2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

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2020/21 Exhibition Series - Season 2 - Round 4
Manufacturers Series
Race #4 - Gr3 / Blue Moon Bay Speedway

Was open minded about this race... an 'oval' race, in Gr3... a little strange, and the Porsche and I didn't feel really comfortable, nor did I get up to the speed I wanted, even with some considerable practice. But with the tire strategy and the draft, a decent top 10 was a reasonable target, so I was willing to jump into the race... I don't like to skip any that I can make.

So I entered with an all-time high DR, hoping for reasonable FIA points with such a finish. After a little longer load time than usual, I headed out to the warm-up session. I noticed everyone was chatting with comments like "what happened?" and "where did everyone go?"... turns out: 12 people were disconnected! So there would only be 8 of us lining up for the race! Shades of F1 at Indy in 2004!

So I THOUGHT that meant guaranteed DR increase, and a nice FIA points haul, no matter what happened. I qualified 6th of the 8 drivers, after being 'raced' by a dumb GTR who didn't want to work together, apparently. (Dude: IT'S QUALIFYING... DON'T RACE ME... if I'm faster, let me through for f's sake.) Even though I would pull him like crazy every lap. With only 5 min, if you didn't find a draft partner immediately, there wasn't time for another.

And within two laps, I had broken the draft behind me after passing one car at the start... so that it was just the five of us running away. Was going well... But a few things made the race not so fun. One, a VW (man I hate racing those...) kept blocking and protecting his position, racing side by side in the corners instead of working together to pass the guys ahead. Which meant we were both losing the draft, and then let the other cars rejoin our draft.

I had planned for an undercut on the softs, and then to milk the hard tires for the balance of the race. But a few laps after my pit stop, that same annoying GTR from the qualifying session exited the pits and then proceeded to dive bomb me and hit my door in T1... causing ME to get a huge penalty. Game over. Lost the draft, and then just finished out the second half of the race without the tow, and finished 8th, red mist still covering the windshield of the 911 RSR.

To add insult to injury, the VW that I was jockeying with early on, and whom I was faster than, finished 3rd... proving that I could have had a good finish if the GTR hadn't ruined the race for me. Then the GTR driver talked garbage about hitting me in the lobby, which was annoying... And I noticed that I was net -2 SR, which is hard to understand, but I think I got one SR down for a bump draft in qualifying, which was not evident when it happened. But that and the bogus penalty meant I lost SR in this waste of an hour.

At least the FIA points were 'keepers'... I'll take them, thank you. 8th was about the targeted finish for me anyway, it's just that it wasn't any fun 'earning' them.

Have been unhappy about the lobbies I've drawn this season at 30-35k DR in the first time slot. Maybe I should try to run with another crowd, or hopefully can pad my DR a bit with a favorable Daily race next week, to try to break free of the group of unknown and sometimes 'not smart' racers that I've encountered this season.

Porsche 911 RSR (991) '17
Qualified: 6th
Race Finish: 8th (128 pts)
Door #6 (-500 DR)

Surprised we weren't in the same lobby. I would've worked the back side of that Porsche like it was my job.
 
Surprised we weren't in the same lobby. I would've worked the back side of that Porsche like it was my job.
I’d have pushed anyone that helped me stay near the front of that race to a win. The Porsche wasn’t up to the task of winning so I would have loved to help someone else. I haven’t had a podium forever and would be happy with a nice top 3... “coopetition” as Darrell Waltrip used to say, would have been a nice thing in that race!

My run from Slot 1 last night. 2 penalties for contact that didn't even slightly affect the other car. Although the one feel really sorry for was the pole sitter. He got driven into by the Lambo as it was diving for the pits and coped a 4 second penalty for contact for being driven into.


That was the same kind of penalty I got... though mine was when a guy exited the pits then tried to race me from behind straight into turn one after he pulled out... I was on the outside of him, he doored me, and I got the penalty... killed my race.
 
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I really enjoyed this race! Qualified 10th and finished 5th in the #24 DuPont Genesis for 56 points, which is my highest so far for this season. And I didn't have any penalties :)!

The top 2 cars really broke away from the rest of us, but I had fun racing with the 3rd through 6th place cars for the last 10 laps. I know it's just turning left over and over, but it really takes a lot of concentration with cars so close to each other for the whole race. I wouldn't mind more of these!

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Manufacturer Rd. 4 Blue Moon Bay

Well that was fun... entered the first slot hoping to score well and get into the Top 16 race. Qualified 4th right behind @GTWolverine and figured I was in great shape being up front with teammate and someone I knew had lots of potential at this combo so I planned to just work together until the end. I messed that up T1 Lap 2 when I missed my braking point and slammed right into the back of @GTWolverine for a 4 second penalty which ended my race basically. Just happy PD accessed the penalty correctly, sorry about that bud!

Entered the Top 16 rejects race and could not find a qualifying partner to save my life and started 12th. Started on hards and went for the undercut on lap 13 after working my way up into 8th. Once pit stops cycled thru I found myself on fresh Mediums and 2nd place to my surprise. Things were going great and looked like I may have podium finish but I was a little slow coming out of T1 and shoots got into the back of me just slightly trying to get me up to speed and I got a phantom penalty 1 second and lost the lead packs slipstream. Finished 5th when it was all said and done and my 4th consecutive race of at least 250+ points.

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Manufacturer Rd. 4 Blue Moon Bay

Well that was fun... entered the first slot hoping to score well and get into the Top 16 race. Qualified 4th right behind @GTWolverine and figured I was in great shape being up front with teammate and someone I knew had lots of potential at this combo so I planned to just work together until the end. I messed that up T1 Lap 2 when I missed my braking point and slammed right into the back of @GTWolverine for a 4 second penalty which ended my race basically. Just happy PD accessed the penalty correctly, sorry about that bud!

Entered the Top 16 rejects race and could not find a qualifying partner to save my life and started 12th. Started on hards and went for the undercut on lap 13 after working my way up into 8th. Once pit stops cycled thru I found myself on fresh Mediums and 2nd place to my surprise. Things were going great and looked like I may have podium finish but I was a little slow coming out of T1 and shoots got into the back of me just slightly trying to get me up to speed and I got a phantom penalty 1 second and lost the lead packs slipstream. Finished 5th when it was all said and done and my 4th consecutive race of at least 250+ points.

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Glad it worked out for you in 2nd split! Funny how we ended the night with the same points too. I was actually backing off of the lead pack slightly to try to keep you in the draft until I saw you serving your penalty. Glad the 2nd race went better for you even if you still had a bit of bad luck there.
 
Glad it worked out for you in 2nd split! Funny how we ended the night with the same points too. I was actually backing off of the lead pack slightly to try to keep you in the draft until I saw you serving your penalty. Glad the 2nd race went better for you even if you still had a bit of bad luck there.

I actually had a lot of fun doing those races, hopefully we get to see Similar combo in the near future instead of years down the road. Everything worked out in the end!
 
Nice work with the NASCAR liveries, guys! I thought about wrapping the Porsche up in a NASCAR look, but didn't stop practicing long enough to do it. All for naught, should have given it a go, with a Dale Earnhardt, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, or something fun like that.


I really enjoyed this race! Qualified 10th and finished 5th in the #24 DuPont Genesis for 56 points, which is my highest so far for this season. And I didn't have any penalties :)!

The top 2 cars really broke away from the rest of us, but I had fun racing with the 3rd through 6th place cars for the last 10 laps. I know it's just turning left over and over, but it really takes a lot of concentration with cars so close to each other for the whole race. I wouldn't mind more of these!

View attachment 978782 View attachment 978782

Manufacturer Rd. 4 Blue Moon Bay

Well that was fun... entered the first slot hoping to score well and get into the Top 16 race. Qualified 4th right behind @GTWolverine and figured I was in great shape being up front with teammate and someone I knew had lots of potential at this combo so I planned to just work together until the end. I messed that up T1 Lap 2 when I missed my braking point and slammed right into the back of @GTWolverine for a 4 second penalty which ended my race basically. Just happy PD accessed the penalty correctly, sorry about that bud!

Entered the Top 16 rejects race and could not find a qualifying partner to save my life and started 12th. Started on hards and went for the undercut on lap 13 after working my way up into 8th. Once pit stops cycled thru I found myself on fresh Mediums and 2nd place to my surprise. Things were going great and looked like I may have podium finish but I was a little slow coming out of T1 and shoots got into the back of me just slightly trying to get me up to speed and I got a phantom penalty 1 second and lost the lead packs slipstream. Finished 5th when it was all said and done and my 4th consecutive race of at least 250+ points.

View attachment 978786
 
Nice work with the NASCAR liveries, guys! I thought about wrapping the Porsche up in a NASCAR look, but didn't stop practicing long enough to do it. All for naught, should have given it a go, with a Dale Earnhardt, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, or something fun like that.

I'm not good at liveries and searched for about an hour for either a Wonder Bread or a Laughing Clown Liquor livery for the Merc, no luck :(
 
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I'm not good at liveries and searched for about an hour for either a Wonder Bread or a Laughing Clown Liquor livery for the Merc, no luck :(

Try this site for finding liveries, it’s WAY better than the in game search. :) All the Ricky Bobby cars are made, but the ones I found were for either the Vette or the Mustang.

https://gts.gt-beginners.net/livery/?lang=us

And this one for decals, again, WAY better than the in game search. You can be in the livery editor and add a decal from your phone with this one, and it will just be there when you go to grab your next decal, without ever leaving the editor. :)

https://gtswiki.gt-beginners.net/decal/?searchword=gtplanet
 
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Nice work with the NASCAR liveries, guys! I thought about wrapping the Porsche up in a NASCAR look, but didn't stop practicing long enough to do it. All for naught, should have given it a go, with a Dale Earnhardt, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, or something fun like that.

I have a big picture of Jeff Gordon's car on the wall in the room where I play GT Sport. I found about 90% of the decals that are
in that picture in "Discover" mode and placed them on the Genesis. That was fun and even my family was impressed with how close my livery matched the picture :).
 
Try this site for finding liveries, it’s WAY better than the in game search. :) All the Ricky Bobby cars are made, but the ones I found were for either the Vette or the Mustang.

https://gts.gt-beginners.net/livery/?lang=us

And this one for decals, again, WAY better than the in game search. You can be in the livery editor and add a decal from your phone with this one, and it will just be there when you go to grab your next decal, without ever leaving the editor. :)

https://gtswiki.gt-beginners.net/decal/?searchword=gtplanet

First search found it in about 20 seconds. I have so much to learn... thanks :)
 
Will fuel saving be something in the SF cars people are thinking about? Tire wear isn't a major factor as neither tire sees much in the way of significant drop off (I can have purple segments on my in lap), but I'm pitting on lap 9 only due to fuel. Can someone really save that much and be competitive though? I think if one saves a little they can push another lap, as I'm pitting with .7-.9 laps remaining, but another 3 laps might be a stretch.
 
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Will fuel saving be something in the SF cars people are thinking about? Tire wear isn't a major factor as neither tire sees much in the way of significant drop off (I can have purple segments on my in lap), but I'm pitting on lap 9 only due to fuel. Can someone really save that much and be competitive though? I think if one saves a little they can push another lap, as I'm pitting with .7-.9 laps remaining, but another 3 laps might be a stretch.

You can stretch the fuel for 1 more lap, but a no-stop is a no-go. Mistah_MCA lost 2 seconds per lap trying the no-stop and well, let's just say that people will get very upset if they are stuck behind a slow car throughout the Mountain section.
 
Will fuel saving be something in the SF cars people are thinking about? Tire wear isn't a major factor as neither tire sees much in the way of significant drop off (I can have purple segments on my in lap), but I'm pitting on lap 9 only due to fuel. Can someone really save that much and be competitive though? I think if one saves a little they can push another lap, as I'm pitting with .7-.9 laps remaining, but another 3 laps might be a stretch.
After 3 simulations I did, I think strategy for this one is 8M/5H or 9M/4H
 
After 3 simulations I did, I think strategy for this one is 8M/5H or 9M/4H

I will give this a bash later, although I think lap 1 is fraught with danger and wont settle down for abit. Hence im going to run for the horizon or sit behind people and fuel save. Who ever thought this combination up is a crazy.. its going to be an amazing race or a frustrating race
 
After 3 simulations I did, I think strategy for this one is 8M/5H or 9M/4H

Yeah the test I ran I had 0.9 left after 8 laps. I also didn't find any great benefit from the softer tyres, there are only a couple of real corners and the slow bit is more about timing than grip. Still I'm going to go 5h/8m unless I really get a great quali.
 
I will give this a bash later, although I think lap 1 is fraught with danger and wont settle down for abit. Hence im going to run for the horizon or sit behind people and fuel save. Who ever thought this combination up is a crazy.. its going to be an amazing race or a frustrating race
Definietly its going to be amazing race:) Usually Im fast in SF, so hopes are high.. My best QT during simulations was 1.42,4xx(not using OT) So my plan is to repeat this time in race, grab PP and ran away from the pack as quick as possible:lol: I think Ill just hold OT button for 1st lap:)
 
Definietly its going to be amazing race:) Usually Im fast in SF, so hopes are high.. My best QT during simulations was 1.42,4xx(not using OT) So my plan is to repeat this time in race, grab PP and ran away from the pack as quick as possible:lol: I think Ill just hold OT button for 1st lap:)

Noob question here the 100 secs OT, can you use it in quali and if so does it reset or is it one lot? Which reminds me I need to rebind OT maybe R1.
 
Seriously?:) I didnt remember that... Sorry @Norrin Radd

No worries, we don’t use these cars a lot, it’s easy to forget. :)

This is the last half of a practice race I did last night. With some short shifting and a bit of playing with the FM at the bottom of the hill, you can get 10, maybe even 11 laps out of the initial tank of fuel, without losing too much speed. :)

 
No worries, we don’t use these cars a lot, it’s easy to forget. :)

This is the last half of a practice race I did last night. With some short shifting and a bit of playing with the FM at the bottom of the hill, you can get 10, maybe even 11 laps out of the initial tank of fuel, without losing too much speed. :)

But is it worth it? I don't think you lose too much time with hard so is the extra time in the pit worse than the time lost going slower?
 
No worries, we don’t use these cars a lot, it’s easy to forget. :)

This is the last half of a practice race I did last night. With some short shifting and a bit of playing with the FM at the bottom of the hill, you can get 10, maybe even 11 laps out of the initial tank of fuel, without losing too much speed. :)


Great rescue in T1 on 12th lap, I think you gonna go off, but no you stayed on track:)
 
Looking a bit further forward to the next Manufacturer race, it's likely to be a no-stop methinks, maybe.

Pit loss for tires and fuel is about 17 seconds, For a 15-lap race, at full speed you'll do about 11-12 laps on a full tank, so saving an extra few laps might make sense if you're not losing more than 1s/lap.

The wild card here might be the pit for fuel, but not fresh tires. That could bring the pit loss down below 14-15s, which might be just enough to go full-blast the entire race and catch up in the final few laps.


So maybe the leaders go full blast and pit, and in the mid-pack, if you're not able to break away, save fuel and let the stoppers box and come back to you, while you defend like mad on the last 2 laps?
 
I really don't like running ovals unless I know the people, so I'm a little uneager about this race - however, I'm running the Viper, so I sort of have to, right?

So I ended up getting what I think was my first ever FIA pole, and was running well until someone rejoined straight up the track, causing me to take evasive action and gain a three second pen for my troubles...

9th eventually. Ah well!
 
AH got it so do meds first then decide strategy on how much fuel your using, trying to save a bit if possible. Then have a short as pit as possible and burn rubber the last few laps. Sound good, but will it help someone as inept as me?
 
But is it worth it? I don't think you lose too much time with hard so is the extra time in the pit worse than the time lost going slower?

I think so, draft will help a lot, but I’m not 100% sure yet. I’m gonna test a few more runs tonight after work, I’ll let you know what I find out. :)
 
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