An Old Favorite

Yuuuuuuuuuuupp That's right! I got a Bandit again!

This isn't recent though. A while back, I had an itch. This was an itch like no other. Scratching did nothing. Talcum power was nowhere to be found and I didn't want to go to the store.

The itch was R/C.

At the time I got my second Bandit, I hadn't run any of my R/Cs in over a year and where I live, there aren't many places to run a drift car so I needed something else. I just had to go back to my roots. I got a Bandit and I've been happy since then.

The Bandit was my first hobby grade R/C and I regret selling my original one everyday. It was one of the XL-5 models with the new grey plastic. Yeah, they do still sell those today but it was older then this one obviously. My original Bandit had many miles on it when I sold it and I plan to put just as many on this one.

I actually took this with me to Nor Cal hobbies when I visited San Jose not long ago and used it on their new indoor off road track. I was a little worried that a stock Bandit couldn't make it around the track. Well I was wrong. I managed to turn a few heads and get some very curious people ask me if it was really a Bandit.

It sure was a blast to drive it on a track. I was clearing jumps with no too much trouble and keeping up with guys who were driving Associated chassis. I did forget to bring the stock tires and had grip trouble but that was about it. The whole day I raced on the track without a single problem. Even the shock caps didn't blast off. The other guys broke their cars several time and my Bandit just got a few scratches. If I was closer to a track I would competitively race the Bandit. I know what it need and how to do it but lack the track to use it on.

An old friend and a new(ish) camera

Yes, I'm back with pictures. I finally found a camera that takes OK pictures. Good enough to post on here at least. It's a Sanyo ZIO cell phone camera but since that phone has no service on it, it's now a camera.

I just wanted to post up a picture of my DP. Just the way I left it when I left San Jose from my vacation 2 weeks ago. Plus it was actually sunny today so I could snap some pictures.

New Car: The Drift Devil

Many people have seen the site R2hobbies.com and saw how many clone cars they have. I've know about them for quite some time but this time I actually wanted to buy one. I ended up getting the Drift Devil. After Google searching the car, it's actually a copy of a Eagle Racing front motor conversion kit. And being from R2hobbies, it was dirt cheap.

But that low cost didn't come without it's price. For one thing, R2hobbies said nothing the entire time the car was in shipping. No confirmation emails, no messages that indicated the car was shipped...nothing. It was from Hong Kong so I'm not counting the long shipping time.

Once I got it I opened up the box and then I found (more like I didn't find) something horrifying. The kit had NO instruction manual on how to build it. I was stumped on how to build it but wasn't entirly surprised. It IS
 a knock off car. None the less I did complete it but it took longer then I would have liked. And more rebuilds then I want to mention.

I might do a review on this kit since there were many surprises (good and bad) and just to let everyone know if it's worth buying one of these. My opinion though, buying clone cars based off a well known brand's design isn't a good thing to do. Yes, I am guilty of that now but I just fell in love with the front motor chassis and had to have it.

Driving Skill cannot be Bought

What I like most about drifting is you can't win by out buying your competition. In on road racing you have to have THE BEST chassis, batteries, charger, radio, etc etc etc. If you don't have any of those forget about being competitive. Luckily that's not the case with all on road racing.

I recently went back to San Jose for a week and caught up with my old drift buddies and we hit the track. I haven't drifted in over a year since I last visited so I was expecting to be pretty rusty. You know, crashing everywhere, spinning out, going way off line. Surprisingly I did pretty good after such a long hiatus. Some guy at the track who drift almost every weekend were having trouble getting around the track. Granted, they were CS cars but what I'm trying to say is these guys had some fancy looking chassis with them. I glanced some looks around the pits to see what everyone is running these days and most of them are running these front motor mounted chassis that they use in Japan. Chassis' that are not very affordable. So these guys bought these expensive drift kits and they have trouble getting around the track still? Yes, that's right. They are neglecting something very important that I held so dear to myself when I first started drifting. 

Learn as much as you can about driving.

Driving on a track is VERY different then being in an open parking lot.

I still remember my first time on a track. Before I even went I was in parking lots "freestyling" or just drifting with no set course. I thought I was so good and better then some of those guys I saw on videos. Well, let's just say I had a very rude awakening. My first time on a track with my Traxxas 4 Tec I crashed on every single turn, didn't hit a single clipping point and probably pissed off a few guys by ramming their cars. But I still had a blast. After that I made myself clear: I was going to learn how to drive. I drifted for 2 years straight before I "retired" and I have to say, I'm still learning. Every day I went to the track to a session, competition or demo I learned something new. A new setup for my car, a new technique to get that right line, it was always something.

I hit the pinnacle of my driving skill when the SJ drifting king said I was one of the top guys for drifting in San Jose. That sure was a confidence boost.

I've come a long way to my first session at Hobbytown back in September 2008 and I still feel there is more to learn. You can't know everything about anything and driving is no exception. Not having fun at the track because you crash all the time and can't make a clean lap? Practice driving your car. It's not handling right? Ask someone! Another thing I like about drifting is the guys that drift along side you are very helpful and willing to aid someone who is new.

Another thing I do but not everyone notices is I watch other guys drift. A lot of my time spent at the track is just watching guys go around the track and just watching how they do it. Find someone who gets around the track cleanly and has a style that you like. When you get a chance, talk to them for a bit and they can help you out if you need it.

Prototype 2 thoughts

So Prototype 2... yeah..

I played it. I tried playing through it again..but ...yeah..

Ok so the game it self wasn't bad but it was way too easy. I played on Normal difficulty on the first play through (not Easy) and I only died once or twice. Sure I got mission failures, but only died once. I'm guessing Radical wanted the game to be a power tripping fantasy and made it easy to do the missions to get that power feeling. It was nice the first play through but after that I didn't feel like picking it up again.

The story had it's interesting moments. Discovering Alex's plans was a cool shocker and I kind of expected it but didn't think it would happen. What really disappointed me about the game was some questions didn't get answered. Piarah for one. I was REALLY hoping for Piarah to be a boss or have some appearance...oh well maybe the next one.

The graphics in the game are amazing. They are a HUGE improvement from the first. The zones are very detailed with pedestrians huddling around fires, having conversations, protesting Blackwatch...the zones feel very alive. The weather effects are very cool but what I didn't like was how you cant start a mission while it's sunny and once the mission starts, it's cloudy and raining.

Combat is improved ten fold. Maybe more. Instead of getting stun locked by a Hunter in P1 and losing half your health, you can actually dodge attacks much better. Using two buttons to switch between powers was very handy in many situations. I think the tendrils power could have had better range though. Then again I didn't fully level up Heller.

What was the deal with no armor in the game? Sure the shields are cool and very useful, but why no armor? I heard it was included as DLC... Really??? You have got to be kidding me. I just paid $60 for this game and I have to pay more for armor? Anyways..

Yeah, Heller levels up now. EP is used like experience points to level up Heller and get improved weapons and abilities. The way to get new powers is better then the first game where you just buy them. Now, you have to find them and consume the thing that has that power. But you start with some basic things that you had to buy before such as glide and air dash.

By the way, they switched the button for air dash. It's now the A/X button. Plus jump is different. You can't hold it down and charge up a jump. Now you press it, James jumps and depending how long you hold it will determine the height/distance. It definitely takes some getting used to.

So there are collectables that you can find and they can be used to upgrade your powers. Finding hives (which by the way are not as prominent and they were in P1) is more of a task but the reward is worth it. Hacking into Blacknet to do side missions, that I found to be enjoyable, can give you chances to level up. Once you find once of the Blacknet terminals, if you have the password you can start the mission. If you don't, you have to find it. But that's where the infected sonar power comes in the play. You can hunt targets now and are much less of a hassle to find.

James Heller is a interesting character I guess I'll call him. It's a nice change that he doesn't take orders from his sister but instead a priest. Uh yeah ok. I don't want to spoil anything but yeah..

Heller is more embraced with his powers and doesn't really care about his actions. He will attack a Blackwatch base head on just because he can. I think James is a good character. It was nice having a character that didn't feel like he had limits. I felt like I could do what I wanted when I wanted. I'm sure Radical wanted it that way.

Ok, this is a large wall of text and no one will read it but I just wanted to post my thoughts on this game I have been following for a long time now.

Yeah, I'm still alive

It's been a while I know. But a lot has happened since I last posted.

 For one thing, I moved away from California up to Oregon almost a year now. I still have all my R/C stuff (with a new addition) and I finally got to play Prototype 2.

 I'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore but I figured I'd post anyways.

 So now I have a job that keeps me busy and I have an apartment to pay for my responsibilities went way up and cant do all the fun things I once did. R/C drifting for one thing. Just today I visited the Hyper Drift and DRCentral forum to see whats happening. Hyper is going strong and DRC is dead. Maybe it's a sign that 50/50 drifting is finally done?

Wait what are you talking about???

I've always saw the two forums as representations of drift styles. Hyper is all counter steer and anything new in the industry. Soon they will be doing RWD R/C drift. And DRC is what we have been doing since R/C drift first showed up. 50/50 is what always worked and is what we have always done and didn't bother with CS. With recent events at FPR with the (what now I know was temporary) shutdown of the drift track and certain TDC members getting banned from FPR, I think this symbolizes the death of 50/50 drifting in San Jose.

Yeah, there are still people who do 50/50 drifting but I'm talking about competition and sessions. Seems like all competitions are all CS and no one does 50/50. That's fine. I'm not arguing that its a bad thing.

I've been out of the R/C scene ever since I moved away. I drifted only once on a track in Oregon and it was lame to be honest. The only track is a carpet track that is mostly used for Slash racing. That was the one time until I got to go back to San Jose for a visit and drift and FPR one last time. It was good to see everyone again. I was actually very depressed about leaving. I really really miss the R/C that San Jose has. Even though drifting is dying from what I can tell, it's still loads better then what we have in Oregon.

Summer Drift Shootout at FPR

It's comp time! FPR is hosting its first comp at the new location. We will be drifting on the inside track with the scale gas station right in the middle of the track. So good photo opportunities will be there when everyone is crashing into each other to "fuel up" their drift car.

We won't be using Raiku tires like it was orginally planned since there wasn't enough to fill the order. But! We will get a chance to buy discounted T Drifts! $12 for 4 tires? I can dig it.

Also, this is a point series. We will drift inside on the current track, then outside on the grip racing track then head back inside for the final round. There is a nice trophy waiting for the winner of the series.