Moto GP2 Racing team

[Darwin]

This is for anyone interested in starting up a team for MotoGP 2 on Live. If interested, check out the archived Xbox page for our previous discussion on this.

After a little apprehension and (I don't know what I was thinking), I finally decided to go for it. Glockstar and I are ready to start up a team. Now all we have to do is wait for TheMaskedPoster to get signed into these new boards, and we'll have to kidnap and hold Massimodo till he joins up.

To help get the ball rolling, we need to make sure we're all on the same page. So, post here any info you want if you're interested in joining. I understand if you want privacy over certain info, and perhaps you could private message me or Masked Poster any info you don't want the general public to see. We need to make sure we can identify who each other is and what time zones. I'll start:

-VGR name: Darwin
-Xbox Live name: Methadone Man
-I live in: Florida
-Time Zone: Eastern (GMT - 5 hours)
-Times I definitely CANNOT be on Live: Monday - Friday 3:30 pm till 1 am because of work.
-Times I am most likely to be on Live: any given weekday around 1 am to around 3 am. Weekends, I can be on a variety of times in the afternoon, evening, and middle of night.

[Glockstar]

You know I'm in!

VGR ID: Glockstar
XBL Gamertag: Mister Unlucky
I live in: Michigan
Time Zone: Eastern (GMT - 5 hours)
Play times: No set schedule right now/could be just about any time :cool:

[ThaMaskedGamer]

Wassup Meth. I tried responding yesterday, but I couldn't get my old MaskedPoster account to work. So today, I said forget it and created another account. Anyway, yeah I think its a good idea to go ahead and get to know each others schedules and times. See your a natural born leader.
Okay
VGR NAME : ThaMaskedGamer. Previously known as DAMAN, MalcolmXBOX, SystemShock, and ThaMaskedPoster
LIVE NAME: PHAZE VELOCITY
Time Zone: Eastern Standard Time
State: New Jersey
LIVE Gaming Times: My schedule rotates, so it just depends on the month. Though I always have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off. So anytime on those days.

We need to get the ball rolling here Glockstar, your turn and also Massimodo. I'm going to be online today, possibly all day Saturday. It will probably be better if we can get some details outta the way soon.
We need a team name. The cool thing about this is, if we get our team rolling, we can use it for other games like SegaGT and now ProRaceDriver.
So why don't everyone think of two team names and post 'em. Also, we probably need to pick bike numbers. Currently I raced under the number 66.

[Darwin]

Let me get my weekly grocery shopping out of the way and I'll be getting on Live this afternoon.

Team names ... hmmmm. I originally thought we could name our team with the letters VGR in there somewhere. It might be cool to represent VGR through this ... but, then it might feel like we're trying to exclude other Live gamers who aren't on this site. It's a choice.

so here's a few names:

- VGR vets
- Crotch Rockets, or Team Crotch Rocket
- Xbots
- Road Kill, or Team Road Kill
- MUFFler Divers, or MUFFler Kings
- Ain't Your Daddie's Bike
- Rossi's Biatches
- Team Discovery Channel: I got this off that Simpson's episode. If you haven't seen the episode, you won't understand the humor.
- Team Rocket: ummmm, more humor. Pokemon.

[Darwin]

Just curious. Right now my custom bike is 38/24/38/38 or something close to that.

I have 4 challenges undone. I am finishing my second season up soon and then have the last two seasons to finish.

After being on this afternoon, I am starting to realize that perhaps Rossi is fast enough to be competative. In fact, it seems that bike setup plays more of a role in performance than does the difference between a few stat points. (If you look at Rossi's stats he is only a few points short of what you can get with a maxed out custom bike.) For example, when I hardened my suspension and shortened my wheelbase, I noticed performance improvements right away. In fact, it almost seems that bike setup is the single most effective way to better your lap times, even more so than switching from automatic to manual transmission or using a slightly-higher stat bike. When I get my bike maxed out (or real close), I should pick a track and see what the difference is between Rossi and a maxed-out bike.

Maybe we need to write a short little faq on bike setups based on what we've discovered. Or, better yet, we can get a database going on the best setups for each track. Obviosuly this is going to vary from person to person, so we may want to track our own stats. For example:

Track--------Gears---Wheelbase---Suspension--Time

Phillip Island--High----1420---------10/10-------xx:xx.xx
Rio-----------Low----1420---------5/5---------xx:xx.xx

Just throwing out some ideas.

[ThaMaskedGamer]

You will be competitive, but you will rarely win races with Rossi. Especially racing against the very top racers. That one guy, for example, who was ranked #600, he was pulling away from me like I was on a moped, and we both had the same bike, and both our bikes are maxed out. This leads me to believe, my current setup, is not optimum, as I had believed. His setup must have been different than mine to account for his faster straightaway and curved speed. I am sure he knows the tracks better than me and the lines, but that is different his bike is faster cause its set up better.
Now you with Rossi, you could see that I could make up time on you. You would have to race a perferct race, while your opponents made mistakes to win. Which you did do a few times yesterday. I would go through the extra time to max out your bike, because as good as you are, with a maxed out bike, you will show improvements. For me, I have to think about changing setups. But here is what I recommend.

I went to gamefaqs board for MOTOGP2. Some guys we race against post there. I found one setup for anybody racing the NSR500. Everyone agrees this is hands down the best bike in the game, so for anyone, Glock or Massy, who may be using this bike, when u get it near maxed out, u will be running fast times. Here is a setup guys are using who are ranked in the #100's. Tire: Hard, Gears: High, Rear Sus:10 Front Sus:8. WheelBase: 1400mm

For the RC, I am using Tire:Hard, Gears: Low, Rear Sus:10 Front:10 WB:1420mm. But as I've said, I can't improve further with this setting, so I gotta tinker with it.

[Darwin]

I've now completed 3 seasons of racing in single player and have gotten all but one challenge ("Perfect Lap"). But, I am not maxed out. My stats are like 46/20/46/46. In order to get 50/25/50/50, I have to race through the season one more time on Legendary mode. And I, for the life of me, could not get past the first race.

The AI in legendary mode is a lot like Project Gotham's AI. The computer riders are *******s, pure and simply. Even if I can manage to get ahead, they pit maneuver me every single race. So, it's an exercise in futility. In order for me to win races on legendary, I am gonna have to either: a) practice for a few months, or b) learn to be a slide-king like those top ranked guys. Seriously, there is no possible way for me to win these Legendary races. I guess after about 50 attempts I could, but it's not worth it.

I have pretty well maxed out whatever my rider is going to be. I'm gonna have to learn to live with that. I'll start tinkering with bike setups and learn the tracks better, but I'm not putting up with those ******** AI riders in the game. The AI riders don't behave like real professional riders do. They plow right through you and don't react. I see now the HUGE advantage that a racing game has if it encorporates online play. After doing several months of Moto GP 1 and 2 online, I'm starting to see the flaws in almost all single player racing games.

I think it's great that the game is complex enough to allow for die-hard fans to devote months and months to the game and still find ways to shave miliseconds off their time. But, it's also good that the game does allow the non-hardcore guys to still have fun. It's just not fun doing the same race over and over and over 50 times in Legendary mode just to get one more stat point. If Rossi or my current bike can't qualify for these league races, then so be it. I just don't have the patients for Legendary mode right now.

I tell you, the fastest way to get a fast bike is to go through the stunt mode and unlock Rossi. It took me about an hour and 15 min to go all the way through stunt mode.

[ThaMaskedGamer]

You did what I did with my first bike. Somewhere along the way you left some points on the board. When we first started racing online together as I was building my bike, I got to Legendary mode and was in your situation. I didn't win all the races in the previous seasons. So, one weekend I started all over. I made sure I won every race on each season, you can lose a race, as long as before you end that season you go back and rerace it and win. But, if you start the next season you can never go back to get those points. So, when I restarted I put everything on one lap and did the whole thing in a weekend. The only points I had left were PERFECT LAP and HOLD A CORNER. So I was at 50, 23, 50, 50. Then I started legendary mode, I thought at that time you could get 200 pts. I won Suzuka and got nothing, then I won Phakisa and got nothing, then I realized all you can get is 175pts, and stopped the single player.
Are u sure u did all the course challenges? You can do legendary mode, all you have to do is put it on one lap, qualify in the top 3. You will get the hole shot at the start, then you just gotta hold on for one lap. It won't take 50 tries, maybe you will get it in like 3 tries. Here is the trick to not get knocked off your bike, this also works somewhat online. Once u get in front, the AI won't knock u off if u race the line, and take the corners on the rumble strips. So take the corners tight and they will never knock u off. If you are about to collide with an AI, do not let off the accelerator or come off your line. When u try and let off the gas and straighten your bike, for some reason u get knocked off. When u keep accelerating and keep your line u can stay up.
Well, even if you don't get those points, I think your stats are good enough to win. At this stage it all comes down to the riding and bike setup.

[Glockstar]

... oh wait, that's me!

I appreciate all the hints and tips that you guys have posted, btw. I need 'em. As I have been having a really tough time with The Sims.

But here's my progress report; as well some suggestions and other F.Y.I-type stuff regarding The Racing Team:

First off, I spent all day yesterday getting my newest custom bike, my "VGR Special" up to snuff. Unfortunately "up to snuff" in my world only means that I've gotten the bike up to the point of where my other customs are. And that means I still have: three training exercises; at least a half dozen 3-star challenges; and well over half of the Championship season, as well as all of Legendary, to complete. I don't know when you're looking to enter The Team into our first race, TMG, but I should be ready (or as ready as I'll ever be) by Thursday evening.

Now, one of the reasons I started up a new bike instead of going with what I already had, is that I need the practice anyways. I'm using a new method now - one that should help me with a lot of the problems that I have with the 100% sims. See, before I was using the green A-button to accelerate. (And then I would wonder why my bike would freak out when I gave it some gas.) I'm NOT switching to using the right trigger, though! That's for cars. For me, MotoGP is all about the independent braking - without that, the game means... well, it doesn't mean nothing, but...

So I'm using the right thumbstick for the accelerator now. Sounds weird and cumbersome, I know. But this way still allows for "gradual" acceleration, just like the triggers do - and the a-button does not. It just takes some getting used to that's all. (Sorry, manual trans. will have to wait until "next year".) And you'll be glad to know that.. I'm used to it!

The other reason for starting up another new bike is that I don't want to mess with the way my other bikes look. :) Hey, they look sweet; what can I say! And I like the idea of the Team racing "in uniform". Which I'll get into more next post.

This post is already too long, so I want to wrap it up pretty quick here, but just an F.Y.I. about my bike. I'm gong with the Yamaha YZF 500. I have to disagree with everybody about the Honda NSR 500. I can only progress so far with that bike. (No, sorry to say it, but the Yamaha blows it away - and I'm a Honda guy too!) I've left everything on the default setting, except change the tire compound to "medium" (I don't know why that's not the default anyways).

More later.

[ThaMaskedGamer]

For the reason why its cool look at my new thread entitled, Lets Start Our Own League. Basically, Darwin and I think it will be cool to start our own league, headquartered here at VGR. Our league will be more similar to a real MotoGP championship. The main ideas are all presented in that thread, so read up and post some of your thoughts. Don't sweat getting your bike ready, we probably won't be able to start the league for 2 weeks.
As far as your bike, the Yamaha, it really fits in to what we are trying to do with the new league. The problem with Motogpxbl is everyone is using the same 2 bikes, the teams are unbalanced, DirtyLappers and TeamRelic both have about 40 members, the races and qualifying take to long, and there is no continuity about who races. You have to qualify in about 4 or more sessions held on different days because 100's of people want to race. Then if you are one of the 16 who make it, you have to look forward to 27 laps on race day.
Our league will be different and better and more convenient. Again details are in the thread. But a central point is there can only be 8 teams in a season, each team can only have 2 or 3 riders, and no more than two teams can use the same bike. So, there can only be two teams that use the NSR500 or the RC211, this way, all the bikes will be used. Since you are running a Yamaha, that means one less team to worry about vying for the 2 NSR and RC211 slots.
You control setup is what I always did all the way back to MotoGP1. The right stick was analog gas, the stick button was upshift. The left stick was steering, the stick button was downshift. The right trigger was f.brake, the left was r.brake. But, I had to change everything when I started racing hard tires. You may find the analog stick still doesn't give the articulate control you need with hard tires, only when and if you move to manual. Its not a problem with an automatty. With a stick when u change gears, u spin your wheels too much costing seconds, and causing the bike to skid. U don't even want to know my control setup now, its wicked, but it works great.

[Glockstar]

Okay, now about those Team "uniforms".
I just think it would look bad ass if we were all decked out in the same colors. Whatever they are. Picture it... a pack of rabid bikes (us) blazing down the hill on Sachsenring (or sausage-ring, as Dw calls it) and bearing down on the poor shmuck currently racing in second place. And just before he feels our tire tracks burning all up and down his back, the last thing he sees (before passing - or wiping - out) is a gigantic, incredibly fast moving, blur in ......... colors; that now blasts on towards number 1!

I've put together some great looking color schemes that I think would make for some tuff looking team colors... but I also know that you guys prolly have as well. Whatever, though. See, in MGP2, it's easy enough to change. So while we raced in TMGs colors for one race, we could switch to massi's, when his turn comes up, before the next race - if we wanted too.

All you gotta do is give color-palette directions. Using the purple, black, and white colors in the corners as a reference, it would be easy for everybody to match up with the exact same colors. Like this:
1) for the main color... from black (in the top-right corner) = clik left one spot
2) for the secondary color... from purple (in the top-left corner) = clik right 6 times, then down 5
3) for the tertiary color... same as the secondary
4) for the logo color... from white (in the lower-left corner) = clik left once, then up 4

See, easy! And oh btw, the above color scheme does look pretty tuff, if I don't mind saying so myself! :cool:

I'm also with Darwin in that I'd like to see VGR get recogized. But that recognition doesn't necessarily have to be in our team name. We could just make it our bike logo. Like a sponsorship. Hear that VGR, you could be just like the big boys... Bud, Pennzoil, Target, Red Bull... VGR! Well... okay... but still... it won't cost you anything. :p It's just a little thank you, from us, for giving us a place to hold our "Team meetings". ;) )

If we want a Team name we'll eventually come up with something we like. We just need to keep brainstorming and posting our ideas here. Eventually we'll come up a good 3 or 4 from which to choose/vote from. Heck, this is a clever lot - effin massi over there with all of his clever ways to put the SW opposition down -I loved it! - and Darwin who came up with the "SARS" thing! Thinking of a team name should not be a problem.

Guess that's it. I will be practicing some more later this evening, but I might be taking a timeout for Raw.

-----
Aha, see, a good reason for having the edit feature... TMG just slipped in a quick reply which may void all of this. Anyhow, off to read that other post of his.

[Darwin]

Every custom rider allows for 3 letters on the back of their shirt. VGR ... works perfectly, hey?

[Darwin]

If you are a newcomer to this message board and are looking to join up the MotoGP 2 racing league, then check out the thread started by ThaMaskedGamer titled "Got an idea. Our Own League !!!!"

http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?threadid=102

[TapouT]

XBL GAMER TAG: TapouT911
Location: So.Cal
Time Zone:PST "WEST COAST"
Time available:Monday-Thursday 7pm.PST Friday-Saturday 12am PST
Sunday 11pm.PST NOTE:I play till I go 2 sleep
Team:SUZUKI "I want to be team capt. or co. team cpt." (if possible)
Bike:Suzuki GSV-R 990cc

[Darwin]

Good to see you.

Sorry about the confusion with these multiple threads. Be sure to check out this thread as this is the latest and most conclusive of all the threads:

http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?threadid=157