- 113
After watching the preview and seeing a C5R literally getting brutalized by JGTC cars, I decided to even the odds a bit in this series and brought in my newly-acquired Camaro Race Car. The rest of the field goes thusly...
Raybrig NSX
Loctite Zexel GT-R
Corvette C5R
Castrol Mugen NSX
Calsonic Skyline
I was a little concerned it might be too powerful for the competiton at 620-something HP, but since the Japanese entries could pull higher revs and had MR and 4WD drivetrains I figured they would probably be able to keep up.
Round 1 - Laguna Seca
Right away I discovered that Medium tires weren't going to be an option, the big V8 up front put so much strain on them that after 2 laps in qualifying the front tires had gone yellow! A quick change to Slick tires improved the wear problem greatly, but now I had to be very careful to take it easy until the tires had warmed up. I didn't like it since I was sure the 2 NSX's would get an early lead, but red tires on the last lap would hurt even worse.
Qualifying was a little surprising, the C5R had beat out the JGTC cars and I had beat the C5R by about 1.5 seconds. The NSX's were in the back of the grid. When I got into the actual race though, things turned right around... in the first turn the C5R showed its weakness, turning, and the rest of the field piled up behind him before the Loctite GT-R finally knocked him to the top the track. This slowed them up enough that I was able to get a 5 second lead. It was pretty quiet after that, except on the last lap where I went through the corkscrew all wrong and the Calsonic caught up to me, kicking my bumper all the way to the finish.
Camaro Race Car 7'13.839
Calsonic Skyline +0'00.763
Raybrig NSX +0'01.903
Castrol NSX +0'02.389
Loctite GT-R +0'04.850
Corvette C5R +0'05.408
I noticed that the Camaro Race Car seems to handle a lot like the Esperante GT1... at speed it can take corners fairly well, but when you drop down to 3rd gear or lower the extra weight in the front makes it tough to keep a good line. The front tires also seem to wear twice as fast as the rear, which seems kind of odd for such a powerful FR car. It was also necessary to tighten up the gears, the setting they're at when you first get the car is ridiculously high.
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Round 2 - Deep Forest II
I'm not too crazy about this track since the uphill corners are darkened, so it's hard to tell where the road ends and the walls begin. The Camaro seemed to find its own path around the track though, one fast enough to steal the pole from the Calsonic by about .37 seconds.
He obviously didn't like that, going into the first turn at the start he popped me in the rear bumper and sent me off the track. That's twice the Calsonic has attacked me, and it's starting to get on my nerves. I only trailed the field by 4 seconds after getting back on track, and managed to build up a pretty big margin after regaining the lead on lap 3.
Camaro Race Car 6'32.251
Calsonic Skyline +0'02.852
Loctite GT-R +0'03.563
Raybrig NSX +0'07.192
Corvette C5R +0'08.834
Castrol NSX +0'09.335
Learned another thing about the Camaro here... it really likes to grab onto those rumble strips and drag itself right over the top of them if you aren't paying attention. It also gets angry if you accidentally drop a rear wheel onto the grass when trying to exit out of a corner, so work on your fishtail recovery skills in case that happens.
The NSX's performance have also been strangely poor, I would have though they would have an advantage over the heavier GT-Rs. Strange...
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Round 3 - Midfield
I admit I really don't like this track, the wide sweeping turns seem to make just about any car understeer like crazy and trying to compensate by loosening the rear makes you vulnerable to being spun out by the AI cars. After 4 qualifying laps I was only able to come within a half second of the Calsonic's time, that put me into 4th place.
I had managed to work myself back up to 2nd halfway through the first lap, and guess what happens? The Calsonic suddenly cuts down the track in the sweeper leading up to the tunnel and slams his rear end into my front end, sending the car into a lazy 180 spin that leaves me 9 seconds behind the pack. That's three straight times the Calsonic has rammed into me, and the second time it's caused me to lose control of the car. I normally don't intentionally hit AI cars, but from now on that jerk is going to be eating my bumper if he gets anywhere near me. This means war!!
Luckily Midfield's long straightaway worked to the Camaro's advantage, that beef burner's V8 was able to make up almost 3 seconds a lap with some late braking on the following corners. The C5R (aka "The Moving Chicane") shoved its way into 3rd on lap 3 and clogged up the racetrack, slowing up most of the field and allowing me to sneak by before he got shoved out of the way again. The Calsonic was long gone though, probably for the better since I was ready to run him right over at that point.
Calsonic Skyline 6'20.275
Camaro Race Car +0'03.626
Loctite GT-R +0'03.917
Castrol NSX +0'04.567
Raybrig NSX +0'04.850
Corvette C5R +0'05.408
Is it just me, or is the AI in this series 10 times more aggressive than elsewhere? I know there's plenty of cases of AI stupidity where they blindly hit you, but the JGTC cars (especially that Calsonic) seem almost deliberate in their bumping and banging. Maybe it's just the way the field is so tight, but you never know...
Raybrig NSX
Loctite Zexel GT-R
Corvette C5R
Castrol Mugen NSX
Calsonic Skyline
I was a little concerned it might be too powerful for the competiton at 620-something HP, but since the Japanese entries could pull higher revs and had MR and 4WD drivetrains I figured they would probably be able to keep up.
Round 1 - Laguna Seca
Right away I discovered that Medium tires weren't going to be an option, the big V8 up front put so much strain on them that after 2 laps in qualifying the front tires had gone yellow! A quick change to Slick tires improved the wear problem greatly, but now I had to be very careful to take it easy until the tires had warmed up. I didn't like it since I was sure the 2 NSX's would get an early lead, but red tires on the last lap would hurt even worse.
Qualifying was a little surprising, the C5R had beat out the JGTC cars and I had beat the C5R by about 1.5 seconds. The NSX's were in the back of the grid. When I got into the actual race though, things turned right around... in the first turn the C5R showed its weakness, turning, and the rest of the field piled up behind him before the Loctite GT-R finally knocked him to the top the track. This slowed them up enough that I was able to get a 5 second lead. It was pretty quiet after that, except on the last lap where I went through the corkscrew all wrong and the Calsonic caught up to me, kicking my bumper all the way to the finish.
Camaro Race Car 7'13.839
Calsonic Skyline +0'00.763
Raybrig NSX +0'01.903
Castrol NSX +0'02.389
Loctite GT-R +0'04.850
Corvette C5R +0'05.408
I noticed that the Camaro Race Car seems to handle a lot like the Esperante GT1... at speed it can take corners fairly well, but when you drop down to 3rd gear or lower the extra weight in the front makes it tough to keep a good line. The front tires also seem to wear twice as fast as the rear, which seems kind of odd for such a powerful FR car. It was also necessary to tighten up the gears, the setting they're at when you first get the car is ridiculously high.
-------------
Round 2 - Deep Forest II
I'm not too crazy about this track since the uphill corners are darkened, so it's hard to tell where the road ends and the walls begin. The Camaro seemed to find its own path around the track though, one fast enough to steal the pole from the Calsonic by about .37 seconds.
He obviously didn't like that, going into the first turn at the start he popped me in the rear bumper and sent me off the track. That's twice the Calsonic has attacked me, and it's starting to get on my nerves. I only trailed the field by 4 seconds after getting back on track, and managed to build up a pretty big margin after regaining the lead on lap 3.
Camaro Race Car 6'32.251
Calsonic Skyline +0'02.852
Loctite GT-R +0'03.563
Raybrig NSX +0'07.192
Corvette C5R +0'08.834
Castrol NSX +0'09.335
Learned another thing about the Camaro here... it really likes to grab onto those rumble strips and drag itself right over the top of them if you aren't paying attention. It also gets angry if you accidentally drop a rear wheel onto the grass when trying to exit out of a corner, so work on your fishtail recovery skills in case that happens.
The NSX's performance have also been strangely poor, I would have though they would have an advantage over the heavier GT-Rs. Strange...
-------------
Round 3 - Midfield
I admit I really don't like this track, the wide sweeping turns seem to make just about any car understeer like crazy and trying to compensate by loosening the rear makes you vulnerable to being spun out by the AI cars. After 4 qualifying laps I was only able to come within a half second of the Calsonic's time, that put me into 4th place.
I had managed to work myself back up to 2nd halfway through the first lap, and guess what happens? The Calsonic suddenly cuts down the track in the sweeper leading up to the tunnel and slams his rear end into my front end, sending the car into a lazy 180 spin that leaves me 9 seconds behind the pack. That's three straight times the Calsonic has rammed into me, and the second time it's caused me to lose control of the car. I normally don't intentionally hit AI cars, but from now on that jerk is going to be eating my bumper if he gets anywhere near me. This means war!!
Luckily Midfield's long straightaway worked to the Camaro's advantage, that beef burner's V8 was able to make up almost 3 seconds a lap with some late braking on the following corners. The C5R (aka "The Moving Chicane") shoved its way into 3rd on lap 3 and clogged up the racetrack, slowing up most of the field and allowing me to sneak by before he got shoved out of the way again. The Calsonic was long gone though, probably for the better since I was ready to run him right over at that point.
Calsonic Skyline 6'20.275
Camaro Race Car +0'03.626
Loctite GT-R +0'03.917
Castrol NSX +0'04.567
Raybrig NSX +0'04.850
Corvette C5R +0'05.408
Is it just me, or is the AI in this series 10 times more aggressive than elsewhere? I know there's plenty of cases of AI stupidity where they blindly hit you, but the JGTC cars (especially that Calsonic) seem almost deliberate in their bumping and banging. Maybe it's just the way the field is so tight, but you never know...
*
the C5R did pretty well, i won most races by 3-4 secs, with the front tires just getting yellow on the bigger tracks by the final lap. I could tell it couldn't handle as well as the Castrol NSX though...
, but wouldn't you know it my arch-nemesis just happened to be in 4th place on the grid. I'm starting to wonder if he's stalking me.
