Say, what type of times do you drive without pipe jumping? None of my own Non-NBT PRs, NTSC or PAL, make use of pipe jumps anywhere. I never really mastered pipe jumping and I still got decent times on all the MCs. If you're not going for really high-level Non-NBT times, I'd say you really don't need to learn it yet. It's certainly one of the more advanced Non-NBT moves in this game, and it doesn't save a whole lot of time at all. There's a 0"2 difference between the PAL Non-NBT 5lap WR with pipe jumping (1'00"79) and the one without (1'00"99). I would probably just try to keep getting tighter corners the normal way.

Not in a while, I'm taking a break from SMK right now. I can't decide yet whether I'll play NTSC or PAL next time I play. I still have a little work to do in each. Ideally I want to be near peak level at NTSC at the time of the next ASC, but that's still another 8+ months away.

I'm usually free, so I certainly don't have a problem with another Kartel meeting in Gulfport as long as my family is okay with it and we have nothing else planned. I was hoping that we'd all be able to get back together some time closer to Christmas, wouldn't you like to go back to that casino when the decorations are up? It would also be a much better time for us to train for the ASC, as it would only be 3 months away by that time.

Sorry Eric but that fishing trip is not happening this year, though if you keep up with the news, you'll understand why. It's also part of why I think Christmas would be a better time to come than this summer (coast tourism is virtually nil due to this toxic algae bloom, and far fewer people came down to the beaches-- which were all closed-- this past Fourth of July; hopefully the algae will die down when the weather turns colder!)