FIA Events '18 - World Finals Monaco Finished! Congrats to Team Lexus and Igor Fraga for Brazil!

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I think it's safe to say racing esports are on the up-and-up! The GT streams were hovering around 10k concurrent viewers on YouTube at times over the two days, and the Forza RC stuff right now is sitting at 16k. With the FIA NA and World events still to come, I expect even higher viewership for those. That's bigger than what the genre was managing last year — and I haven't even kept track of what sort of numbers F1 is probably pulling in.

What a great time to be into racing games. :D
I’ve never took any interest in e-sports but the GT Sport FIA events have been must watch. It helps the virtual sport is so close to the real thing. That can’t be said for any other sport as they require very specific ‘gaming’ skills.

PD would do very well to keep using these events to reveal content.
 
I think Belof ruined the repecharge race A,
he was like interference in the assumingly fastest car according to Snake's performance in repecharge race B.
That divebomb and his face captured, looked like beginner driver in daily race going all-in.
 
I’ll probably sound like a downer, but with millions of games sold, 33 thousand current YouTube views for the Europe championship is kind of pathetic for the amount of time and energy spent on these events. I would expect the viewership to be 10 times that.

As far as the North America event, when was it announced? I’m on these message boards daily, check the PD website frequently and heard about this last week. I was just in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and could have easily scheduled my plans around visiting this event. Oh well :rolleyes:
A quick glance at the Youtube streams (all languages) over the weekend shows there’s currently around 140K-150K views. There’s also additional streams like Twitch and Facebook. All in I wouldn’t be surprised if they top 250k. Especially by the end of the week as people catch-up.
 
So guys, I've said on various social media platforms (Honestly it was ridiculously hard to keep up) thank you so much for the support but here's a MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT of the more nitty gritty stuff that you might not be aware of, or might be interested in :)! I'll also edit the vlogs and such after this so will let you know when they go out.

World Final Selection Process - Day 1

So there were a lot of changes from the original driver briefing we got as there were some concerns with a few things, and full credit to Polyphony Digital they listened and took on board a ton of advice and you ended up with better racing in my opinion because of it! So to give you an idea of some of the changes;

  • Qualifying for the Heats
  • BoP change for Gr.B
  • Allowed us all to reselect our Gr.B cars (We had to all pick 1 - 9) - This was a last minute request by me and belloff after we discovered how much of a nerf the Audi had, had.
Originally the grid was set by seed ranking in the championship, but a lot of people found it unfair, me included in terms of the Top 24 race in round 10 especially playing a significant role. Qualifying helped me out I guess because I got P2 moving up from P3, that also helped a few others and some lost out as well because of it, mainly Maatu.

Car choice was done by our championship seed so first got first pick (Nice and easy for Adam) then Maatu then me and so on. I had 3 choices in my head in car choice I wanted to pick;

  1. FT-1 is absolutely insane on tyre life so with tyre wear at Sainte Crioux being more significant than any other combo due to the longer lap this was easily number 1 pick for most people I think
  2. VW VGT is very fast in a straight line so it can negate quite a lot of attacks from behind and even on 0 tyres it could still get round the circuit (I tried this at home). It's real problem is tyre life because it already was bad on lasting with tyres, so it was even worse here.
  3. Mercedes SLS was very good in terms of lap times it just struggled at the end of a tyre stint.
As you know I got my 2nd choice, which was a little bit of a surprise as I did expect Maatu to take it so was happy to get it, and I knew I had 3 good choices. 1 car I didn't have chance to try at home but wish I did was the M6 although that doesn't necessarily mean its quicker. One thing to note is the tyre life is changed at live events vs the normal version so during practice we just had to get used to tyre duration. To give you an idea with the VW (Which is the only one I can comment on);

  • Softs: 1.5-2 Laps (At home 1 lap only)
  • Mediums: 1-2 Laps (Just due to the understeer you got, they didn't last as long) (At home 1 lap only)
  • Hards: 2.8-3 Laps (At home 3 laps)


Tyre strategy was limited for this combo due to the small number of laps so you couldn't exactly try some weird over cut or undercut in this race vs Brands for example. I qualified P2, I reckon I'd have been close to Adam but I made a big mistake by running to tight in the hairpin and lost a lot of time, VW definitely faster over 1 lap vs all the others, it's just got a tyre issue.

Before the race and even before Madrid I had already said (Because I was starting P3, P2 was a bonus) that if I had the chance to overtake Adam I wouldn't and would rather try and get away from the field, avoid battling and trying to get a world finals ticket. I was always going to pick softs first after qualifying P2 as I knew I could get away from most and that the battles would be crazy in the mid pack which I was right about. Adam made a mistake early so when I got the lead I just focused on my job, the gap stayed quite relative until halfway through lap 2 when the tyres just dropped off as predicted and Adam caught up to me. I always wanted to keep the mediums until the last lap just in case it was needed so I went onto hards and adam mediums. It was quite funny when Adam bumped me once, I actually thought he was letting off, turns out the FT-1 was just struggling to keep up! At the end of Lap 4 (I had already seen on the big screen Adam on Mediums) when he went to the right I thought ahh ok Adams pitting, I had to stay out due to the mediums being bad so let him go, then he stayed out so I was confused. that hurt my tyres a little more than planned due to dirty air but even so I thought we had it easy at that point due to the battles I had seen earlier, as I said in my interview I thought we were cruising. I was probably driving about 90-95% at this point. Unknown to me Giorgio had an insane soft out lap and gained a huge chunk of time so when I did pit and came out, me (Adam also said he did the same) couldn't believe Giorgio was so close, I literally had to do a double take! Last time I looked at the gap it was 11 seconds, then suddenly it was 3 tenths. Very very nervous lap but I knew I had clean tyres and that the 2nd lap of softs would be hard for Giorgio. When Giorgio pulled out to try overtake I knew I had the pace to just keep my line, that VW is so fast in a straight line it keeps pulling so the car choice saved me here really! The contact on the bridge wasn't Giorgios fault, it wasn't mine either, the wheel paused itself! It absolutely shat me up something else... to happen on the last lap was crazy! I put my hands up to complain about it but hit X at same time to and carried on. Giorgio did think it was his mistake after but I said it wasn't and I think he let off a little to. The last corner arrow suddenly getting close was also scary, but I was buzzing like something else when that race finished!! World final ticket!!!!!!!! I have always said I believe the EMEA region to be the hardest, we have more of a limit on countries players so there's more cream at the top (Rather than 10 its 3 drivers per country at max), so to actually qualify for the world finals here I was over the moon!!!!! Japan I still rate as the fastest country overall however.

European Final - Day 2

So we picked each car with random balls although I think that has been shown, nobody knew the BoP or how powerful the cars were. To be honest if we can't have 1 make racing I kinda like this idea. Top seed gets the pick of any ball but it's random, and quite fun. I ended up with the Ferrari 458 for Alsace and the Aston Martin for Seaside II and I knew both cars were bad on tyres... but even so I thought great lets see what I can do. Alsace being a track that I'd only ever raced once or maybe twice prior to this in the entirety of GT Sport...

Qualifying

So Qualifying was at Catalunya in x2014's. Slipstream was critical here but so was tyre wear, I went for a BB of -5 where as Lightning was 0 and not sure about everyone else but I found my BB evened up the tyre wear so much. My first flying lap turned out to be my fastest as I had a 1-1.5 second gap to adam crossing the line but my end of Sector 1 and start of sector 2 was ridiculous, I caught Adam up so gained a ton of time with slipstream on that lap and got a bit at the end from Patrick when Adam pitted. I couldn't match that time, I tried and was even up on Lightnings final time on my last lap but a bit of over-steer cost me as my tyres went to cold. I will be honest, I was and still am dubious about Patricks qualifying time as I'm sure he got a 1.29.0 but needed the extra second added (That bug I found on my livestream recently) I did ask whether I was P2 or P3 to confirm and they said P3 so just went with that. Not that, that is Patricks fault either by the way if the game allows it, it allows it.

Race 1

So Alsace, a track I didn't really like, although seemed to be ok at it. Maybe it was the car? But it didn't feel faster than others on the straight in fact the only car that was faster than everyone was the M4 as everyone else had a slight delay of gear change while that thing flew past everyone! I wanted to get past Patrick early and I knew he'd struggle with the R8 due to 4WD and the tyre wear would be worse than my Ferrari as I could at least point the Ferrari into the corners and I made a cracking move into the 2nd hairpin at Alsace. With the course being 7 laps I under estimated the undercut something else and stayed out the minute I passed the pit exit and saw everyone else go in I knew that was a mistake. I lost 2 seconds to Lightning, but crucially even lightning lost 2 seconds to the group behind showing how significant the undercut was. My good work was lost from 1 strategy decision so went from P2 to P5 with also a charging Giorgio who got past me in no time (Also had a cracking battle with Giorgio earlier on in the race). Anyway battles happening everywhere, I kept showing my nose to Adam a lot :D! But last sector, last lap went a bit crazy. Everyone diving into the down hill right hander, Adam ran wide so I took my opportunity and went for the move, tried round the outside had a slight touch with Adam which pushed me into the wall (Not his fault, just a racing incident) but the wall threw the weight which cost me so much. I went for it after losing P2 really, but it backfired and that cost me for the remainder I think, I reckon I could have had P2 in that race if I had pit on lap 3... lesson learnt!

Race 2

So starting from further back and knowing the Aston was bad on its tyres we had to use 2 compounds, any 2. I chose hards knowing that it had an issue with tyres and I was the ONLY person to do this. It turned out to be a good shout and I made moves throughout that first stint on the harder tyres as it gave me confidence. I knew I was coming in on lap 6 to get softs, I think potentially I should have done lap 5, it felt like in races the tyre wear wasn't as bad as practice although that came more apparent in the last race. I took every opportunity to overtake that I could, making moves everywhere. On the last lap which the stream missed I went all balls out and made a move into the chicane, was just trying to get up as fast as possible. Last corner I went all out to try catch Lenoir, although I nearly lost the car on the kerb which nearly cost me a place to Coque, fortunately I kept P6. I was really happy to go from P9 to P6 in this race, even though I pitted 1 lap to late, remember these guys are the best in Europe!

Race 3

The rolling start was way to slow in my opinion, I was going for the same strategy as the first race, hards with the hope slipstream brings me along with softer compound guys, to then go to mediums and finish with softs. In practice softs only lasted 4 laps and the mediums 5 maybe 6 laps then hards the rest so it made it obvious to me in terms of strategy. So I started on hards but because of this I got massive wheel spin at the start, Coque starting on softs shot by as he could go flat out while most of the field dealt with huge wheel spin. Jomas got past me into turn 1 and then began an epic battle between me, Jomas and Salazar. I tried lap after lap to get past as I saw my tyres we wearing much less (I think due to my BB). However during 1 move, I tried to go round the outside, I came back into line and got hit at the rear quarter (Wasn't intentional though obviously) that threw me way off track. Came back on but at that point it was all over... I was even more surprised at no penalty for it to be honest, like really surprised and I was really annoyed that there wasn't as it completely ruined my race. I then stayed out way to long on Hards as it turned out softs and mediums were lasting so much longer, but by that point I was already over this race. Really frustrating as it's a track I'm obviously quick at based on qualifying but usually am on other games as well.

I wasn't the only person to also think that the tyres lasted way longer in the race either as I spoke to Snake after and he asked me the same question and I had the same opinion, others also said the same. Definitely think there's more dynamics to this new tyre life than we are aware of in terms of heat, grip on circuit with the dirt (Which is more extreme in these races) and other things.

One thing I will say is I take away some positives from this particular day of racing. I was on pace for sure, I could compete with everyone on 1 lap pace and in the race, I actually have a feeling I could have got a podium if I finished P2 in that Alsace race, because I was quick in the Aston and I'd have been in the fight at Catalunya I reckon. Each race I made moves, and had speed so I was really happy. 1 bad strategy call potentially cost me a lot but lesson learnt, remember Race Clean, Race Smart, Race Fair! I'll learn and use that for the future! I'm also really happy for Lightning especially, so glad he got the win, I have big respect for that dude! I also did take cookies with me for him!

Really awesome to meet new faces, some familiar ones and just to have a real fun time! After party was pretty spectacular and I'm really looking to the world finals! I'm training hard for it that's for sure, REALLY hard! I feel I need about 2 more tenths, and to be a bit more aggressive (Although you saw I was quite punchy at Alsace) and I'll be happier. I want to make an impact whether I come P10 and race my absolute limit, or come away with a podium. I want to do a shoey on a podium for the channel :D, might also take the tuxedo for that one for giggles :D!

Thanks for all the support as well guys, loved reading the stream chat!

Still dont get what happened with Tidge

Got a bit wide in the last corner and clipped the wall.

He straight up bottled it unfortunately lol

This is not a good day for Tidge.

No bottling, the slightest of nudges on a very risky move I tried. Essentially Adam ran wide into the right so I went to try go round the inside to outside, but the slightest of contacts pushed my car wide (I mean it was slight) and that put me into the barrier, and we all know MR cars and weigh transfer, so the car got flung :(!

Schumacher once said that the hardest part of his job was outside of the car so well done to you because you're a natural in front of the camera, no media training required!

Looking forward to seeing you at the World Final!

Question: So much contact was allowed this time, will you change the way you race? You may be the cleanest driver around but I would understand if you got fed up!

That's very kind mate, I think all the live streaming, and GT Academy's have taught me well haha! But honestly I just want GT to the be the biggest and best competition in sim racing because I honestly believe in the competition, the game and the genre.

In terms of contact I will not change the way I am in terms of racing clean as I also feel people race me cleaner than they do with others. Me and Giorgio had a cracking side by side for a while in that first race. I will be getting slightly more aggressive though (Although I did go nuts at Alsace and Dragontrail) but Catalunya I needed to be a bit more aggressive to make ground and I didn't.
 
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@Tidgney really great effort thoroughly deserved to make it through to Worlds. It’s no mean feat to even make it to the regionals let alone the world final really impressive stuff.

The undercut on these short, high tyre wear races is really powerful but at least you will be ready for the world final. Given all the help you provide the community can’t think of anyone else who deserves to get through more, good luck will be cheering you on in the final, it’s going to be tough for sure!!!

Well done to all the rest as well, all command respect to make it there. Really stand out performance by @TRL LIGHTNING but also @Aderrrm getting on the podium for the uk.

Really enjoyed both streams, just wish I had the pace and consistentency to make it as it really looks like a great experience.
 
I was amazed at how many people chose to go off track at the Euro finals. Didn't they get massive penalties? The new track especially it seemed flagrant.
 
Screenshot_20181023-101030.png
 
Since there is the unbalanced BOP as still the most competition disturbing factor, here some toughts in hoping not to get to off- topic

PD could consider to use the playerbase as a source. They have 3 japanese top drivers hired as far as I know, but obviously its to less for the amount of cars and categories.

There are meanwhile maybe dozens or even hundreds of players with DR 70k and above. If they would send some formular sheets, I'm sure the gained data would be usefull, because I'm pretty sure every top player would be glad to help. PD could send then some stuff like shirts, shoes or something like that as a thank you- gesture.

The task would be doing hotlaps with different cars on different tracks under certain conditions. It could be taken the average of a 5-lap flat out for example as a valid lap time.

I'm pretty sure, If they have enough data, and compare all the curves with each other, than they would be able to adjust all the BOPs far more accurate then with a few hired players.

I konw its just wishthinking, they probably don't want to ask somebody else for help perhaps, but in modern times it should be possible.

Here an example how a test could be look like. Imagine you have hundreds of curves like this for all categories and car/ track combos

K01.png
 
So guys, I've said on various social media platforms (Honestly it was ridiculously hard to keep up) thank you so much for the support but here's a MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT of the more nitty gritty stuff that you might not be aware of, or might be interested in :)! I'll also edit the vlogs and such after this so will let you know when they go out.

Awesome write up Martin! Added link to it in the OP. This could be its own article!

So happy for you and Adam, great to see you two going to the big one. Couldn't have happened to nicer people. Man, it's come a long way hasn't it?
 
@Tidgney thanks for the nice report, always interesting to see it from the view of the competitiors

Awesome write up Martin! Added link to it in the OP. This could be its own article!

So happy for you and Adam, great to see you two going to the big one. Couldn't have happened to nicer people. Man, it's come a long way hasn't it?

Absolutely no problemo :)! Took me a good while to write that and I think I used all my keyboard skills on it as today at work I couldn't type for the life of me haha! Very kind to mate, it has come a long way and I honestly do believe this is the future!

@Tidgney really great effort thoroughly deserved to make it through to Worlds. It’s no mean feat to even make it to the regionals let alone the world final really impressive stuff.

The undercut on these short, high tyre wear races is really powerful but at least you will be ready for the world final. Given all the help you provide the community can’t think of anyone else who deserves to get through more, good luck will be cheering you on in the final, it’s going to be tough for sure!!!

Well done to all the rest as well, all command respect to make it there. Really stand out performance by @TRL LIGHTNING but also @Aderrrm getting on the podium for the uk.

Really enjoyed both streams, just wish I had the pace and consistentency to make it as it really looks like a great experience.

Very kind mate, thank you! It is an absolute mega achievement to be honest and I am very proud to be there! I still can't believe how crazy the undercut was but I'll certainly learn from it :)! Thanks for the support from you and everyone it's been amazing!! Adam and Lightning were great and looking forward to competing with them in the final :)!
 
One of the best experiences of my life. This weekend confirmed me I don´t ever want lo leave the GT competitive world. Some people think PD is not doing a great work turning GT into an esport, but what I know for sure is that drivers were treated perfectly. I was really happy when I knew GT Sport European finals would be celebrated in the capital of my country. I think PD chose Madrid due to the esports fanbase and simracing culture in general that we have. For this it was also important the influence of Lucas Ordóñez.

When GT Sport came out I would have never thought I would meet months later some of the guys I´ve been racing for quite a while in GTPlanet: TRL_LIGHTNING and TRL_Fuvaros. Also players that Ive been admiring these years: GTA_Tidgney, Zoky_CRO, RC_Atho, RC_Snake. My teammates in Williams Esports/Williams JIM Team, of course: Williams_Giorgio, TRL_Fuvaros, JIM_Azorean_Fat and JIM_csalazar_PT, who is a great guy btw.

But for me the best part was feeling Spanish fans supporting Coque López (Williams_Coque14), the person who I admire the most since I entered simracing. When I started competing in Spanish GT forums it was in part due to the admiration I felt for him. When he was 13-14 years old he already won GT Academy finalists in online races. He had serious real life issues and had to retire to focus on Motorcycle racing. He came back and after some years he left real life motorsport to fully focus on simracing with GT Sport. I feel fortunate and really grateful for the opportunity to build one of the strongest GT squads in the world and in the history of this game with him. In my opinion he´s not the best in GT Sport right now, but he has some great chances of doing something important in the finals. The same goes for Carlos Salazar: I´m sure that with your charisma you will be very much appreciated in Portugal. The Portuguese simracing fans will start watching GT Sport because of you. You have a great future in eSports.

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Kaz´s rave:

 
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Since there is the unbalanced BOP as still the most competition disturbing factor, here some toughts in hoping not to get to off- topic

PD could consider to use the playerbase as a source. They have 3 japanese top drivers hired as far as I know, but obviously its to less for the amount of cars and categories.

There are meanwhile maybe dozens or even hundreds of players with DR 70k and above. If they would send some formular sheets, I'm sure the gained data would be usefull, because I'm pretty sure every top player would be glad to help. PD could send then some stuff like shirts, shoes or something like that as a thank you- gesture.

The task would be doing hotlaps with different cars on different tracks under certain conditions. It could be taken the average of a 5-lap flat out for example as a valid lap time.

I'm pretty sure, If they have enough data, and compare all the curves with each other, than they would be able to adjust all the BOPs far more accurate then with a few hired players.

I konw its just wishthinking, they probably don't want to ask somebody else for help perhaps, but in modern times it should be possible.

Here an example how a test could be look like. Imagine you have hundreds of curves like this for all categories and car/ track combos

View attachment 775714
I don't know who exactly they have to do their BOP tests but one has to wonder if they have the skill to extract the most out of every car. I've been in a few leagues a long time ago where we had some of the fastest drivers we could find (@Aderrrm was one of them, iirc) run tests to determine a workable BOP. It may be more tricky in this environment doing something similar, however, since the fastest in this game are also participating in these competitions. Maybe they could have the top guys chip in after the World Finals and help.
Dont forget to hydrate @Tidgney :lol:



//this is a joke
Hydrate and eat some Uncle Ben rice. That's the recipe for success.
 
Dont forget to hydrate @Tidgney :lol:



//this is a joke


I don't know who exactly they have to do their BOP tests but one has to wonder if they have the skill to extract the most out of every car. I've been in a few leagues a long time ago where we had some of the fastest drivers we could find (@Aderrrm was one of them, iirc) run tests to determine a workable BOP. It may be more tricky in this environment doing something similar, however, since the fastest in this game are also participating in these competitions. Maybe they could have the top guys chip in after the World Finals and help.
Hydrate and eat some Uncle Ben rice. That's the recipe for success.

I think if I ever get to do a walk out again, I might copy @TRL LIGHTNING idea but instead of eating cookies it'll be drinking tea haha! Remember stay hydrated :lol::lol::lol:. I've revealed all my secret powers though, rice and tea!
 
The Las Vegas event after party will be at a Casino lol

I think the problem is if everyone thinks that the private parties are going to be all over the internet the next day, people can't relax and the risk is that Kaz and others stop going and everyone loses then. I've seen the exact same thing happen before at sci fi conventions (geek alert) - they usually have evening discos which the actors like to attend and have fun "off duty" as it were. But if it's not private or if they get mobbed as soon as they arrive, they don't turn up again.

There has to be a risk of the same scenario happening here, with the result that Translator San says "Hello, have a good evening" and then Kaz leaves... and everyone goes " that's a pity."

On a lighter note, I hear they've hired a tiger and a dentist for the American event :sly::lol:
 
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