Playing Elite May Have Saved My Life Tonight

Grumpy181155

Grumpy181155
Ziljan I am glad you got out of that situation unharmed. Its is good to have you here.

Agony_Aunt said:
Living in Russia and driving on the roads here with all the crazies around, i think for me its the other way around. Life has trained me for flying in Elite :D
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I've been working in Sakhalin for 12 years.......... I know exactly what you are talking about! ;)
 
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Ozram

Ozram
Ziljan said:
I have been participating heavily in the recent station CGs and now Onion head. With all of the traffic in the mailslot, I got really used to sharing the crowded space with BIG ships like T-9s and Anacondas that can't really move out of the way. Smaller faster ships that would elbow their way in before me. And of course the occasional medium ship that would pretend like my ship was invisible as they entered on the wrong side of the slot. As a result, my muscle memory has been honed to brake/evade and let them pass, mostly because the alternatives usually involve speeding and/or costly repairs.

Well tonight I was on the freeway and there was a crazy semi-truck (basically an 80,000 lb train car with a giant truck on the front of it) that couldn't decide which lane he wanted to be in near a freeway off ramp. At the last moment he committed to exiting the freeway by swerving into the lane next to mine, after a few brief seconds he declared that my lane was empty and proceeded to attempt to occupy the same spacetime location as my mini cooper. To my right was a 3 ft wide shoulder and a solid concrete wall. Stuck between a hammer and an anvil with my option quickly diminishing, my mailslot training kicked right in, without thought or hesitation, I took exactly 0.3 seconds to make sure the lane behind me was clear and slammed on my brakes while blaring my horn to attempt to avoid the collision. The front end of my car only narrowly avoided being crushed under his rear tires, and though it seemed to take an eternity for his truck trailer to pass me, in reality the whole event took maybe 5 seconds from start to finish.

So I just wanted to say, thank you to Frontier for creating the Mail Slot docking mechanic, and of course for making this amazing game. Thank you to all the CMDRs who participate in CGs and keep that mail slot crowded 18 hours a day. Thank you to the Pirates who work tirelessly to keep my evasion reflexes snappy. And thank you to mini cooper for making break pads that work so well on a 11 year old car!!!
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Christ, that's scary! Well done with the quick thinking and reflexes. Glad you're still with us Commander!
I'd rep you but apparently I still have to spread the love, or something like that.
 

DaveB

DaveB
Kristov said:
He was in a Mini, he hasn't even got 1 ton of cargo space in that thing. I have one myself, and I can buy dinner and fit it in my car, provided I eat light and don't have anything else in the car, like my cellphone :) I love the car, it's a lot of fun, but it seriously lacks any room inside it. I'm 183cm and 93k, my seat is pushed all the way back, 2cm from the backseat, and that gives me all the leg and head room I need, although my head actually sits up above the headrest :)
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Buddy, I learned to drive in an original mini in '80. Design hadn't changed any since the '60s. That *RATTLE* the moment you cracked 65mph... I swear you needed earplugs in a mini more than you ever did on a bike on a UK motorway :D
 

Kristov

K
DaveB said:
Buddy, I learned to drive in an original mini in '80. Design hadn't changed any since the '60s. That *RATTLE* the moment you cracked 65mph... I swear you needed earplugs in a mini more than you ever did on a bike on a UK motorway :D
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I have an 08, wonderful little monster, BMW of North America made it, it's not the Mini you drove, it's barely purring at 65mph, hums along nicely at 90mph, sitting at 3.5 on the tach, reds at 8...and that's just the little stock 4 banger. Amazingly fun car, really is. My other car is a 97 Honda Accord, or so it looks ;) Japanese non-export block under the hood, some very expensive and hard to get hardware under there as well, sleeper street racer that I bought off a minister who bought it off another minister who got it donated by a law enforcement agent, so...it's a serious getter, my daughter drives it now since I got the Mini, scares me to death cause she drives like me...without the years of experience.
 

Marak

Marak
Good job you were not doing the combat part of the CG, in a Vulture. You could have been tempted to ram him & open up on him with C3 headlights!
 
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PhoenicianSon

PhoenicianSon
That is a crazy story, and I am glad you are ok!

If you really want to hone in those driving skills over and above what you learn through ED and especially in a car like the Mini Cooper which is as nimble as you get in a car, try out a day at the track. I have been doing track days in my cars for over 20 years or so at this point. If you think narrowly escaping several ships in an CZ attacking you at the same time battering your shields to nothing is exhillerating, try running your car on a track at break neck speeds and learning that perfect line through the turn as you get more confident going into the Apex fast and coming out early with each pass.

Amazingly enough, it also helps you keep a cooler head when running into these types of situations on the road because you learn to handle your car and realize the limitations are not really the car, but you. Nothing more adrenalin packed, except possibly for parachuting from a plane I guess.

I am happy that you are ok, Fly Safe Commander, and Drive safe my friend!
 
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Bacalao

Bacalao
I often wonder if the whole population played Elite (just about every morning and every evening): would driving be safer or much more dangerous?
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Elite and other games that develop quick timing and thinking most definitely help hone reflexes and quick prioritization. I've definitely benefit from it on my morning race....er....commute.
 
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DaveB

DaveB
Kristov said:
I have an 08, wonderful little monster, BMW of North America made it, it's not the Mini you drove, it's barely purring at 65mph, hums along nicely at 90mph, sitting at 3.5 on the tach, reds at 8...and that's just the little stock 4 banger. Amazingly fun car, really is. My other car is a 97 Honda Accord, or so it looks ;) Japanese non-export block under the hood, some very expensive and hard to get hardware under there as well, sleeper street racer that I bought off a minister who bought it off another minister who got it donated by a law enforcement agent, so...it's a serious getter, my daughter drives it now since I got the Mini, scares me to death cause she drives like me...without the years of experience.
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Does your mini have the insanely long travel on the clutch (and the equally annoying TINY sweet spot) of the original? I swear, learning on that thing you can feather the clutch on ANYTHING.
 

Kristov

K
DaveB said:
Does your mini have the insanely long travel on the clutch (and the equally annoying TINY sweet spot) of the original? I swear, learning on that thing you can feather the clutch on ANYTHING.
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No, it has a very sweet clutch, catches quick, speed shifting is natural with it. Engage the Sport setting and it's even sweeter, I don't use that very often, hard to NOT break the tires loose with that engaged. It's not as nice as the racing clutch on the Honda, but it's far more than I expected, definitely a bit longer throw on the shifter, I just tap the Honda's shifter and I'm in another gear, while I actually have to move the Mini's shifter, but it's a Mini, so that's not really all that far :) Like I said, 2008, BMW of North America made it, it's not like the Coopers you used to drive by a long shot, even more roomy on the inside. Still has that center speedo though, thank the gods there's a digital speedo on the tach above the column.
 

Taimaru

Taimaru
I'm glad you managed to survive that encounter and you're still alive. You would be missed if something happened to you.

For info, that crazy semi-truck you managed to avoid is not a member of CODE :D.
 

CMDR Sheehy

CMDR Sheehy
Taimaru said:
I'm glad you managed to survive that encounter and you're still alive. You would be missed if something happened to you.

For info, that crazy semi-truck you managed to avoid is not a member of CODE :D.
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CODE don't play with trucks. Now, if he'd been nearly run over by a tank...
 

Marak

Marak
Taimaru said:
I'm glad you managed to survive that encounter and you're still alive. You would be missed if something happened to you.

For info, that crazy semi-truck you managed to avoid is not a member of CODE :D.
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Nahh... If it had been CODE there would have been 3 trucks boxing him in :D
 
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