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Live Racing has born

The night was late, about 1:30, when four Stunts racers met in the chatroom. Some of these racers were also ISA organizers, and they decided to launch a new kind of racing. Twenty minutes later, the very first live Stunts event ever was going on. After the race had started, the chatroom was silent for 5 minutes, then the replays were sent in (some of them on time!), the master (Mingva) looked through them, and announced the results of the first race on a track downloaded from Zak’s site called Stroke:

  1. Bonzai Joe 1.18.85 + 1 sec penalty

  2. Pershing II 1.21.35

  3. Alain 1.38.05.

Later that night, Alan Rotoi logged on, and we raced again – this time on a track designed by Alain, and called Nitemare. The results this time:

  1. Alan Rotoi 1.11.15

  2. Bonzai Joe 1.13.35

  3. Pershing II 1.19.20

  4. Alain 1.27.75

The rules of live racing – still under construction – are something like this:

  1. You must drive a track which is new to everyone in the race
  2. You have somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes to drive the track AND send the replay to the arranger.
  3. You must use automatic transmission
  4. Whether a track is with or without ISA rules is decided before the race starts.
  5. You may not drive the track before the arranger says: “GO!” (But you can look at the overview map)
  6. General rules apply (like you can’t modify your car, no continued replays allowed, don’t modify track etc.)

Rule number 3 is of course unwanted, but so far necessary, because we want everyone to have equal opportunities. Some people have their gears on SPACE and ENTER, while others have them on A and Z, which makes it much harder to drive with manual transmission, at least when you don’t have time to really use replay handling.

Live racing will surely grow in the future. In comparision to the ordinary monthly competitions, live racing has many advantages: First of all, you don’t have to wait a month for the results, only about 5-10 minutes. Second of all, the winner is the best driver, not the one who spends most time to drive the track. Third of all, replay handling is nearly, though not completely, useless when driving this way! Fourth of all, and most important: it is much more exciting! To know that everyone is driving at the same time, and that you have to hurry, makes it much more intense. Pershing II said after the race: “I felt the adrenaline rush while driving. For the first time. It was great”

However, as with all things, there are also disadvantages: First of all, the luck factor is greatly increased in live racing. Second of all, the beauty of the game is somewhat spoiled because you don’t have time to make big Stunts, and you must bear with mistakes because you don’t have time to correct them. So there will be no beautiful and perfect replays in this kind of racing.

Undoubtedly, live racing will expand to include more racers, and the rules will be improved. I am sure that the historical event of the night between October 18 and October 19 2002 will be followed by many more of the same kind!

Submitted by Bonzai Joe on 2002-10-20.