:::raises hand:::
I’ve been one to trash talk folks about racepace. I never intended to offend anyone. I mean since game release I only ran my one account a loooong time.
You bet I practiced like mad on q. I also NEVER entered a race without a few practice laps first to ensure I was feelin good.
For the longest time for gr4 my target was 4.5 sec to bottom of top ten.
Once I got that I’d race the combo. I raced sparingly. Only when ready. I mean back then it was unfathomable to me how people got to be so fast...How is it even possible lol. Now I see, and can do it too sometimes...Hard work plus practice.
So anyways huge respect to folks putting in that time BUT. You gotta race. You gotta get prepared you gotta be feelin good but you gotta race.
I’ve never been talkin about B or C or D or even low A on NA.
I’m talking bout mid A who are say .75 off the top on qual, by end of week, so they start say 4-8 on grid and the guys ahead are 1.75 up by turn five. Cars behind are stacked up everybody’s fighting the whole race is ruined. People are getting sr hits...
I’m not sure there’s a number you can put on what times a person SHOULD run in race because all races are a little different.
This is why you gotta enter and race not just qual. Qual takes a lotta time no doubt but there’s a kinda average let’s say pack pace in most races...If you are mid A and you don’t have that but you have this great q time you and everyone around you gets in trouble sr wise.
That’s my beef. Early in the week it’s never a problem but later it can be. Especially if this is you and it’s your first time at 99.
I tangled with this peach on Thursday.
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There’s so much that can be discussed about qual no qual sandbagged qual. It all depends who you are and how you play.
On alt many times I’ve begun a race early in the week or first few entries no qual, especially if it’s an uncomfortable combo to me. If I get to a point where it’s a problem like say there’s always six super slow folks in front of me and I pass them by lap 2 and then run alone and can’t catch because too far behind AND I like the combo I will qual. Not try hard qual but put in a relatively clean lap...
It’s a different story if I wanna rank up. You better believe then I’m full try hard on qual. Get as many spots up the grid you can.
Everybody’s different. If you enter enough you get a sense of where the pace is relative to your immediate dr sr competition.
The thing is if you do try hard qual and you’re racing the daily seriously then imo pre race you need to check yourself with a few laps of practice.
Another way is to enter on no qual save the replay check things out and choose where you wanna be by putting in a specific time you know you can run.
That’s a great way to go if you don’t wanna place yourself under pressure, if you wanna attack more in race but don’t want to start last as say a B and have 8 D in front of you holding you up from the get go.
I never meant offense to anyone by ragging on the Uber qual people.
Ultimately my position is if you ARE putting in that top 100 qual you owe it to yourself and everyone racing not to go in cold.
To me it really depends...The qual you set...Are you looking to rank up or just have fun competition, or maybe you like slaloming through people your five seconds a lap faster than.
I think somewhere there’s a deal said about when ones improving on a skill learning new things the level of challenge has to be just right. Too challenging or too easy are both equally bad and in fun.
Anyways jmo food for thought.
Re impatient cars behind you, that’s what defense and brake checks are for IF they are being jerks on track.
If you go defensive-tempting them strongly towards the outside it’s easy to slow a bit and let them go if you want.
And THATS another can of worms.
Most people don’t RACE just to let others go by haha.
Personally, if I’ve put in a try hard qual I’m racing to finish up the grid as far as I can and keep as many behind me as possible and everything I do in the race is to that end. (Sprint mentality)
If I’m in a cruise qual I’m probably just racing for fun and don’t care much.
Again jmo food for thought.
Imo if you are seriously looking at say getting to A and being competitive as a goal, I’d run ONE acct ONLY.
If you have multiple interests in the game multiple accounts can serve those.
Still tho there’s a LOT of advantage also to sticking with just one account. I did that for a looong time and im glad I did.
However I’d also say getting one more has been fantastic too, for pure fun.
It’s fun to play online but without perpetual pressure and try hard mode engaged IMO.
Love the discussion and hearing folks thoughts on qual and the related issues.
Again my apologies if I offended folks before...
So instead of having my morning coffee, I got on GTS and reclaimed the record with only 40 minutes to go before the end of the event 
