2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[csmirnoff]

Gr2 Red Bull Ring, Nations Cup with the Nissan GT-R '16.

CSA Slot 3, door #5. Invalidated my first qualy lap due to track limits, so it was all or nothing in the second one. Luckily, I put a pretty solid 22.0, which was good for me considering I had no banker, and it was good enough for P4 on the grid, 3 tenths off pole.

Did a no-stop on hard tyres, which was allowing me to do 23s for quite a few laps when I did a test stint. But even though I love RBR and I like the Gr2's, the combo of tyre saving on hards and dirty air, I didn't enjoy at all. In the dirty air, I lost my rhythm, started picking up many track limit penalties and wore my tyres more than in testing, so I ended up going backwards rather than forwards...

I believe I had the pace to fight for a podium or at least definitely finish in the top 5, but I ended up P7 at the end. Not one of my finest races, unfortunately. Not going again, though.

 

[KosmoKazi]

Nations Round 8
Red Bull Ring - Gr.2

I have a hard time at this track... no feel for the braking in this point-and-shoot arena. And in Gr.2 cars, it's even harder. Wasn't pleased to see door #1 then, as I was matched in the first slot.

I was happy enough with my pace in FP, and in fact put in my best lap on the last lap of the FO session after I entered. Nice little cheer from the crowd to fire me up for the race.

But I really had (another) messy qualifying session, and bumbled my way to an 18th starting position, without the benefit of a tow.

So I knew it was going to be an uphill climb, but I knew that tire wear and the gladiator mentality in a mid-A rated lobby would yield some opportunities if I was careful.

Tip-toed my way to 13th or 12th place as the tire wear multiplier started to claim it's victims with a few laps to go... found myself on the inside lane of a 3-wide battle in a scrum of four cars... saying a Hail Mary as I went into the penultimate corner (Rindt), I somehow came out ahead and with a run on the remaining cars behind me as I headed off the final turn onto the main straight, for the last lap.

Put in one final safe lap with better-preserved tires than the rest of the mid-pack runners... Net result was an acceptable 9th place, at a track that I usually suffer at, in a car that I still don't have a grip on. My 4th-best FIA points, though below my target and not likely to help me maintain my current ranking when the final scores are tallied, but I'll take it...

Was going to boast that I made up more positions than anyone else on the grid (9) but the talented Canadian who started behind me made it all the way up to 5th!

Door #1 / Qualified 18th / Race: 9th / 119 FIA points / about 150 DR

 

[Raptor013]

Replay from my race last night.

As I mentioned, ran a fairly clean race with a couple of bumps either way to 13th from 18th on a zero stopper.

Had some good battles along the way so not too disappointed with the result.

You can see the difference in grip levels on the final lap.

 

[OJBrit]

I attempted a zero stop strategy for today's Nations Cup.

On the last lap, it was like riding a bull.

A red bull?

 

[GR33N]

When I saw I was in the same split as the self-called noob @GOTMAXPOWER yesterday in slot 4, I knew it was gonna be tough.

Bottled qualy in both laps to start only Q18. Then, the "Finale" white screen froze for at least a full minute, and just when I was gonna turn off the console, the grid appeared with 3 people less, so weird. P15 without a turn of wheel, thank you PD.
Then made my way through spinning cars and other people struggling with tyres. It's so difficult to overtake with the dirty air in those cars...
Finished P8 for 208 points that I kept in the bag despite knowing I had the race pace for more. Much too warm in my room!!
Didn't get any penalty though, maybe the only positive thing of the night: I finally understood how to drive these cars on wasted tyres!

Question: does anybody know what alien from North or South America is playing under the name "Senna2fast" ? This guy just keeps stealing wins in my splits with out-of-this-world times (23:31 total time yesterday.......).
Maybe a Brazilian ? He says he's not Carazza...

 

[GTWolverine]

Last night was an exercise in frustration that (sorta) paid off in the end...

Slot 1: For the first time this season (with the exception of SSRX which of course would bring out everyone), I DIDN'T get thrown to the alien wolves in Top Split immediately, so this was my best chance to grab a great haul of points early in the night, so of course I can't drive to save my life. I had the pace to start inside the Top 5, but could only do a lap good enough for 8th after I had to abort my first qualifying attempt at T1 after nearly spinning myself, then chickened out at the hairpin on my next attempt, then was t-boned by a spinning car at T1 on my final attempt.

The race itself started decent enough - I lost a spot because the game started me on the exit curb and I upshifted too soon to prevent wheelspin, then immediately gained the spot back in T1. I spent several laps stuck behind a slower car that outqualified me before getting ahead, then got stuck behind someone who was lagging massively the entire race - like, they never had anything but one red bar the entire race. Before I started using my phone's hotspot for racing instead of my useless AT&T internet, I'd get a red bar for maybe a minute every other race, but I never had a red bar for the ENTIRE event. This person had been lagging from the start, but for the first several laps they were far enough in front that they didn't affect me (aside from the slight distraction of seeing them teleport everywhere), but they made a mistake (or had a collision with someone caught out by their lag) and suddenly were right in front of me (when they weren't several seconds behind me). Going into T1 they went from being behind me to directly in front of me at the exit, causing me to nearly spin myself on the curb and losing me 3 spots. I then spent the rest of the race stuck behind the slower car I'd passed earlier and got freight-trained at the end of the race, including being spun by someone in T1 again, and finished 15th.

Slot 2: This time I was thrown into a Top Split that looked like the usual ones I get tossed into in Slot 1, with me of course having a car number that matched my qualifying and finishing position - 17th...and that was only because the previous 17th place spun out of the final corner, otherwise I would've finished 18th of 18.

Slot 3: I wasn't feeling great about this slot either with many names that are normally faster than me still present. Miraculously, I qualified 10th, and even more miraculously I finished 9th, all thanks to others making mistakes. I only made one actual overtake the entire race, but got re-overtaken by the same driver a bit later anyway. It was supposed to be worth 203 points, but instead of the game gifting me a point after someone disconnected during the matching process, it took away a point for the same reason, so I got 202 points instead. This means I did achieve my goal of getting 4 scores of 200 points or better, but I was expecting quite a bit more for this race. I was planning on skipping Alsace, but it looks like I'll have to attempt it after this week. I should have decent pace at the finale at Laguna Seca, but I'm way too mistake-prone to trust myself there, so I don't want to leave it until then to try to improve my overall points tally.

 

[Roman_GT23]

...For the first time this season (with the exception of SSRX which of course would bring out everyone), I DIDN'T get thrown to the alien wolves in Top Split immediately, so this was my best chance to grab a great haul of points early in the night.....

Unlike your thinking, with me at almost 65K DR I did expect to get thrown in top split and the practices and TT leading up to this race........I sucked and was not feeling confident at all. But the GT Gods have decided to finally give me a break and throw me in 2nd split (which I agree was the best change to grab a great haul of points)

Slot 1 (and done): see what I did there So high door number, a hand full of allies and teammates in this one, and one threat to me being DC'd early it was looking good. Qualy was pretty good. I got impeded by some idiot towards the end which the dirty air might have cost me a tenth or two, but I was sitting in 4th which was fine. Of course for some reason (my usual gripe for this car) I break early on cold tires, respecting the car and I still go wide all over the place on L1. So much for all this aero and stuff sticking out of it. H20 made a mistake and I was able to capitalize and get a good exit. Up to 3rd. So 3rd was looking ok, but I was thinking I might have to go again. Teammate was in front of me and had better race pace. Then magically the leader pitted and saw he was on M. So this elevated us to 1st and 2nd. I tried to be at least within striking distance of Pop, but in the end we just traded .5 each lap. In the end I was struggling with the worn tires and with 11 seconds in hand behind me, settled for 2nd. 248. As the youngn's say,

Bet! thx k bye!

With this result not only will I eclipse 1,000 points again, I will have my best total result to date. DR is now over 65k which checks my goal for the season as well. Doubt I'll be able to reach 70K with the likelihood of perma-top split the rest of the way and two rounds to go, but also means I can relax and play with house money now.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

When I saw I was in the same split as the self-called noob @GOTMAXPOWER yesterday in slot 4, I knew it was gonna be tough.

I'm not that dirty 😂

Bottled qualy in both laps to start only Q18. Then, the "Finale" white screen froze for at least a full minute, and just when I was gonna turn off the console, the grid appeared with 3 people less, so weird. P15 without a turn of wheel, thank you PD.

That was weird, I've seen it freeze joining a lobby before but never on the white screen, I was about to either quit or walk off so was surprised so many had stuck around for the race to start.

It looked like you got screwed in qualifying by being out of sync, you were on a hot lap just as everybody else was coming out the pits and they didn't bother getting out the way.

 

[GTWolverine]

Unlike your thinking, with me at almost 65K DR I did expect to get thrown in top split and the practices and TT leading up to this race........I sucked and was not feeling confident at all. But the GT Gods have decided to finally give me a break and throw me in 2nd split (which I agree was the best change to grab a great haul of points)

Slot 1 (and done): see what I did there So high door number, a hand full of allies and teammates in this one, and one threat to me being DC'd early it was looking good. Qualy was pretty good. I got impeded by some idiot towards the end which the dirty air might have cost me a tenth or two, but I was sitting in 4th which was fine. Of course for some reason (my usual gripe for this car) I break early on cold tires, respecting the car and I still go wide all over the place on L1. So much for all this aero and stuff sticking out of it. H20 made a mistake and I was able to capitalize and get a good exit. Up to 3rd. So 3rd was looking ok, but I was thinking I might have to go again. Teammate was in front of me and had better race pace. Then magically the leader pitted and saw he was on M. So this elevated us to 1st and 2nd. I tried to be at least within striking distance of Pop, but in the end we just traded .5 each lap. In the end I was struggling with the worn tires and with 11 seconds in hand behind me, settled for 2nd. 248. As the youngn's say,

Bet! thx k bye!

With this result not only will I eclipse 1,000 points again, I will have my best total result to date. DR is now over 65k which checks my goal for the season as well. Doubt I'll be able to reach 70K with the likelihood of perma-top split the rest of the way and two rounds to go, but also means I can relax and play with house money now.

Oh I was definitely expecting to be thrown into Top Split in the first slot, I just wasn't looking forward to it!
Glad you got a good result. This season is gonna fall well short of last season for me, at least in Nation's - mostly due to there not being a kart race. I should've done another slot at SSRX instead of settling for 234 points there. I do have a shot at getting over 1000 points in Manufacturer's, especially if I can get a great result at Tsukuba like I plan to.

 

[OJBrit]

It was supposed to be worth 203 points, but instead of the game gifting me a point after someone disconnected during the matching process, it took away a point for the same reason, so I got 202 points instead.

It's that point you took off me last time out. I'll see if I have 1 added.

 

[GR33N]

It looked like you got screwed in qualifying by being out of sync, you were on a hot lap just as everybody else was coming out the pits and they didn't bother getting out the way.

True, I spun out of T1 on my first hotlap so went out again immediately. My bad after all, I should've known what was gonna happen.
I spent the whole lap flashing my lights but only 2 of the 8-9 cars on their 2nd outlap moved out of the way. It was like a gymkhana
Lesson learned!

 

[KosmoKazi]

Here's my 3-wide move for three places at once, with two laps to go at RBR. Not advised. Went on to protect that position as others spun their rear tires for the remainder of the race, while I maintained some consistency with better-preserved tires. I think that @dlshearon is in there somewhere.

Side note: I ended up far short of a CRB, though the only contact I had was (maybe?) at the beginning of this scrum when the green car was tank-slapping in front of me, and one minor contact as a guy was really conservative into T1, and I got into his bumper, though he remained on the track. Never an SR down, was surprised to see the SR net afterward as I was trying to be particularly clean all race.

 

[Yard_Sale]

First time my schedule has lined up for an FIA race in probably 6 weeks. Huge fan of GR.2 and RBR. However, Red Bull Ring is one of those tracks I can’t seem to get competent at past a “B” level. At any rate, I jammed home from work yesterday morning and logged onto my Euro Alt that I’m building for some Nations fun.

2nd EMA slot. Door 10, qualified 15th. B/S lobby

Barnied’ all 3 of my Q laps. No huge mistakes, but I just seemed to nickel and dime myself each lap with dumb errors. The race itself was pretty lackluster. As I charged through the pack, I was getting dive-bombed quite a bit in the usual spots. Went for a revenge punt as the same guy dived me 3 corners in a row. Knocked us both off. Dumb mistake. I know better than to take us both out when I punt! 2/3’s of the field 1-stopped. I cruised to an easy 8th. I should have been top 5 if my punt game was on point.


EMA slot 3, door 6, qualified 8th, B/S lobby

Many of the same players in this lobby…the faster guys at least. Top 5 are low 1:22’s. I clock 8th fastest at a 1:22.7. Meh…not bad for me on this track. I’ll take it.

Being that 2/3’s of the field pitted last race (including all but one top 5 guy), I’m expecting the same strategy from the masses this race….and anticipating that I’m going to get knocked around for the first few laps as people on mediums will become impatient with me.

They do….

And it happens…

I get dive bombed at every corner but I either get out of the way completely and let them have the spot. Or, I hit the anchors HARD right before impact as to not get sent flying. It works. After 5 laps, the pack spreads out a bit, I’m still in 8th place and I’m settling into a rhythm. Everyone puts at lap 7-8. I ruin a good portion of my no stop strategy with track limit penalties 4 laps in a row. I gather myself up and finish the last 4 laps in real good shape.

Managed a 4th

——————-

Did some housework and wrenched on the bike for a bit

——————-

N/A slot 1. Door 5, qualified 10th. A/S lobby

Decided I had a good time on the alt earlier, so I decided to log onto the main to see how the better lobbies were. I knew my pace is lacking at this track, so my expectations were low. Made a few minor mistakes, clocked a 1:22.7 again for 10th place. Better than I expected for an A lobby.

Green flag drops, I get 2 positions right away in the first hairpin as I ran up the inside and out-braked 8th and 9th. Clean pass on my part as both took conservative braking points to account for cold tires. The fact that I was doing s-turns for the first 2 straights allowed me to brake that much later and get the spots. Good stuff.

After that, it was a pretty fun race. Didn’t get any stupid track limit penalties. Had some fun back and forth with other dudes. Focused real hard on hitting (and adjusting) my braking points as my tires degraded. Took advantage of a couple guys spinning out later in the race, as well as some other guys going too deep into corners. Surprised myself with a 4th. Everyone did a no-stop

————-
Wanted to go again but the wife was gonna be home soon, and I had to get dinner going. Good times indeed. Hopefully I can get my Euro alt up to the A’s soon so I can play with the big boys in both regions!

 

[stpatty]

I'm not that dirty 😂


That was weird, I've seen it freeze joining a lobby before but never on the white screen, I was about to either quit or walk off so was surprised so many had stuck around for the race to start.

This happened to me a few weeks ago (in my first ever A+ race actually) and a South African with a 1 bar connection got disconnected.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

This happened to me a few weeks ago (in my first ever A+ race actually) and a South African with a 1 bar connection got disconnected.

I'm guessing that's what happened here. The car on pole was an alt account from another region with a bad connection, the others probably ran out of patience.

 

[ShiftingGears]

What's Saturdays race?

 

[GTWolverine]

What's Saturdays race?

37 laps of Gr.3 at Tsukuba. All compounds available, only M and H required. Fuel and tires at 2x and 5x respectively. AKA, BEST RACE OF THE SEASON! And I'm not even being sarcastic, I've genuinely been looking forward to this.

 

[pennanton]

37 laps of Gr.3 at Tsukuba. All compounds available, only M and H required. Fuel and tires at 2x and 5x respectively. AKA, BEST RACE OF THE SEASON! And I'm not even being sarcastic, I've genuinely been looking forward to this.

I loved this race last time it was in the FIA calendar. Last time I was in the M6 which is a quality slow corner car, I'm going to struggle this time in the Stang.

 

[Odiesback]

Tsukuba must be one the most asinine tracks in Gran Turismo IMO

 

[TheWeapon874]

I'm really looking forward to next week's Nations cup (especially since my first few laps of the track have been really competitive with the top laptimes).....Tsukuba, not so much. Maybe it'll race better than practice.....but the GTR feels horrible around there

 

[JoeDaSnow]

Yesterday's round at the Red Bull Ring involved me finishing in 2nd place with 32 points. When that race ended, my right wrist felt swollen and that would be about it for me in this one. On the other hand, my driver/sportsmanship rating have now returned to B/S.

 

[Raptor013]

I loved this race last time it was in the FIA calendar. Last time I was in the M6 which is a quality slow corner car, I'm going to struggle this time in the Stang.

Yeah, I was in an M6 last time as well and got a podium out of it.

Might have a better shot this time around in the Evo as that car is all about corners.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Somehow hit the invisible pit barrier on the last stop so picked up 1.5s penalty and lost 3rd but got 186 points. One and done

 

[SmellMyCheese]

Qualified 7th finished 5th. Exactly the same as the last round!

Opted for 3 stop and started on Mediums. Lost 2 positions to Soft runners early on and settled in 9th with a gap behind. Pit for Softs on lap 12 and then stopped for 1 lap on Hards lap 24. Got past 2 slower cars in final laps. Didn’t really have to deal with anyone else in the race, being on my own for a lot of it. Guess strat worked. I was never going to beat the MR cars in front!

 

[D_Dragline]

Thinking I might have a go at slot 4 in Asia. Did a couple of test lobbies and might be able to make a funky 4 stop work to my advantage.

 

[stpatty]

An artist's impression of me trying to get the GT-R round Tsukuba:

 

[Norrin Radd]

Thinking I might have a go at slot 4 in Asia. Did a couple of test lobbies and might be able to make a funky 4 stop work to my advantage.

4 stop? 12/12/12/1 roughly as softs aren't fast enough to counter skipping meds IMO. Unless your super rough on tyres I don't see how a 4 stop would be faster.

 

[D_Dragline]

So, did slot 4. Q18 because the Vantage is just rubbish around here. 4 stop was working a treat though and we’ll into my second last stint I was up to p11 with a top 10 on the cards. Enter the dirtiest driver in Asia. Simply cannot pass without contact. I’ll post an montage of his overtakes, but honestly they are absolutely the most disgusting thing you’ll se all day.
He pushes me off at T1 and then I get spun by the car behind who has nowhere else to go. Hit the wall, lose 20 seconds. Finish DFL. Absolute steaming pile.

We shouldn’t have to put up with this rubbish. Am going again in the 12:20 am slot. If that guy is in there he won’t finish the race.

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

Thanks internet. There goes a heap of DR

The sea of Germans will have to enjoy their race without me!

Was a really tough lobby anyway with some A+ drivers in there. Highest points up for grabs by miles.

Edit: just caught the end of Kie’s stream. Well done @Ashthebash and @VulcanSpirit that was awesome!

 

[Adam Barber]

Well that was a fun race, qualified badly all the way down in 14th. Managed to get a few passes done in the opening laps for a 15M/9H/13S strategy. One Porsche was being a tad aggressive for my liking but I managed to finish P9 at the end with a clean race bonus to boot. One and done for me as this really isn't the track for the AMG.

Manufacturers-Tsukuba

• Adam Barber
• Sep 11, 2021

Manufacturers-Tsukuba

• Adam Barber
• Sep 11, 2021