SimTCC

Jimmy Magnusson · 1 Dec 2006, 20:29 (Ref:1779806)

I was plowing through a Google Video search I did for STCC (Swedish Touring Car Championship) but found something also called STCC, but as the Sim Touring Car Cup. It's a Live For Speed 2.0-liter touring car series that is quite unique thanks to the extensive race highligts program; race commentators and everything! All professionally done. It felt a bit silly at the start but by race 2 I was completly drawn in to it. Enjoy

www.simtouringcarcup.com

Round 1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...125419236404&q

Round 2
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...37131&hl=en-GB

Round 3
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...88707256562521

nickyf1 · 1 Dec 2006, 21:18 (Ref:1779840)

Cool! I whatched about 10mins of it! But, I could whatch the whole thing...

Jimmy Magnusson · 1 Dec 2006, 21:35 (Ref:1779849)

I'll drop some info on the qualifying system. The three different car types all have seperate qualifying heats (1A, 1B and 1C), and after those have finished it's quite a complicated relocating of drivers to heat 2A and 2B depending on their respective finishing positions. These heats then decide the grid for the feature race (which is the only point-scoring race). There's a risk that you won't qualify if you do badly here as only the quickest guys go on to the big race. However, the first non-qualified drivers were in Round 3 because rounds 1 and 2 had lower attendance.

gregc · 1 Dec 2006, 21:45 (Ref:1779856)

That is pretty cool - well put together and entertaining.

Know what you mean about feeling a bit silly watching it, but having seen the leader lose it on the last corner in round 1 I don't care - I'm just off to enjoy round 2

**Spudgun** · 2 Dec 2006, 01:22 (Ref:1779924)

I've just watched 5 minutes of it and I'll definitely be watching the rest when I get the chance!

From what I've seen so far I personally don't find it silly. I think its the future, but then again I would say that because I race in a GTR2 team with our own livery, training sessions etc.. so I take it all quite seriously already.

However, these huge FPS tournaments have live commentary now and I think its only a matter of time before proper high profile sim racing events start happening. Ok, it might not be quite yet, since the interest in sim racing is a little more niche but I'm sure it'll happen. As the physics modelling gets more and more refined and the aesthetics get better it can only grow and grow. Most of the GT cars were carrying the GTR logo for the last year or so which can only be good. For those of us who have the passion but not the resources this is what we need...

I think its really cool that this group has made the effort and hats off to them! I might even consider giving it a go myself if I can set aside the time. When I'm driving I do take it seriously so this sort of thing is right up my street.

Well done to them!

Jimmy Magnusson · 3 Dec 2006, 12:41 (Ref:1780920)

Round 4 is out on the homepage

Jimmy Magnusson · 3 Dec 2006, 14:11 (Ref:1780948)

Ok, back from just having watched round four, and all I can say is that it was awesome. Not only did the production and commentators outdo the previous round by mile, but the race had more action than a hollywood movie!

BeckyRose · 6 Dec 2006, 10:11 (Ref:1783164)

Hello

I'm the promotor of the STCC, and I just dropped in after a random web search found these forums quite by chance.

I'm glad you are enjoying the production, and yes, we do take it seriously, sim racing has progressed a long way since 'Pole Position' was in the game arcades, the simulator we use is increadibly realistic, all we're missing is the danger level. We have extensive post race stewarding, with the benefit of being able to watch replays from any angle so it's probably more detailed than the real thing - we have a formal appeals procedure et all... So it's taken as seriously as any major international broadcast motor sport by those involved.

Round 4 is indeed a big leap forward for our production quality, and i've already made significant graphical improvements for round 5 due out at the end of January. Producing such a big product in our spare time has led to a steap learning curve, but our production quality is rising each round and I believe, although completely biased, that as a spectator sport we have all the ingredients of any major motor sport save for the 'star' factor, in that nobody knows our heroes (yet).

Anyway enough rattling for me, I hope you enjoy the series - it makes all the effort put in worthwhile when stumbling across little gems like this on the net

.

gregc · 6 Dec 2006, 10:50 (Ref:1783191)

Have to agree on Round 4, absolutely excellent. The production has definitely improved, the commentary seems to get better with every round, and the action was superb - especially the couple of "big air" moments!

Great drive by the winner, but also a special mention deserved for the second placed driver in an inferior car - good stuff

gravel_monkey · 7 Dec 2006, 18:34 (Ref:1784326)

it all looks good, great idea aswell. so how does it all work and how do we get involved in this? perhaps a ten-tenths team could be on the cards

nickyf1 · 7 Dec 2006, 20:44 (Ref:1784441)

round 4 is now on google videos and youtube!

Chatters · 9 Dec 2006, 12:39 (Ref:1785820)

Gravel Monkey, what a bloody awesome idea! We need to look into that, don't we? Count me in for sure!

Fish_Flake · 9 Dec 2006, 22:41 (Ref:1786056)

I'll gladly do the play-by-play! Hope you like Paul Page's delivery in a breathy Mid-Atlantic accent!

gregc · 9 Dec 2006, 23:55 (Ref:1786089)

Well I'm nowhere near good enough to race, and I run the wrong OS, but I'll be cheering you guys on from the sidelines if you get an entry together

Chatters · 10 Dec 2006, 01:43 (Ref:1786178)

I seriously want to look into setting up a team. Anyone interested? If so, please send me a PM and we might be able to put something together.

Kidzer · 10 Dec 2006, 20:49 (Ref:1787062)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeckyRose

*snip*

Ah, hello Becky

Welcome to Ten-Tenths (I'm kidzer on LFSForums also

)

BeckyRose · 10 Dec 2006, 23:17 (Ref:1787226)

Please feel free to attempt entry, it's a very tough process though. Without wishing to put you off, first thing you must do is get a platinum STCC race license by working your way up our public servers. Once you've got a platinum license you can race on our event server where our qualification events are held periodically (keep an eye on the LFS Leagues & Events forum).

It's extremely tough to qualify for the STCC now, which is something that has been born out of necessity from previous experience.

Qualification events occur when we have spaces to fill in the series, as we have 30 drivers in the series. The qualification events are extremely tough challenges of overall skill, in the last event, experienced race winners gave up mid-event...

Rockmunky · 11 Dec 2006, 11:19 (Ref:1787824)

Fair to say it's the "Pinnacle of Sim Racing"?

Jimmy Magnusson · 11 Dec 2006, 13:02 (Ref:1787946)

If I'm going to guess (and if the Ten-Tenths boys are as good as I suspect them to be), the first steps will go fairly quick. My guess is that the real obstacles will be qualifying for the weekend and even more so for the feature race...

BeckyRose · 12 Dec 2006, 08:30 (Ref:1788709)

Quote:

Fair to say it's the "Pinnacle of Sim Racing"?

Oh absolutely not (although with the tough entry system and broadcast it has to be 'one of those leagues that are up there'). What it is fair to say though is, STCC is the worlds premier sim-touring car championship featuring an internet broadcast. It's all in the small print.

**Spudgun** · 13 Dec 2006, 00:28 (Ref:1789407)

A belated welcome Becky (I've been on holiday in the sun)

Well Google is doing its job at least and we hope you enjoy your stay! I'll be watching things with interest since I don't think I've come across anything quite like this before and it will be interesting to see how it develops. I might even venture onto the public servers and see how I get on.

Just out of curiosity, have you had any media interest? It occurs to me this 'new' approach could do just that.

BeckyRose · 14 Dec 2006, 10:28 (Ref:1790481)

A little here and there, the viewing figures are a few thousand now which is enough to start talking to sponsors, but the target is 100,000. To achieve that I need to get this in ASS magazine (as sim racers are more supportive of this than real racers and ASS has a wide sim-racing readership) which requires FILSCA membership - neither of these groups have been particularly receptive to the simulation software used for some reason, it's the best sim, but the developers dont fund their web servers or buy advertising from them. I'm trying to overcome this issue at the moment, it's been suggested that I move simulator, but that's not going to happen.

I do hope it appeals to people interested in motor sports in general too, I know we have a few viewers of this target group

- but it takes a while for word to get out and i've not really known where or how to promote it.

We did have a magazine wanting to cover our races, but they folded after the first round.

BeckyRose · 27 Jan 2007, 03:31 (Ref:1826969)

STCC #5 is out

Plus there is an all new radio cast of the qualifying heat held just before it.

http://www.simtouringcarcup.com

I hope you enjoy it

I think it is the best yet.

Rockmunky · 27 Jan 2007, 10:42 (Ref:1827059)

Excellent!

I really dig what you're doing with this

gregc · 29 Jan 2007, 20:57 (Ref:1828936)

Just got round to watching race 5, and I am seriously impressed. It's not just the best yet, it's a massive step up in quality and professionalism. The commentary is getting very good (kudos to Becky on that, you seem to be relaxing and settling nicely into the role, and the driver commentary was a nice addition).

But the biggest difference is the quality of the production as a whole - this is the first STCC where it felt completely like I was watching a "real" motor race - maybe because despite it's virtual setting, it really is a proper race broadcast. Some good imaginative camera work, great timing information, and most important of all some excellent racing. I was particularly impressed with the defensive driving of Chris Raemisch in the early stages, Redman's overtaking moves were great to watch, and there were some fantastic midfield battles.

But the biggest difference was the lack of lag in this video. It's been noticeable in all of the previous ones, but this time it only cropped up a couple of times and it was never distracting. All in all, as I already said, I'm properly impressed. Congratulations to Becky, the team behind her, and especially the drivers for a great race. Can't wait for the next one, great work