World of Racing

GT5 - Seasonal Time Trial Challenges #31 - Gold online

2012-03-14T12:22:00.000+01:00

Mazda 110S (L10B) '68 (stock) @ Grand Valley East

Done in first try. I expected it more difficult.

Mazda 787B Race car '91 @ Cuircuit de Spa-Francorchamps

I forgot to remove the turbo-charger from this car, so it was pretty easy. I should have used a different car.

NFS The RUN - AEM Challenge - Platinum Medal - online

2012-03-08T18:57:00.000+01:00

Time to continue the challenges of NFS the RUN. Reaching Platinum medal in this challenge wasn't very hard. I also recommend not always to take red marked road. Sometimes the longer route is faster in the end.

If you want to unlock the AEM challenge series, go on extras, enter cheat code and type in "aemintakes".

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer #12 - online

2012-03-04T19:42:00.001+01:00

From Island Outskirts Knockout to the Ancient Ruins K.O. in the evening, which is my favourite time of day. The PS2 had beautiful light rendering when it comes to the dusk time. This is also a single race like on the perevious event. I chose again the BMW M5. The cops are using everything they have: roald blocks, spike strips and the chopper. Transmission was set to "Manual" and the Handling to "Extreme".

Gran Turismo - Re-Do the License exams (UPDATED!)

2012-03-01T22:27:00.001+01:00

Because there was a copyright claim by PIAS, I have redone all the license tests completely. I didn't care much about the time I reached for gold medal. The only music track this video contains is "my home" from the european version of Gran Turismo.

The B-License tests are redone now. Enjoy the video!

Update March 2nd 2012: The A-License tests are also online now.

Gran Turismo 5 - Seasonal Time Trial #30 - online

2012-02-28T20:30:00.000+01:00

Here we go, the 30th volume of the seasonal Gran Turismo time trials and below are my comments about it.

Subaru IMPREZA Rally Car Prototype '01 @ Eiger Nordwand Short Track
It seems like PD went easy on us, there's nothing much to say. You can handle it with every 4WD car.

Mazda 110S (L10B) '68 (stock) @ Kart Space 1
Why didn't PD limit the trial to karts? This is a kart track after all. The more funny thing is, that the karts have almost 500pp and this event is limited to max. 350pp. So i chose a classic car this time and added some ballast to fit the limitations. I recommend to take a FR-type car, because this track doesn't allow a single shortcut and the track itself is tight for streetcars.

YouTube - The Clean Up

2012-02-27T09:36:00.020+01:00

On the next days I will clean up on my YouTube channel. A few of my videos have a Content ID match. Almost all those videos have "unauthorized" use of music / audio content which belongs to different companies. Even there are possibilities like the audio swap, which YouTube suggests, I will go a different way and probably delete all those videos. Some of them will be redone with removed music. I'd like to mention, that YouTube didn't force me to do something about it. It's my own decision.

YouTubes Content ID isn't always hitting the black spot if a copyright infringement is detected. Sometimes the "match" is false. So before i definitely delete these videos, I will do some research first.

YouTube - The best way to increase the views of your video

2012-02-24T20:10:00.006+01:00

All information I am giving you now came from my longtime experience with YouTube. I have not copied any sentences from other sites and also do not intent any copyright infringement. I hope this information will help you with promoting your videos on YouTube. Now back on topic.

It has been discussed many times around the world and there are many tips to show you how to increase the views on your YouTube video. Sure, adding more tags, commenting videos of other people, sharing your video on different websites is nice, but that will increase the views only for a short time. I haven't studied Marketing or something similar, but if you have spent enough time on YouTube, you'll notice that something has become different.

After YouTube was founded in 2005, there weren't so many videos around like now. It was easy back then to gain thousands of views in a few days. In a month you were able to get 100'000+ views for your video, even it wasn't the most interesting thing in the world. But then YouTube became more and more popular and the number of registrations increased rapidly and it got more and more difficult to promote your own videos. Why? Because many other people had a video about the same thing with an almost identical title, the same tags and a similar length. The competition was getting bigger and bigger and you always had to find a way to make yourself more interesting. So what happened after? YouTube launched a partnership program which makes it possible to earn money with your videos. As opposed to the normal user, a partner has many more features to promote his videos like having ads, a banner for your channel, upload a custom thumbnail for your videos and many more. At the beginning, it was limited to the United States only. After becoming a success it expanded to other countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and Czech Republic. There might be a few more countries, so I don't know all of them. Switzerland and Austria were and are still not involved into the program. The reasons are unknown.

If you as a normal user have the same video like someone else who is a partner, your chances to get more views than him would be slim. The reason is the thumbnail he has on his video. As a partner, you have the ability to use any picture you want as the thumbnail for your video even it doesn’t have anything to do with the subject. However, the normal user must accept one of 3 proposed thumbnails of your video which are chosen by YouTube. And most of them are really bad choices. As you can see, the title, tags, activity and embedding videos aren’t the only important factors; the thumbnail on the video is the probably most important thing to get many views for a long period of time. If your thumbnail doesn't look attractive enough, the visitor won't click on it! The thumbnail gives us the final decision to watch the video or not. Besides, a thumbnail can't simply be copied like titles and tags. It is something which will always remain custom and that's what the people want.

Let's make an example. I have here 3 pictures of one of my videos which were proposed from YouTube. Now assume that these pictures are of 3 videos which have the same title and tags except the thumbnail which looks different of course. On which one would you decide to click? You can leave a comment for your choice or send me a message, whatever you like. The choice is yours.

Gran Turismo 5 - Official Nurburgring Kart-Track in (hopefully) next DLC?

2012-02-22T10:20:00.000+01:00

What do we have here? A Kart track at the legendary Nurburgring? At first glance it looks tight, but when you see the many 180-turns, it would be a bit challenging and forming could be interesting for professionals. The straight line is about 80 meters long and can be achieved with a peak speed of 50km / h. That's good enough for a kart, right? The total length of the entire track is 400 meters and brings a great fun for young and old guarantee. Let us hope it will be coming in future downloadable contents for Gran Turismo 5.

Source: nuerburgring.de

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer #11 - online

2012-02-21T19:43:00.000+01:00

The Knockout challenges continue on the next Ultimate Racer volume #11. For a change I have decided to take the BMW M5 and have to race with 3 other racers which are driving a HSV Coupe GTS, a Jaguar XKR and a BMW M5. The cops are now calling for road blocks and the chopper. As always i used manual transmission and set the handling on "extreme".

Questions & Answers Vol. #1

2012-02-20T14:02:00.004+01:00

Since my fans are important to me, I'd like to give them something back. Every positive comment on my videos is important to me, to get more motivated to continue making videos and keeping the channel alive. So I will launch the first volume of Questions & Answers and you have now the chance to ask me anything* you want.... except requesting my bank account number and any other deeply private stuff :p

So how do you send me your question?
You can post your question by sending a message or post a comment, whatever you like.

The deadline of the first Q&A will be Sunday, 26th of February 2012.
(midnight, American timezone GMT -8)

* I can not answer questions refered to a game progress. Please do not ask me how you do unlock this & that. It's not what the Q&A was meant for.

Gran Turismo 5 - Make your own "Expert" Event

2012-02-18T20:03:00.000+01:00

Since PD hadn't brought us some new seasonal expert challenges for a long time, I have decided to take action and "create" my own expert event, you might also be interested in.

Here are the basic rules:

This challenge must be done in GT Mode!
Any kind of tuning (installing parts, changing settings, adding aero-parts) is strictly forbidden.
Changing the rims, oil change, restoring body rigidity and overhauling the engine are optional. Doing the oil change is recommended.
Except ABS, all other driving aids must be turned off!
The tyre restriction for this event is set to: Comfort Medium
The event is restricted to the following car: Toyota Yaris U Euro Sport Edition (J) ’00 (84 HP / 850kg / FF-Type)

Once you have read the rules, head over to the A-Spec beginner events and enter the Yaris / Vitz Race, which will take place at Fuji Speedway. To make it more interesting I have applied some additional rules while racing.

The additional rules while racing are:

You must gain the first position on the 1st lap.
As soon you gain the 1st position, do not let the opponent overtake you on the whole race. If the opponent overtakes you once, consider the event as "failed" and restart the race.
You may not touch the opponent on the whole race.
Shortcutting or any other cheating driving is strictly forbidden.
Keep at least two wheels on the track all the time. The rumble strips are part of the track. Green lat is not part of track. (2 wheels on rumble strips, 2 wheels on grass is fine, but try to avoid that)

Good luck! You may also send me a video response (YT) if you like.
Here is a replay of my run, which is not 100% perfect.

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer Events #9 & #10 - online

2012-02-15T13:21:00.000+01:00

I have released now 2 of the Ultimate Racer events in NFS Hot Pursuit 2 for the PlayStation 2.

As on previous event #5, you will be playing on the cops side and have to stop 3 racers within 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I didn't use the nitrous and won't use it for future pursuits.

The real action starts on the 10th event of Ultimate Racer. You are racing at Calypso Coast against 3 other HSV Coupe GTS. It is only a single race, but it is definitely worth watching this. I always avoid crashing into the traffic, but in a few situations it is to late to react since a traffic car appears in front of you. You can excpect a long single race with is over 12 minutes long and fear the power of the police. They are now calling for road blocks, using spike strips (starts at lap 3), and call also for the chopper, which is throwing many explosive canisters or placing "mobile" spike strips from the air to stop you.

Ulimate Racer Event #9:

Ulimate Racer Event #10:

Gran Turismo 5, Time Trial #29 - online

2012-02-10T19:43:00.000+01:00

Chevrolet Camaro SS '10 (stock) @ Cape Ring
Nothing much to say, it isn't hard as it may look. I recommend to take a Camaro SS '10. I did a few mistakes and still have reached gold time. Usually i take the last corner with 110km/h. So the one mistake could have cost me not more than a second. So still with a time below 3 minutes it is possible to do it. I didn't use any driving aids except ABS, which was set to default.

Nissan GT-R '07 (stock) @ Suzuka Circuit
This event is a piece of chocolate. I have done it with my favourite car, the Nissan GT-R '07 in stock and didn't do any tuning. It has only 532pp, so its a lot below the maximum allowed 600pp. Most driving aids were also disabled, except ABS that has default settings.

Gran Turismo 5, Time Trial #28 online

2012-02-04T17:51:00.000+01:00

After a long break of gaming, I have found some time today to do the seasonal time trials. Here are my comments for the trials:

Toyota 86 GT '12 (stock) @ Tsukuba Circuit
First I thought this is going to be a very hard time trial since the tyres were limited to Comfort/Hard. But somehow it wasn't hard as expected. It was actually fun to do this challenge. The car itself is very stable for a FR-type. So you won't have any problems doing this challenge. I recommend to be careful on the long turn before the finish line. Do not underestimate it.

Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce '09 @ Rome Circuit / Reverse
This challege is harder than expected. So I have decided to make it close to the 1:16.700. While the professionals were using a NSX Prototype, I have decided to make it with the Lamborghini SuperVeloce. The tyres were limited to Sports/Hard. I didn't want to do it very fast. I did slowdown it a bit, so the beginners can also have the chance to make it gold. I didn't do any tuning and left anything as it is. The driving aids were all off, except the ABS which was set to default.

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer Event #8 - online

2012-02-04T14:19:00.000+01:00

On this multi-track knockout challenge you are racing against other Opel Speedsters or Vauxhall VX220s. They are basically the same cars with only a few differences. The cops are also calling for road blocks on this event.

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer Event #7 - online

2012-01-28T13:57:00.000+01:00

This is a battle between the United Kingdom and the Australian manufacturers. I had luck that this is just a single race and not a knockout race like on previous event. It's not very motivating to do 3 races in a row, which contains only the same track. The cop skills are as usual. Road Blocks, Spike Strips and the chopper are all disabled. Enjoy!

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer Event #6 - online

2012-01-25T16:59:00.000+01:00

Which cars are better? This is a battle between the United Kingdom and the Germany manufacturers. Actually there are only 2 cars participating in this event: The Jaugar XKR and teh BMW M5. This event will be battled 3 times on the Natioal Forest course. I'd like to mention, that it is the shourtest and also the fastest track in the game. Enjoy!

Gran Turismo 4 in 1080p

2012-01-21T21:52:00.000+01:00

Now that I have Gran Turismo 4 on all versions (NTSC US/C, NTSC-J, PAL), it's time to test the feature that was removed in the european version. I have captured a replay from the US version in 1080i and rendered it again in 1080p to have a video in full frame. The course I have chosen is one of my favourites, the "El Capitan" course, which isn't featured currently in Gran Turismo 5. Maybe it might come as a DLC or it might be (hopefully) in Gran Turismo 6, which is in progress after the release of Gran Turismo 5.

The 1080i mode is not in true High Definition. It is just an upscale from the horizontal lines. The vertical lines were not touched and remain in 640p. The upscale boosts a bit more of flickering and also sharpens more the image. It also takes effect only when you are about to start a race. The main-menus, options, garage and anything else is kept in 480i or 480p.

Now enjoy the video.

Gran Turismo 5 - Special Stage Route X released!

2012-01-18T18:24:00.000+01:00

After seeing so many videos about drag racing, Polyphony decided to bring us the new track, called Special Stage Route X. It is over 32km long. In exception of the Test Track in Gran Turismo 4 which is "only" around 12km long, this one is almost 3 times longer. The straights are 12km and the curves ca. 3km long each. It takes 3 minutes and 45 seconds of your patience for 1 Lap. :)

Here is a video which is a one make race between me and 7 other X2011 cars. Is includes also the transition from day to night. The timeer was set at 14:30 (2:30pm) o'clock. And the progression was set to 30. Enjoy!

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer Event 5 - online

2012-01-18T17:06:00.000+01:00

Now let's switch the side. This time I will be a cop and have to stop 3 racers within 2 minutes. That was very easy, I didn't use the nitrous and won't use it for the future pursuits. I'd like to mention that the cops have nitrous installed in their cars. Enjoy the pursuit. :)

Gran Turismo 5 - Time trials & NFS Hot Pursuit 2 Event #4

2012-01-17T22:13:00.000+01:00

The newest time trial seasonal event is finally done. I recommend to chose a 4WD car beacuse the second race is going on rain. All-wheel cars have the best grip and are highly recommended on rainy tracks. Enjoy the race!

This event is a knockout race between the german and australian cars. The weirdest thing on this event is, that you have to do 3 races on the same track on the same direction accomplish it. Each race contains 2 laps. So because this event isn't so much fun, I didn't care much about doing clean laps. I chose the car Ford TS50 for a change, since I have already done the time trials with the Opel Speedster and the Mercedes CL55 AMG. The cops aren't calling for road blocks / spike strips / chopper, so it was an easy race. As always i use manual transmission and go on "extreme" handling.

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer Event #3 - online

2012-01-13T18:36:00.000+01:00

He it goes, the next delivery mission. The couse this time is very tight and has many sharp corners. The police is the same as in previous event. The cops are calling here for the road block also . Enjoy!

NFS Hot Pursuit 2 - Ultimate Racer Event #2 - online

2012-01-10T22:24:00.000+01:00

Here we go, the next Ultimate Racer challenge featuring an Opel Speedster. It's also a Delivery mission. The police calls now for road blocks. Chopper and spike strips are still disabled. The track itself is pretty fun. You need only to be careful when use some of teh shortcuts. One mistake, and you'll hit the wall. Enjoy!

The handling was set to "Extreme" and the transmission to "Manual".

My new blog!

2012-01-09T23:26:00.000+01:00

Hi all!

I'd like to introduce you my new blog. I've opened this blog to inform you about my future gameplays and perhaps other real-life stuff. If you go to my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/GTRufus1), you might have noticed my new background. So now for my first post, I'd like to show you how my new logo actually looks without the asphalt:

Any critics or suggestions are welcome.

I have returned to the classic Need For Speed Hot Pursuit for PlayStation 2. This time, I'll also upload the "Ultimate Racer" events along with NFS the RUN, Gran Turismo 5 and other games. There is a total of 32 challenges which can contain up to 8 races each challenge. Please don't expect 100% clean driving. Even I do mistakes and crash into a wall or a traffic car. My personal goal on all challenges is to never getting busted. On a few challenges you will be the cop and have to stop the other racers.

Enjoy the first challenge for now. It's a pretty easy one for the beginning. The cops on this challenge call for road blocks or spike strips or the chopper. I'd like to menton, that the Lotus Elise is the slowest car in the game.