2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[MidnightRun85]

The Genesis was good in my testing but it kept causing problems with my sound bar. No matter what I did it kept making the sound bar make terrible farting noises. Since I couldn’t track down the connection problem I decided not to use it.

HAHA! Yes! The only thing I don't like about the Hyundai is the sound. It's fairly... terrible.

 

[D_Dragline]

HAHA! Yes! The only thing I don't like about the Hyundai is the sound. It's fairly... terrible.

I’m pretty sure I justify some cars as “good” based mostly on their sound. I have a particular soft spot for the roar and scream of the V8s and V12s. Turbocharged 4s don’t do it for me. (Even though my daily drive is a 4 cylinder boxer).

 

[Raptor013]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races? As I said I had never before put in the time I did for the 1st race as mostly when I have time it would be spent on the daily races and I'm glad I decided to give them a miss for now as I recon I would have quit playing had I continued doing the daily races. I did about 15 races in the run up to the 1st race and had 3 main goals, learn a track I never liked, learn which tyres to run and what order and finally fuel-saving or usage depending on how hard I was pushing. Funny think was I mis-timed my pit exit for qualifying and was 3 seconds too late to get a second lap in but still had pole with 1.2sec slower that may fastest time, I never timed the outlap in practice. Is this the kind of detail people go to in practice.

Generally I spend the 15 minutes whilst waiting for the grouping to be created as my practice as i have limited time to spend racing.

That said I generally race with Mitsubishi online and as I also race them in the real world I can find the limits pretty quickly for the online races.

 

[Hasnain282]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races? As I said I had never before put in the time I did for the 1st race as mostly when I have time it would be spent on the daily races and I'm glad I decided to give them a miss for now as I recon I would have quit playing had I continued doing the daily races. I did about 15 races in the run up to the 1st race and had 3 main goals, learn a track I never liked, learn which tyres to run and what order and finally fuel-saving or usage depending on how hard I was pushing. Funny think was I mis-timed my pit exit for qualifying and was 3 seconds too late to get a second lap in but still had pole with 1.2sec slower that may fastest time, I never timed the outlap in practice. Is this the kind of detail people go to in practice.

Personally I spend half an hour in TT and then no more than 2 full race runs. If I have time I'd do a couple of quali practice runs also just before I do the race. I know there's people that do a lot more and also some that go in blind and use the first actual race they do as their practice

 

[GR33N]

The Genesis was good in my testing but it kept causing problems with my sound bar. No matter what I did it kept making the sound bar make terrible farting noises. Since I couldn’t track down the connection problem I decided not to use it.

Haha I usually play with a headset when my GF is around so the engine sound was even more terrible.

But in all seriousness, yesterday I started the evening with the soundbar and something very strange (and disturbing) was happening: each lap at the end of the straight, the left speakers stopped working for a few seconds before going back to normal. At first I began to worry that I was getting half-deaf

It was all fine later though with the headset so I don't know

 

[MCL1974]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races? As I said I had never before put in the time I did for the 1st race as mostly when I have time it would be spent on the daily races and I'm glad I decided to give them a miss for now as I recon I would have quit playing had I continued doing the daily races. I did about 15 races in the run up to the 1st race and had 3 main goals, learn a track I never liked, learn which tyres to run and what order and finally fuel-saving or usage depending on how hard I was pushing. Funny think was I mis-timed my pit exit for qualifying and was 3 seconds too late to get a second lap in but still had pole with 1.2sec slower that may fastest time, I never timed the outlap in practice. Is this the kind of detail people go to in practice.

I like to practice a lot for the FIA races, it is where the fun is for me. But for me a lot is about 30 minutes to an hour a day, if I have the time.
Usually after about 15/20 laps I have already done my best laptime and spend the next few days practicing to see if I can do better (usually not)
to be honest I practice more then needed, my skills are limited and even many hours a day would not make me much better....
I just like to prepare myself as much as i can; occupational habit i guess...

 

[C_Raccoon23]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races? As I said I had never before put in the time I did for the 1st race as mostly when I have time it would be spent on the daily races and I'm glad I decided to give them a miss for now as I recon I would have quit playing had I continued doing the daily races. I did about 15 races in the run up to the 1st race and had 3 main goals, learn a track I never liked, learn which tyres to run and what order and finally fuel-saving or usage depending on how hard I was pushing. Funny think was I mis-timed my pit exit for qualifying and was 3 seconds too late to get a second lap in but still had pole with 1.2sec slower that may fastest time, I never timed the outlap in practice. Is this the kind of detail people go to in practice.

I only do the Saturday races usually, so the most productive way to practice for me is to do FP for 30 mins. every day until the weekend. On Friday when I have more free time, I’ll do a practice race or two in addition. I also try to warm up an hour or so before the first slot on race day. Most of the time, that’s enough to do at least decent for my DR level. It depends on the combination as well.

But just to give you an idea, some of the best players put in 6 hours a day. That’s not realistic for a lot of us though.

 

[GR33N]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races? As I said I had never before put in the time I did for the 1st race as mostly when I have time it would be spent on the daily races and I'm glad I decided to give them a miss for now as I recon I would have quit playing had I continued doing the daily races. I did about 15 races in the run up to the 1st race and had 3 main goals, learn a track I never liked, learn which tyres to run and what order and finally fuel-saving or usage depending on how hard I was pushing. Funny think was I mis-timed my pit exit for qualifying and was 3 seconds too late to get a second lap in but still had pole with 1.2sec slower that may fastest time, I never timed the outlap in practice. Is this the kind of detail people go to in practice.

For races like this where grid position is not THAT important (and the lower your DR, the less it is), I find that doing full race simulations in lobbies is the most useful training strategy.

You can be super fast in time-trial once you learn the combo (car+track) but if you don't know how to drive on 10-laps old Hards, you will suffer a lot and all the time spent time-trialing will become worthless.

For sprint races or on tracks whit few overtaking spots, qualy is much more important of course.

Also, as mentioned before, try to do Qualy lap simulations in lobbies where fuel comsumption is disable, you can tell by the fact that the green fuel-meter is not displayed where you can switch between Brake-balance, Radar, etc. (Maybe you know all this but it could help others).
The car behaviour will sometimes be much different than in time trial where tyre-wear is off and fuel is at 0%.

As for my training routine, I wish I could have the time to do a practice session on the day before the race, but I usually have to settle for a 15-90 minutes just before my 1st slot. I usually race more than 1 slot though so it's ok.

 

[kungtotte_]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races? As I said I had never before put in the time I did for the 1st race as mostly when I have time it would be spent on the daily races and I'm glad I decided to give them a miss for now as I recon I would have quit playing had I continued doing the daily races. I did about 15 races in the run up to the 1st race and had 3 main goals, learn a track I never liked, learn which tyres to run and what order and finally fuel-saving or usage depending on how hard I was pushing. Funny think was I mis-timed my pit exit for qualifying and was 3 seconds too late to get a second lap in but still had pole with 1.2sec slower that may fastest time, I never timed the outlap in practice. Is this the kind of detail people go to in practice.

I practice quite a lot but it varies depending on the combo, some tracks I don't need to really practice the track just figure out the strategy.

Typically I do 50-100 laps before a race if it's a track I know, and 100-200 if it's a track I don't know.

If I need to learn the track I will run it a few times in free practice for consistent conditions, then move to a custom lobby with the correct multipliers where I will drive whole stints working on my references and finding out wear and fuel.

If it feels like the strategy is clear cut I'll just decide a strategy then keep running whole stints, and the day before the race I will run qualifying simulations (fuel off, softest tyre, outlap+flying lap, exit and repeat).

If the strategy is hard to decide I will jump in lobbies and try some variations in practice races.

 

[MidnightRun85]

I practice quite a lot but it varies depending on the combo, some tracks I don't need to really practice the track just figure out the strategy.

Typically I do 50-100 laps before a race if it's a track I know, and 100-200 if it's a track I don't know.

If I need to learn the track I will run it a few times in free practice for consistent conditions, then move to a custom lobby with the correct multipliers where I will drive whole stints working on my references and finding out wear and fuel.

If it feels like the strategy is clear cut I'll just decide a strategy then keep running whole stints, and the day before the race I will run qualifying simulations (fuel off, softest tyre, outlap+flying lap, exit and repeat).

If the strategy is hard to decide I will jump in lobbies and try some variations in practice races.

This is why I don't rate very high in these races. I turn up 20 mins before the race, run some practice laps, and hope for the best!

 

[barak181]

I think they may need to nerf it unless the tyre wear kills the FF cars in the race.

The VW didn't get nerfed as hard as the other FF cars in the last BOP update, for some reason. I have a feeling it may still be OP, even with tire wear.

 

[GR33N]

I practice quite a lot but it varies depending on the combo, some tracks I don't need to really practice the track just figure out the strategy.

Typically I do 50-100 laps before a race if it's a track I know, and 100-200 if it's a track I don't know.

If I need to learn the track I will run it a few times in free practice for consistent conditions, then move to a custom lobby with the correct multipliers where I will drive whole stints working on my references and finding out wear and fuel.

If it feels like the strategy is clear cut I'll just decide a strategy then keep running whole stints, and the day before the race I will run qualifying simulations (fuel off, softest tyre, outlap+flying lap, exit and repeat).

If the strategy is hard to decide I will jump in lobbies and try some variations in practice races.

That's quite a lot of dedication but I'm sure you're enjoying it. At what DR level are you competing btw?

The only thing I'd fear if I trained that much would be to have my race ruined by someone else like yesterday. Pretty unlikely to happen in every slot if you can enter multiple ones but still, I would be even more pissed

As much as I'd love to become a better driver, aiming for 300 points lobbies for example, I'm not sure the overall experience would be better. I'm happy for now in high A lobbies... of course if I break into the A+ small world one day, I'll be proud of myself but I don't want all that to become TOO serious :/

 

[kungtotte_]

That's quite a lot of dedication but I'm sure you're enjoying it. At what DR level are you competing btw?

The only thing I'd fear if I trained that much would be to have my race ruined by someone else like yesterday. Pretty unlikely to happen in every slot if you can enter multiple ones but still, I would be even more pissed

As much as I'd love to become a better driver, aiming for 300 points lobbies for example, I'm not sure the overall experience would be better. I'm happy for now in high A lobbies... of course if I break into the A+ small world one day, I'll be proud of myself but I don't want all that to become TOO serious :/

Started last exhibition season at 19K, after yesterday's race I'm 27.5K.

I don't really do dailies so those points are all FIA.

 

[Pigems]

Depending on the race, and how much I like it, I’ll practice anywhere from an hour up to 10 hours over the course of the week leading up to the race. That number has been a lot lower lately though.

 

[rhcpeppers]

Last night went better than I expected. Q12 - P5, which is my first top 5 in an FIA race since late-December. I've had tons of finishes in the 8th to 12th range, which I guess means my DR is where is should be, so it was great to finally crack the top 5. I don't think I'm particularly good at Catalunya, but I do have 5 top 5's in 12 races there, which is better than most tracks for me. Maybe it is just that many others hate the track more than I do!

I did 11 hard / 6 soft. I even led lap 11 because all of the leaders had already pitted by that point . Tires held up pretty well. I don't push real hard at Catalunya, I like to take it smooth and steady, and that seemed to fit well with this tire-wear race.

I also used TCS 0 for the entire race, which I hadn't done before in a Gr3 FIA race. I've been doing that for Gr4 for a while, but I've recently been working on that with Gr3. I don't know yet if it made me faster over one lap (qualifying still wasn't great), but it did make me very conscious of taking the turns under control, which again I believed helped with the tire wear.

 

[rhcpeppers]

HAHA! Yes! The only thing I don't like about the Hyundai is the sound. It's fairly... terrible.

Lol! I agree as well! I love driving the Hyundais, but that sound.....

If only they sounded like the Lexus...or the BMW....or the Corvette, Viper....well basically any other car, then it would be perfect!

 

[Rexracer702]

First 2 FIA races of the season last night. really busy at work, so not any track time. I realized it was race day after dinner, decided on Toyota because both of the cars are fun (re: on throttle oversteer), and handle well. I decided to go with what would be most fun for my driving style. I did about 20 minutes in the Supra on softs to get used to the combo, then spent 20 minutes on a quick livery. Back to the track for 10 minutes of practice for the first race. No idea of pit strategy, tire wear...nothing. Started 10th on softs, made my way up to 5th with the leader in sight on L5, and the tires were just about done. Had to slow in corners and the 6th place car didn't like my mid-corner speed, so he hit me and I spun. No reset, had to back up and turn around, DFL by the time I got going. I pitted and grabbed Mediums . Oh well, worked my way back through some traffic,almost into the top 10 before I needed fuel, and hards. Passed one car, who punted me at the sharp left, finished last.

2nd race I decided I would do 11H/6S after the data collected from the first race. Actually started 5th, but got bounced back about 3 laps in when I lost traction on exit, and then got used as a berm while my tires cooled. Dropped to about 14th or 15th. Put on softs and came out near the back. Managed to get up to 9th for the finish.

I gotta say, this was fun. I could pass on the drive out pretty easily since the Supra lets you steer with the back. I could just stay tight and drive by on the inside. Wish I had time for a 3rd race, but it was WAY past my bedtime. I think it will be a fun season between the Supra and the 86!

 

[Seth_Logan]

On a side note, just tried the Scirocco out at next weeks track, and boy does it seem fast. I'm like 0.6 secs off the fastest time after 5 laps. I think they may need to nerf it unless the tyre wear kills the FF cars in the race.

It's like I replied to @EERIEISSSS in his "My wife chose the Manu" vid. I believe the Scirocco could do very well in Lago and Sardegna - C if you can manage the tyres. A while back I drove a Megane Gr4 in a daily race B and I have never driven as fast as on the full GP Lago track (the Megane is pretty much compatible with the Scirocco). It may even hold its own in Tokyo if its half decent on fuel.

 

[ZiggyS80]

Manufacturer Cup Round 1 at Catalunya in the Gr 3 Jaguar

• Entered door 17
• Qualified in P7
• Finished in P6
• 209 championship points awarded and about 900 DR points gained

Great way to start the official season. I stayed with Jaguar after a good Exhibition season. I wanted to continue to find improvements in the Gr 3 since all my points came from Gr 4 races. This race felt like progress on that goal as I narrowly missed out on a top 5 finish.

Qualifying went well enough. There were a few offs or mistakes by cars ahead. They didn't ruin my lap, but it did put me in a more cautious and less attack mindset that cost me a few tenths. Lined up in P7 behind @Pigems and his Aston. I felt good about the fuel saving and tire management I had practiced over the week and felt like I could give him a good race. The plan was 10H/7S.

Race starts and a Porsche ahead goes deep into T1. The Aston gets by him out of T2 and I stay in their slip to pull ahead through the sweeper and finish the move in T4. Nice and clean from everyone involved and we carry on in P6.

A Mazda goes off after T8 and rejoins the track just ahead of me through T9. They hold an inside line and I pass them on the straight before the heavy braking zone. They bump me off track after T10, but I'm able to keep it together and get back in line behind them through T11. I understand their tires were probably still dirty, but I left plenty of room and it felt like an entitled move. Back to P6 to finish the first lap and things quiet down from there.

I'm able to hold the Mazda's slip to catch back up with the Aston who had settled in to their fuel/tire saving pace and after a lap or two pass them for P5. Good close, clean racing. I felt pretty good about my fuel, so I pushed a little harder to try to separate from the Aston. While that worked for awhile, I cooked my tires doing so and that gap evaporated by the time I pitted on lap 10 and they stayed out. One way or another that choice was going to make the difference.

I went pretty hard on the out lap, but got slowed down by someone on a longer H stint in the final sector. I pass the Aston coming out of their stop and they are less than a second behind out of T1. I push again trying to build a gap, but they stay right on me this time. I notice my tire wear is higher than it should be at this point in the race so I switch to defense. I start to struggle with the tires and I needed to leave something for the end. The Aston gets a good run on me out of T9 and we go side by side through T10 and they pull away.

The pole sitter and another driver that used S in the first stint come within striking distance. The Aston takes them both easily to take P4. I get the first one, but while I had better pace I just didn't have any attack left in my tires and came home a couple tenths behind in P6.

Really fun race overall. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[Rotary_Pilot]

I signed with Mclaren this season, not surprisingly for the Gr4 mainly. Since I don't care much for the Gr3 650 I figured with Sardegna A and Lemans may as well take the F1.

Gave it a go, and results were, well, predictable in the current environment. Since the car has high speed and a paper parachute for brakes, I have to brake earlier than say a Mitsubishi. First race I just think the driver behind didn't account for how much extra speed they got from my slip and hit me just as I started the turn in for T1 L2. Saw them again and they weren't aggressive or dirty and on the replay the put in full brakes and held them.

Race 2 a Mitsubishi comes from two cars back and dives up the inside of t5 pushing me off again, down to 18, but on L15 I'm 3.5s down from P13 and 14 who are having a battle, a racing battle not wreckfest. Well guess who spun just ahead of them? That's right the Mitsubusgi from Lap 1. He doesn't want to be overtaken and tries to push them off the back straight, all three go off and I come home in P12 for 57pts. Good enough.

I think the F1 will be in the shop for the Fuji race.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

well basically any other car, then it would be perfect!

The Cayman Hoover wants to have a word with you.

 

[Timm Sheehan]

Not only is this my home track, but I use it frequently as my test track. I know it, trust it, and glad we started the season with it. Hopefully it wasn’t too bad for everyone.

Manufacture’s Race – Round 1
Last slot EMEA - TPC Hyundai Genesis GR.3

D/S Lobby - Door #2
Qualified 9th with 1:57.725
Tire strategy: 8RM/1RM/8RH
Finished P2
Fastest lap: 1:51.427 (L2) / Average laps: 1:57.700
6 points for the Hyundai
+1346 DR

The TPC Hyundai Genesis GR.3 was awesome! Qualifying sucked, 2 others in front kept fighting it out causing major delays so qualified 9th with 1:58.xxx. Was expecting around 1:50.500 but oh well.

Race ran well from the roof cam (opted out of the cockpit due to course limits in practice). 2 penalties (1 on L1 for allowing a Mercedes to collide and run me on the wide on T2, the other for my own stupidity of shorting the last right hand onto the front straightaway on L16 (Left tire across top of hotdog)).

Tire strategy went out the door on L9 when the excitement of being in P5 left me brainless and I wrongly selected RM again - was supposed to switch to RH then. One lap later saw me back in the pits to finally get the race required RH.

I was in an enormously good mood after EMEA that I decided to run another race.

Manufacture’s Race – Round 1
First slot NA – Polyphony Digital Ford Mustang GR.3
D/B Lobby - Door #9
Qualified 7th with 1:52.919
Tire strategy: 9RH/8RM
Finished P3
Fastest lap: 1:50.221 (L11) / Average laps: 1:57.000
7 points for the Ford
+1017 DR

Another race but this time it was with the Polyphony Digital Ford Mustang GR.3. Qualifying was as expected which ended in 7th with 1:52.919.

Another race that ran well for me from the roof cam. Nothing exciting during the race, just doing laps.

Valuable observation today (one that many of my teammates have told me) – It is so valuable I must pass it on to everyone . . . . race the track and not the cars around you. I noticed that lap after lap cars were spinning off, running into other cars, missing turning points, and/or missing braking points. I kept gaining positions just by driving the track and passing racers as they made their mistakes. That was the secret to my success today.

Excellent start to the 2021 Season!

No Nation's Cup for me this weekend so I have a week to get the GR.4 cars ready for Autodrome Lago Maggiore - West.

Enjoy your racing – Good luck to all this season!

 

[kungtotte_]

I think I have to revise my practice lap estimates... I've run nothing but Lago Maggiore West today and it's telling me 256.6 kilometres, which works out to 61 laps.

That's on day 1 of practice too...

 

[KosmoKazi]

Lol! I agree as well! I love driving the Hyundais, but that sound.....

If only they sounded like the Lexus...or the BMW....or the Corvette, Viper....well basically any other car, then it would be perfect!

There are definitely some that are not as nice to race around as others... the VW Bug, the McLaren F1, for example. Then others are an aural dream, like the Astons.

(My favorites to drive, the Porsches, are not on the best end of the scale unfortunately. Though in real life, I think they are better... at least the 911 are, for sure.)

 

[Zorz]

I've got a sneaking suspicion my karting technique still needs some work before Saturday, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly...

 

[05XR8]

This is why I don't rate very high in these races. I turn up 20 mins before the race, run some practice laps, and hope for the best!

Even if you don't have much time or feel like not spending too much time, jump in Arcade Mode. Start a Single Race at the track coming up and just learn the track flow.
The races with AI are two laps. You'll probably win, but race the AI clean. AI will brake check you, block the racing line before corners, may divebomb and race side by side. Similar to what some players do.

Jump in a Custom Race in an endurance set up. Default are 10 minutes. Choose your starting position. Even if you start every race from Pole. Again, race the AI clean.

No matter if you select tyre wear or not, track knowledge will help you the most. Many FIA races, you might not race the same people. First couple of corners, is when you know who you're racing.

If you know the track and when you can push and when you need to back off, it'll go a long way to managing the rest of your race.

 

[cactus0]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races? As I said I had never before put in the time I did for the 1st race as mostly when I have time it would be spent on the daily races and I'm glad I decided to give them a miss for now as I recon I would have quit playing had I continued doing the daily races. I did about 15 races in the run up to the 1st race and had 3 main goals, learn a track I never liked, learn which tyres to run and what order and finally fuel-saving or usage depending on how hard I was pushing. Funny think was I mis-timed my pit exit for qualifying and was 3 seconds too late to get a second lap in but still had pole with 1.2sec slower that may fastest time, I never timed the outlap in practice. Is this the kind of detail people go to in practice.

Depends on the race, I won't put in much for next week's manufactures because I'm confident in the car and the track.

On the other hand, I'm already running time trial laps at Nurburgring GP for the race in June...

 

[Groundfish]

Quick Question:

How much practice would you for the Manufacture races?

For me not much at all. Unless I find I want to run a track I haven’t raced much.
I’m happy racing the tracks I know I have the pace on and already have raced a ton on-know HOW I like to race them...
Anyways happy with that and just looking for good quality racing, which I’ve found in these FIA so far knock on wood.
If I really wanted to push hard towards podium at plus 50k I’d have to put in some hours. At least 1-3 hours right before and at least one practice race for strategy.
For Nations in karts RBR short I had to learn the track (it’s still not my favorite) and that took around 4 hours practice the morning of...
For me I look at the schedule and pick out which I will enter if I’m home.
I can’t race all tracks at that level.
I won’t enter unless I’m very confident that first off I’ll be safe and not crash or crash others, that means having the track down pat.
If I don’t I won’t enter. I’d be unsafe/likely to lose points/try to defend too much since my pace is lacking-angering others/causing troubles etc.
I ain’t got time for that.
I respect that others put a lot of effort into these so I look to run a good pace and be fair.
I’m just hoping I never have to witness a teammate getting taken out or something...I’m not certain how I’d respond on the main.
If it was a blatant takedown I’d have to do what needed to be done.
I haven’t seen anything like that so far, thankfully.

 

[OJBrit]

I've got a sneaking suspicion my karting technique still needs some work before Saturday, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly...

View attachment 1006163

Roads are for losers.

 

[Mistah_MCA]

Four hours of suffering, understeering, dead tires, and escaping the curb glitch. Could have gone better, could have been worse.