@RoryAlsop did any of them actually meet up in the same hanger with you? What kinds of problems did you have?

Couldn't even get as far as getting into a hangar

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 well...I tried as many things as I could to see if it was me

@AJHenderson A lot of the reviews suggest it isn't - looks like they've removed a lot of the puzzle element and thrown in more action (trailers seem to be mostly full of a car race, which wasn't in the book...)

I read the book on Saturday, so might leave it a while before I watch the movie...

@RoryAlsop - J/K my friend. It sucks when you've put so much into and got nothing back.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 and sadly it was very expensive too!

Great answer on this question: mechanics.stackexchange.com/a/52681/7132

On the upside, I just got the Burnout Paradise City remastered (which does mean this is the third time I have bought it) - and I'm enjoying it all over again

@RoryAlsop I can only imagine. Too bad you can't re-utilize the equipment on something else.

@RoryAlsop Was it actually bugging out on you? If memory serves, you start in the hanger right after you choose to play either on your own or on the public zone

Well, the joystick/throttle stuff is good on flight Sims

or do you mean you were stuck in the parking bay

and couldn't get up to the hanger

@RobertS.Barnes - Agreed!

@AJHenderson could not get into the hangar. I mean I could fly in no problem, but couldn't get permission to do so. That stage was not possible.

it sounds like you probably had issues with selecting the proper hud menu to issue the launch commands. I believe it's tab or ctrl tab to shift around between them or ctrl 1 to select it directly, but I'd have to double check. In VR I'm able to just look at the display and use my HAT switch on my joystick as the hud screens auto-select when I look at them

oh

so the comms side

So couldn't get past the third training mission

yeah, I could help you with that for sure

you're actually further along than I thought

Quite a few folks tried. And the procedure they described to contact the station and get permission just didn't exist

I mean I can fly easily, and shooting the ships in the early practice was fine.

I have a feeling I know what they did wrong

But spent a few weeks trying different things to initiate comms

Arqade had instructions that should be possible, but weren't

were you stuck looking at a list of locations?

my guess is you were stuck in nav mode rather than comms

Whatever it is that is supposed to initiate comms didn't. I tried all the workarounds and nothing. Don't know about list of locations - it's been a while since I gave up in frustration

Look out, @RoryAlsop ... you're getting @AJHenderson excited for you ...

No, no, no ... not in a weird way, lol

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 lol, I just like the idea of being able to play something with Rory since I've known him for how long now but only socialized on SE

No worries ... I was just trying to be funny. I appreciate it when people try to help each other. That's what SE is all about, right?

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 yeah, I contemplating responding "Well, no, it's kind of a weird way"

@AJHenderson - I didn't realize you were a Mod. You trying to compete with Rory on how many sites you deal with?

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 that's what the blue names are for silly ;)

@AJHenderson - I always forget to realize this!

and yeah, we might have a competition going, but I'm not very good at it since I asked him to join me on one of the sites that was in need of another solid mod

for one of the beta sites

@AJHenderson - I'm sure you're better at it than I am ... Rory is good people, no doubt.

→ 20 messages moved to Video Production

arstechnica.com/features/2018/03/…

@BobCross - While winter tires can add to the handling of a vehicle, IMHO, the real stability when driving in winter conditions is the loose nut behind the wheel. Realizing your driving prowess and the stability of your car in any given situation is going to do a lot more for keeping your car on the road than any winter tire is going to be able to do.

The winter tire will add to the stability of the car, but if the person behind the wheel doesn't know how to drive in those conditions, the tires will do little if anything to keep the car on the road. You can easily outdrive your car or the road conditions if you don't know what you're doing.

I'd suggest the same for people who get behind the wheel of a performance vehicle, expecting the vehicle to keep them on the road and then out drive the performance. You have to know the breaking limits of the vehicle, whether that's mechanical or road adhesion.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 We've had a lot of problems with that over hte past couple of weeks - it's very rare to get significant snowfall in the south of England, so most people are inexperienced with driving in it

cue a lot of people doing stupid things

It doesn't help, IMHO, that there are so many driver aids in modern cars - takes away people's feel for what's under their tyres

Having grown up in Montana, and learning to drive there, I had to learn what to do and not to do because there's snow there probably 4-5 months out of the year. They don't completely clean off the roads and they don't use salt to treat the roads. If sawdust is available, they'd use that. (Which I like, because it's completely biodegradable).

google.com/maps/place/Libby,+MT+59923/…

About 30 miles from Canada as the crow flies ... what I'd call very north in the continental US

Yeah - we get snow maybe 2-3 days on an average year...

they've been gritting the main roads, but not the side roads, so they've been sheet ice

and there have been way too many idiots who can't be bothered to sweep the snow from their car, and just clear the swept area of the windscreen

luckily it's warmer today, so it's all melted

@NickC - Stupidity at its finest.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 exactly. they clearly don't consider what would happen if they had to brake suddenly...

Haha! When I was a kid, we spent a few days in the winter in Albuquerque New Mexico. Over the course of the a 24 hour period, it snowed over 18". Then the next day, the sun came out and melted it all. It was crazy.

trouble is, we have so few traffic police these days, they don't get caught

Yup, can understand your frustration.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 that's impressive

We had a picture of the back of our car with the snow piled up on it. I have that picture in my mind's eye ... should ask my mom to digitize it for me, if she still has it.

then I've seen loads of people wheelspinning all the way up the hill - they don't seem to know, or think, how to handle it

Nope

just keep their foot down and hope the traction control/abs will do it for them

Momentum is key to just about everything in winter driving. If you have too little or too much, it can be the death knell.

yup

You HAVE to know the limits of yourself and your vehicle.

and drive well within them

absolutely

of course most people here run on summer tyres all year too

which doesn't help

I always use all season tires and have never had an issue.

But, then again, I completely adjust my driving style when in inclimate weather.

And don't get stupid when driving my 4x4, lol.

some people here don't seem able to adjust their driving style for rain, let alone ice and snow...

I'll be picking up me 'new' 4x4 in a couple of weeks :D

@NickC - Haha! Reminds me of the Seattle area in Washington State ... even though it rains a LOT up there, people are just clueless. Then when it snows, they're even worse.

@NickC - Well?

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 The worst here is usually the monday after the clocks change in october - the first dark commute...

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 '83 Land Rover Series 3

@NickC - That sounds like fun!

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Yup. Slow, but will go anywhere!

I'd love to get a Hummer (H1) ... not overly fast, but will in fact go almost anywhere, lol!

they always seem like overkill to me...

Those things can go up a 60deg incline, side traverse a 45deg sides slope, and climb an 18" obstacle.

@NickC - AB-SO-FLIPP-IN-LUTE-LY!

I should move to Texas ... everything is bigger in TX.

haha

A friend of mine did (move to Texas)

we thought it suited him quite well

first thing he did was buy the biggest pickup truck he could find...

@NickC - That's a tall order ;-)

Actually, pickups abound in TX, so should have suited him quite well.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 that really depends on the handling conditions of your vehicle

I've been in some where there was simply no traction in snow without snow tires

and I mean NO traction

I've had cars that got stuck going downhill in under half an inch of snow

very slightly down hill, but down hill just the same

@AJHenderson - I've been in vehicles where others could get absolutely nowhere, yet I got around without issue. Just had all-season radials on a front wheel drive. People EVERYWHERE were complaining they got zero traction, no matter what the type of vehicle. You have to drive to your vehicle's ability and to the conditions of the road.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 but this is also very true. I drove down to my parents house in NC and was around DC when an ice storm hit. People went flying by me, despite my NY plates and I passed them again half a mile to a few miles later when they were off the road

I'm not the world's best driver by any means.

@AJHenderson - Exactly. Slow and sure wins the race.

And don't stop for stop signs ... you'll never get going again, lol!

Sure, slow down, but never, ever stop (completely)

yeah

I'm actually a very good winter driver. I practice each winter in a parking lot at the beginning of the winter to get a feel for the conditions refreshed. I can hit black ice and still maintain control even during a spin, but really light cars with relatively old all seasons are in for a bad day under some conditions where as modern hydrophilic snow tires will let you drive that same car with no challenge at all as long as you aren't stupid about it

and then you can stop at the stop signs easily

you still have to understand their handling characteristics though

I'm not sure yet if I'll bother with snows for the CX-9 though. It should be heavy enough and with the AWD I expect I should be fine without them, but then again, for the length of time I'll have the vehicle I suppose it's probably still worth the $1500

@NickC that's the other terrifying part of snow and my real reason for liking snow tires. The other idiots on the road

if you manage your momentum well and your all seasons are fairly fresh, you're probably able to get safely from point a to point b if you are the only one on the road

however, if some idiot does something stupid, having good enough performance characteristics to avoid them is very valuable

@NickC this is why I love my CX-9. Even with all the aids, I still get good road presence transmitted through the steering wheel

I hate driving anything that I can't feel the road

It's always the other idiots on the road you have to look out for.

And they are looking at you like you're an idiot, lol.

Great fun.

@NickC that's almost as bad as the people that overcorrect too though

people that go so slow that they actually deteriorate the performance of their own vehicle and all the vehicles stuck behind them

@NickC yeah, I can't do slow but go anywhere. I'm way too much of a "give me the agility to avoid the bad stuff" driving philosophy

One of the unsung benefits of winter tires is that they increase your ability to other people exceeding their abilities. Donkey slides into the intersection that you’re driving through: do you have enough traction to brake / avoid them?