Question on race courses

[Guest nemoblackdog]

I'm a beginner here, so forgive me if these questions are repetitive (yes, I've tried searching, but with no luck).Anyway, I've got a few questions about FSX:Acceleration:- Are the Red Bull race courses (e.g. Istanbul, Longleat) able to be found in Free Flight mode? I can only find them in the Missions area.- When running the courses from the Missions (e.g. practice course), it's not possible to change the aircraft (option is greyed out). Anybody know if it's possible to run the race courses in other aircraft types?- On the Extra 300s, when I try to get a external viewpoint of the plane from the tail perspective, it can't zoom out far enough see the whole plane - it's as if the "camera" is mounted on top of the tail itself. Other aircraft don't seem to have this problem. Is this a known issue?Thanks, and again, apologies for any repetitiveness here.

[Highmike 68]

1) As far as I can tell you can fly the course in Free Flight mode. Just look on the map to see the name of the airport involved, and select this airport from the Free Flight menu. It will be 4SD in the case of the Reno air race.2) You can change the default aircraft used to fly the missions. Just hit the 'Enable changes in selected Mission' checkbox found on the Missions menu. You won't get any rewards when you select this option.3) I'd say the camera has been set up this way so as to make it easier to see the race. I don't think it's a bug or anything.Mike.

[beatle 0]

1 - The pylons/gates and whatnot will probably only be there when running the missions, as they are placed as mission objects so aren't part of the normal scenery. The higher quality scenery around the race courses should be available even in free flight though.3 - are you using the "tail camera" or the spot view camera? The tail camera is supposed to be on top of the tail (just like the wing cameras are on the edge of the wings).

[P-12C 0]

For the Reno course, the pylons are there in freeflight because in real-life the pylons are there all the time, so we have them there all the time. But you can't fly a timed race around them in freeflight because the mission system is used to time your laps and check for rule infractions.The Red Bull courses are setup temporarily in real-life, so they are also temporary in FSX Acceleration. I'm sure many are happy about that... They only exist in the missions.Only some of the race courses were used in the single player mission list, which are the two Reno tutorial/practice races and the three Red Bull 2006 courses. In Real-life Red Bull Air Racing doesn't race with multiple aircraft on the course, so none of the multi-player courses are included in the single player mission list. That is one reason anyway, and the other reason is that we didn't record any AI racers to fly against.You can however fly any of the multi-player courses as a solo participant by simply hosting a multi-player "LAN" session and fly the courses. It doesn't matter if you are hooked up to a real LAN (local area network) or not to fly by yourself. This is a good way to practice for an on-line session or just see what these courses are like. This is how you get to all 9 of the Red Bull style courses, the sailplane course, the F-18 canyon course, The Greek Cross-country race, and the Secret Island and Hawaiian hoop courses.The multi-player courses are all very cool, so if you are interested at all in racing, you should check them out. If you really want to see what the racing system will do, check out the Hawaiian course. I included it to show what a truly "gamey" race would be like... It's also very easy to change aircraft in a multi-player race (whether you are flying solo or not).As others have said, the tailcam is intended to emulate a camera attached to the tail (or nearly so).

[Highmike 68]

Thanks for such a comprehensive reply, Paul. I am still struggling to make up ground in the Reno race where I've been practicing in free flight mode, so I haven't had a chance to look at the Red Bull courses yet. It's handy to have the Reno pylons there even though the race clock is not available. And it's great just dawdling around Reno because hey, that Mustang is one heck of a bird!Mike.

[Guest dswo]

Thank you, Paul; this was very helpful, a good example (if one was needed) of how Aces has helped the community by being part of it.

[Guest nemoblackdog]

Thanks so much for the detailed answers to my questions - they were very helpful!

[P-12C 0]

What would make Brandon and I happiest is if you and other users would try the multi-player races either alone by yourself or with other people and let us know what you think of the different courses.We have gotten very little feedback regarding many of the courses, primarily be cause we assume they are too difficult for most users to complete.BTW, we have made three more courses available on FSinsider...http://www.fsinsider.com/downloads/Pages/B...ngMissions.aspxDownload the pdf for a good description of them. I will also be bloging about the tomorrow.