Endurance Save messed up my 1st attempt of LeMans 24h (COMPLETE)

[Chemenu]

Few days ago I started my first 24h race. I decided to take the Peugeot 908 and was sure the race would be like a walk in the park.
Everything went fine in the beginning. Perfect weather, dry track. I catched up with the leader (Audi R8 of course), became 1st within few laps and was able to break away from the rest of the field. I suspended the race for the first time and continued the next day.

After the game finished loading my save game (the screen where the opponents are listed on the right side), the weather changed suddenly. Now it was raining. Sunshine turned into a heavy shower from one second to another.
As you surely know, the AI usually is quite slow in wet conditions. That was good for me as I expanded my lead continuously. My plan was to get a comfortable lead until evening so I could take it easy during the night hours. Track humidity reached 90% and I pitted to exchange inters for rain tyres. So long, so good. It was getting dark and I had to pit again, so I suspended the race for the 2nd time.

Next day: Just in the moment I wanted to continue the race, I had to answer a phone call. ^^ While talking I looked at the TV and noticed the humidity indicator in the upper left slowly dropped from 100% to 60%. I didn't think anything of it an continued the race.
In race, the indicator still showed 100% track humidity and it was still raining. After a few laps I realized that the opponents somehow managed to do much better lap times then me and therefore the gap between me and the 2nd was getting smaller and smaller.
Not only were they faster than me, they also pitted less often (compared to my first two sessions).
Loosing my 1st position was just a matter of time under that circumstances and there was nothing I could have done about that.
Some time later I found myself at 2nd position and wondered wtf was going on here...
My first thought was the AI may got stuck at 60% track humidity instead of 100%...? I don't know...

Right now the race lasts about 10 hours. I'm still 2nd. It's dark, dry again, 0% track humidity and I can't keep up with that freakin' R8.
He pushes so hard that my hard racing tyres are gone after 5 laps when I try to match his speed. But he doesn't seem to struggle with any tyre wear at all. He does 10 laps in a row without getting slower. He only pits to refuel. And it seems his "aggression/pace indicator" is stuck at the red end of the bar all the time!

When the gap between 1st and me already was about 2 minutes I decided to cheat, so I could catch up with him again and do a complete stint together.
I started cutting the chicanes (don't need to mention that ruined the race completely ) and had to pit when he was just in front of me. He pitted the next lap and came back on track 2 seconds behind me. My tyres were still good at that point. From now on I tried really hard to stay in front of him and at the same time watch after my tyres. Can't remember exactly but I think I did 6 laps before my tyres were completely destroyed (due to his crazy pace, no rubber left on the magnesium rims... yeah ) and I had to pit. He did at least 3 laps more without loosing speed!

Something is really ****ed up with that endurance save feature.

Have you experienced similiar trouble in the past?

Regards, Chemenu


@ Mods/Admins
I hope this is the right place for my thread. If not please tell me and move it.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Hi!
From what you say I'm not sure there's a glitch or it is just the insane pace of the R8 (much faster than your 908) that is the problem.

Can you report the R8's wet pace and dry pace? And yours? Btw, did you use inters or full wets, and when did you change back to racing hards?

It's hard to understand if indeed there is a glitch there without more detailed data.

 

[Chemenu]

Hi!
From what you say I'm not sure there's a glitch or it is just the insane pace of the R8 (much faster than your 908) that is the problem.

Can you report the R8's wet pace and dry pace? And yours? Btw, did you use inters or full wets, and when did you change back to racing hards?

It's hard to understand if indeed there is a glitch there without more detailed data.

I could accept the fact that the R8 is faster than my 908, but it wasn't until my 2nd save. ;-)
I can still beat him on track and go 5 sec. faster per lap. But then my tyres wear out rather quick and I have to go for 5 lap stints. The main problem is that he doesn't pit to change tyres, like he did in my first two sessions. That save game changed everything.
I don't know the exact lap times, but he must be around 3.35 in dry and 3.55 in wet conditions. My average pace in dry conditions also is 3.35 (3.29 was my best lap on rh) and 4.00 in wet conditions. I used inters between 40% to 90% track humidity and full wets from 90% and more.
I did make a mistake and stayed on full wets for too long, could have changed back to inters one pit earlier... but that wasn't a big deal at all.
In fact, I was suprised when I saw how much grip these inters deliver and how long they were lasting (twice as long as rh). Maybe the AI used them all the time..?

Now I'm 12h into the race and that R8 gives me a good battle. I pit every 5 laps and can keep up with him. But I have to push like crazy all the time and his pace is insane, even in his last lap before pit (must be at least 9 laps per stint). That frustrates me and I feel that something is terribly wrong because normally I know the AI of GT very well. :-s

 

[Chemenu]

Sorry for double post, the app got stuck.

 

[Hun200kmh]

I can still beat him on track and go 5 sec. faster per lap. But then my tyres wear out rather quick and I have to go for 5 lap stints. The main problem is that he doesn't pit to change tyres, like he did in my first two sessions. That save game changed everything.

I understand that the Audi upped its pace sometime during the race and that is indeed odd. But what's odd then is why was his pace slower before (or his stints shorter).

This video is from pre-Spec 2.02 and the new tyre wear, but in it you will see I too was in a battle-lock situation with the R8 (left the pits together). But we were doing exactly the same stints, racing at exactly the same pace. I only got out of it by reducing my own pace and making my stints longer. NOT SAYING THAT IT WORKS IN YOUR CASE !

Check it out:
[YOUTUBEHD]6wXJjIeDyp4[/YOUTUBEHD]

And good luck for your second half! Enjoy the battle! 👍

 

[Chemenu]

I understand that the Audi upped its pace sometime during the race and that is indeed odd. But what's odd then is why was his pace slower before (or his stints shorter).

This video is from pre-Spec 2.02 and the new tyre wear, but in it you will see I too was in a battle-lock situation with the R8 (left the pits together). But we were doing exactly the same stints, racing at exactly the same pace. I only got out of it by reducing my own pace and making my stints longer. NOT SAYING THAT IT WORKS IN YOUR CASE !
...
And good luck for your second half! Enjoy the battle! 👍

Thanks mate!

Last weekend I finally managed to win the race. I was almost 2 laps ahead when crossing the line.
The key to success was very simple. I changed the front tyres to racing mediums and therefore was able to improve my average pace by almost 3 seconds.
I feel ashamed that it took me so long to think of using different types of tyres. Especially because I do this very often when a car shows massive understeer.
It wasn't possible for me to make longer stints because I would've been way too slow by trying that.
Instead, I kept pushing and gained about 40 seconds on the R8 in every stint. Pitted every 5 laps to exchange tyres and refuel 52 liters of diesel.
The last stint was my only one on racing softs.

I'm happy that I've found the perfect strategy to dominate that R8 and complete the last 12h of the race without any chicane cutting and such... Feels good to beat that beast.

Nevertheless, the whole race leaves a bad taste in my mouth due to that rapid changes of weather and AI pace. But it seems other people are struggling with very similar problems:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=243253


By the way, nice video! I'm sure he was cursing you every time you overtook him.^^

 

[duncan77]

I'm about to do this race with the stock 908 as well. My testing has left me confused about the tires as well. I'll try the mediums up front and 5 lap stints and see if that works for me although I think I might be 2-3 seconds slower per lap than you, and that's if I don't crash.

 

[Chemenu]

I'm about to do this race with the stock 908 as well. My testing has left me confused about the tires as well. I'll try the mediums up front and 5 lap stints and see if that works for me although I think I might be 2-3 seconds slower per lap than you, and that's if I don't crash.

I should add that my 908 was modified with stage 3 turbo. Gear ratio was adjusted and downforce was lowered a bit (-5/-5) for max. speed on the straights (375 kp/h before first chicane, without slipstream).

Good luck for your race. I hope you won't be affected by any glitches.

 

[james9793]

Stop mashing your accelerator button! It will take a few laps to get used to the technique, but as you accelerate out of a turn, try to keep your throttle/grip indicator (its the curved vertical graph to the right of your speed) below 75% in all but the top 2 gears. Learning to moderate the accel button will greatly decease tire wear, and increase laps between pit stops.
I dont have a wheel, and this race forced me to change my driving habits. I can now run 6-8 laps around 3:20 in the dry on soft/hard or med/soft sports or 11 laps around 3:40 in the wet on rain/int rain tires. And I am cutting the chicane which seems to be worth 10 seconds each lap over the AI.

 

[Jakob79]

maybe yuo guys shoud give a try the mighty GT-ONE I can run 12 laps staints in wet with inters laptimes between 3:48 - 3:55 and 6 laps with Race soft / race meds lap times 3:28 - 3:33. just saying.

 

[Chemenu]

Stop mashing your accelerator button! It will take a few laps to get used to the technique, but as you accelerate out of a turn, try to keep your throttle/grip indicator (its the curved vertical graph to the right of your speed) below 75% in all but the top 2 gears. Learning to moderate the accel button will greatly decease tire wear, and increase laps between pit stops.

I'm using the right analog stick for accelerating/braking. And I'm very careful with it, really. As I explained above, I had to push hard to keep up with the Audi. So beeing even more careful wasn't an option at all.

maybe yuo guys shoud give a try the mighty GT-ONE I can run 12 laps staints in wet with inters laptimes between 3:48 - 3:55 and 6 laps with Race soft / race meds lap times 3:28 - 3:33. just saying.

I would if it wasn't a standard car without proper cockpit view.

 

[Jakob79]

I realy wish they made the GT-ONE premium It would defo deserved it

 

[AerodyManiac]

Same thing happened to me too, I had to pit every 4 laps at least, and there is at least 21 hours that is completely wet. Eventually I had to cut corners to catch up with the leader (Pescarolo C60 Hybride/Bentley Speed 8, they never stop switching places). Luckily I was the one who was driving an Audi R8 , and I eventually won