No overtake button in the new series?

[Gernith]

Did/does the IRL have an overtake button? (push to pass/power to pass)

I thought it was kind of an arcade game type gimmick at first, but I really grew to like it!

[NAC]

Short answer - No

[drdisque]

It's not really possible with the naturally aspirated engines.

[Gernith]

oh yeah... huh... maybe they should hand out nitrous bottles at the beginning of each race?

[racer69]

Thankfully there is no 'push to pass'

[Pro Racer]

i hate the "push to pass" button much prefer the driver to do the work.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

It's a gimmick best done without.

[johntt]

Push to pass takes the skill out of racing.

Why try and find that extra tenth to catch up to the guy ahead and overtake when you can just hit a button on the straight and get into his slipstream?

[JohnSSC]

I agree with the folks above - "push-to-pass" is a gimmick best left behind.

[BootsOntheSide]

It's one of the reasons why ChampCar lost. The fans want a real alternative to the staged gimmicks of NASCAR. Ideally it would be slightly easier to overtake than the current IRL cars allow, but at least the races are genuine.

[Gernith]

I liked the flashing light on the back letting you know that the driver was getting on it and trying to make a move, not just killing laps. I think it also created some passing in places where you they normally couldn't pass.

[MagnetON]

Having the boost seems to have worked well for A1GP!

Now they just have to work out a way to have giant gold spanners flash up on the track and when you drive over one you get a recharge...

[ss_collins]

And random puddles of black oil tha make you spin on the spot...

[nickyf1]

well, atleast it made playing CART Fury a little more realistic....

[indycool]

Thankfully no. With all the comments through the years about "contrived racing," that one takes the cake.

[enemy-ace]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

It's one of the reasons why ChampCar lost.

Yeah, that P2p was the real kiss of death.

[JohnSSC]

I agree with you EA, p2p was not the "kiss of death." It WAS an unnecessary gimmick, though.

Anyways - as we saw at St Pete you can have a lot of passing without it - and that is a good thing!

[Tim Northcutt]

There are two things I will miss about Champ Car:

The sound of a Cosworth turbocharged engine (although I do like the song of the Honda V-8 as well)

The demise of the Panoz DP01, which, IMO, is a gorgeous race car!

Three things that I will not miss from Champ Car:

Mandatory pit windows...it takes away from race strategy...

The requirement to race on one set of "Red Stripe" tires...Let the teams choose the compound that works best for their race car and their strategy....

"Push to Pass"...do it on your own as was said before....

I want my racing straight, with no chaser...I don't need gimmicks to crreate excitement.

I didn't go into this extent in this week's article, but I did state what I liked and did not about Champ Car...

[indycool]

Lots of folks liked the sound of the turbos, including me........but didn't hafta pay for 'em.

As for the DP-01, I've read interviews with the Conquest engineer and Graham Rahal in which the interviewer was trying to goad them into saying the Dallara was a dog and the DP-01 was the greatest thing motorsports has ever seen and neither of them responded even close to saying that. In fact, the engineer said the Dallara was somewhat like the Lolas.

I won't miss any of that other stuff, either, Tim.

[lnin0]

I think a lot of you are dilusional about P2P and that it somehow gives a crappy driver an unfair advantage.

How is this the case. If a guy can't lap consistantly with the leaders then 45 - 60 seconds of boost isn't going to do crap for them. Not to mention the good drivers have the same amount of boost.

What P2P does do is allow drivers to overtake on tighter road/street courses where overtaking is sometimes next to impossible. Didn't you IRL guys want to get rid of road/street courses completely for this exact reason? Well, P2P brings some excitement and a little added stratagy back to those races and I thought that is something we all want.

If you want to argue technology that every driver has equal access to somehow makes racing less racing then maybe we should all just vote to stick them back in some old 60s Lotus with no TC, no onboard computers, no spotters, no wings, no nothing - then we would see who the REAL drivers are.

I could make the same arguement against the IRLs fuel settings. Just click a button and my car is saving fuel. No skill with the right foot needed and oh look - I just won a race on fuel stratagy! Yipee for me!

The only thing I would change with P2P is the name. Keep it on the street/road courses but how about "Monster Energy Boost"

[indycool]

P2P is a contrived technological effort that allows a driver to break the race's other rules for 60 seconds or so a race. It's a gimmick that the fan in the stands can't follow. On TV, or on the computer, we can.

I followed the whole Motegi race on the scoring monitor since I couldn't get on the video feed and I could tell that Dixon and the guys up front were running 195s right at the start of the last stint and Danica dropped to 190s. I could tell what she was doing if it was not something wrong with the car, becauase they were pretty steady 190s. That can be understood by the fan in the stands, moreso as it evolves and the leaders pit. Helio had the "go" button on at the start of the stint and had to back WAY off at the end just to finish.

The old saying, sometimes attrib uted to Rick Mears: "To finish first, first you hafta finish."

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by lnin0

I think a lot of you are dilusional about P2P and that it somehow gives a crappy driver an unfair advantage.

I could make the same arguement against the IRLs fuel settings. Just click a button and my car is saving fuel. No skill with the right foot needed and oh look - I just won a race on fuel stratagy! Yipee for me!

Gotta agree with him over the P2P is contrived comment, the IRL fuel settings allow a driver to dial up more power and push to set some faster laps at the risk of needing that extra 2 or 3 tenths of fuel or set it back one and get an extra lap. P2P makes spec cars have a better shot of off-the-corner (esp hairpins like LB) passes than series with multiple engine types and engine mapping. Yes it's contrived but so are ALL OF THE RULES, other wise it would be bring whatever you want.

[JohnSSC]

While we could argue a good long while over whether I am delusional or not, I think there is room to discuss P2P vs adjustable fuel settings (which, by the way exists in F1 cars).

My premise is that P2P is contrived (read: gimmick) because it is a temporary horsepower boost with a limited amount of time it can be used over the course of a race. Further, the utilization of same is noted and telemetry made available to fans/media letting us know what a driver has used. While I do not have any details of the what power may be made available using various settings on an IRL car, I do not believe that any single one of them gives a 50 horsepower advantage over the baseline or any of the other settings.

While I agree that all of the rules contribute to the management of car performance i do not agree that there should be a "Happy Button" that gives an instantaneous increase in HP or braking capacity or some suchto give an inferior car/driver the ability to pass a superior car/driver. Its racing. Its not supposed to be "easy."

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

While we could argue a good long while over whether I am delusional or not, I think there is room to discuss P2P vs adjustable fuel settings (which, by the way exists in F1 cars).

My premise is that P2P is contrived (read: gimmick) because it is a temporary horsepower boost with a limited amount of time it can be used over the course of a race. Further, the utilization of same is noted and telemetry made available to fans/media letting us know what a driver has used. While I do not have any details of the what power may be made available using various settings on an IRL car, I do not believe that any single one of them gives a 50 horsepower advantage over the baseline or any of the other settings.

While I agree that all of the rules contribute to the management of car performance i do not agree that there should be a "Happy Button" that gives an instantaneous increase in HP or braking capacity or some suchto give an inferior car/driver the ability to pass a superior car/driver. Its racing. Its not supposed to be "easy."

doesnt the other driver have it also. so the superior driver can pass them right back. not sure how that makes it easy

[indycool]

So, take it away from both of them and let them drive their race cars. The IRL's version was adjustable rich or lean on fuel mix, NOT horsepower.