me™

Went out for a drive with some friends on Sunday... Calster didn't make it because he was hungover and recovering from about 2 days straight without any sleep. :lol: Yes, those MX-5s and the Elise made my car feel very big and very wobbly, and it's a relative ballet dancer compared to Calster's Lexus!

I played it again for the first time in a while at the weekend. There were 2 extra cars I never noticed before! The American Muscle 3 and European Coupe 2. The physics in it are... top-heavy. Whenever I took the American Sedan through a corner on the racing line I'd end up on 2 wheels (or on my roof) a bit too easily!

I really should play this. I got it really cheap on steam a while ago and it's just been sitting in my library for at least a year now.

So, uh... I keep thinking about getting this. Is it essentially a Forza / Gran Turismo - alike on PC? If so, I'm in.

Admittedly I've not played it much recently either. I play in cockpit view so haven't noticed the weird exterior camera. However, I did notice since the last update that it was pretty much impossible to play as intended. I.e. smashing the living daylights out of the other cars, as all other vehicles, no matter what they are and no matter what you are, act like they're a LOT heavier than you, and thus completely obliterate you when you try to take them out. Really annoying.

Add me, SupernautBB, and I'm even in the TurboDuck crew! (As a secondary crew, mind). Good luck using any mods online though. R* are quite enthusiastic with the banhammer.

Hmm, last update was the 10th of July... :hmmm: They'd better be cooking up something good.

Sounds amusing, but open wheel? Nyeeeeeh. I have images in my head of a slightly more serious Trackmania. :D

How do I let you know I like the new look if I don't have a like button? :P

Aha, I can upload files here. I accidentally a BWARP PIPE. It's a standard mid-section from an S4 adapted to fit a 1.8T quattro by cutting it off at the Y-pipe and welding a straight single pipe on, and a 3" stainless steel back box. I had to use a couple of reducers / adapters (and an unholy amount of gun gum) to fit it all together, but it works now. It's a rather 'interesting' arrangement, as the downpipe is just over 2" diameter, the mid-section is 2.5" diameter, then the back box is 3" diameter! :lol: Works well though, and looks nice, as you can see in the photos. The exhaust I took off was really on its last legs, I can understand why it got advisories in its last MOT for corrosion on the mid and back sections! I gave this 'new' (2nd hand) mid-section a going over with an angle grinder / wire brush and high-temperature paint on the worst bits before fitting it. Got the whole lot for £100 off a guy on some Audi forums, and picked it up from Glenrothes on the way down to an airshow in East Fortune a couple of weeks back. Yes, the little tailpipes coming out of the backbox are unequal length, they match the curve of the rear bumper! :D

When are we taking the Kia out for a test drive...? :D

That sounds... healthy. :lol:

I got a garage to do it last year, along with the clutch and the dual-mass flywheel (which I got converted to a solid flywheel).

Yesterday I replaced the snub mount and bled the brakes with some new brake fluid. For those of you unfamiliar with Audi A4s, the engine sits longways and is pushed quite far forwards due to the gearbox being a transaxle arrangement between the front wheels, with a propshaft coming out of the back of the gearbox, to the rear differential. There's no separate transfer case involved in this AWD system. The snub mount is an engine mount on the front of the sump, which sits against the front crossmember, and when it wears out you get a shunt through the drivetrain on gearchanges and when lifting off the throttle suddenly. To get the snub mount, I had to the put the car into 'service position' as you can see below: The whole slam panel, complete with the radiator still attached, can slide forward a couple of inches if you put threaded bar into the ends of the chassis legs to support it. That's what I did and it gave me enough wiggle room to swap out the snub mount. It drives a hell of a lot better now with a new one! Even the gear stick feels tighter and more accurate. I also took a photo of it looking mean... The reason I had it back down on its wheels with no front bumper was because I figured it would be easier to re-adjust the headlights without the bumper in the way, as I had much better access to the headlight mounts. I started just after 9am yesterday and had actually finished by lunch time! :D Well, the snub mount anyway. I bled the brakes in the afternoon.

I'm disappointed in Calster's lack of activity. I thought he'd post some photos... Whatever, have some photos of our recent trip over to the west coast (of Scotland). I really need to do some work on the car this coming weekend. I boiled the brake fluid good and proper on our trip, and the front engine mount is getting unbearable (I've had a replacement engine mount sitting in a drawer for about 6 months now... whoops).

At the halls of residence? Really? I reckon they were just trying to scum it for a day to see what it's like.

Well I saw the ducks at the university halls of residence up in Hillhead. I've seen deer there as well!

Yep, got 211bhp and 300Nm of torque. It is indeed quite fun.

I actually took that photo at work a couple of months back.

I never posted a post-map update. Whoops. I picked it up last Wednesday. Yeah... it's a bit quicker. It's actually got some mid-range grunt now. On Sunday I was overtaking a caravan going uphill in 4th gear with about 2/3rds throttle and ended up going *ahem* a little bit over the speed limit before noticing. :D

So it's Ghost Recon: GTA / Just Cause?

I really need a heist crew... :( I bought some spiky shoes from this update though, and that's it.

At this rate I can just take the radiators out of the room my PC is in, it'll be outputting enough heat on its own!

Small update, but what should be a big improvement to the car. It's currently getting a 'remap' that's turning more into a chip instead. I dropped it off on Wednesday and instead of just doing it in a day, the garage have had to send the ECU off to the mapping company to get a chip soldered in. It's turning out to be an awkward car to get mapped, as I've taken it somewhere else before, who spent half an hour trying then gave up. At least these guys are giving it a good shot for a reasonable price, and I've got a Mini One as a courtesy car until I get the Audi back! It should be ready on Monday or Tuesday. The Mini is actually quite fun... Oh yeah, the map is expected to take it up from the standard 180bhp to 211bhp.

I've not played Beam.NG in ages, but I was happy to see they've actually added proper controller mapping! Now I can play it with my Xbox 360 controller! The high-powered vehicles are still undriveable though. I really think the tyres need to have some grip added to them, even though all the folk on their official forums claim otherwise. What was the point I was trying to make...? Oh yeah. It's still a fun game. I was doing some off-roading in the pickup truck after removing loads of bodywork in the menu. :D