[woodcote]

   

I'm going to be introducing some race set-up basics by looking at a British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) format that I have put together for digital club racing and adapted for ARC Pro at home. The format attempts to simulate a typical BTCC weekend using the fantastic BTCC cars produced by Scalextric. The schedule goes something like this:

1. Qualifying Session
2. Race One
3. Race Two
4. Race Three (reverse grid)

The format includes simulating success ballast, but otherwise uses few of the ARC Pro app simulations. Using this BTCC format shows how ARC Pro can simulate real motor sport events - using lots of imagination, but resisting the temptation to turn on all the app features. Less is often more...

1. Qualifying Session

This is the first competitive action of a BTCC weekend. I set up the session as an 'Endurance' race from the Race Mode screen. This gives me more control over the settings and - importantly - allows a timed session, rather than a set amount of laps as is offered in the 'Practice' mode or the 'Qualifier Laps' in the 'Grand Prix' mode. I also use Endurance mode for practice and qualifying sessions as the race stops when the time runs out - all the cars do not need to be on track to trigger the race end as they do in a lap race or in practice mode.

         

The race is set up for ten minutes - plenty of time to get cars running nicely and to set a fastest lap that will determine grid positions for Race One. Of course, any work on the car must be done via a trip to the pit lane - there is no stopping out on track, which causes a unnecessary hazard for other cars. Although there will be none of the simulations - Fuel Use, Tyre Wear, KERS, Incidents or Weather - in the BTCC races, I do sometimes add the Tyre Wear simulation to qualifying. That means cars must pit every ten laps or so. There is no extra grip from new tyres, but it means that there will be times when fewer cars are on track, which might allow an opportunity for a clear run and a quick lap...

         

Clicking 'Driver Setup' I go to the 'Choose Driver' screen where I can add or remove drivers (minimum 2, maximum 6) depending how many racers are qualifying. If there are more than six drivers, it would be necessary to divide them into groups - ideally of equal size - and run separate sessions. As you can see, I have chosen to run the colours in default order (Red, Green, Blue etc) and chosen to have corresponding coloured helmets as the driver icons. Clicking on the Green driver (Driver 2) takes me to 'Driver Setup' where I can change the driver name, image, car name and set specific values for the driver - fuel load, max power and throttle curve - and also gives me an option to calibrate the low speed for the car (see pages 16 & 17 of the ARC Pro Quick Start Guide) and toggle the controller rumble on or off. I cannot imagine any reason to turn the rumble off - it means you can concentrate on racing and only look at the screen when prompted by a rumble. I have left all the settings on their default values for now.

         

The 'Back' button moves you back to the previous menu, or - when all the settings for all the drivers are done - you can tap 'Let's Race' at the bottom to bring up the race screen, then tap 'Start Race' which brings up the start lights...

         

The Endurance race screen shows all the drivers, plus number of laps, last lap time, time remaining and best lap time. For our BTCC qualifying session, the best time is all we are worried about. The graphic to the right of the helmets indicates tyre use - I sneakily added that simulation to this session. As you can see in the ARC Pro Quick Start Guide (p.18 & 19), the graphic starts green, gradually going down by a set amount each lap, until it goes orange, then red, then the 'PIT' icon comes up and the controller rumbles. At this point you must pit your car in the pit lane - see page 13 of the Quick Start Guide - press and hold the lower brake button on the ARC controller (with the 'X') until the graphic is back to green and the 'GO' icon comes up. If you pit too late, the red graphic will flash and your speed will be limited to your car's low-speed calibration until you pit and change tyres. Practicing with this one feature is the basis for understanding all the other simulations in ARC Pro and executing a perfect pit stop and playing with pit stop strategy.

I won't talk you through the race - that's all part of learning and having fun. At the end of the ten minutes, click on 'More Stats' to study all the results in detail - and to save and share them, if you want, via the 'Options' button. Don't forget to write down the fast time for each racer!