Simulator: FS2004

Vehicle: Formula 1 Racer

From: Homestead ARB

To: Airglades [2IS]

That's right! I'm starting my very own tour of the world by just riding on the ground with a nice racer. In this first trip, I hoped to get more shots than the one shown above; but for some unexplained reason, the screenshot program that I used has shut down in the background during the trip. As a result, I only managed to get this one shot of me starting the journey.

Anyways, let me talk about this day's trip. I rode off from Homestead ARB, which is located south of Miami in Florida, and then headed northward by going along a road which appeared to be a highway. As I approached Downtown Miami at 70 knots, I began to notice the roads were branching out and this created a bit of confusion for me as I didn't know which one to take. Using common sense, I took the one that was pointing towards downtown.

Sure enough, the road did take me all the way there, but only to face the large number of rivers to cross in the downtown area. This is where I used the F1 racer the way it was meant to be. I floored the accelerator to reach at least 90 knots while pulling back on the stick. This allowed me to cross the rivers by simply skimming over them to reach the other side. After crossing several rivers in the area, it was time to get my bearings straight. After finally getting back into the highway-like road, I kept heading north along the coast.

After a while, I began to realize that there were simply far too many rivers for me to cross along the coastl; so I chose to head NW along a different Highway so that I have far less rivers to deal with. After that, I found a nice road that led me all the way to Lake Okeechobee. After reaching the southern edge of the lake, I turned westward for about 20-30 minutes before I discovered a little airfield called Airglades. After having 63% fuel left in the gas tank, I felt that I wouldn't be able to make it to Tampa before running out; so I turned to the one airfield I found and stopped there to refuel and call it a day. Can't wait for tomorrow's trip.

Some of you people are probably asking "why am I even thinking of traveling around the world in a car in a flight simulator?" Well, if you are asking that question, I'll give the same one I always give to those who asked me why I am even making ground vehicles for a flight-based sim: "because it's something different".

I have to say that riding on the ground while covering this much distance during the trip is really interesting because then you have to stay focused on the road and it trains your mind on how to drive straight and time your turns in case of any abrupt changes occur on the road ahead of you. On top of that, your best hope for navigation is to use the top-down view in a separate window to see the road ahead of you. Using GPS is not recommended due to the fact that it doesn't provide any road data that's consistant with the scenery. However, it does give you information on which airport is closest to the road when you compare it to the map-view in the separate window that was previousely created. Overall, this first trip has been a real learning experience.

Cheers,

Jessy Corrales

FSGV Admin

From: Airglades

To: Avon Park Muni

As the day began, I hopped onboard the racer to get started from Airglades airport and head west along the road. Along the way, I began to see the main road split up once more into more roads. But since these roads were smaller than the main one I use, I ignored them and continued on with my journey.

Zoom Zoom

A nice trip through a town is really enjoyable. You get to see things down here that the flyers kept missing out over the years of FS.

Of course, there are times when I make the wrong turn and have to turn back to retrace my steps. This causes me to waste more time and fuel as I try to undo my mistake. Pilots don't have to deal with this problem [lucky them].

These trees look real nice thanks to Vista Australis scenery.

If you look at the map below, you'll see that the scenery is a bit messed up on the coastlines. This is because I have just recently installed Free Flow Florida scenery from FS-FreeFlow.com. I'm guessing I may have screwed up somewhere along the installation process.

Finally reached my destination. Avon Park Muni, located east of Tampa. I think I saw a Pollo Tropical on my way here.

Cheers,

Jessy Corrales

FSGV Admin

From: Avon Park Mun

To: Lake City Mun

I'm off once more for a third round. This time, I didn't stop until I have about a quarter of fuel left. On top of that, I managed to reach the northern border between Florida and Georgia; but since I intend to reach the Bering Strait [located between Alaska and Russia], I turned west just as the road hit an intersection. I hope to make it to the Florida-Louisiana border by the end of the next leg.

Cheers,

Jessy Corrales

FSGV Admin

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