it's what's for dinner

The old site, pages, pictures, and everything are gone. I did it for no other reason then I wasn't updating or using them anymore. Shame? No, not really. Life? Indeed. It goes 'round and 'round, leaving all dead in its wake. No more updates on me anymore. If you want, I've got a space and am in the book.

sexy, even in green

Popped out a new wallpaper the other day...a Lamborghini Miura SV.

The Miura is, of course, the car that put Lamborghini on the map, and set the stage for every super car thereafter. The Miura was the first road car to have a mid-mounted engine. A nice V12 mounted sideways put out decent numbers. The SV was a later version with upgraded bits and bobbles, the one to have really.

Can be found in the wallpapers section as well.

1440x900

forza 2: the continuation

No, I am not done talking about Forza, I just needed to let my fingers rest for a bit.

Speaking of tracks, I really miss Road America. Of all the tracks missing, I think this is the one I miss the most. And yet, this is the one track that I can most rationalize the exclusion of. I realize that the license may've been up on it. But man, I do miss it.

I wish the cars spat fire. I know, it's possibly a childish thing, but seeing a car spit fire out the tailpipe is a treat. In Forza 1, the cars at least made the proper sounds for fire-spitting, I've not noticed the same in Forza 2. Cars spit fire, that's all there is to it, and if you want that extra bit of polish on a game, include it...realistically.

I wish the game had more advanced telemetry. I wish I could have a track map, with a dot for my car, and have throttle and brake graphs over time, not just instant graphs. Perhaps have the track map change color, green for gas, red for brake, white for neither, and somewhere in between for half-pedal cases. Then I could really look at my lap and see what works, what doesn't, and how best to get 'round. Adding steering would be a nice treat as well.

I really, really hope Bugatti lets someone put the Veyron into a game. And I really hope it's Forza 2. All I hear about when reading about the Bugatti is how much better it is then every other car at everything possible. It stops. It goes. It turns. It pampers. A car that is 10.0 all down the ratings scale would be awesome. And the ability to trick it up? Mind blowingly orgasmic. I'll have a cage'd Veyron in flat black with black wheels, please. And bump up those turbochargers while you're at it. Thanks...ya know, make it a double.

Will a game ever satisfy all my cravings for automobilia? Nope. But Forza 2 does come the closest out of every effort yet. It is a very good game. I love how it drives, how it feels real. I love how even though the 'endurance' races are achingly short, they can still come down to the last corner and be won (or lost) by a mere tenth of a second. Fifty minutes of Silverstone decided by a drag race and won by a blink of an eye. Spectacular.

forza 2: good, bad, not ugly

As anyone who has me on their XBL Friend's list will no doubt know, I've been spending a copious amount of time playing Forza 2 recently. So, how is it?

First, the bad. Bad as in bugs.

Graphically, the game is quite nice, but every now and again I'll experience a bug where the game will fail to draw the track and ground textures. I'll be driving, and suddenly, there is no track. There is no grass. I still see rumble strips and cones and walls, but no 'ground'. I'll see the background texture and black...like I'm seeing through the track. If I pause the game to take a picture while this is happening, I'll get a disc error and need to reboot the game/360. I've had it happen on more then one track and in different game modes. It'll happen in two turns one lap, and then not at all the next lap.

Audio wise, I've only run across one bug so far, occasionally a song will 'skip' during a loading screen. Sounds like a record skipping. So when I load up into the race track, I won't have any audio other then skipping song. Quite annoying, especially since it required a game reboot to fix.

On the control side of things, I just did notice my first bug, an inverted righ stick control during picture mode. Racing the "endurance" race at Tsukuba, paused to take a photo, and the right stick was suddenly inverted. Up was down. Down was up. Backed out of photo mode and re-entered it, without unpausing, and all was fine. Quirky, but a bug nonetheless.

OK, now my gripes, and I've got quite a few...

Pit road. First off, there is a glitch that disallows contact on pit road, as soon as car control is taken away from the palyer...so you can scream into the pits at full speed, and not really worry about hurting your car if someone else is already there. I've used this trick to gain lots of time on those in front of me, and even pass people.

Secondly, why is there no pit crew? Or at least sounds of a pit crew? That seems kinda like a blaring oversight. Someone works on the cars. To me, it really kills the whole 'simulation' feel when there isn't so much as the sound of an air gun to be found.

Lastly, what's up with the equipment sitting ON pit road? Tool boxes, tire racks, engine hoists and other crap is sitting ON pit road. Where cars drive. It's nice to see these, but at least put these on the other side of the wall.

Paint shop. Boy...I've got lots of complaints here. Why the deletion of flat paint? Why the deletion of carbon fibre 'paint'? Why can we STILL not put decals over top of carbon fibre parts? Why is there no chrome? That last one may just be an oversight on my part. I like how we're able to paint more and have more paint choices and decals and layers and everything else, but that doesn't mean we need to sacrifice what we already had.

And while I'm on the subject of paint, and as a transition to my next point, why aren't there blank race cars for us to paint? Why are we forced into using only what the game developers thought were good enough for inclusion into the game? Make a plain white version of all the R-class cars that we can buy in the dealership and that we can fully customize in the livery editor. Why give us all these racing shapes and decals if we're forced to use them on cars that the game doesn't consider race cars? Race cars live in the R-class, the other classes are simply stock and modified cars.

Continuing on from the previous point, why can't we have a race car version every car in the game? Make more race classes, and have the option to "race modify" your car for a race class. As I see it, the race car classes could break down as such: U/R1, S/R2, A/R3, B/R4, C/R5, D/R6. When you race modify a car, it'll default to the equivalent race class the car is already in. Lets say a car, stock, is a C-class car...race modify it and it'll be an R5 car. If you modified the car into A-Class, then when you race modify it, it becomes an R3 class car. The only thing I'd have to limit what race class you can modify a car for is that you must have a stock motor/drivetrain. Swapping the motor of a D-class car to bring it into A-class wouldn't take you from R6 to R3. I'd do this to keep similar cars in the same race classes and more in line with how real race series works and breaks down race classes. When you race modify a car, it'll be 'homgolated' much like all the R-class cars were for the shipping game. Your HP, weight, and other things would automatically go up or down in order to bring it in line so that it is competitive, but not dominating. Of course, with a race modified car, you'd lose the ability to change parts without first dropping the race modification. I see it as an all encompassing race modification, your motor would be upgraded (or restricted), transmission and driveline upgrades, top-spec suspension components, top-spec differential and weight reduction, race tires, and a special body kit to wrap it all up. And of course, we can paint the car any way we want. To me, this is just a huge miss on the part of Turn 10. Sure it's fun to race cars we'll never see, much less drive, but let us fulfill our fantasy other ways and take our daily drive and turn it into a REAL race car. Let tuning and driving be the judge of who wins, not the car you drive.

That was a long paragraph, I know. But it's a huge point on my end. Let me fucking modify my damn S13 into a race car and race with similar cars and be competitive. As it is, when you throw all the 'race parts' on a car, you go into S-class, where you usually aren't competitive.

I also don't like how you can't jump to your garage of cars and select any one, at any time. Sometimes, I'll be in a car that is eligible for a race, but its not the one I want to race in that race, so I have to change the car through choosing a different race series where my car isn't eligible, chose one that is, then go back to my original race and rechoose the car I wanted to begin with. Why not just give me a button to press to jump me to my car list.

I do like the favorite feature for my car list.

I also like how cars have dis-similar fuel usage rates. It used to be that no matter what car you drove, no matter how you drove and no matter what parts you had installed, all cars used fuel up at the same rate. Now, if you drive a guzzler (Ford GT anyone?) you'll need gas before I do in my 914/6.

I don't like how some tracks are gone. I miss Alpine Ring, Rio de Janeiro and the Test Track Oval. The game lacks from the lack of Test Track Oval.

no turning back

There are points during a project where there is no turning back. When you do something that fully commits your project from where it was, to where it will be. I'm pretty sure I passed that point this weekend.

At the drift, I noticed that almost all the S13s had the rear package shelf and rear sheetmetal that supported the rear seat removed. But, its not just a easy as unfixing a few bolts and removing the offending panels..nope, these panels are spot welded in. Not only that, the hinges for the trunk lid attach to the rear package shelf. You could remove all but the needed metal, but why? But what about the hinges? Well, instead of using hinges, use hood pins. That's what I did. Converted the trunk lid to work with pins, which was pretty easy. And since that was done, I could cut the extra metal out. Break out the torch and grinder. Most of the metal has been removed, just a few more grinds on some spot welds and a little grinding to clean up the cut edges and I'm good to go. Really cleans up the rear end. I'll grab some pics tomorrow when I'm done, 'cause it looks all racy and shit.

thank you sir, can i have another?

Over the past few months I've started probably 5 or 6 different digital car drawings, only to get to the colouring stage, get frustrated and stop. I actually started and finished a new piece, a Bentley Arnage T-SM.

I've had the idea of this car in my mind for a while now, and I only wish I had money enough to make it come true. The basic idea is to take one of the worlds best luxury cars and modify it in such a way to make more power, have more style, and be able to take a turn or two...all without losing all of its luxury appeal, or looking like a loon. Some companies "do-up" Rolls and Bentley models, but to me, they almost ruin them.

So, whats so special about my iteration? Well, other then I did it the way I'd do it, I just think this vehicle would be really, really slick in real life. Onto the 'technical' stuff- Power is increased via front mount intercooler, painted black for stealth, mounted in a slightly modified front bumper. The turbos are sized one-up, and the ECU has been remapped to make the most of the new parts. Exhaust is big-tube mandrel bent stainless, with mufflers that still keep the cabin quiet, but lets loose a nice rumble when needed. Suspension is almost all new with one-off arms and custom-valved magnetic-actuated coilovers. The result is a lowered ride height, but maintained alignment and ride smoothness, that turns into sporty-stiff at the push of a button. For a bit of flair, wheels are sized 22" x 8" up front, 24" x 10" in back. Although large, the multi-piece construction keeps the weight low but strength up. Housed inside the large wheels are equally large brakes, much needed with the impressive weight and power of the Arnage. Wrapping all of the upgrades is a smoothed and cleaned up body with mildly upgraded one-off bumpers and rocker panels sprayed in custom deep candy-red over black. All remaining exterior chrome has been sprayed a transparent black, making it "shadow chrome".

There you have it, not bad, eh? That'd be a super-awesome ride for sure. On the drawing of it, I did get a bit lazy with the wheels and reused the brakes and wheels from the Top Speed Commodore, with a red lip, gloss black bolts, and new brake rotors. I envision a set of spli-five spokes in shadow chrome, maybe I'll redo the wheels later as the ones that are on it now give the car more of a sports car feel then I'd like. The 5-spokes would give a bit more luxurious feel....eh, maybe later.

The pic is found at the link above and in the wallpaper section.

Halo 3 Beta: The Fuck Up

Have you played the Halo 3 Beta yet?

If you answered yes, then you are either a sucker, or lucky.

It seems only those people are getting in.

First, the suckers. All those people who bought Crackdown for a guaranteed Beta invite are suckers. If you bought Crackdown 'cause it looked like a fun game to play, then you are not a sucker. Spending $60 for a Beta invite is suckerish.

Next, the lucky. There were, for numbers sake, lets say around 25,000 people who could get into the Beta without having to buy a thing. There were three ways, being one of the first to sign-up at Halo3.com and being chosen...so-called Phase 1, the Rule of Three (basically playing Halo 2 for three hours, being one of the first 13,333 people to sign up...and something else), and Friends and Family. Out of those three groups, only one could be considered a success, and that's the Friends and Family group. They all, seemingly, got their Beta invite. Even if not all the Friends and Family did get an invite, no one will really know as there wasn't an official sign-up or anything. Meanwhile, there are more then a few Phase 1 and Rule of Three people who are left out in the cold without a Beta invite. So, what gives?

Granted, SOME Phase 1 and Rule of Three people have gotten an invite and are indeed playing the Beta, but what about the rest?

There was an error in some code somewhere within Crackdown that prevented ALL Crackdown owners from accessing the Beta. Within a few hours that problem was traced, fixed, tested, and made public. So if you paid your $60 for Crackdown, you're in. If you put in a good few hours online trying for Phase 1 or Rule of Three...you're probably shit outta luck. What's up with that?

Bungie isn't really to blame here, this whole Beta invite thing was handled by Microsoft. What does Microsoft have to say about all of this? Not a damn thing so far. Call up Microsoft and complain, plead, and cajole for an Beta invite and they can do nothing for you. Some are reporting that even though they got an email saying they were "in on the Beta", with their gamertag included in the email even, there is no record of that gamertag being linked to the Beta. No record? What type of system has Microsoft got going on where there is no record, even though you inputted your gamertag and email address in the same form? Why is Microsoft being so mum about this situation? Why is Bungie adding to the flames against them by staying mum themselves? In the eyes of many, they are not free from guilt, but are rolled into the one entity that is Microsoft.

How soon will this all be resolved? Probably never unless Microsoft changes its approach. For one, the end-users who are expecting those emails are to blame. The 'accepted' email, and a follow-up email, clearly stated to add two separate email address to the "not spam" list or your own contacts list, just so any future emails would show up in your main folder, not a junk or spam folder. And yet, many people found their Beta invite email sitting in the spam/junk folder like some hot stock tip email. You can't expect Microsoft to go to everyone's house and unblock the email for them. Because the end-user didn't follow directions, some aggressive ISPs have blocked the email from ever even getting to the user...a step further then kicking suspect files to the trash, its kicking suspect files out of the neighbourhood. Ouch.

What will bring salvation to Microsoft and Bungie, and stop, probably, a ten-thousand plus army of disgruntled players from their witch hunt? My guess? A Marketplace download. Forgo this 'code' nonsense and let whomever wants to play the game, play the damn game. Its not as if getting to play in the Beta is really a special treat or anything, its not as if you are sitting with the developers looking over your shoulder notepad in hand jotting down any bugs they spot. Bugs will be found and bugs will be squashed, but this isn't a true Beta in the traditional sense , the Halo 3 Beta is more like an unpolished Demo. It's not a cop-out, mind you, from a polished demo, as behind-the-scene bug-squashing is going on, but at the same time, there is more to do in this "Beta" then in other Demos that were released less then a week before the "Beta" and whose final game is coming out before the end of this month, as opposed to more then three months for Halo 3.

Let the people have their Beta and you will find salvation.

In the end, this whole Beta ordeal is just a minor error somewhere, but the closed lips and hype surrounding the Beta are fanning the flames of hate. Those flames are hot, but not well rooted. However, unless appropriate measures are taken quickly, those flames will root and spread, um...like wild fire, and even if the flames don't getcha, the smoke will. Not many people are hurt from flames, but many are hurt from the smoke.

little to nothing

Not much to say, really. Just been pounding away on that 240. Got the driver's side all de-tar'd and painted black. Looks sexy. Just a bit more to do on the passenger side. Then I gotta do the trunk area, rear wheel wells and a few other parts. It sucks, but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

Went to the local cruise-in today, and, as always, some nice stuff was there. Talked with a guy with a 9-second Mustang (square body notchback) for a while. Talked to some guy and his wife over his sweet '65 GTO. She got real excited when I mentioned drifting and thought it would be the coolest thing. Talked at length with another guy with a nice '56 Ford truck, and yet another old timer with who knows what about all kinds of stuff. Cool people, all.

One thing I love about the local cruise-in is the variety and quality of cars that come in. Nothing really, really outrageous this time 'round, but there was that Chrysler 300 that the guy turned down something like $250,000 for. A new Mustang GT500 in a really nice Tungsten Grey color. A clean 300ZX convertible. A 442 Pace Car. Some real nice original-caliber vintage tin. Even a '63 Lincoln Continental convertible. Yes, please, to all of those. Nice stuff, but nothing really wild like what'll show up most times. A Ferrari 360 did cruise through, so that was nice. I am a sucker for a Ferrari.

no words, just pictures

'66 meets '01-




latches with safety pin-


box 'o wires-

a milestone

Yesterday was truly a milestone for the '66. For the first time since we've had it, it moved under its own power. I was given then maiden voyage, and let me tell you, I was nervous as hell. I've never done a complete rebuild/build-up of a car like this, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was really, really cool though. At first, things didn't go so well, as we're low on transmission fluid and have a leak, so you've got to get the revs up to get the car moving...I just knew the transmission would suddenly engage and send me rocketing out the shop, and the brakes not want to work. Luckily, the exact opposite happened. The car eased out, and the brakes worked like a charm. It was nice to see the thing outside. I grabbed a few shots of it, but haven't got them online yet.

I also wrapped up a little pet project on the 240 yesterday as well, the wiring. As stated earlier, since I'm not gonna have HVAC or some other things, I don't need the wiring. It took a bit, but I think it was worth it. I've still got to get a casuality count, but I removed a bunch of useless wires. Just one step closer to RACECAR!