2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[RX8 Racer]

Finally got around to writing my race reports.

Nations - Not the Spanish GP

Race 1 - Got accidentally punted off

Race 2 - Finished 9th, but figured I could get more points

Race 3 - 1M-12S strategy really did not work out

Race 4

Qualified 13th
Strategy 3M-10S

I just could not get a good lap together in qualifying, probably because I might have been overpushing the tyres on the out lap.

I promptly got sent down to 18th for side contact in the mayhem of the grid start, but I was able to snatch two places back with a double overtake into turn 1:

Any further progress up the field was stymied by heavy traffic ahead, forcing me into the pits on lap 3. From there, a hard push on the Softs combined with liberal use of the Overtake to leapfrog others in the pits allowed me to climb up to 8th.

Towards the end of the race, I tried hunting down 7th running on Mediums. A dive up the inside into La Caixa failed and the cars trailing behind dissuaded me from making another attempt. With my Overtake spent, I was left to settle for 8th for 134 points.

Manufacturers - Le Mans Gr.3

Strategy: No stop

Not running my flying lap under slipstream was a mistake, as I wound up starting 17th. The race itself was not much better, as I dropped straight to the back due to my lack of pace. I only made up places from others getting caught in incidents and penalties.

This NSX went off at the S bend before Tetra Rouge and made the mistake of rejoining on the racing line right in front of oncoming traffic, resulting in him getting shunted off at Tetra Rouge itself.

This Aston got punted by a very clumsy Mercedes that apparently had no idea how to brake under slipstream, as I would find out when I got punted at the second Mulsanne chicane by said Mercedes.

The NSX from earlier caught up to me and I decided to fight, taking the inside line into Mulsanne corner....

...while the NSX outbraked himself and went off again, while I watched him disappear from my rear view mirror.

I started the final lap just as a Porsche got the final chicane completely wrong and gave me 14th.

I spent the final lap chasing a BMW that had spent most of the race at the front, before he was forced into the pits to take Hards.
He had a 2 second penalty for crashing into the tyre wall at pit entry and cutting the Dunlop chicane. However, the penalties that I had racked up over the course of the race (Indianapolis track limits are complete garbage) still left me 2 seconds adrift of the BMW after penalties were served.

Then the BMW hit the throttle too early and sent himself into the gravel at the final chicane, handing me 13th for 93 points.

Since all of my gains came entirely from other people crashing off, I chose not to go again.

Nations - Suzuka Gr.3

Car: GR Supra
Strategy: 8M-1H-7S(Refuel)

I really did not feel on pace going into this race, and qualifying proved me right after a slow first lap and an excursion at turn 7 on the second lap, sending me to the back. Since starting on stone cold Hards is about as fun as shooting myself in the foot, I chose to start on Mediums.

I promptly regretted my tyre choice after getting caught behind two Hard starters that spent the entire opening lap fighting, costing me a boatload of time.

After cursing out at the Malaysian Porsche and Japanese Ferrari as they served their first stop, I got my head down and put in some laps under clean air, passing a Japanese Porsche that had gone off at turn 1 along the way.

Meanwhile, the polesitting GT-R loses control and crashes into the pit wall Austin Powers style, quitting in humiliation. The best part is that this same driver had suffered a similar fate in my Le Mans race, qualifying at the front, crashing out by hitting the throttle too hard out of the second chicane and quitting. This really was not her week.

On lap 8, I had to let some of the front runners that had pitted through on my in lap. In my first stop, I elected to dump the Hards and came out ahead of the Malaysian Porsche that had held me up on lap 1. I took great pleasure in exacting revenge by holding him up on my Hard lap, forcing him into a fight with an NSX.

I pit again for Softs and fuel to go to the end. Cutting a little too much off Degner 1 got me a penalty, but I was able to stay ahead of the other backmarkers after serving the penalty.

Towards the end of the race, the Japanese Porsche was quickly catching up to me, even after a bad exit out of Casio bought me a little breathing space. The Japanese finally caught and passed me on the final lap at Spoon.

Not willing to back down, I tried taking the inside into 130R, but I was forced to brake and back out to make the corner.

I make my final move into Casio, braking late and taking the inside line in a final bid for 14th. The Japanese Porsche clearly did not see me coming as he turned in only to find a Supra sitting on the apex.

Having caught the Porsche napping, I exit Casio ahead of the Porsche and run to the line for 14th and 83 points.

Not a good week for me, but hopefully Sardegna C would give a better result.

 

[Mistah_MCA]

This is my plan, the SLS and Sardegna and Gr3 Tokyo don't mix well.

Viper will not have a great time either.

As for the Tokyo South Inner Loop race... I did some testing recently with a few friends (I actually have friends, holy cow), and that race is going to be a mega fuel saving race. Fuel is at x6. You need to always be in the slipstream, shortshift, and adjust fuel mapping to make the fuel last 7.5 - 8.5 laps (since the pit stop is the parking garage). Worse is that this is with Gr. 4 cars, so the slipstream for quali and race will be crucial. Going flat out means you'll likely have to refuel twice, which is a no-no with the longer pit stops.

 

[Adam Barber]

Viper will not have a great time either.

As for the Tokyo South Inner Loop race... I did some testing recently with a few friends (I actually have friends, holy cow), and that race is going to be a mega fuel saving race. Fuel is at x6. You need to always be in the slipstream, shortshift, and adjust fuel mapping to make the fuel last 7.5 - 8.5 laps (since the pit stop is the parking garage). Worse is that this is with Gr. 4 cars, so the slipstream for quali and race will be crucial. Going flat out means you'll likely have to refuel twice, which is a no-no with the longer pit stops.

That's a definite avoid for me then, does not sound like a fun time.

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

I did a quick test of Tokyo in the Corvette back when tracks were announced. Its a 15 lap race and only had enough fuel for 6 laps with short shifting. Going to take a massive amount of even shorter shifting, slipstreaming and maybe fuel mapping to avoid a double pit stop. (Not sure if the new fuel BoP will have helped out since though).

As for Sardegna. Not sure whether to run it. Can do an 'ok' lap time on the softs of 56.8 but in a Lobby race, i was well off the pace on Hards and struggled to keep up with lower ranked drivers.

 

[csmirnoff]

A GTP favourite is on #1 this week (he's featured almost every week...)

And unfortunately he was in my FIA race at that same track! Just an awful sight to see in that first lobby matching screen!

And he's back on #1 again this week, this time on his European adventures... This guy should really be banned...

 

[afc5150]

And he's back on #1 again this week, this time on his European adventures... This guy should really be banned...

The underlying problem is he knows there are no lasting repercussions to driving like this. I watched his Kudos throughout an FIA evening last week. He started out at ~35K DR, 99 SR. After 2 races he was at ~15K DR, 23SR so a pretty substantial reset. But knowing how to game the system, by the end of slot 5 he was back up to 24K DR and 99 SR. Ruined how many other's races, who knows. So there is no incentive to be clean when you can easily get back up there without too much effort.

 

[KosmoKazi]

And he's back on #1 again this week, this time on his European adventures... This guy should really be banned...

Same torpedo move that he used at Suzuka to take out the poor chap just in front of me. I was lucky to avoid it. I posted that replay on GT Sport. It’s late in the second stint.

 

[crusselz]

The underlying problem is he knows there are no lasting repercussions to driving like this. I watched his Kudos throughout an FIA evening last week. He started out at ~35K DR, 99 SR. After 2 races he was at ~15K DR, 23SR so a pretty substantial reset. But knowing how to game the system, by the end of slot 5 he was back up to 24K DR and 99 SR. Ruined how many other's races, who knows. So there is no incentive to be clean when you can easily get back up there without too much effort.

Maybe GT needs to start dishing out bans. Based on complaints and then substantiated with evidence. Like above video clips.

But generally the fact that nothing is ever done to dirty drivers, encourages them to persist in their behaviour. DR resets, become opportunities to boost their wins against lower ranked drivers.

 

[Mistah_MCA]

Maybe GT needs to start dishing out bans. Based on complaints and then substantiated with evidence. Like above video clips.

But generally the fact that nothing is ever done to dirty drivers, encourages them to persist in their behaviour. DR resets, become opportunities to boost their wins against lower ranked drivers.

It took a rallying effort for disciplinary action to be taken on someone that was double accounting in top splits for FIA last year (or 2 years ago, don't remember), so I imagine it'll take quite an effort to see it happen to someone that's been driving dirty.

 

[kungtotte_]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, they should implement a weighting system for SR so you can't yoyo like people are doing.

So with a system like that, if you maintain a 99 SR most of the time you lose very little SR for a bump and you regain it quite quickly.

If you bump several times in a race or you drop SR often/by a lot you start losing more and more each time and it will take you longer and longer to recover it.

For example if you do 8 races in a row with no SR downs and you accidentally bump someone you should finish that race in the mid-90s and be back at 99 after the next race.

If you do 8 races in a row and you bump someone each race you drop to 40-50 SR and it takes you 8 clean races to get back to the 70s, then you have to build from there until you get to like 85-90 again after which it only takes one race to hit 99.

This way you can have an accidental bump without plummeting, and you need to keep your nose clean for a lot of consecutive races before you recover SR lost if you have a string of bumps (accidental or not!).

If you couldn't recover everything in a day or two, I'm sure a good portion of dirty drivers would stop doing it or never make it out of low DR/SR territory.

 

[Seth_Logan]

Viper will not have a great time either.

Thanks for today's Track guide @Mistah_MCA . Implemented it in a practice session against a few people from the forum this evening:

@OJBrit , @LVS_1986 , @xxPinkyKissxx and @Sudoku_86 (different name here?) joined for a race.

One tip was spot on: Break bias to +1 when qualifying. Shaved of at least 0.2-0.3 sec, maybe even more. Awesome. Keeper! Accidentally the host had the settings wrong forcing everyone to pit (everyone went flat out for sure) which gave us all the opportunity to test the softs in the race.

With six laps I remembered to switch the bias back to +1 and could immediately tell the difference. (Btw: this is how the race should have been! It was much better.)

One tip didn't work: opposed to the mediums last time, I really should not drive on the blue stuff on turn one with the hards. tried it the first 3 laps and had to move heaven and earth not to end in the sand. Nope, staying on the hard stuff with all four for me. I must have scared the *%^t out of the people behind me.

I do need to find a better way to approach that corner. It was one of my stronger ones in February, now it's a weak spot. Vice versa for turn two. Feel less nervous going over the kerbs than before.

Esses are a mess on the hards, seem to swing every which way. And don't even get me started on the last corner...

Tried to - purposely - follow both lines alternating between the two and find out what suits better... but in reality the one I go for tends to be the other one I end actually following. I am getting a feel for overtakes there, so that's a positive. For me it's the best spot. I'm still quite new at this and don't feel I have the race craft to pull of a pass at turn one after overtaking in slipstream.

I also found out that the Jaaag had perhaps gotten the bad end of the fuel adjustments, since I was the first one to have to go to the pits (we were all going flat out apart from perhaps @LVS_1986 who new the settings and was also in a Jaaag). Good to know for Tokyo!

Thanks for the tips! And thanks for the race. Tomorrow we go again (could be a tad bit late, but we'll see)

 

[Seth_Logan]

Maybe GT needs to start dishing out bans. Based on complaints and then substantiated with evidence. Like above video clips.

But generally the fact that nothing is ever done to dirty drivers, encourages them to persist in their behaviour. DR resets, become opportunities to boost their wins against lower ranked drivers.

The DR reset could be accompanied by a 2 weeks ban from all races on that players IP address or something. So he can’t alt-account his way back in. It’s unfortunate this will also affect any users that use the same IP. But maybe dad can sort out what we can’t when HE is not able to play either ?

 

[OJBrit]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, they should implement a weighting system for SR so you can't yoyo like people are doing.

So with a system like that, if you maintain a 99 SR most of the time you lose very little SR for a bump and you regain it quite quickly.

If you bump several times in a race or you drop SR often/by a lot you start losing more and more each time and it will take you longer and longer to recover it.

For example if you do 8 races in a row with no SR downs and you accidentally bump someone you should finish that race in the mid-90s and be back at 99 after the next race.

If you do 8 races in a row and you bump someone each race you drop to 40-50 SR and it takes you 8 clean races to get back to the 70s, then you have to build from there until you get to like 85-90 again after which it only takes one race to hit 99.

This way you can have an accidental bump without plummeting, and you need to keep your nose clean for a lot of consecutive races before you recover SR lost if you have a string of bumps (accidental or not!).

If you couldn't recover everything in a day or two, I'm sure a good portion of dirty drivers would stop doing it or never make it out of low DR/SR territory.

Yes. I thought by weighting system you were going to talk about ballast. That would stop them grinding easy wins too.

One tip didn't work: opposed to the mediums last time, I really should not drive on the blue stuff on turn one with the hards. tried it the first 3 laps and had to move heaven and earth not to end in the sand. Nope, staying on the hard stuff with all four for me. I must have scared the *%^t out of the people behind me.

I had a good view of you going sideways despite being too far back. I thought you had been hit by the way the car was moving.

I'm still quite new at this and don't feel I have the race craft to pull of a pass at turn one after overtaking in slipstream.

I might not either after my attempt on you. It wasn't technique I think. The brakes seemed to not work and I sailed into the gravel. I was probably too late. Though I almost made it around your outside on another occasion too.

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

When this round came up a few weeks ago I managed 2nd in the GT-R on a no-stop. If you qualify high you can get a result.

This was before the nerf, however. That and the last time I tried this combo, I couldn't put laps together and the car fell off a cliff at the end.

Hard pass on this combo.

 

[Seth_Logan]

I might not either after my attempt on you. It wasn't technique I think. The brakes seemed to not work and I sailed into the gravel. I was probably too late. Though I almost made it around your outside on another occasion too.

That visite to the sand was strange indeed. Hope you have the replay of it, I had my left indicator on to signal you were to pass. Felt a bit guilty. Thought I'd perhaps given you a false sense of security.

Wanted to do some more passing, slipstream driving and bumpdrafting. At that point you had the better pace.

I love these races and this analysis stuff. Need to ask my son how to set up "parties" some time. Have a brew, talk racing.

 

[OJBrit]

That visite to the sand was strange indeed. Hope you have the replay of it, I had my left indicator on to signal you were to pass. Felt a bit guilty. Thought I'd perhaps given you a false sense of security.

Wanted to do some more passing, slipstream driving and bumpdrafting. At that point you had the better pace.

I love these races and this analysis stuff. Need to ask my son how to set up "parties" some time. Have a brew, talk racing.

Yeah just felt the speed didn't scrub off. I think I was quicker on hards and you were quicker on softs.

Parties is easy. Got to the message section of the XMB and start a new party. You add the people you want to be in the party and go. You can probably set up a GTP practice party group with everyone. The PS4 came with a headset so everyone should have one. (It's what I use.)

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

Thanks for today's Track guide @Mistah_MCA . Implemented it in a practice session against a few people from the forum this evening:

@OJBrit , @LVS_1986 , @xxPinkyKissxx and @Sudoku_86 (different name here?) joined for a race.

One tip was spot on: Break bias to +1 when qualifying. Shaved of at least 0.2-0.3 sec, maybe even more. Awesome. Keeper! Accidentally the host had the settings wrong forcing everyone to pit (everyone went flat out for sure) which gave us all the opportunity to test the softs in the race.

With six laps I remembered to switch the bias back to +1 and could immediately tell the difference. (Btw: this is how the race should have been! It was much better.)

One tip didn't work: opposed to the mediums last time, I really should not drive on the blue stuff on turn one with the hards. tried it the first 3 laps and had to move heaven and earth not to end in the sand. Nope, staying on the hard stuff with all four for me. I must have scared the *%^t out of the people behind me.

I do need to find a better way to approach that corner. It was one of my stronger ones in February, now it's a weak spot. Vice versa for turn two. Feel less nervous going over the kerbs than before.

Esses are a mess on the hards, seem to swing every which way. And don't even get me started on the last corner...

Tried to - purposely - follow both lines alternating between the two and find out what suits better... but in reality the one I go for tends to be the other one I end actually following. I am getting a feel for overtakes there, so that's a positive. For me it's the best spot. I'm still quite new at this and don't feel I have the race craft to pull of a pass at turn one after overtaking in slipstream.

I also found out that the Jaaag had perhaps gotten the bad end of the fuel adjustments, since I was the first one to have to go to the pits (we were all going flat out apart from perhaps @LVS_1986 who new the settings and was also in a Jaaag). Good to know for Tokyo!

Thanks for the tips! And thanks for the race. Tomorrow we go again (could be a tad bit late, but we'll see)

Good to race you and the other guys. That was a great qualifying lap from you! Shame about the fuel setting being wrong as it was a good test. Saw that you had gone into the pits with 1% fuel and couldn’t understand what was going on. Then noticed my fuel gauge flashing Was going to keep my worn Hards on at least but accidentally hit Hards again so ended up with a fresh set for the last 6-7 laps or what ever it was. Oh well! I wasn’t expecting to be so far ahead as didn’t feel I had the pace at this track and was thinking of skipping it but it’s now given me hope that I might be competitive after all.

 

[barak181]

The PS4 came with a headset so everyone should have one. (It's what I use.)

Mine didn't. Now I feel like I got robbed!

 

[Photodave219]

That visite to the sand was strange indeed. Hope you have the replay of it, I had my left indicator on to signal you were to pass. Felt a bit guilty. Thought I'd perhaps given you a false sense of security.

Wanted to do some more passing, slipstream driving and bumpdrafting. At that point you had the better pace.

I love these races and this analysis stuff. Need to ask my son how to set up "parties" some time. Have a brew, talk racing.

I'll try to drop in tomorrow. I had to do my taxes and yeah.... sadly the real world infringed on it.

Yeah just felt the speed didn't scrub off. I think I was quicker on hards and you were quicker on softs.

Parties is easy. Got to the message section of the XMB and start a new party. You add the people you want to be in the party and go. You can probably set up a GTP practice party group with everyone. The PS4 came with a headset so everyone should have one. (It's what I use.)

I wish the leaderboards for practice showed which tire someone was on. I've really just stayed on hards since thats the race strategy for MOST cars. Or pit on lap 26.

 

[OJBrit]

I wish the leaderboards for practice showed which tire someone was on. I've really just stayed on hards since thats the race strategy for MOST cars. Or pit on lap 26.

Always assume the practice leaderboards are done on the fastest tyre available as they will be doing hotlap practice. Any race practice will be done in a lobby.
We only changed tyre in the race due to an error in the lobby settings with fuel causing us to pit.

 

[Seth_Logan]

Good to race you and the other guys. That was a great qualifying lap from you! Shame about the fuel setting being wrong as it was a good test.

Likewise fun to race you as well (admiring from afar that is). I looked at your kudosprime numbers the other day and those are very impressive. Only a 139 races yet a steady almost uninterrupted increase in DR. What's even more amazing is the daily race qualifying times you win that DR with.

Since you're on my leaderboard you are always faster than I am and I aim to be within 2,99% of the leader, yet your leaderboard (mostly) shows higher than 3% results for timetrails. That means you must have very good race pace / craft as well in order to score so high and keep increasing DR! Impressive indeed!

Oh well! I wasn’t expecting to be so far ahead as didn’t feel I had the pace at this track and was thinking of skipping it but it’s now given me hope that I might be competitive after all.

That (and your kudos-stats) leads to a question: as DR goes up, so is the competition. And let's say the game's scoring is designed in such a way that you grow in skill, hence grow in DR, meet stiffer competition but ultimately will stay roughly in the same P-range as you started out (let's call it natural level). Say between P6 and P12, but that the chance of achieving a better result does not increase as DR and skill level are increased. I understand the need for ever increasing competition, but can also imagine everyone would like to have a chance on a podium now and then. So my question for you is: do you recognise this system/trend for yourself? And if so, how do you deal with that?

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

Likewise fun to race you as well (admiring from afar that is). I looked at your kudosprime numbers the other day and those are very impressive. Only a 139 races yet a steady almost uninterrupted increase in DR. What's even more amazing is the daily race qualifying times you win that DR with.

Thanks! All i can say is that the 2 main things that help me is avoiding daily races and practicing with a top 10 ghost! Learnt early on that daily races are a lottery. DR and SR always got ruined and you'd end up having to chase your loses like a (bad) gambler! For an upcoming FIA race, i'll usually pick a ghost who drives the most similar car to mine and first i'll watch a replay in cockpit view to see what gears they are using and where they're braking. I'll then follow that ghost attempting to follow their line as close as possible until i feel i can't get any quicker/closer. Then its a case of running a couple of custom races with the settings to get a feel for tire wear/strat. I'm quite new to lobby practice racing and that has helped massively too. I can honestly say though i checked your Kudos after as your lap time was very close to mine and expected to see you at high B so that was impressive!

So my question for you is: do you recognise this system/trend for yourself? And if so, how do you deal with that?

If i understand what your question is, its hard to answer as i'd guess as you get in to tougher lobbys, results would fall, yet like you say, i'm always in that window of say 6th to 12th so my DR will usually increase each time. I've accepted that i'm rarely going to be fighting for a win. Only 1 FIA win ever proves that, but i'll always aim for a top 10 (or at least over 100 points). Some people on this forum taste success quite often so i'm a little jealous . As with anything, practice and experience will help (but that still doesn't stop me having nerves and rapid heart rate on lap 1 until the race settles down every time .)

Thanks for tuning in to todays edition of Pinky's Driving School!

 

[KosmoKazi]

Likewise fun to race you as well (admiring from afar that is). I looked at your kudosprime numbers the other day and those are very impressive. Only a 139 races yet a steady almost uninterrupted increase in DR. What's even more amazing is the daily race qualifying times you win that DR with.

Since you're on my leaderboard you are always faster than I am and I aim to be within 2,99% of the leader, yet your leaderboard (mostly) shows higher than 3% results for timetrails. That means you must have very good race pace / craft as well in order to score so high and keep increasing DR! Impressive indeed!



That (and your kudos-stats) leads to a question: as DR goes up, so is the competition. And let's say the game's scoring is designed in such a way that you grow in skill, hence grow in DR, meet stiffer competition but ultimately will stay roughly in the same P-range as you started out (let's call it natural level). Say between P6 and P12, but that the chance of achieving a better result does not increase as DR and skill level are increased. I understand the need for ever increasing competition, but can also imagine everyone would like to have a chance on a podium now and then. So my question for you is: do you recognise this system/trend for yourself? And if so, how do you deal with that?

Some good points in there.

My pace is a little slower than most in my DR range. I'm typically a couple of positions lower in the 'fastest lap' category compared to my finishing position, and I typically gain a couple positions or so in the race, from where I start. Being careful and trying to remain clean help me to do that. Until I can become more consistently fast, in FIA race conditions, I will rely on those things and smarter racecraft.

While my K' Speed Score is ok, it takes me some work to get there, and while I don't rely on 'flyers' for my QT in the dailies (I can usually get to where I'm repeating the best lap within a tenth or two repeatedly) I find it a lot harder to jump in an FIA qualifying session and throw down a banger in the five minutes we get to do it. It would be interesting to see how my FIA QT relate to my Dailies QT and K' Speed Score... and interesting to see that data for peers in my DR range, to really gage how good of a qualifier I am, and how much more I may need to work on FIA event pace.

But the point about limiting out on DR gains is also a good one. I've found that I'm 'stuck' in the 35k-40k DR range, as far as FIA competition is concerned. A Top-10 is my realistic target each race, in order to gain a little DR each time, but podiums are not often in the cards anymore, as my rating has reached this limit. In this way, I really think the GT Sport game does it right, that I'm matched with the best group and that it's always a challenge. It's on me now, to get faster, which is the name of the game.

 

[Groundfish]

All i can say is that the 2 main things that help me is avoiding daily races and practicing with a top 10 ghost! Learnt early on that daily races are a lottery. DR and SR always got ruined and you'd end up having to chase your loses like a (bad) gambler!

Dailies can keep you sharp though. I know for me if I go a while without racing in them I kind of lose the edge a little. Dailies are great to hone awareness and racecraft.
2 words “alternate account”

 

[LVS_1986]

In 3rd t

Thanks for today's Track guide @Mistah_MCA . Implemented it in a practice session against a few people from the forum this evening:

@OJBrit , @LVS_1986 , @xxPinkyKissxx and @Sudoku_86 (different name here?) joined for a race.

One tip was spot on: Break bias to +1 when qualifying. Shaved of at least 0.2-0.3 sec, maybe even more. Awesome. Keeper! Accidentally the host had the settings wrong forcing everyone to pit (everyone went flat out for sure) which gave us all the opportunity to test the softs in the race.

With six laps I remembered to switch the bias back to +1 and could immediately tell the difference. (Btw: this is how the race should have been! It was much better.)

One tip didn't work: opposed to the mediums last time, I really should not drive on the blue stuff on turn one with the hards. tried it the first 3 laps and had to move heaven and earth not to end in the sand. Nope, staying on the hard stuff with all four for me. I must have scared the *%^t out of the people behind me.

I do need to find a better way to approach that corner. It was one of my stronger ones in February, now it's a weak spot. Vice versa for turn two. Feel less nervous going over the kerbs than before.

Esses are a mess on the hards, seem to swing every which way. And don't even get me started on the last corner...

Tried to - purposely - follow both lines alternating between the two and find out what suits better... but in reality the one I go for tends to be the other one I end actually following. I am getting a feel for overtakes there, so that's a positive. For me it's the best spot. I'm still quite new at this and don't feel I have the race craft to pull of a pass at turn one after overtaking in slipstream.

I also found out that the Jaaag had perhaps gotten the bad end of the fuel adjustments, since I was the first one to have to go to the pits (we were all going flat out apart from perhaps @LVS_1986 who new the settings and was also in a Jaaag). Good to know for Tokyo!

Thanks for the tips! And thanks for the race. Tomorrow we go again (could be a tad bit late, but we'll see)

It was nice to race with you and other GTP folks All I can say is Im sorry for this fuel setting mistake, it happend first time... I think my IQ and ability to focus are much lower after this *****ng covid thing


BTW, after race I set good parameter, and saved, so today it should be good... Today I set a lobby little sooner, before 8 oclock, so if you or anybody like to join, youre welcome room is for friends so send me FR before

 

[crusselz]

All the best to those racing today. Not too sure how the 4WD Atenza will cope with tyre wear. But I'll give it a shot and see how that goes.

No stopping on the RH, just hope I can stay in the slipstream and cope with the eventual tyre wear that will be a challenge for the 4WD/AWD/FF cars.

 

[05XR8]

I'm starting 12th. Set the same time as P10 & P11.
Edit: I pit for RS.

After 5 laps, had enough with this GT-R(I made it finish 12th).

Our little battle pack were trundling along at the start. I was behind the P4 finishing Atenza(what could have been). Couple of tight moments, but the GT-R was a bit slower than the cars ahead of me and the Genesis(P8, that started 13th). I slowed for it to recover and that made my gap to the cars behind, disappear. To add, I got loose, but avoided, what I named, "The Great Barrier Wreath"(the red &white barrier that sticks out).

Make my pit. Come out last. Circled around a few times and a couple other cars pit. Maybe 15 to 10 laps to go, I think I picked off 4 cars at a time. Or at one corner. Pretty quick race.

Leader changed to an RS shod RC F(finished 7th). It pit with a handful of laps. Decided I'd at least get FL if noone else pit.

Anyway, a few laps to go, the GT-R is battling the Scirocco. GT-R starts blocking the inside corners. I get a run on the straight and stay a bit left. The GT-R is running next to me, gets a bit ahead and instead of just holding the line, moves into my path, enough for me to tap it's left rear corner and it gets ahead of the Scirocco at the apex. I wasn't happy. Could have ruined both their races.

I'm patient as the GT-R keeps hugging that inside at the final corner, with underteer on exit. I wait again and know I'll pass it coming out of The Great Barrier Wreath. It had to slow up alot to make the corner on worn tyres.
As predicted, I get my run and GT-R wants to squeeze me on the downhjill. Not happening. I bump and escort him right and that shakes him. The Scirocco gets ahead at the final corner.

Post race, I told that player "don't block!". I hate that mess. Have fun y'all. @Famine , Good luck. Atenza is pretty good here.

 

[pennanton]

Yeah probs going to just skip anything Gr4. Especially when PD is going to take the mick and make combos that heavily reveal the imbalance of the class, or are just dumb.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Looks like PD are clamping down on multi-accounts this morning and giving out 4 month bans:





One of these were banned last year for the same thing too...

 

[SmellMyCheese]

In with @05XR8. Qualified down in 15th although I was only roughly 0.2 seconds off top ten. That put me right on the hairpin for the start and yes I lost the back of the car and a position. Almost impossible to overtake on this track so spent ages just stuck behind the car in front. Most of my positions were gained from people binning it or pitting. Finished just ahead of @05XR8 who had gone for a H/S strat by the looks of it.