of g-forces - once they overcome that, they will be able to put in good laptimes straight away. A PlayStation 2 wizard will be used to not having g-forces, but will have to learn all those things that anyone who regularly drives on a track knows instinctively.
I know he's had a couple of karting champions there who set very competitive laptimes on their first visit, and enjoyed it a lot!
If you're local you should at least pop along to see what you think - I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed! Personally, I'm addicted!
(I would also be confident in stating that the experience in car control I gained at the race barn helped me stop at least one spin in my VX220 - the inputs required to catch an accidental slide are so similar that when I drove onto a roundabout covered in sheet ice I was able to instinctively recover the car before the concious part of my mind had even realised that there was something wrong, leaving me with only the minor issue of avoiding the transit van that spun in front of me!)
If you're expecting it to be an arcade game, you'll be seriously disappointed. Someone who knows about car dynamics will pick it up a lot quicker than someone who plays PGR2/GT4/etc. every day. A competant racing car driver who turns up has to learn to deal with the lack of g-forces - once they overcome that, they will be able to put in good laptimes straight away. A PlayStation 2 wizard will be used to not having g-forces, but will have to learn all those things that anyone who regularly drives on a track knows instinctively.
I know he's had a couple of karting champions there who set very competitive laptimes on their first visit, and enjoyed it a lot!
If you're local you should at least pop along to see what you think - I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed! Personally, I'm addicted!
(I would also be confident in stating that the experience in car control I gained at the race barn helped me stop at least one spin in my VX220 - the inputs required to catch an accidental slide are so similar that when I drove onto a roundabout covered in sheet ice I was able to instinctively recover the car before the concious part of my mind had even realised that there was something wrong, leaving me with only the minor issue of avoiding the transit van that spun in front of me!)
I've been a few times... you cannot compare to any console game... It uses Grand Prix Legends, which is about as realistic as it gets...You get a huge screen and a pod to sit in.. with wheel, pedals etc.. and it works really well. The centre has 10 pods, so you and a load of mates can go there an have a championship.. its a great laugh.. I thoroughly recommend it...
might have a look over the week end and give a report..... 
UncleDave said:
..??
That's coincidental, the bloke who runs that place is who sent me my replacement pedals out
Would be quite good to have a few PHers gather down there.. maybe that's next on the agenda.
That's coincidental, the bloke who runs that place is who sent me my replacement pedals out
Would be quite good to have a few PHers gather down there.. maybe that's next on the agenda.
Hi Dave, Adrian here! I'm glad that the pedals arrived for you this morning ... and just so you know, funds arrived ok too ... thanks
Ps. It's a shame this thread has been moved to the GAMES section. I can see why it was, but funnily enough the vast majority of our visitors are not gamers. Sure, we have karters, and track day nuts, and they are mostly car mad in general ... but it's the minority who are gamers as such. As has already been mentioned, anyone who's sole experience of on the limit car handling, comes from a GT4, is in for a nasty shock!
Adrian
Edited by apthomson on Friday 4th August 15:53
whent and had a go today awsome!! as soon as I walked through the doors I knew it was guna be good, ten HUGE screens spread out in a semi circle with ten semi enclosed pods behind them, very impressive set up and I must admit I was quite fazed, dont know what I was expecting, but it definately exceeded it....
Adrian was a realy nice chap, he whent through the briefing and a little about their set up, what championships they are running etc. I plummped for the easier Ferrari to start with after some gentle guidance
and they were running Dijon as the monthly special (not my favourite track) which is very different in feel to the one in GTL, seems alot more emphasis on the difference in elevations (good though)
the atmosphere whilst driving is soooo real though, compared to a joystick & sat behind the PC
there is just no comarison, in fact, from my point of view it is better than Karting as I have no disadvantage due to my Size / weight, thats one reason I've steered clear of next weeks Karting to be honest, but with this its an even playing field (still got beat by the resident pro though 
)
Anyway... fantastic set up, easy to pick up, cost effective & if a group of us di it we can have a drink to!!
FWD - any chance Ted could see his way to a feature of this place?
think it would appeal BIG time to the regular track day goers in the South also, its not all geeky gamer like if you know what I mean
maybe if a group of us whent and then did a review for the main section ?
thoughts guys! it was awsome......
ps - thanks for doing something like this Adrian its way
sorry if a little lacking in communication, I was quite blown away.......
awsome!! as soon as I walked through the doors I knew it was guna be good, ten HUGE screens spread out in a semi circle with ten semi enclosed pods behind them, very impressive set up and I must admit I was quite fazed, dont know what I was expecting, but it definately exceeded it.... Adrian was a realy nice chap, he whent through the briefing and a little about their set up, what championships they are running etc. I plummped for the easier Ferrari to start with after some gentle guidance
and they were running Dijon as the monthly special (not my favourite track) which is very different in feel to the one in GTL, seems alot more emphasis on the difference in elevations (good though) the atmosphere whilst driving is soooo real though, compared to a joystick & sat behind the PC
there is just no comarison, in fact, from my point of view it is better than Karting as I have no disadvantage due to my Size / weight, thats one reason I've steered clear of next weeks Karting to be honest, but with this its an even playing field (still got beat by the resident pro though ) Anyway... fantastic set up, easy to pick up, cost effective & if a group of us di it we can have a drink to!!
FWD - any chance Ted could see his way to a feature of this place?
think it would appeal BIG time to the regular track day goers in the South also, its not all geeky gamer like if you know what I mean
maybe if a group of us whent and then did a review for the main section ?
thoughts guys! it was awsome......
ps - thanks for doing something like this Adrian its way
sorry if a little lacking in communication, I was quite blown away....... Edited by pvapour on Sunday 6th August 17:48
pvapour said:
still got beat by the resident pro though
Sorry about that - 2 years practice means I can drive the cars pretty close to the limit! Had great fun chasing you round though - and your laptimes were astonishing for a first-time visitor, even one with GPL experience!
For anyone else, I would like to point out that GPL experience is by no means a requirement - I went down with some guys from SELOC (which is why I was there), and they didn't have any gaming background and had a superb time and set some very competitive laptimes.
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