Series I: 2016, FM6 Original Series
The one that started it all, the one that broke the molds, and set us down this spiral. LOL. The VRL was built around the debut of Forza Motorsports 6 which released only a few weeks prior in the early fall of 2016. Our beginnings were very innocent “I just got FM6, anyone else? if so, want to play together?” – and the rest is… well … outlined in this article #history. And a little known fact, VRL was a great medium for recruiting new members to GTM in our earlier years.
Everything was so rudimentary: the scoring, the racing, the rules… but we still turned out 11 drivers for the series. Some names like Dave S, Tania M, Eric M, Ben S and others are still competing even today. #theOG and Series 1 was where we realized “B-SPEC racing is the best racing.”
Series 1 also brought us our first major decision point (aka “argument”) as commissioners – the “Hot Hatch” debate. What is a Hatchback?
Series II: Vintage @ VIR
VIR… we all love VIR, right? – Series 2 was a direct response of the “Porsche Upgrade Pack” for FM6 which included a new track: VIR – not sure why we decided to build an entire (mini) series around it, but 6 races later… with all sorts of configurations and variations… all at one location. Hmm?
Not only did we run 100s of laps at VIR, we did them with restrictions like: Must be 1975 or older; Mini Coopers v Fiat 595s, Only convertibles/open-tops (No Jeeps!), Euro/American/Japanese-only. This concept would later evolve into our “Showcase” races.
Series III: 90’s @ 9, The “Tuner Challenge”
The 1990’s were an awkward time in clothing, music, adolescent maturation and especially in automobiles. So we decided to take that awkwardness and partner it with some of the most challenging short tracks in FM6. “Tuning” was all the rage in FM6, if you wanted to win, you needed to “tune it.” And before the advent of apps like “ForzaTune” or being able to download someone else’s leaderboard winning tune, you had to spend the time and DIY.
Needless to say, Series 3 was awkward, but the best part of it was the Lottery System we designed to partner the vehicle + tuner + track, but more importantly it was a “Round Robin” style of racing. Each race had a featured car that was prepared by one of the other drivers; We would all download the car and run what became later known as our first set of “IROC races.” We also held our first 1/4 and 1/2 mile DRAG race shootout as well.
And not to mention… the Eagle Talon from this series has seen more laps by the same driver throughout all of the VRL than any other personal favorites drivers might have.
But more importantly… there were the carefully crafted stories behind each tuner’s car: “As a kid you grew up dreaming, nay knowing, that you would one day be a famous racecar driver. You grew up modestly in a small town in Normal, Illinois, and when you turned 16 your parents were extremely generous to surprise you with a new car on your birthday! Oh the excitement! What car could it be?? You were warned it was a “fixer upper” but you didn’t care. Emotions were running through you, thoughts of racecar fame and success flashing through your head. As the garage door creaked open slowly, you stared, puzzled and slightly disappointed. What is this car….? ” … more on that, when you check out TUNED UP RIDES, on the SERIES 3 page.
> Series IV: ALMS <
Uh-oh. The Series… that shall not be named.
Series 4 had some real potential, but we took it way too seriously, and it led to things like “the Glencident” #glencident – We really thought we were done after that one, and I’m still surprised we made a Series 5. But on a brighter note, remember the “team play” in Series 4. LOL?
Although, despite the low points in Series 4, it did give way to the introduction of “the Black Rose” as seen in this promotional video. “…High above, in the Mountains of Germany, under the worst driving conditions possible, a new team has been forged… Can you defeat the Black Rose?…”
Series V: ERMAHGERD! LeMons Series
After a much needed break, we decided to give Forza racing another go. This time, the aim was to stay as far away from R-SPEC cars as possible, and return to B-SPEC, but with a twist… Let’s take what we consider the “junkiest” cars in the system and marry that with our tuning abilities from Series 3, and let’s go LEMONS racing!
Series 5 officially introduced “Showcase, IROC and Challenge” races and was also the first time we incorporated a DRIFT race in the VRL. Overall it was a mixed bag, and our scoring got increasingly more complicated with all sorts of bonuses. Including the reintroduction of the Black Rose (this time as a modded Subaru Legacy RS, seen left) in a “catch the rabbit” style of play.
Series VI: International Race of DE Champs (IRoDEC)
“My favorite series was DE all stars” says John C. This was the turning point in the VRL, where the model changed back to “Realistic Scenarios” (but no more R-SPEC, like Series 4, did I mention Series 4 yet?).
The idea behind the IRoDEC was simple, B-SPEC, limited to cars you would see at any given HPDE weekend: Corvettes, 911s, BMWs, Miatas. This gave people the opportunity to “build their car” and race it against their friends in the virtual world.
Series 6 introduced the “official VRL rulebook” – oh buddy, we’re definitely getting serious again. The running joke is that the VRL rule book is longer than some organizations Club Racing rule books. #YASMARINACLAUSE. Series 6 really stressed the “passing signal rules” since DE’s don’t generally have open passing, and the virtual world doesn’t have flaggers… #ONYOURLEFT became very important.
The IRoDEC also brought us the “4 HORSEMAN” championship bonus race. The Top-4 drivers going into the Championship round were presented with a specially prepared mystery car (Later revealed as a Chrysler 300 SRT-8 #heisenberg). The race started with a pace lap led by Eric M in an Audi TT on the Catalunya GP circuit. Since Forza still doesn’t have “rolling starts” in multiplayer, this was how we would simulate it. The results were… interesting. #turn1chaos
Series VII: SuperBowl Series
Series 7 > Forza 7 … yep, that was completely on purpose 😉 – Now that Forza 7 had debuted, we felt as though there wasn’t much more to do with FM6. We all needed to upgrade to the new hotness. Sadly though, when FM7 released, it had lots of problems, bugs and slowness issues. Many of us felt like we’d just spent $60 on FM6-Service_Pack_1. #thanksmicrosoft
This series introduced “the Parity System” for scoring (seen right) as well as the PIT (Phone It In). Probably one of the most time intensive and complicated ways we could have come up with awarding points to drivers, but “the PI balance was pretty interesting” says Dave S
Series VIII: Ultimate Motorsports Series
Abandoning the old ways, Series 8 brought us our first “online scoring engine” a very complex piece of coding from Eric M to help streamline the way VRL worked in general. The scoring engine lets us define how a single stage (race) works, you define the rules, bonuses, etc and the scoring system reacts to that information, based on the results that are imported per driver. Despite the initial up-lift, in the end it has saved us bunches of time and aggravation, but also let us design “multi-class racing” just like IMSA.
Passing Rules… sadly, as you can probably guess it’s always been an issue. Series 8 took a low turn as the only Series to see a driver be suspended. A new “review board” now known as the Forza Commissioners Group (#gamerz-forza on SLACK) was also created to help enforce the ever expanding rule book. At this point, many of us were ready to call it quits on the VRL all together. #SHOW-ME-THE-REPLAY!
Series IX: Multi-Class Bracket Racing
HOLD UP! What’s this? – In direct response to SCCA announcing bracket racing in the DC region, we thought “what a great idea, how hard could it be to implement in VRL?”
This article by Eric M pretty much summarizes the entirety of Series 9. This is it, right? The last one? – With Forza 8 being delayed because of Horizon 4, our VRL was starting to feel like the Rolling Stones good bye tour, which lasted, what… 10 years?
Series X: EPIC Enduros
Series 10 is what happens when you let the peanut gallery decide the format of the next VRL… “Let’s do enduros that match the real races. Oh, and lets follow their schedule too” – Which translates to the longest series over time with the longest races ever. Don C and Eric M were the only ones to finish the entirety of the Indy 500 (all 250 laps) – and it only took them 3 hrs. sigh. Later enduros in Series 10 were scaled down to a 1hr max. Thanks again Sam H. #fail.
Which brings us to Series 11, the Reunion Tour…
with the addition of Tom W and his enthusiasm in the Commissioners Group, we decided that we should “go back to basics” and use Series 11 to return to B-SPEC racing! We’ve added some new features to the VRL including Lap Time Leaderboards going all the way back to Series 1. But since we’re only on Round 2 there’s not much to say about Series 11 – yet, but stay tuned to the newly revamped VRL section of the website for updates. Be sure to check out all the past winners/awards. And if you’re interested in joining the VRL (or coming back to it) you’re still in time. (See who else is playing!) — Have some memories to share from any of the VRL series? Comment below! #iamnotagamer.
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