Merry Christmas!

Well everyone, the last few months have been a rather interesting introduction to the wacky world of game reviewing. Over that time I've picked up alot of traffic and even have some regular viewers and subscribers on Youtube. Hopefully regular visitors will start to pick up here too! And to entice that in, I have along list of reviews and discussions to make after the new year that should hopefully offer more gameplay, more interaction and discussion for me and hopefully some funny moments too.

My joined Christmas/Birthday present arrived yesterday morning (the photo). Spent a few hours wiring it up and getting all the settings sorted, so hopefully when I get some more time off, I can really test this beast out! I can hardly wait!

So with my ever expanding Steam and hardware aresnal, for those who have been reading for some time - and for those just looking just now - there is much more yet to come!

Merry Christmas everyone!
Hibblejaybob

Test Drive Tuesday: Bentley Speed 8

A small post for now (still exam season): I had taken some time off for a new car in the Test Drive Tuesday list - last week was a repeat of one I already did, and the week before was a variant of one I already done as well! So today was the 2003 Bentley Speed 8, a 24hrs of Le Mans prototype car. It's a beautiful car and really fun to drive. It has great stability and can brake almost as hard as a Formula 1 car. Its also good in straight line acceleration, but can be quite squirrelly accelerating out of corners. Other than that, I had no major problems with the car it was fun to drive and I didn't kill myself all too often!

There is some video footage, but I wont get time to sort all that out until after Christmas. So for now here's how the car stacked up:

• At Daytona and Bristol Motor Speedways, the Speed 8 weighed in 7th (of 17) overall and 3rd in class (of 4, Class: GTX - Prototype and Supercars)
• At Martinsville Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca the Speed 8 took 3rd place overall (of 17) and was 1st in class - beaten only by McLaren Formula 1 cars of 2013 and 1988!
• At Longstone pass the Speed 8 managed to pass the 1988 McLaren to take 2nd overall!
• Looking at combined times; for the 3 oval tracks, the Speed 8 is 7th overall, but falls to last in class (4th). But for the road tracks it triumphantly takes first in class by over 10 seconds and takes 3rd overall!
• Again in the combined times, for speed tested tracks, its 5th overall and takes 2nd in class, behind the Zonda R. For stability tested tracks, it takes 3rd overall (again, behind the F1 cars) and 1st in class. Finally, in braking tested tracks, the Speed 8 takes 2nd overall and 1st in class.
• All tracks combined, the Bentley Speed 8 is the 3rd fastest car I've tested in the Test Drive Tuesday series - beaten only (again) by the McLaren MP4-28 and the MP4/4.

Test Drive Tuesday Videos

On the run up to my exams, I am going to have to scale back video creation. Priorities are priorites. When I can I'll still do the Test Drives and record their times on the Hotlap table. This is what I've done for the McLaren M6GT and M23. Check out the page to see how the cars stack up!

B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty Eighth - A retrospective review

Game: B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty Eighth
Publisher: Microprose
Developer: Wayward Interactive
Released: 2000
Cost: $5.99 (Good Old Games)

So this is my first fully video review. B-17 is one of my favourite games of all time. Hope you enjoy the video!

Test Drie Tuesday - McLaren MP4-28

Honestly, I had bought this as soon as it came out that it was the TDT car this week! I've been waiting for a modern F1 car for some time on Simraceway (affordably anyway), and I was not at all disappointed with my purchase!

Being an F1 car, there's not much to say about its performance other than it being completely fantastic. Stability, speed, braking are all superb, as you'd probably expect from the pinnacle of motorsport. It does take a while getting used to the sheer pace of the machine, but once you get to grips with it, the pace is fantastic. The only car that comes in comparison is the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 which we did a few weeks back. Despite being 25 years older, the MP4/4 is surprisingly on the pace of the MP4-28, but still the advances show, with the MP4-28 being faster on more of the tracks.

The mechanical perfection of the F1 car makes it very difficult to talk to about. You point it in a given directions and so long as you can keep it bolted down on braking or accelerating - thats where it goes. It all then boils down to just how aggressive you can be without losing control. I tried a 30 minute time trial at Silverstone. The fastest time was 1:32.0 which is roughly on par with pole at the 2013 F1 Silverstone GP. At that race, the 107% time was ~1:37.6 and I managed a time of 1:36 - so I would have made the grid but not well!

I've included the full track day on my youtube channel. That and the hotlap and crashes videos are below too:

CRASH!

Testing these cars every week is great fun, but it usually goes far from plan. Not being a significantly experienced racer, as well as pushing these cars to their limits when I'm not really familiar with them, results in my fender becoming good friends with the wall on many an occasion! The last two weeks in the classic F1 cars have been a joy but also a great challenge, and here's two videos of nothing but spins, near misses and crashes that I found particularly funny. Hope you enjoy!

Test Drive Tuesday - McLaren MP4/4

So apparently I forgot to post last weeks TDT until 10 minutes ago - woops! So this week, we continue the advancement through the years in Formula 1 development with the 1988 McLaren MP4/4. This car looks and feels much more the modern F1 cars we see today.

Between the aerodynamics and the faster engine, the car has blazed up to 9 seconds off the lap records of all the other cars I've tested in the Test Drive Tuesdays. Despite my constant protests that I am much better in front wheel drive cars than I am rear wheel, I do technically have more simulator experience in F1 cars over the years - nearly 10 of them in fact! Despite the trouble I usually get myself into with rear wheel drives, with Formula 1 cars, I can just make them work which is good for my happiness!

So the MP4/4... well, it is fundamentally better than the previous two F1 classics in very way. Advances in aerodynamics make the world of difference in corners and with the faster engine, you can get good traction out of the corners, as well as being able to maintain a higher cornering speed. All round, the car is great fun to drive and isn't massively hard unless you try to push really really hard.

I had alot of fun in this car but sadly, at $18 on 50% discount and $36 normally, it was just too expensive to justify buying. If it comes down in price or can be bought as part of a worthwhile bundle, I would recommend you take it for a spin!